The 32x was a disaster. As the second ill-fated hardware addition to the otherwise solid Sega Mega Drive / Genesis, the 32X released to a world of disinterest. Its “state-of-the-art 32-bit game technology” produced nothing of note above Knuckles Chaotix, a semi-interesting Sonic spin off, and fearfully pointy editions of the then arcade hits Virtua Fighter and Virtua Racing Deluxe.

Ignoring the console’s financial death and critical panning, Sega is currently celebrating its 15th glorious anniversary with a commemorative soundtrack album featuring 128 tracks over three discs plucked from the plug-in’s super hits. Audiophiles can rock out to the exquisite Mission 1, Mission 2, Mission Clear, SEGA and 124 others apparently recorded straight from the ageing hardware.

Despite featuring tracks plucked almost exclusively from titles that found fame away from the slot-loading plastic mushroom, the CD collection proudly features the classic Super 32X logo, emblazoned like some badge of scouting honour. Quite why Sega felt the need to flag the continued historical existence of their crowning failure is anyone’s guess, but it seems unlikely that import sales of the box set will sell at anything approaching the “high speed”s attributed to the console’s behemoth of processing power.

Gamers worldwide are looking forward to upcoming console anniversary release tie-ins Virtual Boy: Virtual Hits, The Atari Jaguar Really Did Render Doom Pretty Well and Other Folk Songs and WONDERSWAN – A WONDERYEAR in coming months.

Via: Andriasang

Sega’s ill fated Genesis Poll has fallen on its face once more, with its second user-picked winner Toejam and Earl unlikely to materialise on XBLA any time soon due to Sega having “got ahead of themselves a little bit”. The poll’s original winner Eathworm Jim’s release was denied days after its triumphant announcement when Gameloft chimed in with their own. No doubt Sega already discussed but forgot the publisher’s plans to revitalise the Shiny classic.

In an interview with Joystiq, series creator Greg Johnson excused Sega’s over-excitement as “an easy mistake to make” in the same way that a Jack Russel terrier in a characteristic bout of energy mistakes your letters as acceptable chew-toys. Despite the hiccup, Johnson assured Joystiq that while the deal was not off, responsibility lay with Sega to renegotiate the re-release, sitting as he is, “waiting to hear back from them to pick up the conversation”.

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Sonic the Hedgehog.

I remember fondly the day I purchased my copy of Sonic the Hedgehog from my local mall’s Babbages store. A 10 year-old me sat down in the Sees Candy store while I waited on my Mom to finish buying a box of chocolates as a gift for Grandma. I couldn’t wait until I got home to pull apart the plastic wrap (this is a trait I still exhibit to this very day, ask my wife’¦she hates it) to view the cart and manual inside. I flipped through the pages, learning about Dr. Robotnik and his dastardly plan to enslave the helpless animals and steal the 6 Chaos Emeralds. When I got home I remember playing Sonic for hours; grabbing rings, racing through loops rolling into a ball of blue fury and into spikes followed by the mad dash to recapture as many rings as humanly possible.

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Golden Axe was originally released in arcades and became both popular and successful extremely quickly. This resulted in the game being ported to almost all systems available at the time but the Mega Drive version has become the most well known and reproduced.

The game itself is a side-scrolling hack and slash. You have a choice of three characters, either the Barbarian, the Amazon or the Dwarf. Regardless of which character is selected the basic gameplay remains the same. You battle your way through a variety of enemy laden levels culminating in a boss battle.

Along with using your sword or axe, each character also has the ability to use magic attacks. Throughout the game thieves appear which can be hit to gain magic pots. When the player has collected magic, it can be used as a special attack. The more pots that have been collected, the stronger the attack becomes.

There are also beasts that appear throughout the game that can be controlled by the player. The player rides these creatures, which are then used to attack enemies with. In most cases, the creatures deal a great deal more damage than regular attacks so they can become extremely useful.

As for plot, the game takes the typical approach of having the player save the kidnapped king and princess, avenging their fallen comrades along the way. However, the game’s story is not all that significant and only serves as a means for moving the player from one area to the next.

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I remember a time when every game I owned could be replayed and enjoyed countless times. Each game had at least some semblance of replay value. I lost this feeling around the end of the 16-bit era. Now when I look at my games collection trying to find something to play, the choices are few and far between. Do games really have less replayability? Or have I just become jaded over the years?

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