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The R4200 is a microprocessor designed by MIPS Technologies, Inc. (MTI) that implemented the MIPS III instruction set architecture (ISA). It was also known as the VRX during development. The microprocessor was licensed to NEC, and the company fabricated and marketed it as the VR4200. The first VR4200, an 80 MHz part, was introduced in 1993. A faster 100 MHz part became available in 1994.
The R4200 was at least in part intended for use in low-power Windows NT computers such as personal computers and laptops,[1]: 468 reportedly offering "Pentium processor performance at a tenth of the price", having initially aimed to deliver twice the performance of a 66 MHz Intel 486DX2 processor. Reported SPECint benchmark results put the microprocessor's integer performance at around 85% of a P5-variant Pentium microprocessor, with floating-point performance being about half that of the Pentium. Expected to be used in Nintendo's "new machine due in 1995",[1] the R4300i variant was used in the widely popular Nintendo 64 video game console and SNK’s Hyper Neo Geo 64 arcade board. The R4200 ultimately did not see any use in personal computers and was repositioned as an embedded microprocessor that competed with the R4600.