The Best of the Sega Genesis system... trying to prove it was better than the SNES.

[SegaAges]

You already know what I am going to say, but the array of games on the genny was awesome.

I actually got a genny from my parents before a snes. This was before I was a Sega fanboy. I actually wanted a SNES. Well, I remember playing Sonic when I was a kid, and since then I have never looked back. I did actually start my genny playing when Sonic 2 came out, not Sonic 1.

[Push Upstairs]

I'm a Sega guy. I love my NES, but I went Sega with the Genesis.

About the only thing I can think of to say in this "debate" is that (IMO) the Genesis can replicate explosion sounds better than the SNES. Both "Super Mario World" and "Batman Returns" have anemic, flat sounding explosions.

[obesolete]

I'm in love. <3

I just picked up a sega about a month ago after finding my old one under the stairs lost and forgotten and about the darker shade of the NES with mildew.
I had fogotten how many awesome titles there were gens only, but I don't have to tell you that.

[j_factor]

Both are great systems, but I definitely prefer Genesis. Genesis seems to be superior for all kinds of action games (platformers, shooters, run and guns, beat 'em ups, etc.). And I don't mean the hardware, I mean the library selection. Shooters in particular, SNES only has a few worth talking about, whereas Genesis has an excellent lineup (as does the Turbo). In general, Genesis seems to be home to more challenging games, which I prefer. A lot of SNES games are too easy. SNES is better for RPGs, but not by a huge margin -- SNES has more of my absolute favorites, but for total RPGs worth playing, they're almost equal. It would've been a huge margin, if every RPG in Japan had come over, but looking at just US releases, SNES doesn't have so huge of an advantage (Mega Drive wasn't so popular in Japan, and consequently it has few Japan-only RPGs). I also don't like censorship, but that's a whole can of worms.

[mobiusclimber]

Seriously, there is no reason you shouldn't be playing BOTH systems. You want some games to play on Genny? Here you go:

Sonic 1-3 & Knuckles
Phantasy Star 2-4
Shining Force 1 & 2
Shining in the Darkness
Rocket Knight Adventure
Shadowrun
Master of Monsters
Road Rash
MUSHA
Ristar
Landstalker
Beyond Oasis
Crusader of Centy
Warriors of the Eternal Sun
Sorcerer's Kingdom
Ecco The Dolphin & Tides of Time
Dune II
Buck Rogers
Arcus Odyssey
Alisia Dragoon
Splatterhouse 2 & 3
Streets of Rage 1-3
Mortal Kombat
Wonderboy in Monster World
Castlevania: Bloodlines
Wardner
Ghouls & Ghosts
Wings of Wor
Golden Axe I & II
Ghostbusters
Dynamite Headdy
Gunstar Heroes
Michael Jackson's Moonwalker
Fantasia
Syd of Valis
Primal Rage
Contra: Hard Corps
Shinobi series
Toejam & Earl
TMNT Hyperstone Heist
Wiz N Liz
Herzog Zwei
Rings of Power

And this isn't counting games for the Sega CD.

[Icarus Moonsight]

Genny > TG16 > SNES

That's my preference, and I loves me some SNES. 16bit era was the win/win/win era of console gaming IMO. SNES really lags for me because the shmups are so hit or miss... Mostly miss.

[exit]

I'm a SNES fan plain and simple. My brother had a Genesis, yet he would constantly take my SNES out of my room as I was sleeping and it would be a constant battle for years to come. The only games that the Genesis had that I would love to play were Streets of Rage, Sonic 2, Ren and Stimpy and Quack Attack, other than that I didn't care much for the system. I discovered over the years that I simply hate the Genesis sound chip and it would sometimes ruin a game for me, which is strange because I'm normally never that picky about that kind of thing, but to each their own I guess.

[DigitalSpace]

Imo, the SNES was the better of the two, but the Genesis gave it a good run for its money. However, I do think it topped the SNES when it came to shmups and sports titles.

[Zebbe]

IMO the Mega Drive is the better of the two, with franchises such as Sonic, Phantasy Star and Thunder Force being key titles. I also like the soundchips better than the one in the SNES, and the Mega-CD add-on which has many, many more awesome titles and another dimension of game design (no, not FMV!). Still, I played a lot of SNES in the childhood and enjoyed some titles quite a bit.

[chrisbid]

the sound chip in the genesis was fantastic, but it was a straight up 8 bit synthesizer, it didnt do sound samples very well, and it didnt do midi-type orchestra sounds. the snes on the other hand didnt do hard-edged sounds well.

basically, for either system to sound great, the music had to be written for the particular sound chip. you dont write symphonies for a three piece punk band, and you dont have orchestras play techno music. that is what happened too often with third party genesis games, company x had a game that was going to be released for the genesis and snes, and generic music was written to be played on both systems. more often than not, it sounded bad on the genesis due to the lack of orchestration. but if music was written for the genesis specifically, it kicked ass. listen to the music in the sonic series, streets of rage series, toejam and earl, and other sega exclusives and the music is catchy and great, these pieces would sound like mud on the snes.



the other often overlooked advantage the genesis had over the snes was the controls. you can debate endlessly on personal taste of button layouts, but the genesis had tighter controls. action games on the snes often have just the slightest lag between a button press and the corresponding action on the screen. notice how hard you press the dpad down on an snes controller during an intense session of gaming, a natural reaction to a slight action delay is to press on the button or dpad harder, with the genesis this doesnt happen as often. this has to do with hardware and programming. the tight/loose controls are a function of tight coding. eugene jarvis spent over a month tinkering with the controls of robotron 2084 to get the controls as tight as possible, so blaming the joystick after death would never be an option.


but i am with the majority on this board and will say both systems are great, and they really complimented each other quite well. newer generations of systems really do not differ that much from one another. but as a gamer that appreciates actions games as much as rpgs and adventures, the genesis is a great system that has distinct advantages over the snes.

[Damaramu]

Heavy preference for the Genesis here. I love the SNES, but mainly for it's awesome selection of RPG's, a handful of arcade conversions, and a select few 1st party games.

If I want a great variety of action, shooters, platformers, etc.; the Genesis is my go-to machine.

For the "16-bit" era, my preference is GENESIS, SNES, TG16...in that order.

OH yeah. The 6 button Genesis controller beats the snot out of the SNES pad ANY day of the week.

[SegaAges]

Of all of the games listed, I do not see General Chaos listed.

That is up there with the Sonic games. It is absolute badass

[vrikkgwj]

Of all of the games listed, I do not see General Chaos listed.

That is up there with the Sonic games. It is absolute badass

Agreed! I actually own General Chaos complete in box. The game rocked so hard.

[kupomogli]

The SNES owned the Genesis, however the Genesis is an awesome system and no doubt has a ton of great games.

One thing about the Genesis is that it seemed there were far more first party titles than Nintendo had on their systems. Nearly all their first party titles are great games.

[Icarus Moonsight]

OH yeah. The 6 button Genesis controller beats the snot out of the SNES pad ANY day of the week.

Yub yub, also the wireless OEM Sega 6 button pads are really great. It was the Wavebird of the nineties.

I always preferred Genny over SNES versions of SF2 because of them. SNES sticks had weird button layouts for the most part (2-over 4-under).

[Push Upstairs]

the sound chip in the genesis was fantastic, but it was a straight up 8 bit synthesizer, it didnt do sound samples very well, and it didnt do midi-type orchestra sounds. the snes on the other hand didnt do hard-edged sounds well.

This is true. SNES did some stuff well, but for pure techno-type stuff...the SNES couldn't pull through.

I really don't think the SNES could do bass as well as the Genesis (and not just for explosions). Streets of Rage Level 6 (the factory) has some wicked bass that I don't think I've ever heard an SNES game do.

[Steven]

It just comes down to preference. Never got those who tried to "prove" one was better than the other. Both systems have high and low marks, but mostly high ones. Which system one likes better is up to that individual. Sharing the love is cool, trying to convince others your opinion is the end-all, be-all truth though is not too cool.

Bottom line, play what you like. Why waste time trying to prove others?

[T2KFreeker]

Why does nobody bring up Mystic Defender for the Genesis? Awesome game which was a sequel to an amazing Master System game, Spell Caster! Awesome stuff on the Genesis. Castlevania Blood Lines comes to mind also.

[timewarpgamer]

I used to be hardcore Genesis/Mega Drive ra ra ra! The years have tempered me, though. Now, I look back on the infamous 16-bit console wars and two things are evident: 1) It's amazing that the TurboGrafx-16 died so young outside of Japan, and 2) It's incredible that the Genesis put up such a great fight against the technically superior SNES. That said, I still dearly love my Genesis and here's my list of top Genny games:

http://timewarpgamer.com/topgames/gen.html

[kupomogli]

That said, I still dearly love my Genesis and here's my list of top Genny games:

http://timewarpgamer.com/topgames/gen.html

Strider is Capcom, but it was ported over to the Genesis and published for the Genesis by Sega. You only listed Capcom. I'd say Sega deserves more credit for the Genesis version since they're the only ones who did anything with it. Either that or Sega/Capcom under developer.