Would it be possible to port X68K games to arcade hardware?

[emphatic]

Having just watched videos of the new Cho-Ren Sha 68K version on YouTube (thanks, Icarus), I got curious, has anyone attempted to port any X68K games to existing arcade hardware, like say, the NEO-GEO?

[Bassa-Bassa]

That's a wild idea which I don't see ever happening so long as Windows PCs (which you can use on a cab even at 240p) are a thing, but the Neo would be a bad target for it as it can't display the games at the 55hz the computer always uses, nor the 256x resolution at full screen.

[jd213]

Chorensha seems to run great on the MiSter, although I wish the X68000 core was working better (analog output is jittery, some games don't run, some have bugs, midi doesn't work on some games, etc., I'd be willing to work on it myself if I had the time or the experience).

Porting it to hardware that's no longer being produced seems like something might do in their free time if they were so inclined (like Pigsy on YouTube who's porting SOTN to Genesis/MD), but it seems unlikely.

[orange808]

(like Pigsy on YouTube who's porting SOTN to Genesis/MD)

I see that one is more of a demake with linear stages. That's a lot of work. Hard to imagine even that limited project will see completion, because the game cannot be sold. That's a lot of work with zero reward. Even if the dev chose to base the project on a robust hack/mod of the existing Gen/MD 'Vania/AD source, it would still be a huge undertaking.

A proper porting job would be extremely tricky, because Symphony of the Night was developed in C using the official Sony PsyQ dev kits on PCs. The key concept being: the game is written in C.

So, a port to the MegaDrive/Genesis would be a complete rewrite in assembler. You'd have to start from scratch.

After a fast glace at X68000 dev docs and a hello world, you'd also be better off starting over with a port from the X68000. The machines use some similar hardware and there are a few little similarities between the platforms, but they are still too different from a dev standpoint. A proper port team would benefit from examining the source for X68000 game, but the Neo Geo would require too much platform specific coding to just modify a few lines of the X68000 assembler and expect it to run it on the Neo Geo. For the most part, you'd have to build a Neo Geo version from the ground up. May or may not be able to reuse some bits of game logic from vblank; probably not much.

[emphatic]

Thanks for chiming in guys. I just wanted to put the idea out there in case someone crazy enough to take it on sees the idea and tries to execute it, in their spare time, of course.

[Sumez]

Is Cho Ren Sha programmed in assembly or C, and does a disassembly/decompile of the game exist?
I think that would be a major step on the way for that to happen.