Sega System 32

From Sega Retro

System32.jpg
Sega System 32
Manufacturer: Sega
Release Date RRP Code

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Sega System 32 is the name of an arcade platform released by Sega first seen in 1991. It was a successor to the Sega System 16 and Sega System 24 boards, and contains a 32-bit RISC processor at 16 MHz, hence its name.

It was the last board to be released under the "Sega System" naming scheme - the "Sega Model" series would begin in 1992 with the Sega Model 1. Whereas Model 1 hardware was designed specifically with 3D games in mind, System 32 primarily catered for 2D games. Like the Sega X Board and Sega Y Board it is capable of scaling many sprites in real-time, resulting in several "pseudo-3D" games.

A variant of this hardware, System Multi 32 was created for use with twin cabinets, specifically for games that where more than one player could play on separate screens.

Unlike other Sega arcade hardware from this period, few System 32 games have ever been ported to home consoles. A re-imagining of Air Rescue hit European Sega Master Systems in 1992 (which although shares the same name, is almost completely different in design to the arcade version), OutRunners saw a vastly reduced port to the Sega Mega Drive by Data East and Rad Mobile was heavily tweaked and turned into Gale Racer for the Sega Saturn. Everything else seems to have been deemed "too good" for the Mega Drive and "not good enough" for the Saturn.

Hardware

It succeeded the Y Board and System 24, combining features from both. It used a NEC V60 processor at 16.10795 MHz, supporting 32-bit fixed-point instructions as well as 32-bit and 64-bit floating-point instructions. It used a new custom Sega graphics chipset combining the Y Board's pseudo-3D Super Scaler capabilities with the System 24's sprite rendering system.

There was another version of the System 32 hardware, called System Multi 32 or System 32 Multi, released in 1992. This was similar to the original, but had a dual-monitor display, a new NEC V70 processor at 20 MHz, a new Sega MultiPCM sound chip, more RAM, and other improvements. This was the last of Sega's Super Scaler series of pseudo-3D arcade system boards.

Technical Specifications

System 32 Specifications

System Multi 32 Specifications

Sega System Multi 32 included the following upgrades in 1992:

  • Main CPU: NEC V70 @ 20 MHz[1]
    • Fixed-point arithmetic: 32-bit RISC instructions @ 6.6 MIPS[2]
    • Floating-point unit: 32-bit and 64-bit operations[3]
  • Sound CPU: 2× Zilog Z80 @ 8.053975 MHz (8-bit & 16-bit instructions @ 2.336 MIPS[4]))
  • Sound chips:
    • FM synthesis chip: Yamaha YM3438 @ 8.053975 MHz (6 FM channels)
    • PCM sampling chip: Sega MultiPCM[11] (28 PCM channels)
  • GPU: 2× Sega Super Scaler 317-5964 chipset
  • Video resolution: Dual monitor,[1] 640×224 (display), 832×262 (overscan), progressive scan
  • Color palette: 4,194,304 (2,097,152 per screen) to 16,777,216 (with shadow & highlight and RGB brightness control)
  • Colors on screen: 98,304 (49,152 per screen) to 143,360 (71,680 per screen)
  • Graphical planes: 4 sprite layers[12]
  • Sprite capabilities: Multiple buffering, 4 framebuffers[12]

List of System 32 games

List of System Multi 32 games

Hardware Images

System 32 Hardware

System Multi 32 Hardware

External links


Sega arcade boards
Originating in arcades









Console-based hardware








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