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[Journey]

As far as the SNES and Genesis sound is concerned, the SNES can do much better than the Geneis as far as playing sound from samples (hence the realistic but often muffled instruments). The Genesis had a pretty good FM sound chip, it can also do things the SNES can't do, the SNES is an early adopter of what was still a relatively new sound tech, the Genesis had a somewhat mature version of the FM synth tech branch.

I love the Genesis sound at its best, but I can't stand the generic Genesis sound, the base SNES sound is much better to my ears.

My exact sentiments.


I just have to ask a few questions, why do Genesis snare drums sound like they're full of broken nutshells and voices sound like people have marbles in their throats? That's my biggest complaint.

One of the cross platform games that I spent the most time playing back in the SNES and Genesis days was Street Fighter II Turbo and Special Champion Edition on Genesis. The Genesis voices sounded like the characters had a bad case of Laryngitis

In particular when I listen to Blanka's stage, such a beautiful medley of flute and trumpet instruments that sounded butchered on the Genesis version to me the flute sounds well represented nature sounds:




And here's what I mean about the snare drums sounding like they're full of rice or a bag of nutshells lol




Here are the voices, and it's not that they're bad, they just sound super scratchy, a theme that spanned across a lot of Genesis games, in particular with the snares sounding like a blown speaker, or sand in them

 

[cireza]

Konami put more budget in the SNES game

This summarizes Konami on SNES/MegaDrive. Despite the lower budget and smaller cartridges, developers still managed to make awesome games on the MegaDrive.

 

[RetroAV]

My exact sentiments.


I just have to ask a few questions, why do Genesis snare drums sound like they're full of broken nutshells and voices sound like people have marbles in their throats? That's my biggest complaint.

One of the cross platform games that I spent the most time playing back in the SNES and Genesis days was Street Fighter II Turbo and Special Champion Edition on Genesis. The Genesis voices sounded like the characters had a bad case of Laryngitis

In particular when I listen to Blanka's stage, such a beautiful medley of flute and trumpet instruments that sounded butchered on the Genesis version to me the flute sounds well represented nature sounds:




And here's what I mean about the snare drums sounding like they're full of rice or a bag of nutshells lol




Here are the voices, and it's not that they're bad, they just sound super scratchy, a theme that spanned across a lot of Genesis games, in particular with the snares sounding like a blown speaker, or sand in them

I believe it's an issue of development time/resources more than anything:

 

[cireza]

I just have to ask a few questions, why do Genesis snare drums sound like they're full of broken nutshells and voices sound like people have marbles in their throats? That's my biggest complaint.

So you actually edited your post to add this. You just can't help it, can you ?

By the way, Capcom was inexperienced with MegaDrive development and the Street FIghter II port could have been better sound wise. Sega already had to step in to force them to do better work for the graphics part. Same thing for the Megaman compilation that they struggled to actually complete. Super Street Fighter II wastes ROM space on MegaDrive because of how badly the audio is compressed in the game. Both games don't use a great sound driver either. Fixes have been made by fans for quite some time now to improve audio and colors on the MegaDrive games, demonstrating that better results can of course be achieved on the hardware, which nobody doubts except you

 

[EPSYLON EAGLE]

Another guy improved the color palettes and scenarios and the final result it's quasi arcade perfection.

 

[Journey]

So you actually edited your post to add this. You just can't help it, can you ?

By the way, Capcom was inexperienced with MegaDrive development and the Street FIghter II port could have been better sound wise. Sega already had to step in to force them to do better work for the graphics part. Same thing for the Megaman compilation that they struggled to actually complete. Super Street Fighter II wastes ROM space on MegaDrive because of how badly the audio is compressed in the game. Both games don't use a great sound driver either. Fixes have been made by fans for quite some time now to improve audio and colors on the MegaDrive games, demonstrating that better results can of course be achieved on the hardware, which nobody doubts except you

Oh the moving of the goal posts, how lovely. I show an example of Donkey Kong Country trying to be replicated by the YM2612 and failing miserably, but "THATS NOT FAIR" because that scenario never existed in the Genesis vs SNES, so I say fine, I'll resort to an actual experience of mine when I played Street Fighter II on SNES and Genesis, this is a REAL WORLD experience, not a PC running emulators, but suddenly "THATS NOT FAIR" because somehow Capcom screwed up and now someone created a scenario that never existed in the real world and fixed Street fighter using an emulator. Oh the irony! SMH

Maybe it's time that YOU stop posting and defending the Genesis with a made up scenario. This isn't SPC 700 vs YM2612, it's SNES vs Genesis.

If you want to go into the capabilities of the SPC700, it can replicate pretty much anything the Genesis can muster.

Here are 2 Genesis tracks that are supposed to be only possible on the YM2612. Both tracks faithfully reproduced on the SPC700.





So the SNES can pretty much replicate anything the Genesis can do, yet the Wind, Rain Donkey Kong Country track is something the Genesis could never do, so that pretty much says it all

 

[lock2k]

Oh the moving of the goal posts, how lovely. I show an example of Donkey Kong Country trying to be replicated by the YM2612 and failing miserably, but "THATS NOT FAIR" because that scenario never existed in the Genesis vs SNES, so I say fine, I'll resort to an actual experience of mine when I played Street Fighter II on SNES and Genesis, this is a REAL WORLD experience, not a PC running emulators, but suddenly "THATS NOT FAIR" because somehow Capcom screwed up and now someone created a scenario that never existed in the real world and fixed Street fighter using an emulator. Oh the irony! SMH

Maybe it's time that YOU stop posting and defending the Genesis with a made up scenario. This isn't SPC 700 vs YM2612, it's SNES vs Genesis.

If you want to go into the capabilities of the SPC700, it can replicate pretty much anything the Genesis can muster.

Here are 2 Genesis tracks that are supposed to be only possible on the YM2612. Both tracks faithfully reproduced on the SPC700.





So the SNES can pretty much replicate anything the Genesis can do, yet the Wind, Rain Donkey Kong Country track is something the Genesis could never do, so that pretty much says it all

No one told this dude that the Berlin Wall fell? lol

 

[cireza]

not a PC running emulators

and fixed Street fighter using an emulator

Stop embarrassing yourself like this. You are demonstrating how little knowledge you actually have with every post. Your posting of the "it is time to stop posting" picture is quite comical actually, since you don't know shit about what you are talking about.

Since you look like you need some insight, this has nothing to do with emulators. Each game uses a driver to work with the audio chip. On the MegaDrive, there are several different drivers. GEMS being one, that was used in the West. Hitoshi Sakimoto had his own driver. Yuzo Koshiro as well... They were often custom developed by the various development companies. So of course, the fixed sound driver is a ROM patch that you can apply and use on a real MegaDrive. Just like Savaged Regime's recent outstanding works can be listened on real hardware, obviously...

So you have been using Street FIghter II on MegaDrive as means to compare to the SNES, but this game is well known (among people who actually have some real knowledge about the MegaDrive) to be a pretty bad example of the console sound capabilities. Way to go !

That's for the first information.

The second one is that emulators have been known for a very long time to not emulate properly the MegaDrive Synth FM (including official products like Sega's various MegaDrive collections), which leads to the fact that MegaDrive sound has a pretty bad reputation for people who only built their knowledge of the console through emulators and youtube videos. Emulating a Synth FM, that generates sound, is much more complicated than the audio proc of SNES which only plays samples.

Finally, you are the only person here bringing on a stupid fight and feeling the need to say that the MegaDrive audio sucks. Nowhere did I say that the SNES sound sucks. Don't worry, you are not the only person like this I met, and you won't be the last one either. Coming and saying "yes I had a real Genesis I know what I am talking about" to then bitch about the console all day long is the most common approach people like you, who don't have any actual knowledge of the console, take in these topics (or in real life, because yes, I had the honor to meet people like you in real life...). It is okay to be wrong and/or ignorant. And it is also okay to have preferences for one thing or another. Doesn't turn into shit what you dislike though.

 

[Starlight Lotice]

This summarizes Konami on SNES/MegaDrive. Despite the lower budget and smaller cartridges, developers still managed to make awesome games on the MegaDrive.

Blessing and a Curse really, but SEGA seem to have done well with the smaller Japanese studios over the better known ones. I just wish we got some of those games in the West really!

I love RKA as well.

 

[Journey]

Finally, you are the only person here bringing on a stupid fight and feeling the need to say that the MegaDrive audio sucks. Nowhere did I say that the SNES sound sucks. Don't worry, you are not the only person like this I met, and you won't be the last one either. Coming and saying "yes I had a real Genesis I know what I am talking about" to then bitch about the console all day long is the most common approach people like you, who don't have any actual knowledge of the console, take in these topics (or in real life, because yes, I had the honor to meet people like you in real life...). It is okay to be wrong and/or ignorant. And it is also okay to have preferences for one thing or another. Doesn't turn into shit what you dislike though.

Running audio outside of the constrains of the console is not real world, it's also not real world if years down the road someone took the code and changed it on a PC environment, that's like someone developing tools years later to prove how the Sega Saturn is better than the PlayStation in producing 3D graphics, and even if they're somehow able to prove it, there were other reasons why the Saturn wasn't. Most Genesis games had bad audio compared to SNES, the simplest early SNES titles like Act Raiser are considered masterpieces because it wasn't that hard to achieve greatness on the hardware.

Also, I didn't say "It Sucked", you've clearly become delusional in your overly defensive mind, I'm just expressing my experience with audio on both consoles and you seem to be offended by it lol, that generation ended long ago, it's going to be ok, do you need someone to hold your hand?

 

[lock2k]

Running audio outside of the constrains of the console is not real world, it's also not real world if years down the road someone took the code and changed it on a PC environment, that's like someone developing tools years later to prove how the Sega Saturn is better than the PlayStation in producing 3D graphics, and even if they're somehow able to prove it, there were other reasons why the Saturn wasn't. Most Genesis games had bad audio compared to SNES, the simplest early SNES titles like Act Raiser are considered masterpieces because it wasn't that hard to achieve greatness on the hardware.

Also, I didn't say "It Sucked", you've clearly become delusional in your overly defensive mind, I'm just expressing my experience with audio on both consoles and you seem to be offended by it lol, that generation ended long ago, it's going to be ok, do you need someone to hold your hand?

Listen to Streets of Rage 2 on headphones and come here with a straight face and say this. lol

 

[Journey]

Listen to Streets of Rage 2 on headphones and come here with a straight face and say this. lol

I said most, one game would be an exception.

 

[Starlight Lotice]

My favourite "Cover" for Mega Drive music and what can be achieved on it.



Pokemon National Park theme!

They used a Whistle like affect which I believe was only ever used in that Animaniacs game and I love it!

Game Corner is another one I love on the thing, and feels like an updated Pokemon game but I can sadly not find it.

Edit: Found it! Gives me goosebumps



I also like the Zelda one.

 

[cireza]

Running audio outside of the constrains of the console is not real world, it's also not real world if years down the road someone took the code and changed it on a PC environment, that's like someone developing tools years later to prove how the Sega Saturn is better than the PlayStation in producing 3D graphics, and even if they're somehow able to prove it, there were other reasons why the Saturn wasn't. Most Genesis games had bad audio compared to SNES, the simplest early SNES titles like Act Raiser are considered masterpieces because it wasn't that hard to achieve greatness on the hardware.

Also, I didn't say "It Sucked", you've clearly become delusional in your overly defensive mind, I'm just expressing my experience with audio on both consoles and you seem to be offended by it lol, that generation ended long ago, it's going to be ok, do you need someone to hold your hand?

"Suck" is a way to summarize your posts, I am not going to exactly quote the entirety of your unpleasant posts, it would be a waste of time.

In the real world you love so much, Street Fighter II was Capcom's first game on MegaDrive and they were inexperienced. Their port does not have a good sound driver, and someone fixed this sound driver in the real world, which you can play on a real MegaDrive in the real world. Other games that were released in the real world in the past had much better voice samples than Street Fighter II, obviously. You can of course pick a game with poor audio implementation as your basis for your useless comparisons.

By the way, the MegaDrive can play samples. There is only one channel (the sixth) dedicated to it, but you could throw it your wind sounds if you wanted.

If someone today makes tools for the Saturn that demonstrates that the console is better at 3D than the PS1, then it would be perfectly valid, like it or not. And during comparable years, the Saturn was demonstrating many very interesting things compared to the PS1.

 

[Spukc]

such a difficult one both have their own charms
dumb ass fanboys

Spoiler: worning

Genesis does what Nintendon't

 

[Self]

the simplest early SNES titles like Act Raiser are considered masterpieces because it wasn't that hard to achieve greatness on the hardware.

What are people arguing?
This is obviously true. It is rather easy to compose on a midi\sampler basis than on actual fm-synth basis.

The difference is obviously talent and time/budget. Hence the mayority of snes games do indeed sound better on a broader basis.

Nevertheless the gensis has the certain 90tes flavor to it, which in return means that it reproduces the sound of the arcades more faithfully.
It has this arcady/electrical/sharp punch to it.

The recent comback of the 90tes in film, music and all kind of arts doesn't represent and sound like snes at all.

It sounds like genesis.

 

[lock2k]

I said most, one game would be an exception.

This game is not the exception. It is the pinnacle of 16 bit soundtracks. Remixed to this day and praised to hell and back.

You always seems to attack Genesis based on voice samples. Soundtracks and voice samples are not the same.

And, as Almanac said, the Genesis kind of sound is the defining sound of the era, as shown by recent works that reference the decade.

 

[RetroAV]

Although I love MD music to death, I do believe the SNES sampling was better/easier for developers in terms of overall sound (i.e. music, voices, sound effects).

Could the MD produce better sound than what some games showed? Sure, but how much longer was it going to take? In an industry where time is money, I do believe that the SNES got most of the love from third parties. That's not Sega's fault (at that time, I'm sure FM synth made a lot of sense for them). That's not Nintendo's fault (2 years later, they must have thought sampling would be better for them and went with that).

It is what it is, but for me, it's the music that BOTH delivered that will forever live on! I think most here can at least agree on that.

 

[lock2k]

Although I love MD music to death, I do believe the SNES sampling was better/easier for developers in terms of overall sound (i.e. music, voices, sound effects).

Could the MD produce better sound than what some games showed? Sure, but how much longer was it going to take? In an industry where time is money, I do believe that the SNES got most of the love from third parties. That's not Sega's fault (at that time, I'm sure FM synth made a lot of sense for them). That's not Nintendo's fault (2 years later, they must have thought sampling would be better for them and went with that).

It is what it is, but for me, it's the music that BOTH delivered that will forever live on! I think most here can at least agree on that.

I agree.

Both of them have incredible stuff music wise.

 

[Mato]

That's just insane. I would have never guessed that something like that could come out of poor, old, 16-bit Mega Drive. Clearly the music quality of MD's games library was held back by the chip and how difficult it was to master. It makes the SNES version sound like crushed poop.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

The thing is with that YT channel making awesome Genesis sound is that he's surely making fancy tunes with much more memory than those old 4 and 8 meg carts.

Let's see someone with the same time and unlimited file size make better sounding SNES tunes, and I'm sure the Sony sound chip in SNES would sound better.

Back then ports across systems usually had the same cart size. And given that the SNES version usually looked and sounded better. SFII Champion on Genesis was I think even 24 meg and SNES vanilla SFII was 16 meg.

 

[Mato]

The thing is with that YT channel making awesome Genesis sound is that he's surely making fancy tunes with much more memory than those old 4 and 8 meg carts.

Let's see someone with the same time and unlimited file size make better sounding SNES tunes, and I'm sure the Sony sound chip in SNES would sound better.

Back then ports across systems usually had the same cart size. And given that the SNES version usually looked and sounded better. SFII Champion on Genesis was I think even 24 meg and SNES vanilla SFII was 16 meg.

I hadn't considered that. But my guess is that high quality sound samples would be far larger than improved synthesizer patches. I'd like to get some more info on this if anyone has any.

 

[cireza]

Here is a very good OST I like putting in the background when I am doing other things, never played the game sadly. I think that a translation was in the works.

 

[Thaedolus]

Here are 2 Genesis tracks that are supposed to be only possible on the YM2612. Both tracks faithfully reproduced on the SPC700.





So the SNES can pretty much replicate anything the Genesis can do, yet the Wind, Rain Donkey Kong Country track is something the Genesis could never do, so that pretty much says it all

Question: one of the limiting factors on the SNES was the size of the samples, if I'm not mistaken. Would you realistically be able to sample all of the Genesis chip's sounds from a full game like Sonic or Streets of Rage and still have enough space to fit an actual game on the cart? I really enjoy these hypothetical "what's actually possible" on these chips, but there's no point demo'ing how a ROMhack allows for redbook audio on the SNES when it never had a CD attachment right?

 

[cireza]

Question: one of the limiting factors on the SNES was the size of the samples, if I'm not mistaken.

Audio memory available for the SNES is actually quite small, this is indeed a huge constraint. Developers either had to reduce the quality of the sounds using a lower frequency, and/or opt for shorter musics.

 

[Starlight Lotice]

I think the technique David Wise (?) did for Donkey Kong Country to get that well known song at the highest quality was certainly hardcore dedication.

He took 8 weeks to lay over different parts of the music in order for the SNES to run that particular song.

I can't recall what the technique was called, but I can certainly appreciate Musicians back in the day thinking outside of the Box.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

Who was the guy that said the genesis sound chip sounded like a symphony of farts? Yea I haven't been able to get that out of my head ever since.

 

[cireza]

The thing is with that YT channel making awesome Genesis sound is that he's surely making fancy tunes with much more memory than those old 4 and 8 meg carts.

Let's see someone with the same time and unlimited file size make better sounding SNES tunes, and I'm sure the Sony sound chip in SNES would sound better.

Back then ports across systems usually had the same cart size. And given that the SNES version usually looked and sounded better. SFII Champion on Genesis was I think even 24 meg and SNES vanilla SFII was 16 meg.

Savaged Regime made the Xeno Crisis OST. Game is 4 MB, a standard cartridge size for 95 (Toy Story, Sonic 3D, Virtua Fighter 2 etc...). Soundtrack is nothing short of amazing.

 

[Futaleufu]

Sometimes its a thing of rom size/space

Fatal Fury 2 on the SNES is a 20 megabit rom, the game has 12 characters





The Fatal Fury Special port is a 32 megabit rom, the game has 16 characters, the game has more space for samples.



BTW, the european version was released as a 24 megabit rom, 4 characters were cut and this song didnt make it.

The Sega Genesis port sounds like this


and the original song, for comparison



So, in the end, it isn't just about the hardware; composition skill and available rom size for samples for the SNES versions is just as important.

 

[EPSYLON EAGLE]

Ultracore make fanboys get full retreat !

 

[Wonko_C]

Some amazing sounding EDM style tunes in this game, released last year. Gotta be honest though, if it wasn't for John showing the game on DF Retro I wouldn't have known of its existence.

 

[RetroAV]

Don't believe this is technically Mega Drive, but still love it:

 

[EPSYLON EAGLE]

Power Rangers feel!

 

[Kazza]

I was a Megadrive owner back then, but have been playing quite a bit of Super Nintendo over the past couple of years. SNES Drunk it one of my favourite sources for game recommendations, and he put together these two great music compilations too. Some nice deep cuts here, not just the usual tracks:

Spoiler: track list

[0:00] Waterworld, "Map" [1:54] Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu, "Calling of Peace" [4:02] Energy Breaker, "The Voice of Awakening" [6:21] Donkey Kong Country, "Aquatic Ambience" [9:43] Tetris Attack, "Walk on a Rainbow" [14:57] SimCity, "Village" [17:48] Chrono Trigger, "Secret of the Forest" [22:25] The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, "End Credits" [26:17] Equinox, "Overworld" [33:41] EVO Search For Eden, "Mother Earth" [35:45] Vegas Stakes, "Hotel Room" [38:38] Ardy Lightfoot, "Overworld Map" [39:20] Bahamut Lagoon, "Epicedium" [41:12] Star Fox, "Sector Y" [44:03] ActRaiser, "North Wall" [47:03] Breath of Fire, "Underwater" [48:45] Jim Lee's WildCATS, "Opening" [52:17] Final Fantasy VI, "The Mines of Narshe" [54:59] Seiken Densetsu 3, "Harvest November" [59:21] Terranigma, "Sad" [1:02:20] Super Castlevania IV, "The Library" [1:03:56] DoReMi Fantasy, "The Guardian's Lair" [1:05:55] 7th Saga, "Lux Tizer" [1:08:24] Illusion of Gaia, "World Map" [1:11:17] Donkey Kong Country 3, "Frosty Frolics" [1:14:09] Arcana, "Reinroll, Generous Hermit" [1:16:52] Chaos Seed, "Cave" [1:20:57] Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen, "Fortune Teller" [1:22:08] Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, "Ice Forest" [1:24:55] EarthBound, "Winter Boarding School" [1:27:47] Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse, "Snow Valley" [1:29:32] Rudra no Hihou, "Crime of the Heart" [1:32:44] Secret of Evermore, "Ebon Keep Town Theme" [1:34:54] Super Mario All-Stars, "Lost Levels Title Theme" [1:37:47] Final Fantasy V, "Lenna's Theme" [1:40:38] Paladin's Quest, "Unknown Theme B" [1:43:31] Jurassic Park, "Ocean" [1:46:31] Dark Half, "Town" [1:47:19] Bassin's Black Bass, "Intro" [1:48:41] Secret of Mana, "A Wish" [1:49:40] Breath of Fire II, "Memories" [1:51:05] Super Mario World, "Underwater" [1:54:14] Waterworld, "Menu" [1:56:52] Romancing SaGa, "Lost in the Forest" [1:58:35] Smart Ball, "Moon" [2:01:26] Donkey Kong Country 2, "Stickerbrush Symphony" [2:05:44] Tales of Phantasia, "Forest Theme" [2:08:38] Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals, "Deep Blue" [2:10:29] Final Fantasy VI, "Phantom Forest" [2:13:41] Chrono Trigger, "Memories of Green" [2:17:21] Super Metroid, "Lower Maridia" [2:20:15] Robotrek, "The World of Quintenix" [2:22:03] Violinist of Hameln, "Inside the Crimson Castle" [2:25:23] Terranigma, "Credits" [2:28:17] Seiken Densetsu 3, "Breezin" [2:33:30] Final Fantasy IV, "Welcome to Our Town" [2:34:13] Equinox, "Atlena" [2:35:56] Star Ocean, "Calm Time" [2:38:29] Donkey Kong Country, "Northern Hemispheres" [2:40:52] Tactics Ogre Let Us Cling Together, "Fortune Teller 2" [2:42:50] Super Mario RPG, "End Credits" [2:46:25] Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, "Story Time" [2:49:45] Tetris Attack, "Water World" [2:51:54] EVO Search For Eden, "Overworld Theme" [2:53:28] Phalanx, "Ending" [2:55:41] Secret of Mana, "Fear of the Heavens" [2:56:55] SimCity, "Good Night, See You Soon"

Spoiler: track list

[0:00] Foreman For Real, "Title Screen" [2:30] NBA Live 96, "Intro Theme" [4:21] Super Off-Road, "Sidewinder" [6:01] Super Turrican 2, "Wormland" [8:49] Wagyan Paradise, "Roller Coaster" [10:14] Top Gear, "Las Vegas" [12:29] ActRaiser, "Filmore" [15:27] Soul Blazer, "Underground Castle" [18:33] F-Zero, "Big Blue" [21:24] Super Bomberman 3, "Battle" [24:11] Dolucky no Puzzle Tour '94, "Final Battle" [27:18] Kirby Super Star, "Gourmet Race" [29:27] Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals, "Boss Battle 2" [31:49] Chrono Trigger, "Boss Battle 2" [34:19] Final Fantasy VI, "The Airship Blackjack" [37:03] Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time, "Sewer Surfin'" [38:36] Plok, "Beach" [43:39] Star Fox, "Fortuna" [45:34] EarthBound, "City Bus Ride" [48:25] Winter Gold, "Intro" [50:24] Super Bomberman 3, "Credits" [52:29] Energy Breaker, "Berserker" [55:02] Romancing SaGa 3, "Four Noble Devils" [59:14] Street Fighter II Turbo, "Guile" [1:01:25] UN Squadron, "Thunderstorm Stealth Bomber and Wolfpack" [1:04:15] Mega Man X2, "Magna Centipede" [1:07:04] Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage, "Main Theme" [1:08:54] Uniracers, "2nd Race" [1:12:41] Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, "Battle Theme" [1:14:45] Accele Brid, "G Bowman Circuit" [1:17:24] Earthworm Jim, "Snot a Problem" [1:20:14] Super Turrican, "Stage 2-4" [1:23:04] Secret of Mana, "Calm Before the Storm" [1:25:00] Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, "Happy Adventure, Delightful Adventure" [1:28:25] Super Adventure Island, "Stage 1" [1:31:10] Top Gear 2, "Title Theme" [1:33:15] Kirby's Dream Land 3, "Grass Land 4" [1:35:12] Killer Instinct, "Fulgore" [1:36:29] Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, "Area 1 City" [1:39:21] Pop'n Twinbee, "Ocean" [1:40:39] Super Bomberman 5, "Bomber Bowling" [1:41:39] Mega Man X, "Armored Armadillo" [1:44:24] Super Mario Kart, "Battle Mode" [1:47:11] Winter Gold, "Menus" [1:48:34] Top Gear, "Title Theme" [1:52:42] Space Megaforce, "Black Hole Anomalies" [1:54:57] FIFA International Soccer, "Title" [2:00:32] EarthBound, "Your Name, Please" [2:03:34] Chrono Trigger, "Guardia Millenial Fair" [2:06:36] Star Fox, "Corneria" [2:09:28] Foreman For Real, "Tournament" [2:11:19] Kaizou Choujin Shibubibinman Zero, "Attack" [2:13:26] Mega Man X, "Spark Mandrill" [2:15:07] UN Squadron, "Supply Truck Assault" [2:17:52] Aero Fighters, "America" [2:20:03] Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, "Doom Castle" [2:22:59] Tales of Phantasia, "Fighting of the Spirit" [2:25:54] Super Off-Road, "Intro" [2:28:01] Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time, "Technodrome - Let's Kick Shell!" [2:29:35] Kirby's Dream Land 3, "Hyper Zone 1" [2:31:15] Super Castlevania IV, "Bloody Tears" [2:33:05] Romancing SaGa 3, "The Last Battle" [2:38:04] Final Fantasy V, "Main Theme" [2:40:28] Final Fantasy VI, "Setzer's Theme" [2:42:04] Twisted Tales of Spike McFang, "Batland Castle" [2:44:18] Kat's Run: Zen Nihon K-Car Senshuken, "Street Race 1" [2:45:38] Star Fox 2, "Macbeth" [2:47:27] Cybernator, "Asteroid Run" [2:49:41] F-Zero, "Mute City" [2:52:12] Uchuu Race: Astro Go! Go!, "Sweetcat Lake" [2:55:55] Super R-Type, "Solo Sortie"

 

[EPSYLON EAGLE]

The power of PSG channels!

 

[saintjules]

Still hyped

 

[Futaleufu]

Still hyped

There's a better version of this song

 

[cireza]

I recently found this Donkey Kong Country 2 track by Chiptuned Raijin. You tend to forget you are on MegaDrive, that's how impressive it is. This is the style of music that really suits the hardware the best, in my opinion.

 

[Closer]

Me IRL

 

[EPSYLON EAGLE]

 

[cireza]

In this awesome cover by Savaged Regime, the PSG is used to play the main melody and gives this very unique sound.

The PSG is actually the audio chip of the Master System and was added for backward compatibility. Very few games used it, probably that developers might fear that it would be removed in further revision of the console (at least, this is a reason I have read on the internet).



A notable game to make use of the PSG, and that indeed has a very unique soundtrack, is Shining Force II. I suppose Force I and In the Darkness might use it as well, not sure about that. Force II does sound a lot more soft to the ears in terms of raw sound, compared to Force I.


(I wonder if this is a real recording from a Genesis, not sure honestly, sounds a bit gritty)

 

[cireza]

Someone has uploaded a few tracks for Phantasy Star IV, recorded from MegaDrive, in the PAL version.

I always found that the PAL version sounded much better, being slower. The US/Japanese versions seem way too fast.









Such a fantastic soundtrack. Legendary game.

 

[Frogman_676]

BLAST PROCESSING

 

[cireza]

Many fantastic tracks in the Soleil OST, here is one I really love :

 

[DetectiveBananas]

I actually like them both for their distinctive sounds. Genesis sound was great for beat’em ups and shooters, while SNES was great for epic RPGs and First Party games (Donkey Kong Country).

 

[cireza]

Light Crusader, the dungeon music is absolutely fantastic.



Many very interesting, moody and atmospheric tracks in this OST as well.

Yes I know, a lot of posts today, I will stop with this one.

 

[Journey]

I recently found this Donkey Kong Country 2 track by Chiptuned Raijin. You tend to forget you are on MegaDrive, that's how impressive it is. This is the style of music that really suits the hardware the best, in my opinion.

Excellent, love this soundtrack, well done on the MegaDrive. There's no doubt the MegaDrive can create great music.

To clarify my stance, I'm not saying the Genesis is incapable of producing some really nice music, the problem is when you create a game, there's more to it than just music, there are environmental sounds and sound effects, so overall as a videogame sound piece, it lacked in many other areas that are required to make a videogame, and because of this, the SNES wins overall in my book when it comes to videogame sound. Donkey Kong in particular has Wind, Rain, Ocean sounds, crickets, creatures and other sounds that the Genesis would have a hard time replicating.

You need to put context next to it to understand what I mean, you show me a beautiful Donkey Kong Country 2 rendition on the Genesis, and sure it sounds really nice, take the 3 soundtracks below, they sound REALLY NICE on the Genesis, the clarity and separation is pretty slick, but it's when you listen to the SNES version that you realize what you're actually missing.

Listen to the Genesis version first, then when you listen to the SNES version, it will hit you, like OOOOH, so that's what the Genesis was trying to achieve!


First up, Jib Jig. Pretty good attempt for the Genesis in creating environment sounds, but then you listen to the SNES version and its








Next up






Lastly, I actually like the clarity of this Genesis rendition, this is where the Genesis truly shines, but at the end of the day, when you listen to what the developers are trying to do, you realize how it fails to capture the scene.

 

[cireza]

that SNES wins overall in my book when it comes to videogame sound

Awesome. For me, it is the MegaDrive that wins. But I don't feel the need to state it in every single post I make.

 

[Journey]

Awesome. For me, it is the MegaDrive that wins. But I don't feel the need to state it in every single post I make.

So..... don't?

Maybe you're in the wrong thread? Start one that says, Genesis sound tribute and go nuts.

 

[pramod]

For me the Megadrive(and Neo Geo) were the pinnacle of chip tunes. SNES might have music that are just as good or even better but they just don't have the same "chip tuney" sound to me.