32x and what was Sega thinking?

[AppleQueso]

Any way I do not recall many , if any , add-ons that improve graphics.

I haven't seen any add-on that doesn't

I meant to say I have not seen Graphic Improving Add-ons much
Most add-ons are to connect other devices like a light-Guns, modem, memory card, keyboards. The following extremely popular consoles never had graphic improving add-ons as far as I know:
Gamecube, Dreamcast, PS2,oXbox, SNES,NES, Gameboy,Gamegear, Neo-Geo, Master System,Wii.

I think the only consoles that had graphics improving add-ons are:
Genesis, N64(You really dont feel it), and the PC engine CD .

I also did not know that the Sega CD improved graphics, I thought it just let the Genesis read CDs

SNES and NES didn't need addons becuase Nintendo had enough foresight to give carts the option of shipping with co-processors and sutff. It's a stretch, but you could almost consider the Super FX chip a graphics-enhancing addon.

IIRC, the Sega CD gave the genesis more available colors and more colors onscreen, along with the ability to do neat mode 7-ish graphical effects and whatnot. I'm guessing a bit more memory and stuff too, I'm sure someone else here could go more in depth.

[RCBH928]

I wonder how long Sega CD's will live since its about time for the laser to die for these devices, I think. Those were made pretty much early in the CD life and I bet the technology was not all that advanced back then to keep it working for over 20 years.

The CD drives are fine more often than not. The biggest problem is usually with the capacitors on the boards. This is also a problem on cartridge systems.

I understand you can replace those?

it interests me to know why do electronics with non-moving parts die...like an iphone for example or a tv.

[pierrot]

I think the only consoles that had graphics improving add-ons are:
Genesis, N64(You really dont feel it), and the PC engine CD .

Saturn has the RAM carts, if you consider them an add-on. (Which I think might be as much an add-on as the N64 expansion pak.)

[AppleQueso]

I think the only consoles that had graphics improving add-ons are:
Genesis, N64(You really dont feel it), and the PC engine CD .

Saturn has the RAM carts, if you consider them an add-on. (Which I think might be as much an add-on as the N64 expansion pak.)

They're pretty much the same thing. All the expansion pak does is add more RAM.

[Breetai]

IIRC, the Sega CD gave the genesis more available colors and more colors onscreen, along with the ability to do neat mode 7-ish graphical effects and whatnot. I'm guessing a bit more memory and stuff too, I'm sure someone else here could go more in depth.

I'm too lazy to look it up, so I'm going by memory:

-The Sega CD had it's own CPU, which was a second 68000 processor that ran together with the 68000 already in the Genesis. It also ran at around 12Mhz, where the Genesis one is around 7Mhz (compare to the speed of the SNES's processor, at around 3.5Mhz).
-It added additional RAM (something like 8x more than the Genesis had)
-It added scaling and rotation effects, which were a fair bit better than anything the SNES could do as far as I know.
-Added a bunch of sound channels (in addition to CD audio), all of which could use samples.
-It did NOT add to the available colours and the amount of on-screen colours at once (which is too bad).

Basically, the Sega CD make the Genesis technically better than the SNES in every way other than colour count. It's REALLY too bad that more games didn't take advantage of it. If only Sega had pushed some fun games over the FMV stuff and used all their money blown on the 32X on pushing the Sega CD more, we could have had some great stuff on it perhaps. It was a really sweet system that beat everything on the market technically until the 3DO game out.

[ice445]

I wonder how long Sega CD's will live since its about time for the laser to die for these devices, I think. Those were made pretty much early in the CD life and I bet the technology was not all that advanced back then to keep it working for over 20 years.

The CD drives are fine more often than not. The biggest problem is usually with the capacitors on the boards. This is also a problem on cartridge systems.

I understand you can replace those?

it interests me to know why do electronics with non-moving parts die...like an iphone for example or a tv.

Capacitors use a chemical electrolyte which eventually wears out after a certain number of cycles (fewer if used in rough conditions). Otherwise, the only other enemy of a PCB and the circuit traces and leads on it is heat (thermal cycling). After a certain number of thermal cycles the connections and such can start to separate from each other. It takes an extremely long time for that though.

[noiseredux]

That was me breetai.

I did the best I could while posting from the toilet.

haha no I meant "that was me" the guy you described who felt upset that he spent (err, well his parents spent) so much for a Sega CD and then it was abandoned so he ignored the Saturn. What sucks most is that now that I'm getting heavily into the Saturn's library I'm finding that if Sega's strategy had been different, and if the Saturn had launched cheaper, I probably would have been happy to have gone the Saturn route back then rather than gone with Sony's new console.

[Weekend_Warrior]

Troll post or not, the Sega CD was a fucking piece of shit. And the fact that people actually thought that Sewer Shark was such a good game that it deserved to be the pack-in title is/was downright laughable.

I don't know how far it was into the systems shelf life, but Sonic CD really should have been the launch pack-in game. And it still amazes me how Sega fucked this up with the Saturn, too - launching a new Sega system without a great new Sonic game. I mean, "Hello McFly! Sonic was your head mascot and best selling series on the Genesis?" But what did we get instead... ? "Sewer Shark." Seriously, that's just beyond retarded. Sega deserved to eat shit with the Sega CD, and the 32X. The Saturn was handled a little bit better, even without a great new Sonic game at launch (or ever for that matter). Virtua Fighter was an excellent pack-in game. It's just a shame that Sega didn't spend a little more time designing the Saturn tech so that it was easier to develop for, and slightly more powerful with extra RAM.

[noiseredux]

Troll post or not,

sounds like one, yes. Let's take a closer look.

the Sega CD was a fucking piece of shit.

I disagree. And there's several of us even in this thread who had one then, enjoyed it then, and still enjoy it now.

And the fact that people actually thought that Sewer Shark was such a good game that it deserved to be the pack-in title is/was downright laughable.

I'm not really sure why SS became a pack-in later. The original pack-in set (Sega Classics, Sol-Feace and Sherlock Holmes) was a good set. I think SS was fun though. I was actually playing it this week. I'm guessing it was chosen as a pack-in simply because Sega was pushing FMV at the time.

I don't know how far it was into the systems shelf life, but Sonic CD really should have been the launch pack-in game. And it still amazes me how Sega fucked this up with the Saturn, too - launching a new Sega system without a great new Sonic game. I mean, "Hello McFly! Sonic was your head mascot and best selling series on the Genesis?"

I'll agree with this. Sonic CD was fantastic. And eventually was a pack-in by the way. But yeah, the game wasn't released for a while after the launch of the system. Maybe 6 months? A year later?

But what did we get instead... ? "Sewer Shark." Seriously, that's just beyond retarded. Sega deserved to eat shit with the Sega CD, and the 32X.

Now you're going overboard. And again Sewer Shark wasn't the original pack-in at launch. We got a shmup, 4 classic Genny games and an FMV adventure game (and technically an audio CD and a CD-G disc as well haha).

Sewer Shark was available at launch seperately. But I guess because you mentioned 32X in the same breath you're just complaining about quality control in general throughout the SCD's life? That said, there are plenty of great games released for SCD. Maybe you just overlooked them?

The Saturn was handled a little bit better, even without a great new Sonic game at launch (or ever for that matter). Virtua Fighter was an excellent pack-in game. It's just a shame that Sega didn't spend a little more time designing the Saturn tech so that it was easier to develop for, and slightly more powerful with extra RAM.

This I also agree with. The Saturn's launch line-up was pretty damn good. Though their launch strategy ("the Saturn is in stores... NOW!") was ballsy, exciting, and well... a stupid strategy.

[ja_le_co]

I'll agree with this. Sonic CD was fantastic. And eventually was a pack-in by the way. But yeah, the game wasn't released for a while after the launch of the system. Maybe 6 months? A year later?

A full year after the American launch. I remember a sports pack with Joe Montana, and a weird one that had both Sonic CD and Sewer Shark(?).