"Print out your high scores in Tempest 3000! And, um... I dunno, maps in AvP? Some shit like that. The Jaguar printer, available now! (Please buy one. We're desperate.)"
For those with an open mind, wonders always await! - Kilton (monster enthusiast)
I almost insta-purchased one in Cash Converters a few years ago. I fancied getting into Amiga games in console format - particularly the Bitmap Bros stuff.
But I've since heard that it isn't that hot a machine - don't remember the specifics.
I bought one off a mate when I was 13. It was my first CD based console and remember being overwhelmed by the speech in Diggers being so clear. I don't think I held onto it very long and got rid to raise cash for my PlayStation.
That's basically why I want one now. You can turn an A1200 into a CD32 with a CD-ROM, but you can do the opposite on the CD32. With the right gubbins your CD32 can play basically every Amiga game released up to that point.
Some clever chap has even made a SNES-style controller, simultaneously overcoming the pony-ness of the originals, and their rising costs.
For those with an open mind, wonders always await! - Kilton (monster enthusiast)
Would it not be better to just get an a1200 (or are they harder to get?)
The CD32 was a terrible machine though. That joypad felt awful in the hand. I can remember myself and a mate checking one out in a shop when the thing came out and after years of Megadrive and SNES games, the cd32 felt cheap. It looked cheap. Even the games were just Amiga games with a little bit of tarting up.
That was very much an era I missed out on - the ST and Amiga were just too expensive for me at that time. The 8 bit micro era was hideous and put me off gaming on non-specialised platforms - so I eyed those 16/32bit era machines with a lot of suspicion. The disk drives were bloody awful too.
I started on the 2600 and then the Spectrum got me hooked on gaming. But the ST was my era. Pretty sure I played videogames every day through my teens, and thanks to the prolific pirate scene I played everything. I think I ended up with well over a thousand floppies, most of which had three/four games packed on to them.
I then went to 8 bit micros. Oric-1 (don't ask) and the Amstrad CPC464. But I had plenty of exposure to Spectum C64 etc.
Despite the advances in hardware it was very much a backward step to me. I went from simpler games that were crafted by masters with instant cart loading to tape loaded homebrew - let's be frank - shit - for the most part. I have said before it very nearly made me give up gaming altogether.
There was still a decent arcade in Belfast then and I would play quite a few arcade games as well - and that really made the stuttering crippled mess that 99% of 8bit micro games were look even worse.
The NES brought me back. I have only recently considered playing games on a PC. Steam has helped me back along that route but I'm scarred. For me gaming is on the sofa with a controller (or an arcade but that's long gone).
There’s no reason for those to be empty boxes. They could have been working consoles just fine. When I read the press release about the unique customised consoles that were non-functioning, I expected to see something truly crazy looking. Not just some shit glued on tat and spray paint.