If you've been following the site for a while, you'll know we've been doing our best to try and keep up to date with the latest news regarding the X68000 Z — ZUIKI Inc's miniaturized version of Sharp's X68000 home computer. This is in spite of the machine not yet being available to import directly from the source for those outside of Japan, and uncertainty over whether that will ever actually be the case.
Well, at the end of last month (March 31st), it appears that the Limited Edition Early Access Kits of the machine started going out to Japanese backers of the project on the crowdfunding site Kibidango, with Bayonetta creator's Hideki Kamiya being among those who received one of these special units.
We've known for a while from the crowdfunding site that these kits were going to contain the X68000 Z itself, a keyboard, mouse, HDMI cable, USB-TypeC cable, a commemorative notebook and commemorative sticker, a dedicated SD Card, and two games for the machine Gradius and Super Rapid Fire 68K. But now, Kamiya has posted an unboxing of the kit on Twitter, giving us a proper look inside:
According to the crowdfunding site, there will be a second round of Early Access Kits shipped to those who backed the project in June 2023. But that hasn't stopped some of this first batch of units from appearing on reseller sites like eBay for some frankly ridiculous prices.
As detailed on its website, ZUIKI also plans to release a Black Model of the machine at a later date. This will be the retail version of the machine, and perhaps slightly easier to import overseas.