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The Sharp X68000 computer. Virtually unknown in the U.S., it seemed to be quite popular in Japan. Very little info about the X68000 (from this point called the X68K) is available online, yet nuggets of info about it and it's games have surfaced.

Konami of Japan supported the X68K with several translations of their popular games series. A Castlevania game was released for the X68K, called Akumajo Dracula X68000. This game recently got a facelift and rerelease for the Sony PlayStation as Castlevania Chronicles, and was released for the first time in the U.S.

Well, that's great. I'm a huge Castlevania fan, and I was thrilled when Castlevania Chronicles was released here. I was finally able to play one of the lost games in the series.

But what about Gradius (which I'm also huge fan of, as most regular readers know)? It's not very often that Konami would release a Castlevania for a system without doing at least one Gradius game for that same system. With the exceptions of the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, N64 and Dreamcast (which got no Castlevania games at all), that's been the case for every system or computer that Konami has programmed for... and, as it turns out, Konami of Japan did indeed release a Gradius game for the X68K. They actually released several, according to The Gradius Homeworld - among them Gradius, Gradius II, Gradius III, Salamander and Parodius.

They didn't stop there, though. They released an conversion of the MSX Gradius 2 game, called Nemesis '90 Kai. Unfortunately, information on it is scarce. There are many Gradius sites out there, but few have information on it - and what they do usually have isn't very expansive. Usually Nemesis '90 Kai gets a quick mention, but not much else.

But now, thanks to the Video Game Museum, pictures have surfaced of the elusive Nemesis '90 Kai - and it looks awesome. Unfortunately, the odds of seeing it rereleased for a modern console like Akumajo Dracula X68000 are slim to none... and slim, I believe, just left town. Sucks to be us, huh?

Oh well. Unless Konami decides to release some kind of X68K deluxe pack, or bundle this in with any future Gradius release, the following pictures may be all we ever see of it...

Thanks to the Video Game Museum for the screenshots! Information on it can also be found at SHMUPS!

UPDATE 03/03/03 - Here's some more info on Nemesis '90 Kai from Hotaka:

About X68k and Nemesis '90 Kai (the Chinese character reads "Kai"):

The X68k specs contain many elements from arcade games. A lot of X68k users have great skill, and they continue to play the X68k even now. It does say Konami at the title screen, but the game was developed by SPS. Many arcade games were ported to the X68k by SPS and DENPA-SHINBUN. Nemesis '90 Kai had many features added to it from Gradius 2 (not II!) for the MSX .

Many players love the original Gradius 2. A X68k user translated the MSX Gradius 2 for the X68k by himself. Gradius 2 for X68k has no connection to Konami and SPS, and isn't sold through proper channels. Unfortunally, I have not played Nemesis '90 Kai or Gradius 2 for X68k. I dot't have more infomation about them, but this site does:

http://www.geocities.jp/ht_deko/gradius/gradius.html

Here is a lot of information, but the site is written in Japanese.