[fch42]

on the m68k, the "cisc-y-ness" is in the many many addressing modes, whereas x86 in that particular aspect of the architecture has always been rather "risc-y" (read: rather limited compared to other CISC architectures, including m68k).

The core instruction set of the m68k, as far as ALU/FPU is concerned, is simple enough. But converting the addressing modes to "risc building blocks" (μops or whatever term you like to use) is harder.