Revisit: 32X

[Rayek]

It seems that a lot of attention is being paid to Sega's consoles as of late, from Sega CD games constanly being released, to Beggar Prince, and what might folow it. Even though I've heard rumours of the 32X being incredibly difficult to program for, should it even be a thought in anyone's mind that the Mushroom will be revisited through new games? It's sad to see a console (that has more potential than the games give it) go out like a light.

Is this a drunkard's dream?

[Melf]

Are there any 32X dev kits around? How would you even begin to work with it? Seriously, is it possible to do homebrews for the 32X yet?

[Rayek]

I'm sure some devs for the 32X back in its 'heyday' still have dev kits. They just don't care, like most of the populace, about the 32X. That's what I think it is.

The reason I think this is that one of the main producers of Sonic X-Treme had unreleased songs he'd made himself for useage with the game, 'just kicking around'... That, alone would make many people cream their panties. Some of the devs from then probably don't know or care about the 32X.

[Obviously]

No, for the love of God don't revisit the 32X.

Only wacky Sega fans like ourselves even have 32Xs anyway.

[David J.]

There are 32X dev tools out there, and even dev kits. I had some downloaded to take a look, and they exist.

It is possable to make a commerical quality game, but according to fonize (programmer who posted here) the biggest problem are artists and musicians.

[Elusive]

No, for the love of God don't revisit the 32X.

Only wacky Sega fans like ourselves even have 32Xs anyway.

Aaaand that's precisely the attitude that keeps the 32X as the 'black sheep' of the Sega family. "I don't like the console, therefore it should stay dead."

There are 32X software devkits floating around - sadly they're optimised to run on 486's and with the hardware that came with them attached. There's a couple of .bins included with the kit that demonstrate how the inhouse Sega programmers produced simple effects - the palette-swapping 'SEGA' logo that starts many Mega Drive games, for example.

You can use the software kits to create files, but it's like using broken flint caveman tools to build a Ferrari. It's best to take existing games as ROM dumps, fiddle with the insides via HexEdit or similar, then start logging what happens when you mess with x, how it interfaces with y in the console, and so on.

[Obviously]

I was just joking as usual though in all honesty I don't see a need for any 32X revival, not that I'll complain if someone does develop for it, I'm a Sega fan after all.

[Zebbe]

Someone should make a game that uses all the power of a Mega Drive, Mega CD and 32X together. Just so I know how much of the processors the developers DIDN'T use.

[Joe Redifer]

Said game should also have an SVP cart which is also a backup RAM cart just for fun. I bet they could do better than the Neo Geo. Hell there were a few Sega CD games that had better than Neo Geo scaling, and the Neo couldn't even do rotation because it was gimpy.

[Elusive]

I was just joking as usual though in all honesty I don't see a need for any 32X revival, not that I'll complain if someone does develop for it, I'm a Sega fan after all.

*waves fists in the air*

Sadly, I think that there's the same chance of proper homebrew for the 32X as there is for, say, the Neo Geo Pocket; not enough people owned the system, and they're regarded by history as oddballs. Who'd want to develop for a system when no-one will notice or appreciate their work - or worse, not even care? Creating endless ROM edits of Sonic 2 and Super Mario Bros. is easier, and everyone loves Sonic and Mario :bang:

[Genesis Knight]

I would enjoy seeing a new 32X game, but it wouldn't be financially feasible at all. How many people would buy it? Practically nobody; certainly not enough to cover the costs of production. (Assuming they'd pull a SuperFighter Team and make a physical cart.)

[Melf]

Elusive and GK bring up some great points. Small user base and the cost would really make it not worth the effort. I guess you could do it as a download, but that wouldn't be the same.

[highlandcattle]

Aw come on guys. It would certainly be worthwile. I bet a lot of people have a 32X just lying around a "good" new game would do wonders :)

Do you guys know that new Atari Lynx carts are made by hand and only fifty copies or something like that just because fans are that hardcore.
check out http://www.duranik.com/

There used to be a lot of NeoPoke development but it died out when SNK died

[Genesis Knight]

"Aw come on guys. It would certainly be worthwile. I bet a lot of people have a 32X just lying around a "good" new game would do wonders"

SF Team only made 600 copies of Beggar Prince, and they haven't even sold off those. Okay, so think about how many people own a Genesis. Now think about how many people are *die hard Genesis lovers*. That's quite a few people - but not enough to move all 600 copies.

Now think about how many people own a 32X and are *die hard 32X lovers*. What...maybe fifty?

[highlandcattle]

did you actually read the rest of my post. I said brand new games ar being made for consoles like the Atari JAguar and lynx and only fifty to hunderd carts are produced and still people think t's worthwhile

[j_factor]

Jaguar and Lynx actually have pretty devoted fans, though. I mean, these are some serious Atari enthusiasts making and buying those games. I would say that it's worthwhile to make a Jaguar homebrew game simply because of the people who own a Jaguar, a large number are active in that sort of thing. Also, remember when Hasbro bought Atari? Homebrew development for Atari systems got a big boost thanks to Hasbro releasing all that stuff to public domain. There is a large Atari-oriented homebrew scene, which is why Beggar Prince is such a one-of-a-kind thing, whereas Jaguar never totally stopped getting new releases.

[MCHufnagel]

Jaguar and Lynx actually have pretty devoted fans, though. I mean, these are some serious Atari enthusiasts making and buying those games. I would say that it's worthwhile to make a Jaguar homebrew game simply because of the people who own a Jaguar, a large number are active in that sort of thing. Also, remember when Hasbro bought Atari? Homebrew development for Atari systems got a big boost thanks to Hasbro releasing all that stuff to public domain. There is a large Atari-oriented homebrew scene, which is why Beggar Prince is such a one-of-a-kind thing, whereas Jaguar never totally stopped getting new releases.
I hang out at AtariAge forums and I can vouch for how fanantical the Jag and Lynx fans are. The Jag fans always seem to have a chip on their shoulder because many people claim that the Jag wasn't a true 64 bit system, or that it had an overly complicated (i.e. bad) controller.:z:

Anyway I don't see the 32X having a big enough fanbase to warrant homebrews. Heck, even many Sega fanboys don't think highly of it.

[j_factor]

As I said in the other thread, Atari systems have a really devoted, closeknit homebrew community, which arose when Hasbro released the systems to public domain. People think it's "worthwhile" because they're in that little clique. 32x has no fans.