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It's not a true Tower of Power until you add the cherries on top - A genesis cleaning system with a Honeybee adapter connected with a Gamegenie plugged in, with Sonic and Knuckles plugged into that and Sonic 3 on the top of the cake.

The DOOM Remake mod for the 32X game shows that we did not see the full potential of this tower. The latest version of that mod that plays on OG hardware shows that there was a lot left on the table with this beast. Edit. got to that part in the video, glad you included this. Its such an interesting thing to realize what was really possible with this.

That store is truly mind blowing. That has to be one of the biggest collections on the planet. Just incredible. It's so cool seeing all of the different Sega devices. They tried interesting things and it was all new and exciting. I miss that feeling.

I slowly but surely acquired all the pieces throughout the 90's as they were discontinued, and went on sale. I got my hands on the 32x for 9.99 at KB Toys in their 19.99 and under bins (remember those). I got the Sega CD from my local Blockbuster. Paid 24 bucks for that one. It didn't have a box or manual, only the hardware. But it was in perfect condition. My sisters eventually got to calling it Voltron because of how you assembled them together 😂

I remember the day we got a Mega CD in at Sega Pro. The entire office and every staff member of every magazine crowded round to play it. What a time to be alive!

the flappy thing on the left of the MegaCD is a cable tidy for the audio cable. You slide it open put the cable in the grove then close it to hold it in place. There are also some nice cables that take a single 9v input and split it into 3 plugs for the machines, Its what I've been using for my own tower of power.

I had the tower of power waaaay back. But I had the model 2 of the CD and Sega. It was such a laugh when you look back at that huge stack, but back then it was neat and only myself and one other friend had such a set up. Played that thing all the way up to the original Playstation. Good memories, thanks!

Many years ago. Somewhere around 10 years ago. I purchased something called the Sega trio M1. One plug that provides power to my Sega megadrive 1, mega cd1 and 32x. I also got the same for the magadrive 2, megacd2 and 32x. It saves a mass of space on the power strips. You should also look into the official wireless controllers too. Really adds to the unit!

Here’s a story for you. Back in maybe 1990 I used to visit a little shop in London’s Chinatown that sold imported games and hardware, J.F Trading it was called. One day I went in there and the owner was player a NES which had a floppy disk deck attached that he was playing games on it from floppy disk. He explained you could slit in a cartridge and it would copy the game to floppy and then play straight from the floppy. That was the only time I ever saw that device and no one would believe me when I told them about it. Only in the last few years did I see a video on YT about it confirming that I hadn’t dreamt the whole thing.

If I understood it correctly then the irony of these graphics is that they aren't digitally combined, but simply genlock style overlays of chip upon chip. More or less standalone systems banged together with a sledgehammer.

Nice hidden gem of a channel exploring retro tech with a bit of side humour, no annoying b-rolls, refreshing.

i always appreciate when all the caps are replaced and not just the blown ones

You have to hold the MODE button at boot to enable the 3 button compatibility mode. But, once the game is booted normally, developers could use the mode button as an extra regular button.

That retro game/record store looked awesome, I would be broke by the time I leave the store. I really like the idea of getting my vinyl and retro games from one spot.

When I was in the military I got into trouble for a bar fight. It was 1992 I went to sears department store(only credit card I had). I bought a Sega genesis with the discs drive. I bought road rash an Holyfield boxing also chopper command. Many beers and nights were spent laughing and playing games. I can’t describe how far ahead of its time it was. What I can say is some of my best memories have army friends and the sega.

If you get a pad like that again, flood it with flux and solder and use a solder sucker to clear the buckets. Works well if the component is holding on.

This one brings back the memories. I had a Sega and a 32x and my cousin had the Sega CD and a game genie. All that plus a copy of Sonic and Knuckles and Sonic 3: FrankenSega's Monster.

I owned this madness. Plugging it in was a challenge! All the plugs were enormous, and you couldn't put them next to each other on a power strip because they didn't fit. Good times indeed. edit - I see you mentioned this! I had the unholy combo of MegaDrive OG and Mega CD 2 with my 32X. Or the mushroom as we called it :)

Watching you guys solder made me feel like a pro!!!

Hello et great video as always, I love the way of filming the CRT and not capturing raw pixel that always make the picture less authentic and far from the state it was meant to be shown !

The Doom 32x is now based on a heavily optimized version of code. I imagine other jaguar games would require optimization as well.

A friend of mine slowly put together this same tower. Cannot recall exactly which version he had, but it was something else to see all the components assembled.

That music you showcased while showing the doom side by side felt so nolstagic a hip hop beat so nice blended in so well wow thanks I needed that

it was interesting to be recommended this vid by YT. i worked at a computer shop as a young lad, im 50 now. so i was there unpacking all this stuff for first time. the release of doom, the first decent 3d card-orchid righteous 3dfx, i saw it all. and we did all this MD tackle.

I have a model 2 Tower of Power and it still looks really cool on your entertainment center today. Like an alien biomass that plays games.

14:35 The mode button only enables 3 button mode at power up. After that it does nothing in 3 button mode or can be used (and it is by some games) as additional button like on MIG-29 where the mode button opened the map screen or even Doom that uses combinations of it with other buttons or the d-pad. So it will not revert back to 3 button mode after the system booted up.

Neil i dont even remember the 6 button controller despite having one in about 1993..biught my megadrive I in tail end of 1990.. this was a blast from the past

The 32x was a life changer for me as a child. I remember freaking out when I got to play the games on it. It was like "ULTIMATE POWER" lol

Great video Neil, and bonus points for doing such a good job filming the actual CRT TV screen, especially while still having some light in the background! The image looks amazing!

I had the tower of power here in the states. I got the 32x and Doom for Christmas. I think I played Doom for 6 hours straight Christmas Eve/Christmas morning. As far as the Sega CD, I loved the NHL Series back in the early 90’s, so playing NHL on Sega CD blew my mind, the video at the start of the game and the sound, the sound was amazing !

Loved the Genesis since I got it Christmas of 89, and I'll always remember 3 years later at Christmas 92 opening my presents to see that big, beautiful square box with the front loading CD drive! Omg I had to finish opening the rest of my presents later on because I simply couldn't wait an had to hook it up and try it out! I remember it coming with these discs with all kinds of rock music and and awesome visualiser that would dance to the beat of the music! I also remember popping in sewer shark and I was so blown away from those grainy full motion video graphics and screamed for my mom to come to look lol. As much as people talked shit about the fmv games it still was a huge leap IMO from the standard genesis graphics, I still remember my mom telling me that it was very hard to find a system because like 98% of the systems were pre-ordered and she literally drove to somewhere in new Jersey to get it. (We lived in Brooklyn NY). I miss her so much, she would have drove across the planet I bet to get something I truly wanted. I didn't get the 32 x though, the main reason being that I knew the Atari jaguar was on the horizon lol. This is for a totally different video but I will just say that I absolutely loved the jaguar as well ❤

Great video Neil. As an Amiga guy it’s interesting to see the Mega CD exclusive sequel to Another World. Called Heart of the Alien. You can also get a single daisy chain power supply so make sure you grab one as it neatens the back up a lot. Also in the shop I seen you missed picking up the Genesis 3 which was the last throw of the dice from Sega on this console (US only)… I think it’s worth you grabbing that so you have the complete set then :)

I happen to have the Tower of Power. I got the Mega Drive Model I from a local Charity Shop a decade ago for $5AU. Then I found the Mega CD Model I on a British second hand games shop for cheap. And I got an NTSC 32X, which I fixed with a region mod on the Mega Drive. I still play it from time to time, and it still works great! Now this was technology meant to last, unlike most other consoles nowadays.

The regional differences are interesting. The pre-Internet era allowed companies to contain these maneuvers to a specific region's corner of the globe. I remember having my mind blown after seeing how awesome the rest of the world's SNESes looked compared to North America's after getting Internet access.

I had the MegaCD 2, along with the 32X add on. One of my favorite systems of all time.

Great video with much detailed background informations. I have a MegaDrive with MegaCD myself too with many Games I still love. é.g. Vay, Lunar, and SonicCD. The small slider on the left side of the MegaCD (at 7:31) is used to hold the audio cable so it doesn't get stuck when open and close the CD tray.

I never owned a Sega CD, but I would have to go with model 1.

Great episode. Seeing the full tower of power never gets old.

Great work , really interesting. Still can't get my head around SEGA basically competing against there own new console in the SEGA Saturn , a console witch I loved.

didnt expect this to turn into an odd tinkering video in the middle. im here for it man, i love watching console repairs!

Very impressed with the modern verison of Doom. It really does show off what could be done with the hardware. I dare say software developers having a lot more experience with mutli cpu development makes a big difference to how feasible it is to get the most out of it.

AVGN did a satirical review of the Tower of Power. Part of the review covered how each part had its own power adaptor. I can see why this thing never took off given the cost to the consumer. Additionally, Sega would have been better off releasing the Neptune over the Saturn. In return, the Dreamcast would have had a better showing.

Great video thanks, loved watching you guys open up the 32x to clean out the capacitors and refurbish the console

5:03 I like the font of the Japanese model especially with how they did the V at 45 degrees and then went vertically

I grew up obsessed with the Sega Genesis. Was never compelled to get the 32x/Sega CD. Perfectly happy with the Sonic games as the best ones were on the vanilla console.

This is so nostalgic for me, comic zone was a game I owned as a kid on mega drive when it was released. I remember lending it to a friend , not getting it back and our mum's having to get involved to sort out getting it back lol. Great job on the fix.

I used to have the cd2 and enjoyed a game called Keio Flying Squadron. It's one I never hear mentioned anywhere and I just picked it up based on the box artwork, but can remember spending hours playing in the mid 90s👍

I never had any parts of this tower, but a friend had the CD for a Xmas present and got the Hideo Kojima game Snatcher with it. First time I came across a Kojima game.

It's insane how much better things look on CRT compared to emulation

Really enjoyed the PCB clean and solder work!! Made me miss my days at General Dynamics! I got to reacquire all I lost but will be tinkering again soon enough!!

Me: "I'll check out a few minutes of this video." 41 minutes later, the Cave Dwellers credits pop up.

I had the full tower back in the day. I really enjoy it, even though the library is severely limited. These days I use a CDX with one of my 32X consoles, I also have a spare model 2 CD and 32X. My original model 1 CD failed a few years back unfortunately. I’d like to get another one.

I HAD IT!!! IT was after the Saturn was released, but I had the WHOLE SHABANG!!! INCLUDING The 'SEGA CHANNEL' !!!! I was ROLLIN!!! LOL I only had like 3 games for the Sega CD, and 2 for the Genesis, and lie e3 for the 32X ... but the Sega Channel had A LOT of games, and you got new ones every month... they would keep a bunch of the games that were played alot, but eventually it stopped getting updated so we cancelled it and I went back to PC gaming - It makes me sad I didn't keep it... and TBH I have no clue what happened to it... same with my Dreamcast... bought for $50 at a thrift shop... it had 4 controllers and 10 or so games... eventually I learned how to jailbreak it.... but this was after it's hay-day... eventually I traded it for ... hrmmm... drugs :( .... yet another regret... Glad I got clean tho!!! ... I wouldn't trade that for the world!!! Anyway.... on with your vid.... time for some nostalgia :D

My favorite part 0:35 , being called - deserved or not - a (giggling inside) "cowboy" by a British gentleman - can't explain it, made me feel like an astronaut in Huston Texas who owns a cattle ranch with a field of oil wells heading to Las Vegas in 1963. Funny how, even 230 years later, we still seek the approval of the British!

Don't think I'll be able to come and play as I live in America, but this was a wonderful trip down memory lane as a guy who switched from Nintendo to Sega in the early 90's.

That is an amazingly well stocked shop!!!

imagine if SEGA spent all that R&D into the Saturn instead of fragmenting their efforts in endless add-ons ... :O

That retro games shop looks beautiful, real heaven!

That headphone jack allowed me to play late into the night without being caught by my parents. I have a ton of good memories playing with the mega drive console. Thanks Sega!

I used the 32X with my CDX. Gaming was no better or worse, but it was smaller.

I was so close to buying a mega-cd & 32x when they were new but instead bought a Saturn. Can’t believe the sound couldn’t be neatly transferred through the expansion port. It’s brilliant and terrible for the same reasons. Great video as always.

As a Budding Computer Game Fan (I was 18 when the 'Mega Drive' was released in the U.S.) I really appreciated the Sega CD drive, as the much greater CD storage allowed more complicated games & more elaborate ones. Wing Commander, Lunar 1 & 2, Dark Wizard, the jRPGs & american RPG's, plus all the PC ports became my go-to gaming staples, until I finally built my own PC in 1994. (An Everex File Server with 2 1GB HD drives. Massive storage for the day.)

I love that you let people come check it out! When I get across the pond someday I will definitely hit you guys up!

Fantastic video as always. It would be great to combine the MiSTer cores of the 32X , Sega CD and Genesis/Megadrive into one core so we can experience "The Tower of Power"

Thanks for the video....I was one of those who actually bought each of the components, and while I did not regret buying the Mega CD (Model 1), the 32X was that proverbial nail that made me abandon Sega and I bought the Playstation over the Saturn...although I did return for the Dreamcast which is an awesome console. I did bring out my Megadrive/CD/32X combo from storage about a year ago and it still works...and occasionally fire it up and while I would like to pick up a couple of the 32X games I did not pick up in the day (namely Afterburner), they are all way to pricey to justify.

To this day, I still regret not buying a new 32X for $5 back when they were discontinued. I wouldn't have gotten much use out of it, maybe if I was lucky I might have picked up Chaotix or something, but it'd be something to have and look at, lol. Anyway, nice retrospective. Yeah, few developers were going to do much more than the bare minimum required for the likes of a 32X, not when the Saturn was just ahead. Sega CD was Sega CD, interesting but going nowhere in hindsight just like all the early CD systems and add-ons. Interesting times though.

Sooooo good to see you showing this system so much love by servicing it. A lovely piece of gaming history in good hands ❤❤❤

Fun Fact: The Z80 that was used as the audio processor of the Mega Drive was the main CPU of the NES (actually Master System, not NES). Edit: TY @syklonus, I stand corrected.

Although I didn't see them in this video, I hope you managed to have a go at Space Harrier for the 32X and The Terminator for the Mega CD. Both fantastic titles!

Really interesting stuff. I was there 3000 years ago! I had a green monitor Amstrad 464,and my friend had an Amiga(or commodore) with Flimbos quest,i loved that game. I begged my mum for a Mega CD 2 but she flat out refused. I was really upset. Turned out my main christmas present was a PlayStation! Thanks mum!

That PC screen showing sonic in the beginning crisp … and it’s the GENESIS … but y’all say what you want across the pond.

I always liked the idea of the tower of power when I was a kid. Adding physical components to get more out of your console is something that could work even today. With everything going digital it sure would be nice to have physical add-on that allows physical media. Theres Definitely a market for it, but its probably not a big one.

The "Tower of Power" exclusive games -- 32X with CD usage -- were an unequivocally terrible idea that few developers took advantage of, which is entirely understandable. When you need three separate, expensive pieces of gaming hardware just to run the (also expensive) game, you're looking at a fraction of a fraction of a user base and a vanishingly tiny number of sales compared to regular Genesis / Mega Drive games. Worse, with the Saturn coming out, they ended up competing with themselves.

The "Tower of Power" was really the "Tower of Cables and Power Bricks shorting out your power strip and pissing dad off every time he has to go reset the breaker" in my house. So happy when I got my hands on the Sega CDX (US). A wonderful little all-in-one system that was also one chunky portable CD player.

Got my tower of power for Xmas. Everything was deeply discounted by that time but I enjoyed mine.

I was so close to getting this setup instead of a Saturn, so glad my Dad talked me around! Really nice, fascinating video. If I can ask a quick question, how were you able to so successfully capture the footage from the CRT screen?

It always seemed like the Sega CD/Mega CD was Sega's attempt to bring the Super-Scaler into the home. Not just to compete with other CD add-ons but to give the Genesis/Mega Drive a fighting chance against the Neo Geo. It's a shame more games didn't utilize it.😊

Had the original Sega CD, never had the 32X though. Man I was so stoked opening up that Sega CD for Christmas. Loved it.

I had no idea people were making replacement boards. This is amazing for game preservation.

I had a similar setup with a Multi-Mega, which cost me very little at the time. It kinda fell off the back of a lorry, if you know what I mean? I then bought the 32X, just for Doom. But there were just so many leads.

I always wondered why you had the 32x add-on and then a Sega Saturn that was 32x and was not compatible. Years later I found out the story why. I also found out years later they had a few 32x sega cd games too. They look great by the way. Then again I read the whole system was a nightmare to program on.

24:56 THANK YOU FOR SHOWING US HOW IT LOOKS DIRECT ON THE CRT !!! I dont like when we see the video output and not the real image on the crt, thank you so much!!!

I love how you cover the stores footage, but when you pan can you do it little slower so that us pausers who try to see a game your scrolling through can see it less blurry....still an excellent video

As I understand it the 32X expects the developer to do all the work. There's no real hardware help for either 3d or 2d rendering. So a lot of games will use 32X to do the polygons for 3d games, or sprites for 2d games, then use the tile map layers of the Genesis for anything that needs to scroll. Doesn't sound very attractive for developing under time and money constraints.

I wanted these so bad when I was a kid. We just couldn't afford this stuff. Now that I can, I think I'll pass on 32X and stick to emulation. Likewise for Sega CD. The latter has a great game library, though, and is playable with my MegaSD :)

I had what I guess you would call the "2nd Gen" or Slim version where the Sega CD drive sat to the right of the Genesis and had a flip up cover (which was crap and eventually required use of a properly tensioned clamp to hold the lid shut enough for the drive to spin but not so closed that it pinched the disc.

I had the wider build. I had the console, CD drive and the 32X add-on. That took me right to my Dreamcast system. Oa few of my favorite games on that setup was Chaotix, Batman Returns, Ecco the Dolphin, Virtua Fighter, and a game not many knew about named Soulstar, great fighter/tech mech game with a a killer OST. I still have the original disc from that gaming system.👍

The Saturn version of Virtua Racing may look better but it shares no source code with the arcade game and is a worse-playing game as a result. The 32X port is actually based on the arcade source code and plays a lot better as a result

We don’t *call* it the “genesis” because we’re cowboys. They *marketed* it to us as the “genesis” because we are cowboys. The title “mega drive” for us was nowhere to be seen at the time.

I prefer the Model 1 over the Model 2. As a child, I used the headphone jack quite regularly bc my parents complained about the repeating music and sound effects. Imagine playing some of the best games w/o music. The power on/off switch is also quite nice. I'm not sure why Sega thought orange/red buttons on the 2 were a good idea. The large 16-bit white font isn't symmetrical with the Mega Drive on the right. They could've made it the same size or got rid of it all together.

This is right up my street and brings in so many memories. I had a 32x and I only ever wanted the driving game i thought it was spectacular. But no games support at all unfortunately. I used to read magazines, EDGE especially, CnG (i think its called), brings back so many memories pre internet. I miss them times. Thankyou for the content.

I was so upset about wasting my money on a mega CD that it put me off Sega forever. It was terrible. I refused to trust Sega for any of their new consoles after getting burnt so badly. 300 pound for a slow CD drive that added literally nothing to it's capabilities. It made choosing the PS1 over a Saturn a no-brainer.

£110 for all that? Absolute Bargain! I highly recommend Snatcher for the Mega CD and Popful Mail. Great games!

I love these kinds of videos! Pushing these old systems to their absolute limit is always interesting, especially the Sega consoles.

The headphone jack and volume slider was the best gaming console feature ever. I stayed up late playing games on my headphones all the time on that thing.

I had that power strip for many years after I no longer had my tower of power. That thing was super useful.

I had this setup plugged into my 5 speaker home theater system. It was amazing. My favorite game was Earthwork Jim Special Edition. The sound was incredible.

Man, even now just seeing the Model 1 Mega Drive and Mega CD looks amazing to me and evokes such vivid childhood memories of seeing it for the first time in a gaming magazine. I was in awe at how other worldly and cool it looked. I know that objectively it was a hulking white elephant, but I still really want one.

American here who acquired the tower of power. I bought the when the Sega CD and 32x were when they were released back in the 90's. One funny piece of history of Sega of America's marketing of the 32x was that, around release time, the advertisements tag lines were "Why wait for those other systems when you can get 32-bit power NOW!." Then 32x owner were very annoyed that Virtua Fighter comes out on the Saturn before the 32x. When Virtua Fighter 32x was finally release, the advertisement tag lines was "Patience is Virtua."