Commodore Amiga CD32

The Amiga CD32 was announced as one of the world's first 32-bit CD-ROM based game consoles at the Science Museum in London in July 1993, and released in September of the same year. The console was based on Commodore's Advanced Graphics Architecture chipset, with a similar specification to the Amiga 1200. However, it was also possible to upgrade the basic unit to a home computer with third-party add-on peripherals such as a keyboard, floppy drive and mouse. In addition to the controllers supplied with the Amiga CD32, the console could also use the controllers for the Sega Mega Drive.

Although often regarded as a commercial failure, the CD32 managed to secure over 50% of the fledgling CD-ROM market in the UK in 1993 and 1994 outselling PC CD-ROMs, the Philips CDi and Sega's MegaCD. However, sales were hit when Commodore was not able to meet demand for new units due to component supply problems, and in April 1994, the bankruptcy of Commodore International caused the CD32 to be discontinued only months after its debut.

Games

At its launch, the CD32 was bundled with two games: Oscar (from Flair) and Diggers, a new game from Millennium Interactive. The unit was also capable of running most of the titles developed for the Amiga CDTV multimedia device. Although the lack of original games, which had also plagued the CDTV before it, deterred many people from buying the machine, several notable titles, such as Liberation: Captive 2, Microcosm, Super Stardust and Simon the Sorcerer prevented the console from sliding into total obscurity.