Rare Commodore Amiga CD32 System Review - Gamester81

Here is my review over the rare NTCS Amiga CD32 system released in 1993 by Commodore, and is officially the 2nd 32bit CD system ever released.
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[@lotsofgames]

Great review John. It is amazing to me that there were so many games made for the CD32 in only 8 months.

[@Larry]

I do actually own an official US CD32, they were released there in ultra limited numbers, but the majority of the time, NTSC machines are normally imports from Canada.

[@AlyxxTheRat]

I actually saw it being offered as a prize in the Norwegian Donald Duck comic book around the time it came out.

[@PunkNDisorderlyGamer]

Larry did you purchase your system in the states how can you tell if your system is a US sold one? The reason why I'm asking is because I too own a NTSC system but I always thought it might have been a Canadian import system.

[@Larry]

Because of the labeling on the box, The Canadian box has wording in French on the box too, the US one is solely in English. Also the address on the box is in the US.

[@ghettorapboy7]

@@Larry Hey Larry! Love your channel. I just bought a us one aswell but I'm worried about not being able to play a lot of pal games I hope I didn't make a mistake :(

[@JasonValentineFL]

Thanks for taking the time to make these videos. I can't tell you how many unique systems I've discovered through your videos.

[@vampifrog]

I think your reviews are getting better and better. Very pleasant to watch. Thanks John!

[@MattBarton]

Great video, Gamester81! I'll never forget when I first saw an advert for this in an Amiga magazine. I thought it was somebody's idea of a joke--I thought Commodore had wanted to distance themselves from the games market, and here was a console? Now I wish I had gotten one when I had the chance. I'd love to have one in my collection!

[@terrybryant5407]

Great review as always John. You stated you could only show a little gameplay for time constraints and that you didn't want to waste our time. That's courteous and all, but since you always show gameplay last, feel free to put as much as you want, if we don't want to watch more at that point, the information has already been shared so we can move on and still get your full review. I say this because I would've enjoyed some more of that 32 bit action haha. Great job!

[@RetroCore]

Great video. I remember the CD32 very well because at the time I worked in retail in the UK and I can honestly tell you the reason it failed was because of the games. Nobody wanted to play "Computer" games, old ones at that most of the time on a console. What commodore needed was some real console style games. that's what people in Europe wanted.

[@torheim2487]

You make great systems reviews john. Love watching them. Greatings from Norway!

[@RetroGamingTV5]

Man this is an awesome find! This has always been a console that just drew my interest. Awesome review, John! Thank you!

[@kamshaft70]

I have a Canadian Amiga CD32. Love it! I had to repair the CD spindle. The magnet in mine was broken. It didn't magnetize anymore, sadly. the CD's just would read up anymore.

[@RobinHoodFox74]

Thank you for showing some Amiga love Gamester! My first gaming system ever was the Amiga 500 :) it was really ahead of it's time, a 16 bit machine... I only just recently found out that it actually used the same processor as the Sega Genesis/Megadrive

[@adrian29459]

Great review with some really interesting facts. I'm setting up my Amiga 500 right now

[@dave4shmups]

Outstanding review Gamester81! That's so cool about the mouse thing that you can do to change regions! I've had my eye on the CD32 for 10 years now, and I definitely want to get one. BTW, Microcosm did come out for the 3DO. I have it, and it is really great! And hard-if you shoot the red blood cells, the patients health goes down.

[@Larry]

C64GS didn't sell very well as Commodore thought it was a great idea to sell the console for £50 less than an actual C64, so people thought what's the point for only fifty quid difference. That and the GX4000 debate of why pay £25 for a cartridge of a game that you can get on tape for £2.

[@AlyxxTheRat]

The C64GS also had really limited functionality from what I've heard compared to the original breadbox C64.

[@Larry]

The C64GS was a C64 without the keyboard and the external ports for cassettes/disks Etc. It is literally a bog standard C64 inside. In fact, they took the motherboards out of the unsold ones and turned them back into C64s.

[@AlyxxTheRat]

Yeah I just meant since it doesn't have external ports or keyboard it would have some limited functionality. I guess you could always repurpose them like you said.

[@Larry]

YOu can mod them yourself quite easily yeah, though the price they go for on eBay now and how incredibly rare they are, it's a 100 times cheaper just to buy a C64

[@AlyxxTheRat]

Not as fancy but cheaper. ;)

[@SelfinaSlowthinx]

I loved this review. I love learning about consoles that I've never heard about. You give so many facts at the perfect pace and you keep it fun. I love it ^_^

[@AdiSneakerFreak]

The Amiga was excellent

[@videogameobsession]

Nice review John, but I want to make a small correction. The Amiga CD32 is not compatible with Philips CD-i games. It is, however, compatible with CD-i branded movies, which are essentially Video-CD (White Book) discs, but those are also compatible with most standard DVD-Video players that can read CDR media. It will also read CD+G, and of course, audio CDs (Red Book). I'm not sure if it will read Kodak Photo-CD or not... I would like to know if you are able to try.

[@ClassicContagious]

One of the systems I am still looking for. I want it mostly for the CD version of Chaos Engine, my favorite Amiga game.

[@geraldperez2768]

Where do you find these consoles? What does super street fighter 2 look like on it? Great, informative videos. I give four thumbs up!

[@AndersHesselbom]

Thank you very much for all your videos, you come across as a very sympathetic person, and every video you do, reminds me of something I owned or something some of my friend owned. Thank you very much!

[@GenesisMoss]

Thats a pretty cool system! Ive seeb pics of it before but never any gameplay. Another great video dude!

[@316whatupz]

One thing I noticed is the music in Chuck Rock is different than the Genesis version. Great review, John.

[@stevenmorse4955]

Thanks for showing us all these neat systems. I always check here for advice when I have my eye on an obscure item at local pawn shops and flea markets. What a controller, I have some funky ones but this is truly odd.

[@Oldsukerbole]

Thanks for the review. A guy in my town back in the day always sang koraoke on one of them...

[@justjasonbeardenjokes]

I remember being able to plug my Genesis controller into my Commodore 64 and being able to use it on games. I also remember seeing this being showcased on one of my game magazines and being extremely excited for it to come here in the states, sadly like you said that never happened! Those were the days!

[@amigaamigo5307]

Games are still coming out for it. I have road avenger, Time Gal and Giana sisters plus and expansion for the cd32 allows to to run Doom

[@manicminer4127]

The patent was the flashing curser Commodore used on the C64. That belonged to someone else. The company sued and won $10 million, because Commodore didn't pay the fine an American judge imposed an import and export ban on Commodore in America in late 1993. This stopped Commodore importing parts into the American market, thus stopped them releasing the CD32 in America.

[@stathissim]

We love Gamester 81 and I hope 81 is your birth year cause so is mine :)

[@ThePSXcollector]

Interesting system, I really enjoyed the Amiga 1200.

[@valkeriesilk6136]

Had no idea this system even existed... Reminds be of the Bandai Pippin @Mark review ... Very cool, thx man!

[@caspice]

Back in the days, I first had the C64 and Later Amiga 500. I saw the AmigaCD32 in a game magazine, but bought the playstation1.

[@SonicTheComic]

Great review as always John! Though I am curious is the Zool game a port of the Mega Drive version?

[@Dan-TechAndMusic]

Zool is a port from the Amiga to the MegaDrive. Zool was meant to be the Mario or Sonic of Amiga, but got ported to other consoles a year after appearing on Amiga (1992 Amiga version, 1993 other ports), which I think has to do with the fact that Commodore was struggling, and eventually shutting down in 1994.

[@SonicTheComic]

TheDutchOwner's Tech Channel Thanks for the info, I loved the Zool games on the Mega Drive but I wasn't sure what console it originated on.

[@otherreality]

***** try the amiga versions on an emulator to enjoy the amazing original music !

[@SonicTheComic]

Alex Reality Thanks, I'll see about checking that one out.

[@cyde79]

***** While you are at it check all the other amazing games that you played on Nintendo or Sega systems and that were ported to the Amiga. Usually the Amiga version was the best one of the bunch, the graphics were a little better but the sound was always better. Also check out Amiga exclusive titles, there are tons of them.

[@SomeOrangeCat]

If you're a sucker for 90s FPS games like I am, Gloom and Alien Breed 3D are must plays for this.

[@Infinitrium]

I saw one of these in action once at a local computer shop way back in the day. Some day I'd like to own one

[@Dr.SkullScience77]

Excellent, unique little console that was rivalling the Atari Jaguar, 3DO and 32X. It was, in essence an Amiga A1200 in console form but had the equivalent of many 16-bit games from A500/A600 era. All good stuff. The A1200 titles, such as Elite 2 Frontier, SSF2, Alien Breed 3D, FEARS and Guardian really showed off the power of the kit!! Worth owning for the collectors out there!!

[@Savertooth22]

You've been nominated to the ALS Ice water challenge by The Easter egg Hunter Hahahahahahh

[@cheapspellcheque]

I used to own this. Bought it as an upgrade of the Amiga 500. I loved the Amiga 500, it was a strange system that was part PC part console. But when I got the CD32 it was the first pure console I bought. It only had about 4 proper games for it, one of them called Liberation which was a strange cyberpunk RPG. The system never had any games to compete with what Nintendo or Sega had, and commodore didn't develop games. Soon after the Playstation came out and I bought that while the CD32 was never used again.

[@MegaManNeo]

Commodore rocks! Always wondered what the CD32 is like, now I know it. Thanks John! It's just too bad they had to left the market due to all those mistakes...

[@darthv72]

Great review John. I have to ask...how can you tell the difference between a PAL & NTSC system? I have one and it works on my tv as well as 1084s monitor. Ive been in the optiobs to see it offer ntsc and pal. Are the NTSC ones the only ones that offer the option to switch back and forth?

[@dpsinoh]

Words at 5:00 am will never do justice for what I type below: I remember countless magazine ads & articles on the Commodore Amiga CD32. I had already decided I would not be getting the CDi & would wait on getting a 3DO when the price, so the CD32 seemed like the way to go. Plus I never had an Amiga. I waited & waited, but it never came to the US, eventually there would be the Atari Jaguar CD, Saturn, PSone, and GoldStar 3DO to make me forget about the CD32.

[@stupotty1210]

Zool. OMFG that is a awesome game. cant believe I forgot about that

[@AnonEyeMouse]

I've had mine since it came out and still dig it out now and again. I had the full expansion kit turning into an A1200. The problem isn't the system, it's the media. Data rot is killing most of my disks. The controller is still my favourite. I'm still using the same one that came with the machine. My SNES controllers always disintegrated in a month or two. Yeah, the CD32 controller was light but it has put up with almost 30 years of my bullshit so... pretty sturdy. It's wrong to say not many games came out for it as every A1200 game on CD worked in it too. With the expansion floppy disks worked as well. I even had a colossal 1GB hard drive which was just impossible to fill. Ahem.

[@TheCodedtestament]

I had one of these back in the day, loved it!! I personally think it died more due to the fact of the amount of people I heard at the time saying things like "Games on a CD, that'll never work". I think the Amiga team were way ahead of their time,

[@TechniqueSan]

I finally got one of those, the last one i was missing from the campy "first gen CD consoles". Aside from the Net Yaroze, this is the rarest console i own. There's some more games that no one seems to mention, including the fantastic port of SF2 Turbo that was on the 3DO was well.

[@SharifSourour]

I have a different Master System adapter for the Genesis, from Raphnet in Quebec, the next province over from where I live here in Canada. The only drawback is that it's a PCB so no plastic shell/enclosure, however it works pretty brilliant and was damn cheap!

[@Foebane72]

You just showed an A500 in place of an A1200 - you should do your research!

[@Technologyadvisor1]

can you help me? I have a old commadore amiga cd32 it has composite and svhs out I have a smart samsung hdtv. which way is best to connect it up composite yellow and 2 phono audio cables to the tv or get a upscaler device but some seem cheap Chinese crap, I did try to connect svhs but all I get is a black and white image on screen. my samsung tv has an external adapter cable input with a scart socket as well as a 3.5 jack with 3 phono cable adapter. but again s-video is just black and white for some reason I tryed and old plasma tv that has scart socket and s-video is still black and white so whats best way to connect. I currently can connect composite direct to the tv with a scart adapter but have thought is a upscaler device better quality ? and what about s-video?

[@Mr.Osmosis]

great facts and review as always.

[@maxmarelli7076]

great rewiew , commodore forever

[@echopark25]

I still got my Amiga CD32, but alot of the games I've lost due to having my son and when I went to work he used them as toys when wee. But most the time you were better off having a 1200 anyways. I recommend Amiga to everyone I know :D

[@karlslicher8520]

The A1200 had a CD32 drive available for about 2/3 the price of a CD32 to make it totally compatible, and it was possible to slave the CD32 to an A1200 as an external CD drive. I don't think it would actually play CD32 games in this mode but I think it was quite usable to read from CD-ROM's.

[@ianrangers]

Hey John nice review can't remember any of my mates having 1 of these in saying that the early to mid 90s were saturated with bad 32 bit consoles ie Cdi, 3do, jaguar 32 bit really ps1 obviously excluded. Would like to see a review of the fm towns Marty just checked eBay and they are well pricey!

[@EruIluvatar]

awesome review

[@volkerking5757]

the CD32 was so expensive that i know nobody that buy this in the 90this. But i like your Video and hwo you tell this old stuff to the Public

[@janmansde3dede]

The CD32 was known for being cheaper than a Megadrive plus CD addon.

[@bravotwozero007]

used to love playing liberation and pirates gold on this

[@MartinBarreby]

my friend had that one! Kind of cool machine. :)

[@IEBIGCAT]

My first computer was a C64 soon a C128 and later and AMIGA 500 and 1000, I liked this because I never knew Commodore had into home consoles, I think home computer and consoles have leapfrogged from day one! now I know that Apple was not the first computer company to take a chance in the console market.... nice video.......PEACE

[@bizzarogames]

I remember seeing one of these in a old issue of EGM.

[@V3ntilator]

8 year old video, so a bit late. I had CD 32 since launch in 1993 and still have it. I also have a unused backup. I think i bought over 100 games on it.

[@algol291]

The first game shown 'Microcosm' (12:30) looks fun.

[@keiranbowes1979]

I believe it dosent have any copy protection on the games so you can burn yiur own.a definite plus for the budget conscious collector

[@tonihannila9143]

Finally some Amiga action!

[@caliinflames72]

Is 81 a Hells Angels reference? Gamester81 sounds a lot like " gangster81" 81= HA btw. I'm just curious.

[@sfgplaysgames]

awesome man

[@nunonikus]

I have a Amiga1200 and i love it

[@glenbradford3517]

Do you have a commodore 16+4 including the 10 free games? Some very good games in them 10 free games

[@alan84133]

when i see the video i think is a rewiew of sega 16-bit but is another think but gamester you are the best

[@AirZonkWorldChamp]

I didn't even know this was released in Canada but I guess Commodore was in huge trouble then to really advertise it. A shame because it looks like a great system.

[@PinoyBowlerGS92]

I'm from the Philippines but I wish they would sell those in the Philippines so maybe more games would be made for the system.

[@zachspeight]

He states Amiga 1200 but don't even show you a picture of it, shows you another A500. When it came out in the UK it retailed for £299.99 and could play CDI films because they was Video CD but it couldn't play CDI games.

[@StefanHomberger]

Anyone have experience using a PAL Amiga CD32 in the US? Would a simple set-up of a power converter and a PAL-to-NTSC signal converter work fine?

[@StefanHomberger]

sactownchad Thanks for the info! All the games I want for it are PAL only.

[@PlaynationGames]

Great video 1200 pic was wrong

[@wezzer9479]

Thanks John, the CD32 could of been the number one console in my opinion, but due to Commodores CEO's making too many mistakes, it never got to shine.

[@Dexter_GamingYTRoblox]

Still have mine with fmv card

[@gochem3013]

BAHR! Since this "thing" was the misunderstood, they cancelled 7 months after the release(Bankrupt the company). Edit: What I say "worst" I meant "misunderstood".

[@loktar00]

Love the video! As a cd32 collector myself I find it funny you said it had some gems and mentioned Super Streetfighter II, and Battletoads :P some of the worst games on the system.

[@paulklasmann1218]

That patent issue wasn't even a valid issue. It was some company claiming they invented the flashing cursor when they clearly did not.

[@Riz2336]

I've never heard of or seen one of those.

[@xmodsgaming]

I wonder is there a third-party controller you can get?

[@TechniqueSan]

Yes, the competition pro, which looks exactly like a Mega Drive controller.

[@InputArchive]

Here in the UK I've seen more CD32's in the wild than I have NES or SNES consoles.

[@InputArchive]

***** I'm going to one too! You never know what you will find, in the past I've found some amazing stuff at some ridiculously good prices

[@InputArchive]

I don't think the resellers are to blame, sellers are just more aware about the worth of their stuff. Countless times I've had people tell me "I'm selling it for £x but they sell for £y on amazon". It's really tricky to find good bargains these days because sellers try match Internet prices, but I still get lucky now and again :-)

[@MysticGargoyle]

Because in the UK the CD32 sold more than the Megadrive at the time. Scandinavia and UK was some of countries the machine had massive success in.

[@InputArchive]

***** I'm up north too, I've only ever seen 2 at a carboot though and that was some time ago. However I've never seen a SNES or NES at a carboot and I go most sundays for years now.

[@justinium77]

0:59 - What happened there? You were about to break into a list but you only mention one name. Strange!!

[@Videocipher]

Hi John!

[@MrGencyExit64]

Did the previous owner wear the down button out, or is it just that poorly designed?

[@cyde79]

The console has a few scratches and the screen is also cracked on the window where you can see the CD spin.

[@rickyhoward3630]

You gonna do the ice bucket bic boi?

[@oasisbeyond]

2 megs of ram... Those were the days.

[@Vebinz]

By the time it came out not many game companies were making games for the Amiga anymore. Either way, Commodore's bankruptsy made the whole issue moot.

[@chrisj2991]

They did remodel the controller to be much better, it almost looks like a saturn controller. Unfortunately quire rare and costs about $100 alone these days

[@lancehernandez1044]

AVGN Bought me here!

[@pifftreezTV]

is this worth getting besides the fact that its rare?

[@loktar00]

If you like old Amiga/PC games yes. Some of my favorites on it are Castles II, Elite Frontier, XCOM, and Alien Breed Tower Assault.. there are more but I would just end up listing all the games I own. Also the A1200 games for the CD32 generally have enhanced sound and added music that weren't in the originals.

[@dacypher22]

When Zool 1 and 2 are considered "hidden gems" on a system, you know you have a failed system on your hands.

[@BewilderedBird]

dacypher22 LOL

[@scott310578]

Oh man freaking loved my Amiga 500 when I was a teenager. Does anyone remember jolly Rodgers cookbook told you how to hack, rip off fruit machines , make bombs .......basically just a shit load of illegal shit. ; )

[@holnrew]

How come it's 32 bit, but the graphics aren't any better than the mega drive?

[@AlyxxTheRat]

32bit CPU but 16bit graphics capabilities afaik. A lot of Amiga games were ported to Mega Drive actually, like James Pond.

[@c.james1]

Alexandria Thorne, holnrew If it only had 256-colours that means that the colour palette at least is only 8-bit, which is half as bad as the Mega Drive which had a 9-bit colour palette (512 colours)

[@AlyxxTheRat]

The Amiga had a very typical colour palette. A lot of Amiga games had a contrasting blue and brown/orange scheme to them.

[@cyde79]

The graphics are a little better on Amiga and the sound is somewhat better on Amiga. Most (not all) games that had ports to other systems the Amiga version was the best. Look it up on KZbin or play on Emulator. Especially Amiga 1200 games are beatiful, it has a AGA chip in it.

[@InstaLabSparti]

It is not the fault of the hardware just poor ports (example SFII) if you see some native games you will see things none of the 16bit could do

[@jeffwander2814]

It wasn't a very successful machine as the Amiga computer was already popular and the CD32 didn't have anything that made people leave the SNES or Megadrive. If Commodore had more money and produced new 32 bit versions of Sensible Soccer and Super Skid marks and other Amiga only games it could have been really good. Playing on an Amiga CD32 it was ok but needed something extra to make it feel slightly more than an Amiga 1200 console.

[@MysticGargoyle]

Too bad that it was 99% Amiga 500 and 1200 ports for the system, it had so much more potential. CD32 was very short lived because of Commodore`s economic situation.

[@fearnloathing78x]

Would have been nice to have seen more actual game play.

[@Rilyn666]

my cousin sold his amiga 600 with all his games, jus to save up for this..........even today he says he regrets it...

[@ProjectDelta1]

So this console's downfall was a patent lawsuit? What a shame, the console seemed interesting for its time, even if most of its games were old ports, still a shame. Wonder what patent is worth $10 million dispute?

[@rayphoenix7296]

Commodore wasn't meant to compete in the video gaming industry. No computer company was meant to compete in the video game industry. I'm glad they went bankrupt.

[@SuperStareGry]

Being away in turkey. Data charges are so expensive. That intro with ad cost me more than actual content. Why do i watch this?

[@justinium77]

Hi people. This video starts at 0:12