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HISTORY LESSON
Launched in March 1987, the X68k was an intimidating
machine. Although it shares the same Motorola CPU as its
American counterparts, spec for spec, the X68k wipes the floor
with its Western competitors, and was intended to dethrone
NEC’s PC-98 from its top position in Japan. Launching with a
full megabyte of RAM (minimum) its CPU was 2MHz faster than
the American’s, and its sound chip was top of the line. It even
had 1MB of VRAM. However, the price was as intimidating as the
performance—around 7,000 dollars in today’s money.
>> Those who could afford the machine enjoyed essentially
perfect versions of arcade megaclassics such as Strider, Final
Fight, and the world-dominating Street Fighter II. This was
hardly surprising, though, because the underlying hardware
was already similar to that of arcade machines—Capcom even
used the Sharp as a development machine for its arcade cabinets.
The results were often genuinely perfect arcade ports, or at the
very least, near-perfect ports with very little compromise.
>> The X68000’s primary OS was Human68k—an MS-DOS-like
operating system developed by Hudson Soft. On top of this DOS
base were multiple desktop environments—like early versions
of Windows on the PC—including Visual Shell, SX-Window, and
Ko-Window. However, these interfaces were a kind of mashup
between the Mac, Amiga, and NeXTSTEP operating systems.
>> Despite being known as a gaming platform, it was also
marketed as a multimedia platform, with various packages for
video, image, and sound editing, none of which were particularly
famous. Although it was more than capable as a multimedia
desktop (like the Amiga and ST), it was a gaming machine first
and foremost. It even had a port for stereoscopic 3D goggles.
>> Gaming-wise, there’s a ton of side-scrolling shooters—they
actually make up a bulk of the Sharp’s titles. Despite being famed
for Japanese arcade titles, X68000 software is a mixture of East
and West, with arcade classics and home micro titles from both
the 8-bit and 16-bit eras.
>> Many will be surprised to find titles such as Future Wars,
Lemmings, and Xenon 2 Megablast. As for Japanese cult gaming,
try R-Type, Cotton, Neural Gear, and the jaw-dropping Geograph
Seal. Especially famous among gamer geeks is a reworked
version of Castlevania with a new engine, and upgraded visuals
and audio, available only in Japan and only for the X68000.
>> The X68000 would be improved year by year, with the final
machine shipping a standard 4MB of RAM, a 25MHz 32-bit 68030THE ATARI AND AMIGA may have had their adherents, but when it comes to gaming, the Sharp
X68000 is in a league of its own. Dubbed “The God Computer” by the Japanese, the X68000
(or X68k for short) is perhaps the ultimate in 16-bit gaming. While console makers such as Sega
and Nintendo often boasted “arcade-like” graphics, the X68k was the first home machine to
provide genuine arcade graphics. The X68000 might not be famous in the West (it was only sold
in Japan), but those in the know can expect near-perfect arcade ports.
However, X68k ownership is an eye-wateringly expensive proposition, with any half-decent
disks costing several hundred dollars, let alone the cost of the hardware itself. For most of us,
emulation is the only option. Nevertheless, it can be tricky to know where to start, and that’s
not even taking into account the language barrier of the Japanese operating system. So, let
us do the hard work for you, as we explore The God Computer, the Sharp X68000. –JOHN KNIGHTYOU’LL NEED THIS
32-BIT X86 CPU WITH MMX,
WINDOWS 2000, OR LATER
Or you can use a solid version of
Wine under Linux.XM6 PRO-68K
Download it from
https://bit.ly/2TjiAF4.CPU, and an optional 80MB SCSI hard disk. All kinds
of upgrades were released, such as video accelerator
cards, SCSI hard drives, and newer CPUs, but it was
finally discontinued after 1993, when IBM-compatibles
eventually dominated local Japanese systems.2
EMULATING THE X68000
Although options such as MAME and RetroArch
exist, we would prefer to use something bespoke.
XM6 Pro-68K (https://bit.ly/2TjiAF4) runs nicely on just
about any version of Windows and under Wine on Linux,
and is well documented by its fastidious author.3
INSTALLATION
The installation is slightly complicated due to
some distribution issues, but things may be
improved by the time this hits print. The website provides
three zip files: the chief file is XM6 Pro-68k.zip, and is
all that is technically necessary to run X68000 software.
You need to extract the zip file and open the application
(XM6.exe) manually from the main folder—if you plan
on using XM6 Pro-68k a lot, you might want to make a
desktop shortcut.
>> The second two files, XM6 Pro-68k DLL Package
and XM6 Pro-68k Web Package, aren’t system-critical
but do enable updates and correct issues, such as©^CAPCOMMachine of the Month:
Sharp X68000 ( 1987 )
>>Choosing one game would be difficult, but 1989’s Final
Fight is an all-time classic in both Japan and the West.54 MAXIMUM PC MAY 2020 maximumpc.com
R&D