X68-what now?!

It's hard to believe in this day of X86 everything, but back in the 1980s and the early 1990s, the home computer market was a very splintered, and very provincial thing. A half-dozen different machines, all vastly different architecturally and mutually incompatible with each other, would battle for control of the industry, until the cheapest and most versatile of these systems would ultimately come out on top. These skirmishes all followed a similar template, but had a different cast of home computers and entirely different outcomes depending on the territory in which they took place. A machine that was successful in one region wasn't likely to carry that success to other countries, and may not even be recognized outside its home turf.

Sure helps keep the costs down when you
effectively steal half your computer's parts.
Isn't that right, Jack?
(image from Hack-A-Day)

In the United States, Atari, Apple, Tandy, Coleco, and Texas Instruments all succumbed to the Commodore 64, thanks to its massive software library and ethically questionable cost-cutting by the company's founder Jack Tramiel. Meanwhile, in Great Britain, there was a fierce battle between the ZX Spectrum and its bitter rival, the BBC Micro, along with a handful of minor competitors like the Amstrad CPC, the Oric, and the Commodore 64. Surprisingly, the C64's popularity in America didn't translate to the European market. It was crushed under the garishly colored heel of the Spectrum, just like every other computer that dared to challenge it in the British computer market.

Then there's Japan. Its dominant force in home computing was the MSX. Co-designed by Microsoft and ASCII Corporation, the MSX was a hardware standard that any electronics manufacturer could adopt by paying a licensing fee to ASCII. Licensing the technology meant the companies selling the MSX saved money on research and development while erasing the burden of manufacturing for ASCII, with the added bonus of offering cross-compatibility between computer brands. Whether you owned a system by Sony, Casio, Samsung, or Fujitsu, they were all guaranteed to take each other's software as long as the MSX logo could be found on the case. The MSX was legion, and contemporaries like NEC's PC-8800 and Sharp's X1 could not withstand the assault.

Here's Shadow of the Beast, one of the headliners
of the Amiga library and a demonstration of its
16-bit power. It's shallow and punishing, but
you're willing to overlook little things like
lackluster gameplay when your video game
looks like your uncle's progressive rock
album covers.
(image from YouTube)

By the end of the 1980s, consumers demanded more from their computers than the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, and MSX could provide, resulting in a new generation of powerful 16-bit and 32-bit machines. In America, the x86 PC started to establish its dominance, due to lowering hardware prices, the success of multimedia titles like The 7th Guest and Myst, and the rising popularity of shareware titles like Wolfenstein 3D. Great Britain saw the rise of the Commodore Amiga thanks to jaw-dropping Psygnosis titles like Shadow of the Beast and the megahit puzzle game Lemmings. 

Finally, Japan turned to cutting edge arcade technology for its next generation home computer, the Sharp X68000. Since the early 1980s, game systems and computers alike made the promise of bringing the arcade experience home, but only the X68000 delivered. Capcom designer Hiroaki Kondo even used the X68000 as a development kit for arcade hits like Street Fighter II, and earned the nickname "X68K" for his skill with the computer.

Despite its considerable power, the Sharp X68000 was practically unknown in the United States. If American tech enthusiasts knew of the system at all, it was likely through obscure emulators or the peculiar release of Castlevania Chronicles for the first Playstation. Even if they knew about it, they weren't likely to be able to afford it... the X68K debuted in Japan at a mammoth three thousand dollars, and with only 150,000 units sold, it has scarcely gone down in price in the years since.

The X68000 Mini comes with a teeny
little carrying handle. Good luck holding
the original behemoth of a computer with
just one finger. You'll be sans one finger
after ten minutes.
(image from AusRetroGamer)

Consumer tech manufacturer Zuiki is hoping to close that price gap with the release of the X68000 Mini. Like the C64 and the A500 before it, the X68000 Mini hopes to shrink both the intimidating size and price of the machine, while including a handful of the X68K's most memorable games. What games, exactly? We don't know that yet, although Castlevania Chronicles and the X68000 exclusive extension of the Gradius series are likely candidates for inclusion. How much is this thing going to cost? We don't know that either, but early images of the system, including a mechanical keyboard and a nifty trackball/mouse hybrid, suggest that the X68000 Mini won't be cheap. Cheaper than the original, yes, but that's not saying much. If you want one, you'd better save your pennies, along with your nickels, dimes, quarters, high-yield savings bonds, and bars of gold-pressed latinum.

Special thanks to Madlittlepixel for spilling the beans on the X68000 Mini, along with AusRetroGamer for additional details.