The Add-Console Concept: A Press Pause Radio Retrospective

So I figured I would do another perspective on a concept that just became wildly unpopular among the gaming community & developers themselves. I'm talking about Add-on consoles, consoles that can not function on their own but instead, use the resources of another console in unison to create a new platform, Now there was major surge of these consoles about in the early nineties, with Sega, NEC-TTi, & Atari with their add-on consoles & Nintendo nearly doing so themselves through a failed agreement with Sony. The First console to really introduce the Concept was Colecovision. At the very time of launch the Colecoviosion was show casing it's expansion port functionality where it was able to utilize different attachments, giving it different capabilities, the most common & popular expansion was the Colecovision Expansion Module #1, essentially by connecting into your coleco vision, you would be able to play Atari 2600 games & use their controllers as well, this of course not only opening consumers to the new library of available Colecovision games soon to be available but as well already came capable of playing one of video games largest libraries, in which was also it's direct competitor

The first Add-on console was a very successful one it was

 

Of course as I mentioned in my eight bit vs sixteen bit blog that this led to controversy & legal battles between Coleco & Atari, but you find out more in that blog. Now the third expansion module was an Add-on computer by the name of ADAM, but that, wasn't as successful, though there was a rumored fourth add-on that would be able to play Matell Intelevision games, it simply never came to be. it was for some time following the Video game crash of 83 that Japanese companies & game development saved the North American market for Video games with Nintendo, Sega, & NEC following behing with their PC-Engine platform (Turbo-Grafx 16 here on US land) that they were may have been doing poorly on western fron, but the PC Engine was pushing sales in Japan & eventually saw the release of the PC-Engine CD, & soon in 1991 saw the release of Turbo-Grafx CD, this add-on allowed increased storage space on the CD & allowed for CD quality animation & music with video games, though the Library for Turbo-Grafx CD was smaller when compared to it's Turbo chip library, I feel the most notable thing that I myself would defend for the TG CD is that the games themselves were very good games, that I feel were not given the credit due by the mass consumer due to poor support by local game development & just the financial politics of what release on western shores.

I always found the System quite bulky, stick with the Turbo Duo kids...

In contrast to the lack of success of the Turbo-Grafx CD here in the US, the opposite can once again be said for the reception that the PC engine received in Japan, with the right support, there are outstanding example of history defining games released for the PC-Engine CD games, so much in fact that one of the best traits for the add-on console & the game is with the right System card inserted within the Turbo Grafx 16 (how the CD add-on console operated, you were able to use different cards as well) the System 3.0 card allowed for games from Japan to be played as there is no region lock on the games whether they're US or Japan developed, which allowed for gamers to import several of the games for the PC-Engine CD that didn't get to quite make it to northern shores, famous games like Y's IV or Dracula X: Rondo of blood, with NEC they had later released another platform known as the Turbo Duo, which just simply a Turbo-Grafx 16 & it's CD add-on built into one console, this was more of the rarer iterations & is also the most superior with the processing speed being even that much more faster than that of a system 3.0 card as well abillity to play the Super CD rom 2 games that the PC engine CD had released as once again, there was no region lock on the games, overall it did extend it's appeal in the US especially witht the ludicrous value that was given with the system bundle (5 games included with it), NEC had mostly called out Sega as it's rival & as we all know, Sega responded.

The following year Sega followed in direct compitetion with NEC TTi by releasing the Megadrive CD add-on for their sixteen bit console the Megadrive (Genesis here in states) & then later on when released in the US in 1992, the Sega CD, The Sega CD not only had the capability of playing designated games but also play Audio CDs & CD+G discs. The original Model of the system went completely under the Genesis, while operating on a motorized disc tray to load the discs, now the Sega CD was received under mixed reception in the states, & was made to be more availble to consumer when they mass produced the second model which still housed the system under it, but was located on the right of the Genesis, with a top loading tray, This Add-on honestly is one of my favorte of th sixteen bit generation as it had some of the best games in that era, but it was mostly under whelming when it came to it's library I feel due to two reasons, one the ports as far the Genesis version & the Sega CD version, were nearly identical in most cases other than the mass improvement in the sound quality for the software for the Sega CD as the sound chip in the Sega Genesis was very poor & the console's weak point, sure they're are games with significant changes compared to their Genesis cousin when it came to better animation, music, & added cinematic as well as bonus material, but this was a very rare case, for example Pitfall the Mayan adventure, is just a direct port with an extended intro. The second reason was though there were amazing original games on the Sega CD like Popful Mail, Sonic CD, Snatcher, the Ecco series, Final Fight, Shining Force, & Wild Woody as an example (I didn't agree with Broken Pixels take on Wild Woody) I honestly just named a few, there are way more quality titles for the console, however when comparing the quality titles for the Sega CD for the poor terrible titles, it's like seeing a bundle of Diamonds drowning in a sea of pure shit...

 

The Genesis fully equiped with it's released add-ons...at least I like 'em

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Among the worst offenders of poor quality software in the Sega CD library, were the FMV games (Full Motion Video), with the technology the Sega CD offered for running Full fledged cinematics, the Genre itself was made popular by involving simple gameplay that is operated off of full motion video, genres including any where from QTE, Point & Click, & Light Gun. though in my opinion there were a good crop of even these games (Time Gal, Road Avenger, Night Trap, Dragon's Lair) there were terrible, terrible & numerously once other terrible ones (Crime Patrol, Who Shot Johnny Rock, Wirehead, Mad Dog Mcree) The list goes on & on, this Genre over saturated the library & with it's over whelming amount, most of them could be compared to be some video games worst in history, this tarnished the Sega CD's reputation even more, with only 20 or so quality games for the system, most of them RPGs as well, the Sega CD only found most of it's Fan base with the Hardcore Sega nuts (like myself) but mostly failed to impress. The Sega CD is famous for it's RPGs such as Lunar, as well as the Working Arts RPGs suck as Lunar II, Vay, Popful Mail, & then there is Shining Force CD as well as Dark Wizard, The Lethal Enforcers games were awesome, & were proffered on Sega CD, Overall I would have to say that even though The Turbo-Grafx CD was more successful in Japan, I would say that same could be said for the Sega CD for the US overall, as it was not considered to be a failed Add-on, & that's where visit the Sega 32X, this Add-on would fit on top of the Genesis, & allow for it's own library of Cartridges to be played allowing Genesis games to be played on it as well when not play 32X games, so in sense it was also another permanent attachment as you could play Genesis games when you weren't playing, which in sense did prove to help extend the Life of the Genesis allowing to help go to the thirty two bit generation that lied ahead, however, Sega did produce some exclusive games for the console, but some of them were rushed as they were also focusing on the Sega Saturn, which the next big entry from Sega, therefore most Gamers actually held off on purchasing the 32X, in favor of waiting for the far mor superior Saturn which lied ahead, & other than enhanced ports of games like Pitfall or Primal Rage, there were very few exclusives, other than the Flagship Sonic Launch game which was Knuckles Chaotix, a spin-off title which I feel was unfairly received & most now have to appreciate the innovation it put into the 2D Sonic Formula, this game along with couple others have made it worth it for me to enjoy the 32X, including Kolbri & Metalhead & enhanced ports of Mortal Kombat II & NBA JAM TE, as well as being the first home platform for Virtua Fighter. There were also 5 games released which were made to use the power of both Sega CD & 32X, but they were all FMV games of course...Best damn version of Night Trap though & now in my opinion, the most ill-conceived Add-on & I'm done with the 32X, I really do defend defend my 32X based on specific software that does justify having one...but this console in my opinion well, I enjoy it's core component as a console & actually recently hooked it back up, but it's CD add-on was dog shit..

So much fucking potential, wasted & left for Home brew cult few...

The Atari Jaguar, which was already struggling in it's core earnest, with few games showing off the potential of the Jaguar, though afloat, it being only possible by dedicated consumers that stuck by the Jaguar, & Atari had promised there would also be a CD add-on giving CD quality, being released very late in the Jaguar's lifespan & also having very few games exclusive to it that would even making owning it worth while, Atari closed the door on Jaguar all together after the JT reverse Take over, other than a Perfect arcade conversion of Dragons Lair & one of the better ports of games such as Space Ace & Primal rage, the Atari Jaguar CD had two notable exclusives which was Blue Lightning, a 3D on rails shooter, that played similar to Starfox but boasting realistic visuals & Battlemorph, being the sequel to Cybermorph on the Jaguar, & Vid grid which I never played but heard it was a puzzle game involving Music Videos? if I ever see it & it snagging it up wont cause too much inconvenience then I will, but other than that, it's really not worth it, at all. Finally there's one more Add-on that was just recently released & abandoned, I actually compare it to the Jaguar CD, & it wasn't an add on for Games either but rather an add-on for a competing format against another brand new format that a competing system based it's platform on...sound familiar?

The HD-DVD movie player for the Xbox 360, yeah...it's already abandoned

In the format war between Microsoft & Sony of what format would eventually rule home media & entertainment, with Microsoft siding with HD-DVD while Sony endorsed & promoted a completely brand new format, Bluray. the war raging a little over a year, Bluray was dominating as fewer & fewer movies were being developed for home release on HD-DVD & games that were speculated to use the format in that time (pre Elite era) the idea itself was eventually scrapped, the player can be sold anywhere as cheap as 49.99. Well that's it for now, I feel that the concept of Add-on consoles, I still support the concept & it times I feel that NEC TTi & Sega got it right, but it all came down to one common denominator, a worth while Library, wait let me correct myself also an available Library, as I feel that some of the best games for Sega CD & Turbo-Grafx CD never made it to western release, however the Idea just became tarnished & with the HD-DVD player on the Xbox 360, though I myself individually appreciate the concept, many consumers instead reflect on all the negativity just from their own experience, who knows, I thought I would share my view on it though.