Sega's Metaphor Is Perhaps Too Apt

Sega's 32X, an add-on for the 16-bit Genesis intended to bring the system up to 32-bit standards, was an unmitigated commercial disaster.  It was rushed to market for Christmas 1994, with a limited launch library, and despite the hardware's impressive 3-D capabilities third-party developers referred to it snidely as the "SNES upgrade."

Worse, the 32X debacle may have severely hampered Sega's "real 32-bit" Saturn launch the following spring, by making formerly loyal Sega fans feel like they'd been suckered into buying a system that was obsolete before it ever hit the shelves.  Sega's misstep, it can be argued, essentially handed the 32-bit market to Sony.

All of which makes this Sega ad for the 32X... shall we say, uncomfortably accurate in hindsight: