Sharp X68000

The Sharp X68000 (also known as the X68k) was a home computer released by the Sharp Corporation in Japan only. The first model in 1987 featured a 10 MHz Motorola 68000 CPU, 1 MB of RAM and no hard drive, whilst the last model, released in 1993, had a 25 MHz Motorola 68030 CPU, 4 MB of RAM and optional 80 MB SCSI hard drive. Although the RAM in these systems were expandable to 12 MB, most applications and games did not need more than 2 MB.

The X68k had a very distinct case design of two connected towers divided by a retractable carrying handle. It featured two 5.25" floppy drives (or two 3.5" floppy drives in compact models); most games booted and ran from floppy disk, although some were hard disk installable. The unit was one of the first computers to feature a software-controlled power switch, which signalled the system's software to save and shutdown. The X68k's operating system was called the Human68k, which featured commands very similar to those in MS-DOS.

The system's keyboard had a mouse port built into either side, whilst the front of the unit had ports for a joystick, headphone jack, volume control, keyboard and mouse. The monitor supported 15 and 31 kHz with up to 65,535 colours and could function as an NTSC-J standard cable-ready television with composite video input. Due to its analog RGB input and low refresh timing, it was an excellent monitor for playing JAMMA compatible arcade boards.

The system was very similar to arcade hardware of the time, supporting graphic RAM, text RAM and hardware sprites, and with sound produced internally via Yamaha's top-of-the-line YM2151 FM synthesizer and a single channel OKI MSM6258V for PCM. As such, it was particularly popular for arcade game ports, such as Street Fighter 2, Ghosts 'n Goblins which was ported to other systems as Castlevania Chronicles) and Final Fight.