Questions about the Genesis' many add-ons...

[thepiratemonk3y]

As of now, I've got a first edition Genesis and since I've started collecting again I've noticed that there are A LOT of ad-ons for the Genesis. ie: Sega CD, 32x, and the Power Base adapter (wouldn't be surprised if there were more).

So my main question is, with all of these ad-on... Are any of them really worth it? I'm thinking about getting them just for collector sake but are there any quality games for these system or are they just a gimmick?

[ooXxXoo]

My vote goes for the Sega Master System converter.....The SMS has good amount of great games!

[Sudo]

The Sega CD has a ton of good games, despite the bad rep it tends to get for the glut of FMV-based crap it has. Snatcher, the Lunar games, Sonic CD, Rise of the Dragon, Adventures of Willy Beamish, Eternal Champions, Ecco the Dolphin and many others are all great games.

[dlopez9069]

Sega-Cd is a must have especially if you can get the guns.

[-hellvin-]

I'm mainly a sega collector myself. I'd rate the add-ons top to bottom:

1. Sega CD

While it does have a ton of those horrid FMV style games, there's a ton of great gems on the system which were just mentioned. I'll list off a few of my favs:

Adventures of Willy Beamish
Dark Wizard
Earthworm Jim (CD Quality Music rocks, and extra levels)
Ecco 1 & 2
Final Fight CD
Flashback
Heart Of The Alien (Re-release of Out Of This World, plus the segacd exclusive sequel)
Keio Flying Squadron
Lunar Silver Star
Lunar Eternal Blue
Robo Aleste
Shining Force CD
Snatcher ***
Sonic CD
Secret Of Monkey Island

There's surely more than enough reason to check out the Sega CD. Many great RPGs and probably one of the best adventure games ever, Snatcher.

2. Master System Power Base Converter

Lots and lots of fun to be had here. The SMS library has a bunch of great games, just look into the system's titles and you'll find tons of great recommendations. There's a PLETHORA of really good Euro titles as well, but I'm unsure if they work on the convertor as easily as a US Master System.

3. 32x

Hehe...this was a pretty big flop and has little to no interesting titles really. My best recommendations are:

Blackthorne
Knuckles Chaotix

yeah that's pretty much all I've liked and Chaotix I'm not really as fond of as any of the sega titles. Blackthorne is awesome though, probably the only thing I'd bother playing if my 32x was hooked up.

Hope that gives ya some good insight, enjoy ;D. Hope ya got some extra cash to blow for some of those sega cd masterpieces.

[thepiratemonk3y]

THANKS EVERYONE! I'm really surprised at the quick response.

So it looks like I'm going to have to look into getting a Sega CD ad-on. Or maybe I'll get lucky and find a CDx at a yardsale/fleamarket (crosses fingers).

One more question. When I see pictures of the Sega CD attached to the Genesis, its almost always the Sega Genesis II connected to the Sega CD on the side, and the Sega Genesis I connected to the Sega CD that goes on the bottom.

Do both CD attachments work with both Genesis'? Or do I need to find the one that sits underneath the Genesis since I have a Genesis I? I'd like to get the one that sits on the bottom as this console is wide enough already.

Thanks again for your quick and informative responses! :D

[swlovinist]

Huge Sega Collector here. The Genesis is a fun system to collect for, and I am happy to see more people collecting it lately. I would say that the SMS Power Base Convertor is an excellent buy, as if you end up modding your Genesis with S-video, you can plug this sucker in and play all of your SMS games in svideo too! With a worldwide library of SMS games in the 700+, that would be my first pick.
Now, the Sega CD is a mixed bag. It has a limited library, but for collecting, it was fun to complete. As mentioned above, there are some great games, but the good ones will set you back a little(Keio Flying Squadron, Lunar 1,Lunar 2, Snatcher)
As for the 32X, there are some good titles, but I only recommend it for the extreme Sega Fan. The monstrosity of a friggin add-on has limited appeal. One problem is the all the crap you need to plug it in properly.

[Ze_ro]

There were quite a few games released for the SegaCD, including a lot of enhanced versions of regular Genesis games (Mortal Kombat, Lethal Enforcers, etc). There are a LOT of bad games in there, especially if you're not a fan of the FMV games, but with the big library, you're bound to find something you like. I'd say it's definitely worthwhile.

The Power Base Adapter just plays Master System games. The main draw of the SMS in my opinion was Sega's arcade games, but most of those were later released for the Genesis, with the Genesis ones always being superior. There are, however, quite a few worthwhile games anyways, like Phantasy Star and Golvellius. I'd say look into the games the SMS has and see if you like any of them before you decide to get one.

The 32X didn't get a whole lot of games, and a lot of them were just barely enhanced Genesis titles... but there are a few good games like Star Wars Arcade, Virtua Racing, and a few others. Again, I'd say look through the games available and make the decision for yourself. 32X's are pretty cheap, if that makes the decision any easier.

Make sure if you get any of these things that you get all the parts with it. The 32X has a ton of weird bits that hook into the Genesis... most of them are optional, except for the video pass-through cable, which the thing won't work without. Since you have a Genesis 1, you'll also need the short adapter cable. A lot of eBay auctions don't have this, and they're very difficult to find otherwise, so if it doesn't have the cables, don't bother buying it! The SegaCD also has a bunch of metal pieces that most people don't know about, though you can get away without them in a pinch. Also, try to get the proper AC adapters... The SegaCD is really easy to fry if you have the wrong polarity (I know this from experience). If you do go for the full Genesis+SegaCD+32X combo, you'll also want to invest in a decent power bar that can hold three wall warts.

--Zero

[The Old School Gamer]

The Sega CD has a decent libary of games so its worth getting. The 32x has fewer games and only a handfull are worth getting at all. I'd say my favorites are Virtual Fighter and Shadow Squadron. The ports of MK 2 and NBA JAM TE are pretty good. Kunckles Chaotix is OK. I've heard Blackthore is great but I've never played it. The rest is mostly junk.
One thing to consider is that each unit has its own AC adaptor so setting them all up makes for a mess of cords. Also since you have an orginal Genesis make sure the 32x is complete, it doesn't just pop into the orginal Genesis model, you need the metal insert and the model 1 conversion cable, both of which are often missing in used systems.
(sorry for the repeat info ze ro beat me to the post)

[Ze_ro]

Do both CD attachments work with both Genesis'?
Yes. Though there are a few caveats. If you put a Genesis 2 onto a SegaCD 1, it'll look a little silly.

If you put a Genesis 1 onto a SegaCD 2, it'll hang off the side a bit. The SegaCD 2 came with a little extension piece to make this not look so weird (not sure if it has any structural support or if it's just a piece of plastic, as I don't have this). You also need an audio patch cable to mix the audio from the two of them.

--Zero

[thepiratemonk3y]

Thanks everyone! I'm excited to start looking for all this stuff and once again putting my Genesis to good use again. It's basically been sitting there collecting dust while me Dreamcast and NES get the bulk of my attention.

[roushimsx]

Chiming in to show a little more Shadow Squadron love. I currently own one single 32x game still, and that game is motherfucking Shadow Squadron. It's everything Star Wars Arcade should have been and every now and then I go on eBay to see how much the Saturn sequel/remake (http://www.segagagadomain.com/saturn14/stellarassault.htm) costs and then kick myself in the ass for not buying it on the cheap a decade ago when I had the chance.

Also, as awesome as Snatcher is, it does lose a bit of its awesomeness if you don't have a gun to go with it. It's perfectly playable without one, but it's highly advisable you dig one up (and play on an older CRT).

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

While I don't have much to add, I think that the Master System Converter and the Sega CD are decent expansions to the Sega Genesis ... both have some novel games, and neither library has titles that will break your bank as either a collector or an enthusiast. If you can find them complete for a decent price in good working order, I see no reason not to add them to your collection.

[alexkidd2000]

mmmmm space harrier 32x....

[ssjlance]

Sega CD is the clear pick here. Power Base Converter is just fine, but I prefer having an actual SMS. And the 32X. No matter what people may say, there are a handful of good game. Virtua Racer, Virtua Fighting, Knuckles Chaotix, Blackthorne, Star Wars Arcade, Tempo, Kolibri, etc. It has a good amount of great games, but alas, they're buried underneath an insurmountable pile of dung.

[Zebbe]

Get the Sega CD. It has many awesome games, it is just as everyone else said, many people hate it because they think there is only FMV crap for it. Check the Top 20 Sega CD games thread somewhere here, just a few of those games make the purchase worth it alone.

The PBC is also great if you like 8-bit games. Phantasy Star, Sonic, Fantasy Zone and many more are great classics that should not be forgotten.

The 32X is nice if you want something cheap with decent arcade ports that have better (and probably more expensive) versions on later disc-based systems. I personally like my 32X very much, but can fully understand why others don't.

[Nebagram]

The 32X is nice but of limited value- and you can't stick a power base convertor in it. It does look funny when you put Sonic & Knuckles and another game in it though.

The Sega CD is essential though- as hellvin's list demonstrates.

[outofkeyslightly]

I've been collecting Genesis games for a while now, and it's probably my favorite system of all time. Part of its charm, in my opinion at least, lies in its poor, flawed add-on's. Sega-CD should have had 256 colors at least from the get-go, and the 32x never should existed at all. Unfortunately, we're left with what Sega gave us, and the results are mixed at best.

Having said that, yes, they're are some good games to be had for both of the upgrades. To boot, many are dirt cheap, much like 85% of the Genesis' catalog anyway. When I originally bought my Sega CD, it was right around the time Funcoland was liquidating their stock of games, and I tried to stock up on as many as I could. (I feel like a ponce now since they're more easily copyable than dreacast games, but hey) I think I have between 40-45, but I'm don't remember if I accidentally counted Prize Fighter twice, or if Rock Paintings counts as a game, per se. It does count as hilarious, though. I guess you could ask that of many Sega CD games, but I digress. My favorite Sega-CD games over the years have been Eternal Champions, Sonic CD and Earthworm Jim. Eternal Champions expanded roster of ridiculous animals is worth the admission alone. I also enjoy a lot of the terrible games like Marky-Mark and Kriss-Kross' mmv, the power rangers game is pretty much a crappy episode that pesters you to press a button every once in a while. Rise of the Dragon has one of the funniest/strangest intro videos ever, complete with a sexy orgasm slash alien metamorphosis. Seriously. It took me five years to figure out how to pass the first 25 seconds of Tomcat Alley. I think Lethal Enforcers and Mortal Kombat are both better on the genesis, due to load time issues and lack of substantial change... I'm still not sure why I own Kids on Site. Oh yeah, it's because one of the main characters' name is Nuts.

This is too long, I'll check back in for 32X, haha...

[thepiratemonk3y]

Sadly I'm too young to have taken part in the great purge of Funcoland. However I did come across some rather good NES games still in Funcoland cases at a thrift store the other day. The cases smelt absolutely horrible.