MSX BASIC

MSX BASIC is a dialect of the BASIC programming language that came built into the ROM of MSX home computers. It is an extended version of Microsoft's MBASIC version 4.5, with added commands for graphics, music and the peripherals attached to MSX machines, and it was designed to follow GW-BASIC, which appeared the same year on IBM PCs and compatibles. When an MSX computer starts, the BASIC command prompt appears unless software in ROM, such as a game cartridge or a disk interface, takes control first. Like other Microsoft BASICs it uses a command line environment in which every program line has a number and unnumbered lines run at once in direct mode. Each new generation of MSX hardware shipped an updated version, from MSX BASIC 1.0 on MSX1 computers through versions 2.0, 2.1, 3.0 and 4.0 to 4.1 on the turbo R machines, adding screen modes, sprites, hardware accelerated graphics and sound support while staying backward compatible.