FM Towns Marty

Credits

Video captures courtesy of
EricTucson

Background

Fujitsu's FM Towns Marty, based on a successful line of computers from the 1980s, was the first 32-bit CD video game system, only released in Japan. For its time, it was proven to be quite a powerful system, but when systems like the Saturn, PlayStation, and 3DO came to the market in Japan, Fujitsu gave up on the Marty, releasing 69 games for the system, with unknown sales (most likely about 100,000 or so).

(1993-1995)

Logo: On a black background, we see the words "FM TOWNS MARTY" (with "MARTY" underneath "FM TOWNS" and in a somewhat very weird font) underneath a blue line and blue ball. Then, the screen goes slightly blue and cuts to a space background. Then, multicolored balls start grouping from each corner, making a whole 3D-like ball. It starts bouncing around the screen. Then the game loads.

Trivia: The Hoberman Sphere-esque molecule is only seen when you turn it on with no disc inside (or if an FM Towns game won't be allowed to play because of megabyte issues, the system has 2 megs of memory, and some FM Towns games require more than that).

FX/SFX: None, it's still.

Music/Sounds: An upbeat, victorious-sounding theme.

Availability: Seen when an FM Towns Marty is turned on. They get a major price on eBay, especially for games (basic, not-so-special games could be as little as $15-$20 while classics like Splatterhouse could be as little as $200-$300).