News from the site.

Rune Worth enters the game, and CBS Cruncher advances to v5.6.

Since the previous update, the website has gained a much fuller view of the translation work in progress, while CBS Cruncher has continued to grow into a practical graphics and data-development toolkit for MSX and other Z80-based systems.

• Rune Worth in-game gallery: The Rune Worth page now includes ten carefully matched Japanese and English in-game comparisons. The new Game section adds twenty captures beyond the existing opening sequence, making it possible to compare menus, dialogue, status displays, and translated presentation directly.
• Rune Worth development overview: A new translation-features panel explains the project’s priorities, variable-width text engine, interface changes, compression work, Python tools, and cross-development workflow. The displayed project progress has also moved from 20% to 40%.
• Psy-O-Blade progress: The Psy-O-Blade page now has a dedicated overview of its translation scope, in-game presentation, and current status, including preservation of both original MSX2 scenarios and the Earth-side events omitted from the shorter Mega Drive version.
• CBS Cruncher v5.6: The latest development adds new Screen 5 decoder paths for direct VRAM output, several buffered-memory sizes, horizontal reconstruction, and tile or mirrored graphics. The downloadable CLI package and practical Z80 sources were expanded alongside these additions.
• ROM testing and documentation: The CBS Cruncher ROM-analysis material, help pages, generated test files, and local WebMSX launching route were refined so compressed graphics and their delivery paths can be examined and tested more reliably.

Together, these updates connect the technical development work with clearer visual evidence of how the translations look inside the original games.

CBS Cruncher reaches v5.5.

The largest update since the last news post is the new CBS Cruncher v5.5 page. What began as my Amiga compressor in 1996 has grown into a browser-based compression lab, command-line tool, Z80 integration toolkit, and practical MSX ROM-development environment.

• New compression system: The page can compare the active v5.2, v5.3, v5.4, and line-aware v5.5 formats alongside the historical v4.3 baseline. Every candidate must decrunch byte-for-byte in the browser before it can be selected.
• MSX and Z80 integration: The downloadable decoders now cover continuous RAM, measured RAM-tail output, buffered and direct Screen 5–8 VRAM, linear VRAM for tiles and fonts, and cartridge-ROM input for ASCII8, ASCII16, ASCII16-X, Konami, and Konami SCC mappers.
• Development tools: A new Python CLI brings the same compressor to Windows, macOS, Linux, scripts, and build systems. The site also includes generated MSX test ROMs, a local WebMSX player, a detailed help and format guide, and a new ROM Analysis page.
• Preserved releases: The original v3 and experimental v4.3 Web Edition remain available in the legacy section, together with their readable Z80 sources. A separate v4.3 Python package is also available from the Tools page.
• Translation history: The Ganbare Goemon and Romancia pages now explain how CBS Cruncher v3 was used in those MSX translations—including Goemon’s extra data in RAM page 3 and Romancia’s ROM-reading decruncher optimized mainly for translated graphics.

This release brings the historical compressor, its modern successors, working decoders, documentation, and real-game integration examples together in one place.

A busy first week of updates.

The website has grown considerably during its first week. Much of the original framework is now filled with real project history, screenshots, interactive tools, and material preserved from my development archive.

• Translation projects: The archive now has expanded stories and image galleries for projects including Psy-O-Blade, Rune Worth, and Ganbare Goemon. The Goemon page also documents the MSX.org discussion that started this translation journey.
• Illusion City maps: A new map archive lists the extracted locations, displays maps at their original 1:1 size, and allows individual layers to be viewed or combined as they appear in the game.
• Browser tools: The Tools area gained an SCL disk converter, downloadable ZX Spectrum intros, and the restored CBS Cruncher Web Edition. It includes the original v3 and experimental v4.3 compressors, local browser decrunching, safety verification, format documentation, and readable Z80 source listings.
• Computers and links: The MSX, ZX Spectrum, and Amiga sections received more history and project connections. The Links directory was reorganized with clearer cards, consistent link styling, and corrected resources.
• Website improvements: A private contact form, search-engine metadata, robots and sitemap files, wider content layouts, persistent scrolling controls, responsive refinements, and a new “MI” favicon were added.

The website remains in deep beta, but it is already becoming a useful record of the games, computers, tools, and people behind these projects.

The website has launched!

Welcome to the new Max Iwamoto website. The site is now online, but it is still in deep beta and remains very much under development.

Most of the information, stories, photographs, project details, and downloads are still missing. I will continue adding and refining content over time, so please check back for future updates.