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