MSX

From WE Computers Museum
MSX.png
MSX
Designer ASCII Microsoft
Manufacturer Canon, Casio, Daewoo, D4 Enterprise, Dragon Data, Fujitsu, GoldStar, Hitachi, Kyocera, JVC, Mitsubishi, National, Panasonic, Philips Pioneer, Radofin, Samsung, Sanyo, Sharp, Spectravideo, Sony, Toshiba, Yamaha, Yashica
CPU MSX, MSX2, MSX2+
3.58 MHz Zilog Z80
MSX TurboR
7.16 MHzR800
3.58 MHz Zilog Z80
Graphics MSX
TI TMS9918
MSX2
Yamaha V9938
MSX2+, MSX TurboR
Yamaha V9958
Memory MSX
8 kB minimum
MSX2, MSX2+
64 kB minimum
MSX TurboR
256 kb or 512 kB
Media ROM cartridge, Cassette tape, Floppy disk
Released 1983-1993
Added to Museum Not yet

The MSX was a video game hardware architecture concieved by and marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, Microsoft's former Vice President of Sales for Far East.

Name

Kazuhiko Nishi stated that MSX was named after the United States MX missile (Missile-eXperimental).

It stands for "Machines with Software eXchangeability".

Manufacturers

Microsoft never produced their own machine, but the architecture was licensed and sold by Canon, Casio, Daewoo, Dragon Data, Fujitsu, GoldStar, Hitachi, Kyocera, JVC, Mitsubishi, National, Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer, Samsung, Sanyo, Sharp, Spectravideo, Sony, Toshiba, Yamaha, and Yashica.

In all, Twenty-two different companies sold MSX-compatible machines worldwide from 1983 to 1993.

Legacy

The legacy of the MSX remains, even after its heyday. Independent games continue to be produced for the system to this day.

In addition, the MSX trademark holders licensed the hardware for computers in the 21st century, such as the 1chipMSX which was released in 2006.

Emulated MSX games owned by the WEC Museum

Title Developer Release Added to Museum Notes
Voidrunner Llamasoft 1987 February 8, 2022 Video game included on Llamarama.