Ever owned a Sega CD or 32X?

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I gotta admit... I didn't even know they existed until the AVGN episode, so I never owned either system.

I also never knew anyone who owned them until waaaaay into the "retro wave" of the mid-aughts (and even then, it was like two people who had them).

I don't think I missed much by not having them, but I would love to have at least one of them for displaying purposes.

What about you?

 

[Don Patch]

Nah, never.
And like me and nearly everyone I knew had a Genesis/MD, too, lol.
There just wasn't much appeal, methinks.
Hell, even into the retro this-and-thats, no one in the circles I run in seems to care much at all about them. My guess is, amongst them (myself included) emulation makes it WAY more effort than the returns would be to track either down.
And some of the peeps I know are diehard SEGA cats. ?‍

 

[Strategist's icon Strategist Strategist]

A friend of mine had a Sega CD. His family was richer than mine so he would get a lot of unique consoles and sometimes would let me borrow them. He had a JVC combo Sega Genesis and Sega CD console. I thought the Sega CD was really cool back in the day. As soon as I played some RPGs with full motion videos I knew that CD-ROM technology was the future of gaming. In 1993 that was unheard of. But SEGA really failed to support the Sega CD. They stretched themselves too thin between the Genesis, Sega CD and 32X. There are only a handful of Sega CD games worth mentioning. And only 2 or 3 32X games. In that sense, Nintendo was smart because they included additional processing power in the cartridges instead of requiring a whole new console or add-on. They were able to keep up with SEGA technologically without fragmenting their users with too many consoles. Then Sony came in with the Playstation and really ate Nintendo's lunch for not adopting CD-ROM technology.

From the Sega CD catalog, I'd recommend Sonic CD, Lunar 2, Popful Mail and Snatcher. Sega CD emulation was a bit of a pain for a while but RetroArch does the job well enough from what I've seen.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

Nah, never.
And like me and nearly everyone I knew had a Genesis/MD, too, lol.
There just wasn't much appeal, methinks.
Hell, even into the retro this-and-thats, no one in the circles I run in seems to care much at all about them. My guess is, amongst them (myself included) emulation makes it WAY more effort than the returns would be to track either down.
And some of the peeps I know are diehard SEGA cats. ?‍

Yeah... that's precisely the thing.

The SEGA Genesis was WILDLY popular where I am, and so people's entire gaming career would always be NES ---> Genesis ---> PS1, yet even those diehard collectors wanting to relive their childhoods by getting all three again wouldn't even consider grabbing a SEGA CD or 32X to complete the set. They just wouldn't.

But those who did brave the overblown market and the inflated "retro" (ugh!) prices found the games hard to track down and the setup to be a pain in the neck, with one particular user complaining endlessly about the difficulty of finding a replacement AC adapter for the combo.

At least you could pirate the hell outta SEGA CD games, though lol.

A friend of mine had a Sega CD. His family was richer than mine so he would get a lot of unique consoles and sometimes would let me borrow them. He had a JVC combo Sega Genesis and Sega CD console. I thought the Sega CD was really cool back in the day. As soon as I played some RPGs with full motion videos I knew that CD-ROM technology was the future of gaming. In 1993 that was unheard of. But SEGA really failed to support the Sega CD. They stretched themselves too thin between the Genesis, Sega CD and 32X. There are only a handful of Sega CD games worth mentioning. And only 2 or 3 32X games. In that sense, Nintendo was smart because they included additional processing power in the cartridges instead of requiring a whole new console or add-on. They were able to keep up with SEGA technologically without fragmenting their users with too many consoles. Then Sony came in with the Playstation and really ate Nintendo's lunch for not adopting CD-ROM technology.

From the Sega CD catalog, I'd recommend Sonic CD, Lunar 2, Popful Mail and Snatcher. Sega CD emulation was a bit of a pain for a while but RetroArch does the job well enough from what I've seen.

Maaaan... the "rich friend who had all the cool gadgets" was such a staple of the times, wasn't it? XD

Emulation was SO hard for SO long that it honestly rivaled Nintendo 64's for a long while, almost a pipe dream.

 

[Honey_Ogre]

I never got one as a kid, but back in like 2014 I was visiting friends in Tennessee - we went to this really sketchy looking used game place and they had a Sega CD there and I freaked - the only game they had to sell to go with it was Willy Beamish which I of course bought with it (it was awful, if anyone is curious). But, it wasn't a total loss, because once we got back to their place we burned a bunch of CDs with much better games to play and it was a pretty stinkin' cool time

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I never got one as a kid, but back in like 2014 I was visiting friends in Tennessee - we went to this really sketchy looking used game place and they had a Sega CD there and I freaked - the only game they had to sell to go with it was Willy Beamish which I of course bought with it (it was awful, if anyone is curious). But, it wasn't a total loss, because once we got back to their place we burned a bunch of CDs with much better games to play and it was a pretty stinkin' cool time

Yo! Wicked cool! That's the kind of stories I love.

Was, by any chance, one of the burned games Monkey Island? The SCD version is surprisingly epic.

 

[Honey_Ogre]

Yo! Wicked cool! That's the kind of stories I love.

Was, by any chance, one of the burned games Monkey Island? The SCD version is surprisingly epic.

It's really funny you say that because I distinctly remember one of my friends being like "Yo, we gotta play Monkey Island" and I was just all "pshhh- we gotta play Sonic Hedgehog" lmao

I have played Monkey Island since, but still haven't checked out the SCD port tho!

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

It's really funny you say that because I distinctly remember one of my friends being like "Yo, we gotta play Monkey Island" and I was just all "pshhh- we gotta play Sonic Hedgehog" lmao

I have played Monkey Island since, but still haven't checked out the SCD port tho!

LOL! Although, to be fair, a point n click graphic adventure would probably be the LAST thing I'd want to try after getting Willy Beamish XD

 

[It's Thinking 2]

Never had them, always wanted a Sega CD. My one older cousin had it along with Sonic CD so that was kinda cool. Later i started collecting for both the 32X and the Sega CD, but i never was able to get the add ons to play them so i traded those games back to the retro store just because they were a waste of money. Every time i look them up, they are way overpriced and either in bad condition or missing parts. I love emulation because i can't play those games physically. Now there is a Mega Everdrive Pro for Sega CD games, i still need to get that.

 

[Waffle_the_Great]

I still have my original Sega CD, another in storage and two 32X's. I bought quite a few backup systems back about 16 years ago or so. Back then, they were a lot cheaper then they are today. I had 4 Sega Saturns at one point just sitting around. Now I have two.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I still have my original Sega CD, another in storage and two 32X's. I bought quite a few backup systems back about 16 years ago or so. Back then, they were a lot cheaper then they are today. I had 4 Sega Saturns at one point just sitting around. Now I have two.

Thanks for the reply, fellow Waffle.

I used to collect Genesis (had about six, from all three models) and I agree that it used to be MUCH cheaper, but I could never get a sensible price for the add-ons. It was quite frustrating, even if I wasn't seriously considering getting neither.

 

[SuperSampleStar]

Never owned a SegaCD, but i had a cousin that did. It was mostly for Sports games, but he also had Sewer Shark, which I played, and didn't get how to play it until years later as an adult.

I did own a 32X though, and it was mainly for Knuckles Chaotix. I wanted to get more games for it (like Virtua Fighter) but by that point my parents decided to get me a Sega Channel so i wouldn't have to keep buying games. And then the Saturn came along.

 

[Adrastia]

I don't have a Sega CD. But I do have a beat up copy of Vay complete with manual. A neighbor gave it to me when she moved because at the time I had a Saturn and she thought Saturn could play Sega CD discs.

 

[SuperSampleStar]

she thought Saturn could play Sega CD discs.

You know that brings up an interesting point

Sega should have capitalized on the backwards compatibility, especially for the SegaCD/32X since there weren't that many games for either "systems".

 

[It's Thinking 2]

You know that brings up an interesting point

Sega should have capitalized on the backwards compatibility, especially for the SegaCD/32X since there weren't that many games for either "systems".

That would have eliminated the need for the Sega CD add on but they could have just recycled the parts.

 

[PhrawzT]

Never owned a 32X, however I did manage to get my hands on a Nomad and a CDX system back in 2002. I played a few Sega CD games on it, but ultimately sold it to a friend a few years later as I felt like he'd get more use out of it. Still have the Nomad, but I do regret getting rid of the CDX.

 

[Parasite_Steve]

A quite affluent friend of my older brother had a mega cd as they were called in pal territories and many other consoles of the day. He was the first person I knew who owned a ps1 as well. He beat me blindfolded in Battle Arena Toshinden, which sounds impressive if you don't know how bad I was at games at that age.
I remember watching him and his buddies play Sonic CD on our huge Grundig tv (rip buddy). Not sure if I got a turn as well. That day was almost exactly 30 years ago after all so all has gone a bit hazy in the meantime.
I don't recall if he had the 32x as well, I'm not sure I've ever seen one in person to this day. While the mega cd was slightly successful the 32x just flopped completely over here as did the Saturn unfortunately. In my mind Sega went from the megadrive directly to the dreamcast.

Unfortunately I don't own any of the megadrive add-ons. When I started to get into retro gaming in the late 2000s I had just missed the window where they were still super cheap on ebay. I have however enjoyed emulating both systems, well, the mega cd at least, I didn't find many noteworthy redeeming qualities in the 32x or any games I couldn't live without whereas the former had a couple of interesting titles like the aforementioned sonic cd as well as snatcher, robo aleste and rise of the dragon. I can even get a good chuckle out of the infamous fmv titles. I mean just ask a friend if they'd like to play some sewer shark. Hilarity is bound to ensue.

 

[Leon]

So sega cd was expensive, but if you knew when and how to get them you could for a somewhat sane price, my father was one of those people (and no they weren't "found" sega cd's).

The trick was blockbuster, blockbuster at the time had a system where you could rent hardware, however the sega cd was well known for being kind of a lukewarm launch (not as much as the 32x, but enough), though it was not technically a flop unlike what people think, so blockbuster had a ton of sega cd's and no one renting them, so one day we went to blockbuster to do the weekly rental, and there was a few sega cd systems, in box, unopened for i think either 49$ or 99$, my father asked me if i wanted it and obviously i said yes, and that is how i got a brand new sega cd mark 2, i also got a copy of lunar eternal blue with it, and the rest is history.
The sega cd has it's problems, but there's literally nothing else like it, the music, the quality of the games, the feel, can't be beat, lunar 1 and 2 (bought lunar 1 after 2), sonic cd, cosmic fantasy 2, dungeon explorer 2, the terminator, Shining force CD and snatcher, obviously i love the sega cd, it's probably one of my favorite systems.

I also owned the 32x, first one was stolen (poor sap) i bought a second one for like 10$ and gave it away i think, the only game on the 32x worth it's weight in plastic was knuckles chaotix, and even it wasn't great.

 

[RageBurner]

I had both, and I'm sad to say, I mostly regret it. The Sega CD did have a feel titles I love and rented on occasion (Road Avenger, Shining Force CD, Popful Mail), but it's mostly a terribly overpriced addon that did very little. That's doubly true for the 32X, which I regret far more.

 

[ATenderLad]

Yeahhh Sega CD's were a bit pricey, everyone I knew that had one were single men with disposable income...and all three of them sold theirs once they convinced someone to marry them.

...and not a one of them sold (read: would give for free) theirs to me, and one of those jerks was family!

 

[nyratk1]

Me and my twin brother had a model 2 Genesis with a Sega CD 2 and the 32X. One other person we knew had a Sega CD and another person had the 32X. During the early 00s, they went into storage in the house and wouldn't be seen for another 20 years.

My brother found the Genesis and Sega CD 2 two years ago and couldn't get the CD working again but passed away in June 2023. The past month or two, I've been gathering up all our systems we had (Gen, SCD, Saturn, DC, PS1-3, Game Gear, GBA, DS, 3DS plus the current Switch I already had hooked up). I got the Sega CD working again but the Saturn needs a new laser and the Game Gear needs a new screen. The 32X is the only damn thing I haven't found and I suspect it's in the garage somewhere but there's tons of junk in there as my dad is a borderline hoarder.

 

[newageretrohippie]

One time there was a pyramid stack of 32x's sitting by the entrance of kaybee toys at the mall.. my friend kicked one out of the store and we kicked it back and forth halfway down the mall but decided to return it since we werent criminals... so thats as close as i ever came to greatness

 

[Sayo Sayo]

Not quite old enough and they are far too expensive now but that didn't stop me from emulating an overwhelming majority of the catalog from both.

 

[Eclipse14]

I have both. Specifically a CDX to cover the Sega CD (snagged back in 2014) in part because I honestly liked how it was designed; compact and I didn't need a second AC adapter.

The 32X was in mind for a while, especially after picking up Knuckles Chaotix. Kept a spare Model 2 Genesis for it, as compatibility with the CDX had reports all over the place, and I didn't want to mess mine up. I would eventually get a 32X in September 2023.

I still play on them, on occasion.

 

[χKai]

Growing up, my best friend had a 32x. We played Space Harrier, and a few other games for it.
But what we really got into was Zaxxon Motherbase 2000.

That game was FUCKING AWESOME.