SEGA Mega Drive turns 25 years old this month

[parallaxscroll]

On October 29th, the Sega Mega Drive will be 25 years old. That's a quarter of a freaking century. I cannot even believe it, yet it's true.






You know something, I was not even aware that a 16-Bit Sega console existed in late 1988, even though that was only in Japan at the time. All I owned then was an already-outdated Atari 7800. I didn't get the Master System until early 1989. It wasn't until June of 1989 that I heard of Genesis, thanks to a recorded message left on 1-800 USA-SEGA. Wow you know? Heh, the following month, in July, I discovered Electronic Gaming Monthly--It was EGM #2 with their 16-Bit system preview that I found out what Genesis was all about as well as what the new Sega console looked like. My father bought my brother and I the console around the middle of April 1990, right around the time Phantasy Star II and Herzog Zwei reached U.S. stores.

Anyway, even though it's not the 29th yet, use this thread to celebrate a quarter century of memories

[EricThaDead]

Man, I like the Japanese/PAL models a lot more than the ones we got in the states. That big "16-bit" looks sweet, and the PAL Mega Drive model 2 had the red power and reset buttons. (I'm a sucker for red, lol)

[MidnightRider]

I really hope this gets celebrated. I've been digging deeper into the Genesis' library lately. A lot of really cool stuff that was released, but unfortunately went overlooked.

I don't think the Genesis looks different enough to be worse looking than the Mega Drive, honestly.

I've seen different looking default pads, I had one with red arrows(coming from the D-pad cross) and button lettering. Eventually got a 6 button. Still the best pad for fighters(before you say it, really they just added triggers for the Saturn, it's still a Genesis 6-button otherwise).

Somewhat off topic:
I've been looking at various forum discussions of the console wars, and videos on Youtube, and it seems like there's more ignorant SNES fanboys nowadays than there were back then. Even the SNES deserves better than to have that for a class of fans, but the lack of respect they give the Genesis really gets on my nerves...

[Tron 2.0]

HBD to one of my favorite consoles.On my 2nd one now after buying one again back in 2012,after i missed having the console.At least in price the used market for it is fair compared to the snes Not to mention i still think the genesis 6 button controller,is for more comfortable to use compared to the snes controller.

[jefis]

It was my first console. So much nostalgia. In my teen years I gave it away (stupid me), but now I bought one again, and I've got 150+ games and growing. Great console, great times. Happy Birthday!

[Rickstilwell1]

It was my first console as well. I got it bundled with Sonic 1. I never knew it before but my original system was one of the worse revisions of the Genesis 1 sound-wise. Still growing up I didn't think that model was bad at all but now I see why my Genesis 3 made the video look much clearer through RF. I had one of the later Sonic 1 bundles so the controller had the white markings instead of red, but the extra controller I got from my ex stepdad the next Christmas had the red markings. To this day I like Sonic 1 better than Sonic 2 for its level design and graphical direction.

[BlastProcessing402]

Man, I like the Japanese/PAL models a lot more than the ones we got in the states. That big "16-bit" looks sweet, and the PAL Mega Drive model 2 had the red power and reset buttons. (I'm a sucker for red, lol)

I'm with you on the big japanese 16-bit, but the white on PAL model 1 (where it's red on NTSC) looks like they forgot a paint app or something. Cheap and bad looking IMO.

(before you say it, really they just added triggers for the Saturn, it's still a Genesis 6-button otherwise)

Not in America. That pad was entirely different (at least until the "round button" Saturn revision was released) though I do have a 3rd party Saturn pad that's even closer to the 6 button Gen pad than even the "good" Saturn pad.

[GhostDog]

What a beast of a system. The Genesis/Mega Drive was my introduction to the world of SEGA and all the magic that came with it. Strider, Shadow Dancer, Sonic 1 and 2, Streets of Rage 2, etc. was when I really fell in love with the Genesis as a kid. I didn't have all of these games at first but a cousin of mine who lived in the same apartment complex did and I would come over and give the games a playthrough. I was blown away with the greatness that was Genesis in the early 90s. The catalogue of games was amazing and luckily most of the best games for the system came out in the U.S. with the exception of maybe Alien Soldier and a handful of others.

[GhostDog]

SEGA has always been ahead of their time. The Genesis/Mega Drive was released in 1988 in Japan and to think the system still held up well into the 90s makes it so much sweeter. The 90s without a doubt was the best era for gaming both console and arcade.

[MidnightRider]

@GhostDog: I hear ya on that last sentence. Well, before 3D and discs anyway .

I realize Koa Zo was right the first time. I mean we're 16(technically 18 for the Genesis) years removed from when these consoles were relevant. The problem is people, and the groups we split ourselves into for whatever irrelevant, inane reasons. No one should have to feel like they need to justify their choice, and that's where these ridiculous console wars always lead.

That said, I still want to explore the Genesis' library more, if just to dig up some hidden gems for my own sake.

[Emperor Megas]

It wasn't until June of 1989 that I heard of Genesis, thanks to a recorded message left on 1-800 USA-SEGA.

That was how I discovered the Genesis as well. I remember the recording: "Genesis is coming, and your world will never be the same." They also talked about the TeleGenesis modem, that would "allow you to play with friends across town, or across the country." I was a little disappointed that it was never released. Though we did later get X-Band, and the SEGA channel.

[MidnightRider]

2 days now.

I feel like I gotta say something. I've been digging, and I most likely still don't have enough info. If you're still reading this one, I think I could use your help to set the record straight on this, Melf.

Without trying to be incendiary against one, or biased toward another, I want to take as quick a look as I can at SNES vs. Genesis, or really, just re-evaluate what the Genesis brought to the table.

SNES advantages:
*Can display more colors on screen, which naturally can lead to more detailed looking sprites.
*Sound chip can sample real instruments, and has an extra couple of sound channels overall. Overall more advantageous with wind and brass instrument sounds.
*7 built in display modes. Probably makes it easier for programmers, wouldn't know myself.

Genesis advantages:
*Processor is a bit over twice the speed of the SNES'.
*More sprites on screen. Can lead to better animations, to the point where animation studios have helped in the development process(Disney with Aladdin, and Gainax with Alisia Dragoon).
*Under composers that know how to utilize it, electric instruments sound better on the Genesis(because of those that don't however, there are exceptions).
*Data can compress better on Genesis cartridges. Can lead to extra content(an extra level in Earthworm Jim, new gampelay mode in Street Fighter 2, 2 more characters, which were there in the arcade version, of WWF Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game, etc.).

The gist of it being that the SNES has an aesthetic advantage, while the Genesis has horsepower. This, I believe, is what colors opinions in thinking the SNES is "superior," since it's advantages hit the senses right away. However the Genesis's advantages need to be seen in action, and the most unobservant of us can miss it.

Example: Earthworm Jim. The Genesis version has more frames of animation, but most people will miss that because they're not animators, interested in animation beyond watching it, or otherwise observant enough.


Overall unit sales:
I'm more inclined to believe the more recent numbers for the Genesis, which would bring it toward almost 40 million world wide. This number was reached through multiple reports, and not from Sega themselves.

There seems to be more evidence lately, including the Wikipedia page for both consoles, that supports the fact that the Genesis outsold the SNES in the U.S. market. If the SNES' sales in the U.S. market were 23.5 million, then that would put the Genesis' U.S. market sales at closer to 24 or 25 million. Now according to Nintendo's report, the SNES sold about 17-18 million in Japan. Reports state that the Genesis sold about 3-4 million in Japan. Combined at the maximum possible number of each region, the Genesis would have 29 million units. Which is the number of early worldwide sales reports for the Genesis. Considering the fact that Sega as a whole is much more popular in Europe and South America, where, again, according to Nintendo's reports, they sold a little over 8 million, that would put the Genesis around 9 or 10 million. If we can go by the maximum overall number of Genesis sales in all regions, that would be about 39 million, nearing 40 worldwide. Scaling it down, 39 million to the Nintendo report of 49 million, while Japan had a 13-14 million lead on the Genesis, would indicate that the Genesis did so well in the entire western hemisphere, that the overwhelming sales of Japan had to factor in, just to have a 10 million lead. This still gives the worldwide win to the SNES, but not by the 20 million lead early reports gave, and only due to Japan.

If those Nintendo reports were accurate to begin with. It's not hard to believe a company would exaggerate it's sales. The info on the Genesis had to really be dug up, while Nintendo put it's info out there, and everyone just took that at face value.

Coincidentally, the URL that would lead to Nintendo's report is now a Japanese error page. In 2013, the same year Sega decided to make exclusives for Nintendo's current console.



About some games:
TMNT:
This one's an opinion. I saw the Sega-16 look at the TMNT games, and while I won't consider Hyperstone Hesit to be the better overall game, I do think I like it better. 2 particular ways that I do. I like the darker colors on the Genesis. Hyperstone Heists turtles bandanas and joint pads, not to mention just their skin, look better in the darker colors, where they just look too bright in TiT. Also in the ship stages, HH's wood actually looks like the color of wood, where TiT has too much orange to realistically seem like wood. Even if that's perfectly arcade accurate, the Genesis games colors just look better to me. The other aspect is the sound. I actually like that the scratchy noises aren't there, or aren't there as much(I can't recall all the music). To me, it takes something away from the music.

Street Fighter 2:
I'm trying not to be biased here, and I don't think I am, but I honestly can't see how anyone could objectively choose Turbo over Championship Edition. I saw 2 review that did just that, one video, one written, after all but explaining that CE was better. It has the intro and animated "continue?" screen as the arcade, graphics and other animations that are missing from the SNES (and TurboGrafx) version(s), and an exclusive gameplay mode. In the next 2 generations, an arcade game brought to home console, with an exclusive gameplay mode, automatically became the better version. In the written review, the SNES won because of "graphics consistency." In the video review, the SNES won because of the stock controllers that came with the consoles. Objectively speaking, the Genesis has everything the other versions have, with slightly worse graphics(well coloring really, the graphics are the same) and music(that area's subjective actually), but more animations and graphics, and a new gameplay mode. How can CE be the worse game?

Rock 'n Roll Racing:
This is one of those sound exceptions I mentioned earlier. Rock/Metal is usually a genre the Genesis excels at, but something went wrong here. In capable hands, the SNES would probably still sound better due to the sampling ability of it's chip, but the Genesis should have been able to put up a better fight. Still, the bass came out better on the Genesis, and potential compression issues aside, it's easy to see why the Genesis was chosen for the exclusive track, Radar Love. I still actually prefer the Genesis version because of that though. The fewer sound channels means the announcer breaks up the music, but since he gets repetitive after a while, and you can turn him off, the extra song makes the music rotation less repetitive, since you'll be racing quite a bit throughout.

I don't care about "superiority," but the Genesis/Megadrive was a very capable, seemingly grossly misunderstood console, that deserves a lot more respect than it seems to get, by what I have to assume are children/teens that weren't there when it was current, and shouldn't, but nothing will stop them from doing so, open their mouths to begin with.

[Koa Zo]

[...]
Without trying to be incendiary against one, or biased toward another, I want to take as quick a look as I can at SNES vs. Genesis, or really, just re-evaluate what the Genesis brought to the table.

[...]

I don't care about "superiority," but the Genesis/Megadrive was a very capable, seemingly grossly misunderstood console, that deserves a lot more respect than it seems to get, by what I have to assume are children/teens that weren't there when it was current, and shouldn't, but nothing will stop them from doing so, open their mouths to begin with.

Who cares?

At this point anyone who has an interest in classic games should have enough intellectual maturity to value a console on its own terms.
The whole SNES vs. Genesis battle is beyond played out.

[Alianger]

SNES advantages:
*Can display more colors on screen, which naturally can lead to more detailed looking sprites.
*Sound chip can sample real instruments, and has an extra couple of sound channels overall. Overall more advantageous with wind and brass instrument sounds.
*7 built in display modes. Probably makes it easier for programmers, wouldn't know myself.

MD does sampled instruments and can play at least two at the same time (see Skitchin' or Alien Soldier). They're just lower quality and the stereo panning is more primitive (goes for the FM as well, and the PSG part can't be panned) in that it's either all left, all right or in the center.
SNES also has built in transparency. MD games would simulate it with blinking sprites, shadow/highlight mode (See Ranger X or Mega Turrican) or dithering (checkerboard or vertical line patterns). There's other stuff but I'm no expert.

Genesis advantages:
*Data can compress better on Genesis cartridges. Can lead to extra content(an extra level in Earthworm Jim, new gampelay mode in Street Fighter 2, 2 more characters, which were there in the arcade version, of WWF Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game, etc.).

I've read somewhere that the coding takes up more space on MD than on SNES, but I could be wrong.
Don't forget that in general the MD games had slightly higher resolution. I don't know how a higher res would affect the SNES' performance, just that some multiplatform games had lower res (Earthworm Jim, Great Circus Mystery).

A good place to ask more about tech stuff might be spritesmind.net, NintendoAge or the Sega-16 programming forum.

[GhostDog]

The Genesis was one hell of a system that was playable throughout the 90s. Sure, the allure of the PS1, Saturn and N64 was already there, but the Genesis still provided some solid entertainment. Just check out all the awesome games for the system. Here's a GameFAQS list. I don't necessarily agree with the order of the games ranked, but I think most of them are there. How anyone can deny the greatness of the Genesis/Mega Drive is beyond me:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/916377-genesis/61260047

Not to mention Robocop vs Terminator was so much better on the Genesis/Mega Drive than SNES. Admittedly, I haven't played the SNES version, but from the videos that I saw there really is no reason when both of the versions were compared. The Genesis/Mega Drive version looked so much better with the animations and the blood and gore that was included in the Genesis version. Here's a video showcasing the differences:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6-vUtSB2TA

[MidnightRider]

@Koa Zo:
I know I shouldn't, but I've seen the argument come up so much recently, Youtube videos and stuff, and it was like Genesis people could be respectful and say they prefer the Genesis without flaming, but SNES had fanboys that would be incendiary about it. I don't look at all SNES owners like that, that's why I have to assume it's not anyone who was an SNES owner at the time. You'd have to be crazy immature to still think on a plane where "what I support rules, and what I don't sucks donkey ballz!" at an age that you could have owned one of these consoles when they were new.

Basically, it got to me, brought out the inner Sega fanboy, which I'm trying not to be. I do appreciate the other consoles(love the TurboGrafx-16 as well), it's just irksome to think there's going to be younger generations that really think so little of the Genesis, or Sega as a whole.

That and I kind of wanted a big post to celebrate the Genesis' 25th, accurate or inaccurate as any of it may be.


@Alianger:
Thanks for the extra info. I knew I didn't have everything, and there's more I'm sure. The 40 million number for the Genesis is about right though, but after seeing Wikipedia, which changed since I last saw it, my estimated distribution of how each region sold is a bit off.

The compression thing may be off, I just thought I read that at least Earthworm Jim compressed better on the Genesis, explaining the extra level. It's why I asked to have the record set straight.

Even if it could be proven the SNES is just more powerful in every aspect overall, I could accept that, I just kind of want to know once and for all, what is it each can do better than the other. Unfortunately, trying to find that just leads to more bias.


@GhostDog:
Yeah, well, you'll never agree with everything on a top # list.

I like watching Teddy's channel too, but he might lean too much toward the Genesis. I understand though, he isn't much for the type of games on the SNES, and I'm getting to not be much of an RPG person myself.