The Very First Solely CD-based Console.
Did Commodore Do Well?
Sega said no. Nintendo dismissed the idea without a second thought. An affordable home console that used solely 32bit CDs? A dream, they thought.
Commodore proved them wrong.
Commodore took Sega and Nintendo head-on, but did Commodore come out victorious, or did the other guys have the last laugh?
The Rise – And Fall – Of The Amiga CD32
At the Science Museum in London, United Kingdom on July 16th, 1993, the Amiga CD32 was released. It was basically based upon the Amiga 1200 computer, and many have said it was the same thing – just without a keyboard, and with a built-in CD drive.
The UK launch was a huge success for Commodore, who then gathered their forces for a U.S. launch that they hoped would be just as good, if not better.
Commodore thought wrong.
The CD32 was going up against Atari’s Jaguar, and the 3DO – what chance did it stand in the U.S.? It hadn’t the known, trusted name of Sega, Nintendo, or Atari, and frankly it just didn’t have the power it held in the UK.
It was presented at the 1994 Winter Consumer Electronics Show that’s held in Las Vegas, Nevada, but the response wasn’t what Commodore had wanted – the majority of the attention was on Sega’s Saturn, even though the US launch was just in March for the CD32.
When the launch date did come around, though, it wasn’t what Commodore expected at all. Sales plunked low, and April 29th, 1994, Commodore officially announced that it would be ceasing its operations.
Commodores last breath of air was not a pleasant inhale, but a wheezing gasp. They never really regained any air, either.
Designer Good Looks?
The CD32 closely resembles the Sega Mega Drive in looks, but that’s all that the console comes close to.
At first glance, it looks almost like an old answering machine, which is ironic because the controller looks like a phone.
The case is a simple back, featuring a top-loading double speed CD-ROM drive with the words 32-Bit written across it in white (Made by Chinon and Sony). An output jack allows for the unique feature of wearing headphones with the machine, and two controller ports can be found on the front of the unit.
The controller, which is an odd-looking U shape with short arms, and an elongated middle section, has four colored buttons on the right, and a simple D-pad on the left. It’s easy to hold, and fairly simple to use once you’ve gotten the hang of how it works.
There is also a female serial connector, a male pin parallel connector, and an AT/IDE controller inside the case. There were plans for an optional MPEG module so that you could run standard Video CDs and CD-I Digital Video CDs. It was convenient, and easy.
There Ain’t No Party Like a Third Party
Third-party support was extremely promising for the Amiga CD32, such as Probe Software, Virgin Games, and even Maxis. One of the very first games released was James Pond II – Codename Robocod, which was also available on a Genesis cartridge. Although the extra colors and CD-quality music offered was great, the CD was reported to run slow, and the cartridge version overall ran smoother then the CD itself.
So Where Did Commodore Go Wrong?
Commodore had a great console on their hands, no doubt about it. The graphics surpassed anything of that time, and if it was done right Commodore could be one of the biggest names in the console market.
So what happened?!
Commodore had bad marketing. When they presented the console to the US, they didn’t push it, and their advertising made it seem like a less-than-serious console. No one in the US wanted to buy a console that wouldn’t hold up, or was made by some company they hadn’t heard of, and really – who can blame them?
Commodore had a great deal of debt before even starting the Amiga CD32, and the production costs simply overloaded them. They just didn’t have the money to invest in it, especially with their loss in the US.
Overall, Commodore had a good console on their hands, and the potential to be the best in that generation, but they dropped the ball big time, and the Amiga CD32 ended up being a major flop.
