Need help with buying an X68000

[Tromaville]

Hi I've been looking into getting a x68000 for a while now and all I've got so far is a headache. It doesn't help that I've only had experience with consoles so I'm used to being able to buy a system that I can plug into a monitor and play right away. I've come across a seller parity_dot on YAJ, but I'm not entirely sure what extras I'd need to buy with the system.

I've been looking at this one in particular:
http://page6.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/f105405394

Do I need to buy the 4MB RAM to play most games on the system?

I assume a mouse and keyboard are required and then a controller.

Would I also need to buy the extra HDD? And what about the OS?

Is there anything else I'd need before I can plug it into a monitor and play? I'm mainly interested in playing the Konami/Capcom titles and some of the shmups on the system.

Sorry for being a complete noob about this but I'm finding the basic information hard to come by.

[neko68k]

You dont _need_ more than 2MB ram but honestly I would snatch up anything you feel comfortable paying for. Some of the Capcom games require 4MB(SSF2), most games will only need 1, and a small selection need 2(Cotton).

[RobIvy64]

Not only do I have that exact model (the Super), but I bought mine from the same seller.

First of all, this guy does great work. I was shocked at how clean my system was when it arrived. He mentions disassembling each piece and cleaning them, and I believe it. No worries there, you will be very happy with the quality of his refurbishment.

In order to be completely "plug and play" you will need a VGA adapter. If you are even a novice when it comes to soldering, you can make your own adapter. It's dead simple.

You will also need a keyboard, mouse, and controller. Parity_dot offers them to you as an optional purchase after you buy a system, but you could probably find them cheaper if you scoured the internet although it could take a while.  I picked up a cheap Fujitsu FM Towns controller on YJ for Y900 and use that.

If you just want to play games, that is a great system. You don't need a HDD to play games, but if you wanted to add one later, the Super uses standard SCSI1 so it's not terribly difficult.  99% (if not all) games are directly bootable so no need to load an OS.

[eidis]

 Hi Tromaville and welcome to our forum !

If you want to play games from floppy disks, 2MB RAM will do just fine. IMHO only Super Street Fighter 2 needs more.
If you are not so keen on becoming a DJ, SCSI to IDE mod with CF and 4MB and a Keyboard is recommended.

Please note that you will need a Multiscan monitor which can display frequencies in 15 - 31 khz range. You can use a standard 31 khz monitor but the frequent out of sync messages will annoy you quite often.

Keyboard is only required if you are planing to upgrade your X68000 with HDD. Otherwise just pop the floppy disks in the drives and control everything with a Joystick/Gamepad.

Eidis

[RobIvy64]

Some games do require a keyboard I have found. Usually for trivial things like hitting a key to enter the options menu in Fantasy Zone or "RETURN" to start the game.

[Opethian]

Parodius also requires a damn keyboard

[SuperDeadite]

Akumajo Dracula needs a keyboard to create a user disk, or hit "return" just once to confirm you can't save. 
If you get a user disk from someone, you don't need a keyboard though.