The Mega Drive Mini (or Genesis Mini, if you must) is launching in the US in just over a month - with Europe to follow shortly afterwards. To promote the console, as well as celebrate its 30th anniversary in the US, Sega has recreated that classic ad. You know the one.
Yes, the 'Genesis does what Nintendon't' commercial is back, although this time around it's a little less brutal. In fact, it's a lot less brutal, as it doesn't take any digs at Nintendo or anyone else at all. Of course, with the Mega Drive Mini, Sega is technically doing what Ninten-did already with the NES and SNES Classics, so it wouldn't get away with it this time.
Give it a watch here (we've included the original below if you need a refresher):
The original:
Now then, excuse us while we start whistling the 'Genesis Does' tune over and over again in the office. If you're looking to pick up your own Mega Drive Mini, here's everything you need to know.
[source youtube.com]
Comments 87
Mega Drive Does
Sega does what NintenDON'T...yea like get driven out of the new hardware business thanks to not knowing how to have your JP and US teams work together (along with many other factors) and drive your major IP into the ground with tons of painfully awful blue blur games.
Sega does what Nintendon't ==> Fail so hard they stopped making consoles
Pre-ordered mine last weekend. Looking forward to seeing the results of M2's efforts on this nifty little device.
I still get into arguments with friends from back in the day over the Sega vs. Nintendo rivalry. Just for fun, of course.
Cuz not considering Sega's ultimate fate, we all know who was the real winner of that console generation.
(still Nintendo, hehe)
It's a shame, because SEGA used to go toe-to-toe with Nintendo. I do wish that SEGA capitalise on their IP as there's some cracking titles that would fit well in era of HD remasters and reimaginings.
I used to get so angry at all the trash talk at Nintendo from Atari with the Lynx dissing Gameboy for no color, Sega and their insults in every commercial, then Sony rubbing it in for Final Fantasy VII and then the Crash Bandicoot commercial with him going to NoA HQ.
It didn't help that everyone made fun of me for liking Nintendo, Mario, RPGs, and EarthBound especially. It was almost like being a Nintendo fan and subscribing to Nintendo Power was an excuse for people to beat the crap out of me in 1995. And they did, as well as stealing my magazines while shredding or burning them before throwing me into a shoving circle.
I moved around a lot, so I didn't have many friends, and had to rely on Nintendo games, comics, the library, and a box of old VHS tapes of TV shows that went off the air.
Nintendo for me was my refuge from bullying, especially because I saw them too busy making good games to resort to dirty insults and trash talk, even if every now and then I'd see something like a StarFox commercial saying, "Why go to the next level when you can go light years beyond?" aimed at Sega's "Welcome to the next level" ad slogan.
My 13 year-old self in 1996 never would have imagined FF7 on Switch, Crash and Sonic on GCN, and so many more PC classics on Switch as well as TurboGrafx 16 games on Wii.
I can already buy a bunch of Genesis collections. Unlike Nintendo, Sega sells their back-library cheaply and easily. Why would I want this?
They very cleverly changed the "You can't do this on Nintendo" and "Nintendon't" lines. They know who's helping them pay their bills these days.
Genesis does!
-We drove ourselves out of hardware
Genesis does!
-We put our games on Nintendo
They don't want to hurt any current relationship but arguably the Genesis has almost more games then both of Nintendo's combined so technically they do what Nintendo didn't all in one machine. Plus they went and got good to great games and didn't just fill in the void with crap. Not saying Nintendo did this by any means.
With that said I don't own any of them and dont plan to. Now about that TurboGrafx mini!?!?
The only game from the Genesis I really care about is Sonic 3 and Knuckles. I wish they'd just port over the PC version. (Though I can't really complain as Mania is just plain better.)
Other than that most of those old Genesis games haven't aged nearly as well as a lot of SNES titles did.
I just learned that the Genesis Mini includes every regional version of the included games — it was mentioned as a throw-away perk in a review on Kotaku.
Feels like that's a HUGE plus that's not being sufficiently mentioned! Getting to choose between sinking your teeth into the brutally tough US version of Hard Corp., the more forgiving Japanese version (like the only game in history where that's true), or the (visually at least) totally different Probotector? That's really cool! Ditto for any other games that have significant differences between regions (I don't know off hand; Kotaku cited the Contra example, though they failed to mention Probotector).
I think this and the PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16 mini both look incredible.
@DavidMac
It's so mind-boggling to me that that game has been absent from pretty much every Genesis retro re-release collection. I think the most recent time it was re-released at all was on the Wii Virtual Console almost a decade ago.
That marketing was super effective though. I have friends to this day who still insist it's 'wrong' or 'kiddie' or 'immature' to be a Nintendo fan and supporter. Sega was alright, but they didn't understand gamers or gaming the way Nintendo does...hence why one still makes consoles today and the other makes games for everyone else.
@DavidMac There is port of the game on PC you can get Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles on Steam.
@SmaMan @DavidMac I have read that one of the main impediments to its inclusion in all of the collections that have come out of late is Michael Jackson's estate holding some claim over their usage due to his involvement in the musical composition (apparently MJ himself wasn't too keen on holding things up). To be fair, my source for this is either Wikipedia or something of comparable reliability, so take this "insight" with a shaker-full of salt.
Regardless, a true shame, because when combined into S3&K, the 1994 swan-song Genesis titles were (and, in my view, remain, as much as I ABSOLUTELY LOVE Sonic Mania) the pinnacle of the Sonic brand (and one of the finest examples of 2D platforming ever made).
Sega does what nintendont
Like ignoring half of their IP's, losing console wars, and making a good game every 10 years
I cringed hearing about the ad, and watching it until it stopped. 30 years ago about that arrogant lie campaign they ran ticked me off. I have no respect for a company or product, whoever it is (think Pepsi too) who can't sell their greatness alone so they have to dump on a competitor with lies and smoke & mirrors tactics.
Thankfully this ad is quite nice, even if it's an obvious throwback, they didn't cross the line into lies to pitch it so it was really good to see and hear that classic jingle made better. Had they crossed the line again, well yeah.
Genesis Does what Nintendon't indeed!
SNES Classic: 21 games
Genesis: 42 games
Why was the only YT suggestion after the old ad some video of an okonomiyaki chef goofing out?!
@LaytonPuzzle27
I'd generally rather have games of higher quality than just MORE games, but with the SNES Mini, Nintendo really went cheap with licensing only a few games from just three other publishers.
Nintendo should buy Sega and get over it! Now its perfect timing.
Ugh. Sega are absolute broken records. Surely they should be eligible for some kind of environmental award for their constant recycling of the same old crap for decades on end.
Where is all the new content at, Sega?!
Funny thing about the classic commercial... if you go to the website shown at the end of it, it's still around. Only now it doesn't have the 90's staple flashy GIFs, loud font, and crazy graphics that take forever to load. Good times.
I was on Team Nintendo during the critical console wars of the late 80s/early 90s. My friends on Team Sega were very few, but they were loud and proud when it came to representing their platform. 5th Grade arguments at the lunch table could cause my mystery food to get cold.
That aside, when I finally saved up enough to buy a Genesis to my sit beside my SNES, there were a few games that I enjoyed. The biggest on the mini console are Phantasy Star IV (I paid $90 USD for a copy at release) and Shining Force. Back then, I collected every RPG I could find. I didn’t know what anime was in those days, but I really liked the art style of the Sega RPGs.
The SNES/Genesis wars of old were the best. Nothing even comes close.
Too bad Sega buried themselves in add-ons and the unfortunately priced Saturn.
I guess same; too bad N didn't roll with the SNES CD then we wouldn't have Sony in the game.
Aw, I was hoping it would say the, "but Nintendon't" part. Oh well.
Cute.
I was never a big Sega guy, but this mini system has so many great games on it that I have to get it.
I hope the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive Mini sells well that Sega will make another Genesis/Mega Drive mini based off the model 2 to include games that were not in this release like Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles for example.
Well there was the NES and SNES minis.
Was Sonic Mega Collection Gamecube the last time Sonic 3 got included in any Sega Collection?
@dimi And kill every Sonic remix, fangame, YouTube rip, and PC port?
AND keep classics locked away in a vault to maximise profit? No thanks!
@rdm22
The timing certainly makes sense. It's pure speculation and rumor though. Best I could tell this was mentioned in an op-ed as early as April of this year in any sort of online form, but I know I've heard that rumor well before that.
This sort of reminds me of the rumors regarding why Earthbound would never get re-released due to the audio sampling in that game (which is arguably more egregious than Sonic 3's), and look where we are now.
If MJ's estate sued, I think Sega would have a pretty good case (he allegedly chose not to have any involvement or credit after the fact, therefore giving up any music royalties that might have accrued) and would most likely win. However, cases of this nature are still expensive and, at the end of the day, people are gonna figure out how to mod this thing and will be playing Sonic 3+K on it within a week of release, regardless.
@rdm22 I cannot wait for the Turbo mini, soooooo many good games and the fact that it is M2 makes me really happy.
The more things change...
@SmaMan All very interesting, thanks for added info.
@Rhaoulos Lol I was thinking the same
@PeterAndCompany
Yeah I was in junior high back then and was lucky enough to have both systems. But I did have two friends, on with SNES and one with Genesis/Sega CD, who both touted their console as superior. I loved them both but SNES does get a slight edge at the end.
Genesis does what Nintendoes.
Releasing a mini retro console.
Got this bad boy pre ordered, and day 1. Although I can do without Virtua Fighter 2, Sonic Spinball and Eternal Champions. But that’s alright. Earthworm Jim, Sonic 1 and 2, Streets of Rage 2, Castlevania Bloodlines, Contra Hard Corps, Shinobi 3, Monster World 4, Dynamite Headdy, Strider, and the Mickey Mouse games are more than enough for me. Looking forward to playing Thunder Force 3 and Alisia Dragoon for the first time as well.
@MarioFan02 on the bright side, Nintendo talented teams could do wonders with these great IP's.
All a bit sad really.
Simply puts into sharp relief their decline since.
It has BLAST PROCESSING!
You can't do this on Nintendo!
Pre-ordered mine a few months ago. Gonna put some more $$$ down next weekend. Can't wait to have this, the SNES mini, and the TG-16 mini all lined up next to each other!
For all the rivalry between Sega and Nintendo, the console wars didn't really affect my circle of gamers when I was a kid. If you owned a Genesis or a SNES, that was okay. PS1 vs N64, now there were problems. My brother and I were the only gamers we knew who owned an N64. Everyone else had a PS1 and gave us hell for playing a "kiddie" console. The rivalry continued with the PS2/XBOX/Dreamcast/Gamecube era, though it was mostly online and not IRL. My fellow teenagers found better things to do than play video games, unlike myself. Now it seems like no one cares what you game on unless they want to argue superior specs .
From an emulation point of view it’s more like Sega finally do what NintenDO
@LaytonPuzzle27 Should we dive further into quality x quantity lecture here?
@Xelha Considering I can’t buy a single first party Master System, Game Gear, Saturn, or Dreamcast game on the PS4, I don’t really see how Sega is much better on that fron than Nintendo.
@Roibeard64 It was on Sonic Classic Collection on DS in 2010 I think, but that was the last release of the game to my knowledge.
Dreamcast was great but pirating the games was stupidly easy. Rent it from Blockbuster and burn it on a DVD disk. They didnt forsee that coming granted but it really hurt the game sales. Considering that it was the last system released I blame that more than anything for the fall of Sega
I might get this solely for Road Rash 😂
Jokes about regional name differences and gamer superiority aside, seems odd to say "if you must" in refrences calling it something the company itself calls it in the ad the story is about.
That was a fun ad. Not gonna lie, I rolled with Sega back in the day, but still liked Nintendo.
Love my SNES Classic and can't wait to nab this, very curious to see the Genesis version of Tetris.
This commercial needs to finish up with somebody yelling SEGA.
Ahhh, good times. I miss those console wars. I rolled with both but I have to admit the Genesis was my first pick for 16 bit.
I just hope they nail the emulation on this one. (Then they could say, Genesis does what ATGamesdon’t.)
Genesis does what?
I love Sega Genesis
Someday SEGA...
SOMEDAY!!!
YOU WILL BRING BACK COMIX ZONE!
@LaytonPuzzle27 SNES Classic actually has 21 games. But you're right. For the same price as the SNES Classic, you can get Double the Games for Double the Fun!
@Sinton According to a video of RGT85 previewing the unit, it DOES nail the Emulation.
Like I’ve said before best console generation, 16 BIT FOREVER!! Both Mega and SNES amazing systems.
New slogan: "What Sega does, Nintendid, and did it better".
PS: That the MD/G Mini has 30 games compared to 21 on the SNES, I'm far less excited about them. Like the SNES, there's a big hole in the lack of sports games. Castlevania and Contra, two of the games I really want, I picked up recently via the Konami compilations. I'll likely still buy the damn thing, unlike the PS Mini piece of crap.
Genesis Does what Nintendoes!
We can do the psclassic so..
Genesis does what Sony shouldn't!
I’ve seen several mention the turbografx mini. I’m interested in it but really not too familiar with that many of the games. The Wii is where I played sone of them. The neutopias weren’t too riveting, but I did like military madness and lords of thunder, r-type, and soldier blade were decent shooters, just not a big shooter fan. I did like the bonks and splatterhouse was pretty clunky. Rondo of blood is my most wanted game here tho. It’s fantastic and my favorite of the traditional castlevania games.
As far as Sega goes, I think this thing will be a hit but I must add the X-men games and boogerman to make this even better.
@Severian lol thats why they only said Genesis does. Doubt Nintendo can keep up with ps5 if Sony doesn't goof. Do like the switch as a party plug 'n play type system honestly. Genesis don't use the 6 button controller, which is sad for the mini.
Did they rehired the same female singer and narrator for this new ad promotion? That's dedication right there.
@MrVariant
I have no idea why you're tagging me because none of what you are saying sounds like you're replying to anything I wrote in my original comment.
You can either explain how it relates or you can untag me please.
As someone who was only born in '96, I haven't played any Sega games from the 90s that compare in level design quality with Mario World. I think that with the benefit of hindsight, adding together Mario World, Link to the Past, Earthbound, Kirby Superstar, and Super Metroid means that Nintendo has a line up of incredibly well designed games on the SNES that compares with the best of any console favorably. That doesn't mean that Sega didn't have great games in the 90s too, but fewer thar I'd say anyone who loves level design needs to play.
But like, Nintendo and Sega are both publishers. At some point, the credit for either great lineup needs to go more to amazing development teams than to Nintendo or Sega.
Genesis Denesis What Nintendenesis
Just watched the Gamesack review of the console and it seems it has some emulation issues with sound latency and also some music plays with glitches like many other emulators seem to have with the system.
Shame that M2 didn’t iron these problems out.
This reminded me how obsessed I was with Joe Montana back in the day.
Some people having a real sense of humour failure about this. Weird.
Absolute Genesius
@Severian they couldn't insult Nintendo in this day and age as Sega fell apart. You referred to them insulting Nintendo in the past.
I also mentioned Nintendo for at least using the best model for their controllers, which beat Sega again. At least Sega has more games I suppose, but Sonic and Mario at the Olympic Games is on Nintendo so it just shows true ownership.
@MrVariant
Thank you for clarifying, it is much clearer to me now.
Yes, the insulting of Nintendo then was really too much and back in the day it felt like the one with the biggest mouth would win, while Nintendo won through actions. Makes me hopeful that politics in the world now will repeat this.
As for ownership and a good controller, yep, felt more comfortable and you could do more with it. I liked the music in a lot of the Sega games because of the synth sound that I hear in some of the electronica of that era too.
Sega I am glad now has become friends with Nintendo and if we were to look at them now compared to then, gives me hope that the bigger person can make friends out of an "enemy" no matter how much harm was done.
@PBandSmelly
"Sega does what nintendont
Like ignoring half of their IP's"
Like Nintendo.
Already pre-ordered. Great lot of games in that small package.
Shame they couldn't add any sports in there, that was the true differentiator between the Genesis and the SNES.
It was the place to play Madden and NHL.
@YoshiAngemon Thank you very much for correcting me on number of SNES games.
Sega's marketing during the 16-Bit "Console Wars" was simply brilliant. Not only the best video game commercials and print ads of all-time but some of the best commercials/print ads EVER PERIOD!
@tatanga Exactly! F-Zero, Pilotwings, Kid Icarus, Punch-Out, StarTropics, 1080 Snowboarding, Golden Sun and Wave Race all say "Hi, remember us?"
I was blissfully unaware of the Nintendo/Sega wars as a kid. I played both without comparing either. I'm so excited for this little plug n play! There'll be old favorites for me to revisit and lotsa new ones for me to try. I love both.
I remember first seeing the Mega Drive back in 1988, that's how far back the Japanese release goes. Still a bit of a mystery how it flopped in Japan. When it was finally released in the UK, my Commodore 64 was gone, l never owned a computer for gaming again. I remember buying Genesis games half the price of UK games and even cheaper Japanese games, using a gold Honeybee cartridge due to cartridges being a different shape. Too many classic games to list, but the likes of Forgotten Worlds, Tazmania, Strider, MERCS, Two Crude Dudes and all the usual SEGA games, l preferred the Mega Drive over the Super NES. I still say ESWAT was the best game. The Master System converter. Mega Drive Tetris on the Mega Drive Mini will be awesome. The music and sound effects of Strider. My head is about to explode!
Lol this is all a bit of cheeky fun, but back in the day it highlighted the fundamental problem with Sega... arrogance.
Especially after the MegaDrive (Genesis), their arrogance cost them heavily, the release of multiple upgrades to the MegaDrive, only to burn customers who brought them a year or so later with the Saturn and my god what a terrible launch that turned into.
They learned by the time DreamCast hit the market but it was too little too late by then.
No smack talk against Nintendo this time, so it isn't half as good.
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