MSX games

OutRun was released for both the MSX and MSX2.

MSX was the name of a standardized home computer architecture first seen in 1983. Led by Microsoft of Japan (now ASCII), the MSX concept was to create a standard format for computers, thus eliminating customer confusion and compatibility issues which had plagued the Japanese home computer market up until this point. In Japan, the idea was a huge success for several years, with many top video game IPs originating on the hardware (Bomberman and Metal Gear, just to name a couple).

The MSX was one of the first computers to be released worldwide, however problems arose with increased competition in North America and Europe. Furthermore the arrival of the Nintendo Famicom (NES) caused many video game developers to switch sides, and as technology progressed the MSX standard was abandoned in favour of more powerful computers. The concept would return in the late 1980s, however, when the rise of affordable IBM PC compatible computers dominated the computer market and became the de facto standard. Machines running Microsoft Windows are direct decendants of these systems.

Sega backed the MSX (and the improved MSX2), but not directly - many ports of Sega arcade games were brought to the computer via Pony Canyon and Philips. Limited success in Europe also saw Sega games ported to the system by Activision and U.S. Gold. Similarities between the SG-1000/SC-3000 and the MSX meant porting between the two systems was often easy, and interestingly some of Sega's laserdisc games (Astron Belt) made it to the system as a laserdisc MSX peripheral was released. It is currently the only home system these games have been brought to.