Happy 13th Birthday 32X???

[Aarzak]

Hey mang, I'm just going by the common release date that's been thrown around: Mid-November 1994. According to other sources though (Google Groups FTW!) the release may have been as early as November 9-10 with the first games coming out less than a week later.............anyways........

A Happy Birthday to Sega's ill-fated, bottlenecked blunder, the 32X. But the world has more than talked enough about the downsides of this whole debacle since before the system was even released, here's proof!:

http://tinyurl.com/2kny92 (Usenet 32X convo from mid-June 1994)

So, anyone have any recollections of the low-key launch, the months leading up to it, November 1994 in general (man, what an eventful month for video games overall) and the announced-but-never-released titles?

The game which I feel best represents the 32X launch, and whose signature BGM (Talmac's Stage) defines the 32X overall (despite being entirely composed on the Genny's sound hardware) is.............Sega of Japan's "Cosmic Carnage"/"Cyber Brawl":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYEOPGjBdMM

While the graphics and gameplay may represent Sega's crappy attempt at challenging the 2D market, cashing in on the SNK phenomenon and given off a good first impression of the 32X and it's power, the BGM playing in the clip represents the stormy cloud that was gradually forming over the Sega empire, the hasted downfall of their meal check, the Sega Genesis (35% market share in 1994, down from 65%. And this was BEFORE the release of "Donkey Kong Country". Yowzers!), the poorly-developed and expensive Sega Saturn, SoJ's shining star released that same month in Japan, the uncertain fate of the mediocre Sega CD and the doomed fate of the 32X since the moment Hideo Nakayama commisioned a 32-Bit cart system for that Christmas. Yeah, that BGM represented all of that folks.

Um..............I used to lust over "Knuckles Chaotix" back in '95, in the same way I lusted for all non-Genesis Sega consoles and Sonic games, back when I just had a dusty, used Genesis 1 with a steady diet of used 1989-1993 games. When I finally got to play it via emulation years later, I really did (and still do) enjoy it and feel that it should've been used as the system-seller for the 32X.

.........That's all. How 'bout you guys?

[Joe Redifer]

Cosmic Carnage was not out at launch. Virtua Racing was, by far, the best launch game and still remains fairly impressive (all things considered). The other two launch games were Star Wars Arcade and Doom, both massively rushed. I am amazed at how they turned out for being so rushed.

[Iron Lizard]

It must have been out very shorty after launch because I got it brand new with the system. I remember my friend had one before I did and neither one of could figure out why the normal rf from his model 1 genny wasn't working. We feel pretty stupid and $15 poorer when we figured that one out. I played the crap out of Virtua Racing. I don't remember any other game that I really cared about on that system. I loved my Sega Cd but the 32x was such a let down. I do remember begging my mom to drive us to the Target down the road in a horrible Tucson Monsoon just to get that thing. We could had died in a horrible accident just so we could get a 32x.

[Aarzak]

As I may have mentioned, I had a one-week stint with the Sega 32X back in Spring 2001. Y'see, I bought a used, boxed unit ($20) that had been sitting at a local game store for years in display. I got home, opened the box up (surprisingly everything was mint and in clean condition, manuals included and what not), hooked it up and (after quickly going to buy used copies of "Virtua Fighter" and "Doom" at a local game store) was ready to play.........except only the Genesis was displaying graphics. Turns out the elusive video mixer cable was missing. I returned the damn thing the next weekend, used the credit to purchase a new copy of "Rival Schools: United by Fate" for PS1 and that was it. I never did get to play the two games I primarily bought both the Sega CD and 32X for: "Sonic CD" and "Knuckles' Chaotix".

[Rusty Venture]

I owned the 32x (with both mixer cables) for a good few years after I purchased it in 2002/2003.

I bought it for "Space Harrier" and "Afterburner" but after I got a Saturn, it was kinda pointless for me to own them both.

The Saturn was far easier to setup so it won (plus I'd already bought "Space Harrier").

[Genesis Knight]

Saturn *does* mostly nix the need for a 32X. Still...

Heck, why not? Happy b'day, 'Shroom!

[The Sports Guy]

the only thing thats cool about the 32X anymore is to be the guy that says you have it. and im a guy who has it. therefore, i am cool.

[Zebbe]

I have it. Still think it was an awful idea.

[Rusty Venture]

the only thing thats cool about the 32X anymore is to be the guy that says you have it. and im a guy who has it. therefore, i am cool.


Never has a single post screamed "in denial" more than this. :p

[evildragon]

I have it and would love to learn to program it.

[Zebbe]

Hey wait a minute... If Redrum666 and the 32X has the same birthday and Redrum666 is also 13 years old - maybe he IS the 32X!?

[Mr Smith]

Hey wait a minute... If Redrum666 and the 32X has the same birthday and Redrum666 is also 13 years old - maybe he IS the 32X!?
That is the most insane statement I think I have ever read :daze:

[Rusty Venture]

Comments like that seem to fit in nicely around here.

Both.

[Aarzak]

If he was, then he would've been sent to the back of the barn by Nakayama-san and put out to pasture before he'd even learn how to ta-

...........No point in rationalizing this.

I'll pull up the lists and pics of the dozens of unreleased 32X games soon........

[The Sports Guy]

Never has a single post screamed "in denial" more than this. :p

i love you too.

[Aarzak]

I was just wondering, what was up with the 32X..........or rather "Supaa 32Xxsu" in Japan? It's Japanese release came mere weeks (a month at most) after the launch of the Japanese Saturn. If there's any region that needed or wanted the 32X less, it was Japan. I've also noted in the promotional efforts and cover arts for the "Super 32X" that they contain lots of wacky, cartoony symbols all over (think of the Japanese covers for the Sonic trilogy) and hyperbolic, exclamation-ridden phrases (Acclaim's in da house)...........it just came off like they weren't taking it seriosusly at all and passing it off as an "American" novelty. Which is to be expected of course, but why release it in JAPAN of all places! Sega canned the (Japanese) Mega Drive in late 1994 after the last batch of worthwhile titles ("Sonic & Knuckles", Sega/Saurus's port of "Samurai Spirits", "Yu Yu Hakusho: Makyo Toitsusen" among them) came out, which explains why there was a blatant lack of Japanese software for the Genesis after 1994. Mega CD was comatose until "Lunar: Eternal Blue" came out and then dropped dead. I don't even want to know...........well hell yes I do, how much the Super 32X and it's softs sold or were noticed in Japan. "Super 32X?" Wow, now I know that Sega of Japan was having fun kicking it around.

[Genesis Knight]

If Redrum666 and the 32X has the same birthday and Redrum666 is also 13 years old - maybe he IS the 32X!?

:D