SMS vs. NES

[The Unknown Gamer]

Heres one that should spark some debate. I been in a post the compares the 7800 to other systems. But what about the 2 powerhouse systems of the 8 bit world. The NES had many Great games, over 400 to be exact. It even hard the 3rd Party developers. But the graphics were flat in some cases and others I know NES fans will hate me for saying this, but the 7800 did a better job on than the NES; Tower Toppler IE Castlelain. Need I say anymore?

On the other hand the SMS had the power but little to no 3rd parties. The games ranged from excellent to fair. Phantasy Star 1 and Double Dragon just to name 2. Are in my mind right at the very top. Phantasy Star is not only the biggest 8 bit RPG I ever played but the hardest. Double Dragon SMS is even better than the Arcade version, and there is a host of other there shooters aren't half bad either. But on the other hand you got My Hero and you can't get any worse than that.

But if the playing field was fair and the SMS has it's 3rd party. Who do you think would win?

[§ Gideon §]

SMS had the 3D glasses. Don't forget those.

As for my opinion, it would be uneducated: I haven't played the Sega Master System enough.

[RoboticParanoia]

Never played the SMS in my life, so I won't say anything.

[anagrama]

But if the playing field was fair and the SMS has it's 3rd party. Who do you think would win?

Well, in Europe the Master System had plenty of 3rd Party support, and as a result gave the NES a sound whupping.

[1bigmig]

But if the playing field was fair and the SMS has it's 3rd party. Who do you think would win?

anagrama was right about Europe, there are around 200 releases that didnt make it to the US. If Nintendo hadnt usurped the rights of developers and had let them develop for more than one system, I think the SMS would have won. The graphical differences are too great and would not have gone unnoticed. I dont think it would be a crushing defeat for Nintendo since it had franchises like Mario and Zelda, but the SMS would have had the edge for any game that was developed for both systems. Also, the SMS would likely have got more squeezed out of it since it would have been more heavily developed for -- increasing its lead farther. You ought to put a poll at the top of this topic.

[TRM]

The NES surely would have won. The Master System had some good games but they were also missing many of the key series that the NES had. As for graphics wise, there was a difference but it wasn't too great---compare the Famicom's Fantasy Zone (by Sunsoft) with the one on the Master System, for example.

[Gamemaster_ca_2003]

anagrama was right about Europe, there are around 200 releases that didnt make it to the US. If Nintendo hadnt usurped the rights of developers and had let them develop for more than one system, I think the SMS would have won.

I have 2 reasons why what you are thinking is well odd

1.dispite its graphical superiority there was Almost no media coverage on the SMS over here. the NES had tons of ads and comercials for it and the 7800 had there share of them as well.

2.the 7800 would have been freed of those limitations set by nintendo as well so it would have been very close.

[1bigmig]

The NES surely would have won. The Master System had some good games but they were also missing many of the key series that the NES had.

Other than Mario, Zelda, Metroid and Punchout, what 1st party games would have driven the NES to victory? The SMS would likely have had the better versions of nearly every third party series...the Castlevanias, Ninja Gaidens (there already is one of these), Mega Mans, and Dragon Warriors. Also, there would have been more third and first party games on the SMS than there were.


As for graphics wise, there was a difference but it wasn't too great---compare the Famicom's Fantasy Zone (by Sunsoft) with the one on the Master System, for example.

I think both these pages show a significant difference:
http://raccoonlad.topcities.com/compare/compare.html
http://www.segamastersystem.com/ver2/smsvsnesmain.htm

[1bigmig]

anagrama was right about Europe, there are around 200 releases that didnt make it to the US. If Nintendo hadnt usurped the rights of developers and had let them develop for more than one system, I think the SMS would have won.

I have 2 reasons why what you are thinking is well odd

1.dispite its graphical superiority there was Almost no media coverage on the SMS over here. the NES had tons of ads and comercials for it and the 7800 had there share of them as well.

2.the 7800 would have been freed of those limitations set by nintendo as well so it would have been very close.

1) How many ads were by Nintendo and how many by third parties? If they were mostly by Nintendo, that may be somewhat significant, but the third party ads would have been both for the SMS and the NES like the ads generally are now for the current generation. Likely, if it was a closer competition Sega would likely have taken out more ads.

2) I think the 7800 may have kept up for a bit, but in the end I think it would have been left behind like the TG16 in the 16 bit wars.

[Dr. Morbis]

Those comparison sites are biased and one-sided. Not only are many of the nes versions game-hacks, but they also don't take into account music, play control, or how fun a game is. Graphics do NOT make a game! If they did, there would be no retrogamers.

Anyway, a lot of things have to be taken into account besides 3rd-party games. 7800 still would have failed due to poor controller design and a lack of a financial commitment by the company.

SMS would have given the NES a run for its money but still, ultimately, would have come in second (IMHO) on account of 1st party 'talent'. There are some amazing sega games on the SMS, but they are no match for the incredible games designed by Miyamato and crew during those years: Mario's, Zelda's, metroid, punch-out, kirby, startropics, and on and on and on. So the SMS has more colors/graphics...so what! Even today, the ps2 (arguably) looks the worst of the 3 current gen systems. It would have just been an excuse for sms programmers to take shortcuts in other areas of their games (the same problem that plagues most modern games today).

Always remember, graphics are just ONE SMALL ASPECT of the video game experience!!!!!!

[1bigmig]

There are some amazing sega games on the SMS, but they are no match for the incredible games designed by Miyamato and crew during those years: Mario's, Zelda's, metroid, punch-out, kirby, startropics, and on and on and on. So the SMS has more colors/graphics...so what! Even today, the ps2 (arguably) looks the worst of the 3 current gen systems. It would have just been an excuse for sms programmers to take shortcuts in other areas of their games (the same problem that plagues most modern games today).

Always remember, graphics are just ONE SMALL ASPECT of the video game experience!!!!!!

Ok, but most of the games on Raccoon Lad's site aren't hacks and the ones that are shouldnt be included. On the other site, all 3 are legit games.

I know graphics dont make the whole experience or the system, but I still think if the majority of third party games had been on both systems the SMS would have edged the NES out. Like I said above, it wouldnt have been a crushing defeat and I think it would have been a very tight race. This whole thread is speculation, so I cant take too hard of a stand. I was a NES loyalist back in the day, and I dont know if that would have changed if the third party market had been competitive. The three games that sold me to Nintendo were SMB1, Kung Fu, and Kid Niki. Would it been different if I had played a selection of SMS games first? I dont know. However, Ive just recently become intimately acquainted with the SMS and I feel like I was burned by Nintendo's policies that killed the (at least on paper) superior system.

[1bigmig]

Here's a site I like, it has a lot of screenshots of different SMS games -- not a comparison page, I just like the way it shows off the system.

http://www.beautyonthenet.com/UltSMS/Ultimate%20SMS%20Reviews.htm

[Ed Oscuro]

There are some amazing sega games on the SMS, but they are no match for the incredible games designed by Miyamato and crew during those years: Mario's, Zelda's, metroid, punch-out, kirby, startropics, and on and on and on.

I would qualify this statement to say that Nintendo won because they had more quality titles--more quality first party titles, more quality third person titles, and it seems to me that the number of top-notch NES games (even those better than, say, Gargoyle's Quest 2 if you want a meter of mediocrity) is larger than the whole available SMS library.

I don't know if I can say Phantasy Star, Shinobi and Shadow Dancer are quite as good as a Star Tropics/Zelda title and Mario, respectively, but they're certainly darn close. Add in the Final Fantasy titles for Japan, the Konami and Capcom lineup, though, and there's really no question.

The FDS and that infamous licensing agreement are the culprits, I mark that. Am I bitter the better games console didn't win? Not at all, 'cause perhaps the more limited format helped focus game designers on their games and not simply the graphics.

[Raccoon Lad]

Here are some interesting points I shall make:

When the SMS started it's existance, Sega was pretty much the ONLY company develoiping for the hardware, thus Sega's efforts were spread a bit thin trying to build up a decent software library, where as nintendo could take all the development time they needed.

Sure, NES Fantasy Zone is more detailed, but you know why? It's got TWICE the ROM size!!!

And one thing the NES had over the SMS was all it's extra on-cart chips. Add RAM, Graphics upgrade chips, and custom mappers, and ANYTHING's possible. The SMS NEVER used any of these.

Add extra Ram, larger cart sizes, and bigger development teams with longer schedules, more companies learning all the proramming tricks for the system, and you'd have seen the SMS ANHILLIATE the NES.

[Chunky]

As i've thrown around for the last couple of weeks, I had bought an sms to give it a try. Had 30+ games for it and played each one with fairness. Out of the 30, 5 were i thought playable and fun. As appose to picking random 30 games out for the NES more than likely 15-20 of them are playable and fun. (compare also 10-15 for 7800)

SMS graphics do give little more detail but they just seem darker to me, and do not impress. Hey i tried it, had about 15 of the top 20 games that was generated here. I'll end up next week playing mr. emulator and play all the import game that everyone keeps saying to do. but as far as it goes now, the SMS is booted from my collection, since i don't like it one bit.

[Ed Oscuro]

Here are some interesting points I shall make:

When the SMS started it's existance, Sega was pretty much the ONLY company develoiping for the hardware, thus Sega's efforts were spread a bit thin trying to build up a decent software library, where as nintendo could take all the development time they needed.

Of course we could forget that Metroid, Zelda, the Mario disk games, and Nazo no Murasame Joh (believe that was developed by a third party but Nintendo publicized it like one of their own) were all developed in 1986, and probably at least a couple others that I'm forgetting. All this on top of the development of the FDS hardware, the in-store disk writers and other bits.

I agree that Sega was pretty much the only company developing for their system--due to lots of work on Nintendo's part: the licensing agreement and the lure of low-cost games which appears to be making a comeback with the quality, budget-crowd Sega Ages titles and Star Soldier.

My main beef, then, is with the use of the phrase "take all the development time they needed." No, they only worked their collective arse off to gain that position! I don't doubt that Sega also worked terribly hard, but their work seems focused on arcades, not their home system. It seems to me that Konami also put out FDS titles at an amazing clip, with over a dozen great titles (from Akumajo Dracula to Final Command and Bio-Miracle Upa, Falsion, Miracle of Arumana and more along with ports of arcade and MSX2 titles (Contra and Metal Gear, respectively) in a few short years.

[hamburgler]

Can't decide since both systems are my favorite to play.

[Jorpho]

I just can't see those ugly blue-and-white boxes as outselling Nintendo games. When I see blue and white squares, I don't think of fun games. I don't even think of "cutting-edge" wireframe graphics. I think of graph paper and particularly boring math homework. How can you sell something that looks like math homework, I ask you?

Methinks Sega would have had to forget about Tonka in order to succeed.

[thegreatescape]

1.dispite its graphical superiority there was Almost no media coverage on the SMS over here. the NES had tons of ads and comercials for it and the 7800 had there share of them as well.

The NES was even on Roseanne! You know a console war is won when its on Roseanne LOL LOL

Like Europe, the SMS did much better over here, but due to the handicap of being born not long before its release im unable to comment on sales figures, etc.
Growing up though i knew 2 people with NES' and 2 with SMS', so based on this complicated scientific algorithm I'd say it was a fairly close race. ;)

As for me- i was one of the 2 with an SMS. The games just appeal to me more, though Gradius does rock pretty hard (curse you easter island heads!!).

[NE146]

Didn't we just discuss this a couple of weeks ago.. oh yeah we did.

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2225

[1bigmig]

Didn't we just discuss this a couple of weeks ago.. oh yeah we did.

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2225

The last post before yours was in Oct 2002.

[Dr. Morbis]

Well, here's the original question:

But if the playing field was fair and the SMS has it's 3rd party. Who do you think would win?

So let's say every capcom game, every konami game, etc appears on both systems. Who wins?

I think the NES still wins and here's why (warning: pure speculation ahead). I assume that most games would be graphically superior on the sms (unless the programmers are really being lazy). So the sms Castlevania will be *considered* the superior version. Does this matter? Unless I'm buying my console explicitly for THIS game, no it doesn't. Joe consumer would know going in that he can play *insert great 3rd party game here* on either system so this becomes a non-factor. What will the real difference be between the systems' respective libraries then? Answer: system exclusives aka first party games. Joe consumer will basically have to decide sonic or mario? golden axe warrior or zelda? The bottom line is that if ALL 3rd party games are ported to both systems, the first party games become that much more important. I think that nintendo still would've come out with better games than sega, even if sega wasn't technologically disadvantaged (ie: use of memory mappers, extra ram etc). In 1986 or 87, more people would buy a console specifically to play Super Mario Bros. than whatever the sega team could've/would've come up with. The sms did not come out of the gate with a killer app. The great games that the sega team was releasing in 88-90 were comparable to games that team nintendo had already released in 85-87.

All that being said, the sms is my SECOND favourite system of all time (behind the nes). I am in no way trying to knock this system. I just think that it is RIDICULOUS to think that sega would have "annihilated" team Miyamato, given a level playing field. Miyamato's team had released THREE killer apps by 1987 (mario, zelda, punch-out). I think that that is an incredible feat.

[YoshiM]

One of the really big downfalls was the system didn't get the advertising thanks to Tonka. The only real advertising I can actively remember was Phantasy Star, Rambo III (? the light gun game), Psycho Fox, Shinobi and Cyborg Hunter with possibilities of Alex Kidd or maybe a Sega arcade port. Most of the time the ads you saw were for NES games.

Personally I thought the SMS was "okay" back in the day. I played the demo machine and thought the games looked cool but played average to below average. The controller didn't feel as tight as the NES pad, even when I got my own barely used system. There seemed to be too much "play" before there was a response. It also didn't help that the pause button (which also was the Inventory button for Sega's supposed Mario killer, Alex Kidd) was on the deck.

[Ruudos]

Why is it always that people say the SMS wbeated the NES in Europe?
Please stop by seeing Europe as one big country/market, because it isn't.
Of course I know what the cause of this is. The SMS was more popular in the English-speaking PAL markets (UK, Australia), and US people probably have more contact with these people. And it's true that SMS was more popular in UK and Australia. This was also the case in Portugal, Spain and Italy. But in the other markets (Germany, Benelux, France, Scandinavia, Austria, Switzerland) the NES was bigger. To be fair I'm not quite sure of all of these, but people from these countries could confirm this.

[Raccoon Lad]

I don't really think the SMS beat the NES in Europe, but instead, it was pretty much an even competetor, much like the SNES and Megadrive/Genesis were.

[Ruudos]

Maybe in total, but in Holland NES was much more popular than SMS (I got the first model a few weeks ago, first one I saw in real). Whereas the Mega Drive and SNES were sort of equal to each other here.

[anagrama]

Off-the cuff comparisons:

Items on eBay UK right now:
Master System - 532 vs 511 - NES
Megadrive - 2206 vs 1170 - SNES

eBay Germany:
Master System - 324 vs 828 - NES
Megadrive - 1397 vs 3357 - SNES

eBay Holland:
Other Sega (Master System, Saturn & Gamegear) - 50 vs 153 - NES
Megadrive - 276 vs SNES - 462

eBay Belguim:
Sega (everything) - 27 vs 92 - (NES + SNES)

eBay Italy:
Sega (everything) - 296 vs 480 - Nintendo (everything)

While all figures should be taken with a pinch of salt, it looks like I stand corrected on the overall scale of things. :embarrassed:
Apart from in the UK, Nintendo consistently has the upper hand.

Also, I left France & Spain out because they don't have seperate catagories, just 'Sega','Nintendo' etc and I couldn't be bothered searching for something like "Nintendo -SNES -super -64 -n64 -gamecube -gc -gameboy -gba -gbc"

[Moon Patrol]

We really can't gauge these two systems, as the SMS did not have much time to blossom into anything that great. I mean, yes you have a few gems made by SEGA, but who else? That was it. I don't think that we can really compare the two until someone makes a homebrew that shows off what the SMS can REALLY do over the NES. I have faith in that little z-80 processor thought :-P. I just cannot make a full statement that one is better than the other.

[Zadoc]

If it weren't for Nintendo's illegal monopoly, SMS would've beat down the NES like yesderday's ho.

[walrusmonger]

This sounds very similar to the xbox vs ps2 "debate" that goes on in other forums.

Plain and simple- people like what's cool and popular. there was a mario movie, a movie that featured mario, cartoons, all that good stuff. NES was hip and with it. I didn't even know sega had a system before the genesis until I started to become a larger video game nerd about 5 years ago.

Sure the Master System might have been more powerful and had better sound, but the NES was the in thing (in USA at least). Just like the PS2 is whats "in" now. And no matter what, it would have done better just because it's hard to convert the masses from one thing to another during the same generation> most people (especially younger kids) arent going to go buy a 2nd console for a "hobby" that was just starting to bloom.

[diskoboy]

I vote for the SMS. My dad bought me one for Christmas the year after I bought my NES. In all honesty, I got waaaaaay more play out of my SMS (still do!) than I ever did out of my NES. I continued to play my SMS on a regular basis well after I got my Genesis.

IMO, "Zillion" was the best game of the NES/SMS era.

[VGfan]

NES.
In my opinion the SMS only has 1-3 games worth playing.

[VG_Maniac]

Sega Master system had better graphics...but the NES had better games. I know I can't judge the SMS based on one game...but I played Double Dragon on it once and the gameplay sucked compared to the NES version.

The NES is the best by far.

[dezanuebe]

:roll: , here we go again... well i believe the most important thing to be said is that both systems have excellent games and a weel deserved place in videogame history...

... but i can´t help feeling that if equal conditions the SMS would surely have had much more sucess that it had worldwide!! I read everyones opinions and will try to give my opinion on some of the things that were said:

1. "SMS would have given the NES a run for its money but still, ultimately, would have come in second (IMHO) on account of 1st party 'talent'. There are some amazing sega games on the SMS, but they are no match for the incredible games designed by Miyamato and crew during those years: Mario's, Zelda's, metroid, punch-out, kirby, startropics, and on and on and on." :eek 2:

WRONG!! :angry: if the first party support given by Sega were stronger, i´m sure the SMS would have had more sucess than it did. I will give only one example of that: PHANTASY STAR, the game was released in 1988 and there wasn´t a better RPG for the SMS until the end of the console´s life cicle (gotta admit that was way better than final fantasy and dragon quest´s nes games). Do you know the name of the leading designer?? a guy called YUJI NAKA, AKA, the father of Sonic, the game that made Mario look like yesterday´s news :evil: . Sega put their top talent working on genesis games in 1988/89, that´s the problem, a lack of support both external and internal. If you have any doughts, just look at some of the games released in 1992/93 and 94 by third party companies like domark, Us. Gold, Tecmagik, Probe... and you will see amazing efforts that i simply can´t see the NES pulling (Ex: Desert Strike). Compare the SMS version of Prince of Persia and Star Wars with the NES versions. Look at the 8 mb cartridges released by Tec Toy, a company with more hart than talent that pulled a miracle conversion of Street Fighter 2 to the SMS. The problem with the SMS, much like almost all Sega Systems (except the Mega Drive) was that Sega never fully explored their capabilities!!!

2."I would qualify this statement to say that Nintendo won because they had more quality titles--more quality first party titles, more quality third person titles, and it seems to me that the number of top-notch NES games is larger than the whole available SMS library. " O_O

This bites :roll: , people don´t know the SMS library of games, there were at least 320 games released. I don´t know the NES library, but i find it hard to believe that it has 320 top.notch games (feel free to tell me otherwise...).
I will know present my top 100 sms games, and i can assure you they´re all pretty cool:

Phantasy Star
Sonic 2
Land of Illusion
Micro Machines
Sonic
Astérix
Asterix & the Great Rescue
Desert Strike
Prince of Persia
James Pond 2: Codename Robocod
Star Wars
Power Strike 2
Shadow of the Beast
Castle of Illusion
R-Type
Golden Axe Warrior
Asterix & the Secret Mission
Y´s the vanished omens
Wonderboy in Monsterworld
Sonic Chaos
Ultima 4
Wonderboy III : The Dragon´s Trap
Turma da Mônica em O Resgate
Power Strike
Streets of Rage
Master of Darkness
Krusty´s Fun House
Alien 3
Deep Duck Trouble
Bart vs the Space Mutants
Alex Kidd in Miracle World
Cool Spot
Robocop vs Terminator
Mortal Kombat 2
Legend of Illusion
Global Gladiators
Lemmings
The Terminator
Fantastic Dizzy
Chuck Rock 2: Son of Chuck
Wonderboy in Monsterland
Monica no Castelo do Dragão
Bubble Bobble
Sagaia
Sensible Soccer
Pacmania
Super Kick Off
Columns
The Jungle Book
Olympic Gold
Smurfs
World Cup USA 94
Alex Kidd in Shinobi World
Golden Axe
Baku Baku
Populous
Winter Olympics 94
Ninja Gaiden
Rastan
The Lion King
Cosmic Spacehead
Out Run Europa
The New Zealand Story
Dr. Robotnik´s Mean Bean Machine
Alladin
The Addams Family
Street Fighter II
Bonanza Bros.
Out Run
Klax
Out Run 3D
Daffy Duck in Hollywood
The Lucky Dime Caper
Miracle Warriors
Tazmania
Shanghai
Desert Speedtrap
Sega Chess
Mortal Kombat
Ghouls n´ Ghosts
Mercs
T2 - The Arcade Game
Virtua Fighter Animation
Wimbledon 2
Rampart
Jurassic Park
Cheese Cat-Astrophe
The Incredible Hulk
Renegade
Shinobi
Aerial Assault
Vigilante
Moonwalker
Battlemaniacs
GP Rider
Zool
Golvellius: Valley of Doom
The Ottifants
Trivial Persuit: Genius Edition
Dragon Crystal
Air Rescue
Psycho Fox

3. "When the SMS started it's existance, Sega was pretty much the ONLY company develoiping for the hardware, thus Sega's efforts were spread a bit thin trying to build up a decent software library, where as nintendo could take all the development time they needed.
Sure, NES Fantasy Zone is more detailed, but you know why? It's got TWICE the ROM size!!!
And one thing the NES had over the SMS was all it's extra on-cart chips. Add RAM, Graphics upgrade chips, and custom mappers, and ANYTHING's possible. The SMS NEVER used any of these.
Add extra Ram, larger cart sizes, and bigger development teams with longer schedules, more companies learning all the proramming tricks for the system, and you'd have seen the SMS ANHILLIATE the NES."

Always a pleasure to read something written bt racoon lad, truth hurts.

4. "As i've thrown around for the last couple of weeks, I had bought an sms to give it a try. Had 30+ games for it and played each one with fairness. Out of the 30, 5 were i thought playable and fun. As appose to picking random 30 games out for the NES more than likely 15-20 of them are playable and fun. (compare also 10-15 for 7800)"


Could you please name the games... i find it a little odd and would like to know how your random criteria works...

5."My main beef, then, is with the use of the phrase "take all the development time they needed." No, they only worked their collective arse off to gain that position! I don't doubt that Sega also worked terribly hard, but their work seems focused on arcades, not their home system."

In this i have to give kudos to Nintendo, they did all they could to be in that position, contrary to Sega. But god walks mysterious ways and i have to ask all of you nintendo fans how frustaded are you by seing the PSX and PS2 outselling the N64 and GAMECUBE, 2 superior systems forgotten by the third party companies and that had few chances of seing their real value recognized!!

6. " I just can't see those ugly blue-and-white boxes as outselling Nintendo games. When I see blue and white squares, I don't think of fun games. I don't even think of "cutting-edge" wireframe graphics. I think of graph paper and particularly boring math homework. How can you sell something that looks like math homework, I ask you? "

@_@ When did you saw SMS boxes?? x_x in 1986?? most boxes are cool and pretty, i like especially the codemasters boxes and cartridges. And besides not being ugly, they are resistent, contrary to the NES boxes.

CONCLUSION: The Sega Master System is better than the NES in terms of Hardware. The NES has more games released, more companies developing games and as a result of that more top notch games. The NES had SMB III, The SMS had Phantasy Star. To me the SMS is the Better of the 2 systems, but i know i belong to a minority, therefore i believe most people bash the SMS because they (a) only owned a NES and (b) never played the best SMS games. I only advise you all to play some SMS games, you will surely modify your opinion on the console.

P.S. I own both systems!!

[Dr. Morbis]

Sure the Master System might have been more powerful and had better sound,
LOL LOL LOL Better sound?!? Good one! Not only does NES have far superior sound to the SMS, but it is also aurally superior to the Genesis. You can beat up the NES's technological inferiorities all you want, but as soon as you say the SMS has better sound, you lose all credibility in my 8bit book.

[retroman]

I have both systems and had them when i was a kid...I give the Master System the nod for better graphics, but they were not that much better than the NES....I for one just thought the NES games were better...Not to say the Master System didnt make any good games...Just more first rate first party games on the nes...So i give the NES the win.

[Niku-Sama]

mega man was on NES. when i was younger, i went were mega man was.

and some one earlier said SMS had 3d glasses or something....so did the NES, didnt you ever hit select in Rad Racer?

[dezanuebe]

Sure the Master System might have been more powerful and had better sound,
LOL LOL LOL Better sound?!? Good one! Not only does NES have far superior sound to the SMS, but it is also aurally superior to the Genesis. You can beat up the NES's technological inferiorities all you want, but as soon as you say the SMS has better sound, you lose all credibility in my 8bit book.


... i have to agree with you :embarrassed: , i´m a sucker for zelda and Mario´s music. I was plesently surprised to see in zelda, the ocarina of time that nintendo respects the fans and the similarities between musics from 2 different eras (i really dig that!!). In the sound department the SMS wasn´t a very gifted machine... :(

[anagrama]

and some one earlier said SMS had 3d glasses or something....so did the NES, didnt you ever hit select in Rad Racer?

Yeah, but the SMS ones actually worked well.

[anagrama]

Oh, and for anyone interested in a technical comparison without raving fanboyism, I'll refer you to this SMS Power thread which goes into great detail about both system's capabilities: http://smspower.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6955

[Zap!]

Sure the Master System might have been more powerful and had better sound,
LOL LOL LOL Better sound?!? Good one! Not only does NES have far superior sound to the SMS, but it is also aurally superior to the Genesis. You can beat up the NES's technological inferiorities all you want, but as soon as you say the SMS has better sound, you lose all credibility in my 8bit book.

Better then Genesis sound? How so? I don't see it, nor do I put it ahead of the TG16 either.

[Jorpho]

6. " I just can't see those ugly blue-and-white boxes as outselling Nintendo games. When I see blue and white squares, I don't think of fun games. I don't even think of "cutting-edge" wireframe graphics. I think of graph paper and particularly boring math homework. How can you sell something that looks like math homework, I ask you? "

@_@ When did you saw SMS boxes?? x_x in 1986?? most boxes are cool and pretty, i like especially the codemasters boxes and cartridges. And besides not being ugly, they are resistent, contrary to the NES boxes.

SMS box art shows up on occasion as an example of just how truly awful box art can be. Right now, only Mr. Fenris's site comes to mind, but there are some much better examples.
http://www.kidfenris.com/wbcover1.html
http://www.kidfenris.com/wbthree.html
Granted, the black boxes of the early first-party NES games weren't the greatest either, but they're still masterpieces of graphic design compared to the likes of Wonder Boy and Kung-Fu Kid (?).

[Famicoman]

The NES. It had a solid library, and great first party games. Its only weakness was the blinking LED of death (Which I have removed by disabling the lock out chip) which many people still have to deal with.

[Jumpman Jr.]

I never even heard of the SMS until I started collecting. (I'm not sure how... I guess I was just in a NES bubble when I grew up.) So I've never really given the Master System a chance. I own one now, with about 10 boxed games, but I just can't get into it.
NES games however, fullfill my gaming needs. But thats what I grew up on.
NES over SMS for sure, but my answer is for sure biased.

[dezanuebe]

6. " I just can't see those ugly blue-and-white boxes as outselling Nintendo games. When I see blue and white squares, I don't think of fun games. I don't even think of "cutting-edge" wireframe graphics. I think of graph paper and particularly boring math homework. How can you sell something that looks like math homework, I ask you? "

@_@ When did you saw SMS boxes?? x_x in 1986?? most boxes are cool and pretty, i like especially the codemasters boxes and cartridges. And besides not being ugly, they are resistent, contrary to the NES boxes.

SMS box art shows up on occasion as an example of just how truly awful box art can be. Right now, only Mr. Fenris's site comes to mind, but there are some much better examples.
http://www.kidfenris.com/wbcover1.html
http://www.kidfenris.com/wbthree.html
Granted, the black boxes of the early first-party NES games weren't the greatest either, but they're still masterpieces of graphic design compared to the likes of Wonder Boy and Kung-Fu Kid (?).


please, go to this site and see for yourself:

http://www.smspower.org/scans/

... box covers done in europe don´t look that bad,don´t you think???

[Jorpho]

http://www.smspower.org/scans/showimg.shtml?sms&b/blackbelt-both1.jpg&Both&1000&632&188&Nop%27s&eu&link

Seriously?

[dezanuebe]

http://www.smspower.org/scans/showimg.shtml?sms&b/blackbelt-both1.jpg&Both&1000&632&188&Nop%27s&eu&link

Seriously?


LOL , it´s like they say: some people only see what they want to see, i bet that if you look harder, you might find something like this:

http://www.smspower.org/scans/showimg.shtml?sms&u/ultimaiv-both1.jpg&Both&1000&632&194&Nop%27s&eu&link :)

... and this:

http://www.smspower.org/scans/showimg.shtml?sms&s/starwars-both1.jpg&Both&1000&634&198&Nop%27s&eu&link :)

...

http://www.smspower.org/scans/showimg.shtml?sms&a/addamsfamily-both1.jpg&Both&1200&771&281&Bock&eu&link :)

... here´s an ugly one for you :evil: :

http://www.smspower.org/scans/showimg.shtml?sms&s/superboyii-both1.jpg&Both&1000&636&240&Raccoon%20Lad&kr&link

[Ulticron]

With good advertising, competitive prices and 3rd party support, the SMS would have changed video game history here in the US and possibly the entire world.

I love my NES, I grew up with it. Why? Because that's what everyone had and knew about. I remember playing a SMS in an old department store and I truely enjoied the games, but I knew nothing about it, at the time I didn't even know what it was called. So I went w/the bandwagon and got an NES.

I've had a SMS for about 8yrs now and I can see the difference in the games. I've often wondered about how games like Mega Man would have looked and played on it, but wondering is all I'll ever get to do.

Sega was a wonderful company and generally put out superior machines, but Sega's worst enemy has always been Sega.

Honestly If they had played their cards right back in those days, it would most likely be Nintendo in the grave instead of Sega. If not that, then Nintendo would be at a distant 2nd place and there would still only be Sega and Nintendo as the major players in the console war.

[Stevie Boy]

SMS was a far superior console, it was able to display many more colours on screen at once, I even think it had a higher resolution (but could be wrong). In Australia there was a very large library of games, many of which was tip top. It was fun to play, SMSII had Alex kidd built in (NES lacked a built in game.. duh).

NES had AV outputs which the SMS lacked and also had a pause button on the control (SMS on the console). The graphics especially the BG were dull on many games.

Australia did not feature a high amount of advertising for either format but both took off well. Each had many games and accessories. It is hard to tell a winner here, but one thing is for sure, the SMS was not a flop like it was in the US

[Tanis178]

you know if it was the SMS that spawned 20 years of sequels and built a loyal fanbase of fans with title characters this may well have been a different conversation, the Genesis separating itself from the SMS and giving it hand-me-down titles in later years didn't properly pass the torch, nor did the Genesis hand it off well either.

to say that phantasy star isn't every bit as good as FF1 is a biased opinion or that enduro or outrun isn't as good as rad racer, i find most people who really crap on the sms don't own one or haven't bothered to try it out for more than 5 minutes,
people spend too much time crunching sales numbers and yelling out statistics, i guess that's the difference between a true gamer and a bandwagon jumper.

[XianXi]

I think the SMS would have been better if it had better support. I wish I still had one so I could play time soldiers.

[googlefest1]

if the SMS had the suport it would have kicked but - and i think we would have a sega console today just from the name recognition it would have gotten (like nintendo)

if every 3rd party game the nes had was on the sms - made with the same loving care the sms would outright beat the nes -- it would come down to the 1st party titles where i think the sms would have given the nes a run for its money becasue more titles like phantasy star and wonder boy 2 would have been made and possibly a mario clone that would have given the original a run. I saw this becasue i agree with what some one else said that if seag had the 3r party suport they could have conentrated on some titles squeasing major juice out of the sms.

i base this on the UK games i have imported for the sms - they give a glimps into what the sms could have been -- man i can imagine what contra and castlevainina would have been like