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Thanks to the open source recreation of the Tomb Raider engine, titled "OpenLara", the original Tomb Raider has seen a vast variety of homebrew ports over the years, with ports like the usual PC ports, Linux, IOS, OSX, Android, to even ports for other systems and consoles like the Switch, Xbox One, 3DS and the technical wonder that is the impressive GBA port showcased just a couple of years ago.

All those ports have allowed fans of the Tomb Raider franchise to enjoy their beloved title in their system of choice, and this year it seems like the adventure classic will become available as a homebrew port to yet another system, as the main developer XProger has started work on a port for the Sega 32X.

At the moment of writing, the showcased demo for the 32X port currently shows Lara Croft moving around in one of the game's first levels with fluctuating fps ranging from 15-20 fps most of the time. It's worth noting that this is just a prototype, and there's still some progress to be made, like SH2 OT processing, audio playback and multi-CPU according to the issue thread for the 32X port on GitHub.

The Sega 32X certainly had a very limited game selection during its lifespan (with only around 40 games being made for the system, including CD+32X titles), but thanks to the efforts of the romhacking and homebrew community, the system has been given more attention as of late, with projects like the 32X Resurrection hack made for the 32X version of Doom, which aims to bring a lot of the cut content back into the 32X version to bring it up to pair with other outings of the classic FPS, and now with OpenLara being ported into the Sega 32X, it will breath new life into the somewhat obscure system.

Source
OpenLara 32X issue thread
OpenLara Sega 32X port download

 

[pedro702]

glorious 15 fps xD

 

[Cris1997XX]

If they ever manage to use both CPUs together, the game might reach a stable 20fps lmao

 

[SDA]

32X, hm? So NOW this system is getting the attention it deserves.
I'm more of a Sega CD fan though because I love the JP soundtrack at startup.

 

[smf]

The last commit that mentions 32x code changes was 2 years ago, so I'm not sure how quickly there will be any improvements.

5 days ago there were some 32x data files uploaded, without any explanation. I think it was just so that the old code could be shown off. But there were videos from a year ago showing the state.

It's as if they have abandoned it.

 

[fst312]

The games frame rate doesn’t look like a problem for me, if they end up making that better so be it.

 

[Deleted member 194275]

The 6 32x owners that there are must be super happy with this news

 

[BlueFox gui]

huh, this thing can do a lot more than we know, now i want mario 64 on it

 

[Marc_LFD]

Impressive that Tomb Raider was ported to the 32X and even though I could never get use to the controls, that's really cool.

 

[Florris]

I can't imagine how much pain it was to get that running on the 32x hardware.
It's very impressive

 

[eduall]

my favourite videogame of her *:*

 

[pustal]

I can't imagine how much pain it was to get that running on the 32x hardware.
It's very impressive

It is impressive to be, specially for the fact the the 32X hardware isn't very explored. But let's not forget:

 

[hippy dave]

huh, this thing can do a lot more than we know, now i want mario 64 on it

More like Mario 32 amirite

 

[BlueFox gui]

More like Mario 32 amirite

so there were really more 63 games before mario 64?? i thought it was a myth

 

[Charli]

This short video has some more background info on the 32x port The YouTuber has some insights that XProger shared with him.

 

[XProger]

The last commit that mentions 32x code changes was 2 years ago, so I'm not sure how quickly there will be any improvements.

5 days ago there were some 32x data files uploaded, without any explanation. I think it was just so that the old code could be shown off. But there were videos from a year ago showing the state.

It's as if they have abandoned it.

You are right, the project was abandoned for more than one year due to projects at work. The submitted data files allows to compile the game by anyone.
All this time I was hoping that my head would be clear enough of worries and responsibilities so that I could continue working on OpenLara, but this never happened. And every month I realize that I'm forgetting the platform specifics and the tricks that I used during development. I hope to be back around 2025, but there are still many interesting projects on the horizon because I have access to all Embracer Group franchises now and can push most promising of them.
But that doesn't stop me from buying more hardware for my backlog. Last year I got an Atari Jaguar, which I was able to fiddle only a couple of weeks to and achieved nothing. I also have Super FX cart for SNES, SNES itself and almost all consoles released since 1993. The search continues for a working Sega CD and Amiga 1200, so will see )

 

[MegaGenesis]

Impressive, even as a work-in-progress state. I believe the 32X hardware was never used to it's full potential. This project shine a glimpse into the idea that the 32X was supposed to be a entry level Sega Saturn, the concept Sega had at the time. Kinda like how the Xbox Series S is a lower cost entry point to today's generation of hardware (Xbox Series X and PS5).

 

[SpencerlyEverly]

Now if only TheXTech got ports like this...

I don't know how this game is possible on the Sega 32X, like how????

 

[siangana]

"Porting 'Tomb Raider' to the Sega 32X is an impressive feat, especially considering the technical limitations of the platform. It's exciting to see how OpenLara has enabled the game to be experienced on various systems.

 

[Moon164]

I love the OpenLara project, it's surreal to see Tomb Raider running on basically any hardware, from consoles with more limited hardware like the 32x and Game Boy Advance to even extremely obscure consoles like the Zeebo, it's almost something like the "Doom running on evertyhing" if we stop to think about and I love it.

I hope Super Mario 64 reaches something like that someday.