====== X68kLauncher, a X68000 Game Launcher - Information & Downloads ======

{{:blog:x68000_launcher_2.png?500|}} 

My //X68kLauncher// application is written in C, using the the [[blog:x68_devtools|GCC development tools as detailed on my site]].

//What is it, and what does it do?//

//X68kLauncher// is graphical game browser and launcher for the late-80's range of X68000 personal computers from Sharp.

It runs on the Sharp X68000 hardware itself, either emulated or real physical system; it is __not__ a Window/Mac/Linux application like [launchbox](https://www.launchbox-app.com/) or [RetroArch](https://github.com/libretro/RetroArch).

   * It creates a browseable list of all the game directories on your drive(s)
   * It can load and display additional metadata per game (i.e developer, genre, release date etc)
   * It can load and display screenshots or artwork per game (i.e box art, screenshots, etc)
   * It can export an audit file of all the found games
   * It can launch any game for which a start file is either found (e.g. start.bat), or which has been defined in metadata (e.g. run.com, go.exe, etc)

A demo of a (early) version of the application can be found on my Youtube channel:

{{youtube>3cuFtyWimM8?large}}

You can find versions of the X68kLauncher application ready to download on this page, as well as packaged up versions of games and their metadata ready to go.

As a reminder, you'll need the following:

   * A Sharp X68000 (or emulator, such as **xm6g**)
   * A hard drive
   * Minimum of 2MB of memory

All the files necessary to run the application are included in the application zip file.

===== Application Binaries =====

Pre-compiled versions of the X68kLauncher application are listed here.

^ Date           ^ Notes                                ^ Download Links                      ^
|                |                                      |                                     |

===== Application Source Code =====

Source code for the X68kLauncher application can always be found at Github:

   * https://github.com/megatron-uk/x68klauncher

===== Game Metadata =====

These packages include a pre-written __launch.dat__ metadata file, screenshots, box artwork and custom start files (in most cases following the Sharp X68000 convention of being named __!start.bat__). In cases where a game has a configuration tool to set music/sound options, this is set as the alt_start executable.

The packages should unzip directly to a directory such as __A:\Games__ on your X68000 hard drive and //be ready to go//. //You don't need to find anything else//.

^ Info ^ Name                    ^ Developer      ^ Metadata ^ Screenshots ^ Box Artwork ^ Audio ^ Notes                 ^
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