The GX4000 was Amstrad's short-lived attempt to enter the games console market. The console was released in 1990 and was based on the still-popular CPC technology. Initial reviews were favourable - the console had impressive enhanced graphics and sound, a huge colour palette of 4096 (more than the 16 bit Sega Megadrive), hardware sprites and hardware scrolling. The console itself had a sleek curved design. It retailed for £99 and came bundled with driving game Burnin' Rubber. GX4000 game cartridges could also be used by the new 464+ and 6128+ computers released at the same time.

However, the GX4000 was a commercial flop and is one of the least successful games consoles ever made. This was in part due to the GX4000 being powered by 8 bit technology and almost immediately being superceded by the 16 bit Sega Megadrive, (released in November 1990 in Europe), and eventually the Nintendo SNES. There was little available software at launch, with some games being released months late or cancelled entirely. To make matters worse, several GX4000 games were simply CPC games from previous years rereleased onto a cartridge. This was not inspiring and users were not prepared to pay £25 for a cartridge game that they could buy for £3.99 on cassette instead.

In all, less than 40 games were produced for the GX4000, of which only half were original and unique to the console. Notable GX4000 games were Burnin' Rubber, Robocop 2, Pang, Plotting and Navy Seals. The GX4000 was only manufactured for a matter of months before it was discontinued.