32X: Powering this Beast on

So here's the story as it goes so far: I dig my original Genesis and Sega CD out of storage. I track down all of the necessary power bricks, buy a NIB 32X off of eBay, get a base extender for the Sega CD, and even a multi-tap for the Genesis. I buy a power-strip capable of handling three power bricks, and even pick up half of the 32X library off of eBay. Audio cables? Yes, I needed some of those, too. This is great, this is dedication, this is outright lunacy....and it's completely untested.

The truth of the matter is that I tracked down so many pieces to this excessively stupid puzzle, yet I never actually took the time out to test the entire system. Truth be told it's actually really irresponsible, because you would never buy a shirt without trying it on, a TV without turning it on, or a meal you've never had without some sort of taste test. I focused so much on the process of procuring that I never did any playing, so I had to take a time out and get this thing going. Suffice it to say that I had a few problems. I got the power adapters a bit mixed up, the audio was a bit scratchy, one of my controllers didn't work, and the system didn't want to load any games until being thoroughly cleaned, but it finally worked. And this was on 40 hours of no sleep with all of my grad school homework. How was the experience itself? After a few hours I was HOOKED. I think that leaving the Genesis on for a longer period of time helped work out all of the gremlins associated with being off for 15 years, so that was nice, too. All in all, it helps to take a time out and enjoy what you've actually purchased.