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.