R P G A M E R . C O M   -   E D I T O R I A L S

That's One Bad 'Shroom

!

!

Mike "JuMeSyn" Moehnke
FAN EDITORIALIST

In 1994 Sega released an add-on for the Sega Genesis termed the 32X. In a nutshell, the device was supposedly to increase the Genesis's capabilities and its lifespan. For a considerably more in-depth treatment of the device and its numerous failings in that regard, I provide this link. It's a lengthy article but one that will inform far better than I feel capable of doing.

Having seen a fairly explanatory/apologetic distillation of the 32X's creation and death, I now offer for balance issues another link. This one's a video, not an article. It's also full of objectionable language, so let the clicker beware.

Talking about the 32X on an RPG site seems a bit pointless however, given that the add-on crashed and burned before anything for the RPG audience could be released on it. True, Romance of the 3 Kingdoms IV (unwieldy title!) came out in Japan only and could have appealed to the Koei-lovers. A title called Shadow of Atlantis was in development for 32X after being bumped from Sega CD and before being bumped to Saturn, before cancellation. The title apparently would have been an incorporation of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea into RPG form - a noteworthy concept. Yet these are the only titles with even a glimmer of interest to RPGamer, one of which does not exist and the other of which requires a full knowledge of Japanese to play.

So why bother to talk about the thing on RPGamer? The historical usefulness of seeing one of the greatest flops in gaming ever aside, a small warning to the future might be taken. The story of the 32X is rooted in the corporate infighting of different regions within a company, after all. Microsoft, by virtue of being unquestionably controlled from Washington state, doesn't have much of this. Neither does Nintendo, which is unquestionably controlled by its Japanese head office (to the woe of gamers/press seeking information on upcoming releases much of the time). Sony has seen some well-publicized disagreements between its Japanese, North American, and European offices. And there is the recent rumor of Sega rejoining the console market, however unlikely it sounds...