The Story of the SEGA 32X

[@GamingHistorian]

The SEGA 32X came and went so fast, I barely remember it. In 1997, I saw it in a thrift store with 3 games for $40. Looking back, it's so surprising SEGA even tried to make this a thing. While making the video, I did gain a little more appreciation for the 32X. It was a pretty powerful upgrade for the Genesis! But most of the games were rushed, and it definitely shows. As always, if you learned something new, please share the video! Thanks for watching!

[@GilbertTang]

Gaming Historian I actually think there's one still sitting in the thrift store near my house. I see it 1-2 times per year.

[@captaincommando2602]

Hi Norman. I would like a video related to SNK. For example the rivalry between Capcom and SNK.

[@mitchelmcmullen7373]

Hey Gaming Historan, Talk about The History of SUPER MARIO ODYESSY

[@lotsoflogos]

"I have several questions!" -JonTron

[@ChimpManZ1264]

Mitchel McMullen What history? It's barely had time to make history. All it's done so far is generate sales!

[@Nintendrone42]

It's unreal to think that Sega imploded because of something as petty as a rivalry between the Japanese and American branches. I can't believe the executives didn't stop it as soon as it became visible.

[@spmscout]

There's a lesson to be learned here man: GOOD communication is key.

[@CommodoreFan64]

Shawn Marcy Another hard lesson is that most Japanese businessmen bosses are bullheaded, stubborn, like to be the one to claim the credit, & also don't like others with ideas that go against their ideas, or what they decided what was best first, even if it's the worst decision. Also those under a Japanese boss rarely speak up, and just do as they are told. A lot of this can translate to China, and Korea as well. it's called keeping flow of harmony(happiness), keeping face(an even bigger thing in China & Korea), and keeping reputation/honor in tact(can also tie into keeping face). I'm no expert, but I try to study as many cultures as I can, so I can have a better understanding of world topics at large.

[@CommodoreFan64]

AlexanderTheNotSoGreat Agreed, SEGA telling people that not only the Saturn was not the future even if they did not say it out loud with systems like the Genesis/Sega CD/32X getting shit on during the Saturn transition, while Nintendo held steadfast in the face of other new competition, doubling down on good SNES and Gameboy games till the release of the N64, and GBC, are part of the reason they are still around to this day, and SEGA is no longer. In fact because Nintendo is unlike any other game company to come before it, or sense, and I have a good feeling they just might be the last major dog in the race when all is said, and done far as hardware goes outside of PC, and Mobile, while Microsoft, and Sony, both transition to cloud based services that can be ran on my any modern internet connected device with a fast enough internet connection, as Sony already has the PlayStation Now service doing mostly that, and Microsoft has XB1 games that use the same API/SDK as their Windows platform meaning develops only have to code for one to get a game to run on both, almost making the need for the XB1 pointless.

[@fossil-bit8439]

As a bit of a Sega fanboy, I’m still upset about that to this day! I bet Sega could still be around.

[@GatorRay]

+Comodorefan64 Yeah I don't think so given the horrible business decisions they make. But there's OTHER people that can explain that better *Stares at Haedox*

[@brodysdaddy]

I remember saving up a couple of paychecks from my after school job to get that 32X. The guy at Babbages talked me out of it at the register. He said just keep saving for the Saturn. Crazy how they mucked it all up.

[@pkkingcrimsonrequiem1332]

@offworldresident Not if you want to play Battle Garegga or Vampire Savior.

[@Neville60001]

@brodysdaddy , why not buy both? For myself, I loved the space shooter game for the 32X, and also loved the mecha combat game for it as well, plus I love the 32X version of _Doom_ .

[@dapperfan44]

it's funny because if you went to a modern-day gamestop now, they'd let you buy it.

[@rm9308]

The world before GameStop...

[@chadtaylor3292]

Like hell it was

[@XDTheLaughingManXD]

Sega killed itself by competing with itself. That's to put it shortly.

[@PaulRudd1941]

To put it lightly, Sega Japan shot Sega America AND themselves in the foot.

[@patricklawton8135]

Yup

[@patricklawton8135]

Kind of what Nintendo did with the Wii U. Most folks were confused and thought it was similar to what Sega did with the Sega CD/32x. Folks thought it was just a Wii add on. Shame it was also a great system

[@PaulRudd1941]

@@patricklawton8135 that is an excellent analogy.

[@flatcapman]

@Patrick Lawton 3 JRPGS for the Wii U Shows how much Nintendo cared for their fan base. They improved it with the Switch

[@jk-474]

Either way, I’m happy that Sega went out with a BANG with the Dreamcast, it just feels like the bridge between the 5th and 6th generations, you’ve got a lot of PS1 ports that are far superior on Dreamcast, and some PS2 titles that also were shared with Dreamcast. It sucks that it failed, but what an amazing little machine that has some INCREDIBLE gems!

[@kennethwelchis4011isbackagain]

Wow! That's cool! Getting gems is fun Thanks JK-47.

[@user-or6yn8pm3c]

Lets say if Sega did survive, Microsoft would have bought them out. Microsoft nearly bought out Nintendo.

[@user-or6yn8pm3c]

Gaming is now a big business these days. That is why Sony and Microsoft thrive. Nintendo still around because it found a niche catering to casual gamers.

[@atre5763]

No it wasn't! It was an outdated system that was doomed front the start!

[@jk-474]

@@user-or6yn8pm3c 100%, at least the GTA trilogy finally made it to a Nintendo platform (even if it’s a somewhat broken release) 🤣👍🏻

[@ThatOneVideoGamer]

Gaming Historian - The Man. The Myth. The Gamer.

[@DominiqueGendronLanglois]

The Norm!

[@Spoonkid222]

Why does this have so little likes?

[@linkinlovprk]

Oh hey jirard. I'll see you tonight for my regularly scheduled beard bros.

[@CCaptinnemo]

And Norm.

[@pixeleric_]

The Completionist is this a merch plug?

[@nctrnlmjsty798]

My brother made me trade in my SNES for a 32x when I was younger. I was immediately salty. Hated the 32x.

[@briguy459]

Feel your pain, we bought the 32x & sonic's 32fx game that didn't work. Best Guy's return policy sucked back then so we traded it in to EB games at a much reduced price.

[@briguy459]

@The SNES Man "not i" said the bear.. not until classic at least.

[@nctrnlmjsty798]

@The SNES Man I did end up getting the Donkey Kong Country bundle for my bday in like 1996 or 1997

[@zeng58]

Your brother is a failure of choosing that

[@r0ckbass]

@@nctrnlmjsty798 I loved the 32x then and it's still awesome today.

[@aswallace88]

14:03 "Ratchet and Bolt" sounds like a rejected title for Ratchet and Clank.

[@tannerboyle6540]

It's the great value version

[@BradW-ye8cn]

"Spanner & Bolt"

[@ruccsacc]

"The cool kids" is the best way to represent early 90s Sega.

[@Halbmond]

It still feels bizarre to me how SEGA could release all these add-ons without a singular power supply that could power them all at the same time.

[@alexiswritingvideos]

Willi Kampmann Yeah that alone should have told them it was a bad idea.

[@sheilaolfieway1885]

should have been easy enough to combine them all into one plug... i bet modern day eletritions could easily make thier own.

[@ryaneglinton8970]

That would have changed a lot imo

[@rpierce3336]

They could have cared less about inconveniencing the customer.

[@ultimatespidybawlz2198]

There’s a fan made plug out there that powers all 3 now

[@DrewPicklesTheDark]

32 bit + 32 bit =/= 64 bit. Going by Atari Jaguar logic, the Switch would be 512-bit

[@louistournas120]

But what are they referring to. The size of CPU instructions? The memory bus width? Memory addressing?

[@yournamegoeshere7584]

*thats alot of bits, said will smith*

[@LuigiTheMetal64]

Adding 32 bit and another 32 bit processors do not equal 64 bits. The colors look the same as the Genesis.

[@louistournas120]

@@LuigiTheMetal64 : Colors are another thing that is unrelated to the CPU. You can choose to make a framebuffer that is RGBA8888 (Also called 32 bit). You can make a RGB565 (Also called 16 bit). You can use a 8 bit index palette where the framebuffer just holds indices and you store a table of indices with the RGB888 values. There are a ton of other formats as well. Since these systems are memory limited, they probably used indexing. You can look at wikipedia exactly what they did.

[@saurondp]

Yet another person duped by EGM's lie. The Jaguar was a 64 bit system with additional processors that were 16 and 32 bit.

[@noneofyourbusiness1998]

Just imagine if the 32x didn't exist and they put more development and resources into the Saturn. The Saturn would have been much more successful.

[@Chaos89P]

I think that having some sort of American Segata Sanshiro would've helped.

[@Yeen125]

Another one would be having a proper Sonic game that was actually finished. The doomed development and eventual cancellation of Sonic X-Treme was the final nail in the coffin for the Sega Saturn in the west.

[@neogenesis7706]

They could have kept supporting the sega cd up until the saturn.

[@MegaManNeo]

Imagine they went on and instead of the 32X gave the Saturn backwards compatibility as once originally planned.

[@Compucles]

Not unless they actually gave the Saturn at least an extra year of development time as well as those extra resources. The Saturn was extremely rushed and subsequently wound up with much weaker specs than either the PS1 or N64 once they were eventually released, not to mention how difficult development was for the Saturn. An extra year would've also allowed them to see that 3D graphics were the future and that the Saturn needed to be fully capable of using them.

[@remytv]

The early to mid 90's was so magical for me as a pre-teen looking into all those magazines, the graphics looked sooo amazing (especially the stills from the FMV era).

[@cn8299]

As a Sega kid, I always wanted both the Sega CD and the 32x when I heard about them but thankfully my family opted to NOT grant me those wishes. As I read more about Sega's mishandlings and their eventual demise as a console maker, the more I realize that it wasn't Playstation that killed them, it was their own stupidity. Sega in the 90s ought to be textbook on how to not run a business. It was almost like Sega of Japan and Sega of America were too completely different companies.

[@Thor-Orion]

@Not A OVERPRICED GOUGING TECH FAN "NAOPGTF" I liked the Saturn, but Sega fucked themselves by having such a bad relationship with their American branch. Sega was never a major player in Japan, but being that their corporate headquarters was in Japan they kept trying to make Japan their major market, even though it cost them their strong American and European bases.

[@leonsus9317]

Not gonna lie, I was a Sega hater but now that I think about it it kept Nintendo working hard. No better beat em up than Streets of Rage. And people talk about the music, shit!, Streets of Rage had some awesome beats. I miss Sega, and this is coming from an Nintendo fanboy. Sega still makes great games and I wished they didn't have this f-up to keep Nintendo more relevant. Because PlayStation, and X- box is kicking ass as far as games.

[@MaxAbramson3]

Exactly, imagine if SEGA had put the same amount of time money into developing games and marketing the sega CD. Instead of all of those sloppy ports and canceled games for the 2 add ons. We could have seen some awesome limit pushers for the sega CD using its 3D graphics capabilities.

[@Thor-Orion]

@@MaxAbramson3 super scalers should have been a major focus of the Sega CD’s software library. They had a ton of them from arcades ready for high quality home console conversions, and the CD with it’s scaling and rotational specialized hardware would have been the perfect platform to target for these games. It was such a waste that they never pushed those kinds of experiences to the forefront of what the Sega CD was offering.

[@MaxAbramson3]

@@Thor-Orion You're 100% right for 1992-93. Yet by 1995, they needed to use the ASIC, 864KB of RAM, 12MHz 68000, and prerendered sprites for 60fps 3D graphics to compete with 6th gen consoles. While its 3,000 textured, Gaurad shaded polygons/sec no longer wowed, you had to be able to port top sellers to the Sega CD to maintain support for the larger sub-$200 market into 1996. That was the time that SEGA needed to either beef up the Saturn or use hardware like the $300 3DO M2, more powerful than their own M2 arcade board.

[@Papapaya101]

The biggest "What were they thinking?!" Moment on videogame history

[@Vinyboyful]

Laughs in AVGN

[@W.2026]

AAAAAAAAAA$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[@channel5980]

What in the holy mother of *_A A A S S_* is?!

[@alejandroschnettler1794]

@@Vinyboyful *screams on AVGN*

[@maximillianmarcosebastian880]

Alongside the rough, rushed release of the Saturn, the lack of a Sonic game for that system…

[@YadonTheCat]

Fun fact about that Doom port: Unless you use a cheat code, you'll never get your hands on the BFG9000, as none of the included levels contain it

[@o.hudson7363]

The More You Know!

[@Chrismw81]

I never liked that weapon, anyway. The thing took longer to fire than a movie trailer loading on 56k.

[@RetroIslandGaming]

The Plasma Gun was way more fun to use for the same ammo. But, yikes, at least give the players the option to use the BFG :\

[@SomeOrangeCat]

They also gimped it, so that it must be beaten in one sitting, if you want the proper ending. If you use the level select, or even a cheat code, you get a C:\ after the credits run.

[@w0nd3r6]

1992 - My system has more BITS then yours 2020 - My system has more Teraflops then yours

[@invock]

Customers : Uuuuh, what exactly is a terafl-... ? Companies : WE HAVE MOAR!!!

[@dolphindive4348]

Or PC master race?

[@jayb8934]

More like, my system supports a higher resolution and frame rate than yours!

[@leap123_]

Ah yes 1992 = game consoles, 2020 = supercomputers

[@Etcher]

A bit is a unit of storage, a teraflop is a measurement of operational capacity - it refers to the capability of a processor to calculate one trillion floating-point operations per second. LOL you aint fly

[@brunoseverino2082]

And now we're obsessed with resolutions and frames per second

[@abadenoughdude300]

And we gotta have 4k displays on a 5" phone, wtf.

[@ronch550]

Bruno Severino not me. I like playing at 320x240 at 10fps.

[@Wheels8504]

We have become dumber today. That obsession is not important.

[@KaitouKaiju]

High res screens on phones are useful for better looking text and UI

[@ZombieOrgasm]

Bruno Severino Kind of? The jumps are nowhere near noticable as they were back then that most people don't really care.

[@AboboKing]

I want a 32X so I can build a tower of the 32X, Game Genie, Sonic and Knuckles, and Sonic 2 all on top of my Sega CD.

[@Candle_Calmness]

You're A genius .

[@neogenesis7706]

AboboKing does that work well.

[@ethanhayes7038]

So you can make Sonic 3CD & Knuckles & Knuckles?

[@metalslugfest]

Sonic 2 + Double Knuckles three cartridges high!

[@Sonlirain]

Double knuckles all the way.

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

Great job as usual. I really loved the scripting and pacing here. It's pretty impressive how you told the whole story in a relatively short period of time. Kudos!

[@MyNameIsSonsky]

Wrestling With Gaming heyah! Your videos are also awesome! The superman 64 got me subscribed to your channel. 🤘

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

Sonsky Infante thanks!

[@MichaelRBurke]

I absolutely loved Knuckles Choatix. The 32X was worth buying it for that game as far as I'm concerned. I wish it would get more attention/relaunches/remakes.

[@nessamillikan6247]

Agreed, I also bought a 32X from my brother's friend for the same reason! I understand why it was panned, because a lot of people hated the Sonic CD-eque gameplay, but the colors were bright and fun, and the soundtrack was, as always, incredible for a Sonic game. It was definitely one of the best games on the 32X and so much imagination was put into it.

[@Mmmm_tea]

not only is the 32 version of doom missing levels when you complete the game you get dropped to a c:\ command prompt!

[@evilinsecticon3813]

Plus you can make it cascade into a 'Matrix' like screen by warping to levels not in the game.

[@RogueBoyScout]

that's cold... damn...

[@PikaPerfect]

lmao, they didn't polish that shit at all

[@Jamie-yp7qz]

You cheated to reach the ending.

[@vivisect53]

That's because they knew you can't polish a turd.

[@PollyGlodd]

In the words of AVGN: "What were they thinking?!"

[@metalslugfest]

"looks like it's on life support" lol

[@lilg8017]

LOOK AT THIS! IT'S A FUCKIN MESS!!

[@metalslugfest]

"It's not even aesthetically presentable!"

[@adude8479]

that poor genesis is thinking "oh please god take this shit off me."

[@captaincommando2602]

I agree with James Rolfe.

[@cbake76]

One huge factor I think contributed to the quick doom of the system that no one really talks about -- you couldn't rent the games anywhere. As a teenager who literally used to scrounge up $4.32 from loose change to get a game at Blockbuster, I rented games more than I bought them -- it was vital to my enjoyment of my systems of the day. But when 32X came out, no places near me carried its games, and I imagine that was true for most of the country. I did wind up buying a 32X about one year later on clearance from Walmart -- 20 bucks, plus a free copy of Star Wars Arcade.

[@Shinmsl]

Indeed. In my country , and specially in my hometown, Sega consooes and games got a much smaller distribution in contrast with Nintendo consoles and games. So I played a lot more games than those I owned back then, even bootleg carts were something like 50 bucks here , so I barely could afford one per year or so, renting was the way to go(besides some games really weren't worth more than that).

[@cloud_line4595]

32x games were definitely available for rent at the blockbuster near me

[@timf7413]

The thing was that Nintendo was so dominant in the 8 bit era that they had a huge advantage going forward in terms of brand recognition, 1st party titles, 3rd party support etc. Coupled with the fact that the SNES was actually the technically superior hardware in every are except processing speed, it;s amazing Sega was able to stay in the fight as long as they did (and a testament to how well their marketing division worked to give them a unique brand identity.)

[@HumorousLOL]

So many people don't really understand just how much hype the 90s was built around the next video game console. So many new consoles and tech was coming out, and gamers kept getting excited for thr next big thing. So glad I was able to grow up around that.

[@nuke97]

Sega was mixed up as hell. As a kid in the 90s I was confused by what Sega was doing. Like what system was I to dedicate myself to? DREAMCAST was legendary though.

[@sheilaolfieway1885]

i had the 32x and the genisis even had the sega channel ,but i didn't get the saturn or the sega CD but i did get the dreamcast, has to be my second favorite sega console gamegear was good too i loved that handheld. sure it sucked batteries ,but I HAD COLOR and BACKLIGHTING!! how long did it take nintendo to have backlighting??? let alone color on their handheld.

[@haraldhimmel5687]

With dreamcast even their own bosses were against its release because they felt their future was in arcade gaming only (in 98!). As great as the DC was it doesn't surprise me one bit that sega ultimately failed after how much chaotic fuck ups they had in the 90s.

[@robertstimmel1100]

I still have a working 32x that my parents gave me for Christmas decades ago. At that time, I was really young and didn't know what games/consoles were coming out. 32x seemed cool to me at the time, but when I finally got my hands on a Playstation I was blown away by it. Metal Gear Solid was a game-changer for me. It's probably the main reason why I still play video games.

[@GameRevo]

SEGA of Japan's decisions with the 32X and Saturn have always infuriated me. I know they aren't the only ones to blame, but they made far too many mistakes to be acceptable, such as turning down a partnership with Sony. I wonder if SEGA would still be in the hardware business if SEGA of America had taken the helm. Great video as usual, learnt a bunch of things I didn't know before about the 32X.

[@dirrrrrrr]

Game Revo yea sega of japan was very stubborn with the saturn

[@CommodoreFan64]

Game Revo if SEGA of America had more power, then yes I feel they would have still be in the race, maybe not as big as they once where, but still in it none the less, and most people forget that SEGA started out as an American company based in Hawaii before moving to Japan to serve American military bases with things like early pinball machines, and shooting gallery games after WWII.

[@PSVitaat2am]

I know how you feel.

[@startedtech]

Yeah, definitely. Sega of Japan was kinda horrible in a way, they just didn't really give a shit about what the western markets actually wanted. They killed their own brand.

[@Colddirector]

Frankly, Sega of Japan seems to be responsible for a lot of Sega's fuckups over the years.

[@brpadington]

Had it been released a year or two earlier it could have really caught on. It's biggest problem was that the developers had already been hard at work on the Saturn games and didn't focus on this machine.

[@accord0067]

SEGA (of japan) really shot themselves on the foot...more then once...no wonder they got smacked out of the console market

[@alejandroaguilar4693]

HEHE

[@RazorEdge2006]

Sega of America made just as many mistakes as SOJ. It was SOA that pushed the disastrous 32X. And it was Kalinske who decided to release the Saturn in May '95, which he said himself in an interview with 1UP in the early 2000s, before later changing his story and pinning the blame on SOJ when he started working on the Console Wars book. And let's not forget that it was SOJ who came up with the most ingenious marketing campaign in gaming history: Segata Sanshiro. He was the Chuck Norris of Japan, long before Chuck Norris became a meme. As a result of great marketing from SOJ, the Saturn became Sega's most successful console in Japan, where it had the lead over the PS1 for several years. In comparison, SOA's marketing for the Saturn in the West was terrible, and didn't hold a candle compared to SOJ's Saturn marketing in Japan. Tom Kalinske is clearly pushing a false narrative, a disgruntled former employee who is attempting to absolve himself of any blame, and trying to pin all the blame on his former SOJ employers. The downfall of Sega was just as much SOA's fault.

[@wschippr1]

Fire Water Ya, the Saturn Japanese Library is actually pretty solid. Though, not as good as the PSX, but better than the Nintendo 64. At least in my opinion (and that could be due to my taste in genres).

[@PinoyBowlerGS92]

Fire Water. Actually Hayao Nakayama (Sega of Japan President) was the man that made the Saturn surprise launch incident in May 1995, not Tom Kalinske. Tom Kalinske was confident enough that the Saturn was gonna launch in September 1995 but Hayao Nakayama was nervous because the PlayStation was slowly outselling the Saturn in Japan and he planned to pull the launch date to May 1995, Tom Kalinske warned Hayao Nakayama that the surprise launch could ruin the Saturn’s success in North America, but Hayao Nakayama REFUSED then he pushed the surprise plan. I DON’T LIKE GAME COMPANY PRESIDENTS MAKING MISTAKES (EVEN A FEW).

[@LuigiTheMetal64]

SoA even refused to release Japan's successful games on the Saturn, which ended up being ported for the American PS1 which people would agree looking back on the ports, they are pretty bad because of the alterations and changes.

[@Rednax35]

"Hey dad can I get a Super Nintendo?" "But don't you already have a Nintendo?" "Yeah! But this one's 16 Bit!" "Well what does that mean?" "Uh... I don't know"

[@vincentblanco2032]

Rednax AVGN

[@JustAnotherGamerUS]

AVGN

[@rexmageuser]

"I dunno..."

[@182punkbunny]

“It’s a ‘bit’ more powerful” avgn

[@Blade_Runner152]

"or like the cool kids would say, LET'S PLAY SOME JAG!"- AVGN

[@impurfekt]

Donkey Kong Country proved that bits didn't matter so much. It's amazing what developers can squeeze out of hardware as the years go by. I'd still be satisfied if we were still playing on the SNES and Genesis. Imagine what the games would look like? They would probably be using custom enhancement chips in the cartridges by now. CD quality audio and millions of colors I bet.

[@davidscanlon2538]

Probably be like controlling a movie

[@MaxAbramson3]

Except that those of us who were Master System owners already knew that through and through. Only a handful of these end-of-life "limit pushers" would come out for the SMS before it was discontinued in 1992. Those DISNEY, VIRGIN, and Sonic games were so good that it ALMOST made you wonder if the Genesis had really been necessary. Likewise, the few really great M2 games (using the ASIC for 3D graphics) made you wonder if the 32X addon was really necessary in 1994. Those of us who'd shelled out $300 on top of our $189 Genesis were now being asked to spend another $189 for some add on (plus their Sega power strip, plus new 6-button controllers, etc) that was showing some really terrible ports and new games. And at the same time, SEGA was telling us that this $7-800 has been wasted on this Tower Of Power. After Sega of America has sunk over $10 million into a marketing blitz trying to convince people to spend more money on console hardware, Nakayama announced that all other consoles (including the 32X) were discontinued. Few of these enthusiasts were dumb enough to buy a Saturn. Most bought PlayStations, and the developers followed.

[@dougr8646]

Are you all mentally... handicapped?

[@slightlyevolved]

Almost from day one, the SNES *DID* use custom chips in the carts. A popular one you should already know, the Super FX chip. onestly, they wouldn't look much different than what we saw at the end of the system's life. Homebrew demoscene stuff shows the ultimate, and for the SNES, it's not much better. The color is a hard limit, it's not something you can fix with an assist chip because you're still limited by the PPU/frame buffer.

[@justanobody0]

The Genesis was limited to having like 61 colours on the screen at one time, and even if good Genesis programmers could up that to something like 120 for regular gameplay The base Genesis is only capable of showing 1500 different colours you could have the greatest processor, lots of memory, etc in a cartridge and it's not going to change the actual resolution or how many colours the Genesis could show

[@ComradeSeanski]

after hearing about the 32x it makes me appreciate that nintendo didn't straight up give up on the wii u after a year, they actually tried to turn that console around-it's why switch is getting so many ports from the wii u, nintendo put their heart and soul into some of those games. It's also kinda what phil spencer's team did for the xbox one, they did their best to salvage the console instead of just cutting their losses

[@hoyhoy852]

Modern comparison would be Vita, that got just horribly treated by Sony for no fucking reason, despite it having both fans and third party developers.

[@SoulDelSol]

Better comparison would be Nintendo game cube

[@trulahn]

They should have skipped the 32X and made a Genesis compatible Saturn, ie the Neptune project. But instead, they did neither. One HUGE selling point for the Playstation 2 was that it plays Playstation 1 games natively.

[@carlosfigueroa4611]

totally agree! PS2 supported PS1 games and DVDs so it was a great invesment, by far the most successful console ever! Its sad for SEGA to end like it did

[@russellgxy2905]

I don't think that's what the Neptune would've been. More a hybrid console of the Genesis and 32X, like the CDX was for the Genesis and CD. A Genesis compatible Saturn would've been really cool, but probably would've added more headaches to the already complex Saturn. Sega Eris perhaps?

[@BocookGaming]

I love how so much of Sega's history can be summed up by saying that Sega of Japan screwed over Sega of America and Europe.

[@segaunited3855]

No it can't because its completely mythical,false and your opinion is misguided.

[@BocookGaming]

Really? The two branches of the company seemed to be in competition with each other instead of working towards a singular goal. Sega of Japan's decisions repeadly undermined Sega of America's and Sega of Europe's attempts to gain and maintain marketshare. Every console Sega produced was killed largely by SoJ's decision-making, because of underperformances in Japan, despite performances outside the territory. As this video demonstrated, SoJ allowed SoA to make a fool of themselves with the 32X, which SoJ hurt sales of with the announcement of the Saturn. Seems neither mythical, misguided, or false when the proof is right there.

[@segaunited3855]

Its clear that you are oblivious to the overall Corporate structure and Hierarchy of SEGA at the time and Culture barriers that existed. SOJ did NOT undermine SOA. Both divisions functioned separately. SOJ did one thing, SOA did the other. Regarding SOE, SOE was like a completely different company rather than a divisions. They operated solely as a Console brand. And SOJ didn't allow SOA to make a fool of themselves, because they REJECTED the 32X. This video is inaccurate. SOJ had absolutely NOTHING to do with 32X, it was pitched to them by SOA in Early 1994, and SEGA of Japan said "No". You forgot(or your rather ignorant) to SEGA's then Parent Company CSK Holdings and its Owner Isao Okawa, who HATED the American branch. HE was the one who approved and greenlit the 32X behind Hayao Nakayama's back. And what decisions are you talking about? SOJ didn't FINALIZE decisions and business moves back then? They're Parent Company CSK did. Because CSK owned 100% Stake in the ENTIRE Company, on top of that. Isao Okawa had the Chairman title at Sega Enterprises,Ltd while Hayao Nakayama was the CEO and President. CSK was the one that approved any decision by SEGA. And yes, they were incompetent decisions because CSK often overruled SEGA's better more practical business decisions.(Launch Sega Mars in the US, have Saturn fully ready for 1995, Have its Beta Taping finished by March 1994, double down on Arcades being sold in Theme Parks,Put MORE Money into Dreamcast's Budget).

[@BocookGaming]

Sega United Ohhhhh, so what you're saying isn't that Sega of Japan hated Sega of America; the company that owned Sega of Japan hated Sega of America. Gotcha. That makes it a COMPLETELY different situation then, doesn't it?

[@segaunited3855]

Correct. Okawa HATED Sega of America and HATED Video Games. He Resented Genesis' success greatly and wanted SEGA to pull the plug on it in 1994. He also wanted SEGA out of the console business then before the Saturn was even out. He greenlit 32X behind Nakayama's back because he knew it would collapse Sega's gaming business. He rooted for disaster because it would enrich him. CSK wanted SEGA to be a software publisher and eventually a non Gaming Corporation. Hayao Nakayama was a HUGE Hardware guy and believed in Consoles. He wanted SEGA to KEEP going and doubled down on Saturn a whole lot. Nakayama is also the reason why Tom Kalinske came to Sega in the first place.

[@RocketBomerAndyb]

The 32x left as fast as I reacted to the notification for this video

[@MGMVE]

My sister was the one who recommended Donkey Kong Country to me, we rented it for the Weekend. I loved it. Wanted one of my own. My parents got me a Super Nintendo system with Donkey Kong Country packaged with it for Christmas or my Birthday. Since Christmas and my Birthday are not far apart. I've seen Sega systems that my neighbors had Played Sonic 2 which was pretty neat. I grew to be a Nintendo guy when Donkey Kong Country was announced, Donkey Kong Country 2 after and Yoshi's Island as well. Even Donkey Kong Country 3 still holds a special place in my heart.

[@Harlequin314159]

Was not ready for the Gaming Historian to sell me Butt-Wipes.

[@nickwallette6201]

An historic moment indeed.

[@Michirin9801]

Sega was like: "With these add-ons (sold separately) you'll be able to taste the bleeding edge of gaming hardware! The games will look better than ever, the action will be faster and blah blah blah..." And then Nintendo was like: "Look at what we can do without any add-ons!" **Drops Donkey Kong Country** And then everybody else shut up...

[@therealZThaDon]

Michirin9801 Lol so true

[@kei_nishimaru]

Congrats, you just summed up the events in just 2 quotes, new record! *Game Over yeahhhhh...*

[@GatorRay]

+Michirin9801 I find it funny that they planned on making Donkey Country 2 for the Virtual Boy (Or that could've been a port I haven't done the research to confirm which it was gonna be yet)

[@mothra__13]

that's the great thing about nintendo. they don't rely purely on hardware specs, and focus more on user enjoyment.

[@PSVitaat2am]

What were they thinking?!?!

[@Rafalmand]

I have never sean anyone talk as accurately about segas history and this is the first time ive ever heard anyone talk about tom kalinsky and SOA and SOJ infighting. This is the definitive place for video game history

[@MrCageman]

Fantastic video. Really clearly explained, good background research, and great to hear about the relationship between Sega of America and Sega Japan. You have a very soothing voice too. One of the best things I have seen on YT so far. Subscribed :)

[@After4th]

If AVGN knew about the power strip...

[@PennPal573]

He probably did.

[@Dhaos620]

He would lose the gag, we would lose the laugh

[@xenxander]

@@Dhaos620 not if he found out about it after the fact and it got delivered to his head via Paperboy

[@Gadgetbig]

He did

[@aaron75fy]

@@xenxander since paperboy is an individual episode nope, it would be fine for a new video but not for a bad gag like that

[@dbnpoldermans4120]

Nintendo was always taunting their upcoming cd add-on. Sega felt pressured to come up with an answer. Looking back it almost seems like Nintendo was like, let them sweat and rush out something that will fail!

[@segaunited3855]

Nope. Ultra 64 was supposed to be CD based. But Sony kept spreading yellow gossip around other Japanese Manufacturers causing Nintendo to be unable to find a CDX license.

[@GiordanDiodato]

+Sega United actually it's because of CD lag

[@segaunited3855]

Ultra 64's Chipset did have CDX in the pipeline. Nintendo kept delaying it because they kept running into problems finding a License because of Sony.

[@SubieandFriends]

Sega United thats not true....nintendo already had a contract with sony.....but nintendo was going to lose big time on game sales.....nintendo was used to making huge profits of each game that sold for their systems....thats cuz they owned the rights to the cartridge media....so every developer had to account for the expense of having to pay nintendo a license fee for every copy of a game that sold...so yea nintendo was making huge but i mean HUGE profits from other developers hard work....so when they singed that contract with sony it was a bit of a surprise to everyone cuz for the first time nintendo was going to use a third party media format ( sonys cd media) and that was going to be a huge lost of renenue for nintendo...cuz now sony was going to make the profit of every cd game that sold for nintendos hardware. So after nintendo got thier heads out of thier asses and realized how much $$$ they gave up by signing that contract with sony, they went behind sonys back and signed a new contract with another company that had its own cd media format and more favorable terms for nintendo.. i dont remember if it was panasonic or phillips....anyways sony had no idea of what took place behind their backs until they heard from the media of nintendos new partnership....thats when they were like what the fuck? Fuck you nintendo and thats when the idea of playstation was born.....and we all know what happens next....

[@herbderbler1585]

Pretty sure it was Phillips. This is how they were able to get their hands on Nintendo IPs and produce those abysmal Mario and Zelda games for the CD-I.

[@happyspaceinvader508]

The patched version of Doom 32X (“Resurrection”) is absolutely incredible, and shows what the 32X was really capable of. One day, I will get around to building my own Sega Neptune. I’ve seen a video on YT where someone does that, and it’s non-trivial in terms of soldering, so a bit of a learning curve.

[@iCandy212]

A couple of decades too late for that though…

[@redhot10-u2f]

“But hey, at least we got knuckles chaotix”

[@lsadin2457]

Oh yes best answer to Sonic

[@Thrifty032781]

You're like the non-angry video game nerd.

[@Tangobaldy]

He he ain't. That angry guy is unwatchable unless your a child

[@aeugchad]

WeDontKnow 2 Holy shit

[@ApolloVIIIYouAreGoForTLI]

The Video Game Nerd

[@evaandreu5124]

@@Tangobaldy have you seen his fandom? There's barley any kids there.

[@benr164]

so like the CVGN (Calm Video Game Nerd)

[@riina92]

'A late game is only late until it ships. A bad game is bad until the end of time.' -- Shigeru Miyamoto

[@VOAN]

True words from the wise. Never doubt Miyamoto's words, once it's bad it will be bad forever. Of course nowadays a patch will kinda fix it.

[@crystalwater505]

Miyamoto also thought that Starfox Zero was a good idea. Oh, and he forced motion controls into Skyward Sword.

[@DmanDice]

@@crystalwater505 seeking creativity and calling something a "bad game" due to being rushed is not in the same category.

[@DmanDice]

@@crystalwater505 Nobody said he was. And that quote is legit so this was a weird spot to post hate on the guy lol.

[@Aggrofool]

Outdated. Games can be patched.

[@KipKrusty]

I had a 32X. I loved it. There wasn’t a ton of games, but the ports of NBA Jam, MK2, and Virtua Fighter were terrific.

[@ustioteamleader9716]

Sega has such a rich history of rushing stuff for holidays.

[@swishpronoob]

New gaming historian video? This day just got so much better!

[@Tsinij]

The 32X taught me cable management. I still proudly own one.

[@Rountree1985]

Cable management is a made up term, fuck off.

[@AnAverageGoblin]

if you have to learn how to properly maintain and sort cables you fail as a modern human being.

[@Tsinij]

@@AnAverageGoblin Nice troll idiot.

[@Tsinij]

@@Rountree1985 Yo mama.

[@AnAverageGoblin]

@@Tsinij I'm not trolling you dipshit.

[@Snafu2346]

I was just a young teen when the 32X came out, I was a Genesis fan and my friend gave me his SNES after he got his Neo Geo. But I was loyal to SEGA. I was just a kid so I didn't have much money. To save up for the 32X, I skipped lunch...... for months. I took my lunch money, and I immediately put it in a box except maybe dollar a day. I would ask for leftovers from my friends. Thanks to Ben L. and Chris A. for giving me their Apples and Bagels. I knew that by the time the 32X came out, I would have just have enough saved by then. I enjoyed it at first, but there weren't many games. @16:30 I ... WAS THAT JOE GAMER, and that is 100% how I felt. I saved up all the money I had, spent it ALL for NOTHING. When I saw the Saturn I was like "WhAT? WHAAAT?!". I lost ALL FAITH in SEGA at that point for a 13 yr old kid. They discontinued the 32X in a few months. I would never care for the Saturn, or later on the Dreamcast because of that. Exactly what Scot Bayless said. They lost me for good. I bummed off scraps at lunch for months, but that's what I get for being young and stupid. I didn't even so much as bat an eye to anything for SEGA after this. Despite good games later on the Dreamcast, they lost my trust forever. I was happy with my PS1 later on. But I did miss Code Veronica and Rival Schools. They would end up being ported so it didn't matter. Cept for Rival School 2: Project Justice, dammit I wanted that game.

[@steelerfaninperu]

F for your commitment to basically hunger strike until you got a console. All I had to do to get a SNES was learn to tie my shoes ffs.

[@paradoxzee6834]

I was also one of thouse kids who did not have much money so I also saved by not buying lunch in school. One time we were shopping and I got what I desired with my saved money. Than I remerber my aunt asking me "How come your sisters are getting nothing while you buy yourself something nice", I remerber I was so angry at that questions I answered "They were not hungry in school". My mom found the answer so funny she told later people how good I'm with saving money.

[@JG-kc3py]

Dreamcast was good tho but Sony killed it

[@mrtrollnator123]

​@@JG-kc3pyfr

[@starstarstar4643]

Understandable but you still missed out in the Dreamcast....Project Justice and Power Stone 1 and 2 are STILL Dreamcast exclusives....

[@de4th1snt3nough]

This comment is meant directly at the documentary, not the subject it's about. Great job! To everyone that produced, voiced, and edited the documentary, great job. It was clear, very poignant, and paced really well. I like long documentaries, but few others do. However you always find the right length it seems, so you plan and pace it very nicely. And I doubt you'll see or read this but nice job, another great video that I'll watch and listen to as I go to sleep (it doesn't bore me to sleep, I just want someone talking as I go to sleep lol)o

[@GiordanDiodato]

Sega in the mid 90s is a textbook example of what NOT to do when running a business.

[@shifty2755]

Like apple?

[@chaosyeshua1137]

Nice trails in the sky pfp

[@ProxDee222]

I'm honestly shedding tears of joy as I see more people who know the Trails series...

[@chaosyeshua1137]

@@ProxDee222 I love Trails. I've Platted Cold Steel. Have yet to play Cold Steel 2 tho

[@ProxDee222]

@@chaosyeshua1137 I spent 20$ (and even bought another copy for a friend to get them into the series, mind you.) for Sky FC after I knew it was made by Falcom and watching a short gameplay, I was pretty much a die-hard fan of the Ys series (Another series by Falcom) at the time but when I progressed through Sky FC, it became the best JRPG series in my opinion, I'm glad I became a Falcom fan, the best game developer of all time. I will definitely get SC, the 3rd, Zero, Ao and a PS4 for Sen, Falcom can have all of my money for all I care.

[@mangleman25]

Looking at its history and looking at the obscurity of so many of its games, I think I've grown to have a greater appreciation for the 32x despite having only played its games on an emulator. There weren't a ton of games for the system, but what was there had its own charm.

[@10p6]

From my sources at Sega, the 32X was meant to be released in 1992, and the Saturn was meant to be Genesis and 32X backwards compatible.

[@holiewood]

Same

[@corey2232]

People think the 32X ruined the Saturn's chances....but Sega of Japan ruined the Saturn's chances. They made a complicated piece of hardware that devs hated making games for, while simultaneously "SURPRISE!" launching it in the US. It was also more expensive than the PSX and had far less 3rd party support. The fact it didn't launch with a new 3D or main line Sonic game also made people feel there was no reason to spend $400 on the thing... And Sega didn't future proof it enough, as it was really great at 2D games but not made with extensive 3D gaming in mind (unlike the PS1 & N64). If Sega hadn't rushed it, I'm certain it would've done a hell of a lot better than it did (shocking...Sega rushing things?)

[@segaunited3855]

It is clear that you don't understand a SINGLE thing about Saturn's architecture and capabilities.

[@Wes36Man]

@Jeremy Robertson lol it's a fact that the n64 didnt fail. It's your opinion it's a piece of crap.

[@andrearosario8512]

Americans ruined Sega. 32X was a bad idea.

[@Abel-Alvarez]

As far as the 5th gen went the PS1 was the clear winner and had the best 3rd party support. Jeez alot of people forgot that the N64 hardly had any support that wasn't by RARE or Nintendo itself. And then there's the saturn...it was a mess of a device with no stand out titles near Sonic's popularity.

[@tails230]

@@segaunited3855 Don't you have anything better to do?

[@adamschaak9527]

You are a delight as always. I really appreciate your professional approach to creating content for us consumers.

[@HisBubbliness]

The clip of that show or whatever at 17:27 is such a great snapshot of the '90s.

[@mark.083]

I had a 32x back in the day, hadn't seen one in decades. But then last week I walked into my local CEX store and behind the counter is a 32x box. It blew my mind... So did the price... £250

[@alexandramartinez3715]

I think that the only thing that'll make people remember the 32x is Knuckles Chaotix

[@RequiemDream]

Alexandra Martinez Fuck me like the 32X did with the Genesis 😍 15:04 What game is this?

[@Prizrak-hv6qk]

Requim Dream Tempo.

[@RequiemDream]

@@Prizrak-hv6qk Thanks, I just searched for the name again before you said it and did not found it

[@johnherkert5324]

Alexandra Martinez for me it was Doom

[@geebee6010]

And mortal kombat 2

[@MrAlcazar]

Knuckles Chaotix was pretty awesome. NFL Quarterback Club was fun too, and Mortal Kombat II for 32X, was a huge step-up from the Genesis version.

[@PeruvianPotato]

True, MKII for the Genesis was just sad.

[@jamesanthony8438]

I really like my 32X. Only have 4 titles for it, though: "Doom," "Metal Head," "Primal Rage" and "Star Wars Arcade." Really need to track down a few more titles for it sometime. =)

[@DLexEdition]

VirtuaRacing 32X (make sure it's made specifically for it, not the normal VirtuaRacing for the SG, it will lock up your 32X expansion if you use the one with the co-processor already on-board).

[@GodKitty677]

Mortal Kombat 2, Space Harrier and Afterburner. Were good ones as well.

[@101Volts]

Space Harrier really is a good one if you want an Arcade style game, but the Saturn version is just about as good if not a little better. And I say that as someone who *really* doesn't like the 32x much, after owning one.

[@hyperslime64]

Personally, while I definitely recognize the flaws of Knuckles' Chaotix, I think it's fun and might worth be picking up. The soundtrack is amazing, the special stages are fun, playing with a buddy can be interesting, and it's probably the most -well-known- infamous game on the 32X

[@ThePerfectTrip]

Mortal Kombat 2 for the 32x is easily my favorite port of the game.

[@SgtSega]

I still like Doom on 32X. It's leagues better than the SNES version.

[@10p6]

Sega should have done the 32X however: 1. Should have included a PSU that could power the 32X, Genesis and CD from one unit. It should have had better cable management too. 2. Sega should have sold a Neptune from Day 1 for $199 and in my opinion would have been similar to model 2 and work with the Sega CD. 3. Saturn should have been in the company time line. Saturn should have offered Genesis and 32X backwards compatibility as it already contained 99 percent of the hardware. If Sega would have done the above 3 points it would have given gamer upgrade and new options, and 5 generations of backwards compatibility. They could have overtook Nintendo.

[@VOAN]

It would had still fail cause the Sega Saturn is still coming regardless if the Saturn is backwards compatible or not. If Saturn is backward compatible with Genesis and 32X games then that would make the Neptune even more useless to get and developers would not support the Neptune at all instead opting to jump ship to the Saturn thus having 32X backwards compatibility for Saturn would be useless cause the 32X library would be too small for gamers to care. What Sega should had done was never create the 32X and just stick to Saturn and make that backwards compatible with Genesis and Sega CD games.

[@segaunited3855]

Voan Siam Correct. 32X or Genesis 32 should have NEVER been created.

[@parkinsaw]

@@segaunited3855Yep way to many add-ons lol. If it was one or the other (32X/Saturn) than would have been somewhat okay.

[@segaunited3855]

@@parkinsaw Sega of America should have just gotten on board with Saturn and left Genesis alone allowing its casual base to grow.

[@parkinsaw]

@@segaunited3855Yeah but as mentioned Genesis was still selling quite a bit also it was the fact the States side had absolutely no idea the Saturn was even in production which made it crazy. Was a complete waste of time and money (32X) If they were informed the Saturn was being produced no way would they have even bothered producing the 32X as it is essentially the same thing.

[@SniperCR39]

I was an unfortunate victim of the 32X Hype... I remember begging my mother for this thing and I got it for Christmas in ‘94 and was underwhelmed to say the least. Although I did enjoy virtua race and Star Wars Arcade, I never got any other games for it after that.

[@bugnut82]

Einhänder Zero me too. Remember that shitty dirt bike game? Moto something I think

[@dabradguy]

Right there with ya. Sega tricked me. I remember having lots of fun playing games my friends had never even heard of.

[@GregsVlog]

I remember when the Genesis Virtua Racing was released with the SVP chip I thought, "Man, it would save money if they released an adapter with that hardware in it then they could make more games using it." Then the 32X was released fulfilling my prophesy. If only it had an MSRP of $80 it would have sold much better.

[@synth505]

Adventures by George Well considering that Virtua Racing was launched at retail for 90 bucks due to the included SVP chip, that would have made more sense for Sega. I was a die hard Sega fan and loved Virtua Racing in the arcades. I was also dumb enough to buy the genesis port for the retail asking price. I somewhat regretted it. It was a fantastic looking genesis game but only a decent port of the arcade version.

[@ravagingwolverine]

From what I've heard, they considered the idea of having an SVP cart and separate game carts that would "lock on" like with Sonic & Knuckles. There's a video about the SVP and it references statements of that kind made to Gamepro and EGM.

[@segaunited3855]

SVP was solution pitched and suggested by Sega Away and Hideki Sato in 1992. But, SOA was inexperienced in co Processor designing and assembly, they Balked at the idea and SOJ was concerned that it wasn't cost effective.

[@AssociationAdmirer]

Sega already were selling the console at a loss. Reducing the 32X's price would have made it impossible to make up the difference in games sales, meaning they'd lose money even if the 32X and every single game for it sold out. And it wouldn't have helped you anyway, since if you couldn't afford a games console for $159, you wouldn't have been able to buy games for the 32X even if it were $80. Remember, games were $59.99 a pop.

[@segaunited3855]

Actually, the ONLY Sega console sold at a loss was the Dreamcast. All Sega consoles were sold at profits. That's why they were often priced so High. 3rd party partners often got back 30% Royalties on software sales.

[@taptwoproductions456]

I'm watching this in bed, relaxing... thank you

[@MichaelTurner856]

Sounds nice 🙂

[@muhanc.a.9299]

Confirmed, Sega's worst enemy is.... ...Sega itself

[@segaunited3855]

No. It WAS CSK.

[@HsienKoMeiLingFormerYANG]

Their real main enemy are the egotistical embarrassment fanbase.

[@randomcommentog]

Well Sega Japan

[@segaunited3855]

Nope. CSK.

[@segaunited3855]

NO. Parent Company CSK killed SEGA as a Hardware Manufacturer. Its owner Isao Okawa took over as SEGA's CEO in 2000 and made IMMEDIATELY orders to dissolve ALL of SEGA's game divisions. EVERYONE at SEGA was against it. CSK didn't even fund Dreamcast overseas. Hayao Nakayama and Soichiro Irimajiri got financing from various firms.

[@no3396]

Man, I frickin’ love this channel.

[@aegisofhonor]

in an alternate universe, Sega delays the Saturn by an entire year, not releasing the console in Japan till 1995, opting to simplify and optimize the console significantly before launching. This makes them lose initial launch momentum to the Sony Playstation but also gives developers far more time to develop software for the Saturn. Furthermore, due to the now simplified hardware (possibly only using one main processor instead of two and a much more simplified architecture as a whole) developers can program on the Saturn much easier and utilize the hardware to it's potential more easily as well as program better 3d graphics possibly superior to the Playstation. But more critically for the US market, it gives the 32X an entire year possibly up to a year and a half of shelf life to mature and grow with developers and have a strong developer and player base to hold them over till the US launch of the Saturn sometime in the spring or summer of 1996. I think in the long run, this strategy would have benefited Sega far more then what really happened and I think if they did delay the Saturn a year and fixed it's many problems and let the 32X be the console addon it could be, Sega might still be making consoles today and avoid the disaster they experenced in the later 90s with the embarrassing disappointment of the 32X, Saturn, and Dreamcast.

[@segaunited3855]

Saturn was ALREADY ready for 1994. It just needed 4 extra months of Tweaking and Documentation. It would have been a FULL 64-bit console had its Beta not been rushed into production 4 months too early.

[@lukahmad5683]

I'm Nintendo fan, from NES to Switch, I love them all. Cannot afford to buy all that I just play it on pc emulator and friend's console. But not gonna lie, 1990s SEGA was ahead of his time but they just too focus on beating Nintendo in my opinion. At the end, Nintendo was late to the 16-bit party just like walking koopa but they're brought on good games, the games that the kids of 90s gamers are still playing to this day. Sega being fast like Sonic but their work is so rushed. Just like the rabbit and tortoise story. Thank you a lot, Gaming Historian. Love the explanation, editing was fun, such a high quality of content! I'm doing a marathon of Gaming Historian videos now

[@endrankluvsda4loko172]

Watching this, the 32x add-on actually still makes sense in spite of Japan releasing the Saturn on the same day. If you don't have a lot of money but have a sega, it would make sense to get a 32x so long as it was significantly cheaper than the Saturn and the other 32-bit competitors and had good games to go along with it. For a struggling family that wanted to have a gaming system, maybe the newest system wouldn't have been an option, but if the 32x was more affordable and had good games, they could have been interested in giving it a try?

[@SmoothCriminal12]

Had it come out a year earlier, it would have been a good stop gap and option until the Saturn was ready and could've had some success. SOJ set it up to fail from the start.

[@MaxAbramson3]

What killed it was the existence of the sega CD which was nearly as powerful. Everyone was asking why they wanted us to pay $300 for the second c d which they weren't fully supporting. That add on was capable of 3D graphics, but there were only a dozen games that showed that off.

[@israelwolstein9351]

I love this channel. So far, all the mini docs were well researched and very entertaining. A+++

[@vivigiappone]

And now, give us the Saturn ;)

[@TheThatEthanGuy]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who was thinking this.

[@deezy81]

Yes. The quadrilogy of Sega's back to back fuck ups needs to be completed. Then after that, he can do Sega c.d. to make it complete.

[@Nestalgba92023]

Like Saturn Mini? :D

[@ApolloSniperman]

Gotta love the ad at 7:30 showing the 32X isn’t hooked up to power or the Genesis

[@TrestanSKYWALKR]

Listening to all these stories, it seems like Sega panicked a lot. They were always worried about the Boogie Man (Nintendo) and abandoned their plans to easily. It’s too bad because they usually had superior hardware. It looks like quick changes led to rushed software that could never allow Sega to put its best foot forward...

[@atre5763]

Superior hardware doesn’t mean shit

[@ShadowNinja452]

Well, that & lots of corporate idiocy were to blame here. Said idiocy showed with how the Saturn was handled (let alone the 32X and, to some, the Sega CD) especially in the western market. That’s what people keep telling me, as far as I am aware of however.

[@chadtaylor3292]

That, and Sega didnt have the funds like Nintendo did. Manufacturing a console costed more money than they were pulling in im sure. And thats not counting R and D, outsourcing parts, etc..

[@vivisect53]

I don't think they were really that worried about Nintendo, since they had been doing well enough with them as thier only real competition even doing better than Nintendo in some regions. It was more likely all the new competition that was popping up the sent them into panic mode.

[@MrMarinus18]

Well the issue is that they got to success by presenting themselves as modern and cool. If they became outdated that entire image would be turned against them. Nintendo always had somewhat of an old-school vibe about them so they could accept that much easier. Nintendo always has been content doing it's own thing.

[@pauliejay4161]

"...maintain their spot as the scrappy, edgy competitor to Nintendo..." - funny how history differs from one country to another. In Australia at the time, Sega was by far the leader of the pack. The Mega Drive was huge.

[@GeovaneSanciniSR]

well, sega dominated pal regions (where nintendo support was a joke or non existent) and brazil (since nintendo only came officially in 93 in brazil). While in the end of 80's, Brazilian's market was flooding of nintenclones (clones of NES), Sega's representative in Brazil, Tec Toy came with the Master System and later the Mega Drive, with an aggressive marketing strategy, they dominated the market and the results are still in gamers memories (master system was a massive hit, to the point that Tec Toy ported some game gear titles - like Sonic Blast, Baku Baku Animal and Legend of Illusion)

[@MegaZeta]

The Genesis was also on top in sales in the United States, FYI. Sega's "scrappy, edgy" image was mostly down to advertising campaigns, as the video describes.

[@SonofSethoitae]

@Diabeto Kills It could very well be; hard sales numbers are hard to pin down though, as each company used different metrics. Counting all revisions of the hardware, the Genesis sold about 21 million units in the USA alone. The SNES sold about 22 million in all of North America, about 20 million of which are speculated to be US only. However, those Genesis numbers count the Majesco-made Genesis model 3 and don't count the Nomad.

[@Sabundy]

Same in South Africa 🇿🇦. Nintendo was non-existent in SA. It was all Sega......at least until the SONY PlayStation

[@holyguidelines1985]

I've been waiting for this for over 9000 years.

[@GarageLoot]

Holy Guidelines 9001... oh win

[@craigperry3779]

There is drawings on the wall of the great pyramid that shows Norm and a 32x. Was that you?

[@paranormalskeptic3893]

I got the 32x and Doom for Christmas in 1994. I had never played Doom, but had heard it was like video game crack. Well, let’s just say I didn’t get to sleep until 6am Christmas morning. We always did our gifts on Christmas Eve. So when I got home, I connected my 32x, and played Doom for hours. I have been a Doom fanatic for 28 years. It was the ONLY game I ever bought for the 32x. Being a Sega fan boy (though I also had the SNES), I had that monstrosity tower. Original Genesis, the original Sega CD, and then the 32x.

[@mango2005]

I got a 32X around 1994. Unfortunately my one was faulty and only sometimes worked. I got Virtua Racing and Doom for it. I ended up getting the Saturn also but sadly, there were hardly any games out for it.

[@mattmcnulty8363]

I remember getting a 32x as a kid, same year, 1994. All I remember is that it didn’t work at all and I had to return it, and the new replacement 32x didn’t work either. I just gave up after that on any sega add ons.

[@ImmaDoWhatIWant]

There were, they just never translated them.

[@benmalsky9834]

What about games like Panzer Dragoon and Nights Into Dreams? Those are great games that made the Saturn worth it!

[@sonicjboom6967]

Ben Malsky Also clockwork Knight is great too!

[@3DSage]

Such an exciting and important time in gaming.

[@aimwell8813]

SEGA in the Sega CD ad: “What are you waiting for? Nintendo to make one?” That applies to a lot of things.

[@JASpiring]

The thing is, Nintendo did try. It's why the Sony Playstation exists.

[@aimwell8813]

JASpiring Yes. And what i quoted was the Sega CD ad, not the 32X one, sorry.

[@l1uchill]

I had the Sega Genesis and Sega CD. My mom was not about to buy me another expansion piece for a console! The ads they used for the 32x was crazy, My mom was not about to purchase something so edgy! As a kid though I was thankful for my Genesis and CD I had a cool library of games as well! As always great video Norm! Awesome Content!

[@captainobvious9233]

"rushed through production and it shows" Guess they didn't learn from Atari and E.T.

[@MichaelHarto]

"people just love star wars" Disney: "hold my beer"

[@LermaBean]

Nahhhh fam... George Lucas: "Hold-sa My Beer-sa!"

[@EWOODJ]

@@LermaBean You ruined it.

[@st.6413]

@@LermaBean Hence why Clone Wars was a massive hit and Prequel video games, books, comics, and even the movies sold incredibly well and are far better regarded than Disney's schlock, sans Rogue One?

[@yourmother__]

The last Star Wars movie sucked :/

[@wchan39]

What? Sure, the new movies was bad but that didn't stop people from buying Star Wars merchandise.

[@mulderscully3707]

Sega Dreamcast was epic but now is just a beautiful memory.

[@lotsoflogos]

Genesis does...n't make good add-on's.

[@GigTube]

the AVGN review of 32X is one of his all time greatest episodes!

[@paradoxzee6834]

Not really, he lack understanding of the 32X and how stuff work like when he mentions Primal Rage or Virtua Fighter, what he hates is a problem across all platfroms not just the 32X version. He even dont understand why you need an ac adapter, how the power from the megadrive is to low to power the 32X and you need extra power so it can run anything. Also him destroying a 32X just making him look like an ass, thouse things are not cheap and he downright destroys one

[@DemoManMLS]

I love how people take AVGN so seriously. You do realize his "reviews" are supposed to be comedic, right? And the one 32X he destroyed probably didn't work anyways. Gamers especially on KZbin are so butt hurt over things these days. No wonder why people such as Killer Comedy Unleashed make fun of you.

[@M3rtyville]

it was hilarious and probably one of his more informative reviews. Retro actively, it is sad to think about it. compared to what we have now, James videos' quality is disappointing and his "jokes" and "skits" get old really quickly.

[@chillplayer1234]

M3rtyville What are you talking about? James' video quality isn't disappointing and his jokes and skits don't get old quickly. Only a few times. AVGN is still good, watch the EarthBound episode.

[@chillplayer1234]

CodeNameZ Doofus, you're not supposed to take AVGN seriously.

[@YukitoOnline]

What we learn about the Console war? Simplicity and Easy to use Console + Quality fun games = Win

[@PikaPerfect]

also game quality is much more important than visuals

[@fre0nx675]

That's why Nintendo is still around.

[@zalternative1]

@@fre0nx675 Thanks to the Wii and DS of course.

[@PeruvianPotato]

@@fre0nx675 You can say that when Nintendo was getting declining console sales during the N64 and GCN and the saturated libraries of the GBC and GBA

[@InfectiousGroovePodcast]

I had a buddy that bought a 32X as soon as it shipped. He tried so hard to justify the purchase through the short life of the add on. I was more than bummed on his behalf that Sega handled the whole thing the way they did.

[@DerrickRuthless]

I'd love to see a Sega CD history video!

[@Falkenroth1]

I bought Donkey Kong Country at release. At Target and I think it was $70.

[@simpleton8554]

Oof

[@dennismolina9033]

Wow! SNES games were really expensive then, i thought that paying $65 for a game breaks the bank lol

[@Al1235]

SuperFX games were more expensive then standard SNES games I believe

[@roberte2945]

@@Al1235 DKC wasn't a SuperFX game, but this is true. Games with extra hardware did cost more. Super Mario RPG had a chip called the SA-1 which is basically a coprocessor, and as a result the game cost about $100 at launch.

[@shagheadguy4805]

I think that price is dang worth it

[@endrankluvsda4loko172]

Yeah, great games always beat improved graphics. That's why people are still willing to play the original FF7 on PS1 but never talk about some of the prettier releases that came after but suck as far as games go.

[@james5780]

spot on. FF7 is my favorite game of all time. I replayed it a 6 months ago

[@Choom2077]

Very much agree with this statement.

[@benmalsky9834]

@@james5780 Today's the 22nd Anniversary of FFVII you know! I know people still love it.

[@PikaPerfect]

if a game is fun, i don't give a damn about its graphics hell, i love the gen 3 pokemon games, and they don't look too great, but they're really fun actually, i love pokemon in general which tends to be a little... er... "lesser" in the graphical department lmfao not to mention spyro and mario 64, neither of which look particularly good, but are still hella fun

[@benmalsky9834]

@@PikaPerfect Well said.

[@jeremymitchell4370]

i remember my sega collection being a pain in the ass to power all three big ass ac adapters as i had the sega cd and 32x. but i do have good memories of it though as i had knuckles chaotix and doom and virtua fighter and virtua racing!!! i sure do miss my sega monster!!!

[@CPUT99]

Great video and thanks for sharing the straight forward presentation of the various consoles of the 90s.. in retrospect maybe the whole 'Nails-on-a-chalkboard-sound-effect with logo reveal' wasn't so hot for Jaguar's marketing / PR campaign -_-

[@Spiegelgeist]

No matter how bad the 32x was, or how screwed up it's release and life was, it's port of Virtua Fighter was the best way to play it outside the arcade until they made that second saturn port.

[@Markimark151]

Norm is back! The 32X is basically an incremental upgrade, it’s basically the PS4 Pro without the add on! At least Sony didn’t make exclusive games for the PS4 Pro. My friend who was working for Sega of America, was the marketing department, was forced to promote the 32x, he said it made no sense when Saturn was already going to be launched in less than a year, they threaten him to quit!

[@segaunited3855]

32X was ENTIRELY SOA's Idea.

[@Markimark151]

Sega United I know he worked for SoA in San Francisco, he was told to market the launch of 32X, he was confused that why release it when the next-gen Saturn was out in Japan, and even wanted to cut the marketing budget of 32X.

[@segaunited3855]

You know it. The truly ironic thing about the Genesis 32/32X concept is that this half baked idea came together during a meeting at Summer CES in Chicago in '93, the Tumor design was LITERALLY drawn up on a Napkin with a Pencil.

[@Markimark151]

Sega United even he spoke to people in universities about his experience with the 32X was a half baked idea, and told his boss was crazy for wanting him to advertise the add on that was poorly designed, when he argued that they should focus on the Saturn marketing.

[@segaunited3855]

Its just sad, really. Honestly, I think SOA got a little too panicky over 3DO for no reason at all and that's why they came up with Genesis 32/ 32X. I'm not sure why they believed or assumed it was going to give Genesis a run for its money when the damn thing was WAY overpriced from the get go. I also don't understand why when initial public reaction at Spring CES 1994's unveiling of 32X was so negative, why SOA didn't just suck it up and scrap the project? I mean, people were ALREADY telling them they weren't interested in it at all. I remember one of my Classmates and Neighbor calling it one of the "Stupidest Ideas I have ever heard in my entire life". I agreed. I had a JVC X' Eye at the time and felt that Sega should have just focused on SEGA CD and putting out more titles for it. I honestly would have Loved the idea of a Sega CD 32. By 1994, Genesis was headed to the Causal Market. It wasn't going to dropoff, and SOA should have just left it completely alone and allowed its Causal base to grow.

[@Magic_beans_]

5:40 “Project Mars would be a cheaper alternative” - One thing to remember here is that consumers weren’t used to the electronics treadmill we know today. If you bought a TV or a desktop computer you could have it for a decade plus, partly because of build quality but also because the technology just didn’t evolve that quickly. News coverage of the SNES launch often featured at least one confused or upset parent saying “I just bought my kids a Nintendo a couple years ago and now I’m supposed to buy a new one?” I can appreciate the idea of providing a budget-conscious option.

[@caffeineadvocate]

After Burner and Virtua Fighter, though.. even Doom (because I didn't have a PC, yet). So many fond childhood memories..

[@SomeOrangeCat]

If I have any positive thing to say about Doom on the 32X, its that it runs at a very smooth frame rate. An all important factor in a game like Doom. And you can turn the awful music off.