Are there any versions of Genesis games that are better then the SNES verision?

[pepharytheworm]

Really? I'm a fan of it and it's sequel, both cart and CD versions, but never really played the SNES one.

What makes it worse?

I have all three and I find the snes version superior in every way except music wise compared to sega cd. Not everything is shootable in the Sega versions and missing back ground stuff. But if you are a true Lethal Enforcers fan get the PS1 version.

SNES
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XcDEZm9Z-4

Genesis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkVri_4smU4

Sega cd
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sElrsFhQsT0

PS1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF5kxpNrvoE

[pepharytheworm]

Right off the bat I remember the Snes version of Lethal Enforcers was censored.

I remember sega and nintendo both censored, women badguys were taken out.
I found what nintendo censored was rather minor. But I can see how it might bother some.

Larcen Tyler at Gamefaqs wrote -When you got hit, originally your screen would flash red, and a red bullet hole or knife wound (depending on what hit you) would appear. In this one, the wounds are white, and the screen flashes green (in two player, the screen flashes on the side corresponding to the player who got hit.) Sort of looks like glass being shot out.

-When you shot an enemy, they would fall backwards (or do something similar) and then flicker for a moment before disappearing. In this one, they wouldn't fall backwards, but they would still flicker and then vanish, only they would do so in the position that you shot them in.

-Shooting an innocent bystander or one of your own police comrades would result in a penalty of one life, and after every stage, if you earned any kind of promotion, you would get a demotion for however many innocent victims you shot. In this one, it's more like you're shooting AT them (or even wounding them if you will.) You will receive a penalty, but they don't die. It's more like being given a warning for shooting at an innocent.

-One of the missions dealt with a group of criminals who were attempting to smuggle illegal contraband into the country (OK, drugs, if you will!) Since drugs were a no-no by Nintendo, Konami apparently worked out a deal so that the smugglers were now illegal arms dealers.

[Neil Koch]

The "Chinatown Assault" level was re-named to "Downtown Assault" - some of the stores and other background graphics were altered.

I have a couple of comparision screen shots here:

http://hkfilm.net/vidgame/lethal.htm

[nebrazca78]

Pit Fighter, Fatal Fury, and Robocop vs Terminator are better on Genesis, though in RvsT case, kinda different games. Prob has more to do with matter of opinion, but I liked Stargate and Judge Dredd more on Genesis also.

Pit-Fighter and Most of the Neo Geo ports. Everything else better on the genesis only shares the same title only and a lot of times ported by different companies or is heavily debatible, better gameplay but worse visuals and/or sound or vice versa. No one can debate Pit-fighter. Everything else ported by the same companies is almost always better on SNES.

Pit-Fighter is like night and day, the SNES version is garbage. Genesis Pit-Fighter is one of my all time favorites, I still pull it out after having beaten it over and over again. Still haven't beat it on level 8 or whatever the highest level is though.

Both are still pretty bad, though, and 32X Doom is missing the rear monster graphics, missing levels, missing monsters, runs in a window and has no way to save. It does look okay but the problems are crippling.

I'd still take it over the SNES version though, because in addition to having many of the same problems and its own inadequacies something about the blurry, muddy graphics and the way the screen moves gave me severe eyestrain and made me seasick. Only FPS that's ever given me that problem.

I thought the 32X version's graphics were passable but that it was the most playable 16-bit version. To me it even played waaaay better than the Saturn version which had a laughable framerate at times. It was only bettered by the Playstation version which had equal control and great graphics. I've never played the Jaguar release but I can only imagine the rage I would feel after having to use that crap controller. No amount of graphical prowess can make that version the best. The best use for the Jaguar controller is as a meteor hammer to destroy the Jaguar console itself.

Off the top of my head, games that I remember being better on the Genesis:

Mortal Kombat

I can see liking MK1 better on the Genny but MKII on the SNES was excellent and much better than any other Genesis version of MKII. I thought it had better graphics than the Genesis and 32X versions plus control that was just a little tighter than either of those. Plus with the MK button configuration the SNES controller doesn't screw you over like it does when you try to play Street Fighter.

Sega CD version > Genesis >>>>>> SNES

I've never played the Genesis or SNES versions of Fatal Fury but if the Sega CD version is better than those then they must be pretty bad.

Everything buzzes? That's a new one to me. Different revisions of the Genesis hardware differ in the quality of audio output. Perhaps you have one of the shitty ones.

Unlike the SNES, the version of Genesis you have makes a drastic difference concerning audio. If you have a shit motherboard in your Genesis the audio sounds bad almost no matter what. Anyone who thinks Genesis audio is crap may want to check and make sure they have a good version of the system before passing judgement. It should also be noted this goes for video output as well. Also using emulators is a poor method to use when listening to Genesis music and sound effects.

I personally think the audio of both Genesis and SNES have strengths and weaknesses ranging from the hardware (I'm not talking about the motherboard revisions but the general specs) to the composers to the actual programming itself. I like them both and have heard fantastic audio from both. They are both really good at different things and I like to take each game comparison on a case by case basis.

[tomaitheous]

Wow, this perfectly illustrates the SNES's sound capabilities over the Mega Drive.

Not really. That just shows off a bad technical composition on the Genesis hardware. Sadly, a common thing in the later part of the Genesis' life. It's capable of more than that.

Pit-Fighter is like night and day, the SNES version is garbage. Genesis Pit-Fighter is one of my all time favorites, I still pull it out after having beaten it over and over again. Still haven't beat it on level 8 or whatever the highest level is though.

I'm not a pit-fighter fan, but I would think any version of the arcade game would be garbage

[allyourblood]

Sega Genesis, rock n racing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvvgYFio4Jk

SNES rock n roll racing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-T1l...eature=related

The Genesis version sounds horrible!

This is exactly what I was talking about earlier. When emulating certain realistic instruments (guitar being the absolute biggest offender), the Genesis suffers big-time. You want guitar samples, you gotta go with the SNES. What's most surprising is that the organ track sounds better on the SNES than the Genesis, which is just lazy programming on behalf of whoever did the music for the Genesis. FM synthesis excels at organ sounds as its architecture lends itself to it quite well.

And I'll say this for the SNES: it must have been much easier to program music for. No borrowing pre-programmed patches from past projects; crispy GM samples ready to go! By 90s standards, a lot of the organic sounds were downright serviceable. But for me, there were two significant downsides to it, and these are precisely why I generally prefer the sound of the Genesis over the SNES:

Sparse (if any) multisampling. Multisampling means you record several samples of a sound at several pitches, and in the gaps between these samples you either speed up the nearest sample or slow it down, depending on what note is played. If the original multisamples are too far apart, playing notes in between results in an unnatural sound that suffers from the "chipmunk effect" that we're all so familiar with. Pitch your voice up or down and you either get that high pitched chipmunk sound or a ridiculously beefy slow-mo effect. Not pretty when applied to horns or strings, or, certainly worst of all, guitar.

My other issue is that because the SNES relied almost entirely on its wavetable for music, the same samples were used ad nauseum for all of its games: Like the guitar, bass and drums of Rock n Roll Racing? Well, get ready to enjoy the identical sounds in Uniracers, Star Fox, Mega Man X, X2, X3, Battletoads/Double Dragon, Biker Mice from Mars, Desert Strike, and dozens of others.

Certainly the Genesis was guilty of this as well; developers using the same sound "engine" for multiple projects, and not always to great effect. But because Genesis music is programmed "from scratch", I find the mixes to be more even, and less abrasive, despite the metallic properties of FM synthesis. Amp envelopes were almost always more varied on the Genesis which resulted in more fluid music without the staccato jolts found in so many of the more "rockin'" SNES tracks. Developers who bothered to massage the Genesis' four operators were able to elicit wonderful filter sweeps, giving uniqueness and motion to sounds that could evolve and change over time.

Nowadays, what I notice most between the two platforms is bass. Anyone who has heard the original Streets of Rage's Stealthy Steps with their subwoofer cranked knows the Genesis to be the business when it comes to 16-bit bass. Tight, punchy kick drums for rock and pop, but completely capable of distorted electro drums as well (like the bonus stage from Cool Spot, which to me is what that track was always supposed to sound like).

Both killer systems, each with lots of great music, but my heart and ears will always belong to the Genesis.

[Rob2600]

Both killer systems, each with lots of great music, but my heart and ears will always belong to the Genesis.

Play through Super Castlevania IV, Batman Returns, The Legend of the Mystical Ninja, and Donkey Kong Country on the SNES and let me know if the Genesis can produce better sounding music.

[pepharytheworm]

Play through Super Castlevania IV and Donkey Kong Country on the SNES and let me know if the Genesis can produce better sounding music.

Better sound is in the eye (or ear) of the beholder. I generally think the snes's sounds sound better, but if you want that awesome 80's sci-fi or techno synth sound the snes couldn't compete with the Genesis. i will give the genesis that bass is better on it, it rumbles my speakers.

[dreamcaster]

Not really. That just shows off a bad technical composition on the Genesis hardware. Sadly, a common thing in the later part of the Genesis' life. It's capable of more than that.

I have yet to be presented with a Mega Drive game with music/sound that has impressed me (the only exception to that would be the Streets of Rage series).

[kupomogli]

Phantasy Star 2 has great music on the Genesis. The sound is actually really clear. A lot of Genesis games have muffled sound with certain types of instruments, included Phantasy Star 4, but it's done well on Phantasy Star 2.

Here's the battle music. It helps that it's got such a good upbeat battle music. Takes away from how boring it is to grind when you need to. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sX85...50189DE4C80415

But yeah. The Genesis sound quality just blows compared to the SNES on pretty much every multiplatform title I've played. You've got games with great soundtracks for the equipment it's being played on, such as Bloodlines, Phantasy Star series, Sword of Vermilion, Sonic the Hedgehog, etc, etc, but when it comes to just comparing it to a lot of music on the SNES it still isn't as good.

Mobius Climber mentioned the FF Mystic Quest music. Really good music. The battle music, boss music, Dark King battle, and Doom Castle are some of the best music tracks to be found on any game on the SNES though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjT0PCv-cnA Battle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORMeyEOmQaQ Dark King
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZYTLUk7Nwk Doom Castle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ0KilHkxFk Boss music

[Red Baron]

I'm with the crowd who's been a bit put off by Genesis music sounding slightly screechy or tinny or otherwise having lower-quality samples, like that Rock 'n' Roll Racing example.. The Turrican example sounds nice, but it'd be one of the first cases I've personally where a Genesis version sounded blatantly better.

Perhaps I just haven't been playing the right games..?

In any case, there's a lot of examples where I didn't even know some games had another version, such as not knowing Zombies Ate my Neighbors had a Genesis version, or Pit Fighter having an SNES version.

I think I generally go along with the majority opinion though that when the SNES/Genesis versions are two blatantly different games, the Genesis tends to get the better deal. Games like Jurassic Park and Shadowrun come to mind.. Although in the case of Aladdin, I think the SNES one is just as good.

In the case where it's the same game, it's hard to say.. Somehow I liked the SNES EWJ's controls better, and thought the Genesis version's graphics and music(except for maybe the animation) wasn't quite as nice.

[j_factor]

Wow, this perfectly illustrates the SNES's sound capabilities over the Mega Drive.

Not really, it sounds like crap by the system's own standards.

This is exactly what I was talking about earlier. When emulating certain realistic instruments (guitar being the absolute biggest offender), the Genesis suffers big-time. You want guitar samples, you gotta go with the SNES.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwODPjCR6iI&fmt=18
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW7w0AUtiWE&fmt=18 - bass guitar

[tomaitheous]

This is exactly what I was talking about earlier. When emulating certain realistic instruments (guitar being the absolute biggest offender), the Genesis suffers big-time. You want guitar samples, you gotta go with the SNES.

I heard some decent SNES guitar samples, but I've also heard some pretty fake-ass sounding samples as well (being the majority).

A few games pulled off guitar sound pretty well on the Genesis. Vapor Trail is one of them (the sound track is even better on the Genesis than on the arcade) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSssZMGDozU and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IDvmCibcuA

I have yet to be presented with a Mega Drive game with music/sound that has impressed me (the only exception to that would be the Streets of Rage series).

Well, depends on what specifically you're looking for, to impress you. If you looking for a Genesis game to sound like a SNES game, then you totally have the wrong idea. I personally think there are tons of great/awesome tracks for the Genesis out there (old stuff and recent tracked stuff). Most SNES stuff sounds cheesy nowadays, with a few exceptions (notably orchestral stuff). I think the only large advantage the SNES really has nowadays, is that even bad compositions don't hurt your ears the way bad FM can. Most bad snes compositions are just forgettable. Not so on the Genesis, and I think it gets a bum rap for that.

[dreamcaster]

I think at the end of the day, my opinion is going to end up coloured by the fact I just plain don't like the Mega Drive/Genesis.

Oh yes...I went there.

[j_factor]

I heard some decent SNES guitar samples, but I've also heard some pretty fake-ass sounding samples as well (being the majority).

A few games pulled off guitar sound pretty well on the Genesis. Vapor Trail is one of them (the sound track is even better on the Genesis than on the arcade) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSssZMGDozU and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IDvmCibcuA



Well, depends on what specifically you're looking for, to impress you. If you looking for a Genesis game to sound like a SNES game, then you totally have the wrong idea. I personally think there are tons of great/awesome tracks for the Genesis out there (old stuff and recent tracked stuff). Most SNES stuff sounds cheesy nowadays, with a few exceptions (notably orchestral stuff). I think the only large advantage the SNES really has nowadays, is that even bad compositions don't hurt your ears the way bad FM can. Most bad snes compositions are just forgettable. Not so on the Genesis, and I think it gets a bum rap for that.

I highly agree with this post.

Here's one SNES game that does hurt the ears: Paperboy 2 (skip to 0:25). Good god. Also it doesn't seem to have ANY voices, usually considered a strong suit for the SNES. The Genesis version is better in every way.

[kupomogli]

Final Fantasy 5 has a lot of realistic guitar sounds. Although like tomaitheous stated some do sound fake.

Here's kind of the main thing why the SNES Is much better with audio, other than the fact that it has a much assortment of sounds it seems.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PkNirSetQc

This is the last boss music on Final Fantasy 5. Skip to 1:50, then listen up to 2:25. Atleast four different sounds are playing at once. Most Sega games have two sounds playing at a single time. I've possibly heard three before but I doubt it.

On most games when the Sega Genesis does play more than one sound it sounds kind of bad as well. Think Castlevania Bloodlines and the fire whenever killing the hell hound. Attempting to emulate a fire sound and probably too many sounds were used at once causing a screech.

[megasdkirby]

Ys III for Genesis IMHO is better than the SNES version. Especially the music.

100% agreed. Plus the SNES version seemed a bit more cheap (as in cheap deaths/difficulty) than the Genesis version. Genny verson seemed more "balanced" and it's music was miles better.

I'd still take it over the SNES version though, because in addition to having many of the same problems and its own inadequacies something about the blurry, muddy graphics and the way the screen moves gave me severe eyestrain and made me seasick. Only FPS that's ever given me that problem.

I prefer the SNES version only due to it's awesome music. It was tediously slow, graphics looked all blurry and garbled. Good game on it's own right, though. I prefer the PSOne version, then the Jaguar version.

On the subject of comparing music, here's a comparison that was brought up on another board I post at. It's a tune that was used in both Mega Turrican and Super Turrican (which isn't strictly relevant to this thread, as they're different games, but...)

Genesis version
SNES version

The SNES version isn't offensive to the ears or anything, but compare the two. The percussion has much less force on the SNES; it sounds like little taps instead of drums. And that section that begins at 0:40 sounds great on Genesis, but on SNES you can barely hear it. Genesis has a fuller, richer, "louder" sound.

Ah, yes. Super/Mega Turrican. How I love these games, specially it's music! One of the best I've heard on any 16 bit game. From the two, although they are both fantastic, I would have to choose the SNES version. It sounds better to me than on the Genesis. I feel the Genesis was too "high pitched" than on the SNES version, if that makes any sense.

Sega CD version > Genesis >>>>>> SNES

Agreed once more. The Sega CD version was THE definitive version over EWJ compared to the other two consoles. The others are also fantastic, but I felt the SNES version was slower than the Genesis/Sega CD versions. I did not notice any noticeable differences between the Sega CD and PC versions, as they both played the same to me.

[Rob2600]

Stellar examples of SNES music:

EarthBound:
Pokey Means Business
Winters

Super Castlevania IV:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjuSIUKdnjA

The Legend of the Mystical Ninja:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HkyAiV4Kbc

Batman Returns:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Vw3QcVfB3I

Donkey Kong Country series:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z29Mh80JiQ
Aquatic Ambiance
Lockjaw's Saga

Not really, it sounds like crap by the system's own standards.

I disagree. The SNES version of "Born to Be Wild" sounds better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwODPjCR6iI&fmt=18
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW7w0AUtiWE&fmt=18 - bass guitar

These songs sound pretty good, but the samples are low quality and distorted. There's an annoying, fuzzy sound to them. Impressive for the Genesis though.

Here's one SNES game that does hurt the ears: Paperboy 2 (skip to 0:25). Good god. Also it doesn't seem to have ANY voices, usually considered a strong suit for the SNES. The Genesis version is better in every way.

Paperboy 2 is awful, no matter which platform it's on. And you're right, that "music" hurts.

Check out this interview with Mike Dietz, he worked on the different versions of Earthworm Jim and he prefers the Genesis version compared to the SNES version.

Mike Dietz: I much prefer the Genesis version over the SNES, because the SNES was more limited than the Genesis in the number of sprites you could have on screen at any one time.

I thought the SNES could handle more sprites than the Genesis?

Genesis:
maximum onscreen sprites: 80

SNES:
maximum onscreen sprites: 128, a maximum of 32 per line, up to 64x64 pixels large

[Zebbe]

Read again: "on screen at any one time." i.e. what you currently see on screen when you actually play, not the entire game in itself. This has to do with the superior processing power of the Mega Drive/Genesis.

[Ze_ro]

I'm really surprised that only a few people mentioned sports games. Sports games were, by far, the number 1 reason to own a Genesis back in the days. It was widely accepted that just about every sports game was far superior on the Genesis, even though the SNES version usually looked slightly better due to colour depth.

I guess no one really plays old sports games much these days... but here in Canada, people still argue over the merits of NHL 93 vs. NHL 95... and it's always the Genesis versions they're talking about.

--Zero