The Power of the Sharp X68000

[Music] all right if you have watched my channel for any length of time you know that I have a lot of experience with Sega consoles and a number of the machines it was in competition with I imported games as early as 1990 got the Sega CD shortly after it was released and even scored a super graphics for a short while that may lead some of you to believe I was either a spoiled rich kid or that I'm a bold face liar whichever route you choose to take on this subject I can only say this while my gaming Journey has been a hell of a ride and I have played and owned a lot of games and systems I cannot say I've had the pleasure of owning everything back in the day there were a number of Japanese releases both hardware and software I just couldn't afford saving for a 300 super Graphics was a Monumental task back then so machines like the Neo Geo in its 150 games were well out of my reach but among the fabled hardware that adorned the back of gaming magazines there was one to rule them all a machine so powerful and capable it was said to have games that were indistinguishable from their arcade counterparts that of course was the sharp x68000 computer released in early 1987 this thing was outfitted with some crazy powerful features so much so that gaming companies instantly started supporting it with software with some Heavy Hitters coming from the likes of Capcom Konami and iron it had a Motorola 68 000 at a time when it was Unthinkable for a home device and the graphics Hardware supported a ton of color and Sprites on screen it had numerous CPU RAM and sound upgrades that could make things even more impressive this technology didn't come cheap however to get into the mythical world of the sharp x68000 you needed to invest as much as three thousand dollars and even after a number of price drops most entry level packages were still well over a thousand no doubt about it it was well out of my reach and remained a mystery to me for years fortunately today we have the means to play the x68000 on a few different devices that allows me to show you some of the games that blew me away on the platform upholding its Holy Grail status as one of the most impressive Retro Gaming platforms you could experience back then in this episode we have 10 x 68000 titles that are just gonna knock your socks off I hope you guys enjoy the power of the sharp x68000. [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you seeing Ghouls and ghosts on the x68000 is a sight to behold it has a number of little differences from the original coin op but you have to nitpick the hell out of it to find anything to care about the colors the Sprites the foregrounds the backgrounds and everything in between is Drop Dead Gorgeous it is utterly and completely unfair to compare this version to the consoles at the time but side by side there is no doubt the x68000 was a juggernaut in its day it blows both the Genesis and super Graphics additions away the sheer amount of detail is unmistakable it plays really well too if you are accustomed to the game most of the strategies you know from the arcade will work here as well and yes that means it's really tough and needs two passes to see the real ending the only blemish on this excellent Port is some mild Sprite flicker here and there but outside of that this is really impressive stuff considering the x68000 was actually released before the CPS arcade board this game originated it from if you are a fan of this one be sure to give the x68000 release a try it's one of the best home versions available outside of emulation [Music] another Capcom joint comes in the form of final fight this one was ported to a number of consoles back then but none of those hold a candle to the job the x68000 pulled off again we get color Sprites animations and backgrounds that are just spot on and you hard-pressed to say this wasn't the arcade not even the mighty Sega CD release can compare to this one in a side by side playing it back to back you do notice a few things that are different from the CPS original there are less enemies on the screen and the high resolution mode looks a bit off but when it comes to impressive ports this must have been something special to receive way back when this level of quality was simply unheard of at home and the x68000 continues its impressive ways in nailing the look and feel of capcom's best when I saw it for the first time it made me realize that my wildest dreams were indeed true the x68000 was a beast and I would have been very happy with it there was also a special edition CD released with the x68000 that came with special arranged versions of some of the songs foreign [Music] I was incredibly interested in seeing how fatal Fury special turned out on the x68000 because the Neo Geo itself was an absolute monster this port comes on a whopping nine floppy disks and to absolutely no surprise to anyone it's another visually impressive conversion massive Sprites great color background layers that are loaded with detail and animation that does the Neo proud just look at the river stage and take it all in the 16-bit home consoles that did the sport did it impressively within their own limitations but the x68000 is just on another level entirely the only real difference here that really comes off as a letdown is the music which does not shine quite as bright as snk's original score even so I was very impressed with this version it made me wonder what other neoports might have looked like we'll Circle back around to that idea a little later in the video [Music] hey come on come on [Music] crap our type also saw a release for the x68000 and like a broken record my praise comes in yet again with awesome color great looking Sprites and stages and bosses that all looked apart only a smattering a Sprite flicker here and there Mars this otherwise Powerhouse arcade showing I was always impressed with the turbo Graphics version of this but again the x68000 is in a different class I always thought the Amiga edition of this was impressive as well but the x68000 even crushes that one [Music] thank you [Music] we get in on some Konami action with salamander a horizontal and vertically scrolling Shoot Em Up that was a spin-off of the gradius series this one came West as life force with a number of changes but this is based on the original Japanese arcade release this one came as no surprise because the Konami gx400 arcade board that did it was developed in 1985 so it was released before the x68000 if Sharp's Mega computer was chewing up and spitting out arcade games released after surely it was gonna do this one with no issues at all and it turns out my assumptions were spot on because again the x68000 does an incredible Port I did notice some color differences but overall this has the Sprites the animation the backgrounds the bosses and the speed to be considered nothing short of an excellent title and yes it's still really difficult Konami had a number of our games on the x68000 and after seeing this one I just knew all of them were well worth the look [Music] one of the most heavily noted titles on the x68000 were its ports of capcom's awesome Street Fighter 2 Series sometime later I would learn that Capcom actually used the x68000 as a development tool in creating many of its arcade titles at the time and it shows in every aspect of Street Fighter 2 Champion Edition here take a look at this in Marvel how this must have felt to have access to this at home in 1993. it is virtually arcade perfect right down to the gloriously detailed Sprites and multi-layered backgrounds of the home versions releasing in 1993 none even come close to the power of the x68000 coming in on four floppy disk it's able to give us most of the arcade's animation as well I mean side by side with the arcade I genuinely can't see a difference in any area the only standout issue I found was that some of the hit sound effects would drop out in favor of the voices it would be years before the Saturn and PlayStation provided a home version of this title that competed well against the x68000 port let's take a few moments and see just how well this Edition fared against the arcade [Music] of course Champion Edition was not the only Port of Street Fighter 2 on the x68000 we also got Super Street Fighter 2 the new challengers in 1994 a monster game that shipped on seven floppies and again reproduces the arcade extremely close this one is of course even more impressive thanks to all the new animations and the more complex backgrounds you'll notice some small color and Arc changes throughout but overall it's about as arcade perfect as you could have hoped for at the time even the sound effect issue was resolved from the previous game it goes without saying at this point but again no home version really compared to the x68000's faithfulness both the super new Nintendo and Genesis have major compromises with this game and even the FM Town's release doesn't have the Parallax in the backgrounds there's so much to say here about having Street Fighter 2 at home so close to the original coin op experience the x68000 cost a fortune to be sure but it was an arcade Fan's dream come true in just about every aspect one fight [Music] oh [Music] Strider was a personal favorite of mine both the new arcade and on sega's Genesis I really loved its crazy futuristic world and wild enemies it was a comic book come to life in many ways the 8 megabit Genesis Port was a revelation at the time a testament to the power of the Genesis given the right amount of time and assets but let's not mince words here Strider on the x-68000 curved stompson in pretty much every area mainly you will see the biggest differences in the color and animation it's much more arcade faithful than the Genesis Edition but as impressive as it is it falls short of arcade Perfection you'll notice a number of areas where the x68000 experiences some pretty major Sprite flicker where the coin op did not it typically doesn't last long but it does hit the eye quite rough outside of that though you are in for one heck of a treat the big run down the mountain the airships the reverse gravity it's all here and pretty damn impressive I'll never stop admiring the city Genesis version for what it accomplished in 1990 on a very inexpensive console but the x68000 is definitely the cream of that early crop [Music] hahaha the point was without a doubt a game I just had to see on the x68000 I mean this was quite the game in its day and the Curiosity of how this port turned out was Sky High unfortunately this was a case where the x68000 hardware is quite overmatched and you are gonna want one of its mini upgrades that it was capable of at 10 megahertz the egregious slowdown is very difficult to overcome it slows down so badly that it affects your every move even the music slows down this is a shame because the Sprites the backgrounds and the animations are very decent but still not quite neogeo level of quality you'll notice missing animations and some of the special weapon effects do not look nearly as nice I also had a huge issue with the bullets in this version they have a constant flashing to them that make them incredibly difficult to track and avoid especially with the Slowdown hammering the mechanics Viewpoint was always a crazy difficult title to begin with and this wrinkle elevates it further the good news is is that you can minimize some of these issues with a CPU upgrade which will help with that slow down some still this release was not quite on the same level as the previous home ports and leaves you wondering was this a case the developer is not being skilled enough to handle the project seeing how some of the other games turned out I think the x68000 should have done a much better job than this [Music] all right [Music] our last game wasn't a port and instead shows the power of this hardware and polygon form yep polygon games were a thing on the old x68000 and geograph seal here is pretty much the granddaddy to Jumping flash on the PlayStation I had no clue games like this existed back then on the x68000 so discovering it years later was one of the great joys of revisiting that era this is a first person Met game where jumping and shooting in a completely three-dimensional environment is the order of the day and it looks great for a 3D title at the time it runs well and the Viewpoint gives you a great downward angle as you jump and move around your mission is to destroy the enemies in the area and get the different weapons to make it happen the pace is fairly quick and the challenge is definitely there particularly among the boss encounters some harp on the flat shaded visuals but I find a charm in them that really makes the world pop as something special it has a number of annoyances like slow turning and strafing but I think this plays well enough overall if you dedicate some time to it if you have never played this before or were a fan of jumping flash it's a must try [Music] thank you [Music] for those of you interested I intend for this to become a regular series on my channel we are going to look at various games that were released on the x68000 and see how they fared if they reported or if they stood on their own if they weren't I wanted to start off with some Heavy Hitters to really show you how special this computer was and there are lots more games to cover in future episodes a word of warning for anyone looking to delve into owning a sharp X 68000 today they are expensive Investments that require upkeep and maintenance that can add significant cost in the future games are also rare and cost of Fortune so if the real thing is what you're after prepare your wallet for one hell of a beating for the rest there are some easy to use PC emulators out there and even some fpga options if that's your thing there's no question that it was an incredibly Niche product even in Japan but it's so cool to see something released in 1987 capable of so much it was kind of the Neo CEO of Home computers in that regard it was expensive but provided a home experience that was truly Second To None there were also a number of really impressive Sega ports to the x68000 and I did a video a while back covering them I'll throw a link in the description if you'd like to take a look I'm sigalord X thank you guys for watching and I will catch you next time [Music] thank you foreign [Music]

Channel: Sega Lord X

Views: 139,646

Keywords: x68000, sharp x68000, sharp

Id: ltBh-SgGSIY

Length: 19min 23sec (1163 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 20 2023