MSX - sponsored by Microsoft Japan - was an attempt at setting a standard around which different manufacturers could build, ensuring that plug-in cards and software would all be compatible, no matter which MSX machine was purchased.

It spearheaded the eventual, and much feared, Japanese invasion of the European and US markets. However, the specification of the 8-bit Z80 CPU, TI 9188 graphics, Intel I/O and General Instrument's AY-3-8910 sound chip was already considered dull by the time MSX machines started to appear in 1983, and so it didn't in the end have much impact, at least outside of Japan and the Far East.