Current Events > Sega Genesis vs Super Nintendo Entertainment System

(+) Yeah! (+)

Topic.

Genesis.
While the super had more colors, the cpu on the Genesis helped make games more fun. It could do some amazing things. I still find games blowing my mind that really push the console like Panorama Cotton or Zero Tolerance amongst many others.
Then you have games like Shadowrun which are really cool.
I care about my games being fun and Sega usually provides that

The SNES was probably the best console of all time.

it had all of the third party support and the Nintendo first party games too.

the snes library was akin to having the ps1 and the n64 in the same system, or the ps3 and the wii.

and the sega genesis was so far behind, hardware power wise.

Quake-64 posted...

and the sega genesis was so far behind, hardware power wise.

I tend to forget it came out in 1988. I don't blame them for trying to extend its lifespan with the 32X, but it had such a wonky window of success.

Hayame_Zero posted...

I tend to forget it came out in 1988. I don't blame them for trying to extend its lifespan with the 32X, but it had such a wonky window of success.

the 32x is such a weird hardware solution. It was supposed to bring the genesis to the 32bit generation, it had the same processor as the Saturn, and it could even use the genesis for additional power. It should have been a monster! And it even handled virtua fighter 1 better than the Saturn but apparently many of the unimpressive games didnt look much better than genesis games because the additional 32x hardware didnt have much to add, due to some bottlenecks and whatnot.

in the end the GBA was probably more powerful than such an oversized mushroom, which blows my mind

Didn't the genesis outsell the snes?

Genesis, fight me

XBoner posted...

Didn't the genesis outsell the snes?

nope

Sega does what Nintendon't.

XBoner posted...

Didn't the genesis outsell the snes?

Not even close. SNES sold like 20 million more units than Genesis.

It was still really good for Sega though since there had been no real competitor until then. Sega had a 55-market share before they started introducing the add-ons. Then they plummeted.

Best looking game of the generation: donkey Kong country

best sound; probably DKC too. If not, killer instinct.

biggest there is no way this is running on 16 bit hardware shock: DOOM SNES (yes, it has a fx2 chip. But the thing is the snes was designed to allow for chips like that, unlike other consoles).

I distinctly remember preferring the SNES as a kid because of how horrible almost every non-Sonic game's soundtrack was.

I voted for Genesis because SoR2 was the best game of that generation, but Ill be dammed if this isnt as close to a draw as possible. Two of the best consoles ever.

equal

The EA Sports games were better on Genesis, and thats why it gets the nod from me

The Genesis had some damn good games. Emphasis on some.

SNES has arguably the best library that doesn't include backwards compatibility or emulation. It had a fair amount of shovelware but the percent of shine to dross is extremely good. It boasted a huge number of well polished titles, both first and third party.

Frankly its not even a contest, and if we include handhelds of the same time period the Genesis loses to the OG Gameboy as well for similar reasons. The best Genesis games were extremely good but there were only a handful of that caliber and everything else really lacked the polish that good Nintendo affiliated games had.

SNES by far

fire_bolt posted...

The Genesis had some damn good games. Emphasis on some.

SNES has arguably the best library that doesn't include backwards compatibility or emulation. It had a fair amount of shovelware but the percent of shine to dross is extremely good. It boasted a huge number of well polished titles, both first and third party.

Frankly its not even a contest, and if we include handhelds of the same time period the Genesis loses to the OG Gameboy as well for similar reasons. The best Genesis games were extremely good but there were only a handful of that caliber and everything else really lacked the polish that good Nintendo affiliated games had.

I have a feeling you havent played much Genesis. It had a shit ton of games of that caliber. On par with the SNES. Most of them were just not very well-known at the time.

Of course its totally subjective, but a lot of people were never exposed to dozens of Genesis gems.

I had both. Preferred SNES.

I had both, so it's difficult for me to pick one. Both had amazing games.

If I had to pick one Idunno, maybe SNES because of games like Terranigma, Earthbound, Secret of Evermore, etc.

The SNES was better in almost every way except advertising.

I was a Genesis kid.

Does kinda feel like there's some ignorance surrounding the genesis.
Super Nintendo has the rpg genre, but everything else can be neck and neck.
My preference goes to genesis though. I love those controls, the cartoon look, the speed of animations and things everywhere, etc.
Oh and the sound. Seriously, it captures that era so well. Road Rash is killer and hardcore, Battle Mania 2 is so fitting and speedy.
the genesis is like having an arcade machine at home that happens to be a console (the Saturn is the perfect blend next generation)

Genesis kid. I'm willing to admit I made a huge mistake.

Quake-64 posted...

Best looking game of the generation: donkey Kong country

best sound; probably DKC too. If not, killer instinct.

biggest there is no way this is running on 16 bit hardware shock: DOOM SNES (yes, it has a fx2 chip. But the thing is the snes was designed to allow for chips like that, unlike other consoles).

A Link To The Past was far better graphics-wise.

Genesis by a country mile.

Up until like a year ago I'd have said SNES with absolute certainty- Genesis is the better console - but SNES has better games

Visuals - SNES
Sounds - Genesis

Both are great systems.

My family was kinda' spoiled I'm not going to lie. My dad got me a SNES like three weeks or so after it first released in NA, and we finally got our own genesis when the model 2 was coming bundled with sonic 2. My childhood was spend playing both.

Overall I was definitely about the SNES since I am a rpg nut and SNES had that to spare and more. I just had a crapton of good 1st and 3rd party games in general. (Metal warriors man, game is just kick-ass).

Genre variety aside I just preferred the SNES when it came to the colors it could display at once, it's 6 button controller by default for the fighting games (we only had 1 6 button genesis controller and thus always had to share it for genesis mortal kombat 1), graphics when mode 7 shenanigans came out, and especially the sound. I legit hated the typical genesis sound. When devs knew how to get the most out of it it really slapped though so I can't hate on the music for shining force games, sonic, streets of rage, and phantasy star for example, or when a 3rd party made a genesis exclusive like contra hard corps and gunstar heroes. When it came to the shared 3rd party stuff like battletoads and double dragons then yeah, SNES sound all the fucking way.

I still played the hell out of the family's genesis though. My brother bought the sega cd add-on when it was cheaper, and I also added a 32X to it (lol) since I bought one when it was on clearance for 20 bucks. That 32X was only used for knuckles chaotix, virtua racing, and brutal paws of fury (which sucked so much ass/worse than the SNES and genesis versions somehow). Sega cd was pretty cool since we had lunar 1, lunar 2, sonic cd, eternal champions challenge from the darkside (vastly superior to the genesis version) and popful mail.

XBoner posted...

Didn't the genesis outsell the snes?

There was a period of time in which the genesis did pass up the SNES for a bit in north america, and I believe in EU whenever they weren't gaming on the personal computers like the commodore 64 they were more about sega's master system and mega drive compared to nintendo back then. (In japan the mega drive never really caught on like that. Sega's most successful console there I believe was the saturn). Overall though nintendo made a comeback and the SNES surpassed the genesis. A lot of that was thanks to donkey kong country and when SNESs came bundled with that. That game's graphics for a SNES game was pretty nuts for the time.

Only had a Genesis so had to vote for it, but the only time I can ever remember it mattering to kids I knew was when Mortal Kombat came out.

When I was dead broke man I couldnt picture this

Skankhair posted...

I have a feeling you havent played much Genesis. It had a shit ton of games of that caliber. On par with the SNES. Most of them were just not very well-known at the time.

Of course its totally subjective, but a lot of people were never exposed to dozens of Genesis gems.

No, that's just your rose-tinted glasses kicking in. I'm not trying to denigrate the Genesis at all. Its more that it can't compete with

All the Squaresoft games
All the Enix Games
All the Actual First Party Nintendo Games
All the Rare Games
The best TMNT, Battletoads, Castlevania, and Contra games
All the Mega Man/X games
Earthbound
Sim City
Lets not forget goddamn Mario Kart
Street Fighter series
Killer Instinct
Super Double Dragon
Rock 'N Roll Racing
R-Type and a fuck ton of other amazing SMUMPS games.
Most of the best Kirby games
The Joe & Mac games
The better version of most Disney games, notably Aladin
Breath Of Fire 1 and 2
Super Ghouls And Ghosts
Goddamn Zombies Ate My Neighbors
The OG farming sim, Harvest Moon

And God know what else I'm forgetting.

Even just the Squaresoft games outnumber the Genesis' entire top tier library (although that's less a failing on Sega's part and more that the SNES was Squaresoft's golden age). Sega made a valiant effort but got absolutely buried under the momentum Nintendo carried over from the NES era, where it ran virtually un-opposed. If both had equal 3rd party support then it might have had a different result. As it was, the bulk of the best 3rd party games went to the SNES with the Genesis getting some cool dual system releases like Mortal Kombat and far, far fewer high quality 3rd party exclusives. Whether their first party release hold up to the SNES is a matter of opinion. I personally think Sonic & Knuckles is the best first party game of the era but to each his own.

XBoner posted...

Didn't the genesis outsell the snes?

In Europe, both the Master System and Mega Drive outsold their Nintendo counterparts. By a lot.

I owned both, had the Genesis first and got SoR2 included with it and had Mortal Kombat and X-Men. I got my SNES the following year, played Genesis a bit more, had about 40 games to my 20 or so on SNES.

Super Metroid
Earthbound
Super Mario RPG
Link to the Past
Secret of Mana
Final Fantasy 2 and 3
Chrono Trigger
DKC 1-3

fire_bolt posted...

Goddamn Zombies Ate My Neighbors

With games like this the genesis also had a version, but the thing is the SNES version is just flat out superior. (Zombies ate my neighbors on the SNES had a better viewing area with the HUD and survivor radar being a toggle on-off all on-screen while the genesis version had a giant black bar off to the right that made the viewing area smaller (this also had the effect of making the sprites for the player characters and enemies a bit thinner). Also the SNES version has 1 extra weapon in the flame-thrower while the genesis gets nothing in return). *The recent zombies ate my neighbors collection uses the SNES version only*

Konami also had a pretty bad port of sunset riders on the genesis that was missing quite a bit of stages and bosses from the arcade original. The SNES ended up with a more faithful port a year later.

Sometimes the genesis actually did end up with a better version of a 3rd party game if they were different, like with batman and robin and jurrasic park, but if its something like sunset riders, aero the acrobat and battletoads and double dragons where the games are still similar than the SNES takes it.

Quake-64 posted...

The SNES was probably the best console of all time.

it had all of the third party support and the Nintendo first party games too.

the snes library was akin to having the ps1 and the n64 in the same system, or the ps3 and the wii.

and the sega genesis was so far behind, hardware power wise.

Thank you for the laugh. I have never read so much crap in my life.

Lets see now Europe, America, Australasia, and South America all went SEGA crazy.

At one stage in 1993 The Genesis had 65% of the marketshare in North America.

So you liked playing all your shitty cencored games eh? Unlike SEGA who didn't care and allowed games like Mortal Kombat to be played UNCENSORED!

When I was in the US in the early 1990's Sonic was ripping Mario apart. I remember seeing a commercial for The Holiday Inn where they were doing a promotion with SEGA and you could hire out Genesis and Game Gears.

I live in Britain and I knew of no one who owned a SNES.

Give me games like Sonic, Streets Of Rage, Shinobi, Golden Axe any day over the utter garbage on the SNES!

Oh and as for the poll results it doesn't surprise me as this is Nintendofaqs where every one thinks the sun shines out of "the almighty Nintendo's" backside.

SNES had the DKC trilogy, that alone gives it the win by a country mile for me. Everything else was just a bonus.

absolutely the snes. Earthbound, smw, dkc, super Metroid alone

SNES it had far more games i enjoy

only genesis game i really love is phaantasy star 4

Think I will leave this here:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/7/6/AAfUmvAAEdtk.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65E53rNC1io

I'm probably one of the few kids who had a SNES and a Mega Drive both.

And I would say SNES >> Sega.

I love Streets of Rage, Sonic & Knuckles and Ecco, these are probably some the most played games I had at this time, but I still can't put them above the SNES when I spent even more time with A Link to the Past, Super Mario World, F-Zero and other games.

fire_bolt posted...

No, that's just your rose-tinted glasses kicking in. I'm not trying to denigrate the Genesis at all. Its more that it can't compete with

Nah, thats my adult man eyes versus your rose-tinted glasses. I recommend you actually delve into the Genesis library my man, I guarantee it will surprise you.

What you have listed is comparable to the Genesis, not better. Trust me, I had both and preferred the SNES when young and dumb and the Genesis once I actually explored what it had.

In fact some of your SNES examples are extremely telling since the Genesis had WAY better examples of those games and genres. I mean SHMUPS? Dude! The Genesis owned that genre. You need to educate yourself.

Your list just proved me right (Im not saying Genesis is better, just that you need to actually explore what it had).

Google top 100 Genesis games and start playing all the (many many many) ones you missed. Im not saying youll prefer the Genesis but youll be shocked at how good it was.

Squaresoft was in it's prime during the SNES though

Genesis is a great, maybe even fantastic, console
SNES is still a legitimate contender for greatest console of all time

What are your top 10 SNES games? Top 10 Genesis games?

Some of you guys really haven't played many genesis games if you're arguing Disney had better games on super Nintendo. That's subjective at best and only for a few games.
When it comes to fighters, Nintendo may have the bigger characters, but sega has the better animation and controller.
Then for shmups, it's weird hearing people favor Nintendo when those games really excel with speed.

I grew up with both and only the genesis got love continously over the decades, from multiple people. I may have even been the last person in my family to touch a super Nintendo honestly.

Skankhair posted...

*snip*

I already mentioned the Genesis had some good games. I owned *both* consoles at one point. The Genesis library is factually weaker than the SNES library, both in terms of units sold and sheer number of games released. While Genesis DID have some better versions of dual release games, notably Mortal Kombat and Jurassic Park, for many other dual releases the SNES version was better. I still go back and play some of my favorite SNES games regularly, or play romhacks of them. Literally the only Genesis game I've replayed in the last decade is Sonic 3 and Knuckles, which to be fair is a masterpiece.

You claim the Genesis library is "comparable" to what I listed, but I notice a distinct lack of actual games in your post.

I love the Genesis, but the SNES was made later, had better tech, and especially towards the final year of the console had better games.