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Sega 32X
Sega Genesis 32X Sega Genesis 32X
Manufacturer Sega
Type Video game console add-on
Generation Fourth generation
First available NA November 1994
JP December 3, 1994
EU January 1995
CPU 2x SH-2 - 32-bit RISC (23 MHz)[1]
Media Cartridge,
CD-ROM with Sega Mega-CD/Sega CD
Units sold 200,000[2]
Predecessor Sega Mega-CD

The Sega 32X (Japanese: セガ スーパー32X) is an add-on for the Sega Mega Drive video game console by Sega. A console manufacturer is a company that manufactures and distributes Video game consoles It is also known as a first-party Video game publisher. is a multinational Video game Software and Hardware development company and a former Home computer Video games were introduced as a commercial entertainment medium in 1971, becoming the basis for an important entertainment industry in the late 1970s/early 1980s in the United In the History of computer and video games, the fourth generation (more commonly referred to as the 16 bit era) began on October 30, 1987 For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. Events 1800 - War of the Second Coalition: Battle of Hohenlinden, French Year 1994 ( MCMXCIV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar) In various types of electronic equipment a cartridge can refer one method of adding different functionality or content (e CD-ROM (an initialism of "Compact Disc Read-Only Memory " is a pre-pressed Compact Disc that contains data accessible to but not writable The is an add-on device for the Sega Mega Drive that was released in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan. This is a list of Video game consoles and Handheld game consoles that have sold or shipped at least one million units The is an add-on device for the Sega Mega Drive that was released in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan. is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities The is a 16-bit Video game console released by Sega in Japan in 1988 North America in 1989 and the PAL region in 1990 is a multinational Video game Software and Hardware development company and a former Home computer

In Japan, it was distributed under the name Sega Super 32X. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. In North America, its name was the Sega Genesis 32X. In Europe, Australia, and other countries that use PAL, it was called the Sega Mega Drive 32X. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. The PAL region is a Video game publication territory which covers Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and varying European countries Most gamers, for simplicity's sake, refer to it as just the "32X".

Contents

Market history

With the release of the Super Famicom in Japan and the Super NES in North America, Sega felt the need to leapfrog Nintendo in the technological department. The Super Nintendo Entertainment System or Super NES (also called SNES and Super Nintendo) is a 16-bit Video game console that was For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. The Super Nintendo Entertainment System or Super NES (also called SNES and Super Nintendo) is a 16-bit Video game console that was is a Multinational corporation headquartered in Kyoto Japan founded on The Sega Mega-CD, known as Sega CD in North America, had not worked as well, in a business sense, as Sega had wanted it to. The is an add-on device for the Sega Mega Drive that was released in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan. Sega had various developments underway, and focused most of its energy on the then new Sega Saturn. The is a 32-bit Video game console that was first released on November 22 1994 in Japan, May 11 1995 in North America Some used System 16 technology, as the Sega Mega Drive and other arcade games did. The following is a list of Arcade system boards released by Sega. The is a 16-bit Video game console released by Sega in Japan in 1988 North America in 1989 and the PAL region in 1990

The 32X was released in mid-November 1994 in North America for $159, Japan on December 3, 1994 for ¥16,800, and Europe in January 1995 for £170 / DM 400. Events 1800 - War of the Second Coalition: Battle of Hohenlinden, French Year 1994 ( MCMXCIV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar)

Technical aspects

The Sega 32X can only be used in conjunction with a Mega Drive/Genesis system. It is inserted into the system like a standard game cartridge, although it does require its own separate power supply and a cable linking it to the Mega Drive. Besides playing its own cartridges, it also acts as a pass through for Mega Drive games, so it can be used as a permanent attachment. The Sega Virtua Processor based Virtua Racing is the only exception - the game will not run on a Mega Drive with a 32X unit attached due to its processor (there was an enhanced version of the game, Virtua Racing Deluxe, available for the 32X, however). The Sega Virtua Processor (short SVP) is a DSP introduced by Sega in 1994 to expand the Sega Mega Virtua Racing or VR for short is a Formula 1 racing Arcade game, developed by Sega-AM2 and released in October Virtua Racing or VR for short is a Formula 1 racing Arcade game, developed by Sega-AM2 and released in October Also, Sega's Power Base Converter, which allows one to play Sega Master System games on a Mega Drive/Genesis, could not be used with the 32X attached. The is a 16-bit Video game console released by Sega in Japan in 1988 North America in 1989 and the PAL region in 1990 This is because the Power Base Converter uses all of the connection pins in the Mega Drive/Genesis itself, but the 32X only passes through those connections that are necessary to play games.

The 32X came with a spacer so it would fit properly with the Mega Drive II. [3] It could be used with the Sega Multi-Mega/Sega CDX system, but the spacer would not accommodate the CDX, which created a number of user-unfriendly conditions in the unit. The Sega Multi-Mega (or the Sega CDX in North America was a 16-bit video game console released in 1994, combining the Sega Mega Drive (Sega Genesis in Without the use of the spacer on a Mega Drive II, some of the 32X hardware was left exposed and vulnerable. The combined unit was also very prone to tipping over, risking damage to the unit and games. In addition to the physical problems, there was also an issue with FCC approval.

Most 32X games cannot be played unless the distribution region of the game matches the region of the console. A few games are not locked and can be played on a console from any region (e. g. FIFA 96). Two games, Darxide and FIFA Soccer '96, were only released for the PAL 32X. Darxide (also sometimes spelled DarXide) is a Shoot 'em up for the Sega 32X released only in Europe by Frontier Developments. FIFA Football, also known as FIFA Soccer or FIFA in some regions is a series of football (soccer Video games

All but one of the games released for the Japanese market were released in the United States, albeit some had different names. The one Japanese-only game was Sangokushi IV (known as Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV).

Sega Mega-CD 32X
Sega Mega-CD 32X

In addition to regular cartridge-based 32X games, there were also a very small number of CD-ROM games for the 32X. These games were labeled with Sega Mega-CD 32X (Sega CD 32X in North America). As the name suggests, these required both the 32X and Mega-CD/Sega CD addons. The lack of a significant userbase due to the high cost of purchasing all three necessary components saw only five games released, only one of those developed by Sega. [4] The most notable of these was a new version of the infamous Night Trap with 32,768 onscreen colors instead of the 64 found on the regular Mega-CD/Sega CD version. Night Trap is a Video game that was released on October 15, 1992.

One little-known aspect of the 32X was its vastly improved audio subsystem, known as Q-Sound and developed by QSound Labs. QSound is the original name for a positional three-dimensional (3D sound processing algorithm from QSound Labs that creates 3D audio effects from multiple monophonic QSound Labs is primarily a developer and provider of audio enhancement technologies for entertainment and communications devices and software While this theoretically gave the system audio capabilities that outstripped even the Super NES, the sound chipset proved to be poorly documented and exceptionally difficult to program for. As a result, most games ignored the Q-Sound system and used the Mega Drive's on-board sound chip, thus leaving the 32X's audio capabilities largely untapped (especially in the case of DOOM, which featured audio of a much lower quality than that of other versions). Doom (officially cased DOOM) is a 1993 Computer game by Id Software that is a landmark title in the First-person shooter To this day, emulators still have difficulty providing sound emulation for the few titles that did make use of the Q-Sound system.

Technical specifications

History

Development

On January 8, 1994, Hayao Nakayama, then CEO of Sega, ordered his company to make a 32-bit cartridge based console that would be in stores by Christmas 1994. Events 871 - Battle of Ashdown - Ethelred of Wessex defeats a Danish invasion army Year 1994 ( MCMXCIV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar) This would at first be named "Project Jupiter", but after Sega found CD technology cheaper, they decided to modify it instead of dropping the cartridge project (that would be called "Project Saturn"). The is a 32-bit Video game console that was first released on November 22 1994 in Japan, May 11 1995 in North America Hideki Sato and some other Sega of Japan engineers came over to collaborate about the project with Sega of America's Joe Miller. is a multinational Video game Software and Hardware development company and a former Home computer is a multinational Video game Software and Hardware development company and a former Home computer The first idea was a new Mega Drive/Genesis with more colors and a 32-bit processor. Miller thought that an add-on to the Mega Drive/Genesis would be a better idea, because he felt that gamers would not buy an improved version of the Mega Drive/Genesis. And so, this project was codenamed Project Mars, and Sega of America was going to shape the project.

The 32X was primarily envisioned as a system which would extend the life of the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and provide revenue while the installed userbase of the Sega Saturn slowly grew. The is a 16-bit Video game console released by Sega in Japan in 1988 North America in 1989 and the PAL region in 1990 The is a 32-bit Video game console that was first released on November 22 1994 in Japan, May 11 1995 in North America

Launch

The video-gaming public first got a glimpse at the Summer 1994 CES in Chicago. Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. Players highly anticipated the system. The console was unmasked as the 32X, with a price projection of $170 (USD), at a gamers' day, held by Sega of America in September 1994. The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been

The 32X hit the market in North America in November 1994, during the same month the Sega Saturn was released in Japan. Many industry insiders speculated that the 32X was doomed from the beginning as the Sega Saturn hardware was widely regarded as more powerful than the 32X and had the support of many Japanese third party software developers (a necessary resource required for any gaming platform's long term success) which the 32X was sorely lacking.

Only 500,000 consoles had been produced for North American consumption, yet orders were in the millions. The console allegedly had numerous mechanical problems. Games had been rushed for the system in the run up to Christmas 1994. Some early games came with errors in programming, causing crashes and glitches on certain titles. Other games required leaving out parts in order to make the Christmas deadline; for example, the 32X version of Doom is missing seven levels present on the PC and even the Super Nintendo version; plus, Doom 32X was criticised for having worse sound than the Super Nintendo version. Doom (officially cased DOOM) is a 1993 Computer game by Id Software that is a landmark title in the First-person shooter [5] Many complained that their 32X was not working with their Mega Drive/Genesis or television and Sega was forced to give away adapters.

Since this was an expensive add-on system, Sega decided to offer a £50 discount on games with the console in Europe. However, the offer came in the form of rebate vouchers, which were difficult to take advantage of. Just like its North American counterpart, this console was initially popular. Orders exceeded one million, but not enough were produced, and supply shortage problems arose.

Decline

By mid-1995, the time the Sega executives realized their blunder, it was too late. Developers and licensees had abandoned this console in favor of what they perceived to be a true 32-bit console, the Sega Saturn. The is a 32-bit Video game console that was first released on November 22 1994 in Japan, May 11 1995 in North America Even though the 32X was a 32-bit system, the games did not appear to take full advantage of 32 bit processing; many games were rushed and produced in 2D. Many were just slightly-enhanced ports of Genesis or old arcade games such as Space Harrier. is a Rail shooter game released by Sega in 1985. It was produced by Yu Suzuki, the man responsible for many popular Sega games In reality, as stated by Steve Snake, creator of NBA Jam, NBA Jam T. E. and Mortal Kombat II were seriously pushing the console even though they looked like minor enhancements. He cites that people were expecting far too much from it, and over-hyping from magazines had helped to hurt it. [6]

Due to successful marketing, customers perceived the Sega Saturn, Nintendo 64, and the Sony PlayStation as the true next-generation consoles, due to their rich launch titles and 3D graphics. The, often abbreviated as N64, is Nintendo 's third home Video game console for the international market The PlayStation (abbreviated PS, PSone, PS1, or informally as PSX) is a 32-bit fifth generation Video game console Also, customers perceived that Sega abandoned the 32X despite promises to the contrary, due to the launch of the Saturn.

Console makers, prior to the launch of PlayStation 2, would often abandon platforms and offer no backwards compatibility with older systems. For this reason, Sega's 32X customers felt cheated because of the apparent lower quality of the games, and the inevitability of obsolescence.

Store shelves became littered with unwanted Sega 32X systems, and prices for a new one dropped as low as $19. 95 (some have claimed that video game exchange stores became so filled with 32X systems, the stores refused to accept the console--even at no cost[7]). Sega planned a console named the Sega Neptune, which would have been a Mega Drive/Genesis and 32X in one. However, by the time a prototype was developed, the Sega Saturn was going to be released, and Sega canceled the Neptune.

The last game released for the 32X in North America was Spider-Man: Web of Fire (1996). Spider-Man Web of Fire is the title of a Video game released for the Sega 32X and based on the popular Marvel Comics character Spider-Man The last ever 32X game was Darxide, released only in Europe, which had been intended by Frontier Developments to be a launch title for the ill-fated Neptune. Frontier Developments is a British Computer and video games development company. [8] Both these games now command a high value from collectors — but especially Darxide (up to $1000) due to its scarcity, reputation and auspicious creator (David Braben, co-writer of the groundbreaking game Elite). Elite is a seminal space trading Computer game, originally published by Acornsoft in 1984 for the BBC Micro and Nevertheless, it is exceeded in rarity by the European PAL versions of the games Primal Rage and T-Mek. Primal Rage is a Versus fighting game developed and published by Atari Games in 1994 as an Arcade video game. T-Mek is a two-player sit-down Virtual reality fighting Arcade game manufactured by Atari Games in 1994 For obscure reasons a mere handful of copies of these games are known to be in circulation - with T-Mek being so scarce that until a copy surfaced on eBay in late 2005, it was widely held that the PAL release was only a rumor. The appearance of a copy has fueled speculation that other rumored but unconfirmed PAL games may also exist, in particular BC Racers.

For many years prior to the 32X, console makers promised devices like the 32X (for consoles such as the ColecoVision, Intellivision II, and some Atari systems) that would extend and enhance the original system. The ColecoVision is Coleco Industries ' second generation home Video game console and was released in August. The Intellivision is a Video game console released by Mattel in 1979. Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. Sega's 32X effort lacked the software titles and 3D capabilities the gaming community demanded; the add-on technology represented a dead end, ultimately punishing early adopters. Ignorant of the idea that console systems' primary strength is in standardization, Sega had created three different platforms (the Sega Mega Drive, and the Mega-CD/Sega CD and the 32X add-ons) all under the same banner, stealing valuable shelf space from itself and confusing both vendors and consumers in the process. The entire episode demonstrated that producing such add-ons is likely to have detrimental effects on a system's brand marketing strategy. Brand management is the application of Marketing techniques to a specific product, Product line, or Brand.

The final nail in the coffin for the peripheral came in October 1995, when Sega's CEO, Hayao Nakayama, ordered that the 32X and other Sega consoles be cancelled in order to focus its limited resources on the Saturn system. [6][9]

Sega Neptune

The Sega Neptune
The Sega Neptune

The Sega Neptune was a two-in-one Mega Drive/Genesis and 32X console which Sega planned to release in 1994 or 1995. Events 1994 &mdash Nintendo calls this year "1994 The Year of the Cartridge" Events May 11 – Introduction of trade magazine GameWeek (then called Video Game Advisor May 11 - 16 &mdash The 1st annual The proposed retail price for the unit was US$200. The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been

Sega had admitted how expensive and problematic the 32X was, so it was decided to make a combined version of the Mega Drive/Genesis and 32X; however, by the time a prototype came out, the Sega Saturn was ready for release. Sega felt that consumers would not be interested in the Sega Neptune, so the project was scrapped. There are several prototypes, and at least one was declared to work.

Electronic Gaming Monthly used the Sega Neptune as an April Fool's Joke in its April 2001 issue. Electronic Gaming Monthly (often abbreviated to EGM) is an American Video game magazine. This article is about the informal holiday For other uses see April Fool. Events Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosts the 4th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards; inducts John Carmack of Id Software The issue included a small article in which the writers announced that Sega had found a warehouse full of old Sega Neptunes, and were selling them on a website. The site referenced redirected to an online shopping site, where internet users were greeted by an "April Fools!" after adding the product to the cart.

See also

References

  1. ^ [1994] "Mega Drive 32X Hardware Information", Sega Mega Drive 32X instruction manual. The Sega 32X was an add-on for the Sega Mega Drive Video game console. Sega Enterprises, 20.  
  2. ^ Blake Snow (2007-05-04). Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1256 - The Augustinian monastic order is constituted at the Lecceto Monastery when Pope Alexander IV The 10 Worst-Selling Consoles of All Time. GamePro. GamePro is an American Video game magazine published monthly The magazine was first established in Redwood City California in 1989 by Pat Ferrell com. Retrieved on 2007-11-25. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1034 - Máel Coluim mac Cináeda, King of Scots dies Donnchad, the
  3. ^ 32X hardware pack-ins. vidgame. net. Retrieved on 2007-06-22. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 217 BC - Battle of Raphia: Ptolemy IV of Egypt defeats Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom.
  4. ^ North American 32X/CD 32X releases. gooddealgames. com. Retrieved on 2007-06-22. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 217 BC - Battle of Raphia: Ptolemy IV of Egypt defeats Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom.
  5. ^ Doom for the 32X. sega-16. com. Retrieved on 2008-04-29. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 1429 - Joan of Arc arrives to relieve the Siege of Orleans.
  6. ^ a b Project Mars: Anatomy of a Failure. goodcowfilms. com. Retrieved on 2007-06-22. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 217 BC - Battle of Raphia: Ptolemy IV of Egypt defeats Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom.
  7. ^ 32X Info. videogamecritic. net. Retrieved on 2007-06-22. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 217 BC - Battle of Raphia: Ptolemy IV of Egypt defeats Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom.
  8. ^ DarXide for the 32X. eidolons-inn. net. Retrieved on 2007-06-22. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 217 BC - Battle of Raphia: Ptolemy IV of Egypt defeats Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom.
  9. ^ 32X history. cyberiapc. com. Retrieved on 2007-06-22. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 217 BC - Battle of Raphia: Ptolemy IV of Egypt defeats Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom.

External links

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