This is the true tower(s) of power. I'm an Amiga nut and still really enjoying my a500 mini but still really jealous that Japanese computers were orders of magnitude cooler and more powerful than we got in the UK.
For me, what was released in Japan was kind of like what we could have seen in the US/UK/Europe after the A500 and ST... if Commodore and Atari had been more competent. Instead, we had the A500+/A600/A1200 - which were either no tangible upgrade or a mild upgrade and came too late. Ditto with the STE. The Falcon was a beast, but it came far too late also.
Apparently the UART connection acts as a MIDI interface for games that support it, so you could for example hook up an SC-88 and play Castlevania with it. I think that X-Basic Music Demo was probably looking for a MIDI device
the sharpx68000 was an amazing computer and way ahead of its time. The games were simply beautiful. The Amiga in Europe could not keep up with it in any respect. To be fair, of course, you also have to take into account the big price difference.
Amiga was a less a nice machine too.. it started a lot of sagas (lemmings, another world, flashback, pinball fantasies, turrican etc.) the main difference was that amiga had no real support from japanese dev while x68000 had. In addition amiga was really cost effective for the hardware proposed and was far more earlier built than x68000.
Exactly. You got what paid for. The A500 was far, far cheaper. Plus it was older tech. But that is taking nothing away from the X68k series, which were remarkable machines.
As a computer the Amiga was far better and far more successful. The X68000 was better for games but you bought a console and paid for a high end computer.
15:19 It seems Zuiki threw the same SD card encryption scheme used in the Egret II Mini SD cards on the ones made for the X68000 Z. Which is unexpected, as the Early Access models had support for loading unofficial disk images.
@@muteki99 yeah it should be fine. Most images online are DIM or HDF format, but I’ve already converted a load to XDF in preparation of my machine arriving from Japan to the UK.
Looks like as long as a 32GB or smaller SD card formatted to Fat32 is used, XDF images can be loaded from the emulation side of the device just like with PC X68000 emulators. I didn't have any 32GB or lower SD cards so I've just ordered a pair and will have a play about with it over the weekend.
I managed to snag an early access kit, bet I paid 3 times as much as you did! The membership card lets you register on their site where you can download the updates, I think they have the HDD emulation on the latest firmware but I couldn't get it to work with any of the HDD images so I am still using the twin SD's to load games. You can load XDF images from the emulator mode and you can change how it boots, I get mine to boot into emulator mode, then its loads the images and splits the screen between the 2 drives. You can use the eject buttons below each drive to bring up the menu to load games that have multiple disks. Great mini device, only thing I think its missing is scanline options. Get well soon!
I thought about getting an early access kit but yeah, they were really expensive. Thanks for the details about the card number. I registered it just after making the video. Really looking forward to having a solid play with this over the weekend.
@@RetroCore Enjoy! If you get any issues with disk images, get the Virtual Floppy Image Converter, it makes reliable XDF images out of any of the x68000 disk formats you may have.
The Neogeo was technically impressive but the game library was so.. samey. There are very few games I care about on it. On the other hand, X68000 had some serious heavy hitters in the game department
I didn't think there would be another mini console that I'd actually want, but here it is. I remember lusting after the original back in the late 80s when snippets of it appeared in mags in those days. There has to be a way to get more games running on it, surely? Are they EXT4 linux formatted SD cards? Would make sense if it's an ARM based board and Windows can't read them. Don't know if I'd get one though due to the expense of importing it from Japan, and the fact I have a MisTer which does a good job emulating it. What would be cool would be a list of X6800 games that a westerner could play, you know, that aren't text heavy and are not likely titles we'd know. Arcade conversions are what it was know for, but now we can play the arcade originals easily enough, so these system exclusives would be the games that would be worth seeking out in this day and age. I look forward to more of your videos on this!
Already figured out how to run XDF images on it. You need a SD HC card 32gb or under, formatted to Fat32. I'll be doing an update video showing the new firmware and how to run images on it. I'd hold off on getting one just yet as emulation seems quite ropy 😢
The main problem I've had with other X68000 emulators, is the way it handles / doesn't recognise disks. Is this case here? When the games run, they're great, but a lot just don't run...
As long as the format is changed to XDF there is no issues. There's an old program out there that converts floppy images to the desired format. I can send you a copy over via Email if you'd like.
The slot with nothing can be an expansion pack for a futur model , who knows if the cases are 3d-printed on same model . Btw excellent video Mark , it's a pure beauty, best mini model of all mini models that went on the market .
Even now I think this is one of best mini systems , awesome , shame the sd card wasn’t adapted in to plastic case , missed a trick there but still good enough
This is so cool! Thanks for the share. This system is very neat I can't believe it fit so many arcade perfect games on 1 or 2 disks. Wish it was popular in the USA.
Oh, didn't know that you got ill... Fight that virus man... Sleep plenty, eat right and drink plenty of fluids... Stop working and recover first! And as always, thanks so much for your dedication, despite your condition... It's great they released this, as I think a Castlevania remake was done on the original console... Get well soon man!
Hmmm....I know the Sharp X68000 was ridiculously powerful for its time. I also know that one could upgrade the X68000 if they were so inclined. However, it really depends on the year one purchased their Sharp X68000. The AES was a monster of a console when it released in 1990 and was able to stand toe-to-toe with the X68000. The Sharp X68000 first released in Japan in October of 1987. It had a Motorola 68K @10MHz, 128KB Bios, 1 MB of RAM (expandable to 4 MB). It had 512KB text, 512KB graphics, with a max color pallet of 65,536 colors@256 per screen max. Seriously, in 1987 this was beyond impressive. The Neo Geo AES has a Motorola 68K@12MHz w/ a Zilog Z-80 8-bit co-processor running@4MHz. It had 64KB of RAM and 84KB of video RAM. It could display 4,096 colors on screen at once from a pallet of 65,536 total colors. You can see in some areas the AES is not only a good match for the Sharp X68000 but it does a few things better. Now, the X68000 was upgraded every year and by the year 1991 it started to move beyond what the AES could do. I would still say an AES vs. a bone stock X68000 from 1991 is a damn good match. Addendum- The competition ends in 1992 when Sharp upgraded their Hitachi Motorola 68K. From that point forward they began using the 68K solely as a 32-bit processor@20MHz. The AES was mighty but against a 3,000+ dollar expandable computer it could only hold out for so long. Hey, it's impressive it held out for as long as it did.
Bottom line is that I've owned 3 Neo Geo AES systems and still own a MVS but have only ever owned 1 X68000 for a short period. These days the X68000 is way too expensive 😔
Most Westerners didn’t have a Turbo Graphics/ PC engine. Sure it existed, but it wasn’t popular and it wasn’t really available outside weird circumstances in PAL regions. Yet that was available for the west as a mini with from what I hear reasonably good sales. I think for most people in the west the Nostalgia is just missing out on a bunch of cool 90s Japanese stuff.
I've seen a bunch of complaints about this device having really bad framerate judder. Some amount is to be expected given most games run at a way off spec 55.46hz, such as the incredible remake of Castlevania 1, and the most common way to deal with this issue is to scan convert to 60hz by duplicating a video frame at a fixed interval. However, it appears the device might be doing this improperly and in excess of what's actually needed. For example, the footage Sega Lord X captured and posted had way more judder than it should. If you want to investigate this, a proper 55.46hz to 60hz scan conversion will duplicate a video frame at an interval of approximately every 12 frames, so if each duplicated frame in your capture is ~12 frames apart then it's doing its job properly. Otherwise this is a problem people who bought it ought to be aware of and maybe screaming from the rooftops demanding they fix. This is being marketed as a premium boutique product with a price tag to match, them not having a proper framerate limiter in place would be really upsetting. Hope you feel better soon
If I had that, I'd probably have to use that handle to hang it in some floating position behind my TV to save some space. That or put my emulation tablet on top of it
I'm enjoying it very much. Due to the refresh rate of a real X68000 and modern TVs being different, some games don't scroll smoothly. But besides that the updates have fixed many games that were broken. I just wish there was a better menu system for loading roms.
Nifty little machine, but are there really no english UI options or screen setting (filters etc.)? Seems the Amiga 500 Mini did a better job making the experience comfortable and adaptable, at least from first impression.
Nope. No English isn't a surprise though as this isn't made with English speakers in mind, just like the original hardware. The lack of screen options is a shame but I'm hoping the new firmware will add those. Will be check out the options for firmware updates over the weekend.
The main emulator settings can be set to English (I think, I can't remember) but that's about it. Programming is also done in English but the X68000 bios or "Dos" is in Japanese. The online community is of course Japanese as well but Google Translate can help with that. I'd say with help from Google it's doable for non Japanese speakers.
Nah, just get yourself a nice mechanical keyboard. I'm using a razor keyboard on mine with a wireless logitec mouse. I'm even using the Sega Astro City controller as I think it feels better. Have you updated yours to version 1.40? You'll get some new icons but the emulation still sucks.
Really cool video. I only found out about the X68000 a couple years ago after watching a RMC video on it. Prices are insane. I am tempted to import one of these with the keyboard and mouse/trackpad. Can you change the language to English for the OS/emulator? Too bad the expansion bay cover is non-functional. The could have allowed internal storage to be added or offered other expansion options.
I would buy a raspberry pi in a case like that with keyboard, mouse and controller and an easy to use Linux gui like mint maybe. Would make a good emulation/ work computer.
Have you updated the game boot loader? You can get them from the official website but it isn't really friendly to none Japanese speakers because you need to sign up to download anything.
Are these available on Amazon Japan for import to the U.k yet ? I've searched but can't find it. Any chance you can leave a link if it is, I woul love one of these. I managed with my PC Engine in the 80's and I don't speak a word of Japanese so should be a doddle with the Internet. Also keep up the good work I enjoy your channel. Thanks.
Mine came from Amazon Japan but I don't know about having one sent to the UK. Here's the link www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/ZUIKI-X68000-PRODUCT-BLACK-Starter/dp/B0C6SXR4S9/ref=sr_1_1?crid=RTJWS3F6OGHT&keywords=X68000&qid=1696201353&sprefix=x68000+%2Caps%2C264&sr=8-1
Ah, I got Covid last Wednesday. I got a fever of 39 degrees and a really bad headache. By Friday the fever had gone but in came the sore throat and body aches. It's now 10 days later since I caught it and I'm feeling much better. Still getting tired earlier than usual but besides that and a rough voice, I feel fine. The first 3 days were not fun at all. Thanks for asking.
@@RetroCore I had COVID in 2022, got a sore throat for 3 months, and, a raspy voice as a side effect. But, all is past now, I am 100% healthy. You will be too, just wait.
I will try to snag one one eBay since Amazon doesn't ship this to the US, and pretty sure I have to pay premium for it but since this is a must have, I have no choice. :(
I've had one planned for a while now. I've got a lot of video filmed but finding the time to write the script is a pain. Hopefully in January it will be done.
Did some research after making this video. Looks like it runs XDF files. They are ran from the emulator mode. Games must be on a Fat32 formatted SD card no. Larger than 32GB. I've ordered 2 32GB SD cards that I'll load up and test over the weekend.
the console itself is not too bad, especially if you are in a country with a strong currency against the yen. But the accessories!! wow, the keyboard is insanely expensive.
I really don't see the appeal of these systems that are basically a Raspberry Pi in a fancy case. Things like this should recreations of original hardware or FPGA.
Such a great way to play CPS1 and CPS2 games, what a great machine the Super Nintendo is!, i mean, the X68000!, why would've made that mistake of naming the Snes?, why would it be?, anyways, Deus bendicat tibi.
Stop making the assumption that FPGA is better and is not emulation because it’s not. FPGA is still a very expensive alternative to regular computing architecture. What makes it “special” is that it can be programmed at a lower level, almost at hardware level, unlike traditional programming that has to run above several layers of software. It’s not a magic solution nor is perfect. If this would be FPGA based, it would cost three times what the Hacker Edition cost and it probably would still be under development. FPGA is actually the solution for elitists that run out of ways to shame emulation users as they could no longer buy or use original hardware. FPGA users are the audiophiles of retro gaming.
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They did do a good job of making it look like a cute little mini X68k. Still wishing you a quick recovery, Mark.
Thanks 👍
This is the true tower(s) of power. I'm an Amiga nut and still really enjoying my a500 mini but still really jealous that Japanese computers were orders of magnitude cooler and more powerful than we got in the UK.
For me, what was released in Japan was kind of like what we could have seen in the US/UK/Europe after the A500 and ST... if Commodore and Atari had been more competent.
Instead, we had the A500+/A600/A1200 - which were either no tangible upgrade or a mild upgrade and came too late. Ditto with the STE.
The Falcon was a beast, but it came far too late also.
Amiga rules, my first computer.
This computer makes UK stuff weep at the time. Wish it had been released originally in the UK. The arcade conversions were incredible
Apparently the UART connection acts as a MIDI interface for games that support it, so you could for example hook up an SC-88 and play Castlevania with it.
I think that X-Basic Music Demo was probably looking for a MIDI device
The UART can also apparently be used for debugging and diagnostic purposes
Cool, nice additional feature.
Wow! This mini version of the Sharp X68000 Z is so amazing! This sounds like a new way to play X68000 games!
That’s where the stash goes. This looks super cool I want one
the sharpx68000 was an amazing computer and way ahead of its time. The games were simply beautiful. The Amiga in Europe could not keep up with it in any respect. To be fair, of course, you also have to take into account the big price difference.
Amiga was a less a nice machine too.. it started a lot of sagas (lemmings, another world, flashback, pinball fantasies, turrican etc.) the main difference was that amiga had no real support from japanese dev while x68000 had. In addition amiga was really cost effective for the hardware proposed and was far more earlier built than x68000.
Couldn't agree more!
Exactly. You got what paid for. The A500 was far, far cheaper. Plus it was older tech. But that is taking nothing away from the X68k series, which were remarkable machines.
As a computer the Amiga was far better and far more successful. The X68000 was better for games but you bought a console and paid for a high end computer.
15:19 It seems Zuiki threw the same SD card encryption scheme used in the Egret II Mini SD cards on the ones made for the X68000 Z. Which is unexpected, as the Early Access models had support for loading unofficial disk images.
I wonder if a)the Human68k side has access to files on any SD card and b)if you can launch any sort of executable files/games from there instead.
Apparently it only supports XDF files
@@Juganawt there are tools out there to convert to xdf so shouldn't be a dealbreaker in theory. Most of what I have is .dim or .d88
@@muteki99 yeah it should be fine. Most images online are DIM or HDF format, but I’ve already converted a load to XDF in preparation of my machine arriving from Japan to the UK.
Looks like as long as a 32GB or smaller SD card formatted to Fat32 is used, XDF images can be loaded from the emulation side of the device just like with PC X68000 emulators.
I didn't have any 32GB or lower SD cards so I've just ordered a pair and will have a play about with it over the weekend.
The intro music is great, a real throwback to the 80s
This is such a cool idea. Id like to see a FM Towns mini next!
I wanted one of these as a curio to toy around with, but im uk based and the eBay prices are eye-watering
Yeah, even in Japan the retail price is quite steep.
I managed to snag an early access kit, bet I paid 3 times as much as you did! The membership card lets you register on their site where you can download the updates, I think they have the HDD emulation on the latest firmware but I couldn't get it to work with any of the HDD images so I am still using the twin SD's to load games. You can load XDF images from the emulator mode and you can change how it boots, I get mine to boot into emulator mode, then its loads the images and splits the screen between the 2 drives. You can use the eject buttons below each drive to bring up the menu to load games that have multiple disks. Great mini device, only thing I think its missing is scanline options. Get well soon!
I thought about getting an early access kit but yeah, they were really expensive.
Thanks for the details about the card number. I registered it just after making the video.
Really looking forward to having a solid play with this over the weekend.
@@RetroCore Enjoy! If you get any issues with disk images, get the Virtual Floppy Image Converter, it makes reliable XDF images out of any of the x68000 disk formats you may have.
It's always a good day when you upload a new video🫡
You are so kind
Good overview. It would be nice to see a follow up video after you’ve figured out what everything does.
Will do
The Neogeo was technically impressive but the game library was so.. samey. There are very few games I care about on it. On the other hand, X68000 had some serious heavy hitters in the game department
I didn't think there would be another mini console that I'd actually want, but here it is. I remember lusting after the original back in the late 80s when snippets of it appeared in mags in those days. There has to be a way to get more games running on it, surely? Are they EXT4 linux formatted SD cards? Would make sense if it's an ARM based board and Windows can't read them.
Don't know if I'd get one though due to the expense of importing it from Japan, and the fact I have a MisTer which does a good job emulating it. What would be cool would be a list of X6800 games that a westerner could play, you know, that aren't text heavy and are not likely titles we'd know. Arcade conversions are what it was know for, but now we can play the arcade originals easily enough, so these system exclusives would be the games that would be worth seeking out in this day and age. I look forward to more of your videos on this!
Already figured out how to run XDF images on it. You need a SD HC card 32gb or under, formatted to Fat32.
I'll be doing an update video showing the new firmware and how to run images on it.
I'd hold off on getting one just yet as emulation seems quite ropy 😢
The main problem I've had with other X68000 emulators, is the way it handles / doesn't recognise disks. Is this case here? When the games run, they're great, but a lot just don't run...
As long as the format is changed to XDF there is no issues. There's an old program out there that converts floppy images to the desired format. I can send you a copy over via Email if you'd like.
I want one. My first home computer was a TRS-80. This computer would have been unimaginable in those days, must of cost thousands of dollars.
About 3k I believe!... back then!
The slot with nothing can be an expansion pack for a futur model , who knows if the cases are 3d-printed on same model . Btw excellent video Mark , it's a pure beauty, best mini model of all mini models that went on the market .
The Mega Drive mini also had slots that didn't really do anything. It might just be for asthetics.
@@Larry That's probably true .
Seems odd to actually screw it down though. I mean, all the other ports are just printed on for aesthetic sakes.
Looks sharp 😉👍
5.25 is a shy bit from 5 and a half Floppy diskette, The X68K compact did in fact have a 3.5" floppy
That's a very cool mini. It looks so futuristic.
Get well soon! Thanks for making the video while sick. 👍👍
Thanks, will do!
Even now I think this is one of best mini systems , awesome , shame the sd card wasn’t adapted in to plastic case , missed a trick there but still good enough
Been waiting for this , thanks you made my Friday night.
Hope you enjoyed it!
This is so cool! Thanks for the share. This system is very neat I can't believe it fit so many arcade perfect games on 1 or 2 disks.
Wish it was popular in the USA.
Oh, didn't know that you got ill... Fight that virus man... Sleep plenty, eat right and drink plenty of fluids... Stop working and recover first! And as always, thanks so much for your dedication, despite your condition... It's great they released this, as I think a Castlevania remake was done on the original console... Get well soon man!
Yeah, cough covid a week ago. I'm actually physically fine now but my voice is still messed up and I have a dry throat.
Thanks for the well wishes.
UART is serial port. Usually to access a terminal.
Hmmm....I know the Sharp X68000 was ridiculously powerful for its time. I also know that one could upgrade the X68000 if they were so inclined. However, it really depends on the year one purchased their Sharp X68000. The AES was a monster of a console when it released in 1990 and was able to stand toe-to-toe with the X68000.
The Sharp X68000 first released in Japan in October of 1987. It had a Motorola 68K @10MHz, 128KB Bios, 1 MB of RAM (expandable to 4 MB). It had 512KB text, 512KB graphics, with a max color pallet of 65,536 colors@256 per screen max. Seriously, in 1987 this was beyond impressive. The Neo Geo AES has a Motorola 68K@12MHz w/ a Zilog Z-80 8-bit co-processor running@4MHz. It had 64KB of RAM and 84KB of video RAM. It could display 4,096 colors on screen at once from a pallet of 65,536 total colors. You can see in some areas the AES is not only a good match for the Sharp X68000 but it does a few things better. Now, the X68000 was upgraded every year and by the year 1991 it started to move beyond what the AES could do. I would still say an AES vs. a bone stock X68000 from 1991 is a damn good match.
Addendum- The competition ends in 1992 when Sharp upgraded their Hitachi Motorola 68K. From that point forward they began using the 68K solely as a 32-bit processor@20MHz. The AES was mighty but against a 3,000+ dollar expandable computer it could only hold out for so long. Hey, it's impressive it held out for as long as it did.
Bottom line is that I've owned 3 Neo Geo AES systems and still own a MVS but have only ever owned 1 X68000 for a short period. These days the X68000 is way too expensive 😔
@@RetroCore
Oh heck yeah they are and super cool. I have a fairly large AES/MVS/CDZ collection myself but I have never seen an X68000 in real life.
I would love to pick this up! Great video, hope you feel better soon Mark!!👍👍
Thanks 👍
...and Capcom used the X68000 to program CPS-1 games as well...
Yep, they did.
I got giddy for you when I saw the floppy looking game covers. Omg. I wish I had pre-ordered.
They are a very cool touch.
Wait what? This exists? Hoo boy 😸
And yeah, I've heard great things about the Sharp X68000, so it's nice to see this here
Get well soon!
Thank you.
Interesting to see that this copy of Gradius loads directly into the game and NOT the Human68k GUI.
I would love one of these. Shame they aren't available in Europe.....
Probably never will be either. You could import one via Amazon Japan.
I might look into that. Thanks for covering this!
@@RetroCore
I can understand this mini system staying local to Japan. There's no nostalgia for it in the West.
Well, that depends. Remember the old saying: "Nostalgia ain't what it used to be."
@@benbreeck3363Some lucky to even import one 20-30 years ago certainly would have some nostalgia.
Most Westerners didn’t have a Turbo Graphics/ PC engine. Sure it existed, but it wasn’t popular and it wasn’t really available outside weird circumstances in PAL regions. Yet that was available for the west as a mini with from what I hear reasonably good sales.
I think for most people in the west the Nostalgia is just missing out on a bunch of cool 90s Japanese stuff.
But I still want one !
@@sloppynyuszi That's our crime.
Damn thing is sold out all over the place. I would really like to get one here in the states.
I ordered mine back in July so yeah, I can see this being a tough one to get.
I've seen a bunch of complaints about this device having really bad framerate judder. Some amount is to be expected given most games run at a way off spec 55.46hz, such as the incredible remake of Castlevania 1, and the most common way to deal with this issue is to scan convert to 60hz by duplicating a video frame at a fixed interval. However, it appears the device might be doing this improperly and in excess of what's actually needed. For example, the footage Sega Lord X captured and posted had way more judder than it should.
If you want to investigate this, a proper 55.46hz to 60hz scan conversion will duplicate a video frame at an interval of approximately every 12 frames, so if each duplicated frame in your capture is ~12 frames apart then it's doing its job properly. Otherwise this is a problem people who bought it ought to be aware of and maybe screaming from the rooftops demanding they fix. This is being marketed as a premium boutique product with a price tag to match, them not having a proper framerate limiter in place would be really upsetting.
Hope you feel better soon
I can confirm there is a real issue with scrolling and also sound! I'll be doing an updated video this week.
So far I'm dissatisfied with the product.
If I had that, I'd probably have to use that handle to hang it in some floating position behind my TV to save some space. That or put my emulation tablet on top of it
Ordered mine, gonna get mine soon, thanks for this vid my man, how did you get on with this?
I'm enjoying it very much.
Due to the refresh rate of a real X68000 and modern TVs being different, some games don't scroll smoothly. But besides that the updates have fixed many games that were broken. I just wish there was a better menu system for loading roms.
Nifty little machine, but are there really no english UI options or screen setting (filters etc.)? Seems the Amiga 500 Mini did a better job making the experience comfortable and adaptable, at least from first impression.
Nope. No English isn't a surprise though as this isn't made with English speakers in mind, just like the original hardware.
The lack of screen options is a shame but I'm hoping the new firmware will add those. Will be check out the options for firmware updates over the weekend.
@@RetroCore Thank you!
disclaimer: nerdgasm imminent. all kidding aside, i would love to get my grubby mitts on one of those.
I'm interested in getting one of these. Mainly for programming experiments. How usable would you say it is for English only users?
The main emulator settings can be set to English (I think, I can't remember) but that's about it.
Programming is also done in English but the X68000 bios or "Dos" is in Japanese.
The online community is of course Japanese as well but Google Translate can help with that.
I'd say with help from Google it's doable for non Japanese speakers.
my holy grails:
a copy of the entire 5 star stories anime
a neo geo with a ever drive
a working amiga 2000 OR a amiga cd32
a sharp 68000
So doe this work with an 8bitdo USB 6-button Megadrive pad (just like how the actual X68k supported the serial ones)?
It works with any direct input compatable controller.
At around 16min I noticed the clock in the upper right of the x6800 screen and was exactly mi local time. For a moment I got really confused.
Lol, I bet the would have been confusing 👍😁
Just got mine yesterday, kicking myself for not getting the crt, keyboard and mouse
Nah, just get yourself a nice mechanical keyboard. I'm using a razor keyboard on mine with a wireless logitec mouse.
I'm even using the Sega Astro City controller as I think it feels better.
Have you updated yours to version 1.40? You'll get some new icons but the emulation still sucks.
The Sharp X68k has an internal Speaker, the volume knob is for the internal speaker on a real X68k.
Same on this. I'm just surprised they added one.
@@RetroCore My guess is the same reason as for the backplate, cute gimmick they could transfer from the original. Those are nice touches :)
Really cool video. I only found out about the X68000 a couple years ago after watching a RMC video on it. Prices are insane. I am tempted to import one of these with the keyboard and mouse/trackpad. Can you change the language to English for the OS/emulator? Too bad the expansion bay cover is non-functional. The could have allowed internal storage to be added or offered other expansion options.
Sadly there is no way to change this in to English.
Amazing machine, but my nostalgia still lies with SNK offerings…
Nice video, thx! What should I do to play all the games ? thx in advance for the heads-up...
I'll be making an update video that will cover just that question. The solution is too long to type in the comments.
That's perfect! Thx@@RetroCore
I saw this at TGS
Nice one. I didn't go this year.
How much do one of these costs? Would like to get one sometime. Hope it’s the same price as an Astro City mini or the Egret II mini
350 $ with shipping
That is very cool. Id love one.
I would buy a raspberry pi in a case like that with keyboard, mouse and controller and an easy to use Linux gui like mint maybe. Would make a good emulation/ work computer.
The Soft Z86000™
If you don't have the official adapter, could you power it with a standard phone charger using a usbc to usb cable?
Yes. I'm using an Anker adapter that can output up to 20w at 5amp.
Aw, thought it was a real one! 😢
I prefer the MSX for Japanese computers! :D
Sadly I couldn't afford a real one any more. I once owned a real X68000 over 20 years ago. Whish I had kept it.
350 $ with shipping
Hi I have the same edition
I ordered castlevania but it doesn’t work?
Have you updated the game boot loader? You can get them from the official website but it isn't really friendly to none Japanese speakers because you need to sign up to download anything.
I'm assuming this is a retail version, rather then a preview sample. Will White Edition be available as well?
The white version was used for the preview models.
Are these available on Amazon Japan for import to the U.k yet ? I've searched but can't find it. Any chance you can leave a link if it is, I woul love one of these. I managed with my PC Engine in the 80's and I don't speak a word of Japanese so should be a doddle with the Internet. Also keep up the good work I enjoy your channel. Thanks.
Mine came from Amazon Japan but I don't know about having one sent to the UK. Here's the link www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/ZUIKI-X68000-PRODUCT-BLACK-Starter/dp/B0C6SXR4S9/ref=sr_1_1?crid=RTJWS3F6OGHT&keywords=X68000&qid=1696201353&sprefix=x68000+%2Caps%2C264&sr=8-1
Hi there Mr. British lost in Japan, when did you get COVID ? And, did it hit hard ? Hope you are better now, get well soon.
Ah, I got Covid last Wednesday. I got a fever of 39 degrees and a really bad headache. By Friday the fever had gone but in came the sore throat and body aches. It's now 10 days later since I caught it and I'm feeling much better.
Still getting tired earlier than usual but besides that and a rough voice, I feel fine. The first 3 days were not fun at all.
Thanks for asking.
@@RetroCore I had COVID in 2022, got a sore throat for 3 months, and, a raspy voice as a side effect. But, all is past now, I am 100% healthy. You will be too, just wait.
I will try to snag one one eBay since Amazon doesn't ship this to the US, and pretty sure I have to pay premium for it but since this is a must have, I have no choice. :(
Wonder if that bay is for a hard drive?
I'm not sure one would fit in there.
Did you end up figuring out how to load roms onto the x68000z?
Yep, it was pretty simple once I knew.
Nice! I hope you can make a follow up video on how to do that Mark. I am thinking of getting one of these if I can find one
I've had one planned for a while now. I've got a lot of video filmed but finding the time to write the script is a pain. Hopefully in January it will be done.
Yeah not my kind of thing either but cool looking.still waiting for a master system mini which probably won't happen.
Sadly that will never happen. Would be cool though.
The serial codes are readable. Probably you already ised them but still, maybe you didn't.
Don't worry, they were registered before I published the video 👍
Would have been nice for them to include basic support for mt32 sound.
I guess the license fees would be too costly.
But I read that you can connect a real MT32 via that odd looking port on the back.
Why no Sharp labeling?
Sharp don't really exist any more. It's now some shitty Chinese company who bought the Sharp brand.
I wish there was a decent place to get one of these.
Not fancy the one with the monitor? I was going to get that!
Nah, that cost a fortune. If I had money to burn, sure I'd go the whole hog bust sadly that's set up is a little too much for me.
Nice to see an unboxing with a regular scissors, you know, like a normal person, and not some massive Rambo knife like so many other TH-camrs 😄
Lol, yeah some do go a bit overboard with their box opening tools
Keep us updated if it works with midi and does it work with .HDF files?
Did some research after making this video.
Looks like it runs XDF files. They are ran from the emulator mode. Games must be on a Fat32 formatted SD card no. Larger than 32GB.
I've ordered 2 32GB SD cards that I'll load up and test over the weekend.
@@RetroCore Thanks for that info Mark. It seems strange that it can't take SD cards larger than 32GB!
Hi,did you figured out how to load xdf on the system?
Yep. Will be doing an updated video on that.
found it out too,just make a x68000z dir and place the xdf in it.@@RetroCore
Yep. But there's currently a limit of about 450or so files and no option for folders 😔
This is a very interesting thing.
Shame it's so expensive
the console itself is not too bad, especially if you are in a country with a strong currency against the yen. But the accessories!! wow, the keyboard is insanely expensive.
Main reason why I bought the started pack. I have perfectly nice mechanical keyboards and mice I can sue with this.
BIN is short for BINary, not recycle bin :)
😅 Absolutely. I blame covid. My brain is still asleep, 🤣
@@RetroCore get well soon mate
where and how can Sharp X68000 Z mini ?
Japan and with money.
howmuch is one of those running?
No idea. I ordered this back in June. Probably about 25,000 yen.
Not into android emulation boxes but 👍 for the effort
If only that thing was not $1200 (in my country) for the complete kit I would get one
Do they have a translation or a setting for other languages, otherwise I will translation.
Sorry, this is Japanese only.
How can I get this?
Amazon Japan? That's where mine is from but then again I also live in Japan.
I really don't see the appeal of these systems that are basically a Raspberry Pi in a fancy case. Things like this should recreations of original hardware or FPGA.
Such a great way to play CPS1 and CPS2 games, what a great machine the Super Nintendo is!, i mean, the X68000!, why would've made that mistake of naming the Snes?, why would it be?, anyways, Deus bendicat tibi.
I want one. But at half the price.
can menus be made into english?
Yes but the main X68000 will always be in Japanese
It's time they start using FPGA, for these mini consoles. Considering the price of the console, the emulation is disappointing.
Stop making the assumption that FPGA is better and is not emulation because it’s not.
FPGA is still a very expensive alternative to regular computing architecture. What makes it “special” is that it can be programmed at a lower level, almost at hardware level, unlike traditional programming that has to run above several layers of software.
It’s not a magic solution nor is perfect. If this would be FPGA based, it would cost three times what the Hacker Edition cost and it probably would still be under development.
FPGA is actually the solution for elitists that run out of ways to shame emulation users as they could no longer buy or use original hardware.
FPGA users are the audiophiles of retro gaming.
I love how tickled you are!
It's not too often I get excited about stuff these days.