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[Jezan]

SNES. You only need to hear any sound from Genesis to dismiss it, it sounds horrible, like nails on a chalkboard; the defense force will say "superior bass", but it sounds underwhelming and any other sound is like a blender on high speed and digitalized farts.

Also the best games of Genesis are not even close to the ones on SNES. Maybe only Mortal Kombat for obvious reasons but it sounds like shitting after Taco Bell.

 

[PetrCobra]

I owned Mega Drive, and was pretty please with the diverse library.

It had Dune 2, Bloodshot, Virtua Racing, Wiz'n'Liz, Powermonger, Herzog Zwei, Road Rash, all these games that weren't the typical console standard of those days. Some were titles you would expect on a PC or Amiga, some others were kind of arcade-y. I saw SNES as mainly a platformer/JRPG console, and I know it's not really a complete picture, I simply wasn't that informed about it as I were about the Sega scene, plus I never really liked the first Mario Kart / F-Zero games, which might have contributed to my preference of Sega at the time.

You could say that after a brief but passionate episode with NES, I was more or less in the dark about Nintendo (while looking enviously from a distance at things like Super Mario 64 or Doom 64 of course) until the GC when I hopped back on the train and never looked back.

 

[cireza]

SNES. You only need to hear any sound from Genesis to dismiss it, it sounds horrible, like nails on a chalkboard; the defense for will say "superior bass", but it sounds underwhelming and any other sound is like a blender on high speed and digitalized farts.

Also the best games of Genesis are not even close to the ones on SNES. Maybe only Mortal Kombat for obvious reasons but it sounds like shitting after Taco Bell.

Edgy.

 

[Santar]

The SNES wins out for me but I also really enjoy the Mega Drive, it had some great games too and some better ports than the SNES like NBA Jam, Earthworm Jim and Wrestlemania the Arcade Game..
One aspect of the Mega Drive that I just never liked was the audio, a lot of it just sounds like random fake made up ugly electronic noises almost like a mix between adlib and pc speaker.
The SNES sound was heaven in comparison with so many classic soundtracks like Chrono Trigger, Yoshi's Island, Castlevania IV etc. This is just my personal opinion on the matter of course.

 

[Nikodemos]

The Genesis is a tragic example of a flawed console, mainly due to two different (and cumulative) issues.
Sega cheapened out on the board's design. As GAFers have noted in older threads, the chips aren't properly connected to each other, and in some cases a number of pins aren't connected to anything at all. This leads to a design that is far less future-proof than a more open-ended one.

Moreover, the subcontractors who built the consoles performed ad-hoc changes to the specs, often with deleterious results. The widest known issue is the muffled, raspy sound on some batches of Mega Drives.

 

[IronicSonic]

Snes is almost a DKC2 machine for me. Genesis has a lot of variety and an arcade feel to it.

Genesis wins for me

 

[LukasTaves]

Both, Snes was more powerful and had better 3rd party support, also zelda, marios, and jrpgs. But Genesis had Sega and tons of incredible games with tremendous quality

 

[sixteen-bit]

Genesis all the way.

 

[Reineldinho]

I was very VERY happy with my Mega Drive, but every time I visited this one friend wo had the SNES and we played Mario Kart or Mario All-Stars I came back home wondering if I made the best purchase....
... then I played those games such as Comix Zone, Castle of Illusion or Soleil and I was 100% happy again

 

[dreamcastfan]

play a snes game and then play a megadrive game, there is really no contest, snes all the way.

They both have their great and bad games. I have both and love both.

 

[Markitron]

I grew up with the Megadrive, and loved it. I didn't know anyone that owned a SNES and didn't even play one until 1996.

The SNES was better.

 

[PIMPBYBLUD]

I grew up with both but SNES was my favorite by far.

 

[Zia]

SNES. That's an objective fact, and I grew up with (and love) the Genesis.

Sonic was never very good, anyway.

 

[graybot]

SNES by a mile

Had a megadrive and liked it a lot, but when the SNES came out I played it in a friends house and was like a case of what have I done? It was just so much better

Finally got the SNES and never looked back. I changed sides very easily and Remember laughing at one of my mates when SF2 came out for megadrive. It was fucking terrible

 

[Ferr986]

SNES. You only need to hear any sound from Genesis to dismiss it, it sounds horrible, like nails on a chalkboard; the defense force will say "superior bass", but it sounds underwhelming and any other sound is like a blender on high speed and digitalized farts.

Also the best games of Genesis are not even close to the ones on SNES. Maybe only Mortal Kombat for obvious reasons but it sounds like shitting after Taco Bell.

but it's true

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO7eA76FM-w&list=PLirSddeMOYZ4PmDoymoNUwdoXoTsSQapR&index=11

Also the problem with the Genesis was down on how they produced the music, that's why a lot of US games sounded like shit yet japanese games sounded glorious.

SNES. That's an objective fact, and I grew up with (and love) the Genesis.

Sonic was never very good, anyway.

The bolded part is bullshit, that's an objective fact.

 

[Ban Puncher]

Biggie was down with both.


Be like Biggie Smalls.

 

[piggychan]

Back in the day it would have been

1st - Super Nintendo
2nd - pc engine
3rd - Genesis

 

[Saroyan]

I had both back in the day and love them both. I couldn't imagine limiting myself to one or the other.

Sega games do have better soundtracks though

 

[Ensoul]

The genesis had some memorable games, Revenge of Shinobi, Phantasy Star, Sonic, Streets of Rage. I could go one.

I did prefer the SNES though. It had better graphics and I was into RPG and the snes had all the square RPG.

Regardless I loved both systems and I was glad I was able to have them both.

 

[Gamegeneral]

SNES is winner for me but I'll never turn my nose up at a Genesis.

 

[GreenMonkey]

SNES.

Sonic isn't a great platformer compared to Mario (sorry Sonic bros). The conflict between going fast and exploring the level never really works that well.

Shining Force, one of the best RPGs, while a great tactical RPG, has very little story or characterization. Compared to the great RPGs on SNES...I have a soft spot for it, though.

Streets of Rage is awesomeness though.

If you don't like RPGs or Zelda or Mario Kart I can maybe see picking the Genesis over the SNES.

 

[Nikodemos]

Also the problem with the Genesis was down on how they produced the music, that's why a lot of US games sounded like shit yet japanese games sounded glorious.

Yes and no. In its immense arrogance, Sega of Japan never provided an English translation for the audio driver documents, leading many US composers to use a generic soundfont which was pretty terrible. European composers were already familiar with "coding to the metal" the Spectrum, C64 and Amiga chips, thus managed to create their own audio tools from scratch.

 

[ranjaboy]

Mega drive for sure. I'm not a fan of JRPGs and platformers from that time, so SNES doesn't have that much to offer.

 

[Ferr986]

Yes and no. In its immense arrogance, Sega of Japan never provided an English translation for the audio driver documents, leading many US composers to use a generic soundfont which was pretty terrible. European composers were already familiar with "coding to the metal" the Spectrum, C64 and Amiga chips, thus managed to create their own audio tools from scratch.

Yep, should have clarified it was not their fault for those bad sounding OSTs.

 

[Sapiens]

If someone held a gun to my head, I’d pick the MD for the amazing treasure and techno soft games alone. Lots of replay value, but I wish gunstar had a better scoring system.

SNES has more perfect 10 original games but MD has way more 8-9 out of 10 arcade games that still hold up well and have incredible replay value.

But the bulk of the hype for the snes are around its beloved RPGs which are kinda boring for me. The only RPG I finished from that era was Phantasy Star 4.

And when that Yamaha FM synth is used right (and not the gems garbage) it blows the snes kutaragi chip out of the water.

 

[00ich]

And when that Yamaha FM synth is used right (and not the gems garbage) it blows the snes kutaragi chip out of the water.

Do you have an example?

 

[Sapiens]

Do you have an example?

You’d have to come to my house to listen to the differences on real hardware. I’m not going to link you to emulations on YouTube.

 

[Altered Juice]

Super Nintendo has more games that I enjoy.

Sega genesis was alright but I was never a fan of the trash can sound effects that non sega developed games carried

 

[Twilight Princess]

mario > sanic
if sanic so gud, y is it ded?
sanic sux

 

[ngFROMAN]

Both were great, I can't say I prefer one overall. Genesis had better arcade style games like beat em ups, and arguably handled fighters better with it's 6 button controller. SNES generally had deeper games that lasted longer, like RPGs and Adventure games. I owned a Genedis but loved playing both, ultimately it depended on what game I was looking for.

 

[nded]

The Genesis tended to have more arcade style games, so I gravitated to that.

 

[thechristoph]

At the time, Super NES. I tended to enjoy longer, slower, more 'epic' games. As an old man, I have come to appreciate the Genesis more. I'm finding myself enjoying the arcade style games lately.

 

[NeoZeedeater]

These threads always come down to what console did you grow up with.

True, but some of us grew up with both. I had a Genesis, SNES, and TG16 in its era. The Neo Geo I had to play in the arcades.

I'm always curious what "multi-owners" choose for this topic. In my experience, we tend to pick the Genesis/Mega Drive. I love all these systems (and hate how fanboy-ish these arguments still get) but if I had to choose, Sega's system comes out on top. It's the one I go back to the most.

 

[CrashPrime]

Do you have an example?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTjh0mVzbRk

Here's a pretty solid example of what that yamaha was ACTUALLY capable of.

Ristar - Planet Freon - Ice Cream

 

[sixteen-bit]

Do you have an example?

Genesis music is so amazing

 

[gogojira]

SNES. I mean, it's the fucking SNES.

 

[Tackleberry]

SNES by a landslide for my tastes.

To me the games looked better, sounded better, the controller made it better for 6 button fighters as well.

It's hard to deny the Nintendo quality for their 1st party games. 20 some years later and Super Mario World and Link to the Past are still GREAT games that hold up extremely well.

 

[andymcc]

SNES. That's an objective fact, and I grew up with (and love) the Genesis.

Sonic was never very good, anyway.

No it isn’t lmao

Genesis for me. Better action games.

 

[dragonyeuw]

At the time I don't think I picked a side. I was fortunate to own both and loved them both equally, so I never got into the whole schoolyard 'console war' stuff back in the day. In retrospect IMO, it was worth owning both of those consoles moreso than it is owning both a playstation and xbox, which share like 80 percent ( guesstimate) of the same library. Not only did Sega and SNES have their own exclusives, but even games of the same name were licensed to different companies so you got unique takes on stuff like Adventures of Batman and Robin, Aladdin, Alien 3, Animaniacs, Batman Returns, Robocop vs Terminator, Pirates of Dark water and more than don't come to mind immediately. Earthworm Jim has some differences, the genesis one had an extra level, a more hard-hitting track based around its sound capabilities, and slightly different artwork in places. Each system got their own Contra and Castlevania instead of the exact same game, it was great.

 

[bede-x]

I like them equally. SNES might have been ahead in RPGs, but I don't think those hold up that well due to time wasting battles and poor writing that would only be considered good for an immature medium as gaming was back then. Present the same story or dialogue in a movie or book and people would cringe. Nothing beats the best Nintendo franchises though, but Genesis had so many great action titles that I keep returning to.

 

[Zophar]

My analogy: if you're looking for Top 40 hits, you go SNES.

If you're looking for deep cuts though, Genesis was where it was at.

 

[Armoured Priest]

I owned both the Genesis and SNES within 6 months of their release. Genesis, I talked my parents into around tax time and paid for half, SNES was a Xmas gift. (I also eventually picked up a Turbo Duo in January of 95).

To me the 16 era was the pinnacle of the competition between the console makers. Sega and Nintendo putting forth their best efforts in honest competition, and even the TG-16 putting out some stellar games trying to keep their #2 spot in Japan, and make inroads in other regions.

At the end of the day, though, my love will always be with Sega's little black machine.

For my money, it's library was better balanced towards what I wanted to play.

I like RPGs...but I also like Shmups and Beat em ups.


It pains my heart that there isn't something on the quality of the SNES classic for the Genesis (it's not like Sega couldn't have Nintendo use the same hardware as the SNES/NES mini again) and just come up with a good emulator that doesn't kill the sound emulation like the current @games clones do.

 

[Clod83]

2 of the best console of all time. Both are in top 5 ever imho.
I pick the SNES: too many awesome games, all the nintendo franchises and all the japanese developers at their best + some of the best western production (Sim City, etc.)

 

[Lusankya]

Ah so this is the 16-bit “console wars” thread for October? I’ll bite.

SNES, and it’s not even close for me. I think SNES had an vastly superior library and I prefer the 16-bit aesthetic of Nintendo’s console to anything I saw on Genesis. The sound chip in the SNES was also superior.

+1
For me it's not even a real competition, but the SNES library just perfectly hit my tastes.

 

[ThaPhantom]

Sega Genesis if my avatar doesnt make it obvious. Sonic 2 was one of the first games I ever played and then the rest just bloomed off that. Toejam and Earl, Vectorman, Shining Force, Comix Zone, etc... The list goes on and I had a magical time playing my Genesis growing up.

 

[NOLA_Gaffer]

I've always liked them about equally. If you could afford both at the time they complemented each other really well.

A shame Sega went bonkers with the add-on nonsense.

 

[Nairume]

SNES

Genesis has some solid games, but the best SNES games go one for one with the best Genesis games, and then that legendary library keeps on going to leave the Genesis in the dust.

 

[chronic_archaic]

Genesis due to it's more diverse library and overall more good games than the SNES, particularly if the Sega CD library is involved - I think the SNES gets damned with people repeating the same games over and over as the greatest on the system, where if you ask someone about the Mega Drive, you'll likely get completely different answers from multiple people. The SNES has a great library on the whole but a ton of it gets overlooked due to the amount of god tier games it has.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Mega Drive for Sonic 1-3&K, Streets of Rage 2 and Rocket Knight Adventures. SNES arguably had better third party games, but Sonic was my fave series as a kid, and I still love the classic 16-bit games.

 

[televator]

MegaDrive/Genesis is my jam

The SNES is a Super Metroid machine for me.