X68000 information sponging

[kamiboy]

I've never tried an FM towns controller but I know from experience how bad the SMS controller is.

I could rewire a genesis controller but I dont like using a three button pad with a two button system. I'll just buy an MSX pad when I get the system.

[robivy64]

The second FM Towns/Marty pad is actually really nice, and works well with the system.



This is the one you do not want.



If you can succumb to your inability to use a controller with more than 2 buttons, the Neo Geo CD pad is a great controller and my controller of choice (outside of the joystick).

[Ed Oscuro]

True Story, She Wrote incoming:

When I bought a copy of Blandia for FM Towns, the seller included a couple pads that have the same overall shape as the like the two-button Marty pad above - except they have six buttons, not two! Obviously it's not likely to see much use with the system's normal titles but a pair of these seem nice to have. I am keeping them in nice shape, though, so I don't have anything concrete in the way of impressions. I think the only Marty controller I've used is some horrible wired car remote thing from the Car Marty (excellent system though).

[kamiboy]

Looks like those Marty controllers do not have the right connector to fit into the X68000 port. So the one in the picture must have been modded.

Anyone has experience with MSX controllers before? Some of them were made by Hudson so they must be quality pieces of kit, and they work on the X68000 out of the box if I understand correctly.

[robivy64]

The marty pads work without any modifications.

I know because I have one

[kamiboy]

Good to know, thanks.

By the way, I've have my eyes on this listing. The price is fair right? It seems to have had a full once over and it even comes with the original box. I am an avid connoisseur of electronics that come with their original boxes.

[robivy64]

That is a nice machine, and a very fair price. In the description it looks like all of the trouble spots have been addressed, so you would be able to enjoy it right out of the box.

Keep in mind, you will also need a keyboard. A few games require you to hit "F1" to start, and for a compact flash setup, you need the keyboard to navigate the Human68k shell.

A keyboard can be had anywhere from $50-$100.

[kamiboy]

Because of the number of parts needed and their cost I am going to treat the X68000 as an ongoing project. I'll get the tower first, and a few months down the line look into getting the rest.

Only reason why I am considering getting that one right now is because of the box factor. I imagine finding one that comes with it is very rare.

What can I say, I have a box fetish when it comes to games and electronics.

[robivy64]

Considering the falling value of the yen in the last few weeks, and the fact that an X68000 Expert with damaged base and hacked PSU recently sold for $375 in the US, I'd say that is a fair deal.

A properly refurbished Ace/Expert/Pro X68000 (new SRAM battery, new caps with original PSU, cleaned and greased FDD) is easily worth at least $400-$500 in the US. The Super might be a little more just because of the SCSI support and 2M default memory.

[kamiboy]

Bah humbug. Looks like thanks to SMJ's domestic shipping policies I have lost so much money on my latest Yahoo auction foray that I cannot afford that Sharp X68000.

If only I had been aware of it two weeks ago I wouldn't have blown all that money on junk I much less rather have than that beauty.

Oh, well. I got a trip to Japan coming up and I cannot afford to waste any more money.

[Ed Oscuro]

If you would like to feel better, when I bought a basically CIB and new XVI tower a few years back, listed as a "once in a lifetime" deal, the seller then turned around and put up a 68030 (red logo I think) model for sale. Same price. Bah bumbug! But this price - we are talking in the range of double whatever figures are being mentioned here (I don't see the eBay link; I assume it was edited out to prevent the sniping). No refurbishment or testing done either. A X68000 worked over recently would be a good idea.

[kamiboy]

I might have to dip into the old savings for this one. The price is fair it seems, but tis a shame that I missed out on those 50 Euro compact VXI's years ago.

[Ed Oscuro]

I had one and allowed a friend to pester me into selling it to him

[kamiboy]

A friend in need...

[robivy64]

I would part ways with my cabs before I sold the X68000.

Yes, it is that awesome.

[Ed Oscuro]

I ought to mention that I have an Ace HD lying around in various bits and pieces that I never started refurbishing (or even basically testing). If somebody is up to the task it might be a good place to start. I have reason to suspect it will work with relatively few problems, and it's doing me little good sitting around here.

[Shou]

True Story, She Wrote incoming:

When I bought a copy of Blandia for FM Towns, the seller included a couple pads that have the same overall shape as the like the two-button Marty pad above - except they have six buttons, not two! Obviously it's not likely to see much use with the system's normal titles but a pair of these seem nice to have. I am keeping them in nice shape, though, so I don't have anything concrete in the way of impressions. I think the only Marty controller I've used is some horrible wired car remote thing from the Car Marty (excellent system though).

Blandia is supposed to come with 1 of the 6 button pads as part of the package.

[Shou]

[quote="kamiboy"]Wait, so these midi boards. Do they exist as internal versions as well? I keep reading people referring to them like there are sound card versions abailable for the 68000. I would prefer such an internal solution if possible.

Is this an internal midi board for an example?

{/quote]

There is no X68 MIDI board that has the GS module on it. You'll always have to get a MIDI playback device and the compatibility with these units and the output format from various games will differ. I can tell you that what I get on my Roland SC-55mkII for the Wolf Team games isn't as great as what you'd get from another box.

[Ed Oscuro]

True Story, She Wrote incoming:

When I bought a copy of Blandia for FM Towns, the seller included a couple pads that have the same overall shape as the like the two-button Marty pad above - except they have six buttons, not two! Obviously it's not likely to see much use with the system's normal titles but a pair of these seem nice to have. I am keeping them in nice shape, though, so I don't have anything concrete in the way of impressions. I think the only Marty controller I've used is some horrible wired car remote thing from the Car Marty (excellent system though).

Blandia is supposed to come with 1 of the 6 button pads as part of the package.

Well, there could be room for a pad, but it's just a standard FM Towns plastic game box so it would be a tight fit. Moreover, the 6-button pad is advertised on the bottom right corner of the box, with the sticker price of 10,800 yen mentioned. Maybe there was just a coupon for the controller. I think this is similar to many (optional) Dempa Micomsoft games for X68000 having pictures of their own controllers (i.e. the three-button controller for Pac-Land, or the dual d-pad for Libble Rabble), although the pads are Fujitsu brand. Of course, you could be right - one of the Fatal Fury games for X68000 came with a packed-in controller, although that was a specially made box to fit everything snugly. There's no special molding for fitting a game controller that I can see

I had a look at the handwritten note the seller included again, which alleges that only one arcade cabinet of the original game is known to exist and that this version is "equally rare." Hmm...rather doubtful.

[kamiboy]

There is no X68 MIDI board that has the GS module on it. You'll always have to get a MIDI playback device and the compatibility with these units and the output format from various games will differ. I can tell you that what I get on my Roland SC-55mkII for the Wolf Team games isn't as great as what you'd get from another box.

Man this whole MIDI board situation is all new to me and confuses the hell out of me. Its like the system card situation with the PC Engine but at least that one is well documented. There should be a guide out there somewhere.

I am going to join nfggames and ask them as they seem to know a lot about the system.

[robivy64]

Put me with the less popular kids, but I prefer the gritty FM tunes to anything I have heard from the auxiliary synthesizers.

[kamiboy]

FM tunes is what the X68000 itself can produce, correct?

Well I suppose there is something to be said for the consistency you get with bundled hardware. I remember on the PC the big problem with midi was the complete lack of consistency. The same track played back on different hardware sounded completely different.

You know the FM tracks were written by the composer to sound exactly as you hear it out of any X68000 but midi is a wild card.

On another note. Which would you guy prefer, that aforementioned boxed fully refurbished Super or a Compact XVI with a keyboard?

The advantage with the XVI is that the impatient gamer in me can get to enjoy it pretty much out of the box without having to buy any additional hardware.

It reads 3.5 floppies and I have a USB floppy which as I understand is capable of writing in the 1.2MB format that the Compact can read.

So I can just star wiring games and playing them right away instead of having to wait until I can get hold of some official releases. Of course it also costs half as much and I imagine weighs quite a bit less so shipping should be cheaper as well.

[robivy64]

Yes, the internal FM synthesizer is the Yamaha YM2151, the same chip used in many arcade games including the Capcom CPS1 platform.

Get the Super and convert it to compact flash. Floppy disks really are a pain in the ass, and the Compact is not an easy system to convert to CF. The 3.5" drives are a lot more fragile and finicky than the 5.25" drives.

You can build your own HDD cable, buy a SCSI to CF converter, and install your own HDD image rather easily.

The most difficult part is building the cable.

I have an HDD bracket I would be willing to sell that would bolt right into that Super.

[kamiboy]

Well, well. This rabbit hole keeps getting deeper and deeper. I thought the AztectMonster would just plug into into the internals of an X68000.

So I need some sort of custom cable now?

I guess that is because the X68000 does not use standard SCSI connectors, right?

Thing is if I go with the Super I am not going to have any money to buy anything else for it for a good 3-4 months until my finances have recovered from the shock. In the meantime it is just going to collect dust.

Unless of course I happen to find a cheap 5.25 drive for a PC and roll my own floppies to play until I can afford the additional internal SCSI -> CF hardware. Those 5.25 drives are expensive though, it cost me fifty and then they are mostly sold untested, as is.

With the compact I already have everything ready to go. 3.5 floppies are a pain to deal with, but they are cheap to get a hold of. A new box of them will set me back maybe a tenner, then I am off to play.

I guess it all comes down to how patient I am. I think I'll put down a bid of 15000 Yen on that compact, if someone overbids me I'll just bite the bullet and get the Super instead.

[robivy64]

The internal HDD cable is proprietary. One end is a standard 50-pin SCSI 1 connector, while the other is a proprietary 26-pin connector that interfaces with the motherboard. The power cable is also proprietary, but that is easy to convert to a standard PC-style molex connector.

If you get the Super, I have a ton of blank 5.25 disks and a rig that can write images. I can write a game or two to keep you busy on the system.

[kamiboy]

Hey thanks for the offer. If I get the Super I am going to take you up on that. I'll pay for the shipping and floppies of course.

[Ed Oscuro]

If you get the Super, I have a ton of blank 5.25 disks and a rig that can write images.

How are you doing for ripping / writing copy protected games like Dracula?

[kamiboy]

He writes the discs from ROM images via a Win95 machine equipped with a floppy. I am guessing the ROM images have been proper hacked to disable any protection scheme.

[Ed Oscuro]

I am guessing the ROM images have been proper hacked to disable any protection scheme.

No doubt that's possible, but I'd like to try to keep things original. Hacked-up copy protection is far from perfection when it comes to game preservation...just as it annoys me to find tons of hacked headers and other garbage on MSX floppy images within the TOSEC set.

[kamiboy]

By the way Robivy, you mentioned getting a CF setup going is harder in the Compact. Care to elaborate on that?