The X68000

Posted by Henry McHenry on 02/24/2015
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We know or may have heard about the Atari ST and the Commodore Amiga, those computers which brought the 16 bits home (or someone else’s ;-D). But you probably haven’t heard about the X68000, a japanese computer fromt he same generation as the ST and the Amiga, of which about 120,000 units were only sold in Japan, because Sharp only sold it there.

Let’s get to know the “machine”. It was a computer created and sold by the japanese company Sharp y it was released to the market aroung 1985 (quite a while indeed). For its time it was quite an impressive machine with an even more impressive software catalog.

It had its own OS (operating system), developed by Hudson Soft (a great software company during the 80s and 90s) in four flavors: HumanOS (similar to MSDOS), another one similar to Atari TOS (Human68k, other version was similar to the Unix X-Window (KO-Windows) y the fourth one was like the Amiga Workbench. Everything off course in perfect japanese… ;-D

Regarding software, well, the catalog was quite extensive with hundreds of games and applications. The games where not quite unknown. Games and Arcades like Ghouls and Ghosts, Final Fight, Bubble Bobble, Bomberman, Cotton, Street Fighter II, Salamander, Twinbee, etc were masterly taken to this computer.

These are the overall basic specs for the X68000. During the years Sharp did some revisions like replacing the SASI controller for a SCSI controller or moving form 5.25″ to 3.5″ floppies.


some of the X68000 Tech Specs:

CPU: MC68000 at 10 Mhz produced by Hitachi with license from Motorola
RAM: 1-2 Megabytes
Graphic modes: 768×512, 512×512, 256×256 all with 65.535 colors
VRAM: 512 Kb
Sprites ram: 32 Kb (16×16 pixels)
Tranparencies
Sound: Yamaha with FM (synthesis)

For storage, (initially) there were two 5.25″ 1.2MB floppy drives. The file system was compatible with MS-DOS. It cam with option of connecting an internal SASI or (later) SCSI hard disk. A unit with an SCSI is more desirable since SASI sisn’t gain traction on the market.

An unknown computer, with impressive specs and great arcade conversions. It is never too late to get to know it, thanks to the magic of emulation.

You know what’s BS? Motherboard gouging

Posted by Henry McHenry on 01/09/2015
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Yes, exactly that, motherboard gouging. 

During the past few decades, a lot of PCs ended in landfills, so I can understand complete working branded 286/386/486 PCs are now commanding high prices. Maybe even not so old PCs are now commanding high prices. Still, we are talking about complete or somewhat complete PCs.

But crappy old motherboards? you know, the cheap ones (Biostar, PC Chips, ECS, Soyo, etc) made in the millions, that allowed you to assemble inexpensive desktop PCs about a decade ago.

Take a look at this one for example:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ISA-Slot-Motherboard-1-3ghz-CPU-1gb-RAM-M7VKQ-Socket-A-Works-perfectly-/291344647299?pt=Motherboards&hash=item43d57e8483

Sometime in 2003 I bought one of these to make a cheap computer, so I know it. This was not state of the art or anything memorable back then, however someone thinks it is some kind of museum highly collectible piece. Go figure.

These things should be free or nominal cost so they don’t end up on a landfill. 

CPUs like Socket 370s PIII and Celerons, PC66/100/133 ram chips are also beginning to command high prices. It is just getting ridiculous. 


2014 anniversaries

Posted by Henry McHenry on 01/02/2015
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2014 was filled with memorable anniversaries. On the top of my head:



Ride the Lightning (1984)
Powerslave (1984)
Sonic 3 (1994)
Sonic & Knuckles (1994)
Megadeth’s Youthanasia (1994)
Korn’s first album Korn (1994)
The Sega Saturn was released in Japan (1994)
The Sony Playstation was released in Japan (1994)

The recent Sonic games 06 – to date

Posted by Henry McHenry on 11/26/2014
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My own perspective on some of the most recent Sonic games.

Sonic 2006. I got it in November 06, (originally, the reason why I got the X360) and my God, it was awful. Basically the game is glitched and has very long loading times (not even PS1/SAT games had those loading times). The story, don’t get me started…

Sonic and the secret rings. Just unplayable. I understand Sega was experimenting with the motion controllers but they should have included a regular controller option.

Sonic and the Black Knight. Another Wii sword game. A meh kinda game. If you wanna end up with a sore arm, go ahead.

Sonic Unleashed. I got the X360 version. I like you can pick the japanese language with subtitles. It’s like having two games in one. The hedgehog stages are nicely executed, the werehog stages make you think, the button mashing can be relaxing. Give it a shot, although not on the priority list.

Sonic Colors. This is a highly underrated game (maybe because of its name and because it was a Wii exclusive). It is a shame they didn’t make it for the HD consoles. Great gameplay, well inspired stages, great atmosphere overall,  multiple control choices.

Sonic Generations. Just get it.

Sonic Lost World. It’s ok. Feels a bit awkward to control but you get used to it. Regarding perspective and cameras, somehow it is what Sonic X-Treme may have been. Not bad, considering the anemic selection on the Wii U this is one to get for the system.

Saturn Memories

Posted by Henry McHenry on 11/13/2014
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Back then, in this part of the planet the Saturn pretty much went unnoticed (it was PSX and N64). It wasn’t until the late 90’s when I read about it (and got interested in the machine) and it wasn’t until sometime in the early 00’s when I got to experience some its games thanks to emulation.

Time went by and about 5 years ago I picked up a real Saturn and truly appreciated the system. Just like with the PCE, on the JP side of things, there are plenty of great games, but in my opinion the machine’s specialty are Fighting and Shooters.

Some of my favorite games include Vampire Savior, Sega Rally, Daytona, Saturn Bomberman, Guardian Heroes, Sonic 3D (yes, seriously), Sonic R (yes, also that one), Thunder Force V, Radiant, Dracula X, etc

Continuing with the unthinkable

Posted by Henry McHenry on 09/08/2014
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Recently I got a few more games for my recently acquired PS3. I got them form Play Asia.

I’ve been playing a lot of Initial D lately. It may not be the most acurate or visual appealing racing game ever but I certainly like it, it’s been fun.

Pachi para 16 is a pachinko game. I admit I haven’t even unwrapped it. I’ll get to it soon.

Last night I just fired up “The Last of Us”. So far it is one of the best games I ever played, not only on the PS3 but on any console. (If you don’t already own one) I highly recommend getting a PS3 to play this an other exclusives.

I thought it was one of those highly overrated. You know, when a product gets high praise form the critics, the so called journalists and gets multiple prices I tend to be a bit exceptical (just a little bit). However, regular users comments and the low price convinced me of giving it a shot.

It’s been a while since I had this feeling of, “I can’t wait to get home to keep playing”.


Regarding the PS4 sales

Posted by Henry McHenry on 08/20/2014
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These days a lot more people buy stuff just because they can. Even with the recent recessions consumerism seems to be at its highest.


What happened with Wii on the past gen is understandable. It was the toy to have. The trend was over and these toys ended up collecting dust, without consuming content.


PS4 is a promising platform, but it’s not the time to go get one. No at it’s current price point, nor with its current (exclusive) catalog.


As per the other functions, these can be done with other devices, including the (almighty) PC.


Just recently I got me a PS3. With the exclusives released so far there is fun to be had for a while.

Heck, the PS2 has a lot (and I mean a lot) of gems waiting to be discovered.

I did the unthinkable

Posted by Henry McHenry on 08/06/2014
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Yesterday I did the unthinkable. I got a PS3 game. Don’t take me wrong, I have nothing against the Playstation brand, I have a PS2 and I love playing PS1 and PS2 games.

Back in 06 I decided to go with the X360 because of the great experience I had with the original Xbox and also because of availability. Down the road I didn’t decide on a PS3 mainly because most games were available on both platforms.

Well, reason I decided to get this particular PS3 game (2014 World Cup) was because I couldn’t find it for X360.

Also, at this point in time (2014) there are a number of PS3 exclusives I’m interested in playing:

– Gran Turismo 5
– Gran Turismo 6
– Initial D
– Los juegos de Saint Seiya
– Playstation Battle Royale (o como se llame el clon del Smash Bros)
– Metal Gear Solid 4 (igual convendria conseguir la legacy collection)
– Ridge Racer 7
– Little big planet
– Twisted metal
– Motostorm

To name a few. Through history PS3 consoles don’t seem to fail as much as the X360, so I’m not sure what model to get. PS2 backwards compatiblity is not an issue since I have a PS2. I guess as long as it is close to a 100 bucks it’ll be fine.

My Sonic memories

Posted by Henry McHenry on 06/25/2014
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I got into Sonic thanks to a buddy of mine who invited me to his house to “play Sega”. He got Montana sports talk football and we were playing for hours. Later that evening I saw a box with a “cat” (I thought that was a cat at the time). I asked my buddy and he said, “oh yeah, that’s Sonic the Hedgehog, wanna play?” I said “sure, why not”.

Since that day, my life was changed and history was rewritten. Instead of saving for a SNES for Christmas, I got the Genesis and Sonic. All the awesomeness and for a lower price.

Retro gaming PC project

Posted by Henry McHenry on 04/17/2014
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It’s been quite a while since I wrote anything here (nah, really?). 

The retro gaming PC is a project I’ve been working for sometime since last year when I recovered an old PC I assembled back in 02. The current system specs are:

– Mobo: ECS K7SEM
– CPU: (integrated) AMD Duron 1300 (about 1 ghz)
– Ram: 512 MB PC133 (Kingston and Markvision)
– Sound Card: SB Audigy Digital Studio (LA Edition) 
– Capture Card: Avermedia AverTV
– 2 x 40 GB IDE HDD (Seagate and Maxtor)
– Gravis gamepad pro
– Windows 98 SE

I’ve tried the following games with satisfactory results (I mean, why they wouldn’t work?):

– Fifa 98 (sometimes sounds bad, I don’t know why)
– 4×4 Evo
– Monster Truck Madness 1 and 2
– Midtown Madness 1 and 2
– Need for Sped 2 SE
– Chesmaster 8000
– Roadrash
– Sonic 3D (I have to run it from a physical CD to get music)
– Sonic CD (still have to switch to 256 colors, also a physical CD is required for music))
Some of this games work on Windows 7, however, since I no longer run it at home (all migrated to Ubuntu) this PC is the way to go.

After finding some software discs and hardware I expanded the scope of this system beyond gaming. Some productivity (and not so much) stuff I added:

– Canon LPT1 scanner and software (works lke day one)
– Office 97 (ust the way I remeber it)
– Cool edit Pro (awesome audio editor)
– MS Plus (collection of themes and games)
– IMGBurn (the latest version works!)
– Daemon tools (older version which works on Win98)

The only thing that this PC is no good at is the internet. Most sites won’t load correctly with the version of Firefox I installed, forget about IE6.