I feel stupid doing this, but alright then
I don't believe in forum nicknames, hence my username is my real name. I was an active msx-user between 1988 - 1996. I was founder member of a not too famous group named RAT. Some believe RAT stands for Reinier Abi Thom, which is right, but I'll never admit that. We have made 3 games:

1. Froxx, the keeper of the eight discs (1993). This game had a serious bug; it was impossible to advance to level 3 (so use the cheat: press bs).

2. Psycho Ball (1993). Noone ever reached the end. Which is a pity because of the end demo and staff credits. Try this: password: YOUPIE. You'll end up in stage 28. This level is impossibly difficult. However, you don't have to beat this level, just wait till the time's up. You'll be redirected to the end demo automatically.

3. High Five (1995/1996). Published on GPD 12. A few bugs and not really finished, I would have liked to include a highscore list.

We were big friends with Emphasys, and hitherto I have stayed in touch with MOA (Lieuwe). Nowadays I mostly use an emulator as my modern tv won't take the MSX signal. And it's much easier to use emulators anyway (I know, it's not the real thing). I still reckon SD Snatcher as the best game I have ever played, However, the Shenmue series and Monkey Ball have come close.

I have studied Meteorology and Physical Oceanography in Utrecht and at the moment I am a PhD student, although I'm going to quit that which means I'm jobless as of September 1! Really time for a new start.

In my spare time I frequently visit English football matches. I have been to 24 clubs so far and try to visit all of the 92 professional teams in England. But I guess I'm very lonely in my Footy addiction

My favorite magazine is Edge and I post sometimes on their forum (although it ceased to exist, but some guys set up a new forum at www.rllmuk.com)

Any questions??

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Nowadays I mostly use an emulator as my modern tv won't take the MSX signal. And it's much easier to use emulators anyway (I know, it's not the real thing).

I know emulators are not the real thing but they're much more comfortable... and we can use any MSX anywhere using laptops and pocketPC emu's, isn't it?

which emulator do you prefer, Thom?

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which emulator do you prefer, Thom?

Hard to tell, but I tend to say -surprise- paraMSX. NLMSX is good as well but cannot handle Psycho Ball properly. It crashes whenever you press space during the intro screen. To be honest that's my fault as I used a very stupid trick to enable caps lock. Most emulators appear to be struggling with motor relais/caps lock and music at the same time. I have not tried OpenMSX yet.

What I really want to have though is a neat front end, especially designed for just one purpose: playing games. A single click to play a game would be great without the hassle of inserting disk images or roms.

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NLMSX is good as well but cannot handle Psycho Ball properly. It crashes whenever you press space during the intro screen. To be honest that's my fault as I used a very stupid trick to enable caps lock. Most emulators appear to be struggling with motor relais/caps lock and music at the same time.

I noticed

Are you sure when you say it's impossible to finish PhsycoBall? Hmm... Damn. I thought I finished the game, but I guess I did not.
You know, I have this pact with myself not to buy any [new] games until I finish all the ones I liked so far and PhsycoBall is surely one of 'm.

I'll try your tricks. There's no word about cheating in that pact of mine
(Hmmm and it didn't say anything about copying games either...)


(Nahhh! )

Hey thom, good to see ya I saw abi in town two weeks ago, he really cloned himselve yeah

About Psychoball, I remember the big beachball at the fair in Tilburg, was it? 8)

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I noticed Are you sure when you say it's impossible to finish PhsycoBall? Hmm... Damn. I thought I finished the game, but I guess I did not. You know, I have this pact with myself not to buy any [new] games until I finish all the ones I liked so far and PhsycoBall is surely one of 'm. I'll try your tricks. There's no word about cheating in that pact of mine (Hmmm and it didn't say anything about copying games either...) (Nahhh! )

Yes, it's impossible. In fact I remember GIVING you the password for cave 17 because cave 16 was nighly impossible. Have you seen the end already (in cave 28 you can also make the computer score 100+ quickly, it will send you straight away to the end demo).

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Hey thom, good to see ya I saw abi in town two weeks ago, he really cloned himselve yeah About Psycho Ball, I remember the big beachball at the fair in Tilburg, was it? 8)

The beach ball! Ha, I'd forgotten about that!

About Abi & the kids: you mean his kid talks as quickly as Abi does? Naah, Abi is a nice guy. Say hi to him from me if you ever meet up again. Invite him to this forum too!

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About Abi & the kids: you mean his kid talks as quickly as Abi does? Naah, Abi is a nice guy. Say hi to him from me if you ever meet up again. Invite him to this forum too!

Noted! I will say hi from you when i see him again. He was just enjoying the sun with his 2 kids and his wife i guess (third kid in the belly!?) I saw him in the town of Harderwijk Just a quick talk then we went eachothers way...first i didn't even recognize him

I didn't know he talks fast anyway and his kids don't really talk yet, do they?

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>>About Abi & the kids: you mean his kid talks as quickly as Abi does? Naah, Abi is a nice guy. Say hi to him from me if you ever meet up again. Invite him to this forum too!<< Noted! I will say hi from you when i see him again. He was just enjoying the sun with his 2 kids and his wife i guess (third kid in the belly!?) I saw him in the town of Harderwijk Just a quick talk then we went eachothers way...first i didn't even recognize him I didn't know he talks fast anyway and his kids don't really talk yet, do they?

Nice to see another RAT member still alive!!!!
Abi Greets Thom!!!!!
Dino: eeeh yes that was me and that was not my wife, but my wifes sister lol
and yes i was enjoying the sun and a fast talking hope to meet you more often in Harderwijk.

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And HIIIIIIIIIII THOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!! great to see you back!

HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Abi. How are you? I haven't seen you on either icq or msn for ages!

i do not use icq @ the moment, but msn i use (search for avantamelen@hotmail.com)
I was at fair in tilburg with my oldest son and he enjoyed it, saying daddy, look there is your MSX ( I own a GT, ST and several philips and a sony 700P). I was there for buying a moonsound, but no they were sold out.
well i had a nice day and meet some old frends (patriek ) and had some nice talkings.
btw: someone want to trade his moonsound or sell his moonsound???

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someone want to trade his moonsound or sell his moonsound???

sounds like an excellent question for our trading section

>>>>sounds like an excellent question for our trading section [/quote]<<<<
eeeh yes, you are right

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i do not use icq @ the moment, but msn i use (search for avantamelen@hotmail.com)

I have added you (and subsequently removed your icq entry from my list)
Do you know Trillian? It's ace! It lets you use multiple instant messengers like icq and msn at the same time in one single window.

i use only MSn and Mirc for chat in #MSX and several UT clan channels ( i play UT instagib for fun)