Finally got a Sharp X68000

[Crystallas]

I've been trying to find one of these in the wild for years(since the mid 90s). Today I see this open estate sale while driving home, and poof, the person who lived there collected obscure systems.

The appraisers couldn't power it on, and didn't know what price to put on them. They asked $30 per machine, and seeing this was day 7 of the sale, and nobody bought them, dropped the price some more. I would up picking up a X68000 SUPER-HD(the black tower version), a X68030-HD, and the original X68000(as far as I can tell) for $15 bucks because I told the seller that if they don't work, I could scrap them for about $10 worth of metals if they can't be brought back to life(since dead units aren't all that valuable). Then I bought a few expansions that I yet to have time to experiment with for another $10. Fucking score!

So far I got the X68030-HD up and running, but the floppy drives are dead(which means I need to order a part or settle for a floppy emulator).


:yeah:


If you don't know what the Sharp X68k is. Basically it wound up becoming the platform for many arcade games in Japan. Konami and Capcom made a handful of interesting games that used the system, and it's not the best to emulate, although emu is decent.

This was like a 16-bit console, sold as a PC. Much more console than PC. It did things in the 80s that SNES and Genesis couldn't do in the 90s. A very impressive home system for it's time.

 

[Icculus]

I know Castlevania was released on this system and this version was called Castlevania Chronicles on PS1

 

[Crystallas]

Yeah, I want to compare Castlevania as soon as I get the floppy drive situation fixed. I have the PS1 version and think it's a fair game. Sometimes the older games are better.
I have Ghouls 'n Ghosts for it, picked it up complete with both original floppy sets at a second had shop in Hawaii about 12 years ago that I never got to test. If that survived, I'll be thrilled, if not, I know how to fix it anyways.

I've been looking in the wild for one of these machines simply because there are only about 15 games I'm interested in, and the ebay prices for one of the systems are ridiculous for a casual, like me. I would have paid $50 for one(not the usual ebay prices, like $300-500), but to get 3 + a lot of accessories for $25. I'm stoked, even if I have to tinker to get them working.

 

[Crystallas]

Couldn't sleep, so I fixed them all. Added a SCSI to CF converter, and it took like a champ on the X68030. So I'm not going to bother with fixing the floppy situation if I can just use parts I already have to get it working. Loads quicker as well, because CF is solid state. Castlevania is fun, and IMO, like some people have said on the internet, is best on the x68k vs the PS1. But I'm getting input lag because I'm using a USB to atari converter for now. I'll try again with a native controller later.