What were they thinking was, we need to make something that isnt too expensive so hopefully we can sell enough to stay in business.
I disagree with this comment bigtime. £350 at launch? Cheap, I think not.
The reason for the CD32 was clearly stated at the time. Commodore saw the CD era was dawning and an A1200 with CD ROM was required, they thought the console market was a good viable in-road and with hopes for FMV and the ability to add a keyboard/mouse it seemed a winning idea. It was, for a short while the CD32 rocked the CD-ROM sales chart outselling the PC CD-ROM market of the day (I still remember CD32 sales being 76% of all CD-ROM software for the month at one point). Many people seem to have forgotten just what an impact this machine had and it's a shame. The CD32 was a strong contender for a short while, sadly bankruptcy killed it off. Oh, before anyone points out the lack of forsight regarding 3D Chips in the CD32, Sonys PSX (original playstation name) caught everyone out. Sega only just shoe-horned in the powerVR chip into the Saturn (another under-rated machine) at last minute. It was generally considered by all the video game companies of the day that 3D would wait 'til the next gen. Sony upset the proverbial apple cart and jumped in early. The game playing public rejoiced and the other companies of the day cried foul.
Anyway, all that aside, if I only owned one classic Amiga I would choose the CD32 with an SX32 Pro module. It's a lovely system and a pleasure to use. Buying the competition pro pad is a good idea and one I most emphatically support, no, thinking about it, don't buy one, buy two of them and invite a friend to join you.
