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History

 

Released in Japan as the Mega Drive in 1988, North America in 1989, and Europe and other regions as the Mega Drive in 1990, the Sega Genesis was Sega's entry into the 16-bit era of video game consoles. In mid-1990, Sega CEO Hayao Nakayama hired Tom Kalinske as CEO of Sega of America. Kalinske developed a four-point plan for sales of the Genesis: cut the price of the console, create a U.S.-based team to develop games targeted at the American market, continue aggressive advertising campaigns, and pack Sonic the Hedgehog in with the console. The Japanese board of directors initially disapproved of the plan, but all four points were approved by Nakayama, who told Kalinske, "I hired you to make the decisions for Europe and the Americas, so go ahead and do it." Magazines praised Sonic as one of the greatest games yet made, and Sega's console took off as customers who had been waiting for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) decided to purchase a Genesis instead.

 

By 1994, the Genesis was starting to lag in its capabilities when compared to its main rival, the SNES and its newer games Super Metroid and Donkey Kong Country. The release of an add-on, the Sega CD, had also been commercially disappointing. With the release of the Sega Saturn upcoming, Sega began to develop a stop-gap solution that would bridge the gap between the Genesis and the Saturn, and would serve as a less expensive entry into the 32-bit era. The decision to create a new system was made by Nakayama. According to former Sega of America producer Scot Bayless, Nakayama was worried that the Saturn would not be available until after 1994, as well as the recent release of the 32-bitAtari Jaguar, and as a result the direction given was to have this second release to market by the end of the year.

 

Development

 

At the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in early 1994, Sega of America research and development head Joe Miller took a phone call from Nakayama, in which Nakayama stressed the importance of coming up with a quick response to the Jaguar. Included on this call were Bayless, Sega hardware team head Hideki Sato, and Sega vice president of technology Marty Franz. One potential idea for this came from a concept from Sega of Japan, later known as "Project Jupiter", an entirely new independent console. Project Jupiter was initially slated to be a new version of the Genesis, with an upgraded color palette and a lower cost than the upcoming Saturn, as well as with some limited 3D capabilities thanks to integration of ideas from the development of the Sega Virtua Processor chip. Miller suggested an alternative strategy, citing concerns with releasing a new console with no previous design specifications within six to nine months. According to former Sega of America producer Michael Latham, Miller said, "Oh, that's just a horrible idea. If all you're going to do is enhance the system, you should make it an add-on. If it's a new system with legitimate new software, great. But if the only thing it does is double the colors..." Miller, however, insists that the decision was made collectively to talk about alternative solutions. One idea was to leverage the existing Genesis as a way to keep from alienating Sega customers, who would otherwise be required to discard their Genesis systems entirely to play 32-bit games, as well as to control the cost of the new system. This would come in the form of an add-on. From these discussions, Project Jupiter was discontinued and the new add-on, codenamed "Project Mars", was advanced.

 

At the suggestion from Miller and his team, Sega designed the 32X as a peripheral for the existing Genesis, expanding its power with two 32-bit processors. The original design for the 32X add-on, according to Bayless, was created on a cocktail napkin, but Miller insists that this was not the case. At the end of the Consumer Electronics show, with the basic design of the 32X in place, Sega of Japan invited Sega of America to assist in development of the new add-on.

 

Although the new unit was a stronger console than originally proposed, it was not compatible with Saturn games. This was justified by Sega's statement that both platforms would run at the same time, and that the 32X would be aimed at players who could not afford the more expensive Saturn. Bayless praised the potential of this system at this point, calling it "a coder's dream for the day" with its twin processors and 3D capabilities.[5] Sega of America headed up the development of the 32X, with some assistance from Sato's team at Sega of Japan. Shortages of processors due to the same 32-bit chips being used in both the 32X and the Saturn hindered the development of the 32X, as did the language barrier between the teams in Japan and the United States.

 

Before the 32X could be launched, the release date of the Saturn was announced for November 1994 in Japan, coinciding with the 32X's target launch date in North America. Sega of America now was faced with trying to market the 32X with the Saturn's Japan release occurring simultaneously. Their answer was to call the 32X a "transitional device" between the Genesis and the Saturn, to which Bayless describes of the strategy, "frankly, it just made us look greedy and dumb to consumers."

 

Pre-launch promotion, release, and marketing

 

Japanese Sega Saturn, released in November 1994. The 32X was incompatible with Saturn software.The official unveiling of the 32X to the public came at the Summer Consumer Electronics Show in June 1994 in Chicago. Promoted as the "poor man's entry into 'next generation' games", 32X was marketed for its US$159 price point as a less-expensive alternative to the Saturn. However, Sega would not answer whether or not a Genesis console equipped with a Sega CD and a 32X would be able to run Saturn software. Founder of The 3DO Company, Trip Hawkins, was willing to point out that it would not, stating, "Everyone knows that 32X is a Band-Aid. It's not a 'next generation system.' It's fairly expensive. It's not particularly high-performance. It's hard to program for, and it's not compatible with the Saturn."

 

In response to these comments, Sega executive Richard Brudvik-Lindner pointed out that the 32X would play Genesis titles, and had the same system architecture as the Saturn.In August of that year, GamePro highlighted the advantages of the upcoming add-on in its 32-bit processors and significantly lower price, noting that "no doubt gotta-get-it-now gamers will spend the big bucks to grab Saturn or PlayStation systems and games from Japan. For the rest of us, however, 32X may well be the system of choice in '94." In promotion for the new system, Sega promised 12 games available at launch and 50 games due for release in 1995 from third-party developers.

 

The 32X was released on November 21, 1994 in North America, in time for the holiday season that year. As announced, it retailed for $159.99, and had a reasonably successful launch in the marketplace. Demand among retailers was high, and Sega could not keep up orders for the system. Over 1,000,000 orders had been placed for 32X units, but Sega had only managed to ship 600,000 units by January 1995. Launching at about the same price as a Genesis console, the price of the 32X was less than half of what the Saturn's price would be at launch. Despite Sega's initial promises, only four titles were available at its North American launch; Doom, Star Wars Arcade, Virtua Racing Deluxe, and Cosmic Carnage. Games were available at a retail price of $69.95. Advertising for the system included images of the 32X being connected to a Genesis console to create an "arcade system". Japan received the 32X on December 3, 1994, at a cost of JP¥16,800. The system's PAL release came in January 1995, at an initial price of GB£169.99, and also experienced initial high demand.

 

Decline

 

Despite the lower price console's positioning as an inexpensive entry into 32-bit gaming, Sega had a difficult time convincing third-party developers to create games for the new system. Top developers were already aware of the coming arrival of the Sega Saturn, Nintendo 64, and PlayStation, and did not believe the 32X would be capable of competing with any of those systems. The quick development time of the 32X also made game development difficult, according to Franz.[5] Not wanting to create games for an add-on that was "a technological dead-end", many developers decided not to make games for the system. Issues also plagued titles developed in-house due to the time crunch to release the 32X. According to Bayless, "games in the queue were effectively jammed into a box as fast as possible, which meant massive cutting of corners in every conceivable way. Even from the outset, designs of those games were deliberately conservative because of the time crunch. By the time they shipped they were even more conservative; they did nothing to show off what the hardware was capable of."

 

Journalists were similarly concerned about Sega's tactic of selling two similar consoles at different prices and attempting to support both, likening Sega's approach to that of General Motors and segmenting the market for its consoles. In order to convince journalists that the 32X was a worthwhile console, Sega hosted a party for journalists in a nightclub, featuring live music and 32X games on exhibition. The event turned out to be a bust, however, as journalists attempted to leave the party due to its loud music and unimpressive games on display.

 

Though the system had a successful launch, demand soon disappeared. The 32X failed to catch on with the public, and is considered a commercial failure. By 1995, the Genesis had still not proven successful in Japan, where it was known as Mega Drive, and the Saturn was beating the PlayStation, so Sega CEO Hayao Nakayama decided to force Sega of America to focus on the Saturn and cut support for Genesis products, executing a surprise early launch of the Saturn in the early summer of 1995. Sega was supporting five different consoles before this—Saturn, Genesis, Game Gear, Pico, and the Master System—as well as the Sega CD and Sega 32X add-ons. Sales estimates for the 32X stood at 665,000 units at the end of 1994. Despite assurances from Sega that many games would be developed for the system, in early 1996, Sega finally conceded that they had promised too much out and decided to officially discontinue the 32X in order to focus on the Saturn, with the add-on's final release being Darxide in PAL territories. In September 1995, the retail price for the 32X dropped to $99, and later the remaining inventory was ultimately cleared out of stores at $19.95.

 

Sega Neptune

 

The Sega Neptune was a two-in-one Genesis and 32X console which Sega planned to release in 1995 for the holiday season, with a proposed retail price for the unit at US$200. Despite its initial scheduled release, the Neptune was later delayed into 1996, then canceled altogether with the announcement of the cancellation of 32X production. Electronic Gaming Monthly used the Sega Neptune as an April Fools' Day prank in its April 2001 issue. The issue included a small article in which the writers announced that Sega had found a warehouse full of old Sega Neptunes, and were selling them on a website for only $50. Also, a video game for the PlayStation 3 released in 2010 named Hyperdimension Neptunia took the name of the game's main character from the unreleased console.

HISTORY

Manufacturer: Sega

Type: Video game console add-on

Generation: Fourth generation

Retail availability:

                 NA November 21, 1994

                 JP December 3, 1994

                 EU January 1995

Introductory price:

US$159.99 ¥16,800 £169.99

Discontinued: 1996

Units sold: 665,000 as of the end of 1994

Media: Cartridge,CD-ROM (with Sega CD)

CPU: 2 × SH-2 32-bit RISC (23 MHz)

Memory: 2Mbit RAM

Display: 320 × 240 resolution, 32,768 on-screen colors

Dimensions: 110 × 210 × 100 mm (4.3 × 8.3 × 3.9 in)

Weight: 495 g (17.5 oz)

Predecessor: Sega Megadrive

Successor: Sega Saturn

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