The
Sega 32X is a system of legend, almost of myth.
It seemed to exist for such a fleeting moment, that it's existence could have almost been
imagined.
But yet, the Genesis 32X, as it was known in the States, Mega Drive 32X, in Europe and
Japan's Super 32X all existed, in their respective regions, and are actually remembered fondly
by a faithful few.
So let's unravel this short 90s tale of 32 bit superiority and see what went right and
exactly what went wrong for this Sega Genesis & Mega Drive add-on.
The year is 1994, and the Sega Genesis is now firmly the favourite game console in North
America, Europe & Australia.
The Nintendo NES had long held the reign in North America, but it's 8 bit hardware was
now dated & unappealing.
In Europe the Mega Drive was the cheapest 16 bit entry, pushing aside the old 8 bit
micros, consoles and even 16 bit hardware like the Amiga and Atari ST.
Of course, Nintendo weren't blind to this and had pushed their Super Nintendo out in
North America during 1991 and Europe in 1992, where it was rapidly gaining traction.
Sega had originally countered this threat with the launch of the Mega CD in 1992 and
1993 respectively.
This was also a Mega Drive add-on, designed to capitalise on the storage capacity of CD-ROM
whilst mopping up the PC Engine CD system in Japan, and Super NES in other regions.
As we know however, this was less successful than intended, with a high initial price tag,
and the majority of FMV games proving to be less appealing than they looked.
So it's here, on the 8th January 1994, where we find Joe Miller of Sega America and Sega
of Japan's CEO, Hayao Nakayama in a meeting, directly before the Las Vegas Winter CES.
There were other personnel in attendence from both regions, including Sega of America's
president, Tom Kalinske, but it was Nakayama who raised the need to build and deploy a
32 bit cartridge system before the end of 1994.
This concept was already gifted with the code name, Mars, but unbeknownst to Sega of America,
Japan were already working on another prototype known as Saturn.
This was intentionally kept hush to avoid leaks.
Nakayama's push for an interim console was due to fears the Saturn wouldn't be ready
before the end of 1994, leaving Sega exposed to new machines like the Atari Jaguar, 3DO
and even whispers of an new machine from Sony.
This machine then would be cheaper, and compatible with existing Mega Drive titles.
The idea being that Mega Drive owners would stick with the Sega brand, giving them access
to the cherished world of 32 bits, whilst still having access to their existing game
libraries.
Before the meeting's end, the original concept for Mars was presented by Japan's hardware
designer Hideki Sato.
At this stage, it was simply a Mega Drive with an additional Hitachi SH-1 processor
and a larger colour palette of 512 & 128 on screen colours.
It was then Joe Miller who pointed out that creating a whole new system around a slightly
upgraded Mega Drive was a waste of resources, and instead they should focus on an add-on
unit for existing owners.
From this point onward, Sega of America took project ownership and got to work.
Sega of America Take the Reigns
According to Joe Miller, 3 main designs for the new Mars add on were proposed.
The first was similar to Hideki Sato's concept, with a Hitachi SuperH-1 and a new video display
processor.
This combination would likely achieve levels similar to the Sega Virtua Processor or SVP;
another route already in development, having been announced in 1993 and culminating in
the release of Virtua Racing for the stock Mega Drive in March 1994.
This SVP chip was Sega's rival to the Super FX chip found in certain SNES titles, and
allowed, cut down releases of Sega's Virtua arcade games based on their new model 1 board.
The second concept was based around dual Motorola 68000's, combined with the DSP, and the third,
suggested by Sega of Japan, consisted of dual SH-2 processors and an upgraded custom VDP,
creating a complicated, but potent hardware combination.
The Hitatchi SH-2 RISC processor was actually created by Hitachi with Sega's new console
in mind.
The cost savings through creating an add-on, as opposed to a stand-alone console, allowed
for an increased specification without affecting the final retail price, and therefore the
latter option was chosen for progression.
Besides this, the specification was homogeneous to what Japan were developing for the Sega
Saturn and so familiarising developers which the dual processor setup seemed a no-brainer.
By this point, several months into the year, Sega of America became aware of the Saturn's
development, and with both machines on course for release before the end of the year, some
eyebrows were raised in both American and Japanese camps.
Sega of America weren't geared up to produce Mars, and so Japan's resources would need
to be split, and this looked like the start of Sega creating a battle with itself.
The 32X Comes Together
Figuratively and literally, the Mars hardware was designed to sit as a layer on top of the
Mega Drive, whereas the Mega CD, sat below it.
While the Mega CD still used the Mega Drive's video output and was therefore constrained
by both it's bandwidth and 61 on screen colours.
Mars would have it's own video ouput which could fuse with the Mega Drive, creating a
layer of greater control and ability.
This allowed 32,768 on screen colours, two digital sound channels, an extra 512KB of
RAM and 3D support, pushing 50,000 textured, or 160,000 flat polygons per second.
To put this in comparative terms, Nintendo's FX-2 chip can render 2,000 textured polygons
per second, the Atari Jaguar can do 10,000 and the 3DO can push 20,000.
The audio abilities would also be improved with a 2 PWM audio chip with three dimensional
'QSound' to compliment the Mega Drive's audio hardware.
Apart from the dual SH-2's and RAM, all other components of the 32X are actually controlled
by the Mega Drive's Motorola 68000, and although the dual SH-2 processors pack a punch, their
RISC architecture means sprite features, such as scaling, are coded through software.
The VDP does utilise a double frame buffer however, allowing for implementations, such
as hardware scrolling.
This fusing of hardware could be used in a variety of ways, but would often allow developers
to put the Mega Drive's hardware to task rendering game backgrounds, whilst the 32X could handle
the bulk of the action.
Sitting atop of the Mega Drive in a mushroom fashion, the system would also need to accept
Mega Drive cartridges, with a pass through feature, although the new 32 bit cartridges
would be slightly larger to differentiate.
Of course, differentiating this new hardware from it's 16 bit mother console was key.
Therefore the name 32X was used to highlight the 32 bit architecture.
Some corners argue that it stands for 32 X the power... but, given the Motorola 68000
runs at some 1 million instructions per second, whilst the dual SH-2's can reportedly push
around 40 million, that figure could have been even higher.
So given it's initial name was simply the Genesis 32 or Mega Drive 32, it's clear Sega
were keen to push the bit bandwagon.
Nakayama approved the design and production began at Sega's Japanese manufacturing plant,
forcing Sega to split their resources.
It's clear at this stage that although Sega of Japan were on board with this project,
there were those who saw the 32X as simply a distraction to the Saturn, and vice versa,
Sega of America could already see what problems the Saturn may bring about.
Never the less, 32X development pressed on with great speed, with news & rumours of it's
development circling in the press from April onwards.. a month after we'd seen drawings
of the new Saturn.
By the Summer CES on the 23rd June 1994, a Sega 32 System was on show to the eager press.
To us in the UK, it was presented as simply the Sega Mega 32, and offered a glimmer of
hope for Mega Drive owners.
Now it's interesting what people wanted at the time.
If you look back over old magazines, we see promises that this Mega 32 would bring VHS
quality FMV to Mega CD owners, and that it offered "semi Saturn compatibility", all for
a meagre £150.
Some of these plus points are things we simply disregard these days.
We look at FMV and note how terrible it was, or we look at Sega's timeline and scoff at
Sega's timing in regard to their Saturn.
But it's easy to forget how tantalising an affordable 32 bit upgrade seemed back then,
FMV and all.
The FMV claim does seem a bit bizarre, but in some respects it shows Sega's desire to
continue serving their existing customers, Mega CD owners or not.
By July we had a whole plethora of developers, reportedly lined up to produce titles for
this new mushroom shaped device.
This was a truly exciting time.
Interesting to note however, is that developers had generally received both Saturn and 32X
development kits at the same time.
The idea of developers cutting their teeth on the 32X may have seemed good from the outset,
but given the Saturn's Japanese release schedule was looking concurrent to the 32X, it's clear
that many now simply bet on the Saturn, leaving 32X titles a little thin on the ground.
Still, at the time, there was no suggestion of this.
Some of titles hyped pre-release included Sonic 4, in true three dimensional glory.
Shadow of Atlantis, which promised that upgraded FMV we still seemed hooked on, and a tantalising
Alien Trilogy.
The penned launch releases included; Doom, Farenheit, Star Wars Arcade, Super Afterburner,
Super Motocross & Virtua Racing, with various others on the way.
Launch
The 32X would launch on the 21st November 1994 in North America for $159.99.
A good conversion rate against the Yen, meant it actually launched some $20 less than expected,
but with a slight change to the lineup.
Available titles were; Cosmic Carnage
DOOM Star Wars Arcade
& Virtua Racing Deluxe
Rather than the plastic hard cases of the Mega Drive.
32X cartridges would find themselves nestled within a bed of cardboard, much like a Super
NES title, and as such, much less resistant to damage as well.
Apart from the woeful Cosmic Carnage, the other titles offered a reasonable line-up,
with Star Wars Arcade the most hyped and featured of the bunch.
This was an instantly recognisable franchise which made good use of the new hardware, although
not everyone liked it...
Despite this, by some it's referred to as "The Game that saved Sega in 1995", and that's
mainly because Nintendo were still batting well from their 16 bit corner.
Released in late November was Donkey Kong Country for the Super Nintendo, and thanks
to its incredible looking pre-rendered sprites and strong marketing campaign, it showed the
Super Nintendo could still make punches.
But Sega weren't joking about with the 32X.
It's easy to dismiss it, but they bestowed a $10 million marketing campaign upon it.
The
same as they pushed for the Mega Drive, and this time it was even more controversial.
A whole host of TV advertising, print and promotional videos - much like the Sega CD
- would follow.
This included an advert depicting the 32X banging the Mega Drive in order to produce
an "arcade machine".
The 32X would see it's roll out in Europe on 1st December, although units weren't widely
available until a few days later, with the UK price actually bumped to £169.99 (because,
y'know, we often got screwed back then).
Like North America, we witnessed a television and print campaign targeting the unit at Mega
Drive owners who may have grown up a little since their original purchase, although it
was on a smaller scale than the States.
Other areas such as Australia and Brazil witnessed a similar launch.
Japan's launch on the 3rd of December was even more low key, with the Sega Saturn having
already released 2 weeks prior, with it being both promoted & selling heavily.
Sega had hoped to push out over a million 32X units before '94 was out, instead this
number sat at just over 600,000 in North America, with some of these units still sitting on
store shelves.
In other regions, this figure was far lower.
This was the key launch holiday season, so Sega would have to put their all behind the
machine to keep it rolling into 1995.
Fortunately this was exactly what Sega of America looked to be doing.
A Tough Year
The Winter CES took place on 6th January 1995, and of course the Sega Saturn was featured
alongside the lone Virtua Fighter title, but Sega also dedicated a large portion to the
32X, featuring numerous titles, including the now ready & graphically impressive, Metal
Head, alongside the only Sonic derived title to appear on the system: Chaotix, or Knuckle's
Chaotix as it would be released in the US.
Sadly, Sonic 4 was just a pipe-dream, much to the disappointment to 32X owners.
Unfortunately, not only did you require an appointment to get into Sega's booth, but
they also had no killer title to push.
Knuckles' Chaotix itself wasn't terribly impressive, babsed on a proto-type game in development
for the Mega Drive, and divided opinion in the gameplay stakes.
This key period was where the 32X would make it or break it, and evidently it started to
break, with many simply side-lining the add-on as a stop-gap for the
Sega Saturn.
Rather than appealing as a cheaper option than their next generation console, most people
just decided to bide their time and save their money for a console that could push 5X the
number of polygons per second.
I mean, in reality the 32X wasn't actually that cheap.
Given the initial units had no bundled game, you'd have to shell out an extra £50 on top
of the £170.
Sega would phase in a £50 rebate voucher to help with this, but people wanted money
off, not the complication of claiming vouchers they could only spend on games.
Additionally, it's reported that some of the original shipment came without a Mega Drive
1 connector, leaving consumers to buy an adaptor for some £25, or at worst an entire Mega
Drive 2 to ensure compatibility.
Talking about what came in the box.
Along with the Mega Drive 1 cable adaptor and Mega Drive 2 case adaptor, we have some
metal inserts which are supposed to slip into the cartridge port, and connect with these
metal plates on the 32X; these were to reduce radio emissions and conform to FCC requirements.
Some boxes however also contained these dongles to plug into the Mega Drive expansion bus.
These dongles earthed the pins, further appeasing FCC regulations.
But apparently, it's inclusion was overkill, and many units simply didn't include them,
especially regions outside of the North American FCC regulations.
Again, due to FCC regulations, the North American packaging indicates the unit isn't compatible
with the CDX, but in fact it connects up and works just fine.
I mean proportionally, it looks like an adult squeezing into a toy car, but it works.
Sega had actually developed a cradle to make it fit better, but it wasn't commercially
viable to include components for FCC compatibility, and it was therefore shelved.
All these dongles, adaptors and clips brings us onto the aesthetic.
We need to connect the av cable from the Mega Drive to the 32X.
Then the 32X plugs into the TV.
We then have separate power supplies for each device, and if you have a Mega CD as well,
it really starts to get messy.
Sega actually released their own power strip to deal with this problem, providing adequate
spacing between each connector for the bulky transformers.
Later consoles then followed Nintendo's lead and incorporated power units into the console
casing.
BUT you know what, I didn't care about the extra wires, about the upsetting aesthetic,
or any of these other so-called issues.
I would have given my right arm for one of these in early 1995.
I would have been more than happy with the games on offer as well, even if Doom is squashed
into a small window, is lacking levels and has absolutely terrible music.
It was the price that put it out of reach for me, and it did for others.
Some became disillusioned with Sega entirely, having released the Mega CD to limited support,
now the 32X and the Saturn around the corner.
It looked like Sega were just trying to cash in where-ever possible, whilst Nintendo owners
were rewarded with a string of continuing titles for their older systems.
For many this was confirmed in May 1995 when Sega brought forward the Saturn release by
several months, priced at $399 and poised to compete with the Sony Playstation.
This wasn't a mass exodus however, mainly because developers such as Capcom, Acclaim
and EA Sports had already left.
This was more expediating what was already occurring.
The only glimmer of hope for existing 32X was talk by Sega America of a Sega Neptune
console.
This would incorporate the Mega Drive and 32X in one sleek unit, similar to the original
Mars proposal, however the rumoured price tag of $400 seemed ridiculous, especially
given it matched the Saturn.
The anticipated price was halved later in the year, making it more attractive, but by
October, Sega put a halt on the production of any consoles other than the Saturn, and
the future looked bleak for cartridge fans.
The End is Nigh
We know that putting all your eggs in one basket can be a poor move, however Sega had
demonstrated that chucking various eggs into a multitude of baskets was equally as poor.
The remainder of 1995 witnessed a drip of titles, including FIFA Soccer 96, Mortal Kombat
II, WWF Raw and the delayed Virtua Fighter.
The final two games for the platform emerged in January 1996; Spiderman: Web of Fire and
the only European region locked game, DarXide, which was penned to the Neptune's launch title,
and actually plays incredibly smoothly.
Although some European releases, such as Primal Rage were delayed until later in 1996.
By this point, units had been through several price drops and by the middle of 1996, 32X
consoles could be picked up for as little as $20, leaving a raw feeling in the guts
of those who paid full price just a year earlier.
Further raw feelings came from games such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV and the
much anticipated Shadow of Atlantis, which sadly failed to ever see daylight, stuck in
a late development phase and left to waste away, like a discarded coffee cup.
There remain mixed feelings about the 32X.
Some see it as a lesson is spreading too thinly.
Others see it as a console which served it's purpose, and kept the Mega Drive going for
just that bit longer.
I personally see it as the upgrade which could have been so much more, had it hung on a little
longer.
Had the Saturn been launched a little later, had developers had more time with its development
kits, had the price been just that bit cheaper, then I think we would have seen some amazing
games getting the most from this little mushroom shaped add-on.
As it stands, it still remains an exciting bit of kit which captures my imagination as
much today, as it did in 1994.
One thing that Tom Kalinske said in 2006 which bears true for both the 32X and the Mega CD
is this;
"I think, in hindsight to me, the great lesson is don't ever expect an add-on de-
vice to be as important as a true, new platform.
And I think that's what we had in mind.
We thought were going to sell millions of those, and that was unrealistic."
Sega did manage to sell around a million units.
Some 700,000 in North America, 270,000 in Japan and around 100,000 in other regions,
but this was less than half of the Mega CD, which Sega had also themselves considered
a commercial failure.
The 32X hardware would be used once more in the Sega Picture Magic; a Japanese tablet
for use with the Sega Digio-SJ1 and the Sega PriFun.
The main purpose of these devices is for photo manipulation, making use of those powerful
Hitachi processors.
So that brings the tale of the 32X to a close.
There was a point where they sold for peanuts, but now in the UK, you'll be lucky to grab
one from eBay for less than £100.
It appears they're more popular now than they ever were.
But before I go, let's do a bit of spot the difference between Mega CD games and their
upgraded Mega CD 32X iterations.
There were 6 Mega CD 32X compatible games in total, but let's start with Corpse Killer,
the first game to make use of both add-ons, and what do we see?....
well.... not a lot.
Now this always got me.
I expected this combination to herald unbelievable power, and indeed I bet it could given time
and the right developers.
But instead we just got very slightly enhanced versions of Mega CD games.
Did we get that promised VHS quality?...
well, it's certainly better on some games, given we can now experience more colours.
But VHS quality?
I just don't think it can handle the bit rate.
Let's finish up with Night Trap Mega CD 32X, as we fade to black.
Thanks for watching the Sega 32X story.
If you'd like to see some previous stories, click them here.
You can also subscribe to stay updated, or contribute to my Patreon to support future
videos.
In any case.
Thank you very much for watching, and have a great evening.
For more infomation >> PLEEG - Starlight (feat.Yuca) [Lyrics] - Duration: 3:37. 
For more infomation >> YOUTUBE ABONE OL BUTONU EKLEMEK (FİLİGRAN YAPMA) - Duration: 4:27. 
For more infomation >> 3 NAJLEPSZE PRANKI BOGATY VS BIEDNY 2 - Duration: 10:25. 
For more infomation >> EXERCICIOS PARA DEFINIR PERNAS E GLUTEOS E PERDER BARRIGA! Como Aumentar Bumbum e Perder Barriga - Duration: 8:23. 
For more infomation >> Dégustation en couple... du Crocodile ?! Du Kangourou ? 국제커플 악어, 캥거루 그리고 에뮤 육포먹기 - Duration: 7:04. 
For more infomation >> アメリカの巨大スーパー、ウォルマートでお買い物。アメリカ生活・お買い物編 #69 - Duration: 12:47. 
For more infomation >> [RU] "Skyrim Together"? rejected by Bethesda? - Duration: 4:59. 
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét