32X

About 32X in brief

The 32X is an add-on for the Sega Genesis video game console. It was designed to expand the power of the Genesis and serve as a transitional console into the 32-bit era until the release of the Sega Saturn. The 32X failed to attract third-party video game developers and consumers because of the announcement of the Saturn’s simultaneous release in Japan. Sega produced 800,000 32X units and sold an estimated 665,000 by the end of 1994, selling the rest at steep discounts until it was discontinued in 1996 as Sega turned its focus to the Saturn. Sega’s efforts to rush the 32X to market cut into time for game development, resulting in a weak library of 40 games that did not fully use the hardware, including Genesis ports. Sega of America executive Joe Miller suggested an alternative strategy, citing concerns with releasing a new console with no previous design specifications within six to nine months. One potential idea for this came from a concept from Sega of Japan, later known as \”Project Jupiter\”, an entirely new independent console. From these discussions, Project Jupiter was discontinued and the new addon, codenamed Project Mars, was developed. The new 32X was developed as a peripheral for the existing Genesis, expanding its power as well as expanding its library of games. The final design contained two 32- bit central processing units and a 3D graphics processor. It is considered a commercial failure because of its shallow game library, poor market timing and its market fragmentation of theGenesis.

Sega released the Mega Drive, a 16-bit video game consoles, in 1988, with releases in North America as the Genesis in 1989, and in other regions a year later. In 1991, Sega released an add on for the Genesis, the Sega CD, which did not meet commercial expectations, and gave the direction for theAdd-on to be released by theEnd of 1994. At the suggestion from Miller and his team, Sega designed the 32Z as a 32X as aipheral for the Genesis, expanding the power with its two-bit SuperH2 processors and expanding the library of 32-bits games. In 1996, Sega discontinued Project Jupiter and developed a new, more powerful, 32X add- on, the Genesis 32X, which was released the same year as the Saturn, the Saturn and the Genesis 2nd gen. It has been released in Japan, North America, the PAL region, and Brazil under the names Super 32X and Mega Drive 32X. It also has its own ROM cartridges and has a library of 30 games, including Sega’s “Super 32X” and “Mega Drive” series of games, which were developed by Sega of North America and South America. It had been developed in 1993 as a response to the Atari Jaguar and concerns that the Saturn would not be available until 1995, and about the recent release ofThe Atari Jaguar, and was developed in response to Sega’s concerns that it would not make it to market by the year’s end.