Classic Game Room - AMIGA CD32 console review

Commodore Amiga CD32 review!
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Classic Game Room reviews the Commodore Amiga CD32 game console released in 1993! Play audio CDs and a library of optical media-based video games with Amiga power on AMIGA CD 32!

[@darthv72]

Fun fact about the CD32. It supports both NTSC and PAL video formats. you need an amiga mouse plugged into control port 2 to access a startup menu to change formats. And because they made it that way... the only real difference in the power supply.

[@Southpoint2019]

darthv72 I have screen shotted this comment for future reference!!

[@iXien]

The Kickstart Startup-menu permits to switch between 50/60hz (and yes PAL/NTSC, I think) but it doesn't replace the quartz that is only PAL. Due to this some games don't work if used on a different region console. I bought some years ago a NTSC version of Diggers (yes, it exists) and the game continues to show me a screen that indicates that it's for NTSC CD32 only, even after booting in "NTSC" from the Start-menu. So I have this great game on single release but I have to play it using the Oscar/Diggers compilation. Be aware of it.

[@drunkensailor112]

amiga (500) did terrible in north american but it was HUGE in europe. I grew up on it and so many others here in europe. it was absolute state of the art!

[@MarsGundam]

Sega should of taken a cue from Commodore and made the Sega CD/32X like this. One idea, one console, all awesome.

[@HereForAStorm]

If the CDX could play 32X games, that would have been amazing. (without hooking one up to it)

[@frankschneider6156]

MarsGundam The Sega CD was more or less just a CD add-on for the Genesis and was already too expensive. So wouldn't have made much sense. Actually the Sega CD wasn't too bad and had quite a good library with some decent games (imho better than that of the CD32), including Snatcher. If Sega should have done something, than it would have been not releasing the 32X. THAT was a bad idea.

[@MarsGundam]

Frank Schneider Had both machines, loved them, but saw the flaws in them as time wore on. If Sega had thought ahead someone should of said, why don't we make the Sega CD a stronger stand alone system? Maybe later even taking the idea of the 32X and making the Sega CD a flat out 32 bit system. Both systems at the time were awesome in my opinion, but in hindsight it was the start of Sega's hardware problems.

[@MarsGundam]

***** There were a ton of fun games on the system, but most people just remember it as that thing that had all those terrible FMV games.

[@Sinn0100]

@@frankschneider6156 The Sega CD was more than just a simple CD add-on. It added a second 16-bit Motorola 68k, scaling, rotation, red book audio, and huge storage. This of course meant that a Sega Genesis with a Sega CD meant that you had 2 Motorola 16-bit processors (12.5 mhz and 7.56 mhz) and a Zilog Z-80 8-bit co-processor as well. In 1992 that was absolutely ridiculous in terms of home gaming on a console. I always wondered why they never attempted a port of Doom or Wolfenstein on the Sega CD. It was heads and shoulders above the Snes and in my humble opinion, I think it could have been done. As long as they simplified the geometry and went with front facing monsters only. If the Snes could do it...why not? There are games on the Sega CD that smoothly do what Doom did. Thunderstrike and Sol Star come to mind...especially Sol Star. It was an amazing game that pushed every inch of the Sega Genesis/Sega CD.

[@peteralexander2941]

The cd32's design looks like what people in the mid 1980s thought consoles of the future would look like

[@jamesdowe]

I live in England, AMIGA MASTER RACE!!!

[@obsoletegeek]

I was one of 23 Americans to grow up with an Amiga

[@bowy101]

+The Obsolete Geek these worth anything i have one thats in great shape and a fair bit of games lol

[@hudeeny]

+The Obsolete Geek here in germany Amiga was very popular and most of us had one at home. it was way better than all available consoles at that time and the games were mostly for free ;)

[@drunkensailor112]

+The Obsolete Geek lucky you!

[@PrimitiveBaroque]

Had an AMIGA500. Brother pirated so many games lol. Good memories.

[@de0ndre]

lol, same here. father bought one for me but I never used it. I literally never plugged the damned thing in, found it in the garage the other day and thinking about seeing what it'll go for on eBay.

[@madfinntech]

Everyone had Amiga computer in Europe back in the day, I still have my Amiga 500 somewhere. This console is just basically Amiga 1200 consolized.

[@MrVenom1974]

The Amiga CD32 and the Amiga CDTV are missing from my collection. But the Commodore in general (mostly C64 and Amiga 500) was massive in Europe. With musicians gods like Chris Hülsbeck Commodore was on it's prime here.

[@TheArthurLapin]

Being from the UK I remember the Amiga being a pretty damned popular piece of kit and from what I'd been able to tell the CD32 was on track to repeat that success, selling quite well on it's debut but died mere months later as Commodore's failures in the US caught up with it. I'm sure I'd read somewhere that Commodore UK once planned to buy the rest of the company at one point. not sure if that was right though.

[@christianhart4138]

Getting recommended old CGR vids is amazing. Welcome to the algorithm

[@gluserty]

I wear earbuds when viewing video on the computer, and the sound for the Amiga32 really pops! Especially in the "Ultimate Body Blows" game, the sounds distinguish themselves from one earbud to the other very well.

[@leonardoantonio8756]

Oh Thank you Mark, always cheering me up with your awesome reviews

[@CommodoreFan64]

If I remember correctly the Amiga CD32 never came to North America because of FCC issues with the console, but it got a very very limited released in Canada with a NTSC version, and there where a few early websites/magazines you could get NTSC versions of the game from back in the day. Also this CD32 was based on the Amiga 1200, and with all the addons, you could turn it into a full Amiga 1200 that could play Video CD movies. Really awesome system that was one of Commodores last hopes of trying to stay afloat. Commodore once a great company, but still loved by it's hardcore fans. :-)

[@garyhart6421]

FCC issues ? It has shielding. I heard it was a federal judge ordered an injunction against Commodore (because of the XOR patent) preventing them from importing anything into the United States.

[@CommodoreFan64]

Gary Hart It could have been both, but a bunch of NTSC units where found sitting in a Hong Kong warehouse a few years back, and some of them ended up on eBay usually going for $100+, and I've seen a couple show up last year, but more then I'm willing to pay.

[@darthv72]

It wasn't FCC. It was blocked from distribution due to financial issues that were owed to the feds. But in Canada... it was released. And yes there are NTSC versions. I have one. But really the only difference between regions is the power supply. the system itself has the ability to be switched from PAL to NTSC via an amiga mouse plugged into the 2nd controller port to access a startup menu.

[@arthurcollector4002]

It was sold in Brazil too by PCI computers. Not sure if brazilian version was PAL or NTSC version because all units was sold factory converted to PAL-M by PCI

[@CommodoreFan64]

Arthur Cruz From the sounds of, they where more then likely European Pal units that where converted, because they where much easier to get a hold of, and still are.

[@zhixel]

FYI, I believe the game at 3:30 is actually Liberation: Captive II, not Infiltrator. Cheers!

[@RayTheVideoGuy]

Yup

[@jeffdelgadocantillano]

Grew up in Costa Rica and a friend of mine had one. He's the only person I know here to ever play with this console. I was lucky enough to be his friend. This brings back some of my best memories.

[@notyoursavior78]

Great fun review! Good references too. That sound is very good. My older brother actually had an Amiga computer, but the work bench seemed to be way more unstable than it should have been. Anyhow did play some fun games on it like the Chaos Engine and SpeedBall 2. I even had an Amiga Zone magazine at one time.

[@Equint77]

One of my favorite youtube channels and fellow huge genesis fan.

[@bobbyberetta4206]

Love your references! Kmfdm & Beastie Boys! Another fantastic review.

[@Fillup82]

I had one, at the time is was amazing! You should've played Gloom - like the amiga knock off of Doom

[@jimtaylor294]

Doom & Gloom XD

[@jllovit]

I always like the catchy 80's tune playing in the intro. Never gets old.

[@Physick1]

I had an Amiga 500 when it came out. Smoked my friends pc for games. Heck smoked most consoles back then.

[@TVfanfanatic]

Physick1 The Amiga 500 had a great selection of games. I loved TV Sport Football and TV Sports Basketball

[@frankschneider6156]

TVfanfanatic Elite, Chaos Engine, Syndicate, the pinball dreams series, Apidya, Carcharodon

[@PropaneWP]

Cinemaware, Bitmap Brothers, Magnetic Fields, Lucasfilm, Sensible Software, Psygnosis, Delphine Software, Blue Byte, Micro Prose... Just a fraction of the developers who made a lot of *amazing* games for the Amiga. At prime of its time, the PC platform was vastly inferior to the Amiga. PC (MS-DOS) gaming didn't really take off until a few years later when proper sound cards (Sound Blaster, Gravis Ultrasound) were introduced. The Amiga game library measured in the thousands (around 4 or 5k), and that just counting the commercial titles Source: I had both systems.

[@mintfest]

Ah, the Amiga :D I still have mine and Captive 2 was one of my favourite games on the console. Many thanks for uploading.

[@Retro-Fez]

I had this back in the day i loved it and got it again last year and still love it its a quirky little console ❤️

[@theadventuresofee8666]

I've never seen this console before. Nice review!

[@PippinBeutlin]

i had an amiga500 and loved it so many memories

[@detselom]

Fantastic! Audio captured in stereo!

[@OutlawsGraveyardShift]

Great review mark

[@MarkTheMorose]

The CD32 and its software briefly outsold all other CD-based systems, including multi-media PC's, in Britain. As to the Amiga itself, after catching the Atari ST up, it dominated the 16-bit scene for almost a decade, until the Mega Drive was well-established. Several long-lived game franchises began their lives on it, including Lemmings and Worms. The floppy disk add-on for the CD32 really will open up a new world of games, looking forward to the review of that.

[@LyRaLex]

The Amiga500 was the most popular game machine back in the days in most, if not all of Europe. There are some North American enthusiasts and they usually end up buying the PAL Amigas because of the great games only released in PAL territories.

[@zydian_]

never heard or seen the console

[@Brendon_Shepherd]

The Amiga 500 was also very popular here in Australia.

[@thesilverspooner]

***** Amiga 500 is a PC not a console

[@thesilverspooner]

***** PC as in a personal computer, not the windows platform

[@supergoofy123]

+Quiffs4Lunch What PowerPC ?? Amiga had Motorola cpus (680x0).

[@Remo860]

A friend of mine hade one of those back in the day, it was a really impressive system at the time. Made my snes look old.

[@oddpodshow]

never heard of this console until this video. ill have to look out for one for my collection.

[@temujin1234]

Cool. I like seeing obscure old game hardware.

[@IWILLSTINGI]

Mark, you just went from being really cool, to super-ultra-mega-CD cool. Any video game reviewer who mentions Mike D is good in my book.

[@matzieq]

It actually did very well in Europe. I distinctly remember drooling to the ads in magazines, and I remember that when it launched, almost all PC games started having CD32 ports. And when the Saturn and PS1 hit the market, did I want them? No, of course not, I still wanted a CD32. Of course I never got one, because I was still on famiclones and I wouldn't get my first PC before something like 1997. Ah, good times...

[@Membrane556]

+matzieq It's release in the US was delayed due to a patent issue. But the time it was resolved Commodore had went into bankruptcy.

[@Jayce_Alexander]

It did really well in the UK during the 1993 Christmas season, but sales leveled off so quickly after that that production was halted by spring 1994. So it didn't really do all that well even in Europe (about 100k systems sold in its lifespan). Pretty unfortunate for the people who invested in one of these things. :/

[@PuffyRainbowCloud]

When I first heard the number of about 100 000, I suddenly realised how lucky i was to purchase mine when I saw the ad today. Not for much, either!

[@AmigaWolf]

My father bought a Amiga CD32 + SX32 Pro with 64MB RAM and a 512MB 2,5" HDD for me back in 1996, i was SO stupid to give it away for Amiga 1200 hardware back then in 1998/99, now the SX32 Pro cost you €5000,-

[@Musicradio77Network]

Membrane556 That's why Commodore went out of business due to Amiga CD32 which wasn't going to happen in the US. Sega and Nintendo became rivals of the video game world. Atari did with the Jaguar which was a decent console, and the Amiga CD32 was never released in the US due to financial problems.

[@CraigWhaleMusic]

I always wanted one of these, but am happy I opted for the Mega CD.

[@Scopie33]

Hi mark, the amiga was huge in euorpe, Australia and New Zealand! With the exception of microcosm, there were all ports of existing amiga 1200 games.

[@screenix97]

Great review. I love your videos.

[@MEGAMAND1]

Genesis Rocks! R.i.p. MCA.

[@Technolocaust]

Love the AMIGA! wish I could have put this version of the Amiga 32 to my Early RPG memories video

[@RonRose]

Oh, man. I played the crap out of The Chaos Engine (Soldiers of Fortune here in North America) on both the SNES and Sega Genesis. One of my fave games ever.

[@jozefnava8588]

The sound of this fucking console is absolutely fantastic!!!

[@williamburgoon1834]

wow a close up to the Amiga for once lol. nice review. This console is very rare

[@AdiSneakerFreak]

well Mark welcome to the Amiga :) The computers were insanely popular in Europe and the UK, great 16 bit system, which the CD32 and Amiga 1200 were the follow up to.

[@patrikfernstrom7607]

Yes! So looking forward to Amiga games 😊

[@Retrocidal]

Much love to classic gameroom

[@CaptPostmod]

I demoed an Amiga CD32 at our local Amiga store in Indianapolis, IN. So it did make it to the States. But only in a very, very limited release.

[@erikt211]

How awesome, I'm from Buffalo, NY

[@Buster_Flex]

+lord karnage Well in Europe at least the Computers were very popular. A lot of my friends (and myself) had an Amiga 500 or Amiga 2000....Man I loved the games and especially the music...Games like Turrican 2, Darkmere, Fire & Ice (also on Amiga CD32) and many more are fantastic...I had so many *cough* copies of the games back theb!!

[@GeoNeilUK]

I was waiting for this!! The CD32 does look awesome (well the games do anyway) the CD32 had a fair few problems though. In Europe (where Amigas were massive and fanboys exist to this day) the CD32 has toface the problem that it was a brand new system that was basically an Amiga 1200 but with no keyboard, mouse or floppy drive but with a CD ROM drive instead. What this meant was the huge library of Amiga floppy games needed addons to be playable and any CD32 games were just A1200 titles with FMV and a CD soundtrack, so the options were, I could buy this new console and either addons for my old games or re buy CD versions of my old games, or I just hold onto the Amiga I've already got. In the USA where nobody had an Amiga, Commodore couldn't sell them due to some patent SNAFU (who says the copyright MAFIAA were in any way new) so they were released in Canada and smuggled in`in small amounts. TBH Commodore screwed the pooch with their last CD-based mult-aye-media interactive player and totally not a computer in any way don't even sell it on the same side of the store as the Amiga stick it as far away as possible with the VCRs and the tellies and stuff, the CDTV. If Commodore sold the CDTV as an actual Amiga with it's wicked awesome graphics *BUT WITH CD-ROM AS WELL, BITCHES* who knows what could have happened?

[@Corporal_Hicks]

I had an Amiga 500 and an Amiga cd32

[@RetroGamePlayers]

This thing IS super cool, talk about a rare bird...But a minor correction, it's actually called the Amiibo CD32. It's very hot right now. It's so fast it can wait in line for itself overnight, rush inside, purchase, list on eBay for 80% more than it paid for itself all in less than half the time it would take a Sega CD system. Amazing technology.

[@NE0TIMELESS]

Great video, it was quite popular in Europe, but since they were first, market was not ready for it :)

[@Dr.SkullScience77]

Great review Mark. The CD32 was Commodore's answer to Jaguar, 3DO and 32X. It rivalled those consoles and was actually somewhat successful in Europe. It also boasted some technically impressive games such as Alien Breed 3D, Fears, Gloom, Guardian, Frontier Elite 2 etc... It also had a very impressive add on called the SX-1 which was capable of turning the machine into a Commodore A1200 as well as the A500/600 which you show in the video. The A1200 was much more powerful. Overall a good piece of kit for collectors with plenty of games. It wasn't quite up to spec with the Jaguar and 3DO and fell into the trap of having too many 16-bit type games but still a fairly impressive machine for its day. Also, you say it is expensive Mark but it is cheap as chips in Europe so well worth hunting down.

[@Retro_Sorcerer]

My fave console of all time, everyone loves an underdog.

[@venares76]

Project X! loved that game on my A500+ great music too like all Team 17 games.

[@hezekiahramirez6965]

These more obscure consoles are so damned interesting to me. I'd not even heard of some of them until recently. I obviously knew about the 3DO, CD-i, Jaguar, N0Gage, TG16/TG-CD, and Neo-Geo/Neo-Geo CD but I'd never heard of this one, FM Towns Marty, LaserActive, Hyperscan, Pippin, Wonderswan, Tapwave Zodiac, etc. I get such a kick out of seeing the libraries. I always wonder if there are any arcade ports, RPGs, or adventure games.

[@doug6394]

"you may as well had a neo geo built into a Ferrari"

[@alexojideagu]

That was not true in Europe, it was widely owned especially in the UK

[@humansrants1694]

@@alexojideagu I had one the games second hand were sort of affordable.

[@Mystemo]

I never got around to buying a CD32 but the Amiga library definitely contained some of the best computer games I have ever played.

[@portalplayer]

i hope u do a whole series of game reviews for this console. Honestly I've never heard of this console b4 this review. Doing a little wikipedia research, i've found out there's actually quite a library for this obscure device. almost 100 titles from what i saw on wikipedia.

[@droids75]

you should do a controller review on the controller, i love your controller reviews

[@rizinggodfist3049]

Stumbled on your channel by accident but glad I did...not bad & way to market yourself to your viewers with those global shout outs...add another subscriber to your growing fan base....

[@cacomeat7385]

The Beastie boys joke was excellent, great video.

[@DerekDomino71]

What the... I have never even heard of this system. Some of these games look pretty damn good, and the music, is awesome.

[@POKEGAMERZ-uy5lv]

That fighting game looks really awesome.

[@thealambrix]

Whoa whoa whoa! You know KMFDM!? That's AWESOME!!!!! Triple like to this video!!!!!

[@johnjohnhasabashat...2279]

Wow, this brought back memories for me. I had an Atari ST at the time and was addicted to Captive then I saw the sequel on display at the local Macro and saved for months to buy a CD32. Every time we went past I saw a different game on display and my adolescent eyes were gobsmacked by the visuals. By the time I had the money to buy one the CD32 was dead so never got to play Captive 2 :(. Sad times

[@marcr110]

i only remember one game i had for this console. Diggers.

[@frankynakamoto2308]

Those games look pretty good for back in the days, they seem fun and good, enjoyable games.

[@L3gion3r]

Thanks Greg! Good guy Greg!

[@digidev]

love your vids!

[@StigMug]

Just got one of these 3 weeks ago and trawled your site for a review. Low and behold! This thing outsold the mega cd in the UK when it released. . . But I don't know anybody who had one . . . Hmm

[@electricadventures]

Still want one, I actually have a few games here, waiting for me to get a console. I have dibs on my mates one when he cleans out his storage and finds it :)

[@rajreddy288]

love it mark

[@dumbestname]

I remember seeing an article about this in an early issue of Gamepro.

[@55AlanSmithee]

Best Beastie Boys reference ever! (Although I was jealous when I saw that you have Country Mike's Greatest Hits during the old Truxton review..)

[@martok2112]

LOL! It's a smiley face when you hold the controller right.... an evil moustache if you hold it wrong (or play left handed..... sinestre!) :-D I remember, many years ago, I wanted an Amiga computer because of one program: Video Toaster, which was used to make a show called Babylon 5. Of course, today's PCs are pretty much capable (with the right software) of making near-Hollywood level visuals. 7:24...LMAO!!!! Great stuff, Lord Karnage! Thanks for sharing! Sorry all my comments are about 4 years too late :-D

[@dankriser]

Looks a lot better than I thought I would.

[@Speedkingfox0007]

Yes, the original intro returns.

[@catoblepag]

It's really hard to describe Amiga 500's importance for european gamers (like myself): it's borderline religion. The best versions of Lucasfilm graphic adventures were on Amiga; european software houses had their first massive hits on Amiga (Lemmings, Populous, Another World - just to name a few - were first developed on Commodore's system); Cinemaware's "interactive movies" like It Came from the Desert or Wings are still legendary. Before 486s, better sound cards and VGA gave PC the upper hand, there really was no contest, Amiga was THE gaming computer - so you can imagine how long it took PCs to catch up with such an old system.

[@Sucharush31]

As a gamer and a Beastie Boys fanboy I honestly never noticed that Mike D was playing the Amiga on the back of Ill Communication. I always just assumed it was a Sega since the controller was rounded and black. Good find, Mark.

[@JonToyCars]

You find out new things every day :)

[@CarlBeatty]

bought the game..love it!

[@kentishmale1969]

The Amiga computer range was huge over here back in the early 90s, I had the 1200 version which was a fantastic machine - I couldn't see how the Amiga console could fail, but fail it amazingly did...

[@wildbilltexas]

My brother had an Amiga 1000 in the late 80's.. It was an awesome compute for the time, but I agree it was expensive and games were hard to find.

[@BillB808]

Moonstone a hard days knight - do you have that? You'd love it

[@jothain]

This one. One of the best Amiga games ever made. I'd also add Turrican 2

[@spart361]

jothain I too loved this game it crashed a lot too if i remmber...

[@skabcat242]

I like you mentioned KMFDM in this.

[@SteveBenway]

I have one and love it. You can download huge game compilations with many games on one disk. Very convenient if you don't have much space or are too lazy to swap disks.

[@e3ovuziotica]

***** just making sure the laser is up to reading those compilations. Mine has problems, but they can be replaced.

[@SteveBenway]

Mine works with them, though the loading process can be slow due to the compression they've used to fit all of the games onto the disk.

[@e3ovuziotica]

***** you can use a Gotek-drive (USB) to load adf images

[@MetalSonicodraco7342]

+Steve Benway (Retro Gaming Collector) Could I be wrong...but in facebook you are in a group called 8 bit and 16 bit? which doesnt even contain that material and michael Knight the false profet? lol

[@SteveBenway]

I'm not in that group. People occasionally add me to groups, but I always leave them immediately, and block the person who added me.

[@joeygreathouse3029]

Whoa that sound chip is rad-ass!

[@dave4shmups]

I wish Mark would have let us know how he got this PAL console up and running in NTSC territory, because I live in Colorado, and I've had my eye on the CD32 for a long time now.

[@ThalesAcm]

I had a cd with about 30 demo versions of fighting games that I use to play as a kid... ultimate body blows was one of them... I could only pick 2 characters but was fun... lots os weird games and mortal kombat 3 didn't run very well

[@TyroleanRacing]

i hope u can do onetime a review from the a500 :) my childhood and still using it

[@darthv72]

I have the ntsc version of this and can change output to pal for certain titles. it looks good on my Commodore 1084s monitor.

[@halloween491]

Forgot about this one!

[@robertgoodnight900]

"Sonic the hedgehog meets candy crush on crack" lol great review.

[@travissadler6540]

Used to have this classic system..

[@weirdproq]

I'm pretty sure this was at least available in Canada here. I got an American/Canadian Amiga magazine that talks about this system.

[@jamiemarchant]

Wait why was there a map of the earth when you said that Greg from Classic Game Room let you borrow the system? I thought all of CGR was filmed in space! Also thanks for using the shorter intro. That actually looks like a cool console. Please review the fighting game.

[@stoneycargo3527]

Huge fan of you

[@GamePlaySession]

Nice Video, like always =3

[@LUCKO2022]

Amiga CD32 never made it to the US due to a patent lawsuit but it was released in Canada which means there are NTSC ones out there.