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Posted: Jul 07 2008 03:38 pm

Now, the 32x was originally planned to be released as the Neptune, a standalone system meant to hold consumers with the brand until the Saturn arrived.

But instead, we got an addon that had about 40 titles released for it. Some of them actually were 32x CD games, which required you to own both the Sega CD and the 32x. And if anyone remebers the power plugs... *cough*

Anyway, 32x was released about six months before the Saturn hit US. It was already out in Japan by then, so there was no reason to buy it for 160 bucks if you needed that money to buy a fucking Saturn.

Posted: Jul 07 2008 04:00 pm

Syd Lexia wrote:

I don't think any hates the 32X as a piece of hardware. The problem with it is is that there was little to no support for it because it was just a stopgap measure meant to tide gamers over until Sega could release a new system. Between that and the Sega CD, Sega squandered a LOT of consumer goodwill.

My single biggest problem with the Sega CD is that rather than trying to put out quality games, everyone just wanted to show off visuals with a bunch of full-motion games. But the problem was that the hardware was barely capable of decent looking full-motion due to the speed and limited color palette. It also meant the regular games didn't look all that much better than the Genesis. Plus the full-motion games really weren't that playable. To me, it looks like they didn't put a lot of effort into them other than trying to show off the visuals.

I don't have a lot to say about the 32X. Syd is right that it was little more than filler until the next system came out. But the fact that it was cartridge based rather than cd based (which was far from perfected at the time while cartridges were very advanced) should have meant that it would be a solid add on for the genesis. It had a lot of hardware problems. Very little games on top of that. You can tell that most efforts were being directed at the Saturn and the 32X was really just given a once over and nothing more.

Personally, I think if you look at the Sega CD and 32X for what they are, its easier to accept them. One was an experement marketed to the masses and the other was filler in between gens.

Posted: Jul 07 2008 05:19 pm

I have or have owned:

Amiga CD32
Atari 5200 (The Red Headed Stepchild of the Atari's)
GP2X
CDTV
Intellivision 1,2, & 3.

Posted: Jul 07 2008 05:45 pm

Intellivision isn't obscure. It was one of Atari's main competitors, It wasn't as popular, but hell it was fun and alot of kids owned Atari 2600 , Intellivision , or the Colecovision.

Docinsano's Channel 63 · Posted: Jul 07 2008 05:55 pm

My dad had a Channel F game system, but I've never owned any systems that could be considered obscure. Sega Master System seems obscure to me just because no one seems to own one but me. But I'm sure that there's plenty of proud Master System owners out there? Right?

Posted: Jul 07 2008 07:24 pm

M3GA MAN wrote:

Intellivision isn't obscure. It was one of Atari's main competitors, It wasn't as popular, but hell it was fun and alot of kids owned Atari 2600 , Intellivision , or the Colecovision.

True, but I have owned all 3 versions of it.

The original is the most widely known. The long brown console with the fake wood paneling:

Then, in an effort to cut the cost of manufacturing led to the slimmed down Intellivision II, which had some of the crappiest controllers in history:

And, lastly, the Intellivision III (Also known as the INTV or Super Pro System), received limited store release, and was almost exclusively available through mail-order. It was sold until 1992, though most people never knew it. (Nor cared, since after the release of the NES and SMS in 1986, no one cared about the older consoles like the INTV and Atari.)

Posted: Jul 07 2008 07:39 pm

I guess you could say Atari Jaguar. Lawl probally one of the lowest amounts of games ever made for a VGC.

To what Kynte said , I was talking about the original one that started Intelligent Televisions aka Intellivision which was widely known.

Posted: Jul 07 2008 08:42 pm

Master System isn't obscure because virtually everyone who was playing Nintendo in the mid-80s, no matter how casually, knew of its existence, even though very few owned it.

A truly obscure system by North American standards would be the MSX, which was only briefly marketed in the U.S. due to a Commodore-led pricing war in the American home computer market.

The aforementioned Odyssey-2 is fairly obscure as well, as is the Fairchild Channel F. The Vectrex, Arcadia 2001, and SG-1000 are good examples as well.

Posted: Jul 07 2008 08:46 pm

Ya the Vectrex was obscure but it kicked so much ass.

Posted: Jul 07 2008 09:54 pm

Anybody else, ever have a Texas Instruments TI-99/4A?

It was another home PC, that Commodore smoked. I remember we had one briefly, and the only game cartridge I remember having for it was "Alpiner."

2010 SLF Tag Champ Joined: Jun 07 2006 Posts: 12294

I was lead to believe that the 32x and teh sega CD were supposed to be the same thing. sega of japan and sega of america were both working on the same idea without the other knowing, and the two systems are what we got. they then decided to jsut release them both for the hell of it.

Docinsano's Channel 63 · Posted: Jul 08 2008 03:14 am

I never had a NeoGeo or a TurboGrafx 16 but I always saw them in the Sears Christmas Catalog. Or a panasonic 3do, Cdi, or a NeoGeoCd. I think some of those may be obscure.

Posted: Jul 08 2008 08:20 am

Adding to the thread - I found one of the most obscure games for the Amiga, and it's a damn shame.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: Ruff 'n' Tumble.

In other news, evidence that true awesomeness once existed. Alien Breed: Tower Assault.

Posted: Jul 08 2008 01:19 pm

JEW wrote:

I was lead to believe that the 32x and teh sega CD were supposed to be the same thing. sega of japan and sega of america were both working on the same idea without the other knowing, and the two systems are what we got. they then decided to jsut release them both for the hell of it.

That actually wouldn't surprise me one bit.

Posted: Jul 08 2008 01:47 pm

Just like Snake's Revenge and Metal Gear 2 for the MSX, eh?

Posted: Jul 08 2008 04:46 pm

scamrock wrote:

The reason the Gameboy prevailed was...

because of Tetris. Plain and Simple.

Posted: Jul 08 2008 07:16 pm

That, and because it was made by Nintendo.

Oh, and down the line there was a shitload of great games for it.

Posted: Jul 08 2008 07:54 pm

JEW wrote:

I was lead to believe that the 32x and teh sega CD were supposed to be the same thing. sega of japan and sega of america were both working on the same idea without the other knowing, and the two systems are what we got. they then decided to jsut release them both for the hell of it.

To quote myself from September of last year:

Quote:

It was January 8th 1994 when Sega CEO Hayao Nakayama directed his company to produce a 32-bit cartridge-based console to be in stores by Christmas 1994. The project was dubbed Jupiter. The project was given to ‘Sega of America’ while their Japan sector worked on a CD-Based console. Not happy with the idea of developing a simple console that had a 32-bit processor and more colors, Joe Miller of Sega of America chose to make the project an add on for the Genesis / Megadrive. Sega of America began development on the add on called project Mars without any knowledge of the 32-bit CD console being developed by their Japanese counterparts.

Sega began their marketing campaign for project Mars, and called the device Sega 32X to emphasis it’s 32-bit capabilities. The device, which connected through the Genesis / Megadrive cartridge port, combined it’s 32-bit processor with the consoles existing processor. Gamers could play 32-bit cartridge games, use the 32X slot as a pass through to play Genesis / Megadrive games, and even play enhanced 32-bit CD games if the Sega CD was attached. The 32X was released in mid-November 1994 in America for US. Japan got the console in December (Super 32X) and Europe and Australia received it in January 1995 (Mega 32X). With the added power, Sega was able to port their 3D arcade titles for console users, and other 3rd Party developers began jumping aboard.

All was not good with planet Mars. The 32X was off to a bad start from the beginning. The 32X was launched with no games initially available. Although it was marketed at a decent price it was not packaged with a pack in game, but came with 10 coupons toward the purchase of 32X software (Coupons…meh!). Retailers submitted a demand for over 1 million units, but only half of the amount was made available. In there efforts to meet demand, Sega produced 32X units with various defects. Customers reported incompatibilities with their Genesis / Megadrive models or TVs. Once again Sega began to scramble to create adapters to alleviate the compatibility problems. They also began to develop an all in one unit combining both the Genesis / Megadrive, and the 32X and dubbed it project ‘Neptune’.

By 1995 news of a 32-bit CD-based Sega Saturn began stirring from Japan. Developers lost interest in 32X and abandoned development for 32X carts for a more favorable 32-bit CD format. Gamers also caught wind of the news and quickly began losing interest in the Sega 32X.

By 1996 the 32X saw a total of 31 cart based games, and five 32X enhanced Sega CD games. Most of the games were developed by Sega themselves or were color enhanced versions of existing Genesis titles. Sega ceased all support for 32X that year in order to focus on the Sega Saturn. It would seem that the 32X was merely meant to fill the time gap for it’s CD based counterpart. 32X would also be Sega’s final attempt at add on enhancing devices.

FACT: The 32X appeared to be the downturn of Sega. The lack of developer support, device incompatibilities and defects, and the sheer abandonment of support for 32X owners was enough to damage Sega’s reputation. This mistake could possibly have contributed to problems in Sega’s later years.

Posted: Jul 08 2008 08:08 pm

Knyte wrote:

JEW wrote:

I was lead to believe that the 32x and teh sega CD were supposed to be the same thing. sega of japan and sega of america were both working on the same idea without the other knowing, and the two systems are what we got. they then decided to jsut release them both for the hell of it.

To quote myself from September of last year:

Quote:

It was January 8th 1994 when Sega CEO Hayao Nakayama directed his company to produce a 32-bit cartridge-based console to be in stores by Christmas 1994. The project was dubbed Jupiter. The project was given to ‘Sega of America’ while their Japan sector worked on a CD-Based console. Not happy with the idea of developing a simple console that had a 32-bit processor and more colors, Joe Miller of Sega of America chose to make the project an add on for the Genesis / Megadrive. Sega of America began development on the add on called project Mars without any knowledge of the 32-bit CD console being developed by their Japanese counterparts.

Sega began their marketing campaign for project Mars, and called the device Sega 32X to emphasis it’s 32-bit capabilities. The device, which connected through the Genesis / Megadrive cartridge port, combined it’s 32-bit processor with the consoles existing processor. Gamers could play 32-bit cartridge games, use the 32X slot as a pass through to play Genesis / Megadrive games, and even play enhanced 32-bit CD games if the Sega CD was attached. The 32X was released in mid-November 1994 in America for US. Japan got the console in December (Super 32X) and Europe and Australia received it in January 1995 (Mega 32X). With the added power, Sega was able to port their 3D arcade titles for console users, and other 3rd Party developers began jumping aboard.

All was not good with planet Mars. The 32X was off to a bad start from the beginning. The 32X was launched with no games initially available. Although it was marketed at a decent price it was not packaged with a pack in game, but came with 10 coupons toward the purchase of 32X software (Coupons…meh!). Retailers submitted a demand for over 1 million units, but only half of the amount was made available. In there efforts to meet demand, Sega produced 32X units with various defects. Customers reported incompatibilities with their Genesis / Megadrive models or TVs. Once again Sega began to scramble to create adapters to alleviate the compatibility problems. They also began to develop an all in one unit combining both the Genesis / Megadrive, and the 32X and dubbed it project ‘Neptune’.

By 1995 news of a 32-bit CD-based Sega Saturn began stirring from Japan. Developers lost interest in 32X and abandoned development for 32X carts for a more favorable 32-bit CD format. Gamers also caught wind of the news and quickly began losing interest in the Sega 32X.

By 1996 the 32X saw a total of 31 cart based games, and five 32X enhanced Sega CD games. Most of the games were developed by Sega themselves or were color enhanced versions of existing Genesis titles. Sega ceased all support for 32X that year in order to focus on the Sega Saturn. It would seem that the 32X was merely meant to fill the time gap for it’s CD based counterpart. 32X would also be Sega’s final attempt at add on enhancing devices.

FACT: The 32X appeared to be the downturn of Sega. The lack of developer support, device incompatibilities and defects, and the sheer abandonment of support for 32X owners was enough to damage Sega’s reputation. This mistake could possibly have contributed to problems in Sega’s later years.

You know your company and creativity is going down the shitter when when all your project names are exactly the same.

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

I bought a Geforce 4 Ti 4600 when they first came out. It was the best video card anyone could buy at the time and I got it about a week prior to the shipping date due to some inside connections.

I know it isn't a console, but just like any old style console, it fell out of favor within 3 months and became old and shelved within a few years.

On the console side I used to have an Atari, but I don't know what type. It broke from use and my parents threw it out.

Then a NES, SNES, GameCube & Wii.

I guess none of that stuff technically fits into this conversation very well. But I felt like posting.

Posted: Jul 08 2008 08:59 pm

I had an Ody 2 as well. As loads of games too, just one small thing wrong, the system never powered up! The games had little handles on them, I thought that was cool Laughing

. Tried as I might I could not find any replacement parts for it.

Joined: Apr 09 2008 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 3112

Most obscure thing I ever owned was a Genesis 3, which was a tiny version of the Genesis released by Majesco at the end of its life. It's small, light, and extremely flimsy. It also doesn't play a few cartridges. I've been wanting to get a collection going as soon as I get a better job.

Posted: Jul 09 2008 12:35 am

ive had a jaguar, 3do, turbo graphics16, and a sega cd
jag was complete garbage played the game that came with it once (cyber morph)
3do was awesome i remember playing samsho and road rash like crazy its games had cool sound tracks too like road rash with sound garden and way of the warrior with the first white zombie alubum which fucking kicked ass hearing that as a kid on a game.

Joined: Jun 20 2008 Location: Michigan Posts: 802

Looter wrote:

ive had a jaguar, 3do, turbo graphics16, and a sega cd
jag was complete garbage played the game that came with it once (cyber morph)
3do was awesome i remember playing samsho and road rash like crazy its games had cool sound tracks too like road rash with sound garden and way of the warrior with the first white zombie alubum which fucking kicked ass hearing that as a kid on a game.

That does sound pretty awesome. I always wanted a 3DO when I was little.

2010 SLF Tag Champ Joined: Jun 07 2006 Posts: 12294

i had a turbografix 16. I loved everyhting about it.