Sega Genesis vs. SNES!?

[dischord76]

I had no idea how in depth the conversations of this thread would get....especially when it comes to the sound chips in each system. Heh, very interesting reads though!

[msimplay]

Hmm I just read all 20 Pages upto this point.

Some valid arguments on both sides but most just personal preference.
Well as I was growing up I have to say I never once regretted having a Snes over the Megadrive.

My story goes that I was a Sega Master System owner as I couldn't afford a Nes.
Lucky for me everyone else also had a Sega Master System. I have to say I truelly did love the System as I was from the get go playing Sega Arcade games like Shinobi and Golden Axe the Master System conversions were fair but I craved that Arcade perfect feel.
With every single Master System game was packaged an advertising poster with details of games available for the Master System and other consoles that Sega made. The Sega Megadrive was there advertised as Arcade perfect best in graphics and sound, then sometime later I went to comet store where I played Sonic for the first time ever and you know what I was hooked.
I wanted one really bad so I asked for one on my birthday anyways I was a naughty kid that year and instead of getting the Megadrive I got a nice slap .

So anyways sometime passed and I carried on going to the Arcades and the big player in town was now Street Fighter 2 and you can guess what next it was released for the Super Nintendo this meant I could finally play my favourite Arcade game in home. So what I did was to take my mom to the curries so I could play the game. Mum got sick of me so she bought me a Snes for the following Christmas I can tell you it was one of my greatest gaming moments ever .

Shortly after I had one everyone else in my neighbourhood else started to get one which meant I could finally borrow games.
Hardly anyone had a Megadrive in my local area which was a big thing because games were so expensive back then.
In any case I did end up getting a Megadrive later on but my main gaming days were on the Snes as many multiplatform games from my point for view were just better on Snes.
On top of that I had so many great gaming moments with the likes of Zelda, Mario, Super Metroid , Street Fighter 2 , Street Fighter 2 Turbo , Super Street Fighter I didn't really care too much about what was happening on the other side.

I did however care about their big releases like Sonic series and Streets Of Rage series , Golden Axe ,Eternal Champions.
Lucky for me there was a game hire place nearby and one friend had a Megadrive so we would swap consoles on occasion

The Sega CD seemed cool but the fact that it cost so much really stopped me from getting one.
Also the fact that it was an addon kind of sucked too these days I save power so hooking up 2 power plugs and 3 if you count the 32x feels like overkill.

In those days the Snes for me would have one but later on I compared games objectively.
I'll take Mortal Kombat 1 as an Example back then I preferred the Snes version for it's graphics everyone I knew did and I didn't really care about the blood.
In any case I've found the controls to be much better on the Megadrive 6button pad and the soundtrack is my favourite edition of the music even above the Arcade version.
In any case for sheer nostalgia and amount of time the Snes wins out for me however objectively I accept them as equals because both had good games and I doubt anyone would have been disappointed with their purchase.

It was just a great time to be a gamer

Also as a gamer I have matured which means graphics aren't the only things that matter any more and I am well aware that the graphics are subjective but to me Snes looked more colourful back then but now I know the Megadrive also had some fantastic graphical effects.
As I grew older I prefered the Sega type of game which meant my Sega Saturn got a lot more player than either my Sony or N64 but that's another story hehe.

[MrEco]

I didn't grow up with either of the two systems. And I haven't spent a ton of time trying the games of them. But in what little time I've spent doing so the original Mario Bros. games are the only ones on the SNES that really stood out to me. Meanwhile the Genesis had quite a few RPG's that I liked so Genesis wins for me.

[Specineff]

My terminology might be off but, I coulda sworn that Magician Lord had parallax scrolling in it... It sure looks like it.

Looks like (just guessing, I dont have time to look up how it's video works) that there's a background, foreground, and character planes. From the video I am watching, the first part before it goes into some cave, that the background it just scrolling slower then the foreground. Making it seem like parallax, but yet, it really isn't at all, just two scrolling planes of characters. Even the SNES has those capabilities.

Sorry to bump up this specific issue now. Play Alpha Mission 2, 4th stage. At least four layers of parallax. Whether this is done in hardware, or simulated with sprites, it's there. The Neo is capable of at least simulating it.

Of course, doesn't match the impressive parallax done on Musha and Space Megaforce.

[pepharytheworm]

I didn't grow up with either of the two systems. And I haven't spent a ton of time trying the games of them. But in what little time I've spent doing so the original Mario Bros. games are the only ones on the SNES that really stood out to me. Meanwhile the Genesis had quite a few RPG's that I liked so Genesis wins for me.

"The Genesis had quite a few rpgs that I liked" then you must have liked everyone released on the Genesis because there wasn't many released. You really need to pick up some snes rpgs

[Wim_Senna]

The Sega Megadrive had better arcade games for pick up and play action. The SNES had games that offered deeper gameplay.

Technically the SNES surpasses the Megadrive but hey they released it 3 yrs later, so I guess thats kinda logical.

But since I am more a Sega fanboy , I say Megadrive (or Genesis as you call it over the pond).

[3GenGames]

The Sega Megadrive had better arcade games for pick up and play action. The SNES had games that offered deeper gameplay.

Technically the SNES surpasses the Megadrive but hey they released it 3 yrs later, so I guess thats kinda logical.

Bold: Yeah, but thats all on the programmers to make a good game. Not the system. Thats why Crystalis is the best RPG on the NES. The programmers did a good job on the story.


And you saying the SNES surpasses the Genesis is only MAYBE in the area of graphics. Yeah, it had mode seven with is cool (No add-ons, but even with super FX, Segas virtual racing games hardware was more advance, but those don't count because they weren't used often enough IMO) but thats the only thing. And most games didn't use it.

The 65816 that you claim is better is NOWHERE near the 68000 inside the Genesis. It's a glorified 6502 used in the NES with a couple more instructions and more addressing modes. The 68000 also could not only do more because of speed, but the fact that it also had a sound co-processor. Although it probably wasn't needed, you could take care of minor audio stuff with it and run your engine off the 68K.


Unless you count one more graphics mode that wasn't even used very often and a microprocessor that wasn't half as good as the genesis's 68000 superior in hardware, it's not anything close when it comes to processing power.

[flamepanther]

And you saying the SNES surpasses the Genesis is only MAYBE in the area of graphics. Yeah, it had mode seven with is cool (No add-ons, but even with super FX, Segas virtual racing games hardware was more advance, but those don't count because they weren't used often enough IMO) but thats the only thing. And most games didn't use it.

You are forgetting the very important issue of color depth. Also colored transparency was easy on the SNES and virtually impossible on the Genesis. That contributes to the graphics of a LOT of games, not just a few.

[Limewater]

The 65816 that you claim is better is NOWHERE near the 68000 inside the Genesis. It's a glorified 6502 used in the NES with a couple more instructions and more addressing modes.

<snip>

a microprocessor that wasn't half as good as the genesis's 68000

You can't say the 65816 is a glorified 6502 without saying a 68000 is a glorified 6800. And I don't know what measure you're using to claim the 65816 isn't "half as good" at the 68000.

[3GenGames]

The 65816 that you claim is better is NOWHERE near the 68000 inside the Genesis. It's a glorified 6502 used in the NES with a couple more instructions and more addressing modes.

<snip>

a microprocessor that wasn't half as good as the genesis's 68000

You can't say the 65816 is a glorified 6502 without saying a 68000 is a glorified 6800. And I don't know what measure you're using to claim the 65816 isn't "half as good" at the 68000.

I program the 6809, which is a glorified 6800 and can say with 100% certainty that the 68000 is a completely different monster way ahead of anything the 6800 could do and the a lot better because of the clock speed over the 6809. You really shouldn't comment on programming processors if you've used something like both families a little bit. I am stating it as a fact, not a matter of opinion. 68K was dominent for arcade hardware because of it's power too, and many games that were fighters were on the system because the programmers knew the 68K architecture very well and knew how to use it. Thats the reason the Genesis has better sports games, the companies used it more and the programmers used it to the fullest extent.