With Linux you have the option of switching to a cli if the desktop doesn't start.
This isn't really a comparable situation though - if init doesn't know what to do in Linux, the solution there is to start with "single" as boot parameter, and if your inittab doesn't know what to run in single mode either, there's no way to boot at all unless you have another boot disk.
The cool thing in MiNT though is that you can even run the desktop when init doesn't start, like in your case ;o)
Maurits.