An interesting fact about the Starpath Supercharger is that it didn't specifically *need* a cassette, in fact if you plug it into just about any music playback device that has the data on the cassette tapes - even CD players and modern MP3 players, it'll still work. In fact all of the Supercharger games were re-released in a single collection on audio CD format called "Stella gets a new brain", which worked on original hardware if you plugged the Supercharger into a CD player.

I got a Jaguar for Christmas in 94, absolute madness to introduce a cd drive when the original was barely selling. Like Everton moving stadiums when they can’t fill goodison 😉

is a '5 console expansions that were a roaring success' video even possible?

The Jaguar CD really did look like a robot's toilet.

Interesting list; Sega Lord X has a comparison between 32X and Saturn games. The 32X held its own in some games, makes you wonder what would have happened if they were cheaper.

The SuperCharger may have been a commercial failure but the unit itself worked very well and it gave us one of the best versions of Frogger for a system of the time. Had there not been a video game crash in North America, the SuperCharger would have likely done well.

I think I was one of the few people who got a Paravision SX1 module for the Amiga CD32. It worked pretty well, basically turned it into a Amiga 1200.

The Jaguar Cd unit is hella expensive these days to buy, but fortunately, there is an alternative means to play the cd games with the Jaguar Game Drive; a great item!

2:12 that super charger commercial is a riot

Great video, really enjoyed this one Kieren 👍🏻🕹

man you and that intro hit at the right time fam

I think recently Peter Moore has come out and said it was the 32x and the saturn that led to sega leaving the hardware market not there last console the Dreamcast.

I feel a post traumatic experience coming on....i hope i dont go schitzo and cook my pet cockatiel

I started collecting video game consoles a few years back. My goal was to eventually own every console which has at least a couple of good games unique to the console or at least the best version/port for games which appear on multiple consoles. I hesitated, but ultimately decided that the 32x should be part of my collection. Knuckles Chaotix, Shadow Squadron/Stellar Assault, Virtua Racing, Star Wars Arcade (good and only port of the Japanese Star Wars arcade game), Kolibri (beautiful shmup like game from the makers of Ecco the Dolphin) and a few more. So in my opinion it's a commercial failure but not a complete failure, since it's still worth playing it 2023.

I've only ever purchased one console expansion...'The Voice' for the Odyssey2/Phillips G7000, which was of course their add on speech synth. It did what it was advertised to do in the handful of games that supported it, so I never felt to have been ripped off. I moved dirtectly into computers from the Odyssey2, so it was both my first and last console. (Fell in love with the N64 through emulation though)

One thing i'll give Atari corporation credit for is that with all their limited resources and bad decision making at least they got the jaguar CD add on out if fairly quick time (almost 2 years after the release of the jaguar) in comparison to how long it took nintendo to release the n64 disk drive (over 3 years after the release of the n64) and even then they never bothered to release it in the west.

AM2 sound bite - evokes many memories for me

Problem with add ons is always the same. Game companies can spend their time making a game that every owner of the console can buy, or making a game that just a small subset ofowners can.therefore the software is always thin on the ground

@8:13 as an italian, I laughed a bit when I noticed "motoschifo" on the list of words, instead of "motoscafo" (speedboat). "Motoschifo" can be roughly translated as "Motodisgust"...well done! 😅

I love the Sega CD, it should've been an rpg machine

Floppy discs were not quite dying at the time of the 64DD announcement . So-called zip drives were fairly common until the early 2000s

I think with the 32x specifically, it wasn’t exactly clear “what sega was doing”. The thing about 1993 is it wasn’t fully clear the Saturn was even in the works. The internet was a baby, and your only knowledge of what was going on in Japan was likely found by reading something like EGM. When the 32x was released, it wasn’t fully clear this was a half measure to cover the year before their REAL next Gen console was released. A lot of people thought this was their next system. It cost $200 in 1994 dollars at launch. Of the 600,000 people who bought it, they would absolutely have been the first people to buy a Saturn. After spending $200 + $50-60 for games only to be told within 12 months “sorry suckers” turned a lot of people off from future Sega investment

Imagine how much money was put into the 32x project from day one from Sega and what they ended up with barely six months down the line

I hit shuffle on my massive YT playlist and for some odd reason this replayed 5 times.....I'm amazed at how bad Mattel messed with FTC. Everyone got an angle

I got a 32X, after the saturn had come out, for £15 from woolworths after Christmas. Near the front of the store, where the video games were over on the side, they had large aisles with vaious central displays in the middle of them displaying different things (in this area consoles, they game boys, gamecoms, etc). However at the end of the aisle the central display had been left blank and turned into a metal basket marked clearence. It was full of video game related stuff - R-Zone, Tiger handhelds, tiger watches, copies of 5 in 1 Game and Watch for game boy... And at the bottom of the basket, I found a 32X. A couple of years later in the same place, I picked up a pokemon mini and a bunch of those tiny games for it for less than £10.

I have 2 out of 5: The ECS and the 32X. However, I only purchased each of these within the last year or so. The 32X is a neat addon, but there is one serious problem, and that is the requirement of additional power. Indeed, the Tower of Power wasn't just a fun name for the Mega Drive stack, but perhaps an ironic critique of the fact that the Mega Drive / Genesis, Mega CD / Sega CD, and the 32X each needed their own power adaptor to function. I have tried aftermarket all-in-one power adaptors, but when they work, there seems to be some signal noise on the display. It was already a chore when I was a child to make space for 2 power supplies to play the Sega CD, as well as powering the television, and of course having a VCR connected as well. I can only imagine my frustration if I had to find room for a 3rd fat power supply in the mix, because it's a bit frustrating as an adult. The ECS is an interesting addon. I have three of the games, but haven't taken too much time to give them a try. The most impressive game that I actually tried was World Series Major League Baseball, which was a radical improvement from the Major League Baseball that was released for the base Intellivision. What is more interesting is that it is the only game that takes advantage of two Intellivision addons, as you can connect the Intellivoice addon to the ECS, which connects to the base Intellivision, and the game will have a very robotic announcer. You still need to power the Intellivision and the ECS separately, however the Intellivoice didn't need additional power. Speaking of failed addons, I own 4 out of the only 5 Intellivoice games produced.

The 64DD isn't a floppy disk. They are magneto-optical discs. Akin to Zip discs. Which were very popular until cd burners were cheaper and able to enter the home market with no issues. Also you forget that CDs are a Sony and Philips product, Nintendo didn't want to pay royalties to Sony or Philips...

Hi great content I loved virtual Racing for the 32x

In the US the 32x sold the Atari Jaguar 4 to one and the CD32 wasn't officially released but in the UK those three consoles were neck and neck from what i've read.

Atari should have done the same thing that Sega should have done - introduce the add-on, but ALSO introduce an all in one at the same time. Sega of course could have also headed off a lot of their failure by making a the Saturn backwards compatible, although that would have been tough - Genny on a chip (like the CDX nearly has) in place of the 68000 the Saturn has for audio, modified memory setup and cartridge port. The tension between Sega of Japan and America made that impossible though.

Historical timeline of failure, story of my life.

Thanks for covering console expansions 👍😎👍 💯‼️

Now i know the story behind the failure of the Nintendo 64DD. It also led to the demise of a planned sequel to Mother (Earthbound).

The old 32x man, what a huge mistake. If it weren't for that stupid idea Sega could possibly still be making consoles

"...and their parent company, SEGA Enterprises." THANK YOU for not being like seemingly every other KZfaqr who incorrectly says "SEGA of Japan"!!!

Ibthought the supercharger was like the game genie of its time.im sure it sucks anyway but i truly love the ideas they came up with.

In non-American fashion "How the bloody hell did I miss this!"

The story of the 32X has got to be one of the dumbest scenarios in gaming history. If they knew that the new console, the Saturn, was on it's way soon, what better to do than rush a half assed brick to the market that will no doubt discourage sales of the new console as consumers and parents especially will reason "we just got the new SEGA." Not only that, but releasing an add on in fear of the Jaguar is just mind boggling. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the Jaguar and appreciate it more than most, but just looking at Atari at the time and seeing the awful stock and piss poor direction makes it clear that SEGA didn't have anything to worry about. SEGA had loads of developers and IPs that were recognized and relevant. Atari didn't have anything close to that. Above all, if you were so scared about a new console having 64-bit capabilities, why in the HELL would you name your shiny new add on the 32X? That'd be like NEC getting scared of the Genesis touting 16 bits, so they name their console the TurboGrafx 8. That just gives the competitor more ammo. What an awful move, even without hindsight. At the very least Sega CD had somewhat of a point to exist. 32X couldn't even really do what it promised, as some games played the same or choppier then their Genesis counterparts. I'll get off my soapbox.

I've enjoyed the heck out of Turbo/PCE CD Super System 1.0-3.0 and Arcade Card games, Sega CD games, and 32X games back in the day and today. The 32X in particular I bought at launch, and really hoped for more Model 1 adaptations and even PC ports of early polygonal games. I'll never understand the interwebs' obsession with hyperbolic "failure" labels. Add-ons and peripherals were totally common in the industry, and far, far, far better than buying an incrementally upgraded set top box for the same retail price you already paid.

The 64DD feels more like the N64 version of the Sega CD & 32X, only this time released only in Japan. (16:35)

That Supercharger commercial was quite the um, "tribute" to the Archie Bunker character from the tv sitcom All in the Family here in the States. No shame back then

I thought for sure the Coleco Adam would be on the list, if we're going by American popularity. Also the 32X had the largest Day One Launch if 500k consoles in 24 hours. Then 24 hours later, the Saturn had a launch date announced (which they jump the gun on vs the press conference that was one 3 digit number... 299

I would of wanted a n64 DD today IF there was a fire emblem title on it lol

January-July 1996- Bought a Jaguar CD with about 9 titles. December 2005-Threw the Jaguar CD and games in the trash while moving. August 2023-Still kicking myself in the ass for what I did 18 years ago.

Not only did I get the JagCD and games, but I managed to get a Memory Track cartridge, too.

I have the 32X and can play some N64DD games with the everdrive, but I don't have the courage yet to get a Jaguar and experience the JaguarCD.

One could argue that both the Aladdin Deck Enhancer by Codemasters & Camerica and the Datach by Bandai for the NES/Famicom is an expansion add-on (although not official), and both of them failed in the market with only 7 games released for each add-on.

After you said that the Atari Jaguar CD is highly sought after in working condition, I remembered that I have my old Atari stuff in my storage unit along with the Jag CD. I know the CD should work because it's never been opened. Still factory sealed. I see they are going for some nice change on eBay. I have never used eBay so I don't have an account so if anyone is interested in buying it I will sell it to the highest bidder. I'm not going to name a price. I just know what is reasonable after checking prices on ebay.

I bought a 32x and it broke after a week but by then I was bored of virtual racing and there just wasn't s many games for it so I was so pleased when they gave me my money back in Woolworths😂

I remember going to toys r us 32x was 19.99 sega cd were 49.99 i already had a sega cd i picked up a 32x and 5 games

Still have a 32X and still love it

I had a Sega CD and loved it if you knew what games to get it was a great time

Wouldn't it be cool if sony or xbox got the ip from digital pictures and remaster there games (sewer shark,slam city , supreme warrior,corpse killer, marky Mark and the funky bunch, etc)

I was hoping the XBox 360 HD-DVD expansion might be on the list, but hey, idea for a future video? :-)

The house of kalinske really did suck ass

I think it would be interesting to see "X hardware add-ons that _succeeded," frankly. However, some definition is required: To count as a "hardward add-on", a product must have been available through whatever retail channels the manufacturer normally uses as a seperate item from te base platform. Its fine if the item is bundled with software, but it is also fine if the add-on was _also_ available as a bundle with the base unit, but if it was *only* available as a bundle with the base unit (via normal retail channels) then it doesn't count. For example, the Nintendo Zapper wouldn't count unless the Zapper actually appeared on store shelves as a standalone unit. An add-on is _successful_ if it has more third party titles than it has first party titles. For purposes of this calculation, any titles that were sold exclusively via hardware bundles count as "first party titles," as it is likely that the add-on manufacturer commissioned the update rather tan the third party paying for it themselves. I don't think there are _any_ console add-ons that qualify as successful by the above metric, and even if you expand to include computers there are very few successes. For computers there are a very few memory and storage upgrades that qualify. To get clear examples of success you have to resort to the IBM PC compatibles -- sound cards and video cards obviously qualify, as do CD-ROMs.

Was really disapointed about the N64 DD. It could have been really, really cool if Nintendo hadnt messed up with it. Ocarina of Time Master Quest, which was an alternate version of OOT with redesigned dungeons that were more difficult, which wasnt available until it released on a bonus disc for pre-ordering Wind Waker for the GC, was the sort of thing we would have seen from the DD addon if it had been succesful. I had a 32X, which I had gotten by trading my Sega Saturn with another kid for his complete Sega Genesis collection that included a Sega CD. It was really disappointing at the time. The games on it were just bleh. I really regret having traded my Saturn... that was a dumb thing for kid me to do, especially with how much my dad had paid for it.

The Sega Neptune design would of been a better route imo.

To think of all these companies making these products and the time and effort and cash it takes to put into them just to throw em in the bucket like last weeks leftovers. Oh this new device is gonna revolutionize the industry, well management doesn't like the idea anymore so throw it deep in the dumpster and layoff 60 or 70....better make it 100 so we are ahead of the game.....

Well, at least you saved the worst for last.

Sega of America were so reluctant to let go of what sucess they were having they seemed to think making an add on was the better option simply because of the instal base and that everyone would simply upgrade that way. While I do think they should have had more input in games development things like this prove they shouldn't have been making business decisions. They also seemed way too worried about what others like Atari were doing thinking again the Jaguar would be competition based on it name in America alone. Much like with not wanting to let go of their own old hardware they seemed to think the past was going to keep Atari relevant too exactly the reason they shouldn't have been making any business decisions.

I disagree that Sega had the particular strategy you ascribe to them (at the time of the 32X) because I genuinely think _they had no strategy at all:_ they were really operating like four separate companies, each of which tinkered with a lot of new ideas without really making a commitment to any one of them. They got away with that in the Master System era (gee, did you waste money on the 3D expansion? How about the "sports pad"?), and they got away with it in the arcades, but nobody at Sega understood the extent to which they were making their customers hate and resent them by "trying out" and then abandoning (genuinely innovative) new hardware ideas.

I've just been setting up an everdrive on my genesis. When I found out the Master System games would work if I disconnected my 32x, but then I couldn't play 32x games, I quickly disconnected the 32x 😂😂

UGH the 32 X and the Jaguar Toilet

No mention of the Aladdin deck enhancer? 🤔😅

You consider the 64DD to be a bigger failure than the Virtual Boy?

The Nintendo DD was even named correctly. Developmentally disabled.

The 32x was a neat idea but even when it was brand new i had a hard time getting mine to work and it stopped working all together by the time I got rid of it 23 years ago.

32X was actually cool. Had one. The games looked good. Had they backed it, as well as a system with built in 32X it would have done much better

You cannot count the Jaguar CD as a failure. As the Jaguar itself was such a monumental failure, any expansion released for it is also so horrible, that it wraps around and becomes awesome. It's like a double negative. I will await your correction.

Thank you for referring to the video game crash as the "North American Video Game Crash". Far too many people don't realize that the industry only crashed in the US. It never crashed in Asia, Europe, or other parts of the world. Next, we must shatter the myth and the lie that Nintendo saved video games despite the industry thriving elsewhere and never actually crashing outside of the US.

I bought a Jag and CD CIB in 99. I think i payed $200 and felt ripped off. I payed $30 the week before for a Saturn with 40 games and $25 for the Virtual Boy new and 3DO CIB with several games. But now the cd is worth what? It is a neat looking combo, but the quality is not good.

I think I'd actually be more curious to hear about the console expansions that actually succeeded. I don't recall hearing too much going wrong with the PC-Engine CD add-on and the Sega CD/Famicom Disk System could be deemed successes compared to the other console expansions that came about. 0:51 - Oh, what do you know, you ended up mentioning the PC Engine Super CD and Sega Mega CD right away as not failures but not exactly successes either. 2:41 - First I'm hearing of the Starpath Supercharger and hilarious coincidence it had a similar name to another Atari 2600 expansion. I must admit, I've never really thought much about Gen 2 and their potential console expansions. WIth the sheer abundance of consoles confusing consumers, I can only imagine the additional chaos of having to factor in console expansions as well. 9:11 - All this could have made a video in of itself. A console add-on that the company was trying to cancel but forced to release. What a crazy journey for it. Coming out in 1983 could have been to it's advantage if it worked out properly though. At a time where consoles were crashing in the North American market, being able to use an expansion and pitch said console as a micro-computer instead may have worked out. Ultimately it didn't but you get my point. 10:40 - I always hear about Sega of Japan and Sega of America but never Sega of Europe. Given the better success of the Master System in PAL territories and the Mega Drive also doing well there, you would think they would have more sway or presence in discussions at this time. 12:37 - I feel Sega of America's better approach to continuing the drive of the Mega Drive would have been to give more support to the already existing Sega Multi-Mega CDX. The low adoption rate of the Mega CD would have been due to high-price and it's add-on nature, but by 1994, prices would have come down and the combined console variant would have fixed the add-on factor so they could of grown both the existing Mega Drive and Mega CD markets more. 14:56 - I was about to say, good on Atari for delaying the Jaguar CD to give it those improvements and then lo-and-behold, no upgrades were made. Atari were struggling to get people to develop for the Jaguar and could see the history of poorly selling console add-ons, so I've no idea why they thought this was a good idea. Strange that Nintendo would later make the same mistake. 16:34 - The DD stands for Dynamic Drive!? I never knew that. 17:21 - I don't question Nintendo not going with CDs. More CD consoles were failing than succeeding and there were advantages to cartridges, one Nintendo were keen to focus on. What I do question is why they thought the CD add-on idea was a good idea? History had already shown it not, only providing limited success at best. I do wonder if certain N64 games would have come out earlier or avoided cancellation if they were made for N64 first and foremost, rather than being distracted by the DD.

Yeah, Ok, objectively the SuperCharger failed but it's the coolest of the bunch here and unlike Sega for example, Arcadia/Starpath made sure it got only quality titles. It was an excellent product, period

32 X failed because it was the same price as a comparable full system

It s safe to say that the Mega cd was the most successful add on ever created. Not a flop actually

Where's the XBOX 360 HD-DVD drive?

I like this comment section, because usually everyone is like, "Sega of Japan was so stupid! If only they obeyed Sega of America, then they would have succeeded!" But seriously no. Sega of America was stupid. Absolutely stupid. They got lucky with marketing Sonic on the Genesis, but other than that every decision was disastrous self-own, and a knife in Sega's back. Even their success in selling the Dreamcast was actually a mistake - accidentally setting the price too low to make a profit (which was desperately needed, to keep Sega afloat). The 32X and Mega CD? That piled on stupidity upon stupidity upon stupidity. What ever gave them the idea that any add on could be successful? They could have just looked at every console add-on in the history of USA video gaming ever to realize it was a stupid idea. Morons.

Sega CD

I loved the 32X when it came out 😊. If Sega Of Japan 🇯🇵 had supported Sega Of America 🇺🇸 instead of shutting them out, it would have been successful. The Saturn 🪐 debacle is a story all on its own that shows how inept they (SOJ) were. 😢

👍👍👍❤❤❤

The Sega 32X was the most unnecessary add on ever and killed the Saturn in North America.

Surprised you didn't mention Nintendo's failed Super Nintendo add on that resulted in the creation one of Nintendo's biggest competitors: the Sony PlayStation. That really wasn't a failure in terms of cost, but a failure in terms of the tried and true business practice of, you know, not creating a competitor.

The 32x launch sold more than jaguar life and 32x sold a million. Sega CD 3 million. Both those add ONS highest selling ever before Xbox Kinect 💡

the virtual boy was nintendos biggest flop

Both the famicom disksystem and mega CD should,ve beenmentioned as well🤣

I too prefer my PC Engines with more Western penetration.

I got the 32X the Christmas it was released with Doom, VR Deluxe and Star Wars. I was genuinely blown away but then... no games worth a mention to be seen for ages. It was a great little add on completely let down by Sega.

I remember reading somewhere that Sega of America knew it was time to put the final nail in the coffin of their aging, Sega Genesis, once Donkey Kong Country for the SNES/SFC hit the market.