Is the Genesis sound chips one of the best matches for music

[Xeogred]

And with that said, I think the Yamaha YM2612 chip is the one I'd like to mess around with most... haha. Maybe it's the metal fan in me or something.

Who do you guys think bended the chip the most and did the weirdest or most unique things with it? I might have to give the nod to the Ecco the Dolphin guys... man those OST's are insanely weird and out there. I'll admit I like the CD OST of the first game more, but Ecco 2 on the Genesis is absolutely killer stuff, very haunting and crazy.

Title Theme!


Tubes of Medusa is really crazy. Maybe a bit too much? Haha, sounds like EWJ stuff.


Phat beat in Two Tides:


Scariest Genesis song ever?

[BurningDoom]

I guess I'm in the minority then, I thought a lot of Genesis games sounded horrible compared to the SNES, and even the NES. There are games that did manage to use the sound chip well, or course, but I seem to remember a lot more bad sounding Genesis games (and a lot of very similar sounding stuff) than the other systems. But I would think if it was a good chip, then it shouldn't have been that difficult for programmers to use it well, right?

[Hobie-wan]

I like the Bio Hazard Battle Music.

[arnold_the_bartender]

Instead of the physical chip itself, what about the custom sound engines behind it that were developed for the chipsets? http://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php ... ngine_List

My favorites include the almighty SMPS (Streets of Rage, Sonic, etc), Terpsichorean (found in games like Gaunlet IV and Two Crude Dudes), Audios Wave Slave MD (used in Mega Turrican), and a couple others. I don't like GEMS, which was used in many games developed in the US, especially among sports titles. It's this crappy sound engine that make games sound rough and made voices seem scratchy (like the announcer's voice in Sports Talk Baseball) as opposed to games like Dynamite Headdy, which had clear voice samples. See: Yet another handy video from Joe. If done right, certain compositions in GEMS won't sound bad but many of them make the Genesis sound bland.

[Erik_Twice]

I used to think that the chip was bad, but it simply seems hard to use. It's far more unique than the SNES one and that may hurt.

[Korpi]

Master of Monsters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDmIiHKictU

The Hybrid Front
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmhK0kJCtII

To me it's not question of which chip is nicer to listen to, SNES or MD, it's obvious (to my ears). Characterful chip compared to other consoles, and sounds really good if programmer knows his thing. Music doesn't know such thing as technical superiority. Some like grand piano, some like harpsichord etc. It's also hard to directly compare SNES and MD chips, as they try to achieve quite different things.

[Nemoide]

I always loved the sound Genesis could make. I know that in the world of chiptunes SNES is more popular but there's something I really love about that Genesis!

[Key-Glyph]

Is the Genesis sound chips one of the best matches for music?

Yes. That was easy!

No console makes sounds that I love more than what the Sega Genesis makes. Whenever I compare tunes that appeared on both platforms I always heavily favor the Genesis, and not for sentimental reasons. Hyperstone Heist sounds incredibly better to me than Turtles in Time, for instance, and I recently compared the To Die For... stampede stage from the Lion King out of curiousity.

Just for kicks:

SNES Stampede from Lion King: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i7weSY9Ofk&
Genesis Stampede from Lion King: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_UiuBih4gI

SNES Sewer Surfin' from Turtles in Time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fH-lLbHbG-A
Genesis Sewer Surfin' from Hyperstone Heist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugE5l01KG5s&

To be fair, Sewer Surfin' is going to sound awesome no matter what. But still.

[CFFJR]

Hyperstone Heist sounds incredibly better to me than Turtles in Time, for instance...

Yes, yes, thank you! Finally!

I thought I was the only person in the world who felt this way.

[Key-Glyph]

I am currently in the process of making my own synthesiser that uses the best of the 8bit and 16-bit sound processing chips. It will be the ultimate chip-tune synth, and I can't wait for it to be finished.

You must make videos of this when it's done. Make lots and lots of videos.