sirlynxalot Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 I love the 32x. I got one along with my first genesis about two years ago and enjoy it from the standpoint of what this thing was doing in the mid 90s. Some people criticize the library for only being enhanced genesis ports, but there's a bunch of next level feeling games on the machine, aka, everything with polygons. I love my Jaguar for its quirkiness and I find the 32x somewhat comparable. There's only about 6-8 games I really enjoy playing for either system, but that's enough for me to decide it's a decent enough experience and fun to play. (it actually sees more use than my Jaguar and that doesn't come from a history of owning a genesis or being a genesis kid back in the day) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IrishNinja Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 I think it had some good games, just not enough of them. this is where i am on the subject as well - Chatoix, Kolibri, Blackthorne, best Virtua Racing port, and a few others. prolly shouldn't have happened but we got a few gems out of it, anyway! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.Daniels Posted January 30, 2017 Share Posted January 30, 2017 It seems karma came back to haunt Sega, because the 32X was good enough reason to hold back the Saturn and could have had so many scaler games, like outrunners, also I would have loved it, if the Saturn cartridge port had played 32X games 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 I wish they had done more Super Scaler ports. Space Harrier and Afterburner II were the highlights of the library. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Cafeman Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 I wish they had done more Super Scaler ports. Space Harrier and Afterburner II were the highlights of the library. I know, right? Super Hang On & Outrun combo cart! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+FujiSkunk Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 The rumor I heard about the clips was they were unnecessary beyond satisfying a legal requirement. The point was not to keep other RF signals out, but to keep the system's own RF signals in. The FCC requires any device capable of generating RF to be shielded in order to prevent interference with surrounding appliances and electronics. That's why pretty much every console has big metal plates covering most of the circuitry inside. The 32X's metal clips extended that shielding through the cartridge port to keep it legally protected. I remember when the 32X came out, thinking that it looked like a suicide run. Everyone around me agreed. And actually, it was a suicide run. Then-Sega-of-America-CEO Tom Kalinske confirmed as much. It wasn't meant to be quite the fire-and-forget release it pretty much became, but even on the drawing board it was little more than a plan to milk the Genesis a little longer while prepping the Saturn for launch. That might have worked were it not for Sony's surprise announcement of the first PlayStation. Sega of Japan went into a tizzy, and, as Flojomojo mentioned, that's where the company really began competing with itself. SOJ, against Kalinske's advice, rushed the Saturn to market while still trying to hawk the 32X, and in the end, both consoles and game catalogs suffered. Kalinske finally got fed up with his Japanese counterparts and showed himself the door. There was no way I was going to pay $150 for a console add-on, even if I could have afforded it on my college-student budget. But when the local Babbage's clearanced them for $40, I bit. It's not a great console, but it has its highlights, which have pretty much all been mentioned. After Burner and Space Harrier are indeed great, enough to make me wish they'd ported other late '80s Sega arcade games to the system, like Out Run, Thunder Blade and Power Drift. Virtua Racing Deluxe does a good job showing off the system's 3D capabilities. Mortal Kombat 2 is nothing more than extra code bolted on to the existing Genesis port, but it's still an improvement, little quirks notwithstanding. I had fun with the system, but when I finally found a used Saturn with a good price tag, I decided to dump the 32X. This was before my hording... I mean, historical archiving tendencies took over, and as good as some 32X games were, they were better on the Saturn and elsewhere. I've since picked up another 32X, and I'm happy to have it again, but even now I still view it as the Hail Mary it was. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austin Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 I know, right? Super Hang On & Outrun combo cart! Yeah, I'm still a bit miffed that there was never at least an OutRun. I'm not sure if it was even planned, but After Burner II, Space Harrier and OutRun seem to be the "holy trinity" to Sega when it comes to bringing those Super Scaler games home. The list just feels like it has a massive hole without OutRun in particular. Super Hang-On would have been awesome too. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prosystemsearch Posted February 2, 2017 Share Posted February 2, 2017 (edited) The 32x IMO is inferior to the Jaguar and the 3DO overall. Also, how do the 32X CD hybrid games work? I know you need both a 32x and a Mega CD unit, but what media does the game itself come in? Special Cartridge, or CD, or both!?? :? Edited February 2, 2017 by Prosystemsearch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted February 3, 2017 Share Posted February 3, 2017 32xCD games require the Genesis, the Sega CD, and the 32x. No hybrid, just a CD game inside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted February 3, 2017 Share Posted February 3, 2017 32xCD games require the Genesis, the Sega CD, and the 32x. No hybrid, just a CD game inside. And none of them are worth playing. Fahrenheit is OK at best, but the rest are downright terrible. I feel sorry for anyone who dropped all that money to play some really terrible grainy full motion games. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassGuitari Posted February 3, 2017 Share Posted February 3, 2017 And none of them are worth playing. Fahrenheit is OK at best, but the rest are downright terrible. I feel sorry for anyone who dropped all that money to play some really terrible grainy full motion games. Aww, no love for Corpse Killer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+darryl1970 Posted February 4, 2017 Share Posted February 4, 2017 This video doesn't do it justice, but the 32X MKII is really nice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xks4lBhAtk The downside is that the backgrounds still are lacking in color. It's the Genesis with a facelift. The sound effects and voices make a huge difference to me. They also added some layer elements if I recall. The controls feel a little tighter and less quirky than the Genesis version. I can't recall if the sprites are any bigger. It just has an overall better feel though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Cafeman Posted February 4, 2017 Share Posted February 4, 2017 Yeah, I'm still a bit miffed that there was never at least an OutRun. I'm not sure if it was even planned, but After Burner II, Space Harrier and OutRun seem to be the "holy trinity" to Sega when it comes to bringing those Super Scaler games home. The list just feels like it has a massive hole without OutRun in particular. Super Hang-On would have been awesome too. More on the Super Scaler side-topic: I have a special and fond place in my heart for the Working Designs Sega Ages for Saturn, with perfect renditions of those 3. I don't think the 32X version of Afterburner 2 is 'arcade perfect' , not when compared to the Saturn version, but its certainly close enough. 32X has slightly rougher resolution and frame rate, it seemed to me. So anyway, I don't enjoy the 32X SH and A2 as much since I have better versions on Saturn. Concerning Super Hang On ... when Shenmue was released, I played more of its Hang On (the original, not the sequel version which has turbo button) in the first month than the regular game! The Dreamcast's analog stick has a very high resolution of movement , so you can lean just as far as you need to around the curves. Same is true of playing Daytona USA 2001 - far better analog control (once you dial it back) than the Saturn versions. Anyway, I couldn't believe that I had never played a home version of Hang On! SHO was on Genesis, watered down though. And in Shenmue , having to actually go to the arcade and pay a 100 Yen coin to play the cab added to the excitement for me! It was great that Sega put Space Harrier and Afterburner 2 onto 32X, but these games don't take much memory and could have been combined into a Sega Ages type of combo cart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maiki Posted February 5, 2017 Share Posted February 5, 2017 Sega actually never managed to build hardware right until Dreamcast IMO. Genesis should never be backwards compatible with niche Master System and instead of Z80 stuff they should have put that money into ADPCM chipset and even save the costs. Both 32x and Saturn were glued-up mess of 2D and 3D chipsets instead of one cost saving effective solution like PSX. Having said that I still think Genesis hardware was far better than SNES... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prosystemsearch Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 (edited) Sega actually never managed to build hardware right until Dreamcast IMO. Genesis should never be backwards compatible with niche Master System and instead of Z80 stuff they should have put that money into ADPCM chipset and even save the costs. Both 32x and Saturn were glued-up mess of 2D and 3D chipsets instead of one cost saving effective solution like PSX. Having said that I still think Genesis hardware was far better than SNES... I highly disagree. I like the Sega Genesis more than the SNES/SFC, more so than the Dreamcast. But I still think Dreamcast is better than Xbox original. Edited February 6, 2017 by Prosystemsearch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenixdownita Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 More on the Super Scaler side-topic: I have a special and fond place in my heart for the Working Designs Sega Ages for Saturn, with perfect renditions of those 3. I don't think the 32X version of Outrun 2 is 'arcade perfect' , not when compared to the Saturn version, but its certainly close enough. 32X has slightly rougher resolution and frame rate, it seemed to me. So anyway, I don't enjoy the 32X SH and O2 as much since I have better versions on Saturn. Errr..... I have never seen one I don't think the 32X had any Outrun port hence why they cannot be "arcade perfect", maybe you meant the original XBox. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenixdownita Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 I highly disagree. I like the Sega Genesis more than the SNES/SFC, more so than the Dreamcast. But I still think Dreamcast is better than Xbox original. I agree, I believe the real issue with the MD/Genny was the lack of colors it would have helped a lot if it could display more than 64 especially with the CD add-on. The 32X was capable of 32K colors (15bits) so no issue there if used correctly, but the 64 meager colors of the base MD didn't do it any favor later on, I believe a simple 8bit support (256 colors) would have done wonders. Hey hindsight is 20/20 so no point in arguing on the how/why of it. The original Xbox is really a PC in disguise with a Win2K chopped kernel and DirectX 7 level of support, it's more powerful than a DC, and I liked the controllers a little more (the small ones not the "Dukes") ... but the DC had quite some games that never made it to the XBox. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Cafeman Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 Errr..... I have never seen one I don't think the 32X had any Outrun port hence why they cannot be "arcade perfect", maybe you meant the original XBox. I meant Afterburner 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nebulon Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 The 32x is awesome. Why? Because it plays Space Harrier perfectly. Me like Space Harrier. Space Harrier good. Sadly, no one seemed to notice at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prosystemsearch Posted February 7, 2017 Share Posted February 7, 2017 (edited) The 32x is awesome. Why? Because it plays Space Harrier perfectly. Me like Space Harrier. Space Harrier good. Sadly, no one seemed to notice at the time. The 32x should have at least been made so that it did not need its own power source. Maybe that would have made it a little wider physically, but it would have been worth it. Edited February 7, 2017 by Prosystemsearch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nebulon Posted February 7, 2017 Share Posted February 7, 2017 The 32x should have at least been made so that it did not need its own power source. Maybe that would have made it a little wider physically, but it would have been worth it. I'm guessing that twin set of Hitachi RISC chips was pulling a lot of juice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenixdownita Posted February 7, 2017 Share Posted February 7, 2017 The 32x should have at least been made so that it did not need its own power source. Maybe that would have made it a little wider physically, but it would have been worth it. It would have sufficed that Sega shipped it with a 2.5/3A daisy chain power supply like the ones floating around now that can do Sega + CD or Sega + 32X and some can do the holy triplet (MD + 32X + CD). I venture it would have been a little problematic because MD1 and MD2 have different center polarity and in case of inversion .... zzzaaaapppp bye bye, but catering to the MD2 first and adding an inversion cable extender (for MD1 given also where the power plug is located) could have been feasible. [not that the cabling was not a mess already anyway for the AV part]. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Cafeman Posted February 7, 2017 Share Posted February 7, 2017 I would think the SEGA engineers wracked their brains trying to figure out how to get 32X to work, and the extra plug was the best they could do. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted February 7, 2017 Share Posted February 7, 2017 What the world Needs now Is SEGA Neptune http://www.racketboy.com/retro/sega/32x/sega-neptune-reborn-in-genesis-32x-hardware-mod 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.Daniels Posted February 8, 2017 Share Posted February 8, 2017 (edited) I would think the SEGA engineers wracked their brains trying to figure out how to get 32X to work, and the extra plug was the best they could do. so with Mega CD/Sega CD that's 3 plugs, that's worse than the 6 batteries the Game Gear had lol Edited February 8, 2017 by D.Daniels Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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