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The 32X was an awkward attachment for the Genesis that turbo-boosted the system's horsepower, which by 1994 was definitely lagging behind the Super Nintendo. The SNES was earning rightful acclaim for landmarks like Donkey Kong Country and Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, and even though the Genesis was no slouch, it was looking a touch hoary. The 32X was designed to advance the power of Genesis beyond the SNES in the waning days of the generation. It also was intended to extend the longevity of the Genesis. SEGA was about to release the Saturn in the following year and knew its price tag was going to be steep -- $400 steep. That's over twice the price of the Genesis at launch and around three times the price of the Genesis hardware in 1994. The 32X would give those Genesis fans some extra power while they decided what to do about the next generation.
Philosophically, the 32X makes sense. The Saturn was exceedingly expensive and that would keep a lot of gamers away for a while. Plus, the first peeks at the 32X library, with games like Star Wars Arcade and an arcade-perfect version of Space Harrier, were promising. If the 32X came in at a decent price and with good game support, it could have been an interesting stop-gap solution to bridge the Genesis twilight period and the Saturn's sunrise. The numbers on the inside certainly sounded good at the time. Two 32-bit processors? Over 32,000 colors on-screen at the same time? Those were enticing to gamers, even those who maybe had lingering doubts after being burned by the SEGA CD.
As we know now, though, the 32X was a bomb.
The 32X debuted in America in November of 1994 at $160. That's almost the same price of Genesis in 1989. True, that would be under half of the Saturn launch price, but as I'll get to in a second, that launch price was just not warranted when you look at the 32X game catalog.
The add-on was also cumbersome. Depending on which version of the Genesis you owned (SEGA redesigned the Genesis to be smaller), you had to use a spacer so the 32X would snugly fit on your console. The 32X required its own power supply, too. Neither of these cosmetic issues was overtly problematic. They just betrayed a lack of thought. If SEGA was really serious about hyping the 32X to gamers unable to buy a Saturn, why not try to at least make the 32X somewhat elegant?
But an ugly add-on was the least of SEGA's problems with the 32X. The November launch was not serendipitous. Getting this add-on in stores by the holiday before the launch of the Saturn was a prime directive from then SEGA CEO Hayao Nakayama. And to do so, the games for the 32X suffered. Learning very little from the lack of decent software for the SEGA CD, the 32X dropped with a paltry library. The best of the bunch was Star Wars Arcade -- a game I still enjoy. The worst, hands down, was Doom. The 32X version of the game was just awful, with chuggy movement and fewer levels than the SNES version.
In the months following the 32X launch, the situation did not improve. Like the SEGA CD, the 32X hosted a bunch of Genesis ports that sported only marginal improvements. It was pointless to invest in them since you could get the same game with just fewer colors without the need for a $160 add-on. The 32X-only games were a mixed bag. Knuckles Chaotix was an interesting Sonic-esque game, if not a touch weird and likely disappointing to a Sonic fan that was expecting, well, Sonic. Tempo was a colorful platformer with great music. Kolibri is perhaps my favorite of the 32X library next to Star Wars, simply because it's such a cool concept. It's a side-scrolling shooter starring a hummingbird. And it does play well. But then there were the botch jobs. Zaxxon's Motherbase 2000? No. I was always amused by the collision of two under-supported Genesis add-ons, too. There were SEGA CD games that used the 32X to improve video quality, such as a special edition of Night Trap that did indeed look better, but played the same.
I actually thought the 32X was a better idea than the SEGA CD. Really. The SEGA CD did not do anything new -- it just offered more storage space. That's more storage space for more of the same. The 32X, while underpowered, at least advanced the ball. Maybe it only gained a few inches in no small part due to a weak library, but at least the idea was the right one: Introduce real 3D.
But all the 32X did was further fracture the audience for the Genesis. The game library did not inspire a need for the 32X with the next generation of hardware less than a year away. And so the 32X tanked. According to most estimates, the 32X sold only 200,000 units. Within months of its release, the 32X was discounted. And discounted again. I remember seeing a stack of 32X boxes at Toys "R" Us for $30 a pop. This thing just decimated residual goodwill for the Genesis. And I think a significant amount of wariness from the 32X and SEGA CD blunders carried over to the Saturn -- which was only exacerbated by the mistakes of the Saturn's surprise launch.
Notice that we haven't seen many add-ons like the 32X since 1994? I think the 32X killed the idea of an add-on like this -- a power booster -- permanently. And that's a good thing. Because add-ons, if not implemented properly, just splinter an audience. Look at the Wii Balance Board. Nintendo has been very smart about that add-on, creating software that uses it well, but not to the exclusion of the entire base. After all, that's why we buy consoles, so that we have one box that doesn't need to be tinkered with for five years. We just want new ways, like the Balance Board or Sony Home, to interact with them.