The Year of the SEGA Console – Welcome to SEGA Genesis 32X month!

 
In mid-January we made the announcement that all year long we’d be celebrating five famous (and infamous) pieces of SEGA hardware hitting milestone anniversaries in what we dubbed 2014: The Year of the SEGA Console. Throughout March, we celebrated the SEGA Genesis, and later this year we plan to devote months to the Saturn and Dreamcast, both very popular SEGA consoles. But this month will be a bit different, as we focus on the black sheep of the SEGA hardware family: The SEGA 32X.

Released late in the life of the SEGA Genesis on November 21st in the United States (December 3rd, 1994 in Japan and January 1995 in the UK) to serve as a bridge for Westerners awaiting the SEGA Saturn, the 32X was plagued by several negative issues. The design itself isn’t all that appealing, often compared to a mushroom growing out of the top of the SEGA Genesis or a plastic tumor. The 32X was rushed to market, so as to give enough time between the 32X launch and the eventual SEGA Saturn release, which caused a number of headaches for SEGA and consumers. Third-party support was lacking, and the library was a paltry forty titles with many games not fully utilizing the 32X’s power. In the end, the 32X sold only a little over half a million units and was officially killed off by SEGA in 1996. So… hooray, it’s 32X Month…


 
Pushing the gloom and doom that hovers over the 32X aside, there is a lot to love about the add-on when approaching it from the modern perspective. Rather than plunking down $160 with no idea as to whether SEGA will support it or not in 1994, modern collectors can find a 32X for a fair price (around $40 at the time of this article) and there are a handful of “must own” titles and several other hidden gems that the library has to offer. From AM2 and SEGA arcade classics, to lesser known titles from Novotrade and Red Company, the 32X rewards those who see past the vitriol and embrace the add-on. We hope that as the month goes on, we convert a few 32X haters and show that the add-on really isn’t all that bad. See you tomorrow!

Learn more about the SEGA 32X at our SEGA Retro wiki

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