I came across your channel today and I must say thank you for not being obnoxious as shit in your videos. With most retro channels the hosts act like brain damaged teens. I can't stand it! Good work, keep it up. You've earned a sub.

Dude you're like SEGA Wikipedia. I love watching your videos

Nothing's better than getting home from school and having an AdamKoralik video in your sub box

I actually had a pretty good first impression with the 32X despite being a full on Nintendo fan at this time (I grew up with NES, GB and SNES before moving to Sony's PS1) and never owned a Sega Genesis during its actual lifespan. When I was in grade 8 (this would have been either late 1994 or early 1995) one of my best friends (also a Nintendo only kid) younger brothers, best friend (yeah...) got one rather early and invited us over to check it out. We weren't exactly friends as he was not in our grade but obviously knew us threw his friends older brother. We all lived in the same neighborhood too so sometimes would walk home from school together as a group by proxy if nothing more. But we both got a good show of the 32X with Doom, Virtua Racing, Virtua Fighter and Star Wars Arcade. Keeping in mind this was still early 1995 at the latest and Doom was released on the 32X a year before the SNES and so at this time there was no comparing them. We wouldn't have even imagined Doom would have been coming to the SNES at the time it came out for the 32X. People forget that looking back. Anyway, the point is we were both very impressed! I think we were both more impressed with the 32X than the actual owner of it was!! He was very up to date with the video games via magazines and he was even one of the early adopters of the internet so he was well aware that the Saturn was on the way and explained his mixed feelings. I do remember him seeming dissapointed with the shallowness of Star Wars Arcade and VR. He was not a Sega fan boy as he also had an SNES and loved games like Zelda and DCK and he probably already played through a better version of Doom as he had a high end PC at the time too! So as good as Doom was for a console, as amazing as it would have been for a kid who didn't have a higher end PC at the time, it was still a down-grade to him. I think he even had that Decent game on his PC at the time as that was also the first place I saw that game! Anyway, he seemed to have mixed feelings to say the least. Despite being in grade 7 he was a very smart guy and I even remember him talking about the metal plates required for installation and so I have to assume he talked about the extra AV pass cable and AC adapter (but I don't remember for sure if he did) and knowing that the Saturn was on the way, along with the PS1 and N64 he almost had this "it's better to wait" advice for us rather than "OMG look what I have it's the best" kind of an attitude that most kids with all the spoils he had might take. We could all see that it added a LOT of power to the Genesis and my best friend and I being Nintendo fans were definitely impressed no doubt. But I think we had to wonder ourselves what was going on with the Saturn coming up so close behind.

In the Console Wars book, the former president of Sega of America relates stories about his time with the company; there are several instances where Sega of Japan felt the Genesis was two or three years old, and should be replaced outright with a new generation console, but Sega of America pushed to extend the Genesis' lifespan in the US market using gimmicks like the connectable Sonic and Knuckles cartridges, 32x, etc etc; If you haven't picked up a copy of that yet, it probably has some stories you would find interesting, Adam.

"It's quite cheap now" *Price quadruples*

Walmart was selling the 32X for $20 in '96, and games were $5.

Adam you constantly have a solid amount of legit un-biased video game console review content. I've learned so much, keep up the awesome work.

Space Harrier and Afterburner on the 32x with the Genistick controller = the reason ive had my 32x hooked up for the last 20+ yrs

The 32X is actually a pretty damn impressive piece of hardware & a solid upgrade to the Mega Drive, the only reason that it failed was timing. I read an interview once where it was stated that part of the idea of the 32x was letting devs get used to multi-processor programming (32X uses the same processors are the Saturn, just at a lower clock speed)before jumping headfirst into Saturn development. Was it meant to be a stopgap? yes, but had the Saturn been delayed like it was intended I think the 32X would be more fondly remembered today, and likely have a much larger and diverse library. It might have helped the Saturn in the long run as well. Who knows. I always thought that if they had integrated the hardware of the 32X into the original Mega CD design it might have worked out better for them. 32-bit power & CD, long before the competition.

Heads up on Pier Solar, if you play it through a 32X it does unlock a quest and/or some extra dialog. While it's not a graphics upgrade, it's a cool little thing they added.

I heard a third story. They planned in the US to run 32x and Saturn side by side. They planned to have 32x sideways compatability with the Saturn. The rushed release killed that plan. They on the back end they tried to force developers to release any title on both platforms. The 32x would be for those who couldn't afford the Saturn.

Sega's early work was a little too new wave for my tastes, but when the Genesis came out in '88, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically.

Cosmic Carnage Is Marks Most Talked About Game? How! He Always Talks About Truxton

we got a 32X when i was a kid. we bought it right before they stopped supporting it. the manager of the electronics boutique where we bought it actually tried really hard to talk us out of buying one, but we were a sega family and by god we were gonna have it, POS or not.

I bought this thing on day one back in 1994. My friends and I played so much Virtua Racing and later Chaotix. I thought Chaotix was a lot of fun but it was super hard. We got all six Chaos rings or whatever they were called. But we could never get the good ending. I also had Corpse Killer and Night Trap. That was about the extent of my 32X collection. Since I was around for all of this and we read Next Generation magazine from the very beginning. We remember this two-sided story a little differently. Basically, the 32X was the original version of the Saturn before SEGA saw what Sony was doing with the Playstation. So much money and research were spent and possibly a lot of hardware components had been purchased. SEGA needed to find a use for all of it and came up with the 32X. So SEGA could hold gamers in North America and Europe until Saturn was released. SEGA would then add a second SH2 CPU and VDP2 (I think that is what it was called) to create the Saturn hardware. I think SH2's in the Saturn also ran at a slightly higher clock speed. I liked it for the time and had fun with it for a short while. I had it for about ten months before I sold all my old SEGA stuff, including a day one NA Saturn unit to get a silver-gold Saturn unit with a region switch from my local Gamefan store. Yes for a short amount of time Gamefan magazine had stores in few locations around the USA. But that is another story for another time.

People who compare the 32X to the Sega CD, need to know they're nothing alike. The 32X sold 15% of the Sega CD.

I always heard the 1st story a lot more, sounds a bit more plausible too

Thank you for doing these Generations Retrospectives, they really make my day.

as a 15 5 year old gamer from the netherands (holland) i realy love youre videos, these videos in particular are some of my favorites, thanks for makeing videos, keep it up bro :)

I've been addicted to your channel after discovering it almost a week ago. I too share your love for Sega, and I'm going to be getting a Dreamcast again in the near future because of the nostalgia overload you have caused. I'll be getting a VGA box as well thanks to you. Keep up the great work, and Happy New Year.

i remember my neighbor years ago back around 02 was having a garage sell and had a genisis with both the 32x and CD..for $10..with alot of games..i was told it wasnt really used a whole lot and sat in a box for years..i wish i could have gotten it. ;/

I wish the Sega Neptune was never cancelled. That console would have been fun to play. The Neptune was it's own console because it would play Genesis and 32X games.

Actually the Sega CD was mostly a beefed-up response to competing CD add-ons (mostly a threat in Japan, but that's Sega's home territory), like NEC (released here as the TurboGrafx CD), and the CD-i. Not to mention the industry was aware of a deal between Sony and Nintendo to develop a CD add-on (which never materialized, but Sega couldn't have known that would fall through at the time). So no, it wasn't really targeted at the base SNES. Honestly a stock Genesis competes pretty well against SNES, except for games that leaned hard on extra chips packed in the carts. The issue as I see it (as an owner of the 32X and Sega CD) is that these were both good pieces of hardware, but they were both Genesis add-ons... they were competing against themselves for sales and developers as much as their competition. Since the Sega CD was already out, they should have stuck with that, aggressively cut prices and released combo units at prices that were competitive. Then you go after developers, offering example code and other outreach, special cheaper licensing for Sega CD games that used the new hardware scaler - moving the focus to non-FMV games (FMVs OK for intros/cutscenes of course). They also could have released games that used a cart and CD to cut load times way down on common assets. For example storing battle-related assets on a cart for an RPG. On the flip side you could also release Genesis games that have an optional CD for enhanced music and cutscenes, but that otherwise function on a stock Genesis. As much as I find the 32X fascinating (and I've seen some demos that show off what it can do), it was released too close to the upcoming 32-bit consoles. That means not enough users, not enough games, etc. They should have just pushed the Sega CD more aggressively.

Wait, they advertised virtua fighter by saying "domestic violence?" Holy shit imagine if they did that today parents would despise Sega.

Gosh, I could just listen to you talk for days Adam. You need to do a weekly type of podcast where you talk about a gaming subject for this channel. I just love you Adam Koralik.

After reading Service Games: the Rise and Fall of Sega and Console Wars I'm inclined to believe more the second story. It seems that around 94 Sega of Japan had begun stripping SOA of independent decision making so most actions were on SOJ. It would only make sense with the 32x that no matter what SOA wanted SOJ would call the shots.

I know you say you don't remember some of the add ons & even the Saturn back in the day. But I find it funny, that we both have similar experiences with the Sega platforms. We're both about the same age and I do vaguely remember all of them but like you've referenced plenty of times outside the actual Genesis these weren't so widely popular. For the exception of the Sega CD, 32x & Saturn are very vague memories and no one I knew had one. Lastly, it's good to hear someone that actually grew up playing the Genesis talk about it with genuine thought behind it. Most these people on KZfaq all sound the same and you can tell they are getting their info off Wikipedia or repeating the same thing another guy said. You're doing the old beast justice, definitely my favorite system of all time.

Chaotix on the Super 32X has fantastic music.

I got my Genesis, CD, and 32X as well as a crapload of games from a collector who came into my used media store looking to sell four large boxes of gaming stuff. It had the second editions of the Genesis and Sega CD, all of the original cables, two three-button controllers, two six-button controllers, the Sega power strip (which I didn't know existed until then), two Sega Menacers, the power base converter, mega modem, and a lot of games for the three systems; some of the cartridges were boxed. There was also a Dreamcast, Saturn, Master System, Pico, and games to support them, but I already had the first three of those systems and a co-worker had a standing order for the Pico. I separated the order out into what I was personally buying and willing to write a check for and what the store was buying. I paid $800 for my lot even though I knew it was worth more when the games were factored in. Everything was in pristine condition, and I still have everything from my haul minus some games that I've since replaced with boxed versions. Spider-Man: Web of Fire was among them, as were the three Panzer Dragoon games for the Saturn, two Saturn memory cards that actually work, Musha, Alien Soldier, Crusader of Centy, and The Punisher on Genesis, and Phantasy Star and Sonic the Hedgehog's American release on the Master System. I sold the Pico and its handful of games to my co-worker for $40. It was a wonderful buy for me, and since the seller's wife was about two months away from giving birth, he wasn't that picky about the price and said he got more money than he expected.

I got my Sega 32X at a pawn shop. There was a pawnshop that I used to go to that I was friends with the owners, they'd sell things off DIRT CHEAP if it didn't sell within a certain time period an it was just taking up space. I was 16 or 17 when I got my 32X so that had to be around 1997 so Sega hardware in a pawn shop wasn't something you saw that often...They called me and told me that they had some older Sega stuff and asked if I was interested...I asked how much and they told me $5 and I could have it all, they just wanted it gone....I got there and it was the Genesis Model 2, 32X with all the cables, controller and 3 games for the 32X...HELL YES!

I actually liked the 32X. Many of their Arcade-to-home games were awesome. Virtua Racing, Space Harrier, MKII, and Afterburner just to name a few. :)

I remember this period of Sega's history very well. The 32X was intended for mainstream gamers. Sega if America believed the Saturn's price point was going to be too high for the average gaming consumer. Their strategy was to have have consoles for multiple price points. The Saturn was to be marketed to the enthusiast gamer. They did not consider this to be competing between the consoles.

Love the 32X. Yeah it bombed but it still had some gems on it. I was lucky enough to get a complete copy of Spiderman Web of Fire for it after waiting literally years to get it for a decent price.

When the 32X arrived, my interest in gaming was at its peak. Donkey Kong Country was new, Daytona USA was in the arcades, I was reading Gamepro about the new wave of 32-bit consoles... Amazing times. Anyway, 32X seemed really high-tech. Great looking, colorful 3D games... And the mainstream availability of Doom was really appealing. So much so that I came up with secret plans to sell my NES and games in order to procure a used Genesis and a new 32X. 11 years old, and obsessed!

Strange, I feel very nostalgic when watching your FigureItOut intro. I love it.

I had heard that it was a combination of the two stories, where SJ wanted to replace the Mega Drive which was not doing well in Japan, but SA and SE tried to talk them out of it because it was selling well. SJ relented and told SA to develop the add-on, while secretly designing the Saturn behind the scenes.

Video total time is 21:12. Also an album by the greatest band of all time.

Your Generation Recap Videos are like a Video Game History Class

I always heard that it was Sega of America that pushed for the 32X.

Yes, I am jealous of your Dreamcastic shirt.

Other than the fact that I was one of those guys who hated consoles he didn't own, as Adam has demonstrated in other videos, I thought the 32X wasn't a bad idea. My argument was always why spend a lot of money on a new console if you could achieve similar results by creating a cheaper add-on. I'm a bit surprised nobody ever embraced that idea. Now that we're going to get upgrades of the Xbone and PS4, the 32X idea sure seems a lot more palatable once again.

I love Shenmue for the Dreamcast, hey Adam i noticed that you have a copy in the background. One of my best gaming experiences of all time probably in my top 5.

+Dextorex Yes.

One thing that wasn't mentioned and it may already be in the comments, but the 32x was the first console release of Doom. That was the whole reason I got one back in the day.

My dad got me this. Yeah he retuned it. Gave our Genesis to my cousin and came back with a ps1. I remember that day so well. I was like 7 years old and I remember he ordered pizza that day and we got a demo disc.

AdamKoralik I love these videos because I'm discovering games that I didn't get to know about when I was younger. Thanks man.

The wiki article says it was Sega of America's Joe Miller who suggested to release the 32x as an add-on and not a standalone console as he said,.. "But if the only thing it does is double the colors...." Somehow missing the fact that it added a 3 additional processing units (two SH-2's and a new 3d VDP unit) as well as stereo sampled sound. Making it a truly viable competitor to the PS1. It was expected to serve as a low budget system by the press who predicted it would appeal to more budget conscious gamers. 'GamePro highlighted "no doubt gotta-get-it-now gamers will spend the big bucks to grab Saturn or PlayStation systems and games from Japan. For the rest of us, however, 32X may well be the system of choice in '94."' The 32X was exactly what I was looking for even though I was much older when I learn about it. Incidentally I only learnt about the Saturn around the same time I learnt of the 32X: around about the year 2006. So I'm convinced if Sega had actually marketed the Saturn and 32X concurrently as two different systems for two different sectors of the market they both would have thrived. Sadly though all I remember of Sega from around then were completely impenetrable adverts inspired by german expressionistic cinema with no footage at all of the games for the Mega CD. Oh yeah I saw alot of footage of Sewer Shark and that awful grainy video and that footage of the Batman driving stage over and over but they must have though I was stupid. If the Mega CD was advertised at around £100 with at least 10 good games then it would have stood a chance but all we got was Sewer Shark footage and that Batman driving stage over and over and some alien yelling at you. They didn't even bother with Europe after the Mega Drive finished up until the Dreamcast and even then I only heard about it from a news article on ITN news about the excitement surrounding it's launch. But no adverts at all. I guessed the Dreamcast would be overpriced - like the CD-i and 3D0 or what have you. Turns out they were selling it for £200 on launch, at a loss and the library was actually good. But I'd already turned my back on them. So sad. It makes no sense. They make the hardware but then just don't tell anyone about it. Then they don't sell and 3rd party developers go elsewhere. Now we have hardware which is £500 on launch and have no games that interest me and it seems to me, that kind of because Sega is no longer making hardware. The Sega fan base simply moved on. I never bought a console again. The PS2's and XBox's just don't deliver what I look for in games. Sure you can buy NeoGeo games now or games from previous era's on compilation DVD's but I'm not buying a new console for that. New consoles are for people who want to play interactive cinematic adventures in 3d, which I do not.

I was an early adopter of 32x and got star wars, doom and virtua racing. Star wars was my favorite co-op but played the shit out of doom and virtua racing too. I had the full tower of power a let a friend with a jaguar (he later got a jagcd) borrow and he let me borrow his jaguar.... Times were different back then and you convinced yourself every console and game you got was great and worth playing!

Great video Adam! I finally gotten around to continuing this series, I've been rather busy the past couple of weeks. I remember when Toy's R Us discontinued the Sega 32X they were selling the console for $15 new! I asked my parents to lend me $15 to buy it and they wouldn't because it was around Christmas time and they said I had to wait until afterwards; sure enough they were all sold out of all of their 32X stock after Christmas :-( That's awesome you have Spider-Man Web of Fire! That and Blackthorne are the only games I need for a complete collection. Great find!

Pier Solar sorta had 32x support, if you played the game with the 32x some easter eggs are unlocked and I believe you can get an item only available using the 32x

One more thing I love your videos they really take me back man . I am glad I never got rid of these games I still have all of them but my sega cd wish I had it still. I really feel this was the best gen for for gaming for the most part.

At it's core it made sense, I mean Nintendo was charging you out the ass for extra chips in each cartridges. While the 32X was going to give you the extra chips one time to ad on.

imagine if there was a Sega 64X

In the early 2000s I worked for Sega on the Arcade side of things. We had a guy that we worked with that was originally from the console side of things in Hardware Dev Japan (I am not at liberty to disclose his name) and was now on the Arcade side of things (Obviously at this point). He told us without a doubt that "The Mars idea (32X) was all Sega of America's idea and that Japan went along with begrudgingly even though the Saturn was imminent in Japan as the Saturn was still supposed to be almost a year off in NA." (Saturn's Release in NA was supposed to be September 2 1995 instead of May 11 1995)

I think the Saturn was the mistake and not the 32X. The reason for this is that if Sega pushed ahead with the Neptune the could of sold a 32 bit system with full backwards compatibility with the Genesis and the Master system (via powerbase) and continued strong from owners of the previous systems. The Genesis/Megadrive had a strong following in North America and was insanely popular in the Uk, Europe and Brazil. I know a lot of people would say that the newer systems would have outclassed the Neptune in power but I don't think that matters it never stopped Nintendo from Destroying the Gamegear and Lynx with the Gameboy.

I wonder why people hate the 32x, Mega CD, Saturn, Dream cast, everything after or made for the Mega Drive. The 32x was Amazing, even today.

Tom Kalinsky clearly told us in interviews that he wanted to make a new console that was more powerful than the Saturn, which he thought was underpowered. He didn't want the 32X, but Japan initially believed it would stretch the life of the Genesis and SEGA USA was required to release it.

Add-ons are awesome. They help our Genesis reach Megazord form. I wish every system that didn't already have one, would get a retro active add-on. #Ilove32x

Unlike you I am not THAT hardcore into collecting for the 32X, but I only have 3 games for it. Knuckles Chaotix (I like it, but it is flawed. It lacks character and that's my biggest issue), Kolibri (AKA Hummingbird simulator) and Tempo (The other 2D platformer). MAYBE I will get Space Harrier and Mortal Kombat 2 but after that, I am done with that console. I have appreciation for the Sega CD, but the 32X feels like a waste. Also... When I played Altered Beast on it the cartridge was acting up more than it did without it. Weird.

One of these days I'll buy a 32X...

thanks for the 4th gen recap =)

I just heard all your videos on sega consoles while i mowed the lawn the other day Soothing for some reason

Just wanna say man, I really enjoy your channel. It's very intelligent and you've told me tons of new stuff that I've never known about my favorite systems (and I like to consider myself a pretty knowledgable gamer.) Keep it up, can't wait to see the videos and the older generations. Just keep the beard bro.

ahah that blame pointing comic is Australia's ex prime minister John Howard and a wingnut whose name escapes me. Been loving these videos dude, I had a genesis as a kid, and followed Hyper gaming mag religiously as a kid. I foamed over the 32x and sega cd but alas, only a dream. I recently chose a Wii U over a ps4 and boy am I glad I did. So many great games, multiplayer ones at that. Really great in a house where the couch is quite often full.

I had a friend with one too... was around 1995 I think. We used to play Virtua Racing. Loved that game.

Fantastic video AdamKoralik

i personally think that the first story about the 32x is true purely because,like you said, the genisis was so extraordinary popular over here in america.

I bought one of these things back in the day, only ever had maybe 4 games for it. I enjoyed Virtua fighter and some motocross game (can't remember the name, but it was fun). I hated the extra plug even back then, hate it more now. I also wish it never happened. Also to answer the question on your shirt, yes I am jealous! I don't know if you watch the game sack channel on KZfaq, but they have an episode on every game released in north America, if anybody is interested. Good KZfaq channel too, one of the two I still watch. Keep up the good videos Adam!

i think sonic crackers was the proto for chaotix, as some betas of chaotix still have tails,s pallete in and a glitched up character of him

Although the 32x brought more features to the table... it was bottle necked by the Genesis. The 32x could serve up a wider range of colors, but despite that, the Genesis limited the amount of colors in use at any given moment. So it really didn't allow the 32x to Shine. Same story for the Sega CD which had better features, but there was only only so much you could push out bandwidth wise via the Genesis's connector. Personal opinion, Sega needed to stop the in-fighting and should have done this route: Master System -> Genesis -> Saturn -> Dreamcast. The 32x and Sega CD were misfires that didn't need to exis at all. Their competitors tried console addons too and they failed equally.

I was Sega all the way. Had the 32X. Loved Virtua Fighter and Time Killers

It is amazing the Motorola 68K chip was in Genesis, Jaguar, Amiga 32, and dozens of other thing. It is probably the most sold gaming CPU.

Part of the problem was the marketing wouldn't show it fitted to the Genesis. In ads it looks like it will sit flush, and it should have been designed to do so.

My mom and I were at a Toys r Us when I was a kid and they had the 32x and all of the games dumped in a clearance bin. She was like all that's pretty cheap and I bought up every game they had and the add-on. I was then rocking my original Genesis with the 2nd gen Sega CD and the 32x. Damn thing was almost as tall as I was LOL

I agree that it would be amazing to see what the Sega CD/32x combo is truly capable of. Unfortunately we'll probably never know.

About how this thing came to be (of your two stories) I'm more inclined to believe the first. I'm betting it was more of SoA telling SoJ, "Hey, we got this really cool idea that will keep the Genesis chuggin and could possibly our next gen console, wadda ya think?" SoJ probably liked it at first and gave the green light. Then they actually saw where the medium was headed (CD), saw how cumbersome the 32X was going to be, started making the Saturn and killed the 32X. I do think it is interesting that the 32X focused on 3D whereas the Saturn (initially) was made to be a 2D powerhouse. Wonder if there's anything to that and how the story played out. Anyway, great video. Ready for the SNES!

Love your videos. Thanks for making them. Have you thought about making a podcast/long form style of video? On your own, you are quite conversational. I think it’d be enjoyable as well, to hear your in-depth discussions with another meat body.

Adam, you forgot to mention the best reason to own a 32X. Star Wars 32X, boot that game up and let it sit on the main menu and watch the idle screen. It plays footage that looks extremly similar to Star Wars Rouge Squadron on the N64. The graphics and the Co-op blows my mind.

so..... im older. my story is very similar to yours. ha!! ( i love it) my best bud at the time (when the shit came out) owned genesis with sega cd and 32X. OK, he had 32X for all of the short end of year. I remember him hating it (more parenthesis) i remember him talking about going to funcoland to trade his shtuff in for a sega saturn. i had been an avid reader of game informer and... shit if i didn't convince him to purchase a PSX at the last moment when we eventually ended up at funco a day later.... i'm so proud of him (myself)

I remember jumping on the 32x bandwagon when it came out here in North America. I remember owning Virtua Racing and how fun it was. And how much better it looked than the Genesis version. I end up getting a Saturn later down the road but 32x was my first 32-bit run.

I have a sorta funny story about the 32X from my childhood. So when I was a kid, I basically had ALL of the "major" consoles that came out (Atari 2600, NES, and the Genesis and the SNES) not because I was spoiled or even because my parents were rich, or because I was a massive gamer back then. It's because my parents were gamers themselves lol. I remember when the 32X came out, and I was actually interested in one (I loved sonic, and I heard about Knuckles Chaotix, and wanted it.) but my parents kind of sweetly advised me against it. I guess they already knew what was up with the Saturn (I can actually remember my Dad telling me "But the new consoles! Wouldn't you rather get one of those?" I honestly can't remember at this point if the Playstation and etc. had released yet, but regardless, I was dead set on getting the 32X and Knuckles Chaotix. Humorously, my neighbor across the street had a son I played with ever now and then, and they had a 32X they were trying to sell (first red flag). I think they were selling it for like 50$ and they were throwing in 2 games: Knuckles Chaotix, and Primal Rage (second red flag). I HAD TO HAVE IT. I fuckin' BEGGED my dad to get it for me, so he obliged. At the time, all the things I look at now as "red flags" I looked at as opportunities to get what I wanted, but I didn't question why my neighbor would sell something so amazing for so cheap... Once we got the system home and hooked up it, (and experienced the same "why the hell is nothing but the background showing up" experience as James Rolfe showed in his AVGN review of the 32X) I found out why. The game I had been pining after for so long... Wasn't very good. I didn't really understand it at all, the "rubberband mechanic" was stupid and confusing, and basically I was just floored. I told my dad what I thought, and he pretty much agreed and said the same thing James Rolfe said in his video on the 32X (speaking about Primal Rage): It doesn't look much different than the Genesis. I think at that point he took it back to my neighbor and gave it back. I don't think they ever actually exchanged money for the add-on, because he knew what would happen. I'm fairly certain he just asked him if I could try it and see if I liked it (and if I did, he would buy it.) I later told my Mom (the still-then Nintendo fan, because of the LoZ series) about it (who wasn't home the day this all transpired) and literally all she said was "We'll just have to get the new Nintendo console instead" lol. That's my one story involving the 32X. What's funny is I have a Sega CD, but it at least had Sonic CD (which is one of my favorite sonic games of all time). The 32X, just didn't have enough software at all. Even when I went back to Sega hardware years later, with the Dreamcast, I was super wary. The 32X/Saturn really was what killed Sega as a hardware giant.

10:45 Dave is Adam's long lost childhood friend.

I wish more games used the 32x and mega cd combined. One game I recently ordered uses it, it is doom resurrection, a fan modified version it uses the 32x to play doom and the Sega mega cd to play the music. The 32x running it without the cd add on does have music but not as good without the cd, but using the cd also divert processing power away from the 32x and allows the game to run better.

Yes!Looking forward to this.

Blackthrone looks beautiful on the 32x

John Howard and Peter Costello 7:28

You need to shoot this series all over again. Call it the remastered series. Lol

Mark's Shenmue is in fact TRUXTON. He does love a lot of games though, and more often than not, he loves a lot of things most people find "just okay". I love his attitude though, always optimistic. I don't recall him discussing Cosmic Carnage, but he fucking loves the 32x, just as I did when I owned one.

Adam you just blew me away mentioning Mark from CGR

On a forum I had come across that looked into the Saturn and it's history (and the rumor of the "Neptune" (ie it's name, not so much the hardware) and "Mars"), and that the Saturn wasn't supposed to be their next gen at all, and that they wanted to use the 32X instead (for various reasons) and that they considered the Saturn to be too expensive for the market. When the 32X flopped they had to bring the Saturn over instead. Personally I think the Sega CD and 32X games could have had a lot more potential than they did as far as I know, if Doom was released with a 32X video cart and an audio CD built to compete with the SNES (which has much more sophisticated audio compared to even DOS which is just MIDI).

Great review videos, I've watched about 4 so far, and like that you don't pander to the concept of auto retro love of anything old. I have a weird story on how I picked up my 32X, I too was late late late to the sega cd/genesis bandwagon (but had owned the SMS for some years prior and only ever played that, never owned an NES, myself being named Mario, I resented the system mascot at that time). I happened to come across the 32x at a KayBee toy store outlet that was closing (just on the outskirts of KC), and found the 32x for a red tag price of 2.99. Not even joking. There were a slew of other games there, and I only had like ten bucks on me, so I picked up what I could, which included the system, Kolibri, Tempo, Star Wars and Doom, and Hook for the Sega CD which was also on clearance. The games had all been marked down to 99 cents. This system, along with the prior purchase of a genesis/sega cd for $40 from a friend got me back into video games with a renewed ferocity of interest.

thank your for dookin on knuckles chatoix, had it as a kid and a 32x. probably why I wanted an N64 when it came out

An addon that adds more graphical power to the main system: this thing is the predecessor to the now infinitely useful computer GPUs that were to start appearing for PCS a little later during the 90s (like the Voodoo cards, nvivia and ATI cards)

I'm honestly surprised. I've heard of a ton of people saying how Knuckles Chaotix is one of the most under rated games ever. I've never played the game and I also respect your opinion. Also no mention of the DOOM port for the 32x? I personally think it properly shows off the 32x's capabilities very well so I'm surprised you didn't mention it. But anyway fantastic video again Adam!

Another awesome video. Personally, I don't remember ever even hearing of a 32x until the 2000s, and awhile later, I finally saw one in a video game store in 2009 or 2010 for $20. It was worth it solely for Doom, imo (granted, I've only ever played that, the Star Wars Arcade game, Metal Head, and Virtua Racing), but the two power adapters thing is just ridiculous and inconvenient, especially when you have a lot of consoles hooked up at once.

Today at the age 15 the day at the flea market me and my 1 year younger little brother found a 32x and brought it for 30 bucks with Star Wars games included and it barely work and it gift for my brother and it was worth it!!!

You can play WM's Pier Solar on the 32X you will get access to a couple of extras not present when you play the game via the MegaDrive + MegaCD combo. So in a way Pier Solar is a 32X game too.

Read somewhere there was an idea or plan to sell the SVP cart as a standalone thing that could utilize lock-on type cartridges that would be made compatible with that SVP cart. Sounds like it may have been a better idea. It wasn't standalone hardware, and wouldn't be to the level of the 32X. But it could have bought them the year or so they needed, until the Saturn came out. That should have stuck to September, obviously. Lol. Alot of should've, and couldve....but I'll always love my Sega stuff. Wish they were still around. They innovated. Bright stars fade fast.

The 32x should of never been released. This started the trend of not trusting Sega. The Sega Cd was ok as it had moderate success. Sega should of just stayed with it until the new gen arrived. Reworked the Saturn to make it easier to program for.