Commodore Amiga CD32 with Paravision SX-1 Review in HD

[crapperstick]

you said it looks like a genesis, and it also takes the genesis controller

[kidd912thomas]

3do was the first

[MegaYeshua33]

Good looking system.

[kirbsnz]

I saw this in New Zealand around then. I saw a very blocky video of Star Trek, I though WOW!!! is comming from a CD disk.

[comedyloverism]

I would love to have all the game systems you’ve got Gamester 81, but I just don’t have the room in my bedroom. ( I live with 2 other roommates)

[NintendoMachine1]

In the box there's also a different d-pad that looks like a genesis d-pad so if you want you can switch d-pads, ain't that cool?

[drunkensailor112]

there were a lot more sold than 100.000 it was actually very succesful in uk. but commodore went bankrupt.

[drunkensailor112]

there were a lot more sold than 100.000 most were sold in uk where it was actually very succesful

[johneymute]

that was the problem backthem,cdrom technology was still too expansive and when they also used 32bit technology with it, it sadly comes down at a hich price.

despite it,s failure it deserved a chance cuzz it has it,s potential.

[Traductus5972]

and you can purchase one of these for a low price of $600 US dollars. yeah a little out of my price range

[ChrisCaelanThomas]

@Traductus5972 It's low for the rarity of the item.

[De5con]

following in the footsteps

[jyatzy123]

i got one on kijiji for 50 was that good?

[aglewi41]

@jyatzy123 if it works then thats amazing

[PompeyGamesRoom]

@Gamester81 that controller actually looks like its pretty comfy to hold, great review bud!

[21stgear]

I live in Canada and I saw a couple of Computer control pads from the 90's modeled after a Amiga 32 controller in a thrift store

[TableWolfMusic]

@21stgear I love hearing little stories like that. :)

[gta4rulesass]

who els here instantly or for at least a flash of a second thought of ''sega genesis''

dude really it looks like a model 1 genesis at first glanse

[comedyloverism]

@gta4rulesass I expected this to be a review on the Sega Neptune.

[Sanosuke004]

I remember seeing the very first CD system in development at Atari Corp back in 1989. It was hooked up to an Atari ST system.

I also had the previlege of meeting the programmer of TOS and his buddy as well. :)

[TableWolfMusic]

The paravision would take matched pairs of simms which can be stripped from most 486 16 bit computers but if you arent sure if you have a matched pair then you can be sure that a pentium1 pc containing simms rather than edo ram would have matched [airs of simms. this is because 2x16bit matched is required for a 32 bit cpu in the pentium pc or cd32. Also a small 200mb hdd from a 486 would work in the cd32 expansion. Plug in a pc keyboard, amiga external floppy, you'll have a A1200 for workbench.

[R33Racer]

How do you get these things so cheap?! :(

[Slorater]

Thumps up if you were writing "History of video games" and you're looking for all consoles maded.

[OliBN1]

I had one. Great controller, but the console wasn't as good as the A1200

[ghostriderh]

i got one these off ebay 4 years ago fun system if can find games for it lol.

[pixelsmack]

It still amazes me that Commodore had the balls to attack the console market. Of course years later Microsoft would, and successfully, with the XBOX.

[jbetenbender]

@pixelsmack I know it's irrelevant, but fuck Xbox. Good games and all especially the exclusives like steel battalion, but they're extremely unreliable (I've had 5). They wanted you to pay for live, pay for a remote to watch movies, very little games support the memory card, and the optical drives always take a poop on them. I've had one PS2 and it's never taken a poop even though it's been dropped ~4ft (asshole yanked it down by the cord), and I've had up to 14 hour sessions.

[mirabilis]

@pixelsmack What's an "XBOX"?

[mastersham]

I had one, it was basically an Amiga 1200 with CD drive.

[hankillo1]

this fucking machine killed the Amiga computers .take it to the garbage please XD

[PaulBlakeman7]

Have you seen the Amiga CDTV before it is simular to the CDi?

[Harp00nX]

@HRHShawnPendragone How can a clone be the real thing? Commodore never sold them in the USA as they had import restrictions placed on them as they had not paid another company for using a patent and they went bust soon afterwards. It's possible you sold some independantly imported consoles but none officially.

[Harp00nX]

@HRHShawnPendragone Not by Commodore, there was, and where do you get such bs from?

[robertkalisz]

i want it:)

[cinema2k]

I bought one from Software Hut out of PA.

[winterchaos3000]

I had got one when I lived in Canada a while back it was a shame that the US didn't get them, It was a nice console. after watching it I dusted of the machine and played it. XD

[SuperHOTrains]

was there one in u s

[DynasticHero]

Nice CD-R :-p

[97channel]

Here in th UK, this system actually had a period of steady uptake and decent shop presence that made it look like it was on the verge of becoming the next big console.

It was released at a time when the fizz of the 16-bit era was going flat and there was huge uncertainty over the future popularity of games consoles.

It was the Amiga 32 and the Phillips CDi (did you have those in America?) that started to emerge as somewhat popular choices. But then Sony came out of nowhere and stole the market.

[EbayDK2K]

Hey about the wired d-pad. It had a regular d-pad but it was only glued on (with a two-dual sided duct tape). After some time the glue didn't work anymore...

The Honeybee Competition Pro Joypads were so much better!

Had a CD³² and a SX³² (could install more Ram and 2,5" HDD)...

[Paynekillah]

I was one of the few Americans that was very into the Amiga scene, back in the day. My local dealer in the Cincinnati area, was really a tremendous dealer in that they supported the Amiga like no other. They finally got one of these things in but, I had first laid eyes on the 3DO, only a few days before, and my demo of this cd32 gave me the impression that the 3do was better so, I ended up with a 3do. Probably was a good decision since this entire company went bust.

[BtizeF200]

i got one of these a few months after release and loved it. eventually the cd drive wore out and my mom threw it away thinking i didn't want it anymore... twas a sad day :D

[illustriouschin]

@BtizeF200 You will probably be even sadder to know it probably only needed a belt replacement. That's kind of like throwing a car away when the tires wear out, which I guess would be something rich snobs enjoy doing, but I digress.

[illustriouschin]

What a dickcheese that ebay guy was, selling burned games... but at least you got a good deal for it!

[gary72carol61]

@illustriouschin

I would agree, but I think the guy sold him the machine and expansion but just GAVE the games away. This way he avoids being accused of selling pirated software! Thats what I would of said :-)

[alanlovedog]

i remember that when this system was first released, there wasn't actually any games in the shop for a while - who would choose this over an actual amiga?

[senfone]

amiga rulez!

[labelfree904]

They should have released it in japan and made more initiative for the patent in the US. could you imagine? There would be no playstation, THIS would be nintendo's competition if the amiga was still alive today. *sigh* if only.

[DevilMaster]

@labelfree904 No way this would've beat the PS1. I played some CD32 games, and they are all so bland. The PS1 could display real-time textured 3D, the CD32 could not. There were no exclusives (even Microcosm was not an exclusive). All other games ran better on a real Amiga than on the CD32 (Gloom is the biggest offender) and they were much more primitive than PS1 games. Had Commodore based the CD32 around a GPU capable of real-time polygonal rendering, THEN history might be different.

[labelfree904]

@DevilMaster

I see your point about the hardware and i think i agree. HOWEVER, there was such a lack of promotion with this console It had so many capabilities. No wonder the games suck, its release was so limited and quiet and amiga wasn't as well known as sony. I think if there was sufficient support for the console it could have been big. K maybe not as big as the ps, who knows, it never happened. But, It was around before the PS and the graphics were incredible for 93, had so much potential

[DevilMaster]

@labelfree904 But again, why release hardware that is a duplicate of what already exists? The CD32 was, for all purposes, an Amiga 1200 without a keyboard, without a floppy drive and with a CD drive, so Commodore was basically competing against itself. The graphics weren't that good even for 1993: a 1993 PC could run Microcosm (like a CD32) and games like Wolfenstein 3D and Doom (too complex for a CD32). Also consider the lack of innovative games at the launch, and you get a recipe for failure.

[krisp75]

@DevilMaster The CD32 also had a chunky-to-planar chip on board, but I don't know of any games actually using it. Just like with the AGA chipset Commodore never publicly released a Hardware Reference Guide (the "Bible" for Amiga programmers) for it.

[Jarren202]

Very informative. Thanks from a former Amiga user!

[BillB808]

After the SX1 add on there was an SX32 add on which was a lot better (it fit better for one)

[CoolDudeClem]

A freind of mine had one of these, it wowed me when I saw some of the games, and introduced me to "chip-tunes"

[kemadrenoaininguno]

one day, u r goonna be millionaire

[kpreston69]

Originally the expansion port was for a MPeg Decoder to play movies off CD.

You could boot into workbench with a special CD as well. Transfer files and games with parnet and the SX module added a hard drive, extra memory and a few extras. There were limitations with the SX especially power consumption and heat. The colored keys were referenced by some games as in press the red button ect.

[kpreston69]

The headaches I receive because it makes me feel old when I see people almost make up crap about the systems I grew up on. I understand that a lot of this knowlege is second hand but come on...

I bought mine brand new from an Amiga Dealer in Miami, no issues. Also, look next to the joystick input there is a small round circle where you plug in an Amiga 4000 keyboard as well as an Amiga mouse can go into the DB9 port.

[tripdefect87]

Wow.......the design borrows so heavily from the Model One Genesis that I almost thought it was a bootleg system

[BitSmacker]

Never made it to the States?!?

I bought mine (brand new) in Scottsdale, Arizona, along with my a Paravision SX-1 from the same store. I bought most of my CD32 games from that store too.

I'm trying to research what they might be worth when placed on eBay. Both are still in their original boxes with about $300 worth of CD32 games. Can anyone guess what they're worth today, as a set, from the original owner?

[millsy2625]

plus apple stole amiga thye reasoning why the went bankrupted

[millsy2625]

i grew up with an amiga500 played it since i could walk

[dogeymon83]

Haha, he said hook it up to an RV! He corrected himself, but I wouldn't be surprised if you COULD hook it up to an RV. 

[dragblade501]

the cd looks like a sega cd =]

[eeklipse]

You're a pirate.

Shave your hands.

[DashROW]

I used to own an Amiga 500 when I was a child, and when this console came out, I instantly bought it and paid what was a LOT of money back then for that thing, I was like 14 or so. It was nice playing with it, although it was hard to find a store which was selling games for the CD32. What really sucks is that the buttons don't have letters or numbers. I was playing with my cousin and yelled HIT YELLOW! And he had to look down to check the colours of the buttons. That pissed me off.

[rkoguy]

nice story and lol!!!! at you getting mad because your cousin had to look down at the controller.

[ashafro]

the fm towns marty although has a 32bit processor, the 386sx in the marty was 32bit internal bus but external bus was only 16bit. the 68EC020 processor in the amiga was true 32bit

[farang82]

these were sold in australia too

[Mark7BD]

I got a CD32 years ago when it came out. Must have been xmas 93 i got it.. got some pretty good games for it too.. I still have the console, in my attic now though. I played the labyrinth of time and some other great games.. good times.. I had a Commodore 64 growing up in the 80s too :)

[vallyboy1975]

just to add as i have not had time to read every comment but on the side with the joypad ports are there is a third port for a keyboard but they have to be either from a CDTV or an Amiga 4000. Also the expansion port was also used for a FMV Card to play VCD.

[DARKJURNEY]

this thing haunted my dreams has a kid it would have kicked my master sytems ass. im still trying to get one to this day.

[ZXRulezzz]

What keyboard you can use with Paravision SX-1? Is it just basic PC PS2/AT keyboard, or it's some special Amiga-only compatible? I'd like to know, because I'm about to buy CD32+SX-1, and it comes with no controllers or keyboard or whatever...

P.S. Genesis controller is suitable only for Amiga computers, it will work on CD32 indeed, but you will not be able to play games that using extra buttons :)

[tommyjones1978]

btw see this commercial from Amiga CD32 coool! :D

watch?v=iXrCyXGx4X8&feature=re­lated

[tommyjones1978]

A microcosm COPY!!!! come on m8, i will never expected that from you a lover of old systems... really disappointed about it...

[GamingWithStatoke]

If it had better software then it probably would have done a lot better

[DCN0B]

Long and narrow XD sorry but that cracked me up. nice review though

[JNL68]

I had a cd32 (Kickstart 3.1) SX1 module (4mb extra memory,1.5gb 2.5 HD) and I loved it

recently bought a Amiga 1200 + GVP 1230 8mb Turboboard

CF2IDE adapter with 2GB CF card instead of a HD Awesome

Amiga for ever

[Lachlant1984]

What country is the Amiga CD32 made in?

[off1k]

@Lachlant1984

Designed in the USA and according to the 2 CD32s I have they are manufactured in the Philippines.

My PAL CD32 manufactured September 93

My NTSC CD32 manufactured February 94

[justin76pa]

Never heard of this one. Thanks for showing it.

[laminarwing]

I still have my CD32 at home :)

[bbartky]

Interesting story about the availability. I actually bought one at a computer store in Anaheim, California. I guess they must gotten them from Canada somehow. Anyway, I still have it but it doesn't work anymore. :(

[geckoguyDaroh]

I had one of these too along with the expansion, I found the D-pad rather flimsy, in fact I had to tape it into position since it had a tendency to spin around on itself making it impossible to press specific directions.

I've got an official copy of XCOM: UFO enemy unknown for it hidden away somewhere...

[Suomipanzerdiv13]

looks like an old clock radio that wakes you up in the morning, with a CD player to wake up to your favourite songs. kinda cool.

[Slowpode]

Still boot up my thrusty CD32 with SX1 once in a while. Boot up in workbench then lauch a few games from the HD or straight from the 2X speed CD-Rom drive.

Hmmm. I'll never get tired of my good old Amiga disguised as a console.

[hugorular]

super nintendo in europe also had colored buttons.

[lileyoubeezy]

on the first play station consoles that camed out you could play burned cd's too

[tachprime]

Just to clarify for people who may be confused.

The FM marty was the first 32bit console but only released in japan

The Amiga CD was first world wide 32bit console but never released in the states

The panasonic 3DO is the first 32bit disc system in the states so hopefully that helps with the confusion

[bringmeflowers]

Wasn't the 3DO console released in 1993?

That was a 32bit processor and all in one unit not an add on drive.

I loved Amiga and even when all my mates from school bragged about the Snes and Megadrive my Amiga 600 was brilliant :D

I really wanted the Amiga cd32 but if i remember the games were really expensive and a year later Sony came out and dominated and ruined the games i loved back then :(

[jeenormus]

if memory serves their was a chip called Akiko that handles the multi speed of the cd drive plus the patent issue a deadline was reached for Commodore to pay a patent royalty to Cad Track for their use of their XOR patent A federal judge ordered an injunction against Commodore preventing them from importing anything into the United States

[rev2xs]

It was the first true 32bit cd based system release in the world. That japanese system the reviewer mentioned was built around an intel 386 processor which had a 16 bit bus architecture, i looked it up. The Amiga has a motorola 32bit processor.

[lancer1286]

i have one of them

[RGBGamer]

Anyone here selling an SX32 or SX-1?

[toggsuk]

I have the exact same system, a cd32 with an sx1, 4mb of fast ram and a 120mb hdd, oh yeah lol.

It rules :D

[marceloyanez111pt2]

how much did you pay for the paravision i heard they got for about 200 bucks

[Gamester81]

I got lucky and paid only $70 for both system and Paravision add on.

[gamesessions]

BARGAIN!!!

I think the SX-1 add on goes for a pretty penny these days alone - I've also noticed that Amiga CD32 is getting very collectable and prices of this system and the games are really starting to race up on ebay.

Also, as mentioned by someone else here - the SX-32 is the best expansion, though this is really rare - it goes for a fortune on the 'bay.

I grew up on Amiga, so it would be great to see some more of your vids on Amiga games and the like :)

Keep it up dude - You rock!

[mynameisleeyesitis]

@gamesessions Interesting system, living in the UK where this mas most popular my parents probably nearly got me one of these instead of the jag that I've still got!

What do these add ons do let you play like higher spec amiga games like doom and quake?

[gamesessions]

they basically turn the Amiga CD32 into a A1200/A4000 with the ability to play those disk based games if you add a floppy drive, and give the ability to connect keyboards, mice and other peripherals. The SX-32 version, as well as being more slender also adds a HDD into the mix and other great hardware improvements. To be honest, I'm just recalling from memory from what I read in Amiga Format back in the day, google will no doubt know more than me - hehe.

[Wizard2694]

@Gamester81 do you know where i can pick one of these up?

[RetroRepair]

@Gamester81 That's one heck of a deal!

[A1R5N1P3R]

Yep I wanted this, but as you said, they went bust...

[paulspydar]

can you pm me the burning settings for the cd32 isos , as i have had little luck so far, thanks

[adamtaz6]

oh wow i used to have 2 of them i was never old enough to look after them so by the time i was 15 they was completly ruined :( i used to love playing diggers on it and the all great earthworm jimm. ahh the good old days

[ifedthehorse]

You must be very proud of yourself!

[iorel1982]

horrible controllers

[nightmathzombieethan]

Cool, I didn't know about this system!

Never realized the amiga made anything after the c64...

[StefanEdek]

Amiga was after the C64.

C64 is Commodore 64, not Amiga.

[nightmathzombieethan]

My duh...

[Segadude3000]

Uhh, the Amiga CD32 was the first 32 bit system because the data bus in the FM towns Marty's CPU is 16 bit. Making the FM Towns Marty a 16 bit system.

[MrNiceGuy4TW]

5:00 How is it a problem that people are able to make back-ups? I don't get it. However, congrats on getting one of those babies. I wanted one when I was a teenager, however never got the money for one. Still, I had an A1200, so fudge it.

[gshowguy]

In regards to the CD-32 controller, are the colored buttons labeled "A", "B", "X", and "Y" like the SNES/SFC controller, or do they just go by the buttons' colors?

[grayfox1471]

I bought one of these from ebay about half a year ago, unused. The only game I have is Zool. It's funky controller and unique style make it an awesome addition to any collection.

[JasonJ25]

That a cool system. I would like to see some gameplay on it sometime if you could.

[awesomecdiperson]

oh and also I think the cdi was actually the first stand alone cd system

[awesomecdiperson]

You should try and pick up a Nuon. I just got one :)

[JerryTerrifying]

Awesome, do you have any of the games?

[awesomecdiperson]

yep! I have all but one Nuon games. the only one I don't have is the Next Tetris

[JerryTerrifying]

That's awesome dude.  That's one of those systems I'll probably never go out of my way to get lol but if I saw it online cheap enough I'd snap it up. Ever fire it up and play is it just a bad ass conversation piece?

[awesomecdiperson]

Actually its pretty fun to play. the games are pretty fun and I fire it up pretty awesome. The only problem is that the good games are hard to find. I was lucky that I found a guy who was willing to sell me a ton of games and controllers with the system. Games I would recommend are Tempest 3000, Iron Soldier 3, Freefall 3050 AD and Merlin Racing

[Bert1268]

Canada yeah :D

[lemonlimestiv]

3:53 what the?!!!!!!!

[vatossan]

LOL amiga in spanish means GIRLFRIEND

[shock25sr]

No,it does`nt!Amiga means girl friend!as in a friend that happens to be a girl!its a friendship thing:)!and just so you know,it means exactly the same thing in portuguese!

[vatossan]

i know u smart ass!

[senfone]

@vatossan yes, in that days a nerd was able to say: I got my amiga at home, dude!

[VoidKeeper]

when you opened the case and I read Microcosm I went UGH!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[silencerforever]

my dream is playing Chaos Engine with CD32...

but cd32 lenses may die at that time.

so i can go on with my a1200 1gb CF ;)

love the 90s

[silencerforever]

it is a dream beast.

[JerryTerrifying]

You need to pick up a CDTV lol.

[baldriansfres]

superb system I had in the ninety´s....here in the Faroe Islands...

[BeerBellyDK]

Great Review..

I know you allready reviewed the Commodore 64, but, i'd like to hear your thoughts on the C64 Game System, if you have one.. :)

Anyway, keep up the vid's..

Greetings from Denmark.. :)

[The16bitwarrior]

Thats a blast from the past there hard to find in the U.K. nice to see one :)

[sinistermoon]

Right on I miss my CD32. I got it at a yard sale and sold it for much more then I paid for it. That was many years ago and I still regret selling it. Super Stardust FTW!

[chaq686]

I saw this on Gamepro Magazine...

[julsyDCst]

Never heard of the Paravision SX-1 expansion, let alone see one, great video!

[blacklily8]

I remember the first time I saw this system advertised..thought it was a spoof or April Fool's gag (a lot of people liked to criticize the Amiga as a "games machine" rather than a "real" computer.) It is a shame, though, that it didn't have a better chance--though so many of those CD "set top boxes" didn't last long.

[RetroGamer3]

Totally great. Everything I wanted to know.

[vintagevideogamegeek]

Look at you...all fancy with your editing software and stuff!

[xiz90]

Could you show how you use the weird thing called Xavixport?

[Gamester81]

Sure, I was planning on doing a video on this system soon. Thanks for the request.

[mrv153]

thanks 4 doing the vid

[consolereviews100]

man did i have fun with the amiga32!

nice video great description

[SteveBenway]

Commodore did make 2 other consoles before the CD32.

The first was the CDTV, which was very similar to the CDi - a multimedia thing in a dvd player shaped case.

Previous to that, they made the C64GS, which was basically just a C64 with no keyboard, that played C64 cartridges.

[Gamester81]

You're right Steve, thanks for the catch. The C64GS was never released in the States unfortunately. It looks like a cool system though.

[SteveBenway]

I have a C64GS, and to be honest, apart from being a bit of a collectors item due to their rarity, they're nothing special.

They didn't sell well, arriving near the end of the 8 bit era. The GS couldn't play all of the C64 cartridge games, as many required a keyboard, and no tape or disk based games, so potential buyers reasoned that they might as well buy the full C64 computer, there being more games for it.

The CD32 was a well thought out machine though. Such a pity it came too late.

[SteveBenway]

While I think of it, that SX-1 expansion allows you to add extra RAM to the CD32.

One of the quirks of the Amiga AGA based machines was that their cpu and gfx chips shared on board RAM, which limited the speed of the system, but any added RAM was only accessed by the cpu.

So, adding just a couple of Megs has the effect of doubling the speed of the system.

Very useful if you play any 3D type games.