The Sharp X68000 is a 68000-based computer released only in Japan. It was made by Sharp's consumer electronics department (think: TVs, radios) and sold in the same stores that sold TVs, rather than in computer shops. It was not a runaway success, but several hundred thousand units were sold and the game library boasts the greatest ratio of good:crap of any computer in Japan. Read more...

This is a WIP, should probably move these large chunks to separate pages.

The X68000 series featured some very advanced graphics hardware, co-developed by Hudson. It totally eclipsed the Amiga, Atari ST and Macintosh computers which shared the same 68000-series CPU. These chips allowed for virtually pixel-perfect ports of many arcade games.

It also featured a wealth of off-the-shelf chips from a variety of manufacturers. The X68000's Okidata ADPCM sound chip was also used in at least one other game console, and Yamaha was essentially the only soundchip manufacturer of any import back in the day. Chips from Zilog, Motorola, Hitachi and NEC all made their way inside. As was the norm back then every chip that had extra pins was put into service for another device. The printer controller also handled joystick input, the serial controller handled the mouse and the MFP had its fingers in nearly every input or output port available.

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