MSXify

What is this?

• A simple script that takes Japanese text input and converts this into a format supported by emulators for the ASCII/Microsoft Japanese computer standard, the MSX, from the 80s
• Essentially, fullwidth to halfwidth katakana with the extra carriage returns required by either the MSX or the openMSX emulator
  • I don't know which

Why?

• Old Japnese computers struggled to handle Japanese in the first place, and while now we have the extra memory to handle all Japanese characters in a way that is pleasing to the eye and easy to read, that was not the case then
• openMSX's own text input is really borked when not using English, which odd since the MSX had an extremely limited presence in Europe
• Early adventure games required typing in commands, as opposed to borrowing from The Portopia Serial Murder Case's system on console with a visible menu of actions, and so a reliable way of giving it this input is necesarry

Prerequisites

• pyperclip

How to use

1. python msxify.py <Text>
   

2. Converted text is copied to yoru clipboard
3. Paste it into the emulator. openMSX's text input is pretty borked, so it might not work perfectly.

Supported emulators

• openMSX
  • Only tested on Linux, but it probably would work on Windows and macOS

FAQ

• Does this work for other MSX emulators?
  • I don't know
• Will this support other computers in the future?
  • There's more adventure games for PC88 so I might write a function for it
• Will there be a GUI?
  • Unlikely. I can't write GUI that works