Let's settle the 16-bit wars once and for all. Which was the better consoles, the SNES or the Sega Genesis/Megadrive? Personally, I think the SNES's better 3rd party support and controller make it the winner.
I feel like history's been kinder to the SNES, giving it a bit of an edge. The SNES was definitely more powerful. It certainly had the better controller - at least until the Genesis went for the six-button one (which I found much easier to use than Nintendo's). I'm not *entirely* sure it had better games, though... And the Genesis had better and more interesting peripherals, like Sega CD, 32X, and the Power Base Converter. It was also released earlier, which should count for something. I am inclined to say the SNES, but I honestly don't know if that's an objective statement.
I remember having a Genesis but always being jealous of my friend who had a snes. They had different, sometimes "better looking" games, to me. Idk which id call my favorite, tho! You always want what you dont have
I was lucky enough to have both as a kid. When SNES came around, it was definitely "newer and shinier", and I played with it a lot more, but that's natural I suppose. Having Mario and Zelda games give it an edge, and we tend to remember those games more fondly because their franchises have continued up until this day. We tend to forget how awesome games like Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, Moondancer and even Sonic were back in the day, though, just to name a few. I think in the end, it's a toss up for me. I must prefer SNES to some degree because I've made collecting that a bigger priority right now... But then again, that's probably due to it being more popular in general when it comes to collecting. Knowing that I have to compete more to get titles like Super Metroid, TMNT IV, etc. means I'm more likely to search them out, whereas I just get Genesis titles when it's convenient.
I only had the SNES, so there's that, but I still consider it one of the best overall consoles I've ever owned. I think when you're a kid, you're just jealous when friends have something different. I only ever had Nintendo consoles when I was young, but the Genesis just seemed so cool.
Even back then, it was a very clear choice for me. SNES. Yes, it is still probably is the best console of all time. I grew up with the Genesis since it came but never owned one. I always had a friend who had one. Games like Eswat, Shadowdancer, Ghostbusters, Moonwalker, Castle Of Illusion, Streets of Rage are right up there in my retro nostalgia filled heart.
Both If you had only one, you missed out on great games on the other. I had a Mega Drive and my brother a Super Nintendo. Good times
I had the Genesis first and got the SNES a bit later and ultimately I felt the SNES had a better library. Now, I didn't really play shooters or sports games, which the Genesis had a better library of, so if that's what you like than the Genesis would probably win out. However, how many of those sports and shooter games are considered timeless, well known classics that are still talked about a lot? Anyone is free to love the Genesis and it had it's fair share of hits, but are there any games on the Genesis that can go toe to toe with the likes of Chrono Trigger, Super Metroid, Final Fantasy 3, Secret of Mana, Mario World, Yoshi's Island, Mario Kart, F-Zero, Earthbound, Megaman X, Starfox etc. in terms of timelessness and lasting appeal?
This, I think, has a lot to do with how successful Nintendo has been SINCE the SNES. Not all, but some, at least. Would Genesis classics like Altered Beast, Golden Axe, Strider, Sonic, Ecco the Dolphin, Gunstar Heroes, Shinobi, etc. be viewed today as "timeless" in the same sense as some of the titles you mention, had Sega been more successful in updating their properties (to say nothing of staying in the console game) for newer generation systems? Hard to say. I'm tempted to say SNES would still be the winner, but it'd probably be a lot closer, I think.
Story of Thor, Soleil, Langrisser, Landstalker, Phantasy Star, Castlevania - The New Generation, Sonic 1-3, Thunderforce IV, Probotector, Mega Turrican, Revenge of Shinobi, Shinobi III, Mega Bomberman, Rocket Knight Adventures, Streets of Rage 3, Ecco the Dolphin, Musha Aleste, Robo Aleste and Soulstar to name a few. Sega's downfall was a lot mishandling their plans and too few advertising, while Nintendo was everywhere.
I was as disappointed as anyone that Sega didn't carry over many of their properties to the Saturn, and less so with the Dreamcast since it at least had a Sonic. I can't fathom why we never saw another Streets of Rage, single player Phantasy Star, actual adventure based Golden Axe etc. I still think a lot of those games don't really hold up to some of the SNES games I mentioned though, bad marketing or not. For me, the 16-bit days were before I was old enough to get a "real" job, so the only times I could get games were birthdays and Christmases. So, when I asked for a game, I wanted to make sure that there was a lot of meat to it. Games like Streets of Rage and Sonic and Golden Axe were fun but could easily be beaten during a single weekend, so I rented them. When it was time to ask for a game, it was usually a SNES game since the RPGs were more popular and Nintendo did a better job of adding longevity to a game. Super Metroid could be beat in a couple hours, but I probably spent over 30 looking for everything. The platformers like Mario, Yoshi and Donkey Kong all had tons of secrets and levels when compared to any of the Genesis platformers. For the record, I still loved Sega. I really enjoyed the Saturn and the Dreamcast, but of course their lack of support and reliance on arcade ports rather than the franchises that made them special during the 16-bit days really disappointed me. I gave them all the support I could.
My brother had a SNES & the Mega Drive when I was a kid & the SNES was the big winner for me although nearly everyone at my school went with Sega.
My brother owned the SNES and I had the SEGA Genesis... with the 32x. At that time, I always felt like the SEGA games were unique (maybe more edgy) in comparison to the SNES. Yet, I liked the SNES games more and they seemed more fun too. I think my most played games on the Genesis were the wrestling games.
In the context of the time, its ultimately about what games you wanted/liked the most. Anyone saying otherwise is talking shit IMO. In the context of today, I think its safe to say that SNES has largely won out whereas the the MD has become a victim of where the market went and what Sega did after that console generation. Having said all that, arguing about 80s to early 00s platforms is a mostly pointless exercise IMO because all the major players brought notably different things to the table in their era. The notion of being into early-mid 90s games and not being invested in SNES, MD and PC at the very least is totally ridiculous to me.
CONSOLE FITE! Let's reinvigorate a fight that's decades long past dead! FYI, I never owned a SNES or a Megadrive (as it was called in the UK) but one I thing I did want to see was a Mega CD in action. FMV games like Night Trap have like, totally stood the test of time. Spoiler BWAHAHAHAHAH. OMG, no they haven't. That was weird, and curious why they didn't embrace their 16bit heritage. The fact they left Sonic until Sonic Jam was just... baffling. I suspect they had a 3D Sonic game in development and that the 3D bits of Sonic Jam sprung from that, but they couldn't get a convincing enough 3D Sonic game to work. As to Streets of Rage, well we got Die Hard/Dynamite Deka, which was an absolute blinder of a game. The real question is why we didn't get any kind of sequel to that. Edit Ahh, according to google we did get a sequel... either I'm completely forgotten about it... or I never heard of it. I 'may' have a copy... somewhere.
