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

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

    Somehow, for me, the Genesis's library has lost its luster. That's not to say that it doesn't have great games or that I don't enjoy them. To the contrary, the MD/Genny is a great console with wonderful games. But the Genny, which once had a real whiz-bang factor for me, just doesn't have that sheen anymore. Yeah, the Sonic games and the Treasure-developed titles are fantastic looking and sounding, but... they just don't sound or look as impressive as they once did. And I say this as a person who didn't own but often preferred Genesis to SNES back in their heyday. To me back then, the SNES's sounds and visuals were just murky and muted (for lack of a better description). Meanwhile the NES's and Genny's graphics and music/sfx were sharp and fresh.

    But now, while I still feel that way about the NES, I don't feel that way about the Mega Drive anymore... The SNES just seems like it is the better looking and sounding console now compared to the SEGA Genesis. I know each console has its different strengths, weaknesses, and abilities, but it doesn't seem the Genesis's library has aged well. Yes, the games in general seem to run faster with a higher frame-rate on the old SEGA compared to the Super Nintendo, but the quality of the audiovisual experience isn't there. The color palette is so much smaller and there is a lot of dithering in the graphics. And the sound chip doesn't put out a smooth, pleasant set of sounds and music. I regularly play the games in the emulated SEGA game collection on Steam (Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection is its name on consoles.) and watch YouTube videos of other Genny games played on original hardware, and they just don't hold up to the SNES's stuff.

    I don't know why I think this way now. Perhaps it is due to overexposure to Genesis games versus not as much time spent with SNES games, and this is coloring my impression? Have you noticed a shift in your opinion too?

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    Last edited by HardcoreOtaku; 02-27-2017 at 08:13 PM.

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    The Genesis lacked genres that tended to create games that would be remembered decades later. That's what I think.

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    I have the bias toward SNES, having been a staunch Nintendo guy up until 1998. I played everything, but Genesis stuff so often just felt rough to me, and that never really changed. The Genesis' smaller on-screen color palette and more limited sound just have always made it feel coarse when compared to the SNES and even TG16. For me, where the Genesis feels strong is arcade-style side-scrollers. Mystic Defender, Alisia Dragoon, Contra Hard Corps, Gunstar Heroes, Shinobi... they hold up well for me. So do the unique oddities like Gain Ground, Toejam & Earl, Crackdown, etc.

    I think part of what hurts the Genesis is how things have changed in gaming. It was once lauded for its sports games, but very few people care about 20+ year old football games now. 2D fighters post-16 bit era really left the old games in the dust. Amiga strategy ports are largely outclassed by years of design improvement... these things don't feel timeless, even though they were pushing the envelope at the time.

    I feel like the SNES library overall was less concerned with pushing things forward or being edgy and more about maximizing its strengths in design in its own time, and as a result it feels more elegant and polished... and its more flexible sound chip didn't hurt. More on-screen colors helps smooth out rough edges, so it generally just feels more complete.

    Oh, and Beyond Oasis... that game feels like one of the more polished Genesis games to me. Slick game.

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    I think it depends on which era of Genesis software you're talking about.

    Very early Genesis games do look and sound quite primitive. Games from 1989, 1990 and 1991 especially. Genesis games from 93, 94 and 95 aged pretty well all things considered. The audio on the Genesis just can't compete with the SNES, so it's an unfair comparison. As well as Yuzo and company did with that audio chip, all the scratchy, AM sounding audio, didn't do it any favors. Also, Genesis could only put 64 colors on the screen simultaneously. So, it's really hard for it to compete from a color standpoint. Having said that, there are still some very colorful games on the Genesis, especially if you see them on a RGB monitor.

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    I don't think it's "aged" any worse than SNES. You're just reading your own [changed] preferences into it.

    I had SNES since launch despite a prior love affair with wanting Genesis (the Genesis Does campaign had me convinced), but Genesis was popular and I had friends with it or both. I definitely played more SNES, and my later years in high school, late 94 through 96, I was somewhat of a lapsed gamer.

    The point is, I keep discovering Genesis games from that period that are awesome that I never played and I find them no less fun or impressive to my classic gaming sensibilities than SNES games.

    I do think that a lot of Genesis sound effects are an 'acquired taste' when they use FM instead of PSG. They gave birth to the muffled robot fart meme Sega fans hate, and if you never had that taste, experiencing them now may be off putting.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Nz17 View Post
    But now, while I still feel that way about the NES, I don't feel that way about the Mega Drive anymore... The SNES just seems like it is the better looking and sounding console now compared to the SEGA Genesis. I know each console has its different strengths, weaknesses, and abilities, but it doesn't seem the Genesis's library has aged well. Yes, the games in general seem to run faster with a higher frame-rate on the old SEGA compared to the Super Nintendo, but the quality of the audiovisual experience isn't there. The color palette is so much smaller and there is a lot of dithering in the graphics. And the sound chip doesn't put out a smooth, pleasant set of sounds and music. I regularly play the games in the emulated SEGA game collection on Steam (Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection is its name on consoles.) and watch YouTube videos of other Genny games played on original hardware, and they just don't hold up to the SNES's stuff.

    I don't know why I think this way now. Perhaps it is due to overexposure to Genesis games versus not as much time spent with SNES games, and this is coloring my impression? Have you noticed a shift in your opinion too?
    So why do you still feel that way about the NES? The palette is even smaller, and the sound is less advanced (with a few exceptions using expanded sound hardware).

    Part of your problem seems to be emulation. Dithering wasn't really noticeable with older TVs and cables, and the more harsh elements of the FM sounds are smoothened out a little bit on real hardware. Comparing rhw recordings and emulation, only Regen and Kega Fusion with certain options turned on sound pretty much like the real thing; there's usually less bass and more distortion/abrasiveness in emulation, and sometimes incorrect (as in wrong pitch or timbre) sounds are played as well. However since the chip is basically a primitive FM synth (+ the PSG chip from the Master System) the music will tend to sound pretty samey and have trouble emulating some acoustic instruments. There's usually one channel used for samples but rarely anything other than percussion and the quality is fairly low.

    SNES did often sound muffled/muted, and obviously still does for many of its games. The limited way it deals with samples also makes a lot of music tracks sound slightly out of tune and/or kind of unexpressive and robotic. From what I've read, emulation tends to actually improve on the SNES's sound, as opposed to the MD/GEN. But I haven't seen any side by side comparisons.
    That said, it's rare for SNES or even NES games to sound as grating as the worst sounding MD/GEN games do (X-Men and Sonic Spinball come to mind).

    It's a bit contradictory to say that the MD has an overall advantage (framerate and speed) but then say that "the quality of the audiovisual experience" isn't there compared to the SNES. But anyway, nearly all of this comes down to taste in the end (actually the SCD wins for audio ).
    I personally prefer MD (as well as NES, TG16 and GB) music to SNES music for the most part, but when it comes to the games I can't really pick a favorite between the two.

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    I think the genesis has aged fine unless you're looking at it's early release.Still it's a matter of preference for what you grow up on,when it comes to that era of gaming.These days i don't see the snes being better then the genesis.For the genesis i like it for it's arcade style of gaming and the snes for it's platformers and rpgs.Still playing the genesis emulated is not the best way to experience the console.

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    I've always been more of a Genesis fan. I have an SNES and enjoy it but I have more games I love on the Genesis than the SNES.

    I'm not sure either has aged poorly, it all comes down to taste and if you love and play games on any console they will have aged well to you.

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    In our home I had the SNES and he had the Gen so I have experience with both, later in the late 90s I got one too. The thing is I think the issue is not over or under exposure to them but the NOW.

    Lets look at this time now and factor in how you feel the NES isnt played out either. All these modern so called retro indie games seem to try and match the luster of the NES and either the SNES or the Amiga/90s PC style stuff to be cool and retro both in visuals and audio. The Genesis even in the day may have looked sharp but it lacked some basic talents like transparencies or even enough colors on screen to match 256 VGA output like SNES can. The audio was a borrowed earlier arcade synth chip which sounds tinny, rough, mechanical almost while the SNES relied on nearly CD quality output and sound samples which again fits more withthe now. The style of the Gen is seen and heard by enough as out dated.

    It comes down to preference but those making games that wannabe old seem to also prefer the nonGenesis look of things and go with the NES, SNES or Amiga/PC style of stuff.

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    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...

    So many of those cardboard box releases are ugly and don't play well, whereas the early library is full of classics, especially by the end of 1990. Even duds like Osomatsu-Kun look and sound pretty decent. And the sample quality in games like Space Harrier II is surprisingly good.

    For me, the problem with the SNES is that I played a lot of the best games as a kid, and I'm not really one to replay games a lot. Sometimes I enjoy the gauzy, pastoral feeling of the system a lot; sometimes I'm in the mood for something crisper and brighter. And I can't stand the SNES packaging, nor the high prices these days.
    Last edited by goldenband; 04-12-2015 at 11:50 AM.

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    I think you're right, and I think they're right too. The Genesis stuff, the ones that age best are those in the middle for the most part. The early stuff is just terrible for the most part for the reasons listed, and then as you well put it, the late stuff trying to respond to Nintendo and the DKC wave of style going with the digitized graphics and the harder core audio just comes off bad. You have the low color/high detail stuff kind of like how the ACM DKC games look like crap on GB and GBC, and then finally at that later time the Genesis (not the SNES for once) was getting the halfassed ports to make some extra cash so those kind of suck too. It's the middle ground, and also those PC ports like star control and dune that come off very very nice, and of course virtua racing that $100 game was awesome for the system too but it got spanked because of the price vs the $50 FX chip in Starfox, etc.

    I don't think price is relevant to the discussion too. Yes anything known for quality or being legit/supposedly rare is getting dicey now, but there's always everdrives and rom+emulators too even on a phone or tablet.

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    Last edited by HardcoreOtaku; 02-27-2017 at 08:14 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by HardcoreOtaku View Post
    I'm not a fan at all of the Mega Drive (Genesis) but back when it was first released I imported one from Hong Kong and I feel its best games were released early in it's life time. Games like Super Shinobi, Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Strider etc.. were the best games for the system.
    I very much agree with this. The arcade ports and games made in that style represent the Genesis at its best. Sega just focused so much on image in the '90s is their western development and advertising, and that stuff just feels dated to me now. People always joke about '90s 'tude, and the Genesis has that stink on it moreso than the other consoles of the time (but don't think I don't remember Stone Protectors, SNES...) Sega was always trying to push the envelope, and a lot of that sentiment puts a pretty rigid time stamp on things, whereas Mario, Metroid, Zelda, etc. don't feel as much like they belong to one decade.

    This is just a personal thing, too, but to me Genesis graphics always seem to have a noticeable verticality to them. I don't mean bars like a top loader NES, but look at Sonic, and how the backgrounds have a lot of vetical lines in the grass, the water... I can't help but see the vertical lines in most Genesis games (Konami stuff looks pretty great). I don't know if it's due to higher resolution and I was more used to the SNES/TG16 stretch or what, but it makes a lot of Genesis stuff look grainy to me.

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    I wouldn't say it has aged worse at all. Back in the day I felt like both systems (Genesis and SNES) gave me a different experience due to all the exclusive games between the two. Usually I preferred the SNES version when the level design was identical, but when games had same titles with different games or level designs, I just had to have them both. I've never really played games for the graphics or sound either. I got mostly NES games alongside these two and didn't mind jumping back and forth from the polished Sonic 3 and Donkey Kong Country 3 to the blocky Dragon Warrior.

    On the Genesis I remember being pretty amazed by Sonic 3D Blast. My eyes got a little sore and puffy the first time I played it because I really stared at it. The visuals really popped out at me. Last night I fired up Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on my best, brightest CRT since I'm moving in with my girlfriend and had to pick which CRT I wanted to bring first and which I will put in storage till we get another place, and the colors were so good and bright. The music sounds so much better through Genesis 1's headphone jack and the video is much cleaner through composite than RF. For old TV's that only take RF, the video stability and colors even look better by outputting composite from the system and passing that through a composite to RF converter (such as a VCR) then running that to the TV. But on newer TVs it makes an even bigger difference.

    I noticed with the Genesis 2, the 32X cleans up the image a little bit and the Sega CD improves the sound by providing stereo.

    I did get double the SNES games and triple the NES games over the Genesis growing up but the ones I did have are still awesome and I've discovered many great ones as an adult. I'm doing the same on those other consoles too though.
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    What a great thread, lots of good opinion here. I don't think it's aged any worse than SNES when you realize that for most people, both 16-bit systems are ancient classic games, not terribly far removed in time from the Atari VCS and Intellivision when you consider it's 25 years since the Genesis came out but only a little more than a decade between A2600 and the MegaDrive.

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    SNES had a lot more of what I would call, well-formed games. Genesis did better with arcade conversions, and somewhat on licensed titles. Genesis was also far heavier into ports from computer systems/franchises. EA Genesis-only games were terrific as well. I always loved the Genesis controller, but often I found games were a bit more difficult than SNES. The only thing that has aged poorly to me is the sound. That tinny synthy sound is pretty lousy compared to SNES.
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    Good question Nz, and I enjoyed the responses as well. It's all opinion for sure, but to me the SNES has always been my preferred 16-bit system. That's not to say I dislike the Genesis; I got plenty of love for it and it's definitely in my top 5 list, but I've just always enjoyed the SNES that much more.

    I can't speak personally to whether the Genesis has aged worse or better, but IMO the SNES' library (the majority of them anyway) have aged like fine wine. Of course, stuff like StarFox not so much but more have aged well than not.

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    Quote Originally Posted by celerystalker View Post
    Sega just focused so much on image in the '90s is their western development and advertising, and that stuff just feels dated to me now. People always joke about '90s 'tude, and the Genesis has that stink on it moreso than the other consoles of the time (but don't think I don't remember Stone Protectors, SNES...)
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    Quote Originally Posted by celerystalker View Post
    This is just a personal thing, too, but to me Genesis graphics always seem to have a noticeable verticality to them. I don't mean bars like a top loader NES, but look at Sonic, and how the backgrounds have a lot of vetical lines in the grass, the water... I can't help but see the vertical lines in most Genesis games (Konami stuff looks pretty great). I don't know if it's due to higher resolution and I was more used to the SNES/TG16 stretch or what, but it makes a lot of Genesis stuff look grainy to me.
    Agreed with this. Many Genesis games to me seem to be a fair bit on the grainier side than SNES games. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but it can def. be a personal preference.

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    While I have both systems and enjoy them both greatly, I have a lot more fondness for the Genesis than the SNES purely because I played it more growing up. Bad sound chip or no bad sound chip, I can't help getting a smile on my face when I hear the main theme from the first X-Men game because it brings back memories of playing it with my best friend when we were both huge fans of the cartoon series back in the day. Nostalgia counts for a lot.
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