Sega 32X

"Unlike most systems...this one didn't go out with a bang...it went with a whimper."

With the release of the 32X system, you had to wonder just what the possibilities could have been for an old Sega machine that was slowly starting to fade away among the Console Wars. With the release of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, there was a point to which you really needed to have something fresh and new to add to the front lines. Considering that the 32X had very little hardware support, and that the game library was exceptionally limited to what it could offer, where was the marketing ploy that would give this system a piece of the pie?

Well, the answer is that it didn’t have one. At first, when the system was released for a high price, most gamers jumped on it because of the previous successes that the Sega Corporation had to offer. With the Master System, you games that became legendary like Phantasy Star and Out Run. With the Genesis, you had games such as Sonic and Gunstar Heroes that really left an impact on the different gaming genres that had crossed so many of the Sega systems in the past. However, the games that crossed this rather doomed system showed very little of what was beginning to be seen on other CD based formats.

What is the 32X?

The 32X system is an addition that you could place on your Genesis system to play different several different game titles that couldn’t be played on the original Genesis. These games had a little bit more in the visuals department and could show up just about anything that the Genesis had to offer, or so it was thought. The library alone only consisted of just 43 state-side games and most of the titles tried to outmatch what was starting to be done with the SNES and future systems. However, what you had with most of these games was visuals that didn’t quite match up to the expectations and the system was at a loss simply because it had to use the original Genesis hardware.

To say that the 32X is a bad machine would be wrong, because there were some pretty impressive games for its time such as Shadow Squadron and Spider-Man: Web of Fire. Other games in the CD format could be played as long as you had a Sega CD attached to the machine and it did clean up the grainy textures that you had with some of those games such as Fahrenheit and Night Trap. But, the problem was is that a good seventy- percent of the game library consisted of titles that just didn’t impress and were rather laughable in some respects!

Games that had impressive visuals and showed off the supposed power of the 32X were games that had very little game play or near impossible puzzles. Games such as Koibri and Spider-Man: Web of Fire had impressive visuals that gave some semblance of life to the overall game, but failed to deliver the game play and keep the title interesting enough to make it worth the money spent. But other games such as T-Mek did nothing more than attempt to create a world that just couldn’t be realized with the hardware constraints that were so apparent in the Genesis hardware.

You have to realize that because the 32X had the capability, it was only as good as the system that it was added onto. The Genesis, for all of its impressive games, just did not have the ability to really make the games that the 32X had, anything impressive. Even with the audio and the library, there was little here that had been played before and in some cases, it was done in a better fashion. Games that were located on the Sega CD format, could be run through the 32X to correct some of the visual problems, but not only did you have to have the game on the 32X, but you had to have the CD format and the Sega CD to run it as well!

The machine itself is an interesting addition, simply because it works from it’s own machine and has to be plugged in separately. One of the largest rumors that this system had to offer, is that you could literally clean up old Genesis games by using the 32X system. However, what most gamers found {including myself} is that you couldn’t do anything with the older games other than simply play them. The pass through slot on the top of the 32X allowed all of the 32X games and the old Genesis games to work, but there was no noticeable difference in the quality of the Genesis games that could be found.

Returning to the library, you were limited on just what you had to play with. There were a couple of interesting fighting games such as Mortal Kombat II and the revered Virtua Fighter, but games such as Primal Rage really didn’t have much of a showing here. Racing games were few and far between with the chief among them being Virtua Racing Deluxe. Role Playing games for the 32X were unheard of and the best that you could do for sports games were titles such as NFL Football and Quarterback Club. The limitations on the library and the lack of support is what really killed this machine and it shows with the limited games that were available.

The 32X could have been a contender if the line up of games had been a little more interesting and less costly. At the original release of this system, it was right around 150.00 and was sold as a stand alone addition. Later on, as the popularity in the system decreased, the price went down until it was eventually sold as part of a boxed set with the Genesis. Like most systems that didn’t have the fan base, it simply faded into obscurity and was eventually discontinued from most retailers, only to be found on Internet based auctions.

However, if you like the Sega games and the way that the 32X played, you can still find the hardware in different places, although spending an arm and a leg on this would be a mistake. With the lack of games that you can still find for it and really the lack of improvement over what is already there on the Genesis, you would do well to keep the Genesis and not bother with the 32X. As a long standing gamer, I’ve seen systems come and go, but this one didn’t go out with a bang or even a thud, it simply went without a whimper.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 03/10/02, Updated 03/10/02