Sega 32X

"This is what happens when companies resort to cheap cash-ins."

This system is horrible, not really because of the quality, but because its false advertisement up the face. To think that I wanted this as a kid, but I didn't know how much it lacked then until today. Let me use an analogy. How would you feel if you were promised a widescreen TV for Christmas with all the bells and whistles. Lets say you do get it, but it turns out that its not widescreen, and it only has stereo sound like your old TV instead of some surround sound system that was suppose to be included. That is what the 32x is all about. Promises of better graphics and sound to only get more of the same. Same Flavor, different brand. I really had nothing against the 32x until I learned more about it, and played it for myself. Now to tell what had happened.


Design: 5/10


I normally don't touch up on system design on something like this, but this is very important in this case since its an gaming system add-on. Everyone knew that the Sega Saturn was coming out in about a year, and at the same time, people were still holding on to their dear genesis/megadrive systems. Sega felt that to fill in the time, they can make some extra money as well. Fine, but since they had so little time before their real 32-bit system had arrived, they thought they can play the same game with the genesis by using the genesis. So because of this, we get a mini video game system that you put on top of the SG. The problem with this is that it uses its own power adapter, plus a cable you have to connect to the system through the genesis if I remember. That is a pain in the ass if you have limited plugs with two big power adapters. A big design like this didn't even help the poor system very much, and you would think something like this would. The console looks like a big mushroom with that connected, and the CD unit. It will look like a fat stack if you had the model 1 CD unit.



Graphics: Little To No Improvement/10

The sad thing about this is that I hardly saw anything new in the graphics department for this system. Even some of the exclusives don't show too much improvement, and I could swear that Mortal Kombat II 32x has a worst color palette than the regular version. Its looks more washed out on some stages. I honestly don't really see better graphics here in many cases.



Sound and Music ?/10


Some games only have a few more audio clips, and the music only has minor improvements with some 32x versions of the games. Doom 32x is famous for its horrible sound system, but I heard it was because of the fact that the game was rushed out before Christmas during the time. TWO CHEAP CASH-INS DON'T MIX!!! UGH! I hate that. The game itself was alright, but yes most of the music was bad, even though I did like "At Doom's Gate" in this version, yes I did liked it so don't ask. Some games did have a noticeable improvement in music, but its normally extra bass or just an updated version of the music. So the 32x offers little in the sound department, so don't expect any CD quality music here. Its just the same old but with a few extra instruments added on.


The Controls: N/A/10

Come on. If you played the Genesis before, then your own rating applies to this!


Games and The Depths Of The 32X: 3/10

There is almost no games that are worth caring about for this thing. Knuckles Chaotics is really the only game that is worth playing, maybe MKII and afterburner. The problem with this system is the horrible lack of games, and less than 50 of them is proof of that.



Overrall 3/10


Its bad simply because it had lies mixed in with the fact that it has almost no games worth playing. Some people got screwed over when they bought this to discover that the Sega Saturn was coming, causing this to be abandoned very quickly. The 32x is part 1 over the reason why two systems later when they got it right, it failed. Did you know that both the Sega Saturn and 32x was released around the same time in Japan? Yeah, that right there was a bad sign. For example, how would you feel if Nintendo at the time released an video game system add-on for its system, then the N64 around the same time? Yeah, its a stupid business decision in my opinion, and its shows why business MUST always look at the short term, and long term consequences of their actions or else they will find themselves sticking to making software instead of hardware like sega is today for mistakes like this. This right here is a good example of a cheap cash in gone ironically wrong. They should of just put full energy into the saturn and it could have done much better.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 03/23/09, Updated 11/10/09

Game Release: Sega 32X Hardware (US, November 1994)