Editing MSX (section)

=== Evolution & the downfall of the MSX system ===
{{redirect|MSX2|the protein|Msh homeobox 2}}
MSX spawned four generations. The first three, MSX (1983), MSX2 (1985),<ref>{{Cite web |title=MSX2 |url=http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=288 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140904092056/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=288 |archive-date=September 4, 2014 |access-date=September 2, 2014 |website=Old-Computers.com : The Museum}}</ref> and MSX2+ (1988), were all 8-bit computers based on the [[Zilog Z80|Z80]] microprocessor. The MSX2+ was exclusively released in Japan.

A new MSX3 was originally scheduled to be released in 1990, but delays in the development of its Yamaha-designed VDP caused it to miss its [[time to market]] deadline.<ref>''MSX-FAN'' Magazine (February 1995 issue, p.&nbsp;90)</ref> In its place, the MSX TurboR was released, which used the new custom 16-bit [[R800]] microprocessor developed by [[ASCII Corporation]] intended for the MSX3, but features such as DMA and 24-bit addressing were disabled.

But also the problems with ASCII and the break-up with Microsoft early in 1986 were causing some more troubles. Nishi and Gates fell out, and Microsoft in 1986 disclosed the end of the partnership. Stating that Nishi owed the company more than $500,000, Microsoft set up its own Japanese subsidiary.<ref name="forbes19860210">{{Cite magazine |last=Forbes |first=Jim |date=1986-02-10 |title=Microsoft Files With SEC for Spring Stock Offering |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oi8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA6 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220320015940/https://books.google.com/books?id=oi8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA6 |archive-date=2022-03-20 |access-date=2021-10-29 |magazine=[[InfoWorld]] |page=6 |volume=8 |issue=6}}</ref> But ASCII Corporation continued to thrive.

Mr. Nishi was also inclined to make important decisions on impulse and to spend without restraint, which led Microsoft to break with Ascii in 1986. One of the drops that broke the camel’s back was when Mr. Nishi spent $1 million to get a huge mechanical dinosaur to build in Tokyo as an advertising device. The break between Mr. Gates and Mr. Nishi was bitter, though the two now speak periodically.<ref name="auto">{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/24/business/computer-pioneer-s-moment-of-truth.html | title=Computer Pioneer's Moment of Truth | work=The New York Times | date=August 24, 1992 | last1=Pollack | first1=Andrew }}</ref>

In 1991, the other two co-founders of Ascii, Akio Gunji, president, and Keiichiro Tsukamoto, vice president, resigned abruptly, ostensibly in protest against rapid expansion. “They couldn’t keep up with me because I was accelerating too much,” Nishi said at a press conference at the time.<ref name="auto"/>

Like the MSX2+, the MSX TurboR was exclusively released in Japan. By the time the MSX TurboR standard was announced in 1990, only Panasonic was manufacturing MSX computers. Its initial model FS-A1ST met with moderate success, but the upgraded model FS-A1GT introduced in 1991 sold poorly due to its high retail cost of 99800 yen (about 740 USD at the time). Production of the TurboR ended in 1993 when Panasonic decided to focus on the release of [[3DO Interactive Multiplayer|3DO]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2009}} The VDP was eventually delivered in 1992, two years after its planned deadline, by which time the market had moved on. In an attempt to reduce its financial loss, Yamaha stripped nearly all V9958 compatibility and marketed the resulting V9990 E-VDP III as a video-chipset for PC VGA graphic cards, with moderate success.