Games & Preservation

Backing Up Sega 32X Games

The Sega 32X was a stopgap add-on that slotted into the Genesis to push 32-bit graphics, and its games are ordinary Genesis-shaped cartridges — which means the same reader that dumps your Genesis library dumps your 32X carts too. Plain, unencrypted ROM, out to a small .32x file. The ground rules lead: own it, dump it yourself, keep it private.

Media
Cartridge — a Genesis-format cart, unencrypted ROM.
Hardware
Retrode 2 · Open Source Cartridge Reader — any Genesis-capable reader.
Output
.32x.
Typical size
2–4 MB.
Save data
A few 32X carts have battery-backed SRAM — the reader dumps it too.
BIOS
Not needed. The OWL player’s 32X core needs no firmware file.
A Sega 32X unit mounted on a Sega Genesis
The Sega 32X on a Genesis. 32X games are Genesis-format cartridges — the same readers copy them. Image: Evan-Amos, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

What You Need

  • A Genesis-capable cartridge reader. The Retrode 2 reads Genesis (and 32X) carts as drag-and-drop files with no drivers, and the Open Source Cartridge Reader covers them too — the very same units the Genesis guide recommends. A 32X cartridge is electrically a Genesis cartridge, so no special adapter is needed.
  • Isopropyl alcohol and swabs for the edge connector.

Dumping, Step by Step

ROM32X cartridge1Genesis-capable readerRetrode 2 / OSCR2Game.32x2–4 MB3OWL media libraryplays in the browser — no console needed
The 32X dump: (1) a Genesis-format cartridge, (2) read by any Genesis-capable USB reader, (3) written out as a small .32x. Diagram: NDEVR.
  1. Clean the contacts with isopropyl alcohol.
  2. Read the cartridge. On the Retrode it mounts as a USB drive — copy the file off. On the OSCR, pick the Genesis/Mega Drive menu.
  3. Name it .32x so the player and emulators recognize it as a 32X title rather than a plain Genesis one, and verify against No-Intro.

The Genesis Underneath

★

One file, two chips’ worth of work

On real hardware a 32X game runs on the Genesis’s 68000 and the 32X’s twin SH-2 processors at once. You don’t have to think about that when backing up — it is all in the one cartridge ROM you dump — but it is why 32X titles are flagged as their own system: the emulator core has to bring up the whole Genesis-plus-32X stack. Naming the file .32x tells it to.

Playing Your Backup

Upload Game.32x to your OWL media library and it lands in the Games collection with per-console settings — the player’s 32X core runs it in the browser, save states synced across your devices inside your own end-to-end encrypted storage.