Virtua Racing Deluxe 32X

The final game added to my 32X collection and it also completed the set of launch titles. This is another game that I had played in the arcades before playing this home verison. Looking back at the graphics now they look simply horrid, to say this game has aged badly is a massive understatement. However, back in 1995 they were very impressive and to be fair the framerate is very smooth. This version boasts more cars than the original (three) and more tracks (five).

I do remember playing this game for quite some time and enjoying it but five courses just isn't enough. Especially when they are as short as those in Virtua Racing. Like the other 32X games I've recently acquired I would love to play them one more time. It is a pity that getting a 32X seems out of the question because of the prices being quoted.

Star Wars Arcade 32X

I remember playing this game in the arcade with a friend of mine. It was a really fun experience. The two of us sitting in the cockpit shaped unit trying to make the trench run from the original movie. The thing I remember most was the incredible sound design, Artoo screaming in our ears every time we took damage. Ah, the memories.

Shame then that the 32X version didn't provide the same thrills. It did look like the arcade version but not quite as good. The same goes for the sound too. The effects were all there but because of the poor sound quality on the machine they just didn't sound as clear as they should have. In fact they were pretty grating to be honest. One area were the game did improve upon the original was the number of levels on offer. The game had the original arcade more and also an expanded mission mode. Unfortunately, the game was so hard I never did beat the first two levels so I never got to see what else the game had to offer. At least they still had General Akbar barking out orders on the screen. Who doesn't love that guy. 'It's a trap!'

Doom 32X

As I mentioned in the previous post I had this sitting at home two weeks before I had a 32X system to play it with. So by the time I was sitting down to play it, expectations were pretty high. I can say that I was pretty pleased with the game. The graphics and sound were certainly an improvement over the normal Mega Drive game and I can't say I was too bothered by the infamous border on the screen. I know that people now slate the 32X port as inferior to nearly every other version, including the SNES version but at the time it was great for me. It may have lacked a large number of levels and any multiplayer but I never went on to beat the game so a lack of levels wasn't an issue. On the downside this was the first game that ever made me feel nauseous while playing and still gets me with some FPS games.

This copy of the game is in quite good condition, which is probably about as good as you will find most 32X games at this stage. I had totally forgotten this but the 32X games come in cardboard boxes that slide out on a cardboard tray. I can't understand why Sega would move from the destruction proof hard plastic Mega Drive cases to these flimsy cardboard boxes. The box for this game is frayed at the edges but overall isn't too bad.

I would like to get a 32X again to play Doom one more time. I'm pretty sure it'd would only be one more time too.

32X and three more for the collection

Three more games that I used to own arrived to take their place in my slowly rebuilding collection - Doom, Virtua Racing Deluxe and Star Wars Arcade all for the Sega 32X. I thought I would start this series of posts with a quick review of my 32X experience.

I first became aware of the 32X while watching a promotional video on the Channel 4 show Gamesmaster. I thought it was going to be the coolest thing ever. It would make my Mega Drive twice as powerful, blowing the SNES out of the water and I would be playing arcade perfect ports of all the best games. Of course most people reading this article will know that this isn't how it would turn out for owners of the 32X.

I was promised that I would be getting the 32X that Christmas so in preparation I purchased Doom a week or two before Christmas. I remember my Dad driving me into town to the Virgin Megastore on the quays. I think I am right in saying that there was only three launch titles to choose from. So I had the game now but nothing to play it on. The wait till Christmas was a little longer than usual that year. So Christmas morning finally arrives and I unwrap my new toy. I quickly read through the instructions and started putting this strange mushroom shaped contraption together. If you look back at it now it really was a pretty messy piece of hardware, with several bits and pieces to assemble to get it to work. I eventually hooked it all up, powered it up and then, nothing.

Nothing happened. There seemed to be power going into the unit but no picture on the TV. We had to go out visiting family as usual that morning but I took everything with me to try again to get it to work. I reassembled it all again in my nana's house and it still didn't work. I don't remember what my reaction was to all this but I'm sure I wasn't too pleased. My dad actually figured it out in the end. One of the wires at the back of the 32X wasn't pushed in hard enough, I mean this wire had to be REALLY pushed in to connect. So it was working now and I was happy, and thankfully really impressed by Doom.

One side effect of I had of playing normal Mega Drive games through the 32X was that it would turn NHL 93 monochrome. I'm not sure how long that Doom was my only game but I eventually ended up adding Star Wars Arcade and Virtua Racing Deluxe to the collection. And that was it, just three games ever for the system. I read about some great looking games in magazines like Sonic and Knuckles Chaotix and the port of Mortal Kombat 2. I don't know why I never got anymore games for the 32X. Where they too expensive? Could I not find them? I think the most likely reason is that it was 1995 by this point and the PSone was on the market. It was an interesting experiment but there was just too many flaws with the system for it to succeed in the end.