The Sega Genesis versus the Super Nintendo

[Ayen]

I bet you predictable Nintendorks will be voting for the Super Nintendo like last time. Well, I'm not afraid to stand alone against the echo chamber. Bring it on!:cool:

I vote for the Sega Genesis as the superior console between the two with a better library of games, faster gameplay, and better graphics except for rare cases like the Star Trek game. I played the SNES version of some Genesis games before and I really feel just how slow they are in comparison with their Genesis counterpart. I don't like it!

Discuss.

[Fynn]

SNES has FFIV, V and VI, ergo the best trilogy

[Ayen]

SNES has FFIV, V and VI, ergo the best trilogy

Ah, but V never came to the states at that time so it was more of a duo. Checkmate, Nintendorks!

Dammit, I should have switched the two options around so the vote line color would match their logos.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

Clearly the best is the Turbografx-16.

I like the Genesis a lot, but the SNES had more of my favorite games. I also liked the more orchestral sound of the music for the SNES games for the most part, although some multi platform games sounded better on Genesis when they went for a more Rock or electronic sound like Earthworm Jim. The Genesis definitely had a unique sound to it.

This could have definitely been different if my parents had gotten more Genesis games. I didn’t get to try some of the big games that could have been favorites like Phantasy Star IV or Castlevania Bloodlines. I’ll get around to those games someday.

[FFNut]

Voted SNES. With the FF’s and secret of Evermore. The Breath of Fires. They just had the Library I loved playing the best really. I liked the Genesis however beyond Sonic I really didn’t have the library I did with the SNES.

[Wolf Kanno]

The SNES, I just felt it had the stronger library in terms of my taste in gaming, and the controller was just more user-friendly for arcade ports like Street Fighter II. With that said, I've always felt the Genesis was a worthy rival and had an equally impressive library. The SNES/Super Famicom just had the better RPG library and exclusives.

[Vincent, Thunder God]

My first console was a Genesis, but I really wanted an SNES - my parents randomly bought the Genesis for Christmas by mistake lol.

I ended up getting a ton of the original carts for the Genesis because eventually my local video rental place sold them all when they went out of business. There's some solid stuff on the Gen but I definitely prefer the Snes library overall. Gen I guess was technically more powerful in some ways - though the controller maybe wasn't the greatest, even if by today's standards the Snes controller is only passable at best (but Ninten has really struggled since with decent controller design, except for maybe the Switch pro. I still can't get used to their sticking to the oldschool button placement tho.)

Sega had a weird trajectory - often ahead of the curve in terms of hardware, and possessing some real talent (like Yu Suzuki), but failing to manage things on the business side by flooding the market with failed consoles and expensive peripherals. I don't know what things would have looked like if the Dreamcast had been more successful (because it certainly had the potential to be as a console, aside from the issue of easy pirating with burned discs) - but I don't know that the current state of the industry could really support 4 heavy-weight console platforms - it struggles enough with 3 as it is.

[Ayen]

Games to play on the Genesis for those looking to expand are as followed: Battletoads & Double Dragon, X-Men 2 Clone War, Cyborg Justice, all the Sonic games, all the Streets of Rage games, Comic Zone, the Road Rash trilogy, Aladdin, Phansy Star IV, Mortal Kombat 1 - 3 (get a six buttoned controller for that), Street Fighter II Champion Edition, and if you have a 32x addon, Doom.

[Wolf Kanno]

Sega had a weird trajectory - often ahead of the curve in terms of hardware, and possessing some real talent (like Yu Suzuki), but failing to manage things on the business side by flooding the market with failed consoles and expensive peripherals. I don't know what things would have looked like if the Dreamcast had been more successful (because it certainly had the potential to be as a console, aside from the issue of easy pirating with burned discs) - but I don't know that the current state of the industry could really support 4 heavy-weight console platforms - it struggles enough with 3 as it is.

Honestly, the Dreamcast was pretty much euthanized before it really had a chance. The system had two issues, one Sega of Japan pretty much screwed up the systems launch over there, which hurt the core base to make the company feel safe. They even slashed the price before the western release in Japan, which meant the system sold at a loss. In the West, the system fared significantly better because they had some better people working in their overseas branches, but due to the way Sega of Japan screwed up the Saturn launch, they had to recover too much ground with retailers and consumers that the system failed to recapture the market share that the Genesis had, leaving Sony and Nintendo to control most of it. They then gambled on some aggressive price slashing, rebates, and the Seganet feature to hopefully recapture the market before the PS2 was launched, but Sony had a better marketing plan and their huge control of the market meant that despite the console shortages and weak launch titles for the system, people waited out for it. Sega as a whole was just too financially weak to gamble on these aggressive sales tactics and the system became a loss on both sides of the Pacific. Then the company had some reshuffling of the corporate structure and the new heads apparently always hated the console side of the company and opted to kill it and go third party despite a lot of internal objections. Overall, Sega pretty much shot themselves in the foot by their poor handling of the Saturn that despite the Dreamcast being a better system, the company was already too far gone to have it be successful unless a miracle happened.

[Bubba]

The Genesis was an amazing console with some genuinely brilliant titles on there. It's just a shame it was up against the absolute juggernaut which was the SNES.

[Ayen]

The Genesis was an amazing console with some genuinely brilliant titles on there. It's just a shame it was up against the absolute juggernaut which was the SNES.

It was originally meant to be competition for the NES. Nintendo just answered back with the SNES in 91.

[Sephex]

I voted SNES, but I got tired of the Genesis/Mega Drive vs SNES argument because I lived it. Even though I had a friend who had a Genesis, I partook in that argument crap, but I was also a single digit age.

I quickly realized that both consoles have their strengths and weaknesses. I got a SNES early on because Super Mario World, ActRaiser, and Final Fantasy II (FFIV) sold it to me thanks to a cousin getting it brand new. I eventually coaxed my parents into getting me a Genesis right after Sonic 3 was released.

While SNES had great RPGs a lot of people forget Genesis did, too. I sort of lost my train of thought here, bit long story short I like the SNES better, but I also loved the Genesis.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

My family had both systems since I was about 2 years old, so it never even occurred to me to think about which is better. I think I was too young already before we were moving on to the ps1 days that it was that generation that was the big discussion on the playground.

I’m pretty sure my response to the argument back then would have just been: Why not both? Obviously not everyone can afford all the systems (and I honestly don’t know how my parents did), but yeah. Now I want to play some Sega.

[WarZidane]

Genesis had some gems like Phantasy Star IV which is actually my favorite RPG from that generation.

However, the vast quantity of great games on the SNES just beats out those few gems on the Genesis.

[Fynn]

I mean, when you think about it, the SNES winning out here is not a matter of people here being Nintendon fanboys, but rather a matter of thie being an FF forum, so most people will probably favor the platform they potentially played their FFs on.

[Ayen]

Nah, it's because Nintendorks had taken over the United States and is controlling people with their mind control rays.

[Lord Golbez]

To my mind this isn't even close
Genesis had nowhere near the quality of games. Sonic? Those were probably among the best and still pale in comparison to Super Mario World and Yoshi's Island. Phantasy Star? Could never really get into it an FF surely has it beat (as do many other SnES RPGs IMO.

Genesis would maybe, probably, I guess come out favorably in comparison to NES, but at least that would be a closer match. I'll admit that the tinge of nostalgia may be pushing me more toward the NES, since I didn't have a Genesis growing up, but in the case of the SNES comparison the discrepancy is just too large to be explained by nostalgia alone. Genesis just flat out didn't have much of the kind of games I like or ever liked.