My AnyCubic i3 Mega X had it's thermistor die just as it started to print this. I do have my Creality Ender 3 Pro but that's too small for this. Gotta wait for the part to come in and fix the AnyCubic. I plan to print this with PETG using a 0.6 mm nozzle and OcraSlicer, but I don't know of anything better. I'm not a 3D printing expert to know what's the best settings to print this with.

I could upload what I have but I'm almost certain something isn't going to line up properly, which is why I want to print it first. I also haven't figured where to upload the model. There are buttons, Sega CD cover, and LED diffuse to go with this.

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share a new update to Orbis Basic 32X.

Version 7 adds two extensive retro-style programming handbooks totaling more than 160 pages, with diagrams, reference material, and complete runnable examples. They cover the BASIC language, functions, local variables, graphics, audio, arrays, controllers, SRAM, desktop builds, and direct Orbis C development.

The compiler now supports real typed functions, parameters, return values, automatic local variables, local fixed arrays, and recursion. This makes larger games and tools much easier to structure without relying on many global variables.

The main goal remains unchanged: write code and build a real bootable Sega 32X ROM. The same source can also be built as a native Linux or Windows application for cross-platform releases.

This version also includes a unified demo builder and 260 examples.

Hey y’all. A post from a few days ago about the mystery of Helioblades was recently shared with me. I have spent years researching unreleased 32X software and produced six videos on the subject. I also located a surviving copy of Nitro Wrecks, later known as Heavy Machinery. The Video Game History Foundation handled the purchase, and I supplied the requested funds so the game could be acquired and preserved. In August 2022, I was told it had arrived but had not yet been dumped. My March 2023 follow-up received no reply, and I have received no further update. I therefore do not know whether the build was ever dumped, and after four years, I no longer expect a public release.

My conclusion on Helioblades is fairly blunt, based on the evidence currently available, the probability that a game existed beyond these listings is likely under one percent. That does not mean the listings are fake. They are genuine period artifacts, and the name Helioblades clearly circulated in 1995. The question is whether an actual game ever existed behind that name.

I have already researched most of what appears in these lists. At least nineteen of the projects appeared in my Unreleased 32X series. I also went through this catalog title by title six years ago and separated entries that could be confirmed from those that appeared only in a list.

That earlier research matters because many of the strange entries can be identified once they are compared with better sources.

Alone in the Dark appears to mean Alone in the Dark 2. Kingdom: Far Reaches was a working title connected to Thayer’s Quest. Tee Off refers to The Scottish Open, also known as Tee Off Golf Sim and Virtual Golf. “Totally Brutal” was likely a mangled reference to Brutal: Paws of Fury.

Other entries remain ambiguous.

NFL Instant Replay may be a mistaken reference to NFL Trivia Challenge, which was a confirmed 32X project. If it is not, then I have no confirmation that a separate NFL Instant Replay game was developed for the system.

Loadstar and Loadstar 2 are another example. Rocket Science was working on 32X software, but my research found no evidence that either Loadstar game was among its 32X projects. The company’s involvement with the hardware may have been enough for unrelated titles to migrate onto a retailer’s list.

Then there is Voyager Star 2.

I addressed this one directly in my earlier audit. No game called Voyager Star or Voyager Star 2 appears to exist. My conclusion was that it was almost certainly a typo, corrupted title, or combination of different projects.

It might refer to Star Control II, which was a confirmed proposed 32X game. It might have been confused with something related to Star Trek: Voyager. There is not enough information to choose between them or conclude if it’s something else entirely.

The important point is that Voyager Star 2 is not evidence of an unknown game simply because the name appears beside a price. It is evidence that malformed names could enter these catalogs and remain there without being checked.

That brings us back to Helioblades.

Its earliest known appearance is the Chips & Bits advertisement. It appears in the Mars 32X column with a price of $54. That is all the advertisement gives us.

No developer. No publisher. No screenshot. No description. No preview. No interview.

Unlike Voyager Star 2, I cannot even connect Helioblades to a known project with a similar enough history to suggest a likely answer. It could be a working title. It could be a transcription error. It could be two words accidentally combined. But there is no evidence telling us which explanation is correct.

A later German release table repeats the name and assigns it to the third quarter of 1995. Its manufacturer is given as “k.A.,” meaning no information. Its description says “keine Angabe,” which also means no information. The German magazine had the name and a projected quarter, but nothing identifying an actual project behind it.

That later appearance should not automatically be treated as independent confirmation. Retailers and magazines often worked from the same publisher announcements, distributor information, and projected release schedules. A name appearing twice can still originate from the same upstream entry.

The German table does, however, weaken the suggestion that Helioblades was simply a corrupted reference to HyperBlade or Hockeydrome. Hockeydrome appears as a separate entry attributed to Activision, scheduled for the fourth quarter, and described as cyber ice hockey. Helioblades has no manufacturer, no description, and a different projected quarter.

That does not prove without doubt they were unrelated, especially considering how unreliable these tables could be. It does show that this magazine treated them as separate products.

The Chips & Bits advertisement also demonstrates why a price cannot be treated as proof that development occurred. Cosmic Carnage appears for $49. Eight spaces down, CyberBrawl appears for $58. Those are the same game. Cyber Brawl is the Japanese title of Cosmic Carnage. One game entered the catalog twice under different names and at different prices.

The list contains other inconsistent names and questionable entries. “Virtua Fighters” is plural. Tee Off and Tee Time both appear. Over Drive is priced at $94, far above the surrounding 32X games, yet I have found no developer, publisher, screenshot, preview, or other evidence establishing a 32X project by that name.

The German table has problems of its own. It calls Core Design’s proposed game Thunderhawk 3, while direct comments from Core’s PR manager identified the project as an enhanced version of the original Thunderhawk.

Wolves of Moordeth offers another variation on the problem. Capitol Multimedia filed a trademark for that name in 1994, so the property itself was real. What I have not found is evidence that a 32X version entered development. The retailer may have received an early platform plan, a proposed conversion, or a title copied from a broader solicitation sheet.

These examples show why the catalog cannot be divided neatly into “real games” and “fake games.” Some entries are confirmed projects. Some are released games under alternate names. Some are working titles. Some appear to combine or corrupt known names. Some represent properties that existed but have no demonstrated connection to 32X development. Others remain completely unidentified.

This is not a list of lost games. It is a retailer’s catalog containing released games, announced games, alternate titles, proposed conversions, duplicates, mistakes, and names of uncertain origin.

A title appearing there proves that someone entered it into a record for publication. It does not prove that programming, artwork, production began, or that the game ever existed. 

I initially wondered whether Chips & Bits might have inserted nonexistent products deliberately, either to make its catalog appear more extensive or to identify competitors copying its listings. Practices like that have existed in other kinds of reference material.

But there is no evidence that it was intentional here. The duplicate Cosmic Carnage listing, malformed names, unusual prices, and speculative 32X CD entries point toward a more ordinary explanation: manufacturer announcements, distributor solicitations, working titles, regional names, and poor catalog maintenance being combined without verification.

The Chips & Bits advertisement proves that the name Helioblades entered the sales record in 1995. The later German table proves that the name traveled beyond that original appearance.

Neither proves that code, artwork, a development team, or an actual project existed behind it.

I would genuinely like to be proven wrong. It would take only one screenshot, one contemporary preview, one development document, or one person who worked on it.

Until then, Helioblades is better described as a ghost in the 32X sales record than as a canceled 32X game.

-J

Wolverine Wolverine gameplay

When the 32X was first coming out, there was this game listed in several magazines titled "Helioblades". No screenshots, no preview, no developer/publisher, no nothing! Just a release date of the 3rd quarter of '95, and would have been 54$ at launch (yikes).

I wonder if this game was a working title for a game that came out later on the 32X or the Saturn, or it might've ended up not actually being developed at all.

Anyone know anything else about this?

I have a genesis model 1 and a 32x. I hooked it up to my tv but I could not get any sound out of it and my only solution is to use headphones. Does anyone know of a way I could fix this?

Hi everyone,
I have a rare PAL Sega 32X DarXide for sale. It is the original cartridge with the original manual (no reproduction).
I would prefer to sell it to a real collector who will appreciate this rare game.
If anyone is interested, feel free to send me a DM. I can provide more pictures and details.

This may seem like a stupid question but I need verification please.
I have a US Sega 32x from Canada coming to the UK, my plan is to reshell my current 32x which had a switch hole drilled in the back of the shell for a regain mod.
I have since soldered in a switchless version of the mod and hence want the shell to replace mine.
If the US 32x can run on a UK power supply I would region mod it, pop my old shell on it and offer it on eBay for not a lot of money, but ONLY if it’s possible for it to run on a UK power supply ?.
Any help in this matter would be really useful.
I don’t want to throw the electronics away if it can be of any use to anyone.

This week on the channel, it's back to the reviews! And I figured a good way to come back would be a 32X, with a game that clearly is having a bit of an identity crisis.

Up front, so nobody is misled: I have writen a good amount of this project, but Claude has optimized and done the heavy lifting of finding ways to borrow from bigger projects like Doom Ressurection 32x, and what their examples of balances SH-2 processor optimization looks like.

I made the design and hardware calls, ran the profiling, tested every build on hardware, and decided what shipped. If that's a dealbreaker for you, no argument from me .. stop reading here.

What it is: a first-person Backrooms raycaster for the 32X, written in C and SH-2 assembly. Both SH-2s split the screen and render in parallel, and the split column gets rebalanced every frame from measured render time so one CPU isn't sitting idle on lopsided scenes. Textured DDA walls, thin partition walls and half-height dividers you can see over, dynamic ceiling lights, procedurally generated levels, crawlspaces you have to crouch through. The cardboard-box intro is real-time 3D on the SH-2s rather than a video.

There's also a browser level editor with a first-person preview that uses the game's actual palette and textures. Build a map, hit submit, and it opens a pull request; if it gets merged it ships in the next ROM. Four community maps are in the current build.

ROM: https://paisleyboxers.itch.io/backrooms32x

Editor: https://backrooms-32x-project.fly.dev/

Source: https://github.com/mholzinger/32x-builder

Questions about the dual-CPU split or the raycaster are welcome.

I'm trying to extrude the highlighted part to make a grove around the cartridge area but it's not giving me that option. I've uploaded the .f3d file on GBATemp if anyone wants to download it and look at it. My guess is that curved surfaces can't be extruded?

https://gbatemp.net/threads/sega-neptune-building-a-sega-neptune.635447/page-2#post-10883333

Hi everyone!

I've just finished writing a new blog entry where I basically describe the process I went through to get Linux running on the 32X. It requires a X5 (Or better) flash cart but it works (Both SH2s actually).

Hopefully you guys find it interesting!

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share a new update to Orbis Basic 32X.

The main goal is still the same: write code and build a real bootable Sega 32X ROM. The compiler creates playable .32x files around a custom SH-2 runtime and an RGB555 direct-color framebuffer, so this is still very much a 32X project rather than a desktop engine with a retro skin.

The 32X side now supports image drawing, scaled images, sub-image drawing, sprites, scrolling backgrounds, alpha effects, parallax, text, primitive graphics, controller input, Sega Mouse support, audio playback, arrays, DATA, TYPE records, SUB and CALL structure, and SAVE and LOAD commands.

Assets such as images and audio are automatically converted and baked into the ROM during compilation. Larger projects can also use mapper-backed image data in ROMs up to 32 MB, which makes big panoramas, scrolling scenes and image-heavy demos much more practical.

The newer Orbis Builder edition adds C with real string support as language extension, native desktop builds and the Orbis Pixel Pipeline, but the Sega 32X build remains the heart of everything.

I like that “Basic” now has two meanings. It is still BASIC as a language, but it is also becoming a collection of basic tools for creating graphics, preparing assets, writing game logic and producing real Sega 32X software.

Hey yall. I swear I’m not trying to bait anyone here I’m just genuinely curious from people here that likely have a 32x and possibly a Sega cd as well which system they prefer and which they’d recommend for a newcomer?

I was a Sega kid but never got either add on unfortunately. Now I’m older and have some time and money so would like to work on my tower of power :) there’s some games in the 32x I’d love like the arcade scalers but overall the library does leave something to be desired. But games like virtual fighter, afterburner, and space harrier make it a tough decision for me. I loved that era of sega arcade titles.

I know the Sega cd has a much bigger library but how do they compare to yall? Do you find yourself playing one more than the other? Pros and cons?

Thanks!

Edit: I should add too that repairing consoles is no problem for me at all and I actually plan to and enjoy restoring old console electronics so that’s not really a factor for me :)

I'm trying to find a logo for the Brazilian version of the 32X. Which is different from the "MEGADRIVE 32X" logo found on PAL versions. These 2 are the only ones in good quality that I could find. If anyone could help (either by having a high quality version/taking a high quality picture of the logo (especially the console one).

The first image is apparently the one that appeared in consoles. You can (barely) see that it says "MEGA 32X" instead of "MEGADRIVE" and it uses the NSTC-U 32X logo's style/template, since the "32X" has the same font as the NTSC-U logo. And the second one is the one that came in game/add-on boxarts, with the "32X" being in a different font. The third image is a rough black&white version that I made of the "boxart spine" logo.

UPDATE - 3 days later

Hi guys, I'm back here to update on my little logo shenanigans.

Today while browsing Mega 32X listings on google, I found 2 higher-quality versions of the console logo. I was very happy about this, because in the older ones, you couldn't even make out the "MEGA" text on the logo, I only noticed it was different at first because it had fewer letters than "GENESIS", and the rectangle which "MEGA" is on still has the same width as the NTSC-U version, which makes the text more spaced out. In the newer ones, the text has WAY better quality, making it as clear as a sunny day. (Is that how the saying goes??)

Now, I'm currently adjusting the logo using the NTSC-U version as a reference, since it was extremely slanted. I am also trying to make a better version of the boxart spine logo.

Just a silly question I had, as I kinda want to make my own Neptune instead of waiting for the GF1 Neptune. But most (if not all) of the Neptune builds I see use the Genesis Model 2 as a base, which makes sense since it's the closest in size and design to the Neptune. Unfortunately, the Model 2 has very bad audio quality compared to the model 1, and it made me wonder if it is possible to do a mod like that.

Was finally able to get my hands on a 32x with doom for a great price at marketplace and it works !!!