I was talking about basic tile/sprite/tilemap functions, duh. The SNES and Genesis don't have bitmap modes so that don't excel at anything bitmap related (Doom or polygons). Anyway, did you *not* read what I posted? Or do you not understand what sprites/tiles/tilemaps and other effects that SNES or Genesis had in hardware that the 32x lacked? And no, the 32x can *not* simulate two background layers, all the sprite modes, and FX of even the Genesis - at Genesis' speed of 60fps. Let alone the SNES. The 32x does everything in software. Ev-er-y-thing. There's not enough processor resource to do that. Why do you think most 32x games still rely on the Genesis video layer for conventional 2D graphics? Why do you think Space Harrier and After Burner only run at 30fps? I'm glad the 32x came out. I think it's cool that it exists. But I don't have unrealistic expectation of the system (especially that I know its specs).
The 32x was a quick engineering job by Sega of America to try to keep whatever momentum going because of fear from the Sony project.
It would have been a viable format for 1994 if it would have been better optimized so that it would have been easier for developers
to program. The 32X tech would have been strong enough for consumers to upgrade to once its full power was shown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOWZbydnlZE
My whole point however is that Sega should have released a 32bit cartridge based system with Genesis backward compatability.
Marketing is a big point of video games(look at the tech inferior Wii and how it is doing).My point is that Sega couldnt figure
out which direction to go because they enjoyed being a competitor to Nintendo after lagging behind them so much in the Master
System years and didn't want to be left behind in the dust again.Indecision on a format to chose was really Sega's undoing.
Sony was a much larger company than Nintendo and had the money to sway developers. Its simple economicsYeah, it was soooo viable that developers were just jumping ship to develop on the n64
10 years from what? PC-Engine? So that's why PC (in Japan and US) adopted the CD drive early on and was soo un-successful? I think not. The CD32,CD-I,3DO,PC-FX failed because of other reasons. It had nothing to do with media format. The CD-I was a piece of shit in a box with shit software. CD32 was 1985 technology. It strong point was supposed to be EU, but it was nothing more than an Amiga. Why would the majority of Amiga owning EU purchase a repackaged Amiga with a CD with nothing to benefit from (not to mention the majority had Amiga systems). The 3D0 was an over priced system. $700 at launch and mediocre-at-best titles throughout its life span? But I'm sure if the 3D0 was cart based, it would have failed as bad as the Jag - haha. PC-FX, a 3D system released without its 3D capabilities (the 3D hudson chip was removed). It had no chance of competing with the 3D fad/power of PSX and Saturn. Not even 2D wise. It's equivalent to a souped up SNES. For 1994, too little too late.
Nintendo had been in discussion with Phillips and Sony about a CD system/add-on. They realized how gimmicke it had been with
Sega and they jumped ship. They could have used CD's with the N64, but they chose to stay with catridges because they saw
how these other systems had failed because the slow load times and 1x CD speeds and didn't want to
lose their loyal customer base with a technology they werent confident in. All in All, catridges were really
fine for games except when FF7 was released and showed what the CD format could truly do and that the cartridge format
was aging. That was 1997, 32X was 94.
Why? If you modify the 32x close to what the Saturn was, it wouldn't be anything close to what a 32 was. You might as well have a whole new system. So you want something close to the saturn, but not a saturn? Why not just go with the Saturn then??? That really makes no sense. Call the Saturn the Genesis 2 or Mega Driver 2, if it makes you feel any better
Sega could have bought the M2 technology from 3DO/Matsushita if they really wanted to. You act like I am saying that
the 32X technology would have slayed Sony. It wouldnt, but optimized we could have gotten some great Shining Force Games
and consumers would have been fine with the graphics.(The Neo Geo had superior graphics to the SNES but somewhat failed). My point
is that consumers would have bought the Neptune if the Saturn hadn't existed and Sega would still be around today in the
console business. The graphics were good enough for 1994 and catridges were still fine.
I need proof of being able to boot a game of the catridge slot of the Saturn aka the RAM slot before I can concede this point to you.That doesn't make any sense. First of all, you just proved my whole point about the advantages of the CD format over cart. Second, how is having a cart only equivalent of the Saturn going to give it the "carry over" of the Genesis? Because it's cart based? That's lame. The problem wasn't the 32x addon confusing the customer base. It confused some Sega loyal customers, sure. But that had no effect on the generation of gamers purchasing the PlayStation over the Saturn. There are many factors as to why Sega failed to capture the market and mostly likely uncontrollable societal factors (gaming and normal) as well. The "Megadrive" legacy wasn't "all that" in Japan. No where near as close as the famicom or super famicom, in relation. I think the last thing Sega of Japan wanted was ties to a system that was considered a failure by it's own creators. Or did you expect SOA and SOE to disassociate from SOJ and make there own system and market? I'm sure that would have gone down pretty badly. All those systems you listed as failures? Guess what they have in common? They weren't Japanese designed/developed systems and didn't have the support of Japanese software developers. The vast majority of "hottest" titles were still coming out of Japan in the 32bit era. Without that, your system is doomed to fail.
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