The first MSX computer sold to the public was a Mitsubishi ML-8000, released on the 21st of October 1983, marking the official birth of a standard that would never quite conquer the world. This machine was not merely another entry in the crowded home computer market of the early 1980s; it was the result of a deliberate, high-stakes gamble by Kazuhiko Nishi, the director at ASCII Corporation, and Microsoft. Nishi and Microsoft conceived the project as an attempt to create unified standards among various home computing system manufacturers, mirroring the success of the VHS standard for home video tape machines. The goal was to ensure that any piece of hardware or software with the MSX logo on it was compatible with MSX products from other manufacturers, a radical idea in an era of proprietary walled gardens. The standard was built around the Spectravideo SV-328 computer, utilizing off-the-shelf parts like the 3.58 MHz Zilog Z80 CPU and the Texas Instruments TMS9918 graphics chip. Despite the ambitious vision, the MSX never achieved the global dominance its creators hoped for, largely because it failed to gain significant traction in the United States, the largest computer market of the time. Instead, it became the preeminent home computer system in Japan, South Korea, Argentina, and Brazil, while remaining a niche curiosity elsewhere.
The Dinosaur That Broke The Partnership
The relationship between Kazuhiko Nishi and Bill Gates, once a promising alliance, ended in a bitter and expensive divorce that would define the future of the MSX standard. In 1986, Microsoft disclosed the end of their partnership, stating that Nishi owed the company more than 500,000 dollars. The break was caused by Nishi's tendency to make important decisions on impulse and to spend without restraint, a trait that clashed with Microsoft's growing corporate discipline. One of the final drops that broke the camel's back was when Nishi spent 1 million dollars to build a huge mechanical dinosaur in Tokyo as an advertising device. This extravagant expenditure, combined with the financial strain of the project, led Microsoft to set up its own Japanese subsidiary and sever ties with ASCII Corporation. The fallout was severe, with Nishi and Gates falling out completely, though they would speak periodically in later years. The break-up also coincided with the resignation of the other two co-founders of ASCII, Akio Gunji and Keiichiro Tsukamoto, who resigned abruptly in 1991, ostensibly in protest against rapid expansion. Nishi admitted at a press conference that they could not keep up with him because he was accelerating too much. This internal turmoil, combined with the failure to secure a foothold in the US market, left the MSX standard vulnerable to the rising tide of competing systems.
While the United States was locked in a price war led by Commodore, the MSX found its true home in the electronics factories of Japan and the developing markets of the Global South. Major Japanese electronics companies such as Panasonic, Sony, Canon, Casio, Yamaha, and Sanyo entered the computer market in the 1960s, but many had previously exited the business to focus on home appliances. In the late 1970s, these giants saw potential in the microcomputer revolution and sought a way to enter the market without the chaos of incompatible hardware. The MSX standard provided the perfect vehicle for this entry, allowing companies like Sony and Panasonic to leverage their existing manufacturing prowess. In Japan, the MSX became the platform that major game studios such as Konami and Hudson Soft developed for, producing the first two games in the Metal Gear series and establishing franchises like Bomberman and Puyo Puyo. The standard also found unexpected success in the Soviet Union, Cuba, and various Arab countries, where classrooms were filled with networked Yamaha MSX computers used for teaching informatics. In Brazil, the Hotbit, developed by Sharp's Epcom home computer division, became a hit, and in Argentina, the Talent TPC-310 MSX2 computer was manufactured by Telematica. The MSX became a cultural phenomenon in these regions, far outpacing its sales in the West, with some sources claiming 9 million units sold worldwide, though Nishi himself claimed 3 million in Japan and 1 million overseas.
The Sound of Silence and the SCC Chip
The audio capabilities of the original MSX were limited to the General Instrument AY-3-8910 chip, which provided only three types of sound, a significant drawback for a system designed to compete with the Nintendo Famicom. This limitation sparked a creative response from Konami, whose development teams were split between working on MSX, Famicom, and arcade games. In February 1986, the Konami team conceived the SCC chip, a Large Scale Integration Sound Creative Chip that added five additional channels with toggle capability, controlled by an on/off bit, on top of the three already provided by the PSG. The chip also featured independent memory mapping, allowing for further developed sound production. Before the development of the SCC, Konami's MSX team sound creator Kazuhiko Uehara had used the cartridge slot of the MSX as an additional source of sound, a workaround that led to the official development of the chip in collaboration with Toshiba. The SCC chip was originally developed for the first F-1 Spirit, but due to changes in scheduling, Nemesis 2 was released first, becoming the first video game to use the chip. Fifteen releases went on to use the SCC chip for some MSX releases between 1987 and 1989, including Nemesis 2, F-1 Spirit, The Way to Formula 1, Salamander, Parodius, King's Valley II, Contra, Nemesis 3: The Eve of Destruction, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Space Manbow, and Quarth. This innovation turned the MSX into a powerhouse for music and sound, rivaling the audio capabilities of dedicated game consoles.
The TurboR and the Final Frontier
The MSX3 was originally scheduled to be released in 1990, but delays in the development of its Yamaha-designed VDP caused it to miss its time to market deadline. In its place, the MSX TurboR was released, which used the new custom 16-bit R800 microprocessor developed by ASCII Corporation intended for the MSX3, but features such as DMA and 24-bit addressing were disabled. The TurboR was exclusively released in Japan, and by the time the standard was announced in 1990, only Panasonic was manufacturing MSX computers. Its initial model, the FS-A1ST, met with moderate success, but the upgraded model FS-A1GT introduced in 1991 sold poorly due to its high retail cost of 99,800 yen, which was about 740 USD at the time. Production of the TurboR ended in 1993 when Panasonic decided to focus on the release of the 3DO. The VDP was eventually delivered in 1992, two years after its planned deadline, by which time the market had moved on. In an attempt to reduce its financial loss, Yamaha stripped nearly all V9958 compatibility and marketed the resulting V9990 E-VDP III as a video-chipset for PC VGA graphic cards, with moderate success. The MSX3, which was supposed to be the successor to the TurboR, was never realized, and the standard faded into history, leaving behind a legacy of innovation and missed opportunities.
The Space Station and the One Chip Revival
In 2001, Kazuhiko Nishi initiated a MSX revival around an official MSX emulator called MSXPLAYer, the only official MSX emulator as all MSX copyrights are maintained by the MSX Association. This revival was not merely a nostalgic exercise but a genuine attempt to keep the standard alive in the digital age. In 2004, a Dutch company Bazix announced they had become the representatives of the MSX Association in Europe, serving as the English contact for any questions regarding the MSX trademarks and copyrights. On the 17th of October 2006, Bazix launched WOOMB.Net, a website selling MSX games in English and other languages, with a selection of 14 games. In Japan, game sales began earlier through Project EGG, and WOOMB.Net was the English counterpart of this and other Japanese services offered by D4 Enterprise. The revival continued with the launch of a new MSX2 compatible system called the one chip-MSX, a system based on an Altera Cyclone EP1C12Q240C8 FPGA. The one chip-MSX is similar in concept to the C-One, a Commodore 64 clone also built on the basis of a single FPGA chip. The new MSX system is housed in a box made out of transparent blue plastic and can be used with a standard monitor or TV and a PC keyboard. It has two MSX cartridge slots and supports the audio extensions MSX-MUSIC and SCC+. A SD/MMC-flashcard can be used as an external storage medium, emulating a disk drive and can be used to boot MSX-DOS. Due to its VHDL programmable hardware, it is possible to give the device new hardware extensions simply by running a reconfiguration program under MSX-DOS. The one chip-MSX also has two USB connectors that can be used after adding some supporting VHDL code. This revival demonstrated the enduring appeal of the MSX standard, proving that its legacy was far from over.
The Global Legacy and the Future
The MSX standard left an indelible mark on the history of computing, particularly in regions where it became the dominant platform. In 2011, AGE Labs announced GR8BIT, a do-it-itself kit for building an MSX computer, targeted to those wanting to learn about computer hardware. The kit includes all the necessary components to assemble a working MSX2-compatible computer except for an ATX chassis, power supply, floppy drive, hard disk, PS/2 keyboard, and monitor. In 2014, some of the Korean forum members who made Zemmix Neo created a new MSX-compatible called Mini IQ3000 Cutie, which has similar features to Daewoo Electronics' Korean-made MSX2 model, the IQ-2000. It is based on 1ChipMSX but has some special features like Scan Line Generator, which improves the quality of the video display, and Multi Language Support that allows it to support two languages. In 2019, a group of fans developed the MSX Mini Replica, a 1:2 scale reproduction of the Philips VG-8020 computer compatible with the software of the MSX, MSX2, MSX2+, and TurboR generations. It incorporates 2 USB ports, an HDMI video output and internally uses the same hardware as the C64 Mini. Connecting an additional peripheral called MSX Player allows it to run original games on ROM cartridges. In 2020, the MSXVR was released, a computer compatible with the MSX family of computers, based on a Raspberry Pi card with additional circuitry to connect the original MSX peripherals. In 2022, Nishi announced an official revival of the MSX computer standard dubbed the MSX3, to be implemented in multiple configurations, including an upgrade cartridge to existing MSX computers. Later, in 2023, following a successful crowdfunding campaign, an IoT device resembling a Game Boy with a keyboard, the MSX0, was revealed, intended for IoT uses, alongside the base MSX3 unit. Plans also call for a supercomputer, the MSX Turbo X 128, based around the concept of clusters. The project was halted following Nishi's bankruptcy, but the legacy of the MSX standard continues to inspire new generations of developers and enthusiasts.