Overclocking a Sega 32x?

[VenomMacbeth]

I googled it & I'm getting some conflicting information.  Most info I find points to it not being possible, but I read somewhere that a small increase is feasable.

So...is it?  And if it is, would the 32x still run normally?  I'd like to run Metal Head at more than 8-10fps. -_-

[PikachuWarrior]

It depends if the game is locked at a certain FPS or if it is by game design.

[SamIAm]

It's possible that there would be some kind of synchronization issues with the Genesis or that the system wouldn't boot. Also, if the two CPUs are halted after booting, they may not easily re-synch depending on the circumstances. I'm just speculating, though. At very least, I think it's likely that the chips wouldn't malfunction with an extra 5-10% or so, and just might be good for the same 28.6MHz as the Saturn.

The thing to do if you want to test a specific game is download the emulator Gens, open the config file, and turn up the SH2 speeds above 100%. Look at the readme for more info. It's very easy to do. After that, load up a ROM of your game and see how it does.

Some games, particularly 3D games like Darxide, are actually timed to the CPU clock (unlike virtually all genesis games, which are timed to the VDP clock). In that case, speeding up the CPU results in the game itself playing too fast.

Interestingly, you can get different results depending on which CPU you speed up. Typically, boosting the slave CPU doesn't screw with the game speed, but it also tends to give a smaller performance boost.

And as storino03 said, if the game is coded to run at a locked low framerate, like 15 FPS, then you'll never get more than that. You'll only ever possibly reduce slowdown/dropped frames during heavier moments.