How good was the Atari 2600? Everyone had one, well almost, we never did! But I played a lot on friends' consoles. Clocking Missile Command was the highlight.
Missed my 8 bit microcomputer of choice being the VZ200/VZ300 as imported by Dick Smith Electronics from 1983 to 1987. I commenced collecting these a number of years ago and am quite happy with where it is at right now.
We had Microbees at school, and there was quite a few of us who knew more about computers in the Year 11 computing class than the teacher!
By about 1990 the writing was on the wall for the non-IBM compatible microcomputer (except for Apple) and the last few attempts probably didn't sell that well. The software became more important than the hardware and having a common platform became crucial (see 'failed' MSX attempt - sold 5 million in Japan but didn't take off in the important Western markets).