Splendor and Misery of the MSX Computer Standard | Retro Dream

In 1984, Apple was just introducing the first Macintosh and home computers in North America were mostly C64, IBM PC AT and Apple II, while European countries also had their national machines: the British BBC Micro, ZX Spectrum or the French Thomson for instance.
Personal computers were slowly entering homes. No one really knew what a personal computer was or what to use it for, but the promise to help educate children and help them learn the tools of the 21st century ended up convincing parents to purchase them.
The many different computer models, each one with its proprietary technology, also added to the confusion: as mentioned in a computer magazine in December 1984, there were over 50 types of home computers available on the market!
All of them had more or less the same purpose: to manage, to learn and to play, and their capabilities were comparable, but they were totally incompatible, so that consumers had to be careful while choosing.
No standard had yet emerged from this chaotic jungle. But two rising companies of the 1980s, the US based Microsoft and Japan's ASCII, were fully determined to change that situation.
Their idea was to create a range of compatible micro-computers to tap into the home markets. This concept of perfect compatibility was a revolution full of promises. This revolution had a name: MSX...
Special thanks to Richard Travale for the voice-over and to Werner Augusto Roder Kai for the 140 MSX collection pictures.
0:00 Introduction
1:50 Concept
6:15 Games

[@jordiorte]

I can confirm that MSX stands for "MicroSoft eXtended (BASIC)". That was said everywhere... until K.Nishi left Microsoft and the Japanese standard passed into the hands of ASCII only. Then other explanations began to appear where, coincidentally, Microsoft stopped appearing as the protagonist.

[@RetroDream]

Thanks for sharing!

[@Cesar56494]

Watching videos like this brings me back good memories because it was the first time I saw a computer - an MSX - playing the role of a plc, controlling an industrial machine, here in Brazil, when I was just an electrician in the factory. It was in 1994, a long time ago... There were no secrets. There was extensive documentation on both its hardware and software. The only limitations were its architecture and the programmer's creativity.

[@RetroDream]

The good old days... Thanks for sharing your experience from Brazil!

[@faberfox]

By the time these were released, the C64 had set the bar pretty high for MSX to compete with outside of Asia. The case designs were often fantastic and the cursor keys as a joystick replacement was a great idea, but imho where they lacked most was in the graphics department, due to the lack of smooth scrolling on most games and the single color sprites. They were pretty popular here in Argentina, taking the third spot behind Commodore (both US imports and locally produced licensed "Drean Commodore"s) and Sinclair (with the officially licensed, locally produced "Czerweny"s and illegally cloned Brazilian "Microdigital"s). We had the locally produced Talent MSX that was a rebadged Daewoo DPC-100, plenty of Toshiba HX-10s and quite some Philips and SVI imports. They carved a substantial niche in the educational market mostly thanks to the announcement of a Spanish programming language known as LPC (Lenguaje de Programación en Castellano), that besides remembering reading about it, I can't find any info nowadays, leading me to believe it was vaporware.

[@RetroDream]

Talent MSX! I heard about it, yes. And I agree about scrolling: that was definitely a lacking feature. Many thanks for sharing!

[@dh2032]

@@RetroDream it was an 8-bit era machine all 8-bit machines had problems in the department , and if machine could do scrolling it was done peek & poke hardware, in some sort of software/hardware hacking!

[@ZiBiTmusic]

Thanks for this nostalgic trip. I had the Sony one, with 16 Kb , later extended with a 64Kb cartridge for some of the tape games like HERO. One of the biggest feats back then was the extra sound chip in Nemesis 2 allowing great music AND sound effects.

[@RetroDream]

That's correct. Salamander too.

[@ninjazhu]

The totally different incompatible architectures of the 80s and early 90s is what made computers fun and gave us a choice.

[@RetroDream]

Very neat summary.

[@saveallbits9787]

MSX was big in Brazil in 80s, I played a lot, Nemesis, Knightmare, Goonies, Phantis, etc, it has great game makers as Japanese Konami and Spanish Dinamic. Last Year I spend some great time remembering those games and put some gameplays in my gameplay channel. Great Video.

[@RetroDream]

Thanks for your interest and for sharing your experience!

[@adilsongoliveira]

@@RetroDream Adding a little to that, there were two main machines, the HotBit HB-8000 by Sharp and the Expert XP-800 by Gradiente (I had this one). Both were quite similar inside following the MXS1 specs with 64k of RAM IIRC. The main difference is the form factor, HotBit was a compact machine while the Expert had the keyboard separated from the main console. They had a few updates but never evolved much.

[@cosmefulanito5933]

I'm from Argentina and when I was a kid my father gave me a Talent MSX.

[@Decypher]

I am happy to see an MSX video from North America, we all know MSX was very popular in Brazil, Japan and Europe but I never knew they also sold MSX machines in the US. I am from the Netherlands therefore I only had (and have) Philips MSX and MSX2 machines, one of which I recently upgraded to an MSX2+. I have VERY VERY fond memories of those machines and it's games. I played Nemesis 2 so much in the 80's you can still wake me up in the middle of the night and I can play level 1 almost blindfolded :-D. (who needs saves? :-D ).. .Thank you for this trip down memory lane. Keep up the good work.

[@RetroDream]

Oh yes I know something about playing Nemesis without saves... Thanks for sharing, JIP. And actually it's not USA, even though my north American friend is graciously lending me his voice, I'm from France. That should explain a lot :)

[@Decypher]

@@RetroDream Ah that explains a lot!! Very smart to have a voice over (otherwise you risk sounding like Inspector Clouseau :-P ) :-) Again thanks for the video! Loving everything retro.

[@RetroDream]

Exactly! I was fed up with comments about my Clouseau / Borat accent :)

[@damouze]

I got my first MSX computer when I was nine as well, and I loved it! It was a Goldstar FC-200.

[@repc465]

Exactly my first home computer as well. Love it. "color auto goto list run" lol :-)

[@skillaxxx]

Bad Speccy 'weekend' ports gave MSX1 a bad name in Europe. And yes, my Sony HB-F9P (MSX2) handbook still mentioned MicroSoft eXtended too. Smooth (horizontal) scrolling is achievable on MSX1 and 2 too, but most companies die not bother. Nowadays you can even download fan-made patches to get smooth scrolling in Nemesis 1,2, Salamander en Parodius for example.

[@msxdroid]

Thank you for covering this. I began on a MSX Toshiba HX-10 and upgraded later to a Philips NMS8250 MSX-2 machine. I really loved and still do, the MSX, was my favorite and still is. I really enjoyed seeing this and it brought back some nice memory's, after a while I had a BBS (bullitin board system) running on a Philips NMS8255 MSX-2 home computer. I really want to see the next episode, so I subscribed. Thank you very much, as far as I know, it was popular here in the Netherlands, same as the Commodore C64

[@RetroDream]

Welcome aboard MSX Droid! And thanks for sharing your experience, didn't know about any connected MSX... Really interesting 😀👍

[@msxdroid]

@@RetroDream back ik those days, here in Netherlands where even conventions just for the MSX. We gather around and talked about it. We even connected hard drives (scsi) to the MSX, then we had like 20Mb hard drive and that was big. Memory expander, magazines and name it, all that, I want to go back, in those days, I have learned a lot about computers and programming. There is even a demo from my bbs on KZbin. Still waiting for part 2

[@RetroDream]

Thanks for the extra info and "thanks" to KZbin for the delay in my answer: they really should improve their reply notification system :( Man, those were the days :)

[@msxdroid]

@@RetroDream no problem. Those days where really great, learned really a lot about computers and so on. Nowadays it is just plug and play :-)

[@NicolasCorte]

Second or third time watching this video, excellent quality. Thank you. In Argentina back in the mid 80's the home computer market was dominated by Commodore followed closely by MSX. My first computer was the Spectravideo SVI-728. I always have joysticks, mainly for two players but keyboard was definitely the best way to play games.

[@RetroDream]

Glad you enjoyed it, Nicolas! Thanks for your interest. Wow., 3 times watching... you have watched it almost as much as I did myself :) Thanks for sharing your experience. I know that Argentina was one the MSX countries... And if you're into Commodore, I can tell you that I'll be making C64 videos beginning this year.

[@NicolasCorte]

@@RetroDream My best friend had a Talent MSX and two of my cousing had Commodore 64 and I was all into video games so as you can imagen I could never had enough when it came to playing some games on those amazing systems. Some of my favorite (MSX: Goonies, Zanac, Formation Z, Batman Rescue the Rovin, La Abadia del Crimen, Camelot Warriors, Capitan Trueno "believe it or not some of the best MSX games came straight from Spain", Pitfall II, Raid on Bungeling Bay, Rollerball, Yie Are Kung Fu 1 and 2, King's Valley, Volguard, Elevator Action). Thank you for contributing to the MSX community with your channel, personally I think is the best!

[@RetroDream]

Again many thanks, it's really appreciated!

[@Someguyinatrenchcoat]

As a person born in 1999, with an odd fondness for 80s tech I say this is peak computer design.

[@back_to_basic]

As a person born in 2002, with the same "odd fondness for 80s tech", I completely agree with you!

[@IkarusKommt]

A micro with a real codepage 437, a rare and impressive thing.

[@noop9k]

MSX were very well known in USSR, but only available in select schools or clubs, imported by the state, made by Yamaha. Not seen at homes except when used by a few musicians. USSR people were exposed to videogames largely through these MSX. The school Yamahas had MIDI modules repurposed for networking and FM modules absent. Typically only teacher’s MSX had disk drives and color monitor. Later were upgraded to MSX2, looked mostly the same but had 128/128 K. The games from these MSX were reverse-engineered and ported to other soviet PCs by random people, none of these other PCs used Z80. Some years later Speccy clones won, due to being affordable and having lots of great games. Also Soviet industry made a few MSX-inspired but not entirely compatible PCs that used 8080, they are quite obscure.

[@RetroDream]

Many thanks for sharing, very interesting info! I knew that MSX were used in Soviet schools in the 80s but never seen one in any home (I've been in the USSR quite a few times), but I did see Spectrums, it seems like this was the #1 home computer :)

[@noop9k]

@@RetroDream Soviet personal computers lagged behind the west by 5-10 years with Warshaw Pact countries being in-between due to greater availability of western tech. In particular, USSR could not make Z80, 6502 clones until it ended, but Eastern Europe could. USSR did clone 8080, i8088/8086 and PDP-11. Even the cheapest factory-produced home PCs only appeared in mid 80s(after MSX) and cost several average monthly wages. Some classroom/office PCs few years earlier but in small numbers. Most Soviets were really poor. After 1986 USSR was trying to reform itself with iron curtain down and small businesses allowed. Late 80s is when they cloned Speccy many times and started to produce the clones with imported Z80. Most of the clones though were made after USSR, in the 90s, when some factories finally started to produce Z80 clones based on U880 and tried to survive by selling cheap Spectrums (only rich people could afford anything more expensive). Games were pirated of course, lacking custom loaders/protection and not all 100% compatible. Typically you bought a cassette full of games with basic monochrome label made on matrix printer. Or selected games to record on your own cassette. Typically only elite schools had a class with MSX (while other schools had nothing yet) but still many kids had a chance to play videogames there and nowhere else. There were also multiple competing school PCs. Agat - partially compatible Apple II, Korvet, УК-НЦ and several others. But, unlike Japan, crappy soviet factories could provide neither quantity nor quality, their products arrived late. Warshaw pact countries made their own school micros, Apple IIe clones, for example, some of which reached USSR. There were DIY home PCs assembled by many enthusiasts. Earlier, most popular before DIY Speccy is RK-86 roughly similar to TRS-80.. Speccy software diffused through Poland. But, unlike USSR, Poland had abundance of Atari XEs, almost none of which reached the homes of exUSSR people, mostly appearing in gaming clubs.

[@hombremuerto80]

Same in Cuba, MSX ruled schools and computer clubs, but not at homes. Computers in general were almost "banned" from homes until the 2000s.

[@RetroDream]

Знаю :) Thanks a lot for the outstanding information. I'll sure dedicate a future video to computing in the USSR. I don't know about Warsaw Pact countries, but I know about USSR (though not as well as you do). I played C64 games in Gorky Park, Moscow, in 1989: that's 5 years after I played the same at home in the West. So you say Soviet schools had computer games to play there? That's cool!

[@hombremuerto80]

@@RetroDream playing games was probably just a secondary effect. Teaching kids programming was probably the main idea. I was at a computer club in Cuba in one of the first experiments on teaching Basic to kids with MSX prior to high schools

[@petermdunn]

I sadly threw out my two MSX machines about 6 years ago during a move. I had a Toshiba HX-10 and Spectravideo SVI-728. I learnt programming on these, both BASIC and assembly. I also created a number of electronics projects in them, including using the joystick port as an oscilloscope, that was a challenge!

[@RetroDream]

Thanks for sharing!

[@mtrok2]

I got my first MSX in 1984 as well when I was 10y old than I got MSX2 and I still have them. I spent a lot of time playing and learning basic language. I love them.

[@RetroDream]

How I understand you. Lucky to have them after all these years!

[@zamiadams4343]

My 1st computer was an MSX, loved it.

[@damienthorne9328]

I had the Philips MSX 1 that is shown. Aaah what a time 😍 I loved Knightmare & Nemesis. I sometime play it on my Raspberry

[@RetroDream]

Thanks for sharing 😀

[@back_to_basic]

Great video, very well made! I also like those old adverts and how you put them in this video. I have recently added to my little collection a Philips VG-8020, which is one of the most common MSX computers here in Italy. I like its keyboard and its design, but that colourful Yashica is lovely: that red reminds me of other Japanese computers like some beautiful Sharp X1, with matching monitor. That Japanese sturdy design was stunning and pleasant to the eye. I'm waiting for part 2! :-)

[@RetroDream]

Thank you BtB! I guess in Italy the MSX was a little more common than in France, Germany or UK.

[@maximilianprivrat]

Compliments for this nice video. Really good explenation about MSX!

[@RetroDream]

Thanks a lot Maximilian

[@maximilianprivrat]

@@RetroDream come to visit my channel and video about MSX

[@elmariachi5133]

4:38 The Commodore C16 was in your head :)

[@Darkuni]

Very nice, fun video. I was pretty MSX ignorant - enjoyed the format and the content.

[@RetroDream]

Many thanks!

[@madcommodore]

As a British kid living in England I only saw the horrible UK publishers tape games and didn't think much of it, not much better than a ZX Spectrum but a couple of decades ago I bought one with 20+ superb properly programmed Japanese cartridges and realised MSX games should be like Colecovision NOT Sinclair Spectrum games!

[@RetroDream]

Absolutely true! Thanks for sharing

[@fabioacrs]

Super nice video. MSX was my fist computer, a Gradiente Expert MSX 1. Waiting for the next vid. Cheer's.

[@RetroDream]

Thanks Fabio.

[@Fercyful]

Remember playing with one at a friend's house, never forgot those blue keys :)

[@DutchWorkingMan]

Sadly, I sold my MSX 2 at the end of 2000. Still, I have good memories of it :), especially since it was far better than the C64.

[@dh2032]

if the Microsft conections, what was the basib=c used, was it a MS Basic, and extended version, was it conpatable anything, outside, MSx models?

[@RetroDream]

good question...

[@dpc4548]

I've never seen msx game boxes like that. Not great quality, but kind of cool.

[@timlocke3159]

Living in Canada, MSX wasn't available here back in the 80's but I picked up a Sony HB-F1XV, an MSX 2+ model, about 10 years ago on eBay from someone in the US. I also have a Nemesis game cartridge for it. It's a very nice machine with a very comprehensive BASIC, similar to the BASIC on the Commodore 128 and the Amstrad CPC series. I rate the MSX 2+ about equivalent to the Commodore 128 or the Amstrad 6128 Plus. I rate the MSX 2 about equivalent to the Amstrad CPC 464. I rate the MSX 1 about equivalent to the TI-99/4A or the Sinclair ZX Spectrum or the Coleco ADAM.

[@RetroDream]

Thanks for sharing! I'd have rate them one level higher: the MSX 1 equivalent to the CPC, and so on...

[@ClaudRodr]

@@RetroDream For sure. MSX1 for example has very little color clash compared to the Spectrum even though they are around the same time. Definitely the MSX was a much superior platform, especially the Japanese models. I have MSX1 machines with imposer built-in for creating video titles and mixing with external video sources. Nothing like that was available built-in on any of the 8-bit machines at the time. If we go to the MSX2 machines, things get insanely better. Just look for Sony HB-F900/HBI-F900 or the National FS-5500 (I have both). Way, like WAY ahead of anything that Commodore, Amstrad, Sinclair, etc had at the time

[@stoomkracht]

The ColecoVision console apparently had a lot in common with the MSX 1 standard. Just a random fact ;)

[@GeorgesChannel]

Great video! MSX wasn't popular in Germany, so i read very late about it when i was researching the history of Kojima games. Overall it was a great system for its time, with great software

[@RetroDream]

That's right George, it was great for its time, and not always recognized as such. I was wondering about its popularity in Germany. In France it was also rather unknown, if compared to other systems.

[@dcocz3908]

I would have liked it in UK, sadly I never saw one, everything was ZX spectrum and Acorn BBC

[@anglosaxon361]

@@dcocz3908 MSX was in the UK, I bought one! The Retro Computer Museum in Leicester maybe holding an MSX day in late September, not 100% confirmed yet!

[@nickpalance3622]

@@dcocz3908 not being too familiar with the UK’s home computer market (KZbin videos covering the hardware and software of 1980s Britain being my only reference) - does this mean that the Amstrad CPC and Dragon 32/64 were not big players in the market? I imagine that the earlier Sinclair machines (ZX80,81) were quickly surpassed by the Spectrum (Y’Know… colors.. the sounds.. etc) for games.

[@lawrencedoliveiro9104]

I think it’s fair to say that 🇬🇧 had the most varied PC ecosystem of all, back in the 1980s. Besides Sinclair and Acorn/BBC, there were so many other brands/models: the Jupiter Ace, Dragon 32, RM 380Z and others. Of course, all incompatible with each other (and with the IBM/Intel/Microsoft juggernaut that eventually swallowed up everything else).

[@misterretrowolf1464]

Really good video!! Love the MSX

[@RetroDream]

Thanks!

[@michaelturner4457]

One friend of mine had the Toshiba MSX in the mid-80s. But I think Toshiba was really the only MSX that was easily available in the UK. At that time I had a Commodore 64, and most other people I knew also had the C64, Sinclair Spectrum, or BBC Computers.

[@RetroDream]

Thanks for sharing Michael, that confirms...

[@yobb89]

can you ram stack these machines ? thinking about just building the omega home computer msx diy kit for the extra ram

[@RetroDream]

Not a clue ;)

[@xard64]

While MSX was very rare here in Nordic countries I got to say that man do some of the MSX machines look good! (I also wonder if the typing experience can match the looks)

[@RetroDream]

Typing experience was rather mixed, the keyboard was generally too soft, still it was better than some other machines.

[@stoomkracht]

It was quite popular in The Netherlands because of Philips. Cassette tape only. Copying was also a thing. Loading times were indeed loooong and sometimes errored out. First steps programming with MS BASIC: the first thing you could do right after the instant power-up. Typing in code-listings from books and magazines or creating your own from scratch or modifying. How things have changed. The standard went on for quite some years in some parts of the world. In NL I remember the Philips MSX 2 still being very successful with build-in 3.5 floppy's and that was it. Still... looking back not one 8 bit home computer could compete with some of the quality 8 bit games on the NES. They would cost an arm and leg though.

[@RetroDream]

Thanks for sharing! These were very different time indeed... As for consoles, it's difficult for computers to compete with systems specifically designed for gaming, either NES or SMS.

[@DaveJustDave]

My MSX has been sitting a while. I need to figure out how to get stuff running on it!

[@RetroDream]

That would be great! What manufacturer?

[@anticat900]

A Well presented video, i had a hx10, it was ok machine but I felt it was like a colecovision in ability , which meant it felt a bit behind my friends c64.

[@RetroDream]

Thanks for sharing your experience.

[@MacSociety]

Subbed. Nice video. Been considering adding MSX to my 8bit life here in the USA but have yet to buy one. Have a one that is close, just pre MSX really, but not an official MSX yet. Being in USA we don't see tons here.

[@RetroDream]

Thanks for your interest and for sharing your thoughts! The MSX series will actually continue when I have material for another 3 episodes, making it 6 in total.

[@NickeP86]

Nice video! MSX have a lot of interesting computers. I have a Spectravideo SVI-738 X'Press. :) Swedish model.

[@RetroDream]

Wow, I'm getting a lot of comments from Sweden :) Thanks for sharing

[@timoheinonen9570]

I own one also. Big minus of the computer is 360 kB disk drive.

[@AndrewHelgeCox]

Did you cover the misery? I feel like I missed that bit.

[@RetroDream]

Misery is for episode #2 due later this week!

[@neu3135]

Special thanks .. MSX ilove it

[@brazilmugenteam]

It was my first computer - and MSX was really a thing here in Brazil back then - a Sharp MSX Hotbit. It was my first try at programming, at age of 8, using LOGO to draw sprites and Basic for coding, a very basic PONG game.

[@RetroDream]

Thanks for sharing! Indeed MSX was very well developed in Brazil and several other countries (as explained in episode 2)

[@UTUBMRBUZZ]

Started with a ZX81 did later get an MSX Goldstar. It was a huge improvement......

[@RetroDream]

Thanks for sharing and confirming about this!

[@skulkk]

Had a Sony and Toshiba MSX. Knightmare & F1 Spirit for the win, still playing both, sadly not on an actual MSX anymore.

[@RetroDream]

Nightmare was legendary

[@lawrencedoliveiro9104]

2:54 Ah, the legendary Robert Tinney, creator of many a cover illustration for _BYTE_ magazine ...

[@RetroDream]

Legendary

[@homesanto]

MSX pegó fuerte en España, eran ordenadores con mucho carisma, aunque Spectrum y Amstrad se quedaron con el mercado de los 8 bits.

[@faberfox]

No te estarás olvidando de Commodore? ;-)

[@homesanto]

@@faberfox El Commodore 64 nunca llegó a tener mucho mercado en España. El Commodore Amiga y el Atari ST, sí... pero esos vinieron después.

[@faberfox]

@@homesanto estás seguro? Soy argentino +50, así que mi referencia de la época es principalmente por las revistas, en particular micromanía, que si bien al principio tenía mucha mas cobertura de Spectrum, ya para la segunda época casi que era pareja con la de Commodore, y bastante menos de Amstrad. Tengo amigos tanto españoles como argentinos que viven allá hace mas de una década que coinciden con esta apreciación, al igual que la disponibilidad en sitios como ebay de España...

[@homesanto]

@@faberfox Créeme, viví esa época, y si bien es cierto que había publicaciones para Spectrum, Amstrad, Commodore y MSX, estos dos últimos iban de comparsa en el mercado de los juegos, la mayoría conversiones de ínfima calidad. Los juegos de calidad para MSX sólo se hacían en Japón.

[@pepegotera8598]

Si,mi primera computadora fue un MSX 128 kb

[@MiharuHiramu]

Almost everyone in Finland had C64 but MSX has an audience as well. Mostly because of Spectravideo.

[@RetroDream]

Good to know!

[@jon-paulfilkins7820]

It was an 'Also Ran' here in the UK. It's peak years were 85, 86 and 87. It arrived just as the manufacture die off occurring in our crowded market (From the UK and not Sinclair or Acorn? Goodbye. From elsewhere and not Commodore or Atari? you are leaving the market for a few years at least). Amstrad and MXS arrived in the middle of this carnage and somehow survived, though Amstrad did better. This was probably its least successful European Market. Did better elsewhere. Latin America I hear it kind of ruled. Never saw an MSX II in the shops here but they did appear elsewhere!

[@RetroDream]

Thanks for sharing! And I guess the UK was indeed the least successful European market.. In France it was not widespread but still you could find MSX games in shops for quite a long time, until 1989.

[@jon-paulfilkins7820]

@@RetroDream Must admit I was basing the time span MSX did relatively well here in the UK on Mastertronic games releases. This was the company that started the budget label craze of the late 80's here. Famously tight fisted, and would only produce stuff that sold well enough, if they had a couple of duds on a platform, they would drop the machine entirely. in 85-87 they released something like 20 titles on the MSX in that time frame. The Atari range of computers it was mid 30's (though many were US Titles released in the UK, they could not get publishing rights for Japanese games on the MSX so all releases were home grown).

[@stephenpalmer9375]

Basically in the UK it just arrived a little too late. The Home Computer Market (and we were very much into Microcomputers rather than consoles) was pretty saturated with Sinclairs, Commodores and Amstrad machines ruling the roost (with rich kids and schools getting the BBC, or it's little brother the Electron). Only a handful of models made it across, and only the Toshiba HX10 got any kind of minor foothold. Even then, the games would be lazy ports of the also Z80 CPU'd Sinclair ZX Spectrum. We never saw any MSX2. There's a tale that it was such a flop that a shipment of MSX's was diverted to the Netherlands instead of the UK (explaining why it was super popular there). I believe it also did well in Spain. I only discovered them in the last few years, and got a little bit addicted to getting various models from Japan... If they had only gotten to our shores maybe 6 months earlier, or if a European manufacturer in addition to Panasonic had adopted the standard, things might have been different.

[@RetroDream]

@Jon-Paul very interesting info, thanks for sharing. I did hear about Mastertronic but didn't know it was British. And that it led budget competition.

[@RetroDream]

@Stephen I think the same. It was touch and go, and it would not have taken much for the MSX to enter the market in every country where it actually failed. A few months earlier, better commercial support, and so on. But not much. Amazing story about that shipment diverted to the NL... We'll discuss international markets in the next part of the MSX series here, in a few days! And what about the NES console, it did well in the UK?

[@xperiments]

This same computer was my first computer. Lately I have re-buy it ;-)

[@RetroDream]

Interesting! As it appears this was the first computer of many people here ;)

[@emesde]

Nice video ! But you do skip the fact that there are several generation of msx computes . Metal gear didn’t start on the msx , but on msx2 . Big difference

[@RetroDream]

There will be much more said in part 2 in the coming days

[@PaulSpades]

These were pretty cool machines, but let's be serious - MS just wanted to displace the other competing Basic systems from the market. Embrace, eXtend and eXtinguish. The electronics producers wanted a way in the microcomputer market after the calculator wars came to a close. Audio hifi and video machines were more costly to develop and build than these micros. They had the production facilities and experience, they just needed an open door and MSX was it.

[@RetroDream]

No arguing, that was indeed the case. And we can add that MS didn't do very well here, as opposed to the PC

[@w1ck3dz0d1ac]

If they would have released the XBOX in Japan as the MSX-box do you think they would have had a better launch?

[@RetroDream]

😂

[@PaRoDiUzZ]

I didnt use the joystick too much either when i used my msx(still around and working at moments i have a nostalgic moment), primarily because you needed extra buttons for the good games anyway, most konami games used bothebuttons on the joystick, and with gamels like maze of galious or treasure of usas you had to use the keyboard anyway.

[@RetroDream]

That's right, I forgot to mention it, you had to use the keyboard anyway. Thanks for sharing your experience!

[@PaRoDiUzZ]

@@RetroDream It really helps if you want/need to cheat too, konami primarily had some easter eggs if you put the game you wanted toplay in the primary slot and a another game in the other slot(unless it was their own cheat cartdridge game master) so a game like their version of q*bert has, although it aint their best, certain cheat (unlock all tracks in f-1 spirit, unlock some cheat codes in nemesis 2, have the 'happy' extra skill in Usas always available etc).

[@PaRoDiUzZ]

And you couldn't get the 'true ending of Salamander if you didn't put Nemesis 2 in the second slot, wich was a kinda dick move, but still.. :D

[@muradalkatib4678]

It's called كمبيوتر صخر in middle East and it's have educational Arabic program cartridge Great memories 😍😍

[@RetroDream]

"Sakhr" it's called, yes?

[@muradalkatib4678]

@@RetroDream yes exactly and there are many different types of Arabic sakhr machines and it's rare Thanks for you 😚😚

[@PropaneWP]

I had a Sony HB-75P back in the day. The cartridge games were indeed superior to the cassette software by a long shot. The games from Konami were amazing, especially the ones with the Yamaha SCC sound chip. There were no better sound on any home system at the time.

[@RetroDream]

Absolutely.

[@PGGMusic]

No word about the extra hardware in the Konami cartridges to get better sound?

[@RetroDream]

So many words yet to speak about MSX games!.. Either in part 3 or in a dedicated subsequent video. Sure the SCC will have its story told!

[@TheSulross]

if an MSX computer would have come with ability to boot CP/M and an 80 column text mode display capability then it would have squarly been a home computer that could satisfy gaming entertainment and personal productivity with a huge library of CP/M business centric software titles. It could have then played in the market space that the Tandy 1000 owned in the US market (but at still even more economical price entry points). But as it was, in the US market, if the choice would be between an MS-DOS but graphical gaming capable Tandy 1000 vs an MSX computer, the more compelling choice was the Tandy 1000. Radio Shack stores were everywhere so it was easy to find to purchase, very well marketed and promoted, and easy to get support post purchase). The all the games for the PC were at one's fingertips. Game companies made a point to support Tandy 1000 graphics and sound because it was based on the IBM PC Jr. In short, am saying that in its heyday the MSX was stymied in North America because the Tandy 1000 was in its heyday too and if a family could afford to own just one computer then a Tandy 1000 was a far superior choice.

[@RetroDream]

Extremely interesting analysis. I learnt something. I had no idea the Tandy was the main competitor here. I thought first of the C64, Apple II and IBM PC, but if I'm following well your explanation, the Tandy was fitting the precise gap and answered the precise needs that the MSX should have, to become the industry standard. Thanks again for sharing it.

[@timoheinonen9570]

There were MSX computers with 80 colum text mode and the ability to run CP/M. For example Spectravideo SVI-738, that has MSX2 VDP (V9938) so has the support for 80 column text mode. There were few MSX1 computers with V9938 VDP.

[@TheSulross]

@@timoheinonen9570 That should have been an official part of the MSX spec so every model made by any manufacturer would come with that ability out of the box (but with Microsoft involved is obvious to see why enshrining CP/M as part of the standard platform wouldn't be a thing - plus would have incurred a royalty to Digital Research). The Commodore C128 effectively had this capability but by the late date (1985 vs 1983) that that home computer came out, CP/M had significantly faded and didn't much matter anymore as MS-DOS PC clones were everywhere and got to be relatively very affordable for would-be home computer owners (e.g., the Tandy 1000 - 1984). My Intel 8085 based Tandy TRS Model 200 has a suite of productivity software in ROM (e.g., Microsoft's Multiplan). Microsoft should have similarly insured that there were productivity apps to be available for MSX computers. After all, Tandy did so with their bundled Deskmate offering, surely Microsoft could have managed the same for such an ambitious home computing platform initiative as MSX. All-in-all, MSX was just a poor offering (relative to competitive options) for the North American market.

[@fr_schmidlin]

@@TheSulross The MSX-DOS is CP/M compatible, so all MSX machines with at least 64KB of mainRAM can run CP/M software by default. The only restriction is on MSX1: the majority of them can only do 40 columns, with few exceptions. But all MSX2 computers an higher can do 80 columns.

[@elmariachi5133]

I have seen home computers on ebay with missing keys a lot .. But I never managed to lose a key on one of mine. So I actually wonder how it is possible to lose a key.

[@RetroDream]

Need to ask the various piles of stuff that successively lay on it during 40 years

[@pepegotera8598]

you take breadcrumbs moistened in water you shape it into a key, then you paint it because logically you will no longer find a key of the same keyboard model.

[@sirsquid577]

I discovered msx though my increased interest of Japanese tech, managed to get it emulated on my pi400 got an old rpg maker program working on it, would be nice to get my hands on the actual hardware one day though, although its at least much easier and cheaper to get than the x68000 and pc88/98 systems lol

[@RetroDream]

Thanks for sharing!

[@randomwrestlingarchive3937]

Where are you based? Didn't know MSX machine really existed in the US

[@RetroDream]

France :)

[@Danny.._]

that gradius cartridge still says gradius in japanese even though it says nemesis in english

[@RetroDream]

That's a great info, thanks!

[@JesterEric]

My first computer was a Sony HB75b MSX Christmas 1984. It was a nice system with some at the time great games like Nemesis and Penguin Adventure. Tape games not so good but some of them I remember enjoying Shark Hunter, Blagger, Chuckie Egg, Jet Set Willy, Special Operations, Alien 8. Sorcery needed a special poke to stop it crashing on the Sony. It was just too expensive on introduction to be more popular. The Sony was 299 uk pounds and for the same price you could have an Amstrad with a colour monitor and a built-in tape recorder

[@RetroDream]

Thanks for sharing! Indeed some MSX were much more expensive than others. There was no price standard for sure.

[@SteveMacSticky]

you were nine eh? I was eight in 1984.

[@RetroDream]

Same generation...

[@SteveMacSticky]

@@RetroDream the best!🎊🤣

[@mohammedganai9636]

Nemesis was the European title.

[@DjKorppi]

I owned a C64 and the only computer that had equally good games was MSX. Just the sound was lacking, even though some cardridges has 8-channel sound.

[@RetroDream]

Thanks for sharing and confirming about the MSX 😀

[@beholder2012]

MSX hadn't smooth scrolling.

[@altgraph497]

@@beholder2012 There are newer indie titles for the MSX1 that feature smooth scrolling; for example, Freedom Fighter - a Zanac clone with smooth vertical scrolling and it looks great! So the capability for it is there. It just wasn't exploited by programmers at the time unfortunately.

[@beholder2012]

@@altgraph497 „The TMS9918 does not have any scroll registers, and so scrolling must be done by software. Furthermore, scrolling can only be done on character boundaries, not pixel by pixel” (from Wikipedia).

[@altgraph497]

@@beholder2012 kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4WwiX5mrNxoa5o I have the physical copy on cartridge of this game. Looks damn smooth to me. Not questioning the hardware limitations of the MSX, just pointing out that there are workarounds that were not exploited to any significant extent back in the 80s.

[@AmstradExin]

When I had a C64, the MSX was a hell of a downgrade. Even when I got my PC88, the equivalent versions of the same game on the MSX2 were for some reason sometimes terrible.

[@ingoskotton9624]

Downgrade? Like higher Resolution, more Sprites, more colors, better color palette, real RGB Output compared with the grainy C64 video output, faster loading times through cartrdiges or faster loading times through the way more advanced 3 1/2" Disk drive standard? way better Basic, the 4 times faster CPU? What excactly is the downgrade here? Show me something like Nemesis 3, Salamander or Penguin Adventure on the C64, or just compare Elite on both systems...

[@AmstradExin]

@@ingoskotton9624 It seems you only read the adverts and not did do anything with the machines. C64 vs. MSX: -CPU is NOT 4 times faster. The CPU is 3.5Mhz vs 1Mhz and the 6502 needs 2 cycles per opcode vs. 4 on the Z80. -Only 256x192 Video vs. 320x200 on the C64 -Larger sprites.....24 pixels wide each, 8 in a Rasterline -Better Soundchip -SCROLLING vs. NO SCROLLING on the MSX -4 Color Multicolor mode with less color clash -C64 just connected the Floppy drive.....up to 4 on a single machine. The MSX needs an extra cartridge just for that. There were 3.5" drives sold by commodore. Just sold one on Ebay. As for Games: Good luck getting even close to games like Katakis, Turrican, Creatures 2, etc. As for MSX2 vs. PC88(MkIISR and onwards): -3.5Mhz vs. 4Mhz -512 Colors both but: -256x192 in 16 colors vs. 640x200 in 8 colors -OPN or OPNA vs. AY ......Just compare Testament on both. I think the MSX would have been way better if they just released the MSX2 from the beginning. At least it's better than the C64 and would be the top of the pack easily.

[@AmstradExin]

@@ingoskotton9624 Also the CPU isn't that relevant between C64 and MSX1. To access the Video RAM on the MSX, you painfully have to access it through ports which slows down any graphics operations. The way the Graphics work alone scared many people off from making Games on the MSX. That alone is a shame because the Graphics are still generally better than on ZX Spectrum, CPC, Atari, etc.

[@RetroDream]

I agree with both of you. There were pros and cons to both machines, no one wins easily. On one hand the C64 did have slightly better specs, but on the other one Ingo is right about the better color palette and the super advanced tuning of games: indeed it's impossible to find something equivalent to Nemesis, Salamander and a few other Konami titles. Let's focus on the advantages of both worlds :)

[@ingoskotton9624]

@@AmstradExin OMG :) The C64 is using Multi Color Mode for like every game ever released, which is 160 x 200 resolution, the pseudo Hi Res mode is too limited in RAM usage, performance and colors. You don't have a color clash issue on any MSX machine, the only color clash happens if you use a fully software rendered Sprite (like a lazy western Spectrum port) using the hardware sprites = zero color clash. The C64 (like every other 8-bit machine) would also produce color clashes when rendering it through the CPU but the C64 couldnt even do that , cause of its superlame MOS abomination CPU. The MSX(1) on the other side is using 256x200 for everything (all 32 Sprites, all Characters, all Background tiles) no limitations what so ever. The MSX2 used Mode 5 for almost all games 256×212/16 Colors can do real Hi Res 512 x 212/16 Colors or Lo-Res 256 x 212/256 Colors on Screen and putting a PC 88 in front of a MSX2 is just beyond every joke, Gradius on the PC-88 kzbin.info/www/bejne/iqqyZH9_nNCNpbM looks like shite, all graphics with that "nice" black dots in between, less colors than the MSX1 version, horrible scrolling, the sprites moving with like 5 frames per second, even the Sound is below the SCC MSX1 version buy yeah that's above MSX2 games like Space Manbow or Metal Gear Solid (or any other MSX2 game) :)))) Still waiting for a comparable title for sprites or animated backgrounds for Nemesis 3 or a 3D Scroller like Penguin Adventure on the C64?

[@daishi5571]

MSX 1 not having hardware scrolling was a big miss. I only knew of one guy with an MSX2, but by then most people I knew were moving from C64 and Spectrum to ST and Amiga.

[@RetroDream]

Right. That's a clear con for the MSX

[@henson2k]

I have Sony MSX2 computer

[@RetroDream]

Cool

[@jinchoung]

huh... you sound like an american. how was it that your parents got you guys an MSX? it was a pretty obscure system stateside.

[@RetroDream]

Haha strange, yes ? Only the voice is American (my friend) and I'm French. That should explain ;)

[@johnps1670]

When I bought my first computer I had the choice between C64 and MSX 1. Price was the same. Went for Commodore, because I knew that system. The better choice after all, didn't see much MSX.

[@RetroDream]

good to know

[@jorgeandrade20]

Where did you grow up? You sound American, that's very surprising to me.

[@RetroDream]

In France

[@anglosaxon361]

Konami's Green Beret was a piece of rubbish, it was done by a UK team, not the excellent Japanese program team

[@RetroDream]

That's true... There are exceptions to the Konami good games rule

[@badcommentbot8349]

Can it run crysis

[@RetroDream]

nop