Super NES or Sega Genesis?

[celerystalker]

When I was a kid, I definitely preferred the SNES over the Genesis. As an adult, though, I still prefer the SNES over the Genesis. As a matter of fact, as both a kid and adult, I've preferred the Turbografx to the Genesis as well. What it boils down to me with any system is games, and the SNES has many of my all time favorite games. Genesis does have better shooters than SNES to be sure, but the Turbografx/PC Engine destroys them both in that genre for me. SNES has my favorite RPGs and adventure games, and some awesome arcade ports from the time from Konami and Capcom, who seemed to like it more than the Genesis. The games I've liked on the Genesis have always been the weird Sega-produced stuff like Gain Ground, CrackDown, or ToeJam and Earl, but those shooters like MUSHA and Phelios sure are a good time. I'll take Super Mario, Metroid, Keith Courage, and Bonk over Sonic every day of the week, though.

[Tanooki]

That's kind of how I was. I invested into a Turbo Duo in the mid 90s and held onto that thing until my great collection dying selloff in the earlier 00s due to hardship. The Duo has far better games than the Genesis to me too when you weigh in the CD library as I had Ys Book, Dracula X, Macross 2036, RayXanber 3, and quite a few others and I had a nice selection of HuCards too like Bonk Bomberman and more. The genesis just looked and sounded poorer in most cases and most the games I tried I could not get into due to style and substance. There were Genesis games I really dug, some though that were my favorite were from third parties most people put on a list and PC conversions of Dune 2 and Star Control. Mind you I never was huge on first party sega stuff other than some of their arcade things. Sonic I've never loved, he always came off as an arrogant spiky haired douchebag who just ran through levels as fast as possible to get to the next not bothering to try and explore and discover much. It's not sonic's fault though entirely, I've always hated speed run type games.

[MidnightRider]

I'm with the Genesis on this one. For starters, adventure and RPG's aren't really my thing.

Say what you will about RPG's, but the Genesis still seems to have more sandbox games. Pirates! Gold, Starflight, even King's Bounty, a Heroes of Might and Magic style strategy game, is fairly sanbox-like in the way that it's played.

SNES has more beat 'em ups, but it is a Japanese genre, and Japanese development definitely favored anything but the Genesis. Still, none really match up to Streets of Rage 2. There's just something about that game on the whole, and beating down 5-6 enemies at once leaves a much more satisfying feeling than 3.

The speed of the Sonic series and Desert Demolition's post 1st stage Road Runner mode(instead of default Wile E. mode) is a lot more fun than they probably should be. Especially since you need to get to know the stages before you start blazing past them to better your own time.

For all the talk of the TG-16's shooters, at least the Genesis' came out to English speaking regions, and didn't need the disc add-on to get some of the consoles very best. Can't help but notice that particular aspect tends to get overlooked. Especially when people get on a European's case about it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvlRCks1Kn8

Once you're past the shoot 'em ups, there's the run 'n guns. Hard Corps., Gunstar Heroes, Batman & Robin, I mentioned Japan/Euro exclusive Alien Soldier earlier, Ranger X, a lot of people seem to like Dinosaurs for Hire, Mercs, Gain Ground, Crack Down, etc.

Then you get the really unique stuff, like Bonanza Bros.(a game where you play as thieves back in '84/'91), Ecco, Road Rash/Skitchin', Mutant League, Devilish, Herzog Zwei(essentially the beginning of the RTS genre), Bubba 'n Stix(half platformer, half graphic adventure), Haunting starring Polterguy, The Ooze, Wiz 'n Liz, etc.

Hell, having brought up Bubba 'n Stix, you actually do get a couple graphic adventures out of Scooby Doo and Beavis and Butthead, the former even feeling like something form Lucas Arts.

I could just go on, and I've rarely brought up any of the well known stuff yet.

Even if you don't get it, there's a million reasons this console is just as loved around the world as the SNES. Even if the nerds that make up the internet's classic gaming community don't reflect that.

[MartyrOfChaos]

While I love both consoles, grew up playing both If I had to choose one it would be SNES just because it houses many of my favorite games! Such as X-Men Mutant Apocalypse, Super Metroid, Killer Instinct, Kirby Super Star, Super Mario World, Mega Man X, Donkey Kong Country, F-Zero, and the list just goes on & on! while on Sega Genesis there are alot less games that I hold as favorites!

[ProjectCamaro]

As a kid we had the Genesis so based on being bias I still say the Genesis. As much hate as it receives playing the Sega CD for the first time is a memory I'll never forget, those who weren't aroudn when that happened will never understand the impact CD's had on the gaming world. With as much as people trash talk FMV it was a huge leap forward when it came out, back then we had Sonic and Mario which were cartoon characters and then all of a sudden we had famous actors playing in our games. Talk about mind blowing.

If I'm honest with myself if I had both consoles back in the day I believe the Super Nintendo would have been my console of choice though. I don't really care for one console over the other, they are different and both offer great games but not having an SNES when they were new I do spend more time on it playing games I wanted as a kid but couldn't afford.

[GhostDog]

Genesis for me. While I was sometimes envious of what appeared to be better graphics on some SNES games, brighter colors and a handful of exclusives, Genesis games just ran smoother and faster and overall had more appealing games for my tastes. Genesis also holds the edge for nostalgic reasons too as I remember playing Strider, Shadow Dancer, Streets of Rage 2 and Sonic 2 and being blown away by the graphics and gameplay. Years later I was able to buy a bunch of great Genesis game for dirt cheap locally and discovered that the system was better than I originally thought. I like games where I can pick up and play without having to dedicate hours upon hours so the Genesis holds the advantage in that department as well.

[genesisguy]

My first console was a NES. I don't know what but I went with a Genesis in '92 so there's a lot of good childhood memories associated with that console. 1997-1998ish I was in high school and picked up a SNES so I had one back in the day but never really got into it.

Many years later when I was done with college and got back into retro gaming I started with all the SNES titles I missed out. I found out I'm not an RPG guy so most of the beloved SNES titles really don't do much for me. I got back to Genesis shortly after I got back into old games and I've stuck with it since. I collect for it and play it a lot today. As an adult I find more of the enjoyable pickup and play for maybe 20 mins to an hour titles on the Genesis and that really fits my schedule best for now.

[Tanooki]

You know what, good for you, and better yet since Sega lost a lot of gamers respect and is 'hardware' dead, the turn around on that is a positive for you because the Genesis doesn't suffer but for a fraction of the bloated prices the SNES gets pounded with. There's a good many solid games on that thing you really can totally rock out to and be happy with.

I know at some rate I'm so going to buy up a few games again for the Genesis, if not at least for use on the Retron 5 because I miss about a half dozen games and that usually is a gateway to more.

[HardcoreOtaku]

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[MidnightRider]

I may have my bias, but I'm glad I never grew into that much of a bitter pill over it.

[WCP]

I'm sure I'll get some hate for this comment, but oh well, sue me...



If you were to take the 25 best SNES games, and put them up against the 25 best Genesis games, it wouldn't be a fair fight at all. Go look at Top 100 Games of all time lists. You'll see plenty of Super Nintendo classics, in the top 10 of those lists. Zelda, Metroid, Mario World. You'll be lucky to see a single Genesis game make the top 10.

Not, that this proves anything, but I just think the SNES has a core group of games that murders just about anything on the Genesis. The only thing the Genesis really had over Super Nintendo was sports games. So, unless you're a hardcore sports game fan, I think anybody in their right mind would agree that the Super Nintendo has a much stronger top 25 games than the Genesis does.

Having said all of that... I really love the Genesis. I was a very early adopter of the Genesis, and I'll always have very special memories about that machine. I got my Genesis a few days after Pat Riley Basketball came out (around August of 1990). I was a huge Genesis supporter in the early days, and I was really rooting for them in their battle with Nintendo. However, I can't try to pretend that the Genesis was a better system, just because I prefer to root for the underdog. The Genesis does have a fantastic library of games, without question, but I just don't think it can carry the SNES's jockstrap if I'm really honest with myself.

[tom]

But that's it in the SNES Top 25, always the same games, Mario, Zelda, Metroid, you'd never see a Unirally (which to me is Nintendo's best game ever). There are really many excellent games on SNES, which wouldn't even appear in the Top 25, it's always Mario, Zelda, Mario Kart etc etc....
But that's always the way in USA, they are Nintendo brainwashed, even if the same games appeared on the previous console (and still continues today).

I think Genesis had more (different) variety.

[WCP]

But that's it in the SNES Top 25, always the same games, Mario, Zelda, Metroid, you'd never see a Unirally (which to me is Nintendo's best game ever). There are really many excellent games on SNES, which wouldn't even appear in the Top 25, it's always Mario, Zelda, Mario Kart etc etc....
But that's always the way in USA, they are Nintendo brainwashed, even if the same games appeared on the previous console (and still continues today).

I think Genesis had more (different) variety.

Genesis probably did have a better variety of games.

Doesn't mean the games were better though. Sure, there are all the common SNES games that everybody points to, and with good reason, but there are many more games that don't always get mentioned, that should be mentioned:


Contra 3 - Amazingly, I don't always see this game mentioned among the SNES classics

Castlevania 4 - Sometimes this game is included with Metroid and such, sometimes not

F-Zero - some people don't think F-Zero is all that great. I think it's a masterpiece.

Super Ghouls & Ghosts - this one definitely isn't mentioned as much as it probably should be

U.N. Squadron - Another sensational classic SNES game that doesn't get mentioned with the Mario Worlds...

Super Smash TV - excellent SNES cart that doesn't get it's fair share of props

TMNT: Turtles in Time - Genesis version is good, but I think SNES version is better

Starfox - Honestly, the tech of Nintendo was way beyond Genesis in regards to this game. Even the 32X games don't seem as good as Starfox

Axelay - Another shooter that I don't think gets anywhere the level of praise it should get

Pilotwings - Hasn't aged too well, but I think this game is still damn good

Actraiser - This game was magical when it first arrived.

Donkey Kong Country - Yes, I know this game is nowhere near as good as most people think, but it's still pretty damn solid.

NBA Live Series - This started with NBA Live '95 on the Super Nintendo. Genesis versions are very good, but I like the SNES versions better. So much more color and better sound.

Final Fight - I still think the original Final Fight on SNES is pretty amazing. Yeah, I know it's missing a two player option, etc, etc...

Yoshi's Island - This game is sometimes mentioned with the all-time classic SNES games, but sometimes it's left out

[Leo_A]

Starfox - Honestly, the tech of Nintendo was way beyond Genesis in regards to this game. Even the 32X games don't seem as good as Starfox

The Genesis could do some nice 3D without the need of any enhancement chip. Check out Domark's trio of racers, for example.

[MidnightRider]

The only thing the Genesis really had over Super Nintendo was sports games. So, unless you're a hardcore sports game fan, I think anybody in their right mind would agree that the Super Nintendo has a much stronger top 25 games than the Genesis does.

Shoot 'em ups. Much more of great quality.

You have your outlook, but it can never be anything more than subjective. That's the issue, is that you think this can be something objective, when it can't. You even passively insult anyone that would disagree with you with that last line.

What exactly would the "objective" 25 best be anyway?

You certainly can't convince me that praising RPG's at the expense of sports games was, or ever will be, a common thing, outside of the internet.

With what I like out of gaming, the Genesis takes a steaming shit on the SNES, but I don't think the SNES flat out "sucks elephant balls" because of it.

[HardcoreOtaku]

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[MidnightRider]

Yeah, and when taken out of context, games sound sexist to Anita Sarkeesian, and violent to Jack Thompson. Funny how the next chunk of text you omitted to quote was the part where I state I didn't think the SNES sucked.

[Raedon]

*grabs tg16 and amiga and runs from thread*

[HardcoreOtaku]

The SNES/ Super Famicom has a small but excellent selection of shoot 'em ups.
Some of these include:

Axelay (Konami masterpiece)
Area 88/ UN Squadron (Capcom's finest 2D shmup)
R-Type III: Third Lightning (best R-Type ever, simply amazing)
Super Aleste / Space Megaforce (brilliant Compile game, much better than the mediocre Musha Aleste)
Macross Scrambled Valkyrie (one of the finest shmups ever, tons of sprites on screen with no slowdown, trounces over the average PCE & Saturn Macross games)
Flying Hero
Sonic Wings / Aero Fighters
Gokujou Parodius, jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius and Parodius Da
Cotton 100%
Pop 'n Twinbee
Gradius III
BioMetal
Kidou Soukou Dion / Imperium
Super Swiv /Firepower 2000

[Leo_A]

Don't forget Defender and Stargate via William's Arcade Classics. Of course the Genesis has an equally good conversion, but they're fine shooters none the less and I prefer playing them here instead of on more modern compilations.