Generation MSX

This won't be the first time I've wistfully looked at MSX commercials on the site and wished I could have been one of those lucky kids to grow up with one. I'll even admit, the grass is usually greener on the other side of the fence. However, I don't think any amount of realistic thinking or applied rationale could make up for a lifetime of being in awe. Like I said before, thanks to older gaming magazines, there was something badass and punk rock about playing games on an MSX. I fully understand just how stupid that sounds now, but at the time that was the impression that I got because they made it sound just so hardcore. To be honest... I think I was right.

We gonna rock on to MSX2

 

I'm sure that I've mentioned it before, but I felt like talking about it. The MSX seemed like one of the most badass things to me as a child. For the record, it's just a home computer. Micro Computers were all the rage back then and I'd often see them in various video game magazines. Of course not everyone had a computer at home back then and getting one was an uphill battle for me personally (that's for another post). Often, it wasn't until at school or the library that I'd use one. I had video game consoles though and my parents liked to support my reading. So I'd usually get whatever game magazine I'd pick out from the store whenever we'd go. This lead to discovering things like the MSX. 

There was something exotic about this computer system that was out of my reach. Other home computers like the Atari ST also had this allure for me. One gaming magazine that I'd read used cool gothy and punk imagery for their sections. For whatever reason, the computer section was given bloody fonts and crazy imagery. Don't ask me why. I wish I could remember the magazines name, but there was a ton during this time. It was a smaller publication that I only got at one grocery store, so who knows. Realistically this might account for some of my impressions that these Micro Computers were badass. These days I feel like tablets are a return to those old micros... and I have a pretty badass one.

Zemmix MSX console

MSX seemed much more exotic that it was when I was a kid. A computer standard popular in Japan and other countries, MSX seemed like gaming wonderland thanks to games magazines of the time. Like other popular with gamers home computers of the time, there was console versions that could be converted into into full versions of said home computer. I guess it was really just a budget friendly way to slide into a system.

I kind of miss those days. Sure now I can grab a cheapo PC at Walmart for a few hundred dollars... or even a basic tablet for under a hundred and cover my basic home needs for a computer. Then it was the wild west and convincing Dad I wasn't just going to play games on it was... aside from the occasional school project I was just going to play games on it. But Dad, that occasional school project...