Has the Genesis/Mega Drive Aged Worse Than the SNES?

[Bloodreign]

In my eyes the games have held up just as well as the SNES. The fun factor hasn't disappeared, the games still look nice (both systems had their fair share of garbage titles), sound isn't an issue with all games, some have mighty nice sounding music and voices (Pulseman, Darius II, Sailor Moon, Castle of Illusion and World of Illusion, Phantasy Star IV, Strider, Valis 1 and Valis 3). And I was not a fan of the Genesis back in the 90's until 1998, when I finally caved in, bought my first Model 2 Genesis, got some games, sat down, and gave the system a chance to impress me. The first 2 games I bought were Castlevania Bloodlines and Contra Hard Corp, a hell of a way to launch yourself into a system's lineup.

The Genesis may not be everyone's cup of tea, but you'll have people on the other side of the fence about the SNES. Myself, I don't care, both systems have a nice assortment of games I love.

[Alianger]

@Tanooki: A SNES game with actual CD quality audio (Zelda 3, and this only works in certain emulators fyi) is now a possibility and works well as a reality check:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v788KslHvbU

I probably would've agreed back in the day though, SNES almost felt like a generational leap to me when I first got it, having played MD/GEN since '89 or '90.

It's odd to me that several people have said the early Genesis library has aged poorly. To me, it's the late library that sometimes doesn't hold up well, i.e. lots of games (especially Western-developed ones) with digitized graphics that don't play well with the system's relatively low color count, or lazy ports from the SNES. Doom Troopers, X-Perts, Time Killers, Batman Forever...

Sure, but this is probably true for all popular systems. The fact remains that if you want to see limit pushing MD games then there are more of them from the console's later days than its early days.

I actually went and made a list yesterday and hade no trouble coming up with a bunch of impressive/high quality games from 1993 onwards;
1993 - Ranger X, Gunstar Heroes, F1, Aladdin, Rocket Knight Adventures, Shinobi 3, Street Fighter II SCE, Flashback, Dune II, Pirates! Gold, NBA Jam, Splatterhouse 3, Battle Mania 2, Eliminate Down, Wiz 'n Liz, Columns 3, General Chaos, Blades of Vengeance, Lost Vikings, NHL 94, Toejam & Earl 2,
1994 - Panorama Cotton, Red Zone, Dynamite Headdy, Ecco: Tides of Time, Yu Yu Hakusho: Makyo Toitsusen, Monster World IV, Crusader of Centy, Beyond Oasis, Contra: Hard Corps, Castlevania: Bloodlines, Super Street Fighter II, Pulseman, Samurai Shodown, Shining Force 2, PSIV, Bare Knuckle 3, Robocop vs. Terminator, Lion King, EWJ, NHL 95
1995 - Alien Soldier, Adventures of Batman & Robin, Vectorman, Ristar, Mega Turrican, NHL 96, Comix Zone, Mickey Mania, EWJ2, Light Crusader, Micro Machines '96, X-Men 2, Scooby-Doo Mystery, Donald in Maui Mallard
1996 - Toy Story (150+ colors in stills, FPS level), Sonic 3D Blast
1997 - Jurassic Park: Lost World (80+ colors in-game, neat effects in some stages)
2010 - Pier Solar

[Daria]

I still prefer my Genesis. :P

[Tanooki]

@Tanooki: A SNES game with actual CD quality audio (Zelda 3, and this only works in certain emulators fyi) is now a possibility and works well as a reality check:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v788KslHvbU

I probably would've agreed back in the day though, SNES almost felt like a generational leap to me when I first got it, having played MD/GEN since '89 or '90.

I'm aware of that amazing work. It's a true taste of what could have been given Nintendo hadn't cut off Sony with the CD system when they tried to steal all the licensing profits. When I was speaking of the audio for the SNES the period was well in my head. My brother was all ADHD with the Sega Genesis talking about how shitty the NES was and how bad it sucked and he'd never use it again as early as 1990. He got the sega, never turned it on again(NES) for as long as I can remember. Eventually I tired of his shit talking and made him a super lowball offer and bought his games off him and then just claimed overship over anything we co-owned that day. I was around that thing even if I didn't use it (spite) well into the later 90s and it never did it for me, but I did see how nice it could get. The audio always bothered me as it sounded f'ng terrible as I was used to the NES, the Sound Blaster Pro(then 16) in my PC, and the SNES. The Genesis sounded like a shitty second rate common arcade game with bad audio to me with some shimmering good moments so really it sounds even worse now. Liking the NES I could deal with the dithering and lower colors but the audio was grating, so when the SNES popped up doing 33khz audio with all sampled orchetrated sound effects, and that my first purchase was both ActRaiser and Gradius III weeks after the launch date and taking SMW down, I saw nothing of much value in the Sega audio. ActRaiser has some sampled symphony music for overworld tunes on the map among some other amazing tracks and the wide clean variety in Gradius III was just as crazy too.

[MetalFRO]

As much as I respect Nintendo and what they did with the SNES, and what a huge leap it was from the NES, I have been, and likely will remain, a Genesis guy. I don't think either system has aged "worse" than the other, though there are aspects of each that have aged worse. The slowdown present in a number of SNES games certainly shows the system's under-powered nature in that respect, while the aforementioned sound effects issues in some Genesis games definitely show either a limit to the hardware, or more likely, a lack of knowledge of how to use it properly. Voices in Genesis games are often cited as a weakness, and I'd agree. I am one who prefers most game music on the Genesis (assuming it's well composed and executed) to the SNES, in part because I really dislike most MIDI-based sound, which the SNES was. There are exceptions, like the Street Fighter 2 games, but by and large, I prefer the way the Genesis sounds when it comes to music, even in early soundtracks like Altered Beast. It has a more "pure" chiptune feel to it, much like the NES. Some developers could work wonders with the sound chip, much like what Konami, Capcom, and especially Sunsoft did with the NES.

Having said that, as has been mentioned, a lot of it comes down to the game library, and it's very preferential. I'm not a big RPG guy, though I'd like to be, but I just don't have the time, and never really did as a kid. Pick up and play games, arcade ports, action titles, etc. were particularly strong on the Genesis, so its library of games suits me quite well. The SNES was a bit heavier on RPG's, slightly more open-ended titles, etc. and while some of those are my cup of tea, I can't say that a large percentage of the library is ever something I would collect and play on a regular basis. So my bias is toward the Genesis, but I understand why some lean one way or another.

[Flojomojo]

I actually went and made a list yesterday and hade no trouble coming up with a bunch of impressive/high quality games from 1993 onwards;
1993 - Ranger X, Gunstar Heroes, F1, Aladdin, Rocket Knight Adventures, Shinobi 3, Street Fighter II SCE, Flashback, Dune II, Pirates! Gold, NBA Jam, Splatterhouse 3, Battle Mania 2, Eliminate Down, Wiz 'n Liz, Columns 3, General Chaos, Blades of Vengeance, Lost Vikings, NHL 94, Toejam & Earl 2,
1994 - Panorama Cotton, Red Zone, Dynamite Headdy, Ecco: Tides of Time, Yu Yu Hakusho: Makyo Toitsusen, Monster World IV, Crusader of Centy, Beyond Oasis, Contra: Hard Corps, Castlevania: Bloodlines, Super Street Fighter II, Pulseman, Samurai Shodown, Shining Force 2, PSIV, Bare Knuckle 3, Robocop vs. Terminator, Lion King, EWJ, NHL 95
1995 - Alien Soldier, Adventures of Batman & Robin, Vectorman, Ristar, Mega Turrican, NHL 96, Comix Zone, Mickey Mania, EWJ2, Light Crusader, Micro Machines '96, X-Men 2, Scooby-Doo Mystery, Donald in Maui Mallard
1996 - Toy Story (150+ colors in stills, FPS level), Sonic 3D Blast
1997 - Jurassic Park: Lost World (80+ colors in-game, neat effects in some stages)
2010 - Pier Solar

A good list, well done.

A counterpoint to this would be a list of all the crappy cross-platform shovelware that appeared on both SNES and Genesis. It would be a very long list, possibly a majority of each system's catalog. Such a list would suggest that the machines are more alike than different. I see the differences between SNES and Genesis as similar to that of PS3 vs XB360. From the outside, they appear more similar than different. Looks like someone is working on something like this. http://forum.digitpress.com/forum/sh...n-Genesis-SNES

In the meantime, here are some comparisons of the same games on the two different systems. http://www.retro-sanctuary.com/Comparisons%20Main.html

[Gameguy]

It's odd to me that several people have said the early Genesis library has aged poorly. To me, it's the late library that sometimes doesn't hold up well, i.e. lots of games (especially Western-developed ones) with digitized graphics that don't play well with the system's relatively low color count, or lazy ports from the SNES. Doom Troopers, X-Perts, Time Killers, Batman Forever...

It depends on which games you're focusing on. When most people think of early Genesis games they usually think of Altered Beast or licensed games like Tommy Lasorda Baseball, Arnold Palmer's Tournament Golf, Pat Riley Basketball, Buster Douglas Knockout Boxing, etc. Other forgettable early games include Super Hydlide, Sword of Vermilion, and Last Battle.

Really there's good games with both early and late releases. People focus on the later games as their favourites so they tend to ignore the lousy ones from that time. Gunstar Heroes, Earthworm Jim, Ristar, Beyond Oasis, Phantasy Star IV, and Dynamite Headdy being examples of the more memorable games. It's not just about good games, but more memorable titles that people remember. I like Bonanza Bros but most people just don't remember it, plenty of good games are like that.

Another good game is Mickey Mania. It came out on the Genesis in 1994 and was later ported to other systems including the SNES. The SNES version is the worst port of the game and pretty terrible to play, somehow it has worse music, is missing levels, and has load times which weren't in the Genesis version. Overall this is how I feel with most cross-platform games of the time, they usually play better on the Genesis. Even with games like The Lion King the controls feel better on the Genesis. Comparing Buster's Hidden Treasure with Buster Breaks Loose! the Genesis game is the one with better music.

Someone else mentioned transparency effects. The Genesis used dithering to have transparency effects, a good example of this is with the first Sonic the Hedgehog. Dithering might be why people complain about a grainy look to the games, but it also depends on what hookups you use to play the games as it's meant to blend together with composite or RF. I feel a big part of criticism towards the sound quality has to do with emulation. I saw someone post a video on youtube to complain about the Genesis sound quality and many of the examples used were strictly caused by the emulator, I had those same games and on an actual Genesis those problems just didn't occur. All of the comments for that video agreed on how terrible the sound was while saying the SNES has much higher quality, yet nobody pointed out that the problems were caused by poor emulation. It's like most people never played the games on an actual console so they didn't notice. It was really bad so it should have been obvious.

[Nathan Dunsmore]

I actually went and made a list yesterday and hade no trouble coming up with a bunch of impressive/high quality games from 1993 onwards;
1993 - Ranger X, Gunstar Heroes, F1, Aladdin, Rocket Knight Adventures, Shinobi 3, Street Fighter II SCE, Flashback, Dune II, Pirates! Gold, NBA Jam, Splatterhouse 3, Battle Mania 2, Eliminate Down, Wiz 'n Liz, Columns 3, General Chaos, Blades of Vengeance, Lost Vikings, NHL 94, Toejam & Earl 2,
1994 - Panorama Cotton, Red Zone, Dynamite Headdy, Ecco: Tides of Time, Yu Yu Hakusho: Makyo Toitsusen, Monster World IV, Crusader of Centy, Beyond Oasis, Contra: Hard Corps, Castlevania: Bloodlines, Super Street Fighter II, Pulseman, Samurai Shodown, Shining Force 2, PSIV, Bare Knuckle 3, Robocop vs. Terminator, Lion King, EWJ, NHL 95
1995 - Alien Soldier, Adventures of Batman & Robin, Vectorman, Ristar, Mega Turrican, NHL 96, Comix Zone, Mickey Mania, EWJ2, Light Crusader, Micro Machines '96, X-Men 2, Scooby-Doo Mystery, Donald in Maui Mallard
1996 - Toy Story (150+ colors in stills, FPS level), Sonic 3D Blast
1997 - Jurassic Park: Lost World (80+ colors in-game, neat effects in some stages)
2010 - Pier Solar

I'll add Pocahontas to 1996. One of the last great Disney games from that era. Gorgeous.

[drunk3nj3sus]

I think a lot of it is subconscious because the SNES' controller and sound were basically the prototype for future systems, so therefore it seems to be more modern than it is.

Most of the systems that followed the SNES have a very similar controller layout, while I can't really think of any newer controllers with a circular d-pad or 3 main face buttons. The sega controller works just as well but the SNES clearly has a better design.

While the snes had at max about 1/60th of the amount of the storage space of a cd it's often said to have near "cd quality" sound which isn't the case because cd quality music didn't really happen regularly till dvds were the standard(it's hard to have a full cd soundtrack when it takes up so much space on a cd) but using arrangements consisting of samples from real instruments is still the technique used today via software or hardware romplers. The Genesis was probably the last home console that used a built in synthesizer for most of its sounds. The SNES and Genesis both excel at good compositions with simple instrument sounds complex sounds like a realistic piano, violin, or electric guitar sound pretty terrible on both.

Functionally good games from both systems are both at a similar level of quality in most aspects. The FM sound of the Genesis can be offputting in some cases but if it's programmed well I find it usually more enjoyable to listen to than really lo-fi instrument samples from the SNES.

[FieryReign]

The good old Genny has aged just as well as SNES. All this other talk is nonsense. It's 2015 and Snes vs. Genesis topics still get people riled up. Just another Nintendo fanboy topic I suppose. Isn't there another topic saying the same thing about the SMS?

I just roll my eyes when I hear another person claim that the Genesis soundchip was weak. Where were you in 89-90 when the Genesis dropped? It was amazing for the time, did you really expect them to have full cd quality sound in a 1989 videogame system?

It's like the haters only focus on the games with poor music and sound. It's all about who programmed it. Ever heard the Adventures of Batman and Robin soundtrack? It fucking pounds your stereo system and I have yet to hear a Snes game that can compare. Strider, Vectorman, Castlevania, Gleylancer, Thunderforce 3, Crackdown, the list goes on. Busting on the Mega Drive soundchip is played out and cliche. Come up with something better.

[WCP]

I just roll my eyes when I hear another person claim that the Genesis soundchip was weak. Where were you in 89-90 when the Genesis dropped? It was amazing for the time, did you really expect them to have full cd quality sound in a 1989 videogame system?

Saying the Genesis had a weak sound chip, and saying the Genesis had bad music are two different things.

I was there in 1989 and 1990. I bought my Genesis about a year after it launched, in mid August 1990 when Pat Riley Basketball came out. I remember being very impressed with the bass response in certain Genesis games back then, but I still remember the scratchy FM sound as well. I had bought a TurboGrafx-16 in December of 1989, and had been playing the Turbo for about 8 months before I got my Genesis.

The difference between the two was pretty apparent. The Turbo might not have had all the various sound channels and whatnot, but the sound the Turbo put out was clear and crisp. No raspy FM scratchiness to it.

The Genesis still had some absolutely spectacular soundtracks on it's games, but I think it was "IN SPITE OF" the lackluster sound chip. The composers were able to work around it's weaknesses, and try to do the best they could, and sometimes their efforts were truly amazing.

[goldenband]

Sure, but this is probably true for all popular systems.

Yes and no. I think there's something specific about what happened with the Genesis at that point in time. That low color count really affected its ability to graphically compete at a time when digitized graphics were very fashionable, and many releases were cross-platform with the SNES. The solution they used -- lots of dithering -- worked OK on blurry RF connections, but doesn't always come off well today.

Same issue with the Sega CD -- I can't tell you how many complaints I read about the system's grainy FMV back in the day. Once the initial wow factor faded, the color limit took a real toll on the system's credibility.

The fact remains that if you want to see limit pushing MD games then there are more of them from the console's later days than its early days.

Well, sure, though I don't necessarily see "limit pushing" as a positive in and of itself.

I actually went and made a list yesterday and hade no trouble coming up with a bunch of impressive/high quality games from 1993 onwards;

There are some great games on that list, but almost every game you name was tailored specifically for the Genesis.

My point (related to Flojomojo's post, below) isn't that the late library is bad -- there are tons of games I really like from that era, e.g. Light Crusader -- but that it's heavily populated by rushed cross-platform releases and/or games that have a Mortal Kombat-influenced presentation, and in a lot of cases the Genesis doesn't come off well as a result.

BTW I wouldn't say the Genesis's "late" era -- which is what I was referencing -- begins until late 1994/early 1995, myself, when the PlayStation and Saturn were coming on the scene. Gunstar Heroes is more the tail end of the Genesis's middle period, which I'd say ran from mid-1990 through mid-1993. Mid-1993 through mid-1994 was a weird transitional period, with the 3DO and Jaguar throwing their hats in the ring, and a lot of uncertainty about where the industry was headed next.

A counterpoint to this would be a list of all the crappy cross-platform shovelware that appeared on both SNES and Genesis. It would be a very long list, possibly a majority of each system's catalog.

This is a big part of what I had in mind, and I've actually spent a fair bit of time playing these games (partly because of the effort to beat the Genesis library over at Sega-16). They factor in heavily to the later release library starting around 1993, and their presence really takes a toll. They're usually rushed, were frequently designed for the SNES, and only ported to the Genesis as a kind of afterthought.

The way it often breaks down is that the SNES versions suffer from slowdown, while the Genesis versions play more smoothly but look less attractive on first sight due to the low color count. Plus they often have lazy soundtracks (GEMS or otherwise), to make matters worse.

From the outside, they appear more similar than different. Looks like someone is working on something like this. http://forum.digitpress.com/forum/sh...n-Genesis-SNES

In the meantime, here are some comparisons of the same games on the two different systems. http://www.retro-sanctuary.com/Comparisons%20Main.html

There's also a similar effort at Racketboy, and one at Sega-16:

http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthr...of-lost-thread

Other forgettable early games include Super Hydlide, Sword of Vermilion, and Last Battle.

Hey, I liked Super Hydlide a lot! Can't argue with the other two, though.

Really there's good games with both early and late releases. People focus on the later games as their favourites so they tend to ignore the lousy ones from that time. Gunstar Heroes, Earthworm Jim, Ristar, Beyond Oasis, Phantasy Star IV, and Dynamite Headdy being examples of the more memorable games. It's not just about good games, but more memorable titles that people remember. I like Bonanza Bros but most people just don't remember it, plenty of good games are like that.

I enjoyed Bonanza Bros. as well -- fun, clever game. FWIW my preferred era of the Genesis is probably 1990-1993. Some of my favorites are Gain Ground, Jewel Master, Shining in the Darkness, Faery Tale Adventure, etc.

OTOH I wasn't a fan at all of Earthworm Jim, or a lot of those later 16-bit platformers and run-'n'-guns. I appreciate that they push the hardware and have attractive animation, but I find that the stage design lacks clarity and feels "mushy" and deeply unintuitive. I don't like being unable to immediately tell the difference between background and foreground elements, or having any ambiguity about what does or doesn't constitute a platform.

I saw someone post a video on youtube to complain about the Genesis sound quality and many of the examples used were strictly caused by the emulator, I had those same games and on an actual Genesis those problems just didn't occur. All of the comments for that video agreed on how terrible the sound was while saying the SNES has much higher quality, yet nobody pointed out that the problems were caused by poor emulation. It's like most people never played the games on an actual console so they didn't notice. It was really bad so it should have been obvious.

A sad truth is that emulation tends to flatter the SNES sound hardware (making it sound brighter and crisper than it ever was) and doesn't do full justice to the Genesis. The limitations of the Model 2 audio hardware make matters worse; a nice Model 1 really sounds damn good, but most people don't have one of those.

The Genesis at its best sounds great; the SNES at its best sounds great. They're different from each other and have different strengths, but neither one is really "better", any more than a rock band is "better" than an orchestra.

[Eternal Champion]

I was really into Genesis in the early 90s, got SNES in late 1994...
I loved all the arcade-style action games and shooters - Genesis is the 16-bit king of shmups and side-scrolling brawlers and action games (Gunstar, Shinobi, the Streets of Rage series).
Later in life, though, I've come to lament that Genesis doesn't have anything comparable to Zelda and Metroid - deep action/adventure games.

As for sound...I just have a soft spot for that FM Genesis sound. The sampled sound on the SNES just doesn't sound as cool to me. Genesis sounds like an analog synth - Streets of Rage (especially the alien lair in II) hard techno, Thunder Force II + III, Phantasy Star IV (I regret selling that) sound more awesome (especially on a real stereo, let me tell you) than SNES. Just my opinion, of course.

[Tanooki]

It's taste I know, but it always has confused me when people would say the Genesis audio was superior or started talking up FM sound. That same chip was used in a lot of solid arcade games and they didn't have that tinny gravely buzzy audio of the Genesis and those arcade games had a clearer voice too for talking samples and the like so it always felt like an apologists excuse to me. I'm not dinging the system really, it had some nice games as I've had one or the Nomad for quite a few years, but I just feel time has not been on its side, especially in the audio department by far. I don't understand why someone would also feel the snes sound was muffled. Perhaps you used a bad tv in the day, I ran mine through a pioneer receiver and a pair of good speakers. At least you rarely see a sane argument how the Genesis bad better visuals since it couldn't even pull off a proper transparency, but it did handle large fluid sprites well (like Aladdin.)

[FieryReign]

It's retarded comparing specs on a console that was released in 89 to a system that came out a full 2 years later. Of course the Snes is going to have better specs(aside from the cpu speed), technology advances. That's how shit works. I like both, saying one aged better than the other is just your nostalgic preferences talking.

I can pickup and play a Genny shooter and have fun instantly or I can play a Snes rpg and be bored to tears. It's just your preference, really.

[Eternal Champion]

It's retarded comparing specs on a console that was released in 89 to a system that came out a full 2 years later. Of course the Snes is going to have better specs(aside from the cpu speed), technology advances. That's how shit works. I like both, saying one aged better than the other is just your nostalgic preferences talking.

I can pickup and play a Genny shooter and have fun instantly or I can play a Snes rpg and be bored to tears. It's just your preference, really.

succinctly said!

[goldenband]

I don't understand why someone would also feel the snes sound was muffled. Perhaps you used a bad tv in the day, I ran mine through a pioneer receiver and a pair of good speakers.

The SNES output uses interpolation and a low-pass filter to hide some of the artifacting/aliasing from the ADPCM compression. I don't know what the exact frequency cutoff is, but it's well below the top end of human hearing. And since the SNES uses a 32kHz sampling rate (I think it's actually 32040 Hz IIRC), the Nyquist theorem says it can't produce anything over 16kHz anyway.

Of course, for those of us who've abused our ears, we can't hear over 16kHz anyway. Mine can't do much over 16-17kHz. But there's no denying that the Genesis has a much stronger high end, especially a good Model 1 or a Nomad (the sound on those is very good). BTW I do my gaming over a Pioneer amp with good speakers, and the difference is definitely audible.

[celerystalker]

It's retarded comparing specs on a console that was released in 89 to a system that came out a full 2 years later. Of course the Snes is going to have better specs(aside from the cpu speed), technology advances. That's how shit works. I like both, saying one aged better than the other is just your nostalgic preferences talking.

I can pickup and play a Genny shooter and have fun instantly or I can play a Snes rpg and be bored to tears. It's just your preference, really.

It didn't seem in the original post to be about comparing specs or hardware; those aspects of the thread have been tangeantal to the question of if other peoples' personal experiences have caused them to view one library differently over the years by comparison to its most obvious peer. It's a subjective question to begin with, not a console war topic.

Seriously, though... if you like shooters, the 16-bit choice is TG-16. SNES and Genesis lag behind in that department.

[BlastProcessing402]

It depends on which games you're focusing on. When most people think of early Genesis games they usually think of Altered Beast or licensed games like Tommy Lasorda Baseball, Arnold Palmer's Tournament Golf, Pat Riley Basketball, Buster Douglas Knockout Boxing, etc. Other forgettable early games include Super Hydlide, Sword of Vermilion, and Last Battle.

Super Hydlide has some of the best music on the Genesis, and it's very unique sounding and I doubt you could get anything to sound like it on a Super Nintendo. Graphically it's pretty dire, admittedly, but it's a really underrated game, if you take the time to learn to play it right.

[Alianger]

Edit: On the topic of sound hardware, it'd be interesting to hear a serious effort in emulating a MD/GEN soundtrack to 100% or close using the SNES sound chip (not just someone using SNES samples in FL studio or something).

And I know I said the SNES felt like a generational leap back in the day, but I completely forgot about the Amiga which I played somewhat frequently at a relative's house. I can totally see how someone who owned one of those would've been less impressed with how the SNES sounded even back then. This series of comparison vids is a fun listen if you have the time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y7w40d9Nqw


"Yes and no. I think there's something specific about what happened with the Genesis at that point in time.
That low color count really affected its ability to graphically compete at a time when digitized graphics were very fashionable,
and many releases were cross-platform with the SNES. The solution they used -- lots of dithering -- worked OK on blurry RF connections,
but doesn't always come off well today."

Guess I misinterpreted you a bit there, however I don't think those kinds of games came close to dominating the market or defining the late MD/GEN library and as I tried to show, you still have a ton of great games to play from that period.
Off the top of my head I would've recalled MK and Road Rash, maybe one of the games you mentioned (I don't think they were even released here in Europe), maybe some FMV stuff for the SCD, but almost nothing else.
It might've been more of a problem before the internet and when you bought games you'd never heard anything about based more on marketing or hype, but not now.

"Well, sure, though I don't necessarily see "limit pushing" as a positive in and of itself."

If you'd been focusing on gameplay I'd have replied in a different way, but most of the games listed there I do think are great as _games_, not just technical showcases.


"Same issue with the Sega CD -- I can't tell you how many complaints I read about the system's grainy FMV back in the day.
Once the initial wow factor faded, the color limit took a real toll on the system's credibility."

I think you're putting too much weight on color count. It's more that those FMV titles were shallow and crappy as games.
But among other things, that was a bad move for the SCD/GEN, so I don't disagree with you.
Still there are enough good games for it to make even the SCD worthwhile and it's no longer hard to find out which ones they are.


"BTW I wouldn't say the Genesis's "late" era -- which is what I was referencing -- begins until late 1994/early 1995..."

OK, well go ahead and shave off half of 1993 if you want. I think that would make more sense from a european perspective though, since it debuted in 1990 here.
Personally I would set the beginning point of the middle era as the release date of Sonic 1, when it started getting much more popular, got better third party support, and was no longer only about arcade ports, shooters and sports.


This is a big part of what I had in mind, and I've actually spent a fair bit of time playing these games (partly because of the effort to beat the Genesis library over at Sega-16).

I think it's an interesting project, but as I said I don't think you'd have a better time doing that with other systems.


"The way it often breaks down is that the SNES versions suffer from slowdown, while the Genesis versions play more smoothly but look less attractive
on first sight due to the low color count. Plus they often have lazy soundtracks (GEMS or otherwise), to make matters worse."

So to conclude, go to the MD/GEN if you want to play these games, or look at the SNES versions on YT (or in screenshots when there's a lot of slowdown) to watch them being played with slightly to moderately better graphics and sound.

j/k with that last one