MSX home computer standard
In 1990, Panasonic alone carried the MSX standard into its final generation: the turbo R, with a 16-bit heart, built-in sound and software that showed what the standard might have become.
Import restrictions made Brazil build its own MSX industry — Gradiente’s Expert, Sharp’s HotBit, translated software and a fan culture that never stopped. The story of the standard’s third heartland.
Metal Gear, Castlevania’s twin, the Maze of Galious, the SCC sound chip: for a decade, Konami’s best ideas were prototyped on the MSX. This is the story of its secret laboratory.
Four generations, dozens of makers, three continents of bargains: how to buy an MSX in 2026 — which machines to hunt, what the games cost, and the modern extras that make the standard sing.
Beyond Metal Gear and the famous Konami cartridges lies the MSX’s deep bench: HAL’s puzzlers, Compile’s experiments, penguins, trampolines and one very fragile cave explorer. Ten gems worth digging for.
Golvellius (1987) is Compile’s sprawling MSX action-adventure — a Zelda-scale quest scattered across side-scrolling dungeons and a vast overworld, years before its Master System port. Our review.
Zanac (1986) gave Compile’s MSX shooter an artificial intelligence director that adapted to your play style — decades before adaptive difficulty was a bullet point. Our review.
Space Manbow (1989) is Konami’s late MSX2 showpiece: a horizontal shooter of arcade opulence, SCC soundtrack and impossible smoothness. Our review of the standard’s swansong in the genre.
Compile’s Aleste (1988) took the Zanac formula to the MSX2 and produced the platform’s definitive vertical shooter — fast, dense and gloriously weapon-rich. Our review.
The Maze of Galious (1987) — Knightmare II — is Konami’s vast MSX action-adventure: a ten-world castle, two heroes, and a generation’s schoolyard secrets. Our review of a masterpiece.