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Posted on Sep 2nd 2014 at 05:28:55 PM by (wildbil52)
Posted under 32X, Sega, Misunderstood


Welcome to the first of a monthly series about my favorite bad system.  I thought we would take a look at the name.  Why would you name a system "32X"?

First, there was 8-bit (Not really, but for the purposes of this discussion just go with it).  What is 8-bit, what does it mean?  In the case of the NES, the term 8-bit is referring to the 8-bit microprocessor that the NES used as a CPU.  That means that, at most, the CPU can handle data units that are 8 bits (one octet) wide.  The Nintendo Entertainment System and the Atari 2600, or VCS if you prefer, weren't heavily marketed as "8-bit machines".  Probably because there was not another apples to apples comparison.  There were no 4-bit machines.  When the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis came along, they were both heavily marketed as 16-bit machines.  And why not?  16 is twice as much as 8, it must be twice as good!  The 16 bit marketing worked well for both machines as it clearly demonstrated, in familiar terms, just how much better this product was supposed to be.  Towards the end of the 16 bit era, whispers of a 32 bit monster could be heard all across the X-Band waves...




(Skip to the end of the 16 bit era)

In June of 1994, Sega unveiled the 32X.  Not only was it a 32 bit video game machine, two thirds of the name of the new machine was 32.  There was no question that Sega thought they could ride this "number marketing" strategy for one more (half of a) generation.  They were wrong.  Oh were they ever wrong.

As we all know, the 32X was a complete flop.  Less than 40 games were released for the 32X, most of them ports of games available on other systems.  How much of it had to do with the name?  Probably not a ton, but the name didn't help.  What did the 32X have going against it? Confusion.

The Name  
Technically, the name of the add on is the Sega Genesis 32X.  This is confusing for a number of reasons.  Is is the new Genesis?  Oh, it just plugs into the old one?  But I need to maybe use a spacer depending on which Genesis?  It plays old Genesis games, right?  Does it make them look better? I can play my Genesis copy of Virtua Racing, right? Then again, What could it have been called that wouldn't have been equally confusing?

If it had a word other than Genesis in the title, people would assume it was a new stand alone system.

This is the best I could come up with

The Saturn
Before the 32X launched in the US, the Sega Saturn was announced.  Remember the confusion we were talking about?  So can the 32X play Saturn games?  Can the Saturn play Genesis games?  There is a cart slot on the Saturn, will the 32X work in the Saturn?

Developer Support
Why would any developer put their resources into a system that was widely viewed in the industry as a Band-Aid?  The answer is: they didn't.  No third party developer made a single piece of quality exclusive software for the 32X.  No must-have titles is a system killer.

That being said, I still love the 32X and I'm not really sure why.

A lot of it probably has to do with being a Sega and Genesis fanboy during the 16-bit era.  I was a big fan of Doom, Mortal Kombat, Star Wars Arcade, and Virtua Fighter.  I still think the 32X ports of those games are among the best available on a console.  As is the case with most collectors, there is a good deal of nostalgia in the mix.  Those yellow boxes with the red 32X stand out nicely on the shelf.  There isn't really a huge homebrew scene on the 32X but there are some oddballs that get reproduced like the extremely expensive Darxide:


Way less than what ebayers are asking

or this little beauty:


Thanks again, nupoile!

The Future of the 32X
There is still enough buzz about the system to keep me excited to see what comes next.  There is a fairly extensive list of 32X games that were announced, started development, and were ultimately never released.  Is it possible that we may see other 32X repros pop up as some prototype carts see the light of day? Is a homebrew upgraded version of NHL 95 for the 32X too much to hope for?  Probably, but a guy can dream.


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Comments
 
Ooh, NHL 95 repro with the current rosters would be sweet.  Maybe some dynasty players included.  Killer!
 
Good piece. I still remember hitting up Toys 'R Us back in '96 and grabbing a 32X when it was being discounted off for $20. They had a big pallet of systems in the middle of an aisle. Such a sad sight (I also got a Sega CD II from Kay bee toys for $25 a couple months earlier. Another huge stack they wanted to unload).

I hit up a bunch of stores and grabbed whatever discounted titles I could find complete, like Knuckles Chaotix, MKII, Virtua Racing, VF, and Star Wars.

I played mine a good bit - really liked the port of MKII and Virtua Racing was great.

In recent years, I acquired a complete NBA Jam TE, Fred Couples Golf and Motocross Championship for next to nothing.

Still on the hunt for World Series Baseball feat Deion. RBI '95 is just terrible for the system.

I've never looked but is there a homebrew/proto scene for the 32X? Anything in addition to Spot Goes to Hollywood?
 
Out of the many less popular systems in our collection, the 32X gets more love and playtime by friends than almost any other.  I still champion Shadow Squadron as a 'killer app,' with decent polygonal graphics, interesting missions, and excellent co-op; far better than the still-fun Star Wars Arcade.  Along with decent ports of NBA Jam, Mortal Kombat II, Doom (for the time),  decent platformers in Knuckles Chaotix and Tempo, the underrated Blackthorne, excellent (some argue the best) ports of Space Harrier, Afterburner, Virtua Fighter and Virtua Racing, and the far-and-away best hummingbird/shooter simulator Kolibri, I'd argue the 32X library has a better ratio of worthwhile games than a majority of systems out there, even if there are very few exclusives.  Even the 'meh' games (to me) like Zaxxon Motherbase 2000, Pitfall, and Toughman Contest are still worth owning.

Sure, the library is mostly ports, but many are great versions of some fun games! Smiley
 
Awesome blog post. I like the 33x, I just wish the games were easier to come by.
 
It's 32XTREME!!!
 
YEESSSSSS!!!!
 
Howzabout you prove your undying devotion to the 32X by renaming yourself WildBil32X?

Or are ya yellow?
 
I finally have a 32x. Ik even a little excited to try out a few games
 
here's the last piece I wrote for this site, which addresses some of your "questions": http://www.rfgeneration.com/blogs/dsheinem/The-Sega-32X-Visions-of-a-Launch-that-was-DOOMed-From-the-Start-2569.php

I love the 32X Smiley It was my first fullset, too!
 
I have been wanting to get my hands on a few more games for the 32X myself. I was completely ignorant to the developmental woes of SEGA growing up, since I was a nintendo fanboy growing up. I had never heard anything bad about it, all my friends who had it loved it. I own only Doom for the system, and am lacking the A/V cable to play it, but that is an easy fix. What isn't easy though, is finding these games in the wild, and I hope to find something in a thrift store at some point. Awesome and informative read, wildbil32x! Wink
 
i think N64 was the last system to really advertise anything to do with bits, and it did fairly well commercially if not nearly as well as the playstation. so i doubt the 32X's failings had a whole lot to do with the name. i even wonder if the confusion over what it is was really at fault here, as the Wii U and 3DS confuse a lot of people as to what they are in relation to the Wii and DS, but both are doing pretty good now. i'm sure that didn't help anything though.

imo it's biggest flaw was coming out late in the generation. like you said the issue with third parties not wanting to invest due to the saturn coming out soon was a major problem. i don't know the saturn library that well but did Sega even support the 32X that well themselves? as someone else mentioned, most of it's library seem to be ports, was there much for first party support?
 
@techwizard: oops, meant to say "i don't know the 32X library that well but..." not saturn library
 
@Techie413:If only.  I was planning on jumping on the NHL95 forums and see if anyone has tried it.

@retrosportsgamer: SpritesMind has a pretty good 32X programming forum.  I'll have to dig in and see if I can get some carts made up. http://gendev.spritesmind.net/forum/

@dsheinem:Looks like a pretty in depth piece.  I'll read the whole thing at lunch.  Boss might get mad if he catches me reading 32X material on the clock..again.

@Boshamp: I'll send you an AV cable for shipping cost, PM if interested.

@techwizard:I'm not sure how "good" the Wii-U is doing now and I do think that the name still hurts it though it's not as bad as when the system was first released. You have to remember that when the 32X was released, it was a different world.  The internet wasn't what is is today, the news cycle wasn't 24 hours a day, and you couldn't find a video game store every 3-5 miles.  Right now, any parent who is confused can google it and get the answer, on a handheld device. 

You are absolutely right about first party support.  IIRC, the only first party games that weren't ports were Metal Head Knuckles Chaotix, and Tempo.  Definitely could have used some more help from the home team.  Maybe Sega was too busy making Astal, Daytona USA, and Panzer Dragoon for the Saturn launch.
 
@wildbil52:

according to a gamespot article (I didn't follow the source links, also note these numbers were before Mario kart 8 gave the Wii U a boost):

"According to the most recent official announcements for worldwide sales figures, the PS4 has sold 7 million units (as of April 6); the Xbox One has sold 3 million units (as of December 31), with 5 million shipped to retailers; and the Wii U has sold 6.17 million units (as of March 31)."

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/xbox-one-sales-more-than-double-during-june-in-us-/1100-6421168/

so I think the Wii U itself is doing fine, even if Nintendo as a whole has reported losses. i'm no expert and haven't been following it closely, but from what I have seen it's doing better than XBOne which is something.

anyway my point was that if the Wii U can have a confusing name and still do decently in sales (plus with around 100 games released in less than 2 years), the name alone couldn't have been what sealed the 32X coffin.
 
"Wii U is doing better than Xbox One"
Wii U: November 18, 2012
Xbox One: November 22, 2013

I think the Wii U had a head start there...
 
@Shadow Kisuragi: ok well considering there's 1 year difference for them, even if we cut Wii U's sales in half to put them on even ground it's still slightly better. at the very least on par with XBOne Tongue
 
I was so excited for the 32X when it was announced, I did a report on it for my 10th grade English class. I got an A but most of my information was from rumors in the magazines, so I kinda lied but not really I did say that would improve the graphics of the Genesis games, it does make the jailsbars go away on the model 1 Genesis.
 
@douglie007:I remember reading all the specs in magazines before the system came out.  I bought into the marketing.  I knew about all the RISCs and the polygons per second compared to other systems.  Lot of good it did me.
 
@techwizard - The Wii U is doing about as well as the Xbox One these days. The Xbox One sold slightly better than the Wii U from Jan-April and the Wii U sold slightly better than the Xbox One from May-August.

Wii U 2014
http://www.vgchartz.com/tools/hw_yoy.php?reg=Global&start_year=2014&end_year=2014&console=WiiU

Xbox One 2014
http://www.vgchartz.com/tools/hw_yoy.php?reg=Global&start_year=2014&end_year=2014&console=XOne
 
Um...32X?
 
LOL the 32X can't even stay popular in the comments of an article written about the 32X!  It's a curse, I tell ya.

I do so enjoy our 32X.  Glad you chose to give it some love.
 
Kolibri!!!!
 
How about that Doom box? Its the ultimate shelf ruin maker.
 
@SirPsycho: Astal and Condemned would like to have a word with you...
 
So I've been reading a lot of back issues of EGM and it is quite amazing just how quick the rise and fall of the 32X was, especially considering that coverage of it was almost always accompanied with coverage of the Saturn, making the 32X into a low-end, budget system that it really was not.  Kind of sad, really.  Especially when you consider the potential that it could have had.

While I do love your enthusiasm, Bil, I have to say that the 3DO might have the title of "Best Worst" in my mind.  Not really due to anything with the system itself, but simply because the 3DO had more games that interested me.  I will say that the 32X has my favorite port of WWF The Arcade Game, which I have to say is completely genuine.  I faithfully played WWF until the day my 32X died.  But it just can't beat Star Control II and Return Fire.
 
Well this article helped push me. CIB 32x coming to me in the mail. Now for some yellow boxes.

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