Fire Hawk: Thexder the Second Contact [MSX2] - Intro & Practice Mode Playthrough

The full intro and practice mode (tutorial mission) from the 1989 Game Arts game "Fire Hawk: Thexder the Second Contact" for the MSX2 microcomputer standard. Easily one of my favorite games on the entire platform, and arguably one of the most progressive and forward-thinking games of the entire 8-bit era. Not only is this a 1989 game in which you play as a badass female military soldier piloting a transforming mech suit on a dangerous mission to save the earth and her fiance alike, but it also features dynamic music (boss themes are seamlessly integrated into the stage themes), as well as an optional tutorial mission -- something that you just didn't see back then, as players were typically expected to read the manual in order to learn all the ins and outs of the game. And when tutorials DID eventually start to catch on, they were rarely optional, usually instead being forced upon players before they could start on the game proper. This game was released on a large number of platforms, even including an MS-DOS port published in English by Sierra back in the day. The Sierra version lacked the intro and ending from all Japanese versions of the game, however -- likely because the story was altered a bit, and very much NOT for the better. In Sierra's version of the story (which is told through a comic strip printed in the instruction manual), main character Joanna is much more impulsive, actually STEALING the Fire Hawk mech suit in order to save her fiance, going against direct orders. This is very much not the case in the Japanese game, as you can clearly see from this intro: Joshua (yeah, her name is Joshua in the original Japanese; you just kind of have to roll with that!) is a fully capable member of the military crew on the spaceship Rapina, and is sent into the Nediam comet along with the rest of her squadron. Along the way, she encounters the downed wreckage of each of her squadmates, and can communicate with them to get hints on what challenges lie ahead, which I always thought was a really nice touch -- a great way to organically give the player hints, while also making them feel like a total badass! The Sierra version also changed Joanna/Joshua's outfit -- in all Japanese versions, she's depicted wearing a standard-issue military uniform identical to that of everyone else on the ship. In the Sierra version... it's all about them short shorts. ;) Anyway! I decided to record a playthrough of this game, as I hope to post a full video review of it somewhere down the line. And I think I managed to find a good way to get both nice-looking video and accurate sound from real hardware, so this is my test case for that! What do you guys think? Does this look/sound good, or what?! ;) Enjoy!