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On The X68000's Obscure Majesty

Posted by simoniker on from the catchy-name dept.

Thanks to NFG for its newly published in-depth feature on the Japanese X68000 computer/games system. The author explains: "The X68000 is an unheard-of gem from Japan. Released around the same time as the Amiga and Atari ST, it was leagues ahead of them both in terms of design and capability. Originally released in 1987 with a 10MHz 68000 CPU and 1MB RAM, the series finished six years later with a 25MHz 68030, 4MB RAM and a 80MB HD." The piece ends with a gallery of X68000 game screenshots, often near-perfect arcade conversions, as well as referencing the previously mentioned X68000 floppy disc game warnings.

2 of 40 comments (clear)

  1. Re:wasnt MG originaly on that thing? by ag0ny · · Score: 4, Informative

    The original Metal Gear was an MSX2 cartridge released in 1987, so the NES and MSX2 versions were released (more or less) at the same time.

    Konami at the time had lots of developers working on MSX, so I guess it would be a safe assumption to say that the MSX version was the main one, which was then ported to the NES. There's even an MSX computer in Metal Gear Solid 2: In the tanker sequence, in the room where Metal Gear is, there's a computer terminal that you must use to upload some photos. This terminal displays "MSX 5.0" or something like that when used (it was long time ago since I played that game, sorry).

    Also, if I recall correctly, the "MSX Metal Gear team" is greeted in the ending titles at the end of the game.

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  2. "leagues ahead" ??? by udif · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Released around the same time as the Amiga and Atari ST, it was leagues ahead of them both in terms of design and capability. Originally released in 1987 with a 10MHz 68000 CPU and 1MB RAM, the series finished six years later with a 25MHz 68030, 4MB RAM and a 80MB HD.

    Considering the fact that the Amiga was released in August 1985 with a 8MHz 68000, I find it hard to claim that a 10MHz 68000 machine released in 1987 is "leagues ahead". Also knowing the Amiga custom chips and its OS, I also find it hard to assume the X68000 was "miles ahead". Ofcourse the last Amiga modek had a 68040 chip vs. the claimed 68030 for the X68000.