The first thing that I would like to note is how complicated it is to PLAY this thing. For example, as I am wont to do, here are photo examples. Here are the cords that you need to play on the Sega Genesis:
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| A power adapter, and the Genesis composite cable. Simple enough. |
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| A huge fucking mess, if you weren't doing the math. |
Knuckles Chaotix
Now here's the big fish of the console that everybody was interested in back in the day. I mean, heck, it has Knuckles on the cover, and everyone remembered playing Sonic 3/Sonic & Knuckles. Those were awesome! So how's this game? Well, it's....different. How? Well, for starters, you control two characters. And I don't mean like Tails following you in Sonic 2. You are forcibly linked with the 2nd person on a power ring, but almost immediately, it will feel more like a rubber band.
Imagine those momentum mechanics of the Sonic the Hedgehog games. Now imagine that you're rubber banded with a different character, and you guys run at ENTIRELY DIFFERENT SPEEDS. So getting anywhere quickly becomes you two bouncing back and forth to go anywhere. It still works, in its own way, but it looks frustrating and chaotic when you play. (Eh? See what I did there?) Heck, I once did a two-player session of this. It quickly went from "Oh, this is a cool idea." to "Okay, now just-wait, I'm trying t-hold on for a se-WOULD YOU SIT THE FUCK STILL?"
Graphically, the game is very pretty. The colors are vibrant, and the game makes sure to show off the 3D effects every time that you enter a level, fight a boss, and even with its highly renovated bonus stages. And the animations are VERY smooth. I almost laugh at how often they're used, as it's clear Sega wanted to use this to show the 32X capabilities.
Imagine those momentum mechanics of the Sonic the Hedgehog games. Now imagine that you're rubber banded with a different character, and you guys run at ENTIRELY DIFFERENT SPEEDS. So getting anywhere quickly becomes you two bouncing back and forth to go anywhere. It still works, in its own way, but it looks frustrating and chaotic when you play. (Eh? See what I did there?) Heck, I once did a two-player session of this. It quickly went from "Oh, this is a cool idea." to "Okay, now just-wait, I'm trying t-hold on for a se-WOULD YOU SIT THE FUCK STILL?"
Graphically, the game is very pretty. The colors are vibrant, and the game makes sure to show off the 3D effects every time that you enter a level, fight a boss, and even with its highly renovated bonus stages. And the animations are VERY smooth. I almost laugh at how often they're used, as it's clear Sega wanted to use this to show the 32X capabilities.
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| Knuckles and Mighty the Armadillo joining forces whether they like it or not. Fun fact, Mighty the Armadillo was made because Sonic was originally going to be an armadillo. |
And to their credit, it was a good job. My major complaint with this game is the music, Not only is it not upgraded from what you'd hear in a Genesis Sonic game, but in my opinion the songs are also not memorable at all. Sure, they sound like Sonic songs, but not good ones. Imagine a game entirely made up of Mystic Cave music. Yeah, it gets a little grating when the whole game is that un-catchy. For example, here's Crystal Nightmare, which not only doesn't sound upgraded.....it almost sounds like an NES song, which is not a compliment for a game in 1995.
In short, good game. Bad Sonic game.
Doom
This game is epitome of a mixed bag. Gameplay-wise? It's motherfuckin' Doom. You either know exactly how it plays, or should be ashamed of yourself for reading this instead of playing Doom. Nonono, go on. I'll be here when you get back.
Graphically, the game is a pretty good port. It plays as well as the Super Nintendo version, but without the garbage pixellation of the SNES. In fact, I think this might be the prettiest console version of Doom aside from the Atari Jaguar!
Graphically, the game is a pretty good port. It plays as well as the Super Nintendo version, but without the garbage pixellation of the SNES. In fact, I think this might be the prettiest console version of Doom aside from the Atari Jaguar!
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| That way you can see Doom in all of its Hellish beauty. |
However, these are where the compliments end. The music. Just.....the fucking music, man. What happened?! Here's the 32X music. Sound familiar? That's because that mass of garbage is SUPPOSED to sound like this.
The review for this truly is short. It looks nice, plays nice, and even keeps a good framerate even when a lot is happening on screen. But mute your TV. For everybody's sake.
The review for this truly is short. It looks nice, plays nice, and even keeps a good framerate even when a lot is happening on screen. But mute your TV. For everybody's sake.
Kolibri
This game is....weird. Apparently this is one of the rarer 32X, and I was just lucky enough to come across is for $5. It probably will make sense to some when I explain that this game was made by the creators of Ecco the Dolphin, which at least helps rationalize why someone would use a supposedly revolutionary piece of hardware to make a game about a hummingbird that goes on a quest to destroy a crystal from outer space. The bird doesn't even have a name. So who the hell is Kolibri? *googles*
Oh. Kolibri is German for hummingbird. Now it totally makes sense.
ANYWAY, so I start this game, and I have one control option other than fly around: dash. I go to the other side of the level, and nothing. After getting eaten by the damn toad in the level about a half dozen times, I finally discovered a small crystal in the middle of the level. Go to it, and you are given the powers to SHOOT THE HOLY LIVING FUCK OUT OF NATURE. Seriously, the rest of the game is just shooting wasps, dragonflies, beetles, caterpillars, and any other poor soul that happens to be in your general vicinity.
Oh. Kolibri is German for hummingbird. Now it totally makes sense.
ANYWAY, so I start this game, and I have one control option other than fly around: dash. I go to the other side of the level, and nothing. After getting eaten by the damn toad in the level about a half dozen times, I finally discovered a small crystal in the middle of the level. Go to it, and you are given the powers to SHOOT THE HOLY LIVING FUCK OUT OF NATURE. Seriously, the rest of the game is just shooting wasps, dragonflies, beetles, caterpillars, and any other poor soul that happens to be in your general vicinity.
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| I'm coming back for you, you lazy fuck. |
Graphically, the game is actually kind of pretty. It uses a mixture of pre-rendering like Donkey Kong Country, and pixellation like Mortal Kombat. ....okay?
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| Fear him. Fear what's-his-name the hummingbird. |
After the first level, the game becomes a shooter. And it is fun for a little bit. The music is very calm and smooth, fitting the environment that you're immersed in. You know, before you kill everything. However, it quickly becomes dull, because the gameplay never changes. There's no boss fights, no new mechanics, and no new enemies. At least, not in the first 8 levels, because I wanted to move onto the next game at this point.
NBA Jam
Now first, I want to say that this is coming from someone who is not a fan of sports games. That being said, this game isn't too bad. It's pretty average graphically, although it did get a fresh coat of paint compared to its Genesis counterpart. Was it enough for someone to upgrade from their Genesis version back in the day?...Not really. The character sprites are slightly improved, and the crowd has a few animations. Aside from that, the only differences are that the NBA Jam logo is at the half court line, and the HUD has some more detail.
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| Genesis version |
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| 32X version. (Sorry, if I makes the pictures bigger side by side, the blog site gets mad with me) |
The main improvement was with the sounds, which were grainy and screechy like many Genesis games. In the 32X version, the voices are very clear, and the music is audible. Still, the audio does sound very.....absent, if that makes any sense. You'll still find the game absent of any noise while playing quite often, and it feels like nothing is happening.
As for the gameplay, it's easy to pick up and learn. Standard basketball rules apply, except that this is a 2 on 2, and there are no fouls. So steal and tackle away! This game even supports up to 4 players, which could be pretty fun with the right people even today. My complaint with the gameplay (and it's a big one) is why on earth can you only control one player on your team? Sure, I understand another player could play with you if you have a friend over. But why would they decide that a one player game needs a teammate who runs around and shoots at his own free will? You can make him pass or shoot, but where he moves when doing so is up to the game rather than you.
You also cannot switch between your teammates. So if the opposing team knocks you down? Well, they're going to run straight to their goal and shoot a three-pointer. And there's nothing you can do about it because you're on the floor, and lord knows your teammate won't block it. To me, it seems like this would have been an easy fix. Oh well. On to a subject that I'm more well-versed in...
As we all know, though, graphics aren't everything. How does it play? Well, as I said, the goal is to destroy the enemy fighters. The controls are very easy to manage, and it feels very satisfying to blow up the empire scum. Something that you will discover quickly, though, is that getting the TIE Fighters in your sights is quite frustrating. You'll either find yourself getting mad that they just stay behind you even when you slow down, or turning frantically to get them in your sights, but missing since your ship is far more sluggish than them.
I understand that the system can only render you moving so fast, but by the 3rd stage (each stage just has you kill increasingly larger numbers of fighters before time runs out), I was doing anything that I could to get the TIE fighters in my sights, and nothing worked fast enough. And one life is all you get. So this game is fun, but unforgiving.
Hey, guys! I got a position writing more things! If you want to see more content that I write, keep your eyes peeled on operationrainfall.com, where I write journalism articles about niche and Japanese games. Or go to twitch.tv/dococarina, where you can watch me scream incoherently while I suck at video games!
As for the gameplay, it's easy to pick up and learn. Standard basketball rules apply, except that this is a 2 on 2, and there are no fouls. So steal and tackle away! This game even supports up to 4 players, which could be pretty fun with the right people even today. My complaint with the gameplay (and it's a big one) is why on earth can you only control one player on your team? Sure, I understand another player could play with you if you have a friend over. But why would they decide that a one player game needs a teammate who runs around and shoots at his own free will? You can make him pass or shoot, but where he moves when doing so is up to the game rather than you.
You also cannot switch between your teammates. So if the opposing team knocks you down? Well, they're going to run straight to their goal and shoot a three-pointer. And there's nothing you can do about it because you're on the floor, and lord knows your teammate won't block it. To me, it seems like this would have been an easy fix. Oh well. On to a subject that I'm more well-versed in...
Star Wars Arcade
Oh yes, play those beautiful John Williams tunes. As soon as that awesome song began to play while the credits for A New Hope scrolled by, I was excited. I was about to see some serious shit. And when the gameplay started, it actually looked pretty good. Your goal is to shoot all of the TIE fighters before time runs out, and then you move on to the next section.
You're given the choice of two views: cockpit, or behind your fighter ship like you're watching a scene in the movie. Either one works pretty well, and again, for 1994, this looks pretty good. Star Fox had only come out a year before, and there were almost *no* textures in that game. Now hold on. I'm not saying that this game is better than Star Fox by any means. I'm just stating that what was presumably going to be yet another mediocre port of an arcade game at the time actually turned into something that was at least relatively comparable in a graphical sense to a major Nintendo title.
You're given the choice of two views: cockpit, or behind your fighter ship like you're watching a scene in the movie. Either one works pretty well, and again, for 1994, this looks pretty good. Star Fox had only come out a year before, and there were almost *no* textures in that game. Now hold on. I'm not saying that this game is better than Star Fox by any means. I'm just stating that what was presumably going to be yet another mediocre port of an arcade game at the time actually turned into something that was at least relatively comparable in a graphical sense to a major Nintendo title.
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| ^ 1994 |
As we all know, though, graphics aren't everything. How does it play? Well, as I said, the goal is to destroy the enemy fighters. The controls are very easy to manage, and it feels very satisfying to blow up the empire scum. Something that you will discover quickly, though, is that getting the TIE Fighters in your sights is quite frustrating. You'll either find yourself getting mad that they just stay behind you even when you slow down, or turning frantically to get them in your sights, but missing since your ship is far more sluggish than them.
I understand that the system can only render you moving so fast, but by the 3rd stage (each stage just has you kill increasingly larger numbers of fighters before time runs out), I was doing anything that I could to get the TIE fighters in my sights, and nothing worked fast enough. And one life is all you get. So this game is fun, but unforgiving.
In conclusion, the Sega 32X was an interesting idea that, in my opinion, could have had relative success (at least to the level of the Sega CD, if not the Saturn) if Sega had combined the 32X and CD into one console like they had originally intended. Instead, the library became very small, losing titles originally announced for it like a Castlevania game. It's okay. That game didn't have many assets that would have been enjoyed anyway. They only went on later to be used in a game called Symphony of the Night. Wait, shit.
Good job, Sega. GOOD JOB.
But honestly I can see why the 32X failed. The games are not all that bad, but the library was far too small, and the games focused more on their technological gimmicks than the gameplay. So the console was most certainly of poor design, but I may have the uncommon opinion of enjoying the games on the 32X more than the 3DO.
What are your thoughts? Any games that I missed, or opinions of mine that you disagree with? Let me know!
Good job, Sega. GOOD JOB.
But honestly I can see why the 32X failed. The games are not all that bad, but the library was far too small, and the games focused more on their technological gimmicks than the gameplay. So the console was most certainly of poor design, but I may have the uncommon opinion of enjoying the games on the 32X more than the 3DO.
What are your thoughts? Any games that I missed, or opinions of mine that you disagree with? Let me know!
Hey, guys! I got a position writing more things! If you want to see more content that I write, keep your eyes peeled on operationrainfall.com, where I write journalism articles about niche and Japanese games. Or go to twitch.tv/dococarina, where you can watch me scream incoherently while I suck at video games!
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