Verdict Snes vs. Sega Genesis

[Ants!]

Gloves off for this one! Old school vidya-games!

This one might get nasty (like even more than the normal kind of nasty when I'm in charge).

Brb taking my Snes in the other room with a bottle of lube. Don't judge me, that's my job.

 

[shortkut]

I only owned genesis out of the two, but snes had a better game library

 

[Smacktard]

Genesis is a great console but the SNES won the 16-bit wars hands down, no questions asked. Better action, better platforming, better jRPGs. And as much as I love the distinctly Genesis sound, the Genesis sound chip more often than not sucks ass.

That said, I could be swayed to the contrary if presented with enough satisfactory evidence, so I volunteer to jure.

 

[dimmerwit]

Aren't we forgetting that only one of these consoles has BLAST PROCESSING™?

 

[Quagmire]

Better action, better platforming, better jRPGs.

I agree about jrpgs, but I think the first two are very debatable and think there is more fun multiplayer fun on the Genesis in the action game realm

 

[Kat]

I had neither of those consoles (I was stuck with an NES until the PlayStation came out), so if you're looking for an unbiased and completely ignorant juror, here I am.

 

[Crystal]

Excuse me, but aren't we forgetting that Sega does what Nintendon't? I rest my case!

(By that I mean there's no question SNES was better but I love my Sega consoles! All games for all gamers)

 

[Quagmire]

Excuse me, but aren't we forgetting that Sega does what Nintendon't? I rest my case!

(By that I mean there's no question SNES was better but I love my Sega consoles! All games for all gamers)

Overall I agree Snes is better but it's pretty close, both do things better than the other (if you include Sega CD you get the Lunar Games,sonic CD, snatcher and another shining force)

 

[Ants!]

Aren't we forgetting that only one of these consoles has BLAST PROCESSING™?

I agree about jrpgs, but I think the first two are very debatable and think there is more fun multiplayer fun on the Genesis in the action game realm

Excuse me, but aren't we forgetting that Sega does what Nintendon't? I rest my case!

(By that I mean there's no question SNES was better but I love my Sega consoles! All games for all gamers)

Exhibits A, B, and C for Sega Genesis (yes I'll count a good pun as evidence, damn it!)

Genesis is a great console but the SNES won the 16-bit wars hands down, no questions asked. Better action, better platforming, better jRPGs. And as much as I love the distinctly Genesis sound, the Genesis sound chip more often than not sucks ass.

That said, I could be swayed to the contrary if presented with enough satisfactory evidence, so I volunteer to jure.

I only owned genesis out of the two, but snes had a better game library

Exhibits A and B for the Snes.

Jurors so far: Kat and Smacktard.

 

[Tommy Boy]

SNES has a superior catalog of games, though every cool person I ever knew had a Sega. I’m still going with Nintendo on this.

 

[Jon]

It's Nintendo. But Genesis will always hold a place in my heart.

 

[Smacktard]

Overall I agree Snes is better but it's pretty close, both do things better than the other (if you include Sega CD you get the Lunar Games,sonic CD, snatcher and another shining force)

Sega CD retailed at the price of a full console, and then there's the 32x as well. Is it fair to include those against the SNES? It's kind of like comparing 3 consoles against one. Kind of but not really, since most releases were pretty half-baked.

 

[Quagmire]

Sega CD retailed at the price of a full console, and then there's the 32x as well. Is it fair to include those against the SNES? It's kind of like comparing 3 consoles against one. Kind of but not really, since most releases were pretty half-baked.

Not much of value is on the 32x and you cant pay the CD without the genesis. So I dont know. Just something Im throwing out there

 

[Smacktard]

Not much of value is on the 32x and you cant pay the CD without the genesis. So I dont know. Just something Im throwing out there

Fair enough. FWIW I think CD and 32X can be added to Genesis's library. There are actually quite a few decent games on the Sega CD, and even the 32X has a handful of good ones. Overall, I still believe the SNES library beats it, though.

In a couple of months, I'll finally get to play Snatcher and Popful Mail, so maybe my opinion will change.

 

[Quagmire]

Fair enough. FWIW I think CD and 32X can be added to Genesis's library. There are actually quite a few decent games on the Sega CD, and even the 32X has a handful of good ones. Overall, I still believe the SNES library beats it, though.

In a couple of months, I'll finally get to play Snatcher and Popful Mail, so maybe my opinion will change.

I adore Snatcher, such a fun game, it has some issues in terms of how interacting works, but its a game originally from the 80s(or early 90s). Policenaughts fixes some of the issues I had with the game play

 

[Jawneh]

It's probably the game library for the snes that takes it for me. The few sonic games and something else random for the Genesis were great though. It wasn't until much later that I found out about bunch more classics for the Genesis though, so I got so much more nostalgia for the snes.

 

[Smacktard]

I adore Snatcher, such a fun game, it has some issues in terms of how interacting works, but its a game originally from the 80s(or early 90s). Policenaughts fixes some of the issues I had with the game play

My experience with Snatcher will dictate whether I bother with Policenauts, I think. I hope Snatcher is as good as I've built it up to be in my mind haha.

 

[Quagmire]

My experience with Snatcher will dictate whether I bother with Policenauts, I think. I hope Snatcher is as good as I've built it up to be in my mind haha.

Snatcher has the better story IMO, Polienauts the better gameplay (but I liked the story)

 

[Ants!]

So I'm thinking that since there seem to be only a couple of neutral-ish people and zero pro-Genesis people, we might just let the court of public opinion have this one and not drag out the process with jurors. Seems fair to do in cases where there aren't at least two sides.

 

[Nae'blis]

Gloves off for this one! Old school vidya-games!

This one might get nasty (like even more than the normal kind of nasty when I'm in charge).

Brb taking my Snes in the other room with a bottle of lube. Don't judge me, that's my job.

Has the court even started if you didn't even bang your eggplant?

Snes takes it for me as well! Many fond memories of playing co-op Secret of Mana with my big brother! And many other great games!

 

[Ants!]

I feel like exactly zero people will object if I go ahead and make a ruling here, so:

GW Court rules that Snes was the superior console for that generation!

*bangs eggplant*

*Nae'blis has a delayed climax, so it's a powerful toe-curling one*

 

[Nae'blis]

*lights a cigarette*

 

[Ants!]

I left some change on the nightstand.

 

[Mark]

I’m glad I didn’t have to be a juror on this case. I couldn’t make a decision, props to those that persevered and did.

Both consoles were equally formative and special to me. I owned a Genesis, but the rec center at school had an SNES that I used to play on with my friends after school. Solo gaming? Genesis. Gaming with your friends? SNES. That’s the closest I could ever come to making a call.

 

[Ants!]

Interesting take since I recall somebody in this thread claims genesis was better for multiplayer?

As for myself, I had the Snes but a friend of mine had the Genesis. I was actually a little jealous of him at the time because Sonic looked so fun and the graphics were amazing, but I can't remember them playing anything else.

 

[Nae'blis]

I left some change on the nightstand.

 

[A Punched Face]

I'm late to saying it was definitely SNES. We had both but one was superior.

 

[Fool's Requiem]

I am also late

The answer is SNES. Genesis uses a better resolution, and multi-platform games tend to stretch the visuals a bit on the SNES.

But the SNES has more advanced tech. The Genesis' sound chip is AWFUL. Mode 7 for the SNES is a MASSIVE advantage. The FX chip was used for more games, than the special chip Sega used to power Virtua Racing.

The Genesis had a 2-year head start on the SNES and still lagged behind. Sega didn't even really bother to compete with Nintendo until the SNES came out for some stupid reason. The SNES had a massive launch with games that do a fantastic job as showing what the system was capable of, like F-Zero, Pilot Wings, and Super Mario World.

Genesis bested the SNES in sports games, but little else. The Genesis controller(s) are both better and worse. The Genesis 3 button controller kinda forced companies to keep controls simple and easy to learn for the most part, but if you tried playing a game designed around the 6 button controller with a 3 button, you're going to have a difficult time because then controls get complicated. The 6 button controller SHOULD be a better controller for fighting games than the SNES controller because all 6 buttons are face buttons, but the D-Pad is borderline useless in games like Street Fighter 2. The SNES controller has the Genesis controller beat when it comes to any game requring some type of strafing, or any game that requires multiple buttons to be used at the same time as you are never going to be using the same fingers for the face buttons as the shoulder buttons. The addition of a select button next to the start also frees up the start menu of being a button that does everything.

RPGs - SNES
Racing - SNES
SHMUPS - Genesis
Fighting - SNES
Platformers - Tie
Beat em' Ups - Tie
First party games - SNES
Arcade Ports - Genesis (Sega was prevelent in the arcade market)
Sports - Genesis

What I don't really get is that Sega really made usage of z-axis sprite scaling for some of their arcade games like After Burner, Outrun, Space Harrier, and Hang-On, but they didn't really use it a whole bunch on the Genesis to compete with Nintendo's Mode 7 tech. They did do some wizardry with Paralax Scrolling though. Specifically in Ranger X.
Meanwhile, the SNES launched with F-Zero and Pilot Wings which showed off it's Mode 7 abilities.

At least the Genesis has "blast processing" which may or may not have actually been used.

 

[Smacktard]

But the SNES has more advanced tech. The Genesis' sound chip is AWFUL

I think this comes down to personal preference. I think the Genesis sound is unique and beautiful. Green Hill Zone. Nuff said.

There are plenty of games that didn't make great use of the sound chip and ended up sounding like trash. But for every Taz-Mania, there's a Gunstar Heroes.

 

[shortkut]

This is the best argument for sega

 

[Mark]

They did do some wizardry with Paralax Scrolling though. Specifically in Ranger X.

That is one of my absolute favorite Genesis games, I’d love to see an updated version of the same concept… the ability to combine with the motorcycle and airship was pretty cool back then.

 

[Fool's Requiem]

That is one of my absolute favorite Genesis games, I’d love to see an updated version of the same concept… the ability to combine with the motorcycle and airship was pretty cool back then.

It's hard to play. I have the same multitasking issue with R-Type. Also, that first boss was super annoying. But man, what they were able to do with the graphics on that console is nothing short of amazing.

 

[Mark]

It's hard to play. I have the same multitasking issue with R-Type. Also, that first boss was super annoying. But man, what they were able to do with the graphics on that console is nothing short of amazing.

That was probably the first game that I ever experienced a glitch on. There was a technique you could use to “grab” onto walls if your jet pack ran out of fuel, and you could “bump” the jet pack to extend the life of the tank dramatically. After you died enough times and learned how to exploit stuff like that, it was a pretty fun game. There was definitely a huge learning curve to it that I didn’t really grasp as a kid but realized pretty quickly when I replayed it years ago.

 

[Ben]

At least compared to the Playstation/N64 case, this is a bit trickier because I did have both consoles. But I had my Sega Multi-Mega CD first, and played far more on that cumulatively than the SNES.

I guess design wise, the SNES had the better controller. Mega-Drive controllers were huge by comparison, from what I recall.

Game wise, I think I preferred Sega's catalog more. At least, I was more a Sonic fan than a Mario one.

Hard choice, but I think I'd lean Mega-Drive over the SNES.