MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, the director at ASCII Corporation. Microsoft and Nishi conceived the project as an attempt to create unified standards among various home computing system manufacturers of the period, in the same fashion as the VHS standard for home video tape machines. The first MSX computer sold to the public was a Mitsubishi ML-8000, released on October 21, 1983, thus marking its official release date.
Arkanoid is a 1986 block breaker arcade game developed and published by Taito. In North America, it was published by Romstar. Controlling a paddle-like craft known as the Vaus, the player is tasked with clearing a formation of colorful blocks by deflecting a ball towards it without letting the ball leave the bottom edge of the playfield. Some blocks contain power-ups that have various effects, such as increasing the length of the Vaus, creating several additional balls, or equipping the Vaus with cannons. Other blocks may be indestructible or require multiple hits to break.
Dig Dug is a maze arcade video game released by Namco in 1982. It was distributed in North America by Atari, Inc. The player digs underground tunnels to attack enemies in each level, by either inflating them to bursting or crushing them underneath rocks.
Moon Patrol is a 1982 arcade video game developed and released by Irem. It was licensed to Williams for distribution in North America. The player controls a Moon buggy which can jump over and shoot obstacles on a horizontally scrolling landscape as well as shoot aerial attackers. Designed by Takashi Nishiyama, Moon Patrol is often credited with the introduction of full parallax scrolling in side-scrolling games. Cabinet art for the Williams version was done by Larry Day. Most of the home ports were from Atari, Inc., sometimes under the Atarisoft label.
1982 was the peak year for the golden age of arcade video games as well as the second generation of video game consoles. Many games were released that would spawn franchises, or at least sequels, including Dig Dug, Pole Position, Mr. Do!, Zaxxon, Q*bert, Time Pilot and Pitfall! The year's highest-grossing video game was Namco's arcade game Pac-Man, for the third year in a row, while the year's best-selling home system was the Atari 2600. Additional video game consoles added to a crowded market, notably the ColecoVision and Atari 5200. Troubles at Atari late in the year triggered the video game crash of 1983.
Time Bandit is a maze shoot 'em up written for the TRS-80 Model I by Bill Dunlevy and Harry Lafnear and published by MichTron in 1983. It was ported to the TRS-80 Color Computer and Dragon 32, but enjoyed its greatest popularity several years later as an early release for the Atari ST. It was also released for the pseudo-PC-compatible Sanyo MBC-55x with 8-color display. Amiga and MS-DOS versions were ported by Timothy Purves.
Oh Mummy is a video game for the Amstrad CPC models of home computer. It was developed by Gem Software and published by Amsoft in 1984. It was often included in the free bundles of software that came with the computer. The gameplay is similar to that of the 1981 arcade game Amidar.
Barbarian is a 1987 platform game by Psygnosis. It was first developed for the Atari ST, and was ported to the Amiga, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, MSX, Amstrad CPC, and ZX Spectrum. The Amiga port was released in 1987; the others were released in 1988. The cover artwork is by fantasy artist Roger Dean.
Pac-Mania is a cavalier perspective maze game that was developed and released by Namco for arcades in 1987. In the game, the player controls Pac-Man as he must eat all of the dots while avoiding the colored ghosts that chase him in the maze. Eating large flashing "Power Pellets" will allow Pac-Man to eat the ghosts for bonus points, which lasts for a short period of time. A new feature to this game allows Pac-Man to jump over the ghosts to evade capture. It is the ninth title in the Pac-Man video game series and was the last one developed for arcades up until the release of Pac-Man Arrangement in 1996. Development was directed by Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani. It was licensed to Atari Games for release in North America.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is an action video game developed and published by Atari Games and released in arcades in 1985. It is based on the 1984 film of the same name, the second film in the Indiana Jones franchise. It is the first Atari System 1 arcade game to include digitized speech, including voice clips of Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones and Amrish Puri as Mola Ram, as well as John Williams's music from the film.
RoboCop is a beat 'em up / run and gun video game developed and published by Data East for arcades in 1988 based on the 1987 film of the same name. It was sub-licensed to Data East by Ocean Software, who obtained the rights from Orion Pictures at the script stage. Data East and Ocean Software subsequently adapted the arcade game for home computers.
Thunder Blade is a third-person shoot 'em up video game released by Sega for arcades in 1987. Players control a helicopter to destroy enemy vehicles. The game was released as a standard stand-up arcade cabinet with force feedback, as the joystick vibrates. A helicopter shaped sit-down model was released, replacing the force feedback with a cockpit seat that moves in tandem with the joystick. It is a motion simulator cabinet, like the previous Sega Super Scaler games Space Harrier (1985) and After Burner (1987). The game's plot and setting was inspired by the film Blue Thunder (1983).
Batman is a 1986 isometric action-adventure game by Ocean Software for the Amstrad PCW, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, and MSX, and the first Batman game developed. The game received favourable reviews. An unrelated Batman game was released two years later, titled Batman: The Caped Crusader.
Metal Gear is an action-adventure stealth video game developed and published by Konami for the MSX2. It was released for the system in Japan and parts of Europe in 1987. Considered the game to popularize the stealth game genre, it was the first video game to be fully developed by Hideo Kojima, who would go on to direct most of the games in the Metal Gear series. A reworked port of the game was released for the Famicom a few months later, which later saw release in international markets for the NES over the following two years; this version was developed without Kojima's involvement and features drastically altered level designs, among other changes. An emulated Famicom version came with the special edition of Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes on GameCube. A more faithful port of the MSX2 version was later included in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence for the PlayStation 2, as well as in the HD Edition of the same game released for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PlayStation Vita, with these newer ports featuring a revised translation and additional gameplay features. The MSX version was also released for Wii Virtual Console and PC.
Aackosoft International B.V. was a Dutch video game developer and publisher that exclusively developed games for the MSX home computer, becoming one of the biggest publishers for the MSX platform. It re-released some titles for the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64, for which it also distributed software in their early years. Aackosoft filed for bankruptcy in 1988.
Rastan Saga, known as Rastan in North America, is a side-scrolling hack and slash arcade video game released by Taito in 1987. It was a critical and commercial success and was ported to home platforms.
Ghostbusters II is a 1989 action game based on the film of the same name. It was published by Activision for various computer platforms. British studio Foursfield developed a version for Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum, which also got ported to the MSX by New Frontier. It features three levels based on scenes from the film. Dynamix developed a separate version for the DOS, also based on the film. The non-DOS versions were praised for the graphics and audio, but criticized for long loading times, disk swapping, and the final level. The DOS, Commodore 64 and Amiga versions were the only versions released in North America.
Undeadline is a 1989 vertically scrolling shooter video game developed and originally published by T&E Soft for the MSX2 and MSX2+ home computers. It was later ported to the X68000 computer and Sega Mega Drive, published by Palsoft, followed by digital re-releases for Microsoft Windows. Both the MSX2 and X68000 versions also received physical re-releases by Japanese retailer BEEP. It follows a group of characters in rescue of queen Althea from Zidane, a kingdom surrounded by barriers connected with the demon world, whose monsters have overflowed it. Controlling either a fighter, wizard, or ninja, the player can choose from six stages and play them in any order, fighting against waves of enemies and bosses, while defending or avoiding collision with their projectiles and other obstacles.
