I used to have a 32x back in the day, but you know, Sega did what they did, and it didn't really pan out. I thought the mushroom system was cool tech, but lamented how little value it added to the Genesis. I essentially gave it away.
The library was small, and even the top tier A-list games barely even graze competency, let alone "good". Most of them play well enough in emulation (there are exceptions, of course), and even Mister has a core for it now.
Still, I unironically enjoy Cosmic Carnage; Doom on 32x was sadly rushed but the result is hilarious for so many reasons (my favorite is the end of the game dumps you into a fake DOS prompt); and I still remember being legit excited to play Mortal Kombat II on the system, and it got a lot of mileage. So it wasn't all bad.
It may not make a lot of sense to buy it again now for the nostalgia, especially with all the benefits of hindsight I have. Did it anyway.
SEGA shelves at toy stores and rental stores were so chaotic in this era ❤️
It started with a good idea. Games were selling for the SNES and Genesis with 3D chips built in (and were really expensive). Like Virtua Racer (SVP chip) and Star Fox (FX chip). So why not sell the 3D chip add on separately instead of paying $100 a cartridge.
They botched the release (~~no~~ 3 games at launch) and full 3D consoles were too close. The Saturn was released in the US 6 months after the 32X.
Would have been interesting if they had released it sooner or if they had released Virtua Racer or Virtua Fighter with the 32X instead of the standalone releases.
Neat video on the built in 3D chips:
https://youtu.be/yZHFbLfvb8w?si=Xa9zTLMpd0a_Z-Ha
Edit: Video specifically about the 32x
https://youtu.be/sjilAAhp8NI?si=29fyDU_IfLFo-HI-
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/yZHFbLfvb8w?si=Xa9zTLMpd0a_Z-Ha
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.
Parents were so (understandably) confused when buying games lol