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Rant: 18 / 02 / 07
A Mars A Day. . . . .
Well, we are (finally) free
of builders, decorators and insurance types (but have STILL got to deal
with a damn surveyor later on this week). Still - at least now I
can
get access to my computer again.
I've also managed to find the time to dip into the old retro haul and have a go at
one of my favourite systems - the much maligned 32X. Yes
folks - Sega's Magic Mushroom.
The Sega 32X (codename Mars)
For those of you who've never used
or seen a 32X (and that will probably be most of you), you may be
wondering exactly what it is.
The Machine
The 32X is the 32 bit expansion for the 16 bit Sega Megadrive (or
Genesis for any Americans reading). It was released in the mid
90s and completely failed to set the market alight. In many ways
it was the right system at the wrong time. If it had been
released a year or two earlier it would probably have had more of an
impact - especially as it made the Megadrive a much more powerful
system than the SNES.
The 32X added a lot to the Megadrive's capabilities - such as improved
sound, more colours on screen, 3D support (more on this later) and a
much
faster processor.
The upgrade process was simple - the 32X plugged into the Megadrive's
cartridge slot, and took over the AV port on the host Megadrive.
Not only could you run 32X cartridges (which were slightly wider than
standard Megadrive ones) but normal Megadrive carts plugged straight in
too.
The main problem with the 32X was that although it really did improve
the Megadrive making it a machine that the SNES could only dream of
being - most people were waiting for the Sega Saturn, a true 32 bit CD
based system which was not going to be compatable with the 32X or the
32X CD games. Also on the horizon was a new 3D only system called
the Sony Playstation. . . . . . .
So as far as most are concerned the 32X was Sega's first major failure,
a machine that failed to sell in huge numbers. So why is it one
of my favourite systems?
Well, for one thing, it was the first 32 bit system that I owned, and
it had a couple of games on it that I would still class as amongst my
favourites (and are still worth playing even today). Those games
are: Doom, Virtua Fighter, Star Wars Arcade and Virtua Racing Deluxe.
Apart from Star Wars Arcade all of those games appeared on other
systems - and in some cases in much improved versions. But in the
days before I owned a decent PC, being able to sit down after a hard
days work and chain-saw my way through imps, grunts and cacodaemons was
really good stress relief.
Tech Specs
Megadrive
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Year of release
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1988
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CPU
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Motorola 68000 at 7.6 mhz
Zilog Z80 at 3.5 mhz
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Colours on screen
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1,563 using raster effects
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Audio
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Yamaha YM2612 (Six FM channels)
Texas Instruments SN76489 (Four channel PSG)
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32X
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Year of release
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1994
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CPU
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2x SH-2 - 32-bit RISC (23 MHz)
All 3D processing handled by the CPUs
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Colours on screen
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32,768 simultaneous colors on screen
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Audio
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12 Channel Stereo 10 bit PWM
(10 on the 32X + 2 Megadrive)
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The 32X could overlay the Megadrive's graphics with its own (and
visa-versa).
The Games
Virtua Fighter 32X
Virtua Fighter is STILL the most expensive game that I've ever
bought. I ordered the game from a catalogue a couple of weeks
before it was released and paid just over £60 for it!
Ouch! The funny thing was that I played it so much that I didn't
feel ripped off by the high price. This was the first game that
my girlfriend (now my wife of 10 years) could repeatedly beat me at.
The graphics were chunky, to say the least. There was no doubt
even then that graphically it couldn't match the higher poly-count of
the Sega Saturn version of the game, but the animation was smooth
enough that you stopped noticing after a couple of minutes. The
gameplay, however, was
every bit as good as on the Saturn. In fact, the extra game modes
made it a more fun game.
The lack of loading times is also a benefit of being on a cartridge,
making it feel more like the Arcade version than it's bigger brother.
Doom 32X
The good: Its Doom - but on the 32X. The graphics are more
varied than the PC version too - even if they are in a reduced size
screen. The controls work well too, as long as you are using a
six-button joypad. Some of the levels are slightly different to
the PC ones too.
The bad: Its all too short. There are only 15 levels (followed by
a short game over sequence) leaving you at a flashing C:\ prompt!
A nice game while it lasts though.
Star Wars Arcade
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away there was a really good Star
Wars game in the Arcade which went a long way towards capturing the
feel of the famous movie. Even though that game was by Atari,
and Star Wars Arcade was by Sega, the basic game was remarkably similar
and still very good. You shoot your way through a number of set
pieces from the first Star Wars film, destroy the Death Star and start
again.
You can play two players, where one pilots the ship and the other mans
the guns, but the meat of the game is the single player game. It
is still a tough challenge with plenty of levels and a very high
difficulty level.
Virtua Racing Deluxe
Virtua Racing was a strange game - the Megadrive version was 3D,
which was reason enough at that time to make it an essential
purchase. It
was still a
bit ugly, chunky and, well, crap really. The 32X version on the
other hand was actually rather good. In fact it was a better game
than the Saturn version, and it wasn't until the PS2 release of the
Sega
Ages collection that a home version of this game came anywhere near to
matching this one.
The 32X version has a couple of extra tracks compared to the Megadrive
version, and two additional cars. It also has a decent draw
distance, runs at a good speed and still plays pretty well
today. A solid, rather than spectacular, racer.
So you want to use a
real 32X?
Megadrives are cheap and easy to get. Let's face it, a tenner can
easily get you a working Megadrive II and all the bits. Getting a
32X is a bit more expensive. Expect to pay between £20 and
£50 (and
in some cases more) for a working 32X and all the leads.
Games can be bought from a couple of pounds upwards.
Once you've got one you'd expect things to be plain sailing.
Well, no. The single biggest problem with the 32X is that they
stop working with an alarming regularity. My original 32X was
returned under warranty when it just stopped working. When it
went back I was given a full refund as they no longer made them.
The 32X which came with the haul worked for a whole 30 seconds before
going the same way as my last one. Black screen, no game, nothing.
It turns out this is quite a common problem, and not too difficult to
fix if you are willing to take your 32X apart. There is a ribbon
cable that tends to work its way out over time that needs putting back
in, see this web site
for full details of the procedure.
When all is said and done, the 32X is a bit of a rarety but one that is
fairly easy to get hold of. It was never as popular as it might
have been, and probably helped in Sega's eventual downfall.
There are less than 40 titles in total available for it (and some of
them are a bit on the crap side) but the good games really show what
could have been if the developer support had been there.
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