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The X68000 is an unheard-of gem from Japan. Released around the same time as the Amiga and Atari ST, it was leagues ahead of them both in terms of design and capability. Originally released in 1987 with a 10MHz 68000 CPU and 1MB RAM, the series finished six years later with a 25MHz 68030, 4MB RAM and a 80MB HD. Earlier models used SASI (Shugart Associates System Interface) which was a forerunner to SCSI, and is almost pin compatible with early SCSI drives. Later models used real SCSI. The series favoured (And this is cool) soft-eject 5.25" floppies though there were a few "Compact" releases with 3.25" drives and smaller cases.See this page for a complete list of models.
One of the most striking things about the system was the case - a two-halved tower bisected by a click-in/out carrying handle, reminiscent more of a mainframe computer than a PC. It was one of the first computers to feature soft-on power, where the main power supply was always on and the front-mounted power switch would only signal the machine to shut down, giving software time to save, shutdown and usually fade out the sound and the screen. Two expansion slots closely related to the ISA standard, and a host of ports as standard: 2 MSX compatible joystick ports, parallel, serial, external floppy (It could run 4 drives, two were built-in) port, 3D goggles port, as well as TV/monitor control,SASI, headphone, microphone, RGB in and out... Very advanced for the time, and in terms of design it's nearly unmatched (in my mind) to this day.
I own some 2-300 softs for the system, and the good stuff is _really_ good. The good-game list goes on and on, the system enjoyed a position as the most powerful system at a time when games were still a lot of fun. Micomsoft, makers of the XRGB-2, released a large collection of classic and arcade conversions, including Rygar, Dragon Spirit, Galaga '88, Mr. Do, Mr. Do + Unicorns, Bubble Bobble, Star Force, Terra Cresta + Moon Cresta, Dig Dug 1 + 2, Ys book 1 (one of the best conversions of this classic).. Capcom's lineup included GnG, Strider, Final Fight as well as Street Fighter 2 Dash + Super SF2. Capcom themselvs handled the ports and in a book about their fighting game history they said the X68000 version of Super SF and SF 2 Dash were arcade perfect. Konami was a big supporter, and while SPS handled some early (And crappy) releases like Salamander, Konami did some first-party gems (in super-deluxe cases + sleeves): Castlevania, Gradius 2, Parodius and Detana Twinbee. Arcade-perfect, all of them. SPS did release some good stuff: A custom Gradius remake called Nemesis '90 with some truly lovely graphics, and a great port of the PCE/TG16 classic CyberCore. They also did a port of Namco's Marchen Maze, which is truly stunning to look at. Their crap-list included a version of Rally Bike, Sylvalion, New Zealand Story, Twinbee and PacMania. A handful of great MegaDrive games were released on this system as well, taking advantage of the similar and more powerful hardware. ThunderForce 2 had clear voice and better scrolling. Granada and Sol Feace were both better than the Genesis versions. Kaneko released arcade-perfect translations of Kyuukyoko Tiger (Twin Cobra) and Flying Shark. Zoom was a big supporter too, with some great games like Overtake, Genocide, and an incredible Phalanx (which saw a SNES release). Electronic Arts published two titles too, a version of Cotton: Night Dreams (Which had the kb lights flashing to the music) and a port of Raizing/8ing's Kingdom Grand Prix. Irem released two games, Image Fight (excellent) and Rtype (very poor). Falcom released Ys 3, which features some of the very best versions of their music. Feedback over here if you have any.
Arcade X68000 As you can see from the two above shots, both taken with an emulator (MAME + Ex68) are pixel perfect duplicates. There are some coloration differences, noticable on the browns, but I don't know if this is because of an actual difference in colour or emulator rendering innacuracies.
More Screenshots Here!