The MSX range of computers was incredibly popular in its home country of Japan although it did manage to gain a limited following in the UK and mainland Europe. A standard platform but one that could be released by a range of manufacturers was years ahead of anything else in the industry, but in the west the market was dominated by the likes of Commodore, Atari, Apple, Amstrad and Sinclair.
This didn’t stop Mastertronic from supporting the system though with a range of games, along with titles from both Melbourne House and Virgin Games although the majority were conversions from other systems. As the platform was based around the Z80 processor, most were straight ports from the ZX Spectrum with very little in the way of enhancements.
We’ll update this over time adding more systems, titles and credits and additional details for as many of these as we can identify.
Updated: 16th July 2025
MASTERTRONIC
| Number | Title | Author | Sales | Cover Art |
| IX 0006 | Space Walk | Mark J Brady (cover) | 38,562 | |
| IX 0036 | Chiller | 42,459 | ||
| IX 0058 | Formula 1 Simulator | Mark J Brady (cover) | 61,222 | |
| IX 0059 | Finders Keepers | Ed Hickman John Smyth (cover) |
38,053 | |
| IX 0090 | Soul Of A Robot | 14,193 | ||
| IX 0113 | Las Vegas Video Poker | 10,856 | ||
| IX 0114 | Speed King | 42,441 | ||
| IX 0119 | Molecule Man | John Smyth (cover) | 31,412 | |
| IX 0121 | Octagon Squad | 23,391 | ||
| IX 0123 | STORM | 25,108 | ||
| IX 0140 | Terminus | 9,248 | ||
| IX 0141 | Flash Gordon | Icon Design | 8,800 | |
| IX 0147 | Master Chess | 11,166 | ||
| BX 0157 | Feud | 19,886 | ||
| BX 0166 | Colony | Icon Design | 12,801 | |
| IX 0167 | Rasterscan | Binary Design | 9,170 | |
| BX 0168 | Invasion | Icon Design | 9,311 | |
| IX 0169 | Amaurote | 3,115 | ||
| IX 0171 | Voidrunner | Icon Design | 5,928 | |
| BX 0177 | Dr Jackle and Mr Wide | Stephen Curtis | 10,491 | |
| IX 0179 | Milk Race | 11,161 | ||
| IX 0181 | Stormbringer | David Jones and Mike Chand | 6,042 | |
| BX 0193 | Streaker | Beech Nut Creative Software John Smyth (cover) |
8,145 | |
| IX 0203 | 180 | 7,278 | ||
| IX 0204 | Angleball | 4,461 |
RICOCHET
| Number | Title | Original Publisher | Sales | Cover Art |
| RX 004 | Brian Jacks Superstar Challenge | Martech | 7,818 | |
| RX 005 | Eddie Kidd’s Jump Challenge | Martech | 8,648 |
MASTERTRONIC’S ADDED DIMENSION (M.A.D)
| Number | Title | Author | Sales | Cover Art |
| MAD 20 | Knight Tyme | 25,980 |
RACK-IT
| Title | Author | Original Publisher | Sales | Cover Art |
| Ocean Conqueror | Rack-It | 3,855 |
MELBOURNE HOUSE BOOKS
| Title | Author | Cover Art |
| MSX Exposed | Joe Pritchard | |
| MSX Games Book | Andrew Lacey | |
| MSX Machine Language For The Absolute Beginner | Joe Pritchard | |
| The Conplete MSX Programmers Guide | Toshiyuki Sato Paul Mapstone Isabella Mueiel |
DROSOFT
DroSoft was a Spanish publisher who entered into a license agreement with Mastertronic to re-publish many of their titles for the Spanish market. These covered the main Mastertronic label, Ricochet, Melbourne House, Virgin Mastertronic and games from a couple of other publishers releasing them under Mastertronic branding.
There were also some titles released exclusively in Spain that were available in the UK on other formats.
| Number | Title | Author | Mastertronic Label / Original Publisher |
Cover Art |
| 4MC 002 | Jump Jet | Anirog | ||
| 4MH 005 | Xenon | Animagic | Melbourne House | |
| 4MH 007 | Road Wars | Melbourne House | ||
| 4MH 008 | Aaargh! | Melbourne House | ||
| 4MH 009 | Barbarian | Icon Design | Melbourne House | |
| 4MH 011 | Double Dragon | Melbourne House | ||
| 4MH 172 | Obliterator | Animagic | Melbourne House | |
| 4MH 191 | War In Middle Earth | Melbourne House | ||
| 4MH 213 | Magic Johnson’s Basketball | Melbourne House | ||
| 4MT 001 | Formula 1 Simulator | Mastertronic | ||
| 4MT 007 | Speed King | Mastertronic | ||
| 4MT 019 | Amaurote | Mastertronic | ||
| 4MT 031 | Octagon Squad | Mastertronic | ||
| 4MT 040 | Master Chess | Icon Design | Mastertronic | |
| 4MT 043 | Soul Of A Robot | Syntaxsoft | Mastertronic | |
| 4MT 047 | Terminus | Mastertronic | ||
| 4MT 048 | Feud | Binary Design | Bulldog | |
| 4MT 053 | Colony | Icon Design | Bulldog | |
| 4MT 066 | Voidrunner | Icon Design | Mastertronic | |
| 4MT 073 | Eddie Kidd Jump Challenge | Ricochet, Martech |
||
| 4MT 074 | Brian Jacks Superstar Challenge | Ricochet, Martech |
||
| 4MT 109 | Ocean Conqueror | Rack-It | ||
| 4MT 120 | Starquake | Bubble Bus | ||
| 4MT 126 | Trailblazer | Gremlin Graphics | ||
| 4MT 138 | Beach Head | Orpheus | Access Software | |
| 4MT 139 | Bruce Lee | Comptiq | Datasoft | |
| 4MT 144 | Nightshade | Ultimate | Ultimate | |
| 4MT 145 | Knight Lore | Ultimate | Ultimate | |
| 4MT 147 | Motorbike Madness | Binary Design | Mastertronic | |
| 4MT 149 | Sorcery | Virgin Games | ||
| 4VG 208 | Shinobi | Virgin Mastertronic | ||
| 4VG 209 | Gemini Wing | Virgin Mastertronic | ||
| 4VG 216 | Continental Circus | New Frontier | Virgin Mastertronic | |
| 4VG 222 | Double Dragon II: The Revenge | Virgin Mastertronic | ||
| 4VG 236 | World Cup Italia ’90 | Virgin Mastertronic |
Notes
- Where there are gaps in the numbering, this will be because the numbers are allocated to games on other formats. In other instances, there times where no game seems to be on record. This seems to be a common issue across most Mastertronic ranges and we assume that this is where games were planned for release but were cancelled.
- The MSX version of 180 appears in the regular Mastertronic range rather than the MADC range. It uses MAD branding as this was intended to promote the company’s higher profile titles.
- A large number of titles that were released on the Ricochet label on other formats were also available for the MSX in the UK but not re-released by Mastertronic. These were subsequently released by DroSoft as you can see here, and the art used for these releases appears to have been taken from planned Ricochet releases that were cancelled.
- Motorbike Madness was a Spanish exclusive release and never had a UK release.
More entries, ranges, details, cover art and links to reviews to be added shortly.
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