When we talk about the 32-bit era we immediately think of the PlayStation, a very famous console due to its excellent track record and amazing catalogue, but before it there were other consoles that showed great potential of 3D, one of them is now considered rare to see, its name is FM Towns Marty.
Fujitsu, a world-renowned company was responsible for designing and developing this console, launched only in Japan in February 1993, with an AMD Am386 processor which worked at 16 MHz, thanks to this could run in a formidable many 32-bit games making it a very powerful console.
Although it may not seem like the first time Fujitsu has made a system of this kind, in case the architecture of Marty's FM Towns was inspired by FM Towns, this was a computer exclusive to Japan. This PC had a wide range of applications and video games, its production would begin in 1989 and ended in 1997.
The FM Towns Marty has been exactly one of these computers, but focused only on the world of video games, being totally retro-compatible with any game of the FM Towns, this was something great because it allowed to experience video games from another system.
As expected, this video console had the ability to insert compact discs, and in addition to video games you could listen to music on it by placing a music CD. The readings were very good and the loading level was fast enough for its time. In one of its sides we found a 3.5 floppy disk slot.
Now we'll focus on one of your weaknesses, your command. This was very simple, it consisted of 4 buttons which two of them were Select and Run, plus a D-pad on its left side, by that time other systems like the Super Nintendo had more advanced controls, allowing users to have a much more complex gameplay.
A 6-button controller could be purchased which was very useful for video games such as Street Fighter but this had to be purchased separately. Many people who bought this console wondered why it wasn't included from the start, and I personally consider it a very bad decision on Fujitsu-san's part.
Now we will talk about the most important thing about a video game console, its games, thanks to the backwards compatibility that it had with the FM Towns it has a great variety of titles, being able to find of the genre platforms, fights, races, adventures and many more, this turns it into a very showy and powerful video game console for its time.
So why did he fail? The answer is very simple, its launch price was $700, not everyone had the ability to access that amount, in addition, a year later SONY launched the PlayStation for a cost of $300, offering similar operation and more advanced controls.
Fujitsu to see this simply withdrew from the game console market, discontinuing FM Towns Marty in 1995. It only lasted 2 years of production, selling a quantity of 45000 units, remaining only in Japan territory since this console was exclusive of that country.
Certainly the FM Towns Marty was an advanced console for its time with the ability to process 2D and 3D graphics in a very fluid way, but due to its high cost and a very outdated controller it was crushed by the competition, however, it will remain in the history of video games as one of the many hidden gems that many are looking for today.
Did you know FM Towns Marty? Tell me your opinion in the comment box
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