32X: Repurchasing an Expensive Tumor on my Childhood

The year was 1996. We had just moved to Austin and I didn't really have any friends yet. My parents hadn't secured the best line of work at the time, so money wasn't exactly plentiful. What was plentiful, however, was video games and places to rent them that didn't price gouge you. What was also plentiful was crappy video games and overpriced accessories that did little in the way of making the experience more enjoyable.Case in point: the 32X.

Originally priced at $149.99 this thing couldn't sell even if Sega's life depended on it (which was ultimately the case). My local Toys 'R Us had this on sale for $19.99, so my mom took me to pick one up to see what the hubbub was all about. Suffice it to say that installing this bastard was a real chore and as a 10-11 year old I simply couldn't pull it off. I think at the time I couldn't get the sound to work, but what really irritated me was that my mom returned this awful piece of gaming history to save $20 because of this mistake. Now my adult-self managed to snag this NIB (new in box) copy for $70. While this isn't the BEST deal in the world it was the only way to get that satisfaction of cracking open fresh plastic and having all of the cables needed to get it to work. Now with the power of the internet and a college education I managed to get this thing to work, albeit it is very finicky. The price was high, but I finally feel that I'm on the right track with this hobby.