Sharp X68000

[Contrabassoon86]

Is there anyone on Digital Press that collects Sharp X68000? How much do these computers cost and what do you have to do to make them work in the US? I'd like to talk with anyone that knows anything on the topic.

Scott

[Zigfried]

I have one (but I think the power supply has blown, I need to get it replaced). I haven't exactly gone looking for prices lately, but around $300 for the computer itself seems a safe estimate.

To make them work, you just need the working computer, an X68000 keyboard (required to be plugged in or the computer won't even function), and a modified monitor cord (it's compatible with US VGA/SVGA monitors, but the pin layout on Japanese PC's doesn't match the pins on US monitors).

There's not much else to it. As far as PC's go, the X68000 is incredibly easy to use --- for 95% of games, you just pop disc 1 in drive 0 and disc 2 in drive 1. Then it boots up automatically, without needing any installation.

//Zig

[StealthLurker]

Most of the games are on 5.25 floppies right? I'd be too scared of the discs going bad! No HD right on some models or some games don't support HD? ....So the drives read off the diskette everytime you play? Great games, but I think I'd be too paranoid over messing up a disk. Shame though, such awesome titles I've seen... sadly only through emulation.

Maybe someday down the road I'd like to get an FM Towns computer though. Lots of titles on CD-ROM, with some 3.5 install disks?
.

[Zigfried]

I've never had one go bad (yet), but yeah the games are all on 5.25. I haven't even bothered with a hard drive. I've still got games from the mid-80's for American PC that work, so I'm not too concerned personally, but your 5.25 experiences may vary.

The FM-Towns is extremely cool. Not nearly as cool as the X68000 (which is INFINITELY cool), but it's got some great games. Only a few are on floppies, and like you said, those are on the more durable 3.5. The big problem with Towns is that the great games are almost universally expensive... and a lot of the supposedly good action games (Rayxanber) are not very good at all. It's got some nice RPG's though (Words Worth, Emerald Dragon, Xak 2 and 3).

Basically, X68000 for action games, FM-Towns for RPG's. That's an oversimplification, but at least it's pointed in the right direction ;-)

NOTE: A true-blue Towns requires an actual Japanese monitor. The Marty can run on any TV, but it has lower compatibility and has lower specs than later models of the Towns.

//Zig

[blue lander]

To make them work, you just need the working computer, an X68000 keyboard (required to be plugged in or the computer won't even function),

I've got an original X68000, and it runs just fine without a keyboard plugged in. A few action games require use of a keyboard to start the game up, though (I think Gradius, for instance) so it's a good idea to pick one up anyways. But most games will work fine without it, at least on the original gray X68000.


and a modified monitor cord (it's compatible with US VGA/SVGA monitors, but the pin layout on Japanese PC's doesn't match the pins on US monitors).

Maybe 90% of X68000 games will run fine with a PC monitor, but some games run in low resolution 15khz mode and the vast majority of VGA monitors won't go lower than 31khz. Sylvanion, for instance, runs at 15khz. A few games like Gradius have the option to run at 15 or 31 khz.

A word to the wise: Do NOT get an original X68000. Make sure you get a later one. The original X68k only comes with 1 megabyte of RAM, while later ones come with 4. Most games work just fine with 1 megabyte, but some really cool games like Granada X require 4. So if you're going to go through the trouble of buying an X68000, you might as well get one that'll play every game. You can buy a 4 megabyte add-on card, but they're terribly difficult to find. Also, you need to make sure the RAM upgrade card is for the original X68k and not for later models. I believe the correct part number for the original X68k is CZ-6be1.

Also, the original X68000 uses a SASI interface for hard drives whereas later ones use SCSI. And good luck finding a SASI hard drive (although I hear some early SCSI drives are compatible). Of course, unless you can read Japanese the OS is inscrutable and using a hard drive is impossile.

The only benefit to having an original X68000 is that it comes with Gradius. It's included with the OS disks, and I don't think you can buy it seperately. And from an aestetic point of view, the later black X68000's look cooler than the older gray one.

As for disks going bad, it's only happened to me once, with Super Dodge Ball. However, it's quite easy to download a disk image from the internet and copy the game to a 5.25 disk. So what I did was simply overwrite the disk with the same image and then it worked fine.


The big problem with Towns is that the great games are almost universally expensive... and a lot of the supposedly good action games (Rayxanber) are not very good at all. It's got some nice RPG's though (Words Worth, Emerald Dragon, Xak 2 and 3).

I totally agree. I've got an FM Towns, Towns Marty, and a Car Marty, and there's only a handful of good games for it unless you can read Japanese and play RPGs for it. Rayxanber is mediocre at best, and is about a million times too difficult for its own good (much like Rayxanber 2 and 3 on the PC Engine CD). Some people like the FM Towns version of Image Fight, but I think it's awful. The entire playing field is too large to fit on the screen all at once, so the playing field scrolls as you move up and down the screen. This results sometimes in enemies shooting at you from off the screen. So you'll be flying around, minding your own business, when out of nowhere a laser zaps you from off the screen with no warning and no time to dodge. The X68000 and PC Engine versions are far better than the FM Towns version. I hear Tatsujin 2 has the same problem. There's a couple other good Toaplan shooters like Kyukyoku Tiger and Flying Shark (I think?), but you can get those on other systems as well. Plus they're all intensely expensive. Except for Image Fight, they're all in the $100-$200 range.

I'd highly recommend the X68000 over the FM Towns. The games are more pleantiful and far cheaper.

[japancollector]

I have two x68000 in my collection ^^