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[Valahart]

I feel like SNES has a lineup of quite a bit of games that are still looked up to these days, it has more classic masterpieces such as Super Mario World, Chrono Trigger, A Link to the Past. More influential stuff.

And Genesis has a bigger line up of just great games that weren't really as influentional, that didn't set the industry on fire, but are solid and fun.

 

[Serge85]

Genesis, no contest.

 

[dragonyeuw]

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.

Good post.....

 

[zmet]

Genesis for me.

I owned both systems but played my Genesis much more because I love me some 2D shooters.

 

[Ripenen]

While the gems on the SNES shine brighter, if I had to choose one or the other I'd go with the Genesis.

These days I find myself going back to replay old Genesis games much more than SNES games.

Growing up on NES, I kind of like a little jankiness in my games. Gives them some charm. Genesis games have that bit of jankiness, while SNES games are super polished and grandiose. Both great, just very different experiences.

 

[Megawarrior]

Even when I owned a snes, I preferred the genesis. Loved going to my friends house to play it.

 

[NeoZeedeater]

Shinobi III and Thunder Force IV are constantly in every Mega Drive top games list.
Hidden gem my ass.
Shinobi and Thunder Force enjoy the same level of visibility that Mega Drive enjoy, because they are key games for the system (of course Sonic is the most popular MD game).

I mean the general gaming population that knows jack shit about the system. You won't find these games on mainstream top all time games lists any more while you will find SNES stuff like Earthbound and a bunch of others. I'm sure plenty of people giving an automatic win to the SNES haven't even played those games. Of course by Gen/MD standards those aren't obscure games. My point as that the Gen/MD itself doesn't have the same visibility anymore as the SNES, especially to younger generations, so even its not so hidden gems are becoming hidden.

I'm happy to see this thread isn't just one sided, though. There was a poll here a while ago where the Genesis had less than 25% of the vote, and there were tons of ignorant comments about its library of games.

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.

Great points. The Genesis does have games that appeal to the non-arcade crowd but for various reasons they haven't been remembered the same way. Phantasy Star IV doesn't have the Squaresoft connection to appeal to people that started playing RPGs on Playstation. Sega never really properly advertised Landstalker, Shining Force, or Wonder Boy in Monster World, and then left Monster World IV in Japan for decades. Ecco is perhaps a little too weird for huge success. A bunch of longer quest games were only on Sega CD, and while stuff like Snatcher is highly praised, most people haven't had a chance to play it.

 

[Pantz]

Genesis and I even prefer the sound chip for whatever reason

 

[bionic77]

but Genesis had blast processing. you can't coach that.

I am still sticking with the SNES but that is a very intelligent argument and it is hard for me to offer any real rebuttal.

 

[PuppetSlave]

SNES, had both growing up but it has the better games overall.

 

[Sojiro]

Personally, its easily the SNES. It had the better JRPG's, which were the games I really loved the most at the time. Genesis was solid as well though, I never looked down on the console compared to the SNES. My buddy had one at the time (up until I got one late in its life from a closing sale at a local K-Mart), so we both got to experience the best of both worlds between the SNES and Genesis, and never argued about which was "better".

 

[clevbrowns94]

SNES. Never owned a Genesis, but I've played a lot of Genesis games over the years. I feel that while the console wars were pretty divided back in the day (in the US at least), SNES clearly won in terms of sales and reputation, with more games considered among the greatest of all times like Link to the Past and Super Metroid. See for example how Genesis classic consoles have been sitting around on shelves for years with like 80 games and no one really cares, and then an SNES Classic comes out with only 20 games (granted there is a lot of hacking now) and people are waiting in lines and hyped as hell. Yeah, some of that is scalping and supply issues, but the demand is still really high and that's undeniable.

 

[Chucker]

I grew up with SNES and I had friends with Genesis. I like a lot about both systems, but I think nostalgia clouds my judgement every time.

SNES it is for me, Earthbound, FF6, Super Metroid, LTTP, Super Bomberman (1-5) and Tetris Attack which I've been playing nightly with my wife lately.

I never really had time to dig into Genesis in the formative years while I was playing SNES but I would borrow a friend's from time to time. Dug into Phantasy Star 2/3/4, Shining Force, Sonic, Ristar, and one of them had the Sega Channel which just meant that entire summer was shot.

So yeah, SNES for me.

 

[Vamp]

I had both but I prefer SNES because it had Donkey Kong Country games, and they are my all time favorite.

 

[jroc74]

Just like it was back then for me. Both.

Genesis for Madden, SNES for tecmo sport games.
Genesis for Sonic, SNES for Mario.

And so on and so on.

 

[00ich]

You can see the decline of the genesis in EGM's end-of-year system buyers guides.

http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showth...System-Reviews-and-Game-Reviews-1989-to-2001&

Snes went from "will die early because of slowdown to flickering" in review of 1991 to "has the best graphics, sound and gameplay' for '94.
For the genesis it's the other way around. From "Super Nintendo can't compare" [with the genesis] to "I tend to prefer most games on the SNES" for 94.

 

[AtomicShroom]

SNES all the way.

Other than the mainline Sonic games, there’s nothing on the Genesis that feels like AAA “fun for everyone” grade. All I see are a bunch of cheap throwaway B-grade arcade games. Shallow gameplay, too hard for no reason, etc... Streets of Rage sure looks and sounds good, but it’s still just a Beat’em Up with linear repetitive shallow gameplay. Even the SNES’ best Beat em up doesn’t get anywhere close to my top 30 SNES games.

 

[RRockman]

SNES all the way.

Other than the mainline Sonic games, there’s nothing on the Genesis that feels like AAA “fun for everyone” grade. All I see are a bunch of cheap throwaway B-grade arcade games. Shallow gameplay, too hard for no reason, etc... Streets of Rage sure looks and sounds good, but it’s still just a Beat’em Up with linear repetitive shallow gameplay. Even the SNES’ best Beat em up doesn’t get anywhere close to my top 30 SNES games.

This is how you start fights.

 

[Currygan]

Super Nintendo, libraries aren't even remotely comparable

 

[jett]

Genesis and I even prefer the sound chip for whatever reason

I used to be big on SNES being superior there but I've been swayed by the sweet FM sounds of the Genesis.

Mega Turrican
Vapor Trail
Sub-Terrania
Gauntlet IV
Shining Force II
Jewel Master
Thunderforce IV
Verytex
Greylancer

 

[Mael]

You can see the decline of the genesis in EGM's end-of-year system buyers guides.

http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showth...System-Reviews-and-Game-Reviews-1989-to-2001&

Snes went from "will die early because of slowdown to flickering" in review of 1991 to "has the best graphics, sound and gameplay' for '94.
For the genesis it's the other way around. From "Super Nintendo can't compare" [with the genesis] to "I tend to prefer most games on the SNES" for 94.

Early SNES games really used the hardware badly, from slowdowns to flickering everything was handled in a way that went against the strength of the system.
It's clear when you see games like Super Rtype, Gradius III or even Super Castlevania IV NTSC (PAL version has less slowdown in my experience).
It was a real revelation when Super Aleste was announeced and pulled shit people thought only the Megadrive could pull and more.

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

It's the 1 game I feel is REAAAAALLY missing from the SNES mini.

 

[andymcc]

SNES all the way.

Other than the mainline Sonic games, there’s nothing on the Genesis that feels like AAA “fun for everyone” grade. All I see are a bunch of cheap throwaway B-grade arcade games. Shallow gameplay, too hard for no reason, etc... Streets of Rage sure looks and sounds good, but it’s still just a Beat’em Up with linear repetitive shallow gameplay. Even the SNES’ best Beat em up doesn’t get anywhere close to my top 30 SNES games.

Lmao “Chrono Trigger is just a game where you select stuff in a menu”

Early SNES games really used the hardware badly, from slowdowns to flickering everything was handled in a way that went against the strength of the system.
It's clear when you see games like Super Rtype, Gradius III or even Super Castlevania IV NTSC (PAL version has less slowdown in my experience).
It was a real revelation when Super Aleste was announeced and pulled shit people thought only the Megadrive could pull and more.

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

It's the 1 game I feel is REAAAAALLY missing from the SNES mini.

Why would you play Space Megaforce over Musha? Shit, I’d rather play Spriggan on Super CD.

 

[Celine]

SNES all the way.

Other than the mainline Sonic games, there's nothing on the Genesis that feels like AAA ”fun for everyone" grade. All I see are a bunch of cheap throwaway B-grade arcade games. Shallow gameplay, too hard for no reason, etc... Streets of Rage sure looks and sounds good, but it's still just a Beat'em Up with linear repetitive shallow gameplay. Even the SNES' best Beat em up doesn't get anywhere close to my top 30 SNES games.

What do you think of Shinobi III, Phantasy Star IV, Quackshot, World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, Strider, Mega Bomberman, Thunderforce IV, Rocket Knight Adventures, Wonder Boy in Monster World, Shining Force 2, Gunstar Heroes, Landstalker?
It's not like Sonic and Street of Rage are the only games available on Mega Drive.
There are other excellent games aside from them (obviously since hundreds of games were produced for the consoles).

 

[Dj Convoy]

I prefer the Genesis, but that doesn't mean I have no room for SNES in my heart... just not as much.

 

[Mael]

Why would you play Space Megaforce over Musha? Shit, I'd rather play Spriggan on Super CD.

Way to miss the point.
the point is that this game is one of the 1st to actually manage proper fast paced shootemup without slowdown on the SNES.
Of course there's better games out there, even on SNES.
Heck there's that special game on NES that's probably better.
And fuck that Space Megaforce name.
Super Aleste is the one vertical shooter Compile made on SNES showing everyone how it's done.
If I'm saying that Sonic 3D is a landmark game because of how it managed to technically pull of something on a Megadrive, you're gonna shit on my post saying Sonic 2 is a better game?

Heck why bother with Sonic when you can play Mario, amirite?

 

[Bill R Boggess]

Both were classics that deserve veneration but in the end the SNES comes out ahead for me for a variety of reasons, the most prominent of which is that because it was the more powerful console, it enjoyed a longer lifespan and better ports of games like MKII.

Also, Nintendo securing a full year of exclusivity regarding Street Fighter II was HUGE.

Everybody wanted that game and once word hit it was a SNES exclusive, this made the system a must-own given the popularity of SFII at the time.

Not to mention the Nintendo produced classics, many of which were and remain masterpieces.

 

[andymcc]

Way to miss the point.
the point is that this game is one of the 1st to actually manage proper fast paced shootemup without slowdown on the SNES.
Of course there's better games out there, even on SNES.
Heck there's that special game on NES that's probably better.
And fuck that Space Megaforce name.
Super Aleste is the one vertical shooter Compile made on SNES showing everyone how it's done.
If I'm saying that Sonic 3D is a landmark game because of how it managed to technically pull of something on a Megadrive, you're gonna shit on my post saying Sonic 2 is a better game?

Heck why bother with Sonic when you can play Mario, amirite?

I understood your point, though I contend the mode 7 in Super Aleste is a distraction at best (though not as detrimental as, say, Axelay), I was comparing games in the same series by the same developer. Not a weird point of discussion.

Unrelated, for the record, I love Gradius III On SNES— slowdown and all. Game is brutally unfair in the arcade version and the SNES game is like a leisurely stroll. Maybe it’s nostalgia but it’s comforting to play

 

[Mael]

I understood your point, though I contend the mode 7 in Super Aleste is a distraction at best (though not as detrimental as, say, Axelay), I was comparing games in the same series by the same developer. Not a weird point of discussion.

I'm not even talking about Mode7, any other developer that tried to push what Compile did with Super Aleste failed before them.
And as far as I know they didn't even use any addon chip to pull this off.
It's not an important game on its own more than what it means for the hardware.
Mode7 is really mostly background anyway, I mean sure it's cool and all (great use in the 2nd level though, the spacestation rotating and zooming was a great idea)
but it's really the foreground action that is impressive compared to its counterparts at the time.
Of course later games like Rtype 3 were more impressive but still.
My point is praise be Compile.

If I have to choose for shooter on SNES, I'd choose Starfox anyway.

Unrelated, for the record, I love Gradius III On SNES— slowdown and all. Game is brutally unfair in the arcade version and the SNES game is like a leisurely stroll. Maybe it's nostalgia but it's comforting to play

It's literally the worst version of the game, so much that I don't even think it was released in the EU!
Although a PAL version exists on Wii VC for some reason (or maybe not)

Unlike the original arcade version, the Super NES port is the only one that allow players to continue when they lost all their lives. A harder difficulty called "Arcade" can be unlocked by inputting a code (quickly tapping the "A" button 16 times in 1 second) on the options screen, however, it is simply the same game at a harder difficulty, and not an accurate port of the arcade version. This port was also released for Virtual Console on April 23, 2007.

Ok, I can see why....
I was always more about Rtype myself, can't really touch Super Rtype though. Although it's vertical if you want something from circa 92 on SNES, Super Aleste is your best bet.

 

[tomwhite2004]

Why would you play Space Megaforce over Musha? Shit, I’d rather play Spriggan on Super CD.

Because Musha is staggeringly overrated. Its just boring, so many sections where nothing is happening, full of dead space. Pretty though.

 

[andymcc]

Because Musha is staggeringly overrated. Its just boring, so many sections where nothing is happening, full of dead space. Pretty though.

Hahaha, you pretty much described every Compile shooter man.

 

[MrBadger]

Personally, I couldn't choose. Megadrive has more games I like, but I feel like the SNES's best is more timeless than the Megadrive's best. And the SNES has an Aladdin game that's actually pretty decent

 

[Mael]

Personally, I couldn't choose. Megadrive has more games I like, but I feel like the SNES's best is more timeless than the Megadrive's best. And the SNES has an Aladdin game that's actually pretty decent

Boy, hard disagree there.
Megadrive's Aladdin is one of Virgin's finest production, the SNES game is way too easy.
Heck Mikami even agrees with me

Shinji Mikami, the Capcom game's designer, said that if he had not made the SNES game, he "would probably buy" the Virgin game because it has a sword and better animation.

 

[flashman92]

I sense this soon turning into another SNES vs Genesis Aladdin thread

 

[bionic77]

Genny had a nice head start and came out blazing. But for me at least the SNES just started to pull away in year 2 and kept getting better to the very end whereas the Genny seemed to lose momentum. Especially with the add ons, which most of my friends never bought into.

Thats how I remember it and for whatever reason the SNES classics just seem timeless. They have aged better as a whole then any other collection of games I can think of.

 

[arcknight79]

Link to a Past, Super Metroid, Tetris Attack, JRPGs like Chrono Trigger and FF6, Mario Kart, Star Fox & Rareware games.

Is not even close imo lol

 

[Nuu]

The Mega Drive easily. Besides the platformers, the Super Nintendo's best titles haven't aged all that well. The RPGs are very lacking today and the arcade ports are borderline unplayable.

Outside Yoshi's Island, Donkey Kong Country 2, Shin Megami Tensei II, Chrono Trigger, and Super Castlevania IV, I rarely have an excuse to go back to it.

In contrast, the Mega Drive's library has aged like fine wine. It's arcade focused play style leads to a lot of fun and quality games. I still play Strider, Rolling Thunder 3, and Gunstar Heroes from time to time.

I will admit that the Super Nintendo has some really heavy hitters, but if you take away around the half a dozen games or so, the Mega Drive leaves it in the dust. I'd go as far as to say that I almost prefer the PC Engine to the Super Nintendo.

EDIT - There's also the fact that SNES games were plagued with slowdown, even with the Super FX titles.

 

[Rickenslacker]

When it comes to first party, it's SNES. But as far as third party and aesthetics (speaking from a North American perspective) it's where I vastly prefer the Genesis.

 

[McBradders]

Which console had Cyborg Justice?

Your move, Nintendo.

 

[SpecX]

Loved the Genesis initially and it's a great system, but as the SNES ramped up I found myself shifting to the SNES over the Genesis.

 

[coregroupnegative]

Both consoles are fantastic and have some of the best games ever made. For me this generation is where classic game design was perfected.

 

[Nuu]

This is so open to discussion... while I prefer Hard Corps to Contra 3, TMNT and Sunset Riders are so inferior to their SNES versions.

He could mean the ground up Konami games for the Mega Drive such as Snatcher and Rocket Knight Adventures.

 

[katsubento]

Early SNES games really used the hardware badly, from slowdowns to flickering everything was handled in a way that went against the strength of the system.
It's clear when you see games like Super Rtype, Gradius III or even Super Castlevania IV NTSC (PAL version has less slowdown in my experience).
It was a real revelation when Super Aleste was announeced and pulled shit people thought only the Megadrive could pull and more.

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

It's the 1 game I feel is REAAAAALLY missing from the SNES mini.

One of the few shooters on SNES that really were a match for ThunderForce and the like on Genesis. I loved that one. Axelay too.

 

[lucius]

Genesis had better playing EA games, NHL, Madden , Road Rash, Desert Strike games. Overall though the colors and sound did kind of bother me back then compared to SNES. Super Metroid and Super Mario World and a couple others are GOAT level . All those add ons with Sega maybe skewed my judgement for a while, it is a lot closer than it’s made out to be. Sega Genesis deserves more credit than they ever got for pushing gaming forward making an all time great system with tons of amazing original playing games.

 

[flashman92]

I must be really unobservant because I really don't remember ever thinking about how SNES games had more color in them

Maybe it's because I never played multiplat games. If there were two, I'd probably play it on SNES