What do you all think would have happened if SEGA had released the 32X a year earlier? We all know November of 1994 was too late with the impending release of the SEGA Saturn. But what if SEGA released the 32X around November of 1993 to compete with the Atari Jaguar and Panasonic 3DO? That would have given developers an extra year to spend with the console, and I believe SEGA would have quickly dominated the market until the release of the Saturn, which they could have put off for a much more successful release in September of 1995. If SEGA would have released the 32x a year earlier, that would have changed their whole future, and we'd all be playing a Sega console in the current generation..
What If SEGA Released The 32X A Year Earlier?
- Thread starter TEXAN*
- Start date
You apparently never owned Tempo and Kolibri.
grandmaster
Veteran
The games weren't good enough, end of story. Doesn't matter when you release the thing if the software is poor.
I think if Sega 32X had appeared in 1979 it'd have done pretty well for itself
grandmaster
Veteran
Not with SEGA's 32X/Saturn marketeers, trust me
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grandmaster
Veteran
Please don't make me re-live the pain.
Well I looked at a youtube of Tempo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGr9heUXsjA and, while on the surface colorful, it still suffers the typical darkened, drab Genesis color pallete.
I played Star Wars and I think Doom on the system.
There was no point to 32X at all, it was the ultimate "tweener" system. Playstation and Saturn were right around the corner and far superior, as well as not requiring the hassle of a peripheral or cart format, etc. If 32X had come a year earlier, it would have only slightly delayed the inevitable.
Megadrive1988
Veteran
Sega should never have launched 32X at all. Having just *one* upgrade add-on that splits the userbase is bad enough. Having TWO is just beyond stupid.
Instead they should've put better tech into the Mega CD in 1991 or 1992. Give it a chip that allowed more colors on-screen, more sprites, background layers and better scaling & rotation. So this thing
should've had the ability to run any 16-Bit Super-Scaler arcade game, including games such as:
Sega should've made great videogames the focus of SegaCD. Instead of those horrible FMV movie games. More games like Lunar and AH-3 Thunder Strike. Put Sonic 4, Phantasy Star 5, as well as all of Sega's scaling arcade games like Space Harrier, OutRun, Super Hang On, After Burner, Power Drift, Galaxy Force and other sequels to all the best Genesis games (Shinobi, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, Gunstar Heroes, etc) exclusively on SegaCD to make more people buy the hardware. Now, SegaCD *was* selling decently enough for awhile. In fact I think it's the best selling add-on of all time. If Sega had put even greater effort into it, from both a hardware & software standpoint, it could've gone down as a modest success rather than failure. Then quickly release and push a Genesis+SegaCD duo at a much lower price than the Wonder Mega /X-Eye or CDX. Perhaps get Square to put Secret of Mana on SegaCD instead of SNES CD or SNES. Try to create a snowball effect where SegaCD becomes the CD-ROM console standard, eclipsing the PCE CD family, Commodore CD32 and 3DO. SegaCD should've been pushed through 1993-1995, without the mess of having SegaCD, 32X, Saturn all in that '94-'95 timeframe. Sega would be preparing a proper-3D-capable Saturn for late 1995 or early 1996 while selling SegaCD at least until the launch of Saturn. Don't do SVP or 32X. Save all the 3D polygon stuff for Saturn. The Sega we have today may have been a far different and stronger company, still producing consoles in this current generation.
Instead they should've put better tech into the Mega CD in 1991 or 1992. Give it a chip that allowed more colors on-screen, more sprites, background layers and better scaling & rotation. So this thing
Sega should've made great videogames the focus of SegaCD. Instead of those horrible FMV movie games. More games like Lunar and AH-3 Thunder Strike. Put Sonic 4, Phantasy Star 5, as well as all of Sega's scaling arcade games like Space Harrier, OutRun, Super Hang On, After Burner, Power Drift, Galaxy Force and other sequels to all the best Genesis games (Shinobi, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, Gunstar Heroes, etc) exclusively on SegaCD to make more people buy the hardware. Now, SegaCD *was* selling decently enough for awhile. In fact I think it's the best selling add-on of all time. If Sega had put even greater effort into it, from both a hardware & software standpoint, it could've gone down as a modest success rather than failure. Then quickly release and push a Genesis+SegaCD duo at a much lower price than the Wonder Mega /X-Eye or CDX. Perhaps get Square to put Secret of Mana on SegaCD instead of SNES CD or SNES. Try to create a snowball effect where SegaCD becomes the CD-ROM console standard, eclipsing the PCE CD family, Commodore CD32 and 3DO. SegaCD should've been pushed through 1993-1995, without the mess of having SegaCD, 32X, Saturn all in that '94-'95 timeframe. Sega would be preparing a proper-3D-capable Saturn for late 1995 or early 1996 while selling SegaCD at least until the launch of Saturn. Don't do SVP or 32X. Save all the 3D polygon stuff for Saturn. The Sega we have today may have been a far different and stronger company, still producing consoles in this current generation.
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grandmaster
Veteran
I remember picking up a copy of that on VHS from Scavenger itself at one of the first E3s, I think. You can see the early work for games that turned into Scorcher and Amok on Saturn... It was an exciting tech demo at the time, but my main point of contact at SEGA later told me that they knew at the time that video was circulating that these demos would never translate into actual 32X games.
32X was a real disaster. Any one from SEGA will be the first to tell you this. Not least because they only had finite development resources and anything they did on 32X meant that precious personnel had to be diverted from the Saturn effort.
I thought the VR and VF ports weren't bad mind you.
Hearing Jesper Kyd's techno really gave me a feel for Scorcher again. Pretty cool game with incredible music (wich sounds like it was generated on the saturn's sound chip, but that might just be intended that way. I actually recorded it in from my Saturn and encoded it in glourious 128 kb mp3 back in the day. Guess I will listen to it again.....)
Edit: Did, and it it still great!
Edit: Did, and it it still great!
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Megadrive1988
Veteran
Not only was 32X another add-on to the Genesis, it added two more formats to the list of Sega Genesis formats,
*32X
*32X CD
*32X
*32X CD
Blazkowicz
Legend
not really, it looks like she overspent on make up and can't afford enough food.
I almost dismissed this topic but no, its a great topic to talk about, I myself used to think these things years and years ago...
Guess you could never have been a Sega gamer fan cause you have only seen the tip of the iceberg.
I know I can comment on your quote but I just want to mention how much I loved reading this part:
"SegaCD should've been pushed through 1993-1995, without the mess of having SegaCD, 32X, Saturn all in that '94-'95 timeframe."
Its the same thinking I have been going through for years after I realized Dreamcast was doomed before being announced or leaked as a prototype console contract.
Sega CD should have been the focus or rather no new add on or stand alone console should have been approved for release by Sega until 1996 but then again Sega never had the mentality of caution like Nintendo did and that is part of the problem with releasing way too many peripherals and add ons and then rushed out the door to meet holiday season game releases.
So you would completely ignore a girl like her and tell her to go away and come back looking like she ate enough food? right? Alright how about I give her some food and do some things and give her to you with more pounds to make her acceptable to you?
My take on 32X is I bought one... after it came down to $50 bucks about a year and a half after the Saturn was out and I ended up returning it.
I should have kept it as a collectors item and bought all of the games but I was so aggravated by so many of this add on's flaws to no want to keep it at the time, I am glad for youtube and some current fansites making videos on this subject like the Angry Video Game Nerd:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvR_3OTxs8A&feature=related
I also re-bought it again to try it on my X-eye the Genesis/CD combo console that had an initial price of way too much money but I got it again at a flea market and I failed at getting the 32X to work with X-eye thanks to the grounding clamps so it was a no go for me twice and I returned it.
I loved the Saturn and loved it more with the Japanese games that would never make it here due to bad decisions and Sega could have just simply delayed Saturn to a 1996 launch, take a risk and let 3D0, Jaguar get plowed or fight it out with Sony then take the money not spent on 32X, Neptune and Netlink and then made a earlier contract with Videologic Power VR and put out a dual SH3 at 66Mhz or higher, better 2d solution, more ram if possible, faster CD drive and basically plowed the competition with a 32bit Cartridge and CD drive console that would have managed to get better than Model 2 level graphics for its time and possibly get very close to Model 3 but not realistically really and Sega could have done well because they would not have a bunch of angry SegaCD and 32X owners or game magazine writers to worry about.
Then they could have waited until 2001 or 2002 and launched a next console with dual SH5 CPUs while keeping SH4 in the arcade...
Guess you could never have been a Sega gamer fan cause you have only seen the tip of the iceberg.
I know I can comment on your quote but I just want to mention how much I loved reading this part:
"SegaCD should've been pushed through 1993-1995, without the mess of having SegaCD, 32X, Saturn all in that '94-'95 timeframe."
Its the same thinking I have been going through for years after I realized Dreamcast was doomed before being announced or leaked as a prototype console contract.
Sega CD should have been the focus or rather no new add on or stand alone console should have been approved for release by Sega until 1996 but then again Sega never had the mentality of caution like Nintendo did and that is part of the problem with releasing way too many peripherals and add ons and then rushed out the door to meet holiday season game releases.
So you would completely ignore a girl like her and tell her to go away and come back looking like she ate enough food? right? Alright how about I give her some food and do some things and give her to you with more pounds to make her acceptable to you?
My take on 32X is I bought one... after it came down to $50 bucks about a year and a half after the Saturn was out and I ended up returning it.
I should have kept it as a collectors item and bought all of the games but I was so aggravated by so many of this add on's flaws to no want to keep it at the time, I am glad for youtube and some current fansites making videos on this subject like the Angry Video Game Nerd:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvR_3OTxs8A&feature=related
I also re-bought it again to try it on my X-eye the Genesis/CD combo console that had an initial price of way too much money but I got it again at a flea market and I failed at getting the 32X to work with X-eye thanks to the grounding clamps so it was a no go for me twice and I returned it.
I loved the Saturn and loved it more with the Japanese games that would never make it here due to bad decisions and Sega could have just simply delayed Saturn to a 1996 launch, take a risk and let 3D0, Jaguar get plowed or fight it out with Sony then take the money not spent on 32X, Neptune and Netlink and then made a earlier contract with Videologic Power VR and put out a dual SH3 at 66Mhz or higher, better 2d solution, more ram if possible, faster CD drive and basically plowed the competition with a 32bit Cartridge and CD drive console that would have managed to get better than Model 2 level graphics for its time and possibly get very close to Model 3 but not realistically really and Sega could have done well because they would not have a bunch of angry SegaCD and 32X owners or game magazine writers to worry about.
Then they could have waited until 2001 or 2002 and launched a next console with dual SH5 CPUs while keeping SH4 in the arcade...
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