Topic: So where do you stand on the whole Snes vs Megadrive

did you guys know sega put out a game about snes fans?

you can see it right here above.
^{you can see it because i put it there so you can see above...the game about snes fans...its...above...so you can see it...above...}
ogo79-2
legion of metal-0

Nah, the 4th gen of Pokemon was the golden age of the series. The 4th gen of consoles are overrated mediocrity full of games that have been overshadowed by later entries in their series.

My sister got me one of these for my 30th birthday last year:

Really cool little addition to my console collection! I had to replace the controllers (wireless IR, barely worked) but it's fully compatible with classic wired Mega Drive controllers, so I got myself a pair of those and it's made a world of difference! It came with 80 pre-installed games (plus a cartridge slot) and plays like a dream! Love getting my retro on from time to time! ..we had a SNES as kids, so that'll always win any 'battle of the consoles' in my mind - but I'm so, so happy that I've finally managed to jump on the Mega Drive train all these years later! Thanks sis! #Legend!

The interesting thing is that, and maybe this is because of who stuck around as a console creator, but SNES totally won this war in retrospect right? Might be less true in Europe possibly. But like in the early 90s, Genesis/Megadrive was killing it and was destroying the SNES (that and SNES being released later/NES still being supported I'm sure). It was factually winning the console war. But then DKC blew everyone away, the next year Sega infamously botched the Saturn, and Sega never recovered. At least Nintendo's 1995 disaster wasn't a straight up next gen console.

And nowadays, I feel like SNES is right up there with the PS2 as the most beloved console of all time, and is just talked about more. Granted, a lot of bias hanging around Nintendo forums or the like, but Sega Genesis was more interested in being cool at the time. A lot of the games have aged well sure, but they were focused on games and genres that would fall in obscurity and whose main mascot specifically existed to be cool at the time and a Mario rival, whereas beyond SNES' instantly huge successes were also somewhat lesser successes that would become more successful in retrospect, partially thanks to sequels and inspirations. JRPGs being the absolute best example of this. Which is funny considering Sega made Shining Force, a series that came out in America before Fire Emblem...and then Fire Emblem with similar gameplay would come out here around when they turned Shining Force into a less unique JRPG series (AFAIK), and now Fire Emblem is popular and Shining Force is far more obscure. Life is weird.

A lot of this though is probably that Nintendo can resell their games on consoles they own and their fans will promote them (and popular games from that era) because they are beloved + nostalgia + aged better than NES games.

I never had either so I can't say for sure. But even though I need to play way more Genesis games, I at least have my doubts they will live up to the absolute top tier SNES games I have played (especially since SNES' top tier is probably more my style in terms of genres).

I was a Nintendo Kid and whilst I acknowledge the Mega Drive's superiority in faster paced arcade games, I still felt the SNES offered the more memorable experiences for me. Both however were incredibly fun in their own way.

And yet my all time favourite shm'up, UN Squadron, appeared on the slower SNES.

Yet I won't deny the MD had the amazing Thunderforce IV.

Both consoles had their pros and cons. SNES had way more RPGs, platformers and the like, whereas the Genesis had way more sports, fighters, etc. I barely played the Genesis growing up though. I played a lot more SNES games back then. I also think the SNES had better visual quality, crisper and brighter colours.

I prefer the SNES overall.

@MegaTen
actually the snes/sfc did have more rpgs...
especially if you count both systems/all regions.
one reason was because the snes does in fact not run as fast as the genesis.
it makes a lot of sense really.
to put it simple, rpgs shine on snes. less moving. less layers. think about it.

For me it's pretty simple. I had a Master System as a kid but the games on the NES beat it easily in retrospect. But for the SNES I had one so for me the SNES has both the higher quality games and the nostalgia. No contest.

And to be a bit less biased find any "top games of all time" list and count the number of games from the two systems. For example IGN's top 50 they have 5 SNES exclusives, no Mega Drive exclusives and one (Street Fighter 2) that was on both.

I think the Mega Drive definitely had the edge when it came to arcade style experiences. It had a controller better suited to those games and a faster processor and (of course) Sega themselves - probably the biggest player in the arcade scene at the time. The lessons and design philosophies of those games has fallen out of fashion just now because the culture and the business model that supported it has died but they're still great fun to play. They are - as they always were - very immediate.

In hindsight that's both its blessing and its curse tough. Why would anyone - in 2017 - want to play a good home conversion of a game like Shinobi (to pick just one example) when they can download a ROM of the actual original arcade game and run it on something that costs next to nothing like a Raspberry Pi? But still there are plenty of Mega Drive games that didn't originate in the arcades that still subscribe to that mentality that can often feel incredibly fresh today because mainstream games have moved so far away from that particular set of design principles.

The SNES has a few big points over the Mega Drive in my mind. It has a better and much broader colour pallet for a start and some nice effects built in so SNES games generally look nicer on the eyes (particularly when there's not much happening). It also has a better controller that's much more versatile and allows for some more complex games that would be fiddly and awkward with a few fewer buttons (and no shoulder buttons).

I'd also say that - hands down - the SNES has a library that's proven far more influential and that has aged much better. As @skywake points out - if you check most lists of "the top 50/100 games of all time" the likelihood is that you'll find at least half a dozen to a dozen SNES games on there depending on the size of the list (and likely 3 or 4 in the top 10) but very few Mega Drive games.

Super Metroid and Zelda A Link to the Past are absolute baseline touchstones in game design. Yoshi's Island is in many ways the pinnacle of home 2d platformer design. Chrono Trigger, FFVI and Earthbound might well be the best JRPGs - existing in just that sweet spot where they're complex enough but not leaden down by needless intricate gameplay systems.

Of course there's still something to be said about picking up a game like Kid Chameleon or Sonic or Streets of Rage - you can pick those games up and have a fun time without committing the dozen or more hours of your time you'd have to in order to really enjoy the best of the SNES library.

For me, SNES won, hands down!

-It had a FARRRRR superior (the best version, in my opinion) remake of Prince of Persia, developed by Konami.
-TMNT: Turtles in Time was superior to Hyperstone Heist
-Super Castlevania IV was superior to Bloodlines (even though I do think that Contra: Hard Corps was better than Contra III)
-TMNT Tournament Fighters was better on SNES. Far better.
-Tiny Toons: Buster Busts Loose was better than the TTA game on the Genesis.
-With the exception of Samurai Shodown, every Takara/SNK port was better on the SNES.
-Mortal Kombat 2, 3, and Ultimate were better on the SNES. MK1 could have been amazing, if the controls would have been tightened up, and....well, you know.
-Street Fighter 2 was better on SNES. The Genesis port was no slouch, but the audio was crap.
-Snes had a more robust, higher quality, selection of RPG's.
-Snes had the better platformers.
-Snes defied what we thought was possible on 16-bit hardware more than the Genesis. Virtua Racing was impressive, yes, but there were so many "holy crap" moments on SNES. The scaling in Super Castlevania IV, the opera scene in Final Fantasy III/VI, the music in Link to the Past, playing something that felt arcade perfect (even though it wasn't) with Street Fighter II, playing Donkey Kong Country for the first time, the feeling of loneliness captured perfectly with Super Metroid, being wowed by Starfox, playing Mario Kart with a friend, etc.

The Genesis did have it's advantages, though:

-Far better selection of sports titles (even though, in my opinion, SNES had the better NBA Jam)
-Fast paced games that weren't plagued by an abundance of slowdown.
-Schmups were better on the Genesis (even though Gradius III, slowdown and all, is one of my favorite games)
-Electronic Arts, when they were still worth a crap, shined on the Genesis. Mutant League Football/Hockey, Skitchin', General Chaos, Road Rash 1-3, etc.
-Those out-of-left-field games that Sega did. Comix Zone, Toejam and Earl, etc.
-Treasure! Landstalkers, Gunstar Heroes, etc.

If Sega would have stayed the course, opted out of unnecessary add-ons (even though I have a soft spot for the Sega CD), they may have narrowed the gap a bit. Also, the fact that they abandoned the Genesis almost the moment the Saturn was released was a very stupid move on their part.

Both were great systems, but the library on the SNES spoke to me the most. OTOH, the Sonic trilogy, especially 2 and 3 got tons of replay for me, because of the coop with Tails. The two Toejam games were excellent as well and got tons of replay. I think my SNES got MOST of the gameplay time, but there was a fair bit that went to the Genesis as well, despite being on fewer overall games. I can't recall some of the other gems I loved on Geneis at the time...but there were a few. Anyone remember that platformer with the elephant? It was simple but I felt it was a really cool twist on the Kirby games.

I grew up with SNES, so I have a bias towards that. But I won't say I wouldn't have like to have both as a kid.

Like many SNES kids, wished I could've played Sonic (though there were certainly a number of other worthy games as well). But no, the first Sonic game I could play was the PC version of Sonic 3 & Knuckles. And since the PC I had back then was a 486 (which was extremely outdated even when the game was released in 1997), it ran with slowdown. (kind of funny though that on modern PCs, that version of S&K is unplayable in window mode since they had the frame limit turned off)

Certainly the RPGs were far more in number on the SNES (which is probably why they get recommended so much more) but the Genesis is usually recommended for faster-action games like speed platformers and shooters.
I know Super Mario World and Donkey Kong Country are more exploration-based platformers. Not sure if there was that kind of game on Genesis. Kind of bizarre that Sonic games had some pretty huge levels but since Sonic was a "speed" game you were discouraged from looking.

SNES, no contest. I mean sure, I did have a SNES growing up, but still. The Mega Drive has many supposedly great games in genres I don't like at all (like beat 'em ups). Many other Mega Drive games just feel way too... arcade-y, if that makes sense. I'm not much of a fan of that either. I also think the Sonic games are overrated. At least they are not really my style, even though they are fine.

im always right.
if you dont believe me read my signature.
if there are others who still question my preciseness they should read my signature again

@ogo79 I'm guessing if you're posting you're doing okay about that hurricane?
You told it to go away, it's not very cool?

Aww heck. I was a fan of both. I like Sony and Microsoft too. Am I still allowed on this site?

@KingMike
hurricane harvey has swag, swag is not cool so i asked him to remove himself off my state because we dont have any swag in texas...

It's very unusual for Harry Kane to strike in August. What's he doing in Texas???

I like a lot them both, both of them have their own must have games, but SNES had better and more colourful graphics and a bigger quantity of good games in my opinion. Also one of the most important games on the Genesis/Megadrive in my opinion is not as good as it could have been, I'm talking about Golden axe, the arcade version is a masterpiece, the console version had ugly graphics and even at the lowest difficulty setting is much harder than the arcade one with the same difficulty (I'm not even able to complete it without saved states on console version!!) so in the end SNES is better probably but Genesis is fantastic too and Sonic 1 is a masterpiece (and Golden axe should have been but it was only in the arcades sadly)

I was a SNES kid growing up... but I think I technically spent more time on the genesis playing ESWAT, Aladdin and Shinobi III. My SNES was mostly my SF and Samsho machine (and NBA JAM oddly enough as I don't even like basketball). At least until I started playing Sailor Moon: Another Story ( and ALttP).

I didn't enjoy sonic enough to consider it a system seller and mario was in the same boat (although I played a lot of super mario world) until mario 64 came out. I am not really sure why that is, as I had both of my eyes during the early part of my owning both systems (although the snes got very little play time at first as I didn't like LttP ---oh the irony) and I prefer mostly 3d platformers now due to my vision (camera angles and shadows make it easier for me to judge distance and movement and not make stupid mistakes or missteps). Although I think I was in my impatient kid gamer phase right before my amputation so that may have something to do with it.