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Mortal Kombat & Street Fighter -- were these games better on the SNES or Genesis?

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Which system had the better ports? I will leave the definition of "better" up to you. It could mean better looking, better playing, better sounding, or even simply a more arcade-accurate port.

I had always considered this SNES vs Genesis issue settled amongst at least me and my friends, but I often hear wildly divergent opinions on podcasts or other forum threads. Feel free to discuss any and all Street Fighter & Mortal Kombat sequels or variant versions of these franchises.

Here are my thoughts, obviously tinted by nostalgia and twenty years of hazy, aged memory. If anything is wrong it's probably because it was a long time ago:

Mortal Kombat -
SNES vs Genesis Longplay Comparison (YouTube) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=798fkJEECSY

The common assertion is that MK was better on the Genesis. This is because the Genesis version was uncensored. And as far as I can tell that is the only reason because everything else about it is kinda crummy. The SNES version looks and plays better. The MK Genesis has some missing animations, controls are much more weird and loose. The Genny's standard 3 button controller meant you couldn't pause the game or do a Low Punch (I'm not sure how this was resolved in later sequels where you really needed an LP to do some moves). It's nitpicky but the lifebars, fonts and UI was all screwy in the Genesis version as well.

The SNES version is superior in almost every way except the most important one. Or at least the way that's most important to a 14 year-old. It's hilarious that they tried to recolor the blood so that it looked like sweat. Man, the dudes in that game sure were sweaty!

As a sidenote, I thought Mortal Kombat was pretty cool on SegaCD. They altered the physics in a weird way -- you could jump kick and juggle someone into a spear with Scorpion. On top of that you got to have the little full-motion video segments back, though you were still dealing with the crummy color palette of the Genesis hardware.

Street Fighter
SNES vs Genesis Street Fighter 2 Side By Side Comparison - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zfUhWzmAIE

The Street Fighter series seems to be a bit more contentious. Many people cite the Genesis version as superior because it had extra Turbo Speed settings, and could be played with a proper 6-button controller. I never entirely understood this -- does anyone actually care about extra Turbo speeds? Wasn't the push towards ridiculous turbo settings just an ill-conceived response to the many weirdo bootleg SF2 arcade boards that had crazy settings on them? Nobody before or since ever really seemed to care how much you could amp up the Turbo in a Street Fighter game.

I never tried playing SF2 Genesis with the 6-button controller, but holy jesus was it ever ass trying to play with the 3-button controller. The Start button toggled the function of your single row of buttons, so you only ever had access all three kicks or all three punches at once. You'd swap back and forth between them on the fly, and since Start was the toggle you once again could not even pause your game.

Genesis versions of Street Fighter looked worse in general, and I think the art style in the series takes a much bigger hit from the Genesis color palette than the Mortal Kombat series did. Voice samples on the Genesis were terrible and sound like they were recorded underwater, which is pretty bad since the average match in Street Fighter has a ton of voice.

To this day it still sticks in my craw to see SF2:SCE Genesis touted as the better version, when for the game to even be functional you pretty much had to buy 2 brand new controllers and put up with relatively poor sound & graphics. I don't think I've ever actually played a Street Fighter game with a proper pad that has 6 face buttons though, so maybe the experience is so sublime that I just don't know what I was missing out on.
 
Original MK was better on Genesis for Fatalities lack of censorship, but just that.

SNES versions always had better graphics, sound and controls.

So all better on SNES but OGMK.
 
SNES - SF
Sega - MK.

I know some people like the SNES version of MK, but the music in the genesis version was kind of its own thing that I feel is much better than the arcade music.
 
SNES MK actually played like sluggish crap, but you know that's actually nitpicking considering the overall quality of the original game.

MK2 on Genny was actually sped up, which gives it an unusual gameplay quirk. SNES version was more arkade akkurate.

UMK3 was hands down better on SNES.
 
SNES was the better looking and playing game for MK, sweat and nerfed fatalities aside. However, MK was way more about its gimmicks than its gameplay for every kid who begged their parents for a copy, so people didn't give a shit how rough genesis MK1 looked or played because it had the blood and proper fatalities, full stop.

SF was truly sublime on Genesis, but only if you went out and invested in 6-button controller. Having all 6 buttons on the face of the game pad was much more natural to use than shoulder buttons for heavy attacks.
 
MK1- Genesis-kind of obvious as the SNES pretty much gimped it's entire gimmick of MK1, so what's the point? Lucily Nintendo did a 180 for the MK2 release.

First release of Street Fighter 2 on SNES and Genesis?

Genesis due to the fact that it got Championship Edition instead of vanilla SF2 like SNES- but sound took a hit, which sucks, because Sega had ported a perfectly good sounding version with the ideal sound drivers but Capcom didn't use it for the final Genesis release.
 
Street Fighter was wack on SNES though, especially with the low blocking issue on wake-up (yes, it wasn't your imagination).

Genesis version was considerably more accurate, and if you had a 6 button controller, it had way better controls too.
 
SevenDevils said:
Mortal Kombat > Genesis
Mortal Kombat 2 > SNES unless you count 32X, that is superior
Mortal Kombat 3 > SNES
Street Fighter 2 > Genesis
Click to expand...

The 32x of MK2 is still inferior to the SNES version. The sound is still horrible like the genesis , is glitchy and the ending graphics are removed.
 
SNES version of both were better. Especially if you ignore the fatality issue.

Cobsidering there was a year of exclusivity for the snes sf2 and by the time the genesis one came out there was turbo on SNES with better sound and music. It wins hands down. Also.. 6 buttons on snes by default.

Also... also... snes controller = magical.
 
Mortal Kombat is whatever. The first game sucks, so may as well give that to Genesis for maintaining the only thing justifying its existence. The sequels were probably best on SNES though (I'm not sure if I've ever played the Genesis versions, so I could be completely wrong).

Street Fighter 2 is definitely Genesis though.

border said:
I never entirely understood this -- does anyone actually care about extra Turbo speeds?
Click to expand...

When you're in PAL-land... yes, definitely. And the 6-button pad is ridiculous amounts better than the SNES layout for Street Fighter. It's kinda why those Madcatz Street Fighter pads are designed the way they are. It's a 6-button fighter, four face buttons is shit.
 
SF & MK were better in SNES.

The audio and graphics were much closer to the arcade than the Genesis.
 
tarius1210 said:
SF & MK were better in SNES.

The audio and graphics were much closer to the arcade than the Genesis.
Click to expand...

This isn't quite that simple tbh. For Street Fighter, the vocals are closer to the arcade, but the music is much closer on the Genesis. The SNES versions are basically remixes, due to being sample based.

For Mortal Kombat the gore's a huge part of the graphics (and basically the entire point of the game), and is missing completely on the SNES version.
 
Good topic. I have had extensive experience with every version of each game on both platforms.

Assuming you have the six button genesis pad which you should have because...come on.

MK1- Better graphics and sound on snes. Everything else better on genesis. People like to bring up blood and fatalities as the reason but the genesis version was the only one where most of the combos from the arcade version worked. The snes version played terribly and over half the combos from the arcade did not work.

MK2- Tie. Snes continued to have better graphics and closer to thr arcades sound. Most of the combos from the arcade were present. Genesis version didnt look better than the snes (still big improvement over mk1 however) all the combos from the arcade worked. Game feartured music completely diff from the arcade in most case but was some how arguably better believe ir or not.

MK3- This is the point where I'd give the slight edge to snes version. All the combos worked and controls were responsive. Same with genesis version except it looked a lil worse and it used the same music but sounded worse this time.

SFII- Genesis wins by default because it got the championship version while snes got the vanilla. Snes later got Turbo but it was the same as championship edition on genesis and champ ed on genesis actually had a turbo mode that was faster than the snes turbo with one extra star.

Super Street Fighter II- Tough one but... genesis...because of all things...sound! Yes even though the genesis sound chip was far inferior to that of the snes the music (not the voices they sounded terrible) actually sounded better on the genesis. The snes version also seemed to be missing some announcer voices and the music started over on each round instead of playing continuously like the arcade and genesis versions. Genesis ver also had an extra mode or two.
 
To Far Away Times said:
Street Fighter was wack on SNES though, especially with the low blocking issue on wake-up (yes, it wasn't your imagination).

Genesis version was considerably more accurate, and if you had a 6 button controller, it had way better controls too.
Click to expand...


I agree that the Genesis version of Street Fighter II: SCE does play better than vanilla or Turbo on the SNES. Though the Genesis version really requires a six button controller to be enjoyed (and preferably a hacked ROM with the sound driver patch).

As for Mortal Kombat. I preferred MK1 on the Genesis and MK II on the SNES. MK3? Ehh.... I guess SNES as well.
 
The Sega Genesis versions of Street Fighter II had slightly more animations than their SNES counterpart and (aside from the awful static filled voice samples) sounded a whole lot closer to the arcade than the SNES plus it played closer with the 6 button pad.

Motal Kombat was bad on both systems. I guess it depends on fatalities/colors for this game.
 
Doctre81 said:
Super Street Fighter II- Tough one but... genesis...because of all things...sound! Yes even though the genesis sound chip was far inferior to that of the snes the music (not the voices they sounded terrible) actually sounded better on the genesis. The snes version also seemed to be missing some announcer voices and the music started over on each round instead of playing continuously like the arcade and genesis versions. Genesis ver also had an extra mode or two.
Click to expand...

This is because rather than being inferior, the Genesis sound chip was simply different, and happened to have far more in common with the arcade's sound chip than the SNES did.
 
I think Genesis MK1 has better music than SNES. Very different from the arcade soundtrack but it's really good. Genesis plays better too. In some regard it feels faster and superior to the arcade. After MK1 it's SNEs hands down.
 
MK was always the nasty ugly western ripoff of Street Fighter II, so the 'better' version is eye of the beholder stuff, since its only purpose was to have blood and violence. Say you're watching the movie Hostel, you have a choice of uncensored VHS, or censored blu ray.

Synth said:
Mortal Kombat is whatever. The first game sucks, so may as well give that to Genesis for maintaining the only thing justifying its existence.
Click to expand...
This is true.

Street Fighter II's soundtrack is closer to the arcade on Sega due to more similar sound hardware, but it is far inferior to the arcade. It's like a tinny weaker version of the arcade with turds for voice samples. SNES on the other hand is more like a quality remix, so overall sounds much better, while simultaneously being less accurate. Graphically obviously SNES dominates from a great height.

Anyone saying 'Sega 6 button pad was better than the SNES standard pad for fighting games' is missing the point, most people had to buy new controllers to have 6 button pads. You could do that on SNES as well if you wanted and have a six button layout, you could even get an arcade stick. To play two player Street Fighter on Sega cost like $200 if you needed new pads.
 
D.Lo said:
MK was always the nasty ugly western ripoff of Street Fighter II, so the 'better' version is eye of the beholder stuff, since its only purpose was to have blood and violence. Say you're watching the movie Hostel, you have a choice of uncensored VHS, or censored blu ray.

This is true.

Street Fighter II's soundtrack is closer to the arcade on Sega due to more similar sound hardware, but it is far inferior to the arcade. It's like a tinny weaker version of the arcade with turds for voice samples. SNES on the other hand is more like a quality remix, so overall sounds much better, while simultaneously being less accurate. Graphically obviously SNES dominates from a great height.

Anyone saying 'Sega 6 button pad was better than the SNES standard pad for fighting games' is missing the point, most people had to buy new controllers to have 6 button pads. You could do that on SNES as well if you wanted and have a six button layout, you could even get an arcade stick. To play two player Street Fighter on Sega cost like $200 if you needed new pads.
Click to expand...

Sega's 6 button was $20... Most snes games at the time cost an average of $10 more than the gen version as well.
 
I don't understand 6 button pad for a 6 button game. 6 buttons, two rows of 3, works on an arcade cabinet because you're not holding it, you're using your whole hand to press the buttons. 4 buttons and 2 shoulder buttons is better imo on a pad.
 
Synth said:
This is because rather than being inferior, the Genesis sound chip was simply different, and happened to have far more in common with the arcade's sound chip than the SNES did.
Click to expand...

I actually preferred the genesis sound on pretty much everything except voices on nearly all multiplats. The TMNT games were another example.
 
I think its funny that the SNES was more associated with SF over MK, while Genesis was more associated with MK over SF.

Yet next gen it was SF over MK on Saturn and vice versa on N64 (by default, since N64 didnt have a SF game).
 
Doctre81 said:
I actually preferred the genesis sound on pretty much everything except voices on nearly all multiplats. The TMNT games were another example.
Click to expand...

I certainly wouldn't go that far, heh. The Genesis got the short straw on the majority of multiplats in terms of audio. Most developers were simply creating the sample based music for SNES, and then throwing out some rough approximation for the Genesis, with those nasty default drivers, and seemingly no clue how a to manipulate a synth. When someone gave the Genesis the respect it deserved, it could sound fucking amazing... unfortunately, that wasn't even close to being the default scenario.

MikeMyers said:
I think its funny that the SNES was more associated with SF over MK, while Genesis was more associated with MK over SF.

Yet next gen it was SF over MK on Saturn and vice versa on N64 (by default, since N64 didnt have a SF game).
Click to expand...

I'd say it was Street Fighter on Saturn, and Mortal Kombat on PlayStation tbh.

The Saturn port of UMK3 was so good though.
 
Doctre81 said:
Sega's 6 button was $20... Most snes games at the time cost an average of $10 more than the gen version as well.
Click to expand...
Not where I lived. in Australia Special Champion edition was $120, same price as SF2 Turbo, and Mega Drive pads were $45 RRP, SNES controllers were AU$50.
 
not to derail, but both sucked ass compared to arcades.

I remember seeing SF2 in stores, what a disappointment
 
Synth said:
I'd say it was Street Fighter on Saturn, and Mortal Kombat on PlayStation tbh.

The Saturn port of UMK3 was so good though.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but I was mostly comparing the Sega and Nintendo audiences.

Saturn UMK3 blew away the Genesis/SNES one, but by the time it was released, MKT PSX was around the corner. :/
 
Street Fighter II: Turbo HF on SNES had the best character music for me on any platform, especially the SNES rendition for Ken.

I owned both, and bought both, I'd say I preferred MK for Genesis, and SF for SNES.
 
MikeMyers said:
Yeah, but I was mostly comparing the Sega and Nintendo audiences.

Saturn UMK3 blew away the Genesis/SNES one, but by the time it was released, MKT PSX was around the corner. :/
Click to expand...

The thing is, though, that MK Trilogy was sort of a mess. UMK3 is much better.

Saturn was easily the best for fighting games that generation. I remember feeling so salty about the Playstation Xmen Vs Streetfighter compared to the awesome Saturn version.
 
Poimandres said:
The thing is, though, that MK Trilogy was sort of a mess. UMK3 is much better.

Saturn was easily the best for fighting games that generation. I remember feeling so salty about the Playstation Xmen Vs Streetfighter compared to the awesome Saturn version.
Click to expand...

UMK3 is more balanced yeah, but I think MKT had more appeals to casual given its roster.

Yeah between the better Capcom ports and Sega's own fighters, Saturn was my platform of choice for fighting games that gen too.
 
Poimandres said:
I remember feeling so salty about the Playstation Xmen Vs Streetfighter compared to the awesome Saturn version.
Click to expand...

This is why I made sure to have every major console every gen even back then (well, it was a lot more important back then tbh). Had only a Saturn at first, played its version of Wipeout 2097, and bought a PS1 so fast it feels like it occurred before I played Wipeout 2097...
 
SF2: PC Engine, not even kidding...then Genny due to pad layout then SNES
Mortal Kombat: SNES despite censoring of MK1 it was still a better port, and MK@ was just amazing...
 
Anybody who thinks MK2 was better on Genesis is out of their mind. It wasn't even close.
 
MikeMyers said:
Saturn UMK3 blew away the Genesis/SNES one, but by the time it was released, MKT PSX was around the corner. :/
Click to expand...

As a Saturn owner I felt screwed over in a way. Midway gave Playstation the exclusive 32bit version of MK3, and when we finally were getting UMK3, they announced MKT, which once again skipped Saturn.
 
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