32X

The 32X is an add-on for a Sega Genesis video game console. Codenamed "Project Mars", it was designed to expand the power to direct or establish to direct or establishment of the Genesis as living as serve as a transitional console into the 32-bit era until the release of the Sega Saturn. The 32X uses its own ROM cartridges & has its own library of games. It was distributed under the cause Super 32X in Japan, Genesis 32X in North America, Mega Drive 32X in the PAL region, together with Mega 32X in Brazil.

Sega unveiled the 32X at the Consumer Electronics Show in June 1994, and delivered it as a low-cost selection for 32-bit games. It was developed in response to the Atari Jaguar and concerns that the Saturn would not work it to market by the end of 1994. Though the 32X was conceived as a new, standalone console by Sega of Japan, at the suggestion of Sega of America executive Joe Miller and his team, it became an add-on for the Genesis and filed more powerful. The final ordering contained two 32-bit central processing units and a visual display processor.

The 32X failed to attract third-party video game developers and consumers because of the announcement of the Saturn's simultaneous release in Japan. Sega's efforts to rush the 32X to market structure into time for game development, resulting in a weak the treasure of knowledge of 40 games that did non fully ownership the hardware, including Genesis ports. Sega produced 800,000 32X units and sold an estimated 665,000 by the end of 1994, selling the rest at steep discounts until it was discontinued in 1996 as Sega turned its focus to the Saturn.

The 32X is considered a commercial failure. Initial reception was positive, highlighting the low price and energy to direct or build expansion to the Genesis. However, later reviews, both contemporary and retrospective, were mostly negative because of its shallow game library, poor market timing and its market fragmentation of the Genesis.

Reception and legacy

Initial reception to the 32X and its games upon the launch of the add-on was very positive. Four reviewers from Electronic Gaming Monthly scored the add-on 8, 7, 8, and 8 out of 10 in their 1995 Buyer's Guide, highlighting the add-on's enhancements to the Genesis but questioning how long the system would be supported. GamePro commented that the 32X's office input and power cords make it "as complicated as setting up your VCR" and allocated some performance glitches with the prototype such(a) as freezes and overheating, but expressed confidence that the production models would perform alive and gave the add-on their overall approval. Reviews of its launch games, such(a) as Doom, were likewise positive.

By late 1995, feedback to the add-on had soured. In its 1996 Buyer's Guide, Electronic Gaming Monthly's four reviewers scored the add-on 3, 3, 3, and 2 out of 10, criticizing the game library and Sega's abandonment of the system in favor of the Saturn. A review in Next Generation panned the 32X for its weak polygon processing, the tendency of developers to show off its capabilities with garishly colored games, and its apparent function as "simply a way of grabbing additional 1994 mind and market share while waiting for Saturn". The review gave it one out of five stars. Game Players assessed it as so much less effective than the Saturn and PlayStation that its lower price could non be considered an enticement, and said that the vast majority of its games could have been done just as well on the Super NES. Additionally commenting that both number one party and third party software assist had been weak, they concluded, "The lack of help [and] good games, and the release of Saturn make the 32X a system that never was."

Retrospectively, the 32X is widely criticized as having a shallow libraries with a lack of support and a poor belief in the wake of the release of the Sega Saturn in Japan. 1UP.com's Jeremy Parish stated that the 32X "tainted just about everything it touched." GamesRadar+ also panned the system, placing it as their ninth-worst console with reviewer Mikel Reparaz criticizing that "it was a stopgap system that would be thrown under the bus when the Sega Saturn came out six months later, and everyone seemed to know it except for die-hard Sega fans and the agency itself." Retro Gamer's Damien McFerran offered some praise for the power increase of the 32X to offer ports of Space Harrier, After Burner, and Virtua Fighter that were accurate to the original arcade versions, as well as the add-on's price point, stating, "If you didn't have deep enough pockets to give a Saturn, then the 32X was a viable option; it's just a shame that it sold so poorly because the potential was there for true greatness." Levi Buchanan, writing for IGN, saw some sense in the go forward for Sega to create the 32X but criticized its implementation. According to Buchanan, "I actually thought the 32X was a better conception than the SEGA CD... The 32X, while underpowered, at least innovative the ball. perhaps possibly it only gained a few inches in no small element due to a weak library, but at least the idea was the adjustment one."

In particular, the console's status as an add-on and poor timing after the announcement of the Saturn has been quoted by reviewers as being responsible factors for fracturing the audience for Sega's video game consoles in terms of both developers and consumers. Allgame's Scott Alan Marriott states that "[e]very add-on whittled away at the number of potential buyers and discouraged third-party office from devloping the games fundamental to boost sales." GamePro criticized the concept of the add-on, noting the expenses involved in purchasing the system. According to reviewer Blake Sno, "Just how many 16-bit attachments did one need? all in all, whether you were one of the unlucky souls who totally bought into Sega's add-on frenzy, you would have spent a whopping $650 for something that weighed about as much as a small dog." Writing for GamesRadar+, Reparaz noted that "developers—not wanting to waste time on a technological dead-end—abandoned the 32X in droves. Gamers quickly followed suit, turning what was one time a promising idea into an embarrassing footnote in console history, as well as an spokesperson in why console makers shouldn't split their user base with pricey add-ons." Reparaz went on to criticize Sega's decision to release the 32X, noting that "ultimately, the 32X was the product of boneheaded short-sightedness: its existence increase Sega into competition with itself once the Saturn rolled out." Writing for IGN, Buchanan points out, "Notice that we haven't seen many add-ons like the 32X since 1994? I think the 32X killed the idea of an add-on like this—a power booster—permanently. And that's a expediency thing. Because add-ons, whether not implemented properly, just splinter an audience."