Genesis fans-- WHY do you think your system is better than the SNES?

[HDN]

Let's start an Atari I/O war. Well, not really. More like a friendly argument.

I have long been perplexed by Sega Genesis fans. I don't hate the Genesis, in fact I actually like it quite a bit. Sonic Spinball, Goldenaxe, Gain Ground, Columns III-- all great titles. The Nomad simply kicks ass, and the Power Base Converter is an excellent peripheral, from what I've seen. What's more, it had a ton of ad-ons, which are... debatably good.

However, when it comes to people preferring it over the SNES is where I get a little peeved. The Genesis had FUN games, but the SNES had true masterpieces. Some of, if not THE BEST games around. It also had a much better controller than its counterpart, and you never needed to get another one with more buttons once the newer games came out. The Power Base Converter was fine and cool, but did it really hold a candle to the Super Game Boy? If you had a Master System already, there was no need for Genesis owners to buy a PBC. On the flip-side, the SGB offered Game Boy owners a little something extra; playing on the TV, better controller, custom borders, special features for some games, saving battery life, COLOR. There was good reason for SNES owners to buy an SGB even if they had the black-and-green-screened brick in their possession already. Sure, the PBC offered Genesis and Master System owners more convenience and less space wasted, but it didn't offer nearly as much as the SGB did.

I think of some of the highest-regarded games on the Genesis, and similar games on the Genesis. Sonic the Hedgehog versus Super Mario World, for example. Probably the most famous comparison.

Sonic was a lot faster than "that nice boy Mario". The game moved at a rapid clip compared to World's relatively slow and methodical pace. However, Sonic didn't really change the platforming genre that much, though it had plenty of imitators and rip-offs. Sonic, at its core, was a lot like the original Super Mario Brothers. You had to beat it in one single sitting, no saving, completely linear, same world layout. Sonic was more advanced than OG SMB, but in the end it played very similarly.

Super Mario World, by contrast, changed what a platformer was. You could save now! There were loads of secrets to find. Each level was still linear compared to things like Metroid, but they were much more open-ended than Sonic's and past platformers. There was the world map, returning from SMB 3. There were lots of levels to play. It was a lot more forgiving and a lot less frustrating than Sonic was. And most importantly, Super Mario World holds up infinitely better today than Sonic the Hedgehog does.

Maybe the Genesis looked cooler. Maybe it had more "tude". Maybe it had a better processor (though the SNES had better specs for pretty much everything else). But the SNES is just plain better in my opinion.

So Sega fans, please tell me!

WHY do you prefer the Genesis over the SNES?

Please tell me, as I'd really like to know and I honestly can't figure out for the life of me why people prefer it!

And if you say "Blast Processing" as an answer, I will kill you!

Just kidding about that last part. But seriously, please let me know what the Genesis does that Nintendon't. Is it the faster, more arcadey games? Is it the ad-ons? Is just nostalgia? Please let me know!

Edited December 3, 2020 by HDN
Silly me. I forgot to put "is" in the title of the thread

[Justin]

Blast Processing. 

[HDN]

29 minutes ago, Justin said:

Blast Processing. 

I knew this was going to happen...

You have wounded me, Justin! Now I'm angry!

Don't think you're getting away with this; last night, @RickR told me about your only weakness. MUA HA HA HA!

[RickR]

I think once somebody picked a system back then, they became a soldier in a silly war.  Kids stuff.  In the retrospect of looking back after a long time, clearly the Super Nintendo is superior due to the higher quality library.  However, you must remember that the SNES release was later than Genesis, and those masterpieces came later yet. 

I highly recommend this book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Console_Wars_(book) for those who want the details of that war.

And I agree with @Justin that those sideways traffic lights are a complete disaster waiting to happen.  Any tourist to an area with those becomes a menace to the safety of locals. 

[CrossBow]

Well, I never owned either when they were new back in the day because I was already part of the PC Master Race at that time. I got both as part of retro gaming and collecting in the early 2000s. But I'm much more of a fan of the Genesis than the SNES. For me the Genesis just has more of the games I like to play. More arcade like games as it were. Having said that I own both now because they each do certain games better than the other and in some instances, where cross platform for a game exists, again one of them could be better than the other in some regards.

But, My Genesis library of games is MUCH larger than SNES. Why you might ask? Well, for one, the Genesis stuff is easier to collect for or at least it was 20 years ago because the SNES titles that command the money they do today, also commanded some serious money even 20 years ago. I haven't priced SNES stuff lately, but compared to Genesis they were always more expensive. So what I've done over the years is that there are games that are exclusive or play better on the SNES and I own those games. But then I tend to buy all games for the Genesis because it was easier to get them and for less money.

If I want to play Chrono trigger or Zelda LTTP I'm firing up the SNES. I want to play a side scrolling beat em up or a shooter, and you can be sure the Genesis is getting fired up for that. If I want to play Sunset riders I will likely fire up the SNES. If I want to play some Turtles, I'm more likely to fire up Hperstone Heist. 

The Genesis is turned on and played much more often than my SNES or NES are. But I'm much more likely to play on the NES vs my SMS. So I was never part of the war and for me, it is about playing a particular game on whichever system it is best on or that I prefer to play it on.

But I will tell you right now, that I have always preferred the Genesis FM sound over the muddy and tinny sounding wavetable that the SNES does. And trust me, I know what wavetable is supposed to sound like as again during my PC Master race tiemframe of the 90s, I was using Roland modules with my PC for music back then and the SNES was not to my liking on most of the music. There are a few games that sound really good but I've also heard some of those games covered on the Genesis and prefer the Genesis version when I hear it.

 

[nosweargamer]

Rick is right about sticking up for the system you own, but the Genesis might be my favorite system of all time. To be clear, I also like the SNES, and I agree SMW is better than Sonic 1 (Sonic 3 gives it a run for it's money). And games like Sim City and Super Metroid are great and aren't on the Genny. 

But let me highlight some of the advantages of the Genesis over the SNES (and yes the SNES has advantages over the Genesis in other areas).

Genesis did it first -  The Genesis came out TWO YEARS before the SNES. In that time it was able to already build up a nice library and 3rd party support from the likes of EA. It may not matter today, but it's still amazing that despite not having the most up to date technology, the Genesis went toe to toe with the SNES.

Expandability - I owned both the Sega CD and Power Base Converter and really enjoyed being able to play both last-gen and next-gen games on my Genesis.

The Controller - I will fight anyone about this one (not really). The Sega Genesis 6 button controller is better than the SNES controller, especially with fighting games.

The Look - I simply prefer the sleek black Genesis look of the blocky gray SNES look.

Blast Processing - Blast processing is real. The Genesis ran faster than the SNES. This made games like Sonic work, but where it really shined for me, was the sport games. The Madden & NHL series are two of my favorite of all times, and they played silky smooth on the Genesis. Their SNES counterparts, not so much. 

Better Games Than The SNES Counterparts - Of course this is subjective, but Aladdin, Batman & Robin, Jurassic Park, Captain America and Mickey Mouse Illusion games are typically regarded as better on the Genesis, and in general, so are sport games and shooters.

The Exclusives - This works both ways, but series like Sonic, Streets of Rage, Shinobi, Phantasy Star, and Toe Jam & Earl were only on the Genesis. Wonder Boy & Space Harrier had fun Genesis installments and the Oasis series got it's start here. Ghostbusters, Moonwalker, Quackshot, Comix Zone and Gunstar Heroes are some other Genesis exclusive worth playing.

In the end, both the SNES and Genesis are great systems with some great games. Want to play Super Metroid? Play the SNES. Want to play Revenge of Shinobi, Genesis Does. Want to play an RPG? SNES is probably best. Want to play a shooter or sport title, go with Genesis.

 

[RickR]

I'm going to throw in a monkey wrench here.  TG16.  I never experienced this system until very recently...but I'll tell you what:  it's super impressive.  For the faster arcade side scroller - the TG16 is better than either SNES or Genesis IMO.  It's got clearer/sharper graphics sounds.  Give this system a try if you have not done so.

 

[RickR]

14 minutes ago, nosweargamer said:

Better Games Than The SNES Counterparts

Don't forget the first iteration of Mortal Kombat.  Super Nintendo owners were pointed and laughed at with the watered down blood and violence. 

Edited December 3, 2020 by RickR

[socrates63]

I got no skin in this conflict because, like Crossbow, I too was a part of the PC Master Race and only dabbled in console gaming in the late 90s. I recently got both SNES and Genesis. Both have incredible libraries with a lot of exclusives, so we retro gamers win.

And piling on the SNES Mortal Kombat issue, for the longest time, Nintendo consoles and games were considered kid games. When you became older, you outgrew Nintendo stuff and moved on to big kid/adult gaming with Playstation, Xbox, etc.

Edited December 3, 2020 by socrates63

[CrossBow]

As an example of what I was talking about before in regards to the SNES audio vs Genesis. This right here is what I'm talking about!

 

 

 

[Hunter27]

Hello, new here

Well to start off, the Genesis is capable of far faster speeds than the SNES. Yes, the SNES (and it's pronounced S-N-E-S not Snes as in rest) has better specs but I doubt it could pull off Super Monaco GP.

I'm not going to mince words: The Sega CD's Rebel Assault blows away Star Fox. Yes I said it.