this post was submitted on 06 Dec 2024
38 points (100.0% liked)

RetroGaming

19782 readers
121 users here now

Vintage gaming community.

Rules:

  1. Be kind.
  2. No spam or soliciting for money.
  3. No racism or other bigotry allowed.
  4. Obviously nothing illegal.

If you see these please report them.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Overview

The Sega 32X, an add-on for the Mega Drive/Genesis console in 1994, marks its 30th anniversary this year. This hardware launch was designed as a bridge from 16-bit to 32-bit gaming but ultimately failed commercially.

  • Launch Dates: Launched November 21st, 1994 in North America and Europe; December 3rd, 1994 in Japan.
  • Design Purpose: Retain Sega's substantial user base while preparing for the next generation of consoles.
  • Games Released: Approximately only 40 titles were released, some enhanced versions of Genesis games.

Commercial Failure & Impact

Less than a million units were sold, causing Sega to abandon the platform in 1996.

  • Yosuke Okunari (Sega Producer): Laid blame at the feet of the 32X for diverting attention away from Saturn, contributing to Sega's decline in sales.

Do you have any fond memories or opinions about the Sega 32X?

top 8 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] 9point6 3 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

I've never really given the 32X library much of a look

What are some personal highlights of people here? I might give some a look at the weekend

[–] RightHandOfIkaros 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Star Wars Arcade, Space Harrier, or Afterburner, probably.

The 32X was around for such little time it didn't really get to build up much of a library in the first place.

[–] 9point6 1 points 2 weeks ago

Cheers I appreciate the list, yeah I had a feeling it was a bit of a smaller library

[–] ClipperDefiance 3 points 2 weeks ago

Knuckles' Chaotix

It's one of the more obscure Sonic titles since it was a 32X exclusive and it's never been rereleased. It doesn't really take advantage of the 32X's capabilities and it's generally regarded as being on the easy side, but I think it's worth checking out.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

Knuckles Chaotix. It's a sonic style game with a unique rubber band 2nd player mechanic not used in any other game to my knowledge.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

After Burner, Space Harrier and Virtua Racing are cool ports. Playing them through 32X is more convenient than emulating the arcade originals. Knuckles Chaotix looks and sounds great but the gameplay can be clunky, still worth a look though.

That's about it, most other titles are available on other platforms and the 32X ports aren't really an improvement as far as I know.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

A bit late to the party but no one has mentioned Kolibri or Spider-Man: Web of Fire.

Both great games. Kolibri should be getting a lot more praise than it does. Why it's never been ported elsewhere baffles me.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

I never owned a 32X, and I've only tried one or two games in its library through emulation. From what I've tried and seen, at least what was released for it barely qualifies as anything one would call "32 bit" by looking at it, it just pushes the Genesis slightly beyond the graphical capabilities of the SNES. It only existed in the first place because Sega of America and Sega of Japan never communicated properly so SoA had no idea SoJ was working on the Saturn, so SoA made the 32X to prolong the Genesis' life span until a proper 32-bit console could be developed, and THEN they found out about the Saturn, but STILL tried to push it as Sega's 32-bit solution, which was rejected soundly by SoJ in favor of the Saturn, and SoJ only approved the 32X for those stopgap purposes while they readied the Saturn for Western release. SoJ weren't right about what would appeal to the Western market very often, but they did at least get that right. The Saturn didn't sell well in the Western market, but it easily trounced the 32X in every way (and actually showed what 32-bit hardware could do without being shackled to an aging 16-bit console as an add-on). The 32X pulled Virtual Boy numbers and had about as long a lifespan and only a slightly larger library. Really an apt comparison: two consoles that failed spectacularly to deliver on their graphical promises, were rejected by the market, and became the biggest hardware flops in each company's history for good reason.