Was there a comparable computer to the Sharp X6800 back in the day?

[JaguarVision]

The Sharpx86 was considered the most powerful gaming computer for quite some time and a lot of retro gamers are collecting and attempting to make homebrew for it even now. It is constantly said that nothing could touch it and was comparable to the arcades.

 

But what I'm wondering is was there any computer system that was comparable to the sharpx6800?

 

The closest I can remember was the Acorn 32 but looking at it's games in practice nothing was produced that really seems that far and away from. An ST.

Edited November 13, 2017 by JaguarVision

[R.Cade]

It kind of stands on it's own, mostly because of the extensive sprite hardware. It was unlike any computer of the time I suppose... Almost like an arcade game development computer.

 

It would be like if SNK made a version of the Neo-Geo with an operating system, keyboard and mouse...

Edited November 13, 2017 by R.Cade

[phoenixdownita]

I take the post is about the X68000 (not the sharp X86 or X6800).

As the wikipedia entry reports, it served as the CPS dev system, so compared to the other systems of the time (1987) it was like having an arcade machine at home.

The first model in 1987 already shipped with 1MB of RAM AND 1MB of VRAM (the Amiga 500 in 1987 was shipping with 512KB unified).

 

So you can see how it stacked.

[carlsson]

We've had this discussion before, where also prices as brand new were taken into consideration. Very powerful hardware yes, but also very expensive compared to what customers elsewhere expected or were willing to pay. In particular in Europe I suspect the Sharp X68000 would've bombed, barely anyone would've have afforded it unless of course you could run Lotus 1-2-3 or Word Perfect on it as well as cool games.

[shoestring]

It was not really useful as a computer. Mainly because the graphics hardware was strictly tile based ( great for games ) and didn't support a line drawing mode like the Aniga did, so it really struggled when it came to drawing windows.

 

Based on its price, there was no way it would compete outside of Japan with the likes of the Atari ST and the Amiga. It was already cut throat. Jack really knew how to keep the Japanese out of the 8 bit market and I think that also carried on through to the 16 bit.

[carlsson]

So one of the reasons why it has no direct comparison is there was little or no demand outside Japan, at least in the price category it would end up in.

[shoestring]

A Japanese demo scener compares the Amiga to the x68000

 

http://6octaves.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/interview-with-japanese-demoscener.html

Edited November 17, 2017 by shoestring

[bradhig1]

I missed the earlier discussions. I am sick of the Euros acting like Americans didn't care about the microcomputers. We had a Commodore 64 for a long time and used it for a long time before getting a 386.

[Cepp]

A Japanese demo scener compares the Amiga to the x68000

 

http://6octaves.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/interview-with-japanese-demoscener.html

Thanks for posting this, that was really interesting and informative.

[shoestring]

You're welcome.

 

It is nice to get the Japanese perspective.