The History of the Sega CD/32X

Sega CD

Sega CD

The Sega CD (Mega CD in Japan) was released in Japan in 1991. Produced by Sega in partnership with JVC, an important producer of videocassettes, cassette tapes and a CD player. The Sega CD was created to compete with the American version of the PC Engine CD, the TurboGrafx-CD. It was placed below the Japanese model and enhanced its system.

Sega CD Hardware 

It added another MC68k processor with 12.5 MHz, along with the console's 7.6 MHz. It added 75kb of RAM with 64kb of the console. The Sega 315-5548 ASIC video chip with 64 colors, dimension and rotation in the style of the SNES's Mode 7 and with 3D polygon graphics, working together with the MD's video DSP, the Sega 315-5313. For audio, a Ricoh RF5C164 chip and modern digital audio (from CD) were added, adding 10 more audio channels to the MD, which worked with the Zilog Z80 and the Yamaha 2612. And finally the CD-ROM drive, which was 1x, accompanied by the BIOS and a CD Player software. Its coupling with the MD also brought benefits to the console, such as better sound quality in its games. The console played standard CD-ROMs and CD+G format, playing games and music CDs. The games had modern digital quality sound, cut scenes, and varied between MD ports and in-house productions.

Prize Fighter, Night Trap and Rebel Assault

Among them, FMV (Full-Motion Video) games, which were played movies. Among the successful games exclusive to the console, we have Sonic CD, Dark Wizard, Lunar: The Silver Star, Heart of The Alien, Jurassic Park, The Terminator, among others. As for FMV games, we highlight Night Trap, Tomcat Alley, Kamen Rider ZO, Dragon's Lair, Road Avanger, Power Rangers, Ground Zero Texas, Double Switch, and others.

Sega CD Games 

The console also had many ports from a variety of hardware, such as Mega Drive, SNES, Arcade and even PC, such as Final Fight CD, Shining Force CD, The Amazing Spider-Man, Flashback, 3 Ninjas Kick Back, Batman Returns, Pitfall, Prince of Persia, Mortal Kombat, Road Rash, Samurai Shodown, Fatal Fury Special, Ecco The Dolphin, World Cup USA '94, Theme Park, among many others. In addition, we had platform games, such as Earthworm Jim, The Smurfs, Demolition Man, Chuck Rock, Radical Rex, Devastator, Heart of The Alien, Hook. RPGs, such as Popful Mail, Shining Force CD, Dungeon Explorer, Daihoushinden, Lunar: Eternal Blue, Dungeon Master II, Arslan Senki. Fighting games, such as Eternal Champions, Brutal, Battle Fantasy (in addition to those already mentioned). From light gun shooters, such as Lethal Enforcers I and II, Who Shot Johnny Rock?, Corpse Killer and Mad Dog I and II (mostly FMV). From sports, such as FIFA International Soccer, NHL Hockey '94, NFL Football, ESPN Baseball Tonight, NBA Jam. From racing, such as MegaRace, Racing Ages, Jaguar XJ220, Formula One World Championship, BC Racers. From shmups, such as Star Wars, Thunderhawk, Loadstar, Soul Star, Star Blade, A/X-101 (in this case as aircraft war games, known as air combat simulators). From adventure, such as The Secret of Monkey Island, Snatcher, Sherlock Holmes. And finally from anime, such as Captain Tsubasa, Ranma 1/2, Cyborg 009, 3x3 Eyes.

Sega CD 2 and Genesis CDX

The console had other models, with the Sega CD 2 released in 1993, which placed the CD console next to the Mega Drive 2 (here called MD 3) instead of underneath. There were other versions, such as those from Vircot and Pioneer, but we highlight Sega's third release, the Genesis CDX only in Europe in 1994, which combined the MD and Sega CD in a single small and portable device. With competition intensifying in 1993 with the Amiga CD32 and 3DO and in 1994 with the Saturn and PSX, the add-on was discontinued in 1996 with 2.24 million units sold in total.

32X

32X

The Sega 32X was released in the US in 1994. Its original design came about as Project Jupiter, which would be a new model of the Mega Drive with more colors. Then, they decided to create an add-on for the MD, giving power to the console and releasing their own games, all in order not to lose customers. This new project was named Project Mars. With the development of the 32-bit SH-2 processor (23 MHz) in partnership with Hitachi for the future Sega Saturn (which would be 28.6 MHz), Sega used two of them for the 32X. Both projects were being designed in case the Saturn failed to be released in 1994, so as not to have a gap of more than three years without releasing a console. The conclusion is that the add-on ended up being released one day before the Saturn, which was released in Japan. Its rushed development resulted in a library of 40 games released and a lack of use of hardware that was newly known to the gaming industry.

Sega CD 32X

Its strong points were its low price, its color palette, which reached 32 thousand colors, surpassing all 16-bit consoles of the time, a RAM and video memory, each with 256kb, two math processors in each SH-2 CPU, a QSound PWM sound chip, used in arcades, such as the CPS-2 and the Sega 32X VDP video chip, from Sega's chip line since the SMS. Two interesting facts. The MD working together with the 32X, enhanced the colors of its games. The 32X, together with the Sega CD, worked together with its 68k CPU. 32X games could also be burned to CD and played on the Sega CD, if the media was compatible with the add-on. Its games were produced in cartridges, unlike the old MD add-on.

32X Games

Among the games produced for the console, we have Doom, After Burner, FIFA Soccer 96, Knukcles Chaotix, NBA Jam, Mortal Kombat 2, Night Trap, Primal Rage, Pitfall, Space Harrier, Virtua Racing, Virtua Fighter, Star Wars, NFL, WWE, Tempo, Spider-Man and Motocross Championship. The add-on had 800 thousand units sold, 665 thousand of which in the first month of its release. This is due, firstly, to the fact that the Saturn was not yet popular and secondly because it was also Christmas time. The other 135 thousand units were sold with great effort even at a lower price, in the period of just over 1 year until its discontinuation in 1996.