04/09/2025
Hi Andrea,
Listen, no, I'm not crazy, but I have a little idea for you: Saturday the 13th, Amsterdam, leaving Milan in the morning, returning to Milan in the evening, we have tickets for the event...
This is the beginning of the voice message I sent to Andrea Di Dio less than 10 days after MSX2GOTO40 and if you know Andrea… you also know his answer.
It was crazy, 13 hours in Amsterdam spent far from museums, shop windows, and coffee shops. Well, we did it for you too...
We met at the Genova Voltri toll booth, sleepy-eyed but happy for the adventure we were about to embark on. After many kilometers and a few coffee breaks, we reached the airport. Andrea's BMW had crested the Apennines and attacked the plain like a hot blade through butter. We were at Malpensa, but a few short-circuited synapses and a few too many stops had us arriving right before the boarding gate. Fearlessly, we skipped the line amidst the protests of other passengers and a barrage of insults unlike anything I'd heard since the third-division championships.
We're finally on board, random seats to save a few dozen euros; the EasyJet seats are more uncomfortable than the booster seats at the Ferraris stadium in Genoa. The stewardesses come by, and there's not even any air for free, as the complaints of some Maranza people sitting right behind me point out. I'm so tired, I barely have time to close my eyes before I'm woken by the intercom: Schiphol, we're here.
We pack up our rags and head out to find the Sprinter that will take us from the airport to Amsterdam Central Station. After a quick breakfast on the banks of the Amstel, and not before losing our glasses, which we later retrieve from a homeless woman, Andrea, who is much smarter than me, takes over as our navigator: metro line 52, then bus 35 toward Molenwijk. A few stops and we're at our destination. We walk the last stretch of the journey with a Brazilian couple, friendly and smiling, like everyone else we've met during our short stay (come on, almost everyone...). They live near Eindhoven and, like us, have Google Maps pointed in the direction of the Event.
Amsterdam is always beautiful, every time I breathe it in I feel like I'm at home, the Dutch are shy like us Ligurians and the city has something familiar.
We are now facing the t'Zonnehuis, a historic building dating back to 1932, a typical example of the Amsterdam school of architecture, was built as a people's house, the exact translation is 'House of the Sun'. It served as a meeting place for the workers of the NDSM shipyards and their families. Our thoughts quickly turn to current events: we need to build 1,000 t'Zonnehuis to share our daily lives, while in reality we are focused on destruction, heedless of those around us, whether they are just a stone's throw away or 10,000 kilometers away, almost as if we no longer want to look at the sun, depriving ourselves of beauty and empathy for fear of burning our eyes.
Tickets sold were higher than the already well-attended last year, a quick glance is enough to notice. We enter, just enough time to lean into the main hall and are greeted with all the courtesy in the world, we are given a Tyvek identification bracelet and a commemorative CD of the Maestro. TECHNOuchiWe're starting to frantically bounce from stand to stand to grab the latest releases. We're aware that stocks are limited, and we've left Italy with a long list of products for friends who haven't been able to make it. 'ROOM5' (MO5.COM) and 'A Lone Wolf' in physical format from the hosts at Futuredisk, who are promoting the latest issue, #50, of their long-running and well-regarded disk magazine. Andrea, who recently discovered the MSX2, managed to get one from the guys at Bitwise of the software from the end of the last millennium made by MATRA, (a group never fully understood by the MSX community) and now, as a vintage-hacker, he holds tightly in his hands the most versatile of peripherals, the PICO+; I'll also take one to send along with a USB mouse adapter towards Rome Capital at the home of his friend Fausto. Meanwhile, the cartridges of 'Cube Droid Holiday Special' (free on itch.io) have vanished from the banquet of Bitsofbas.
It was from here that we really began to enjoy the fair. Once that glucose-rush feeling from the ancestral search for software and rarities had passed, we raised our eyes from the new products on display and began to interact with those who, like us, wanted to be there to share our sensations.
I must say that Andrea is an excellent PR man. He is Ligurian by adoption, but his Lombard blood is evident: he manages to strike up a rapport with every person, even just to say hello or take a souvenir photo. His good command of English also makes the visit to Stephan Smetsers and Maarten Loor (NOP). What they exhibit is surreal, I had never heard an AY-3-8910 sing like this, we met them last year at the DEVCON organized at the University of Pisa and it was nice to meet them again.
In the meantime I stopped to talk with the guys about Burai Volume One translation Team And MSX Translations: of the cyclopean works, the complete English translation of 'Illusion City' and the one next to 100% of 'ＢＵＲＡＩ上巻 ' will make these RPGs available outside the land of the Rising Sun and something else is already cooking.
In front of their stand there was the station File-Hunter.com: nostalgia and joy. The brand FONY takes us back in time while its site remains a point of reference of the present looking towards an unexpected future only a few decades ago. Together with Arnaud de Klerk a brilliant hardware craftsman was entertaining, Bas Kornalijnslijper; behind this name which is very difficult for us Latins to pronounce, hides Repair-BasThere's no computer or MSX peripheral he can't bring back to life. We couldn't afford to miss the chance to meet these two heavyweights.
Meanwhile, the conferences continued in the nearby 'OUTER HEAVEN' room. Before leaving 'JUNKER HQ', however, I was fascinated by a project whose development I'd been following step by step on the MSX.ORG forum. On the SuperSoniqs table, connected to a VHD drive, was a working 'IF-7900 Repro' interface. I was truly amazed; they managed to reproduce (with great difficulty) a very rare piece of hardware used to connect a very rare drive to play very rare games. Shocked!
It was nice to see you again too Guillaume “Aoineko” Blanchard, main creator of MSXgl, an open-source C language library. I met him at Pisa Devcon 2024, where he held an interesting workshop. He spent a lot of time with me at his stand, sharing his slides, among other things.
We greeted with pleasure Patrick Lesparre, also already known at the MSX Pisa Devcon 2024, of which his conference “MoSX: The Archeology, Renovation and Innovation of MSX” has just been published and is visible here on the YouTube channel of the Msx Italia Association.
Meanwhile, on the stage, the guests took turns speaking, interspersed with a few beers. Just outside the 'Casa del sole', a small wine shop 'de Geheime Diensgt', he quenched our thirst with an IPA, then a traditional lager. We didn't overdo it; we'd performed better and were more motivated at 'Carrara Comics,' but there we were playing on home ground, and the company of other members of the ASSOCIAZIONE MSX ITALIA encouraged us to order another pint. We lingered with the host, Renée, I believe. She speaks excellent Italian and has a lot to tell. Highly recommended, 5 stars on Tripadvisor.
And then Kazuhiko Nishi With his visions, with the desire and strength of a boy, he tries to project the MSX into the future by travelling 1000 different roads at the same time, and you can be sure that he will not stop until he has succeeded.
The art of Naoki Satoh, the fonts, the logos, the original drafts. Listening to him took us back to his studio, in the 1980s; we could almost smell the pencils and see him busy extracting another magic from the paper.
The Master TECHNOuchi He's now at home here, his powerful DJ set, just like it was two years ago at MSXGOTO40, resonates with his reinterpretations of epic songs. Amid the smokescreen of sublimating carbon dioxide, he looks—or rather, he is—a superstar.
Miki 'MIKI-CHANG' Higashino She gave us the most intimate moment of the entire day. Nestled between the black and white keys of her grand piano were melodies capable of enchanting the audience. She received the longest applause; she was visibly embarrassed but also pleased by the audience's praise.
At a certain point a twist: from the video projector a message of Hideo KojimaThe legendary creator of Metal Gear electrified the crowd with an announcement: “If you invite me next time, I’ll come,” prompting applause and smiles from those in attendance.
In all this the work of Loek van Kooten as a translator he was appreciated and valuable.
Then thunder again inside the vortex. After learning that 'Team NXT/Oblivion' was not present due to an organizational reorganization (don't worry, the development of 'Usas – A tale of Shiroki' continues), we were literally glued to an old 14" CRT television. It was positioned in the darkness of the room under the name of Bad Landed: a child was trying out the demo of 'Nightstalker – Shadow of the Ancestors', a Castlevania-inspired game for MSX2, an even darker tribute to Konami's classic Vampire Killer with smooth scrolling.
From friends of MSX Connection, Spanish podcast dedicated solely to the MSX world it was instead possible to purchase hardware (Rookiedrive, MDFC, Ninjatap…) and software (Westen House, Brunilda, Sword of Ianna…) coming from the Iberian Peninsula, with a tricolour sprinkling given the presence of 'Setris II' of the very Italian and very talented guys from RAM
Still at their station, you could rub your eyes at the preview of the MSX2 port of 'Prince of Persia': believe me, I was shocked by the work David Heremans has done over the last four years. I hope to be able to play this title soon, which sorely misses the MSX software.
We manage to hold on until the final greetings of Koen Dols and this is a good thing, because by renewing the invitation to the next edition it keeps alive the hope for a future 2+ or TURBOR GOTO40 where Amsterdam will once again be an accessible destination and the world capital of our beloved MSX standard.
But it's time to head home. Once we find the bus stop, we know the route by heart. We hop on, waving to the driver, then take the metro and Runner to Schiphol. Again, despite the punctuality of public transportation, we barely make it to the plane. It's almost empty, so we try to sleep to regain some energy. The shuttle awaits us in Italy to take us back to get our car.
Then we raced south, toward the sea. A 170-175 kilometer ride, punctuated by just one stop for coffee and a few cigarettes. At Voltri, our paths split: he, 30 kilometers west, and I, half in the opposite direction.
I'm exhausted and happy to have shared this experience. With Andrea, everything always runs smoothly; even a problem turns into a laugh.
It's after one o'clock, I unblock the Vespa and then... drizzle, neon lights, Lanterna, elevated road, Genoa, beauty, flashing lights, police, breathalyzer, parking, keys, house, bed, sleep, darkness.
Goodnight everyone, and a heartfelt thank you from both Andrea and me for being with us from the beginning to the end of this short but intense adventure.
NEXT GOTO 2+ Lorenzo and Andrea
