65 replies to this topic

[Dittohead Servbot #24]

I'm planning on building a Sega Genesis/Master System/Sega CD collection shortly. That being said, I think the Sega CD is a fascinating console (though if they had upgraded the color palette to be more like the SNES one, especially having 256 colors at once the FMV's in Sega CD games would've looked MUCH better), and I was just wondering if anyone here is into either the Sega CD and/or the 32X. I know the add-ons don't get much love in the classic gaming community (just ask the AVGN) but I know they do have their fans.

BTW, isn't that old 32X commercial where the guy says "Just stick it in your Genesis!!" very blatant false advertising? I'm sure the 32X fans/collectors will tell you quite clearly that you can't "just stick it in your Genesis" and expect it to work.

[Catsmasher]

Gee, when did the AVGN become the voice of the classic gaming community? I say play what you dig, and if some foul-mouthed goofball who is obsessed with poop jokes does't like it - too bad. I like the Sega add ons. They are a neat part of video game history and are fun to mess around with!
Play On !

Catsmasher

[Jibbajaba]

I love the Sega CD. Lots of good games, and you can just download and burn them instead of trying to track them down. I NEVER see Sega CD games in the wild...

Chris

[shadow460]

I really need to get my 32X up and running. I played Farenheit, Jurassic Park, and Rebel Assault on my LaserActive, and I played Shining Force Gaiden II on my Game Gear. Of those, Jurassic park was pretty good and Shining Force was perfect, but the others didn't impress me much. I have Primal Rage and MKII for the 32X, and I have a 32X, but I just haven't ordered the video amp I need to get it working properly with the LaserActive.

If what I've seen with the LA is any indication, though, the Sega CD is probably worth a look. I see SCD and 32X titles in the wild all the time around here.

[atarian63]

Yes,me too! It's a great little system. I never played them back in the day but it's been a fun toy the last year or so. Interesting history as well.
I always liked Sega!

[davepesc]

I love the Sega CD. Just avoid all the FMV games. There's still enough there to warrant a look-see:

Eternal Champions
Popful Mail
Lunar/Lunar 2
Shining Force
Silpheed
Robo Aleste
Snatcher*
Keio Flying Squadron*

Never played the last 2, but I hear good things. Still hunting them

[Austin]

I had a ton of fun with both add-ons. Definitely check them out if you really want to "trick-out" your Genesis.

The Sega CD was a nice little add-on.. The Genesis ports to it are hands-down the best versions of those games (Provided they weren't re-released on more-powerful platforms), there are a good amount of exclusives that are still enjoyable today, and overall, it has a wide variety of titles to choose from: Role playing games, point 'n click adventure games, platformers, arcade ports, horizontal and vertical scrolling shmups, fighting games, and yes, even FMV games (A handful of which I did find enjoyable).

The 32X was technically my first "32-bit" system and it treated me well in that year or so before I upgraded to something more powerful at the time. It often gets knocked, but it has a decent amount of good games that aren't very expensive to pick up these days. Be sure to check out Knuckles Chaotix (If you like Sonic), MKII (If you want a closer port rendition to the arcade game than some of the others), Tempo (Great 2D platformer), Virtua Racing and Virtua Fighter (self-explanatory), among others.

Edited by Austin, Thu Mar 4, 2010 9:29 PM.

[wood_jl]

To each his own opinion on this matter....so here's mine:

I think the Sega CD is a waste. I had one for a short while after they first came out. The "full motion video" titles were fun for about 10 minutes. After that, I was so bored and disappointed with it that I promptly got rid of it. For collector purposes, could be interesting - but I personally wouldn't pay for one and if given one free, wouldn't ever play it.

The 32X is more worthwhile, in my opinion, but don't pay too much. Granted, I only paid $10 for mine - and at that price it was worth it to buy for one game: The 32X version of Virtua Racing is the best home version of that game that you can get - since the Saturn version totally sucks. Then since I have the 32x, I like:

Star Wars Arcade
Shadow Squadron
Space Harrier
Afterburner
Virtua Fighter
NBA JAM TE (better sprites/scaling/animation than Genesis version)

edit: Forgot to say, although I have 32x DOOM, I don't know why; must have got it free. It TOTALLY SUCKS on 32X and is an embarrassment to the system)

Edited by wood_jl, Thu Mar 4, 2010 9:37 PM.

[jeremysart]

Though in the era I was always more of a fan of my SNES, the Sega Genesis and its add-on companions had a certain charm. I do enjoy playing games on the 32x here and there, and I really would like to have more Sega CD games.. unfortunately you never find any good ones in the wild, and I have not been able to successfully "test drive" them by burning disk images onto a CD.

I remember having a lot of fun playing Silpheed, or even Wirehead with my cousin way back in the day.
Haha, I remember getting into an argument with my cousin about wether the 32x or SNES Doom was better.

[Jms5118]

the Sega CD is ok, it had some horrible stuff on it but there were a few great games. the big appeal is that there is nothing else like it, i find it pretty cool now that it's just a piece of history. i probably would have been pissed if i gave $200(or whatever it cost) for it back then though.

i can't stand the 32x, i've only played a few games on it but i really didn't see any difference from the Genesis games.

[remowilliams]

There are a bunch of great Sega CD games, and the 32X has some fantastic games as well. Also AVGN is generally an unfunny shithead looking for a spotlight...

[Jms5118]

^^^ LMAO, he's a film maker and is the avgn is nothing more than a character he plays. i can't believe people still take what he says seriously, it's nothing more than a film series. James said himself that the first episodes were in 2002 as a joke, once he put them on Youtube people requested more and now he's doing them every few weeks. check out his actual website, he does some really good work other than the avgn.

Edited by Jms5118, Fri Mar 5, 2010 1:24 AM.

[Rev. Rob]

Yes, I love my Sega CD and as for my 32X, I have a nearly complete US collection. It's a good system.

[Rev. Rob]

Jms5118, on Fri Mar 5, 2010 12:50 AM, said:

i can't stand the 32x, i've only played a few games on it

I typically can't stand consoles that I've only played a few games on too!

Quote

but i really didn't see any difference from the Genesis games.

I can see what you mean! I

I mean just look at this Genesis game:


And look at this 32X game:



It's like the same freaking game!

Edited by Rev. Rob, Fri Mar 5, 2010 1:53 AM.

[gdement]

The Sega CD is cool hardware, and has a few great games. The peak for me was Final Fight - I was very impressed with the quality of that port, owing to the lack of any real ROM storage limitation. The graphics were huge, plenty of background details, it played great, everything was perfect.

At the same time, it's the last Sega system I owned because I got disgruntled about all the subpar games on it. I ended up with several bad and "okay" games, and few that I really loved. I began to believe Sega wasn't putting their best efforts into the CD.
When the 32X came out, my reaction was annoyance and distrust.

Then I started playing PC games and Sega ceased to exist in my mind. I didn't even know the Saturn was coming before I saw it at Babbage's, and I scoffed at it.

[Austin]

Rev. Rob, on Fri Mar 5, 2010 1:53 AM, said:

Quote

but i really didn't see any difference from the Genesis games.

I can see what you mean! I

I mean just look at this Genesis game:
And look at this 32X game:
It's like the same freaking game!

I can kind of see where he's coming from, in case it's the .0000123098% chance he happened to be talking about Primal Rage.. God damn that one pissed me off--I'd almost be willing to bet money it was simply the Genesis PCB slapped into a 32X cart shell. Ugh. WWF Raw seemed to be similar in that regard--hardly enhanced, if at all. There were some others, like MKII, that added more sounds, colors, etc., but kept much of the original Genesis program (In MKII's case, the options screen, same areas of slowdown, lack of sound enhancement).. In those cases though you could at least still tell the difference.

The rest of the stuff though, particularly the 3D games, definitely look leagues better than most Genesis titles. Definitely an add-on that I wish saw a *little* more success--There were some awesome games planned for it that never saw the light of day..

[retrorussell]

I believe there are a few good FMV games for the Sega CD. Road Avenger is a blast-- even when you can beat the game all the way through, it was still great and well-animated. I liked Sewer Shark as well.

Sega CD was a worthwhile system (especially the CDX!). There were definitely some stinker titles but also some great titles, especially RPGs (Shining Force, Lunar, Lunar 2, Popful Mail, Vay, etc.).

[jeremysart]

Jms5118, on Fri Mar 5, 2010 12:50 AM, said:

i can't stand the 32x, i've only played a few games on it but i really didn't see any difference from the Genesis games.

In some spects, that is true, there were a lot of games released for the 32X that took no advantage of its potential, ie Primal Rage.
But with no FX chip to handle games like Star Wars the Arcade Game, Doom, Virtua Fighter etc the 32X was the only option for fast 3D action for Sega loyalists.

Jms5118, on Fri Mar 5, 2010 1:23 AM, said:

^^^ LMAO, he's a film maker and is the avgn is nothing more than a character he plays. i can't believe people still take what he says seriously, it's nothing more than a film series. James said himself that the first episodes were in 2002 as a joke, once he put them on Youtube people requested more and now he's doing them every few weeks. check out his actual website, he does some really good work other than the avgn.

Yeah, AVGN has a love/hate fan-base. There are those who take his videos seriously and whine about what he says or anything he might be incorrect on.. and then there are those who see his videos for what they are, satire.
If you take AVGN, or any comedian seriously for that matter, you might end up hating them.
I personally thought his video on the Sega/ CD/ 32X was a pretty funny bit, and I own and love mine!

[StoneAgeGamer]

There were some games that were barely any different on the 32X, but there were also plenty of games on the 32X that was something the Genesis could not pull off.

Some say the 32X version of Virtua Fighter is the best version (not graphically, but game play). Virtua Racing Deluxe is the best Virtua Racing version I have played. 2 extra cars and 2 extra tracks over the original.

Knuckles Choatix I thought was a pretty good game and they even added 3D elements into the 2D gameplay, especially during boss fights. Blackthorne is also a really good port on the 32X.

Both Systems have some good games and if you get them cheap enough I think they are worth your time. Were they worth buying brand new? Probably not.

[Shephda]

Dittohead Servbot #24, on Thu Mar 4, 2010 7:38 PM, said:

I'm planning on building a Sega Genesis/Master System/Sega CD collection shortly. That being said, I think the Sega CD is a fascinating console (though if they had upgraded the color palette to be more like the SNES one, especially having 256 colors at once the FMV's in Sega CD games would've looked MUCH better), and I was just wondering if anyone here is into either the Sega CD and/or the 32X. I know the add-ons don't get much love in the classic gaming community (just ask the AVGN) but I know they do have their fans.

BTW, isn't that old 32X commercial where the guy says "Just stick it in your Genesis!!" very blatant false advertising? I'm sure the 32X fans/collectors will tell you quite clearly that you can't "just stick it in your Genesis" and expect it to work.

I have a complete first generation Genney setup with the front load CD and 32X add-on and love it! The Sega CD had some good titles along with one of the worst games ever made! Get a copy of Night Trap (with Dana Plato), pretty neat game. The worst of the worst is a game called Bug Blasters: The Exterminators. In the wild I see a lot of Sega CD game titles, mostly Cliff Hanger, Mortal Combat, and the like.

As for the 32X, it very much is a stick it in and play setup. One of the few add-on's that is just that easy.

[Reaperman]

I can't say there are 'a lot' of great games for cd or 32x but there there are a few. The lunars on cd, shadow squadron on 32x and night trap on 32x/cd spring to mind. Several others are decent.

And the upcomming homebrew rpg Pier Solar will be using the cd for music--now there's a good setup. nice music like lunar without any loading.

[save2600]

I no longer have any Sega consoles, but I really admired the ambition that was the 32X. Good games, great graphics, sampled audio and nice looking carts (too bad they did away with the cases though). While I like the way the original Sega/SegaCD combo looks - I never cared for the most of the CD games that were out back in the day. That goes for the TG-16 too. Both just seemed like nothing more than a few extra bytes trying to fill the capacity of a CD with a few "full" motion scenes and poorly crafted voice overs. CD quality music during gaming didn't do anything for me either and much of the music was cheesy anyway. I dunno... maybe it was the hype of the machines back then that lead to the disappointment. Re" optically based software, wasn't until the diversity of the CD-i or 3DO before I thought, okay - now this is starting to get cool.

[Vic George 2K3]

The Sega CD was a fun add-on to the Genesis, but I didn't like having to add another AC adapter to power up both that and the Genesis. When I heard that the Sega 32X required yet another AC adapter to power the thing up, I said to myself, "don't bother". It hasn't been missed.

[Fellow Atari Man]

Yeah, the AVGN made an idiot out of himself in regards to the 32X bashing. I was halfway thinking of putting up a reply to his 32X bashed video, but it had thousands of replies, so someone probably already covered them. The only ones I can remember offhand was him ridiculously trying to blame playing Doom and all with only a three button controller when the six button ones were available back then as well (duh!), along with not being able to fit all the adapters onto a power strip, when, again, they started making those available back then when all the outlets weren't facing vertically in a stack. There were several other stupid things in regards to that video too but I don't recall what else they were though.

wood_jl, on Thu Mar 4, 2010 9:33 PM, said:

edit: Forgot to say, although I have 32x DOOM, I don't know why; must have got it free. It TOTALLY SUCKS on 32X and is an embarrassment to the system)

Depends on your exposure to Doom, that was the first version of Doom I had played at the time and it was still a blast.

Anyway, I've got both the 32X and CD, the CD I only paid $70 for (after it had been out for a few years) and the 32X when it was under $50 (think I only paid $30 for it). Nothing real great in either case, got a few good ones though, like Doom, Shadow Squadron and Kolibri for the 32X, even though it's load times were agonizingly slow, Willie Beamish on the CD was hilarious, got Out of This World and it's sequel with Heart of the Alien, Silpheed, Flashback (bypassing the Genesis version, having better music and cinematics) and a few other highlights, especially since I still need Road Avenger and Batman Returns (among a few others)! Heard just the driving section alone was pretty killer on the latter!

[tz101]

Something to note:

32X was Sega's answer to the SNES FX chip games, albeit not self-contained in the carts like Nintendo did with theirs. This supposedly made it cheaper for Sega to manufacture the advanced game carts, as they did not have to include the extra processing onboard in each game. So long as you know this, then do not think of the 32X as a "system". It is only an enhancement for Genesis cartridges, sort of like how Donkey Kong Country and Star Fox looked amazing on the SNES.