Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
This Sega 32X commercial captures the exact pitch Sega gave UK shoppers in November 1994, and the price alone tells most of the story. The 32X launched in Europe on November 14, 1994 at £169.99 without a single game included, a full week ahead of its North American debut, with only three titles actually ready at launch, Doom, Star Wars Arcade and Virtua Racing Deluxe. That demon enemy you see in this ad is almost certainly from that exact Doom port, which ended up missing nearly half the levels found in the PC version and was even criticized for having worse sound than the Super Nintendo release, a rough showcase for one of the system's flagship games.
To soften that steep price, Sega ran the cashback promotion shown right here, offering up to fifty pounds off software through rebate vouchers, ten pounds back on fifty nine ninety nine games and five pounds back on forty nine ninety nine ones. It sounded generous on paper, but the offer became infamous for being genuinely difficult to actually redeem in practice. Official Sega Magazine had been hyping the 32X for around eight months before this commercial even aired, and despite everything, the system did sell moderately well in the UK at first, though total sales there only reached around 35,000 units by May 1995, a small slice of the roughly 665,000 units the 32X moved worldwide before Sega quietly discontinued it in 1996.
Let me know in the comments if you actually managed to use one of those cashback vouchers. Subscribe to Game Forest GF for retro gaming content every single day.
#sega32x #segamegadrive #sega #retrogaming #classicgaming #90scommercial #retrocommercials #consolewars #90sgaming #oldschoolgaming #vintagegaming #gaminghistory #90snostalgia #segahistory #ukgaming #youtubeshorts #gaming
This Sega 32X commercial captures the exact pitch Sega gave UK shoppers in November 1994, and the price alone tells most of the story. The 32X launched in Europe on November 14, 1994 at £169.99 without a single game included, a full week ahead of its North American debut, with only three titles actually ready at launch, Doom, Star Wars Arcade and Virtua Racing Deluxe. That demon enemy you see in this ad is almost certainly from that exact Doom port, which ended up missing nearly half the levels found in the PC version and was even criticized for having worse sound than the Super Nintendo release, a rough showcase for one of the system's flagship games.
To soften that steep price, Sega ran the cashback promotion shown right here, offering up to fifty pounds off software through rebate vouchers, ten pounds back on fifty nine ninety nine games and five pounds back on forty nine ninety nine ones. It sounded generous on paper, but the offer became infamous for being genuinely difficult to actually redeem in practice. Official Sega Magazine had been hyping the 32X for around eight months before this commercial even aired, and despite everything, the system did sell moderately well in the UK at first, though total sales there only reached around 35,000 units by May 1995, a small slice of the roughly 665,000 units the 32X moved worldwide before Sega quietly discontinued it in 1996.
Let me know in the comments if you actually managed to use one of those cashback vouchers. Subscribe to Game Forest GF for retro gaming content every single day.
#sega32x #segamegadrive #sega #retrogaming #classicgaming #90scommercial #retrocommercials #consolewars #90sgaming #oldschoolgaming #vintagegaming #gaminghistory #90snostalgia #segahistory #ukgaming #youtubeshorts #gaming
