Sony Hit-Bit MSX

MSX was a bold attempt to do for home computers what a common standard had done for hi-fi: let many manufacturers build compatible machines that all ran the same software. Backed by Microsoft, the standard drew in big names, and Sony's smart Hit-Bit range was among the most stylish takes on it.

In Britain MSX never really caught fire, arriving into a market already carved up between Sinclair, Commodore and Acorn. But in Japan, and in parts of Europe and South America, it was a serious force, and it holds a special place in gaming history as the platform where Hideo Kojima and Konami's Metal Gear first appeared.

The Hit-Bit is a handsome reminder of a road British computing didn't take. Well made and capable, it shows how the home-computer story might have looked had the industry rallied around a single shared standard rather than a clutch of incompatible rivals.