Night Trap was a very early interactive movie and the first on the Sega CD where it was originally released in 1992. The premise of the game is that you play the role of a Special Agent who must watch over a group of teenage girls in a house full of danger. You watch surveillance video from within the house and must trigger traps to capture those who mean to do harm. There are more than 1.5 hours of video and it was originally created for a prototype game for a VHS based game system. That system was cancelled and the footage ended up being used five years later for this game.
There are eight cameras throughout the house and you can switch between them at any time. Clues an be gleaned from the various conversations you may overhear and from an undercover agent who assists you. You have to keep track of changing access codes for the traps and trigger them at the correct time. After a trap is triggered, it is unavailable for a short period of time.
This was certainly a unique concept for the time and there is an appeal to the B-Movie like nature of the game. However, the game play itself is relatively shallow and there’s not much in the way of replayability. This game ended up becoming famous not for it’s outstanding game play but because it was one of the games that led to the establishment of the ESRB. Night Trap was accused of containing “gratuitous violence” and “promoting sexual aggression against women” which of course was complete nonsense. The publicity had the predictable effect of increasing sales but the game was pulled by major toy stores (when there were such things) just before Christmas.
The game was pulled from the market by Sega in early 1994 but after the publicity died down the game was ultimately ported to the 32X, 3DO, DOS and Mac OS. The 3DO was probably the best version as it had the largest video window. The 32X version was very similar to the original but with an improved interface. There have also been some more recent ports including a 25th anniversary edition for the PS4 and Windows that was released in 2017 and a port for the Switch that was released a couple of months ago.
Images above are from the 32X version of the game.
When you think of video game magazines, it’s hard not to think of Electronic Gaming Monthly. While there were a number of popular video game magazines, EGM was king of the hill for a long time. The May 1995 issue includes:
Saturn Vs. PlayStation: The Battle Begins For #1! – The battle of the systems has begun, and in this issue we look at the Sega Saturn and the Sony PlayStation! We have compared both systems’ release of the wooden labyrinth game, TAMA. Don’t forget to check out the PlayStation’s cool games Ridge Racer, Parodius and Hot Blooded Family plus Saturn’s Myst and Gale Racer. Who will take the number one spot?
Mortal Kombat III: Could This be the Last Bloody Fight? – Just when you thought the kombat was over, plans for Mortal Kombat III have been brewing. In this exclusive story, take a look at who will be in the game and who won’t be returning. Plus, secret moves, new outfits, rumors circulating about the game and when it will be released. It’s time to go back to the Outworld for Round Three!
NBA Jam: TE Comes Home; Pippen Talks with EGM! – In Team EGM, NBA JAM:TE comes home to the Super NES and Genesis. Also, go into the locker room for a chat with Scottie Pippen of the Chicago Bulls on his new game, Slam City with Scottie Pippen for the Sega CD.
Departments
Insert Coin
Interface: Letters to the Editor
Review Crew
EGM’s Hot Top Tens
Gaming Gossip
Press Start
Arcade Action
International Outlook
Tricks of the Trade
Next Wave
Special Feature
Team EGM
Lifestyles
Ad Index
Fact Files
Super NES Times – This Valentine’s Day, make your Valentine’s heart beat wildly with the latest Super NES games! He/she will fall in love with such games as The Flintstones, Lemmings 2, Itchy & Scratchy and Rise of the Phoenix!
Outpost Sega – I’m in the mood to play Sega Genesis carts, simply because they’re near me … and because they’re terrific games that include Thor, Metal Head and Shadow of the Beast.
Planet 3DO – Be a kid again as you take over a TV station in Station Invasion!
Jaguar Domain – Okay, maggots! Either shoot or get shot in Cannon Fodder!
Super Gear – The famous cat-and-mouse team hack it up in Itchy & Scratchy!
The Sega 32x was released on the 21st of November in 1994. It was an add-on that jumped up the ageing 16-bit Genesis hardware to 32-bits. leading to better 3D capabilities, better color palettes, and slightly improved audio.
It was Sega’s attempt at trying to allow Genesis Owners a cheaper means of having 32x gaming capabilities and to bide their time until the Saturn would be released. It had originally been intended to be a separate console of it’s own called the Sega Neptune which would be a combined Sega 32x and Sega Genesis.
Sega Prototypes were built, only one however (as shown in the image above) has ever been found and it resides today at the US Video Game Museum in Dallas, Texas.
While reception of the 32X was originally positive was a failure commercially. Due to being released 6 months before the Saturn, and the rather small Game library (45 games) It never reached the potential it could have.
Retrospectively the biggest problems with the 32x is that it is a hilariously bad design overall. Looking like a tumor coming out of a Genesis 1, and a Mushroom cloud coming out of a Genesis 2.
Like with the Sega CD, The 32x originally came with extra pieces. an RF shield that would permanently open up the Sega Genesis Cartridge slot so the 32x could stay in permanently. and an extra black piece of plastic that would make it sit better on a Genesis Model 2.
Both pieces like the expansion covers for the Genesis usually go missing. The RF shield is something that can be left off but the plastic piece to make it sit better on the Genesis Model 2 is required if you do have a Genesis Model 2. Otherwise you need to remove the 32x to put cartridges into it then put the 32x back into the genesis.
The 32X, like the Genesis and the Sega CD, Required it’s OWN power source. As the Angry Videogame Nerd best put it, “It looks like the Genesis is on life support.”
The Sega 32X is an interesting piece of gaming hardware. It was designed as an add-on for the Sega Genesis mostly to compete with the Atari Jaguar but also because of fears that the Saturn’s release would be delayed. The 32X was really a piece of video game hardware that was in a very awkward price/performance category and awkwardly timed as well. It wasn’t as powerful as the upcoming Saturn and though it also wasn’t nearly as expensive, it required a Genesis and still had a hefty enough $160 price tag on its own. The awkward timing of its release (just before the Saturn) ensured that it would be a commercial failure.
While the 32X was not as powerful as the Saturn, it did share the same dual SH-2 architecture. This gave Sega and third party developers a chance to practice for the Saturn so to speak by programming for this dual CPU architecture. I’m not sure how effective that was given that there were relatively few games and few third party developers for the 32X. Upon the Saturn’s introduction, it was notoriously hard to develop for and developer tools were not as mature as they could have been.
The 32X plugged into the cartridge port of the Genesis and could accept 32X games or act as a pass-through for regular Genesis games so you didn’t have to remove the 32X. It could also work in conjunction with the Sega CD for 32X enhanced Sega CD games though there were only ~6 such titles. The 32X unit required its own power supply and an additional umbilical to the Genesis so it definitely made for a clunky looking system, particularly if you also had the Sega CD. An all-in-one Genesis/32X was planned called the Neptune but it was never released because Sega realized it would be competition for the Saturn.
The Sega 32X hardware consisted of the following:
CPU: 2 x SH-2 “SuperH RISC Engines” @ 23 MHz (slightly slower than the 28.6 MHz of the Saturn)
Memory: 256 KB RAM + 256 KB VRAM (the Saturn had 2 MB RAM + 1.5 MB VRAM as well as additional buffers)
Graphics: Custom Sega 32X VDP @ 23 MHz (the Saturn had 2 custom enhanced VDPs)
Sound: QSound PWM @ 23 MHz
All of this was in addition to being able to use Genesis and Sega CD resources.
As far as games were concerned, there weren’t very many. There were a total of 40-45 32X games, many were slightly enhanced Genesis games or otherwise weren’t very good because development was rushed to beat the Saturn. However, there are a few good ones to watch out for. Star Wars Arcade, Virtua Fighter and Shadow Squadron are all decent games that take reasonable advantage of the 32X hardware. For an example of a game that was obviously rushed, check out Doom. It is missing levels, has choppy game play and poor sound. While it was better than 16-bit versions of the game, the 32X hardware should have been capable of delivering a much better version (The Jaguar version was far superior). Unfortunately, we never really got to see what the 32X was capable of. It did not have a long enough life span for developers to really learn how to make the most of the system. Based on the specs, it should have been capable of games much closer to Saturn quality than Genesis quality but this was not the reality in most cases.
