I really think too, both systems have a ton, particularly the Genesis, of games only in Japan that are absolutely great. One of my favorite games on the SNES is DoReMi Fantasy, I think it's one of the best looking and feeling games on the whole system with no special chips. But like I said - I think both consoles have a crisis where the SNES gets praised for the usual suspects and that's generally it but the Genesis you either have people say "Sonic, Streets of Rage.. um, Mortal Kombat was kinda good" or people who know the library and all of it's neat exclusives. I don't really ever run into anybody who brings up the more obscure ends of the SNES library, but have ran into people talking about the Genesis library more in depth a few times.That's an interesting point, SNES best games are so renowned and known at this point. The genesis library outside the obvious may be a bit deeper in the hidden gem dept, though there are plenty on the SNES side as well. They're both great, great consoles and IMO was just a really fun time for gaming period. Sega really went after Nintendo in the marketing department and that led to some really compelling debates, the 'battleground' in terms of trash-talking and what each system did that the other didn't was more fertile and dynamic compared to today, at least my perception of it.
I bought an SNES at launch as a scheme to establish credit, had no interest in a Genesis. But then I'd go to Toys R Us to buy games, and I'd always stop and play Sonic the Hedgehog on the Genesis demo kiosk for a while and leave wishing Sonic was a Nintendo game. Eventually I realized, "Wait a minute. There's no law that says I can only own one console. Fuck it, I'll buy a Genesis too." And so I did... and from then on I bought most of the major consoles, and some not so major. Only ones I skipped out on were the 3DO, the CDi, the... actually I guess that's about it. Anyway in the 16 bit era I always favored the SNES by far. I had a few random games for the Genesis, but for the most part it might as well have been a dedicated Sonic box.
Too many Nintendo fanboys in the world, going to have to side with the Genesis.
Better Konami games...
Overall I think I enjoyed/enjoy more games on the SNES.
I do however dislike arguments that the SNES has a "better" sound chip. It has no FM-synth which IMO really holds it back.
i like the one that gives you 6 buttons.
3 buttons are not good.
Maybe it is because the Yamaha required some effort from programmers to produce great music.
The SNES SPC chip, being a sample player and all, could reproduce almost anything that you thrown at it (even if it sounds somewhat muffled), so it is a general-purpose tool, in that regards.
While it does not mean the Genesis is inferior, only developers that took the time to know and exploit the synth were able to get fantastic results from it.
The SNES has several all-time Nintendo classics that defined videogames plus an incredible collection of RPGs. And yet, I'll always prefer the Megadrive. I had neither of them as a kid but I have explored their libraries extensively over the years. I played (and beat!) both Contra 3 and Hard Corps this week. And... There's just something about Hard Corps, the way it looks and sounds and how merciless the difficulty is, I just prefer it to 3 and both games really perfectly represent their respective systems. Contra 3 is extremely well designed and polished but feels a bit safe. Hard Corps is just bonkers froms start to finish.
Plus, I'm not a huge fan of Mode 7 (sorry!) and I love the Megadrive sound. I blame Yuzo Koshiro.
So yeah, I'm clearly in the Megadrive camp but both systems are legendary.
I get the feeling that in particular a lot of American SNES owners have a huge chip on their shoulder caused by Sega of America's provocative marketing. And in return, those people being so loud and prevalent in games media have fed into a sort of inferiority complex that pervades the Genesis community.
What I mean by the last part is that there have been a lot of predominantly American commentators/forum posters, writers, and media personalities (most notably AVGN) going out of their way to deride the Genesis, almost as if they want to get back at Sega for hurting their feelings when they were kids. I think this has started to visibly change in the more modern retro gaming climate, but back in the 00's this was certainly very prevalent across the internet.
I like them equally. SNES might have been ahead in RPGs, but I dont 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.
You forgot something
j/k I'm just teasing you!
Snes was technically superior in nearly every way, it also had the top of the heap sellers in the industry. Anyone saying otherwise are fooling themselves.
IMO SNES is in the converation for the best console of all time (for me it's between SNES and PS2) and Genesis is not so SNES wins easily.
That said the Genesis was a really great console. I had it as well and I loved a ton of games on it. It was definitely my go to sports console. I missed the boat on the Sega CD so I can't comment on that.
I really think too, both systems have a ton, particularly the Genesis, of games only in Japan that are absolutely great. One of my favorite games on the SNES is DoReMi Fantasy, I think it's one of the best looking and feeling games on the whole system with no special chips. But like I said - I think both consoles have a crisis where the SNES gets praised for the usual suspects and that's generally it but the Genesis you either have people say "Sonic, Streets of Rage.. um, Mortal Kombat was kinda good" or people who know the library and all of it's neat exclusives. I don't really ever run into anybody who brings up the more obscure ends of the SNES library, but have ran into people talking about the Genesis library more in depth a few times.
Konami's approach to both systems was really interesting.
I think you hit the nail on the head when you say that Contra 3 is more polished but safe. Both Contra 3 and Super Castlevania IV feel like a natural evolution from their respective NES predecessors, whereas Contra: Hard Corps and Castlevania: Bloodlines both do something completely different. Both feel "sloppier" than their SNES counterparts, but also faster, more dynamic and significantly more difficult, which is kind of interesting given the infamous "Nintendo Hard" games Konami made in the third generation. I can only attribute it to both consoles having different ethos' and being marketed at different demographics- Sega being the more arcade-y, edgy, tough,mature console whereas Nintendo was working hard to manufacture a more family-friendly image during the 4th gen.
FWIW, I prefer Super Castlevania IV to Bloodlines (although I'd take Rondo of Blood over both of them), but I agree with you that Hard Corps is better than Contra y do sometimes succumb to the trappings of the genre.
but Genesis had blast processing. you can't coach that.
Shinobi III and Thunder Force IV are constantly in every Mega Drive top games list.Sadly, we're at a point where even stuff like the Shinobi and Thunder Force series are now in hidden gems territory on the internet. I doubt most of the "SNES, no contest! Genesis can't compare" people have scratched the surface of these systems' libraries. Younger generations are constantly being told by youtube idiots that only Nintendo systems mattered pre-Playstation.
The perception that Nintendo has a far stronger legacy than anything else isn't due to "influencers", it's caused by the fact that Nintendo is the only console manufacturer of the "classic age" that still pump up new systems with new (good quality) sequels in their historical beloved franchises (why Nintendo was the only videogame company to remain in the console business after the chaos of the '90s is long to explain).A lot of Nintendo fanboys are still, even 20+ years after winning the console war, incredibly bitter towards Sega in a way that they aren't towards Sony, Microsoft or any of Nintendo's other rivals. I find it both sad and hilarious that you have fully grown men (many of whom are 30+ years of age now) who still harbour grudges based on playground console wars.
Unfortunately these neckbeard virgins are usually the kinds of people who have the time to make lots of long Youtube videos about retro gaming which means that they're depressingly influential at shaping public opinion. This is why revisionist myths about Sonic never been good and the Genesis never been serious competition for the SNES (even though they were neck and neck in sales for a lot of 4th gen) are so prevalent. Of course sensible people who were actually around at the time know that this is nonsense, but a large number of gullible teenagers in the retro scene rely on Youtube personalities to spoonfeed an opinion to them and have been tricked into believing that Nintendo were the only relevant video game company ever to exist before Sony.
The perception that Nintendo has a far stronger legacy than anything else isn't due to "influencers", it's caused by the fact that Nintendo is the only console manufacturer of the "classic age" that still pump up new systems with new (good quality) sequels in their historical beloved franchises (why Nintendo was the only videogame company to remain in the console business after the chaos of the '90s is long to explain).
Square SNES RPGs current popularity in the west is something achieved after the fact.There's a lot of converging reasons why Nintendo/SNES has more retroactive mindshare and it can't be pinned down to one single thing. Regarding the games themselves, I think one significant factor is that the type of SNES games that get lots of exposure today just jive more with the general zeitgeist of the modern big budget video game industry, where they were designed more as long form experiences, whereas short form arcade action experiences that were prevalent on Genesis have become retroactively marginalized to the fringes (which I think is visible now in particular with the unexpected scope of Cuphead's success also highlighting how many people trying it regard it as such an alien gameplay experience).
There's another factor I've been thinking about as well related to JRPGs and how a lot of them on the SNES became exponentially more popular after their shelf life, fueled by a combination of FF7 really blowing up the genre into the mainstream and the simultaneous rise of SNES emulation in the late 90's, giving a lot of people the opportunity to seek out preceding RPG titles they missed out on.
This has kind of altered our perception of what the contemporary market was really like. I mean, Chrono Trigger sold a modest 250k copies or so in its original SNES release, but given how often people bring it up now you'd think it would have easily been many times more than that. Not even Final Fantasy 6 breached 1 million sales in the US, IIRC. Sure, those numbers are still way above average for their time period, but still far from the behemoths they are perceived to be.
There's a lot of converging reasons why Nintendo/SNES has more retroactive mindshare and it can't be pinned down to one single thing. Regarding the games themselves, I think one significant factor is that the type of SNES games that get lots of exposure today just jive more with the general zeitgeist of the modern big budget video game industry, where they were designed more as long form experiences, whereas short form arcade action experiences that were prevalent on Genesis have become retroactively marginalized to the fringes (which I think is visible now in particular with the unexpected scope of Cuphead's success also highlighting how many people trying it regard it as such an alien gameplay experience). I think Castlevania 4 and Bloodlines demonstrate this schism rather aptly as well. People who prefer SCV4 tend to like it as a kind of setpiece experience where they can just soak in the atmosphere, whereas proponents of Bloodlines like it for having a better designed gameplay challenge.
There's another factor I've been thinking about as well related to JRPGs and how a lot of them on the SNES became exponentially more popular after their shelf life, fueled by a combination of FF7 really blowing up the genre into the mainstream and the simultaneous rise of SNES emulation in the late 90's, giving a lot of people the opportunity to seek out preceding RPG titles they missed out on.
This has kind of altered our perception of what the contemporary market was really like. I mean, Chrono Trigger sold a modest 250k copies or so in its original SNES release, but given how often people bring it up now you'd think it would have easily been many times more than that. Not even Final Fantasy 6 breached 1 million sales in the US, IIRC. Sure, those numbers are still way above average for their time period, but still far from the behemoths they are perceived to be.