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Did the Super Nintendo actually win the 16-Bit war?

Did the SNES beat out Blast Processing?

  • No, Sega moved on to the Saturn.

    Votes: 69 16.0%
  • Yes, the SNES outperformed the Genesis commercially.

    Votes: 361 84.0%

  • Total voters
    430

cireza

Banned
Oh, I missed that. So it's drawing different sprites for each plane as in Fatal Fury 2.
This is a Treasure game so I wouldn't be surprised if it was scaled real time. And there are several games including scaling examples on MD anyway (Puggsy, Monster World IV for example).

Art of Fighting uses mode 7 for the background it seems (so it is a flat picture, no parallax). Characters use some trickery that could be achievable on MD. Even though it is nice to note the effort, it honestly doesn't look that good in my opinion. Zooming is an awful feature for fighting games as far as I am concerned. Super distracting and pointless in games where there is no particular ranged gameplay.
 
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Romulus

Member
I am not too sure what you are getting at. Starfox uses a chip to push 3D and it is still very basic. Virtua Racing uses a chip and pushes a real 3D engine with full backgrounds, great speed at a good framerate. It is much more impressive than Starfox. @Alexios shared some good examples of racing games looking 3D and being very smooth, without any chip added. These consoles were not meant to push 3D anyway, as they are tile-based. It makes everything very difficult.


Well okay, but Doom is also using a 20 MHz chip lol... Zero Tolerance is base MD hardware. What equivalent do we have on SNES with textured walls and super smooth gameplay without any chip ? Wolfenstein ? Game looks super poor and MD has a much better port available from the homebrew scene. There is also Bloodshot on MegaDrive for example.


That's really my point. The SNES had some examples of games that looked fully 3d and no one at that time really knew about add on chips outside of hardcore fans. It made impact that the SNES could run really "technical" games like Doom or Starfox. It didn't really matter at that time, it just did it. And of course, Virtua Racing is more impressive, it cost almost double what and FX chip game did. It just seemed like a ridiculous idea that you needed $100 to run full 3d on genesis at that time.

Wolfenstein is actually much better than Zero Tolerance and it's not great. It renders way more of the screen and the pop is not even existent by comparison. Using a homebrew post 30 years later is a really bad example with modern coding. We're talking about 90s development. I wouldn't even bring up bloodshot, that sort of goes more to my point. But again, none of that matter. An SNES example existed that was just fair more complex for $10 more.
 
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cireza

Banned
Wolfenstein is actually much better than Zero Tolerance
I disagree on this point.
Using a homebrew post 30 years later is a really bad example with modern coding.
I don't get your point. The modern homebrew port runs on base hardware and is super impressive. There is absolutely no reason to discard it.
We're talking about 90s development.
You maybe ? Not me. I am talking SNES and MD games and development as a whole.
An SNES example existed that was just fair more complex for $10 more.
But who tells you that with a 20 MHz chip we would not have a comparable result on MegaDrive ? And SEGA had already moved to 32X anyway : Doom was released on it before it was released on SNES. As impressive as the SNES game can be, it is still a super low resolution game (it maybe moderately fills the screen, but it is still very low resolution), no floor, no ceiling and you couldn't event circle-strafe until fans patched the game recently. Yes it was nice and all, but as a game ? It is less playable than others in the same genre on the MD/SNES.
 
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Romulus

Member
I disagree on this point.

I don't get your point. The modern homebrew port runs on base hardware and is super impressive. There is absolutely no reason to discard it.

You maybe ? Not me. I am talking SNES and MD games and development as a whole.

But who tells you that with a 20 MHz chip we would not have a comparable result on MegaDrive ? And SEGA had already moved to 32X anyway : Doom was released on it before it was released on SNES. As impressive as the SNES game can be, it is still a super low resolution game (it maybe moderately fills the screen, but it is still very low resolution), no floor, no ceiling and you couldn't event circle-strafe until fans patched the game recently. Yes it was nice and all, but as a game ? It is less playable than others in the same genre on the MD/SNES.

There's also Sonic on SNES without chips and Star Fox on Genesis without an enhancement chip. In another 30 years will have examples that blow those away. It's just not the same thing as others have mentioned.
I never said Doom wouldn't be possible on Genesis with an add on chip. Again, that's never been my point. And ragging on a 16bit port of Doom is just grasping considering what it's doing, all those 16bit shooters had to be comprised heavily.
Zero Tolerance has entire floors/walls/enemies appearing right in front of you and it runs in a super tiny window with 1/4 the screen and you think that's more impressive than Wolf? I think we're just exposing some really hardcore bias here. Even though I'm arguing for some SNES examples I wanted to have a real conversation. Just going to end it there.
 

cireza

Banned
Zero Tolerance has entire floors/walls/enemies appearing right in front of you and it runs in a super tiny window with 1/4 the screen and you think that's more impressive than Wolf?
A game can be full screen and smaller internal resolution than a windowed game. Zero Tolerance does not appear overly pixelated, unlike Doom and Wolfenstein.

Let's take a look at Wolfenstein in all its blurry glory :
61bokR0.png

As you can see, it wants to look fullscreen but it is actually super blurry. The drawn resolution is 224x160. But there is a catch...

0sQiav8.png

Each internal pixel is doubled horizontally and vertically. So the resolution is actually 112 x 80... Yeah, not so sexy.

And now Zero Tolerance :
U6tK20q.png

It uses a window that is 256x80. So that's only half the height of Wolfenstein, so big win for Wolfenstein no ???

xsHhFNs.png

Well it appears that every pixel is a real pixel. So Zero Tolerance actually pushes more pixels dans Wolfenstein. No wonder the game looks so much sharper.

zdYMFn1.png

This is a common trap. Games on SNES always looked much blurrier than on MegaDrive, due to the lower resolution as well as the much poorer video signal.

I did some analysis on Art of Fighting as well (very nice visuals for the SNES !), and the solution is that they are simply skipping one line and one column to create the zoom-out effect. This applies to both background and characters. So each tile (that was initially 8x8) ends up being 7x7, on a purely visual basis. I am not sure that Mode 7 is required for this.
 
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Fat Frog

I advertised for Google Stadia
You can't compare the available tools and knowledge of today VS the early 90's. Xeno Crysis would not be able to exist back then by a small dev with no resources.
Who cares ?

In 2022, we can play loads of new awesome games on a dynamic Genesis.

On the other hand, Snes fans are pissed off because they have almost nothing new except a few minor "games" 😆.

The Megadrive is not dead, it's just the beginning.
Deal with it 😎
 
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SF Kosmo

Al Jazeera Special Reporter
Going from a 95% market share to taking 5 years to claw your way back to 50% is a failure by any sane metric.

Which moved more units by EOL is apples and oranges given how Sega handled their transition to 32-bit, and which has a better game library is something you can reasonably debate on both sides, but it's very clear that Nintendo lost a massive amount of ground even with the deck stacked in their favor.
 
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Apples to oranges. Even so, comparing one of many to the best exploratory side scroller of all time?

I'm not comparing Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master to either of those games, but i'll take one of the best action - sidescrollers of all times, which isn't one of many 🤷‍♂️, over Backtracking: The Game.

Seriously, i could never get into Metroid or Zelda, despite me giving a good chunk of my time to most of their respective entries.
 

cireza

Banned
So I took some time to check and as expected for Art of Fighting, it is a very simple trick.

Here is a fully zoomed character :
kTmndlp.png

Tiles are 16x16 and they are situated next to each other as expected (122 +16 = 138)

The zoom-out effect is done like this : don't draw the last two columns, don't draw the last two lines (make it the transparent color), and make the sprites overlap by 2 pixels right and bottom. As seen here :

AEZuCdz.png

I don't see any reason for the MegaDrive not being able to do this.

Finally the background :
945IRxl.png

This is Mode 7. The MegaDrive could not do this. So in the end, it is the lack of Mode 7 that is real issue here. The zoom-out effect on the characters could be handled without any issue. Which makes sense, as Yu Yu Hakusho displays exactly this feature on MegaDrive.

The use of Mode 7 means that you lose all parallax and line scroll effects. It is nice to see in this game, but it is largely debatable if it looks better than parallax + line scroll. Even though the SNES could do this, it wasn't the most common choice.

SEGA used parallax for the background and line scroll for the foreground. Also backgrounds look slightly more detailed, probably because the Mode 7 limits the number of tiles available (as seen in my picture above). This makes perfect sense and the game looks very good on MegaDrive. Sprite size is the same between both consoles.
 
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Romulus

Member
Just to set things straight about who knew:


and on the game boxes of most super FX games displayed it prominently:
51206_front.jpg

FOk7SVEX0AUkUr_.jpg:large

game002box.jpg

480681-DD23.jpg




But most kids didn't understand there was an actual coprocessor inside the cart that aided the console. FX chip just looked like marketing techno jargon to the masses and it played better looking/different games.
 
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I think that it was fine for the SEGA-CD, it was never the intention to boost the color palette. 32X override the video output so it had a much larger palette, but when you start doing this, you might as well make a full fledged console and move on with your life (which in the end means skipping the 32X and going directly to Saturn).

On the Sega CD it made the FMV games look pukey, and limited the potential of any games otherwise enhanced by the added scaling abilities.

The 32X lacked native video hardware for scrolling 2d images, so it relied on the Genesis to handle backgrounds that were color-limited.


Who cares ?

In 2022, we can play loads of new awesome games on a dynamic Genesis.

On the other hand, Snes fans are pissed off because they have almost nothing new except a few minor "games" 😆.

The Megadrive is not dead, it's just the beginning.
Deal with it 😎

Says Mr. Stadia as user image.

I'm not going to knock PS2 for not having a homebrew scene because it's hard to program.

I'm not comparing Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master to either of those games, but i'll take one of the best action - sidescrollers of all times, which isn't one of many 🤷‍♂️, over Backtracking: The Game.

Seriously, i could never get into Metroid or Zelda, despite me giving a good chunk of my time to most of their respective entries.

There are games that are much, much worse with backtracking. Super Metroid has plenty of shortcuts that open up as you progress.

If you don't care for exploration as much, that's one thing.
 
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But most kids didn't understand there was an actual coprocessor inside the cart that aided the console. FX chip just looked like marketing techno jargon to the masses and it played better looking/different games.
If you want to be pedantic they didn't know what the chips inside the SNES/Genesis did either. I mean, even now as a relatively tech savvy person I don't know EXACTLY what the FX chip does (I could not program it before doing serious research, and I would fail to understand the math anyway).
 

Celine

Member
Are you aware that most of the 1995 and 1996 games were available on SEGA consoles ?
You are talking to someone who knows the NPD software revenue estimates for each platform in 1995 and 1996.
The chart you've quoted highlight the "not so strong" Sega first-party games sales in US, at least since 1995.

I didn't say the Saturn was competitive with the PSX in 1996 specifically although they were compared to the later parts of that year early on, but i was referring to launch window, as what was brought up befor.e

Also NPD dollar sales are pointless, and I said SEGA was the the number one game company in the US in 1996 not the Saturn.
Sega Saturn was never competitive in US, not even in 1995.
PS1 surpassed Saturn cumulative HW sales within the launch month and for the year 1995 PS1 software was more than twice higher than Saturn cumulative software dollar sales (and not because PlayStation launched particularly strong, in fact in US the 32 bit generation had a relatively slow start).
N64 surpassed Saturn cumulative HW sales in US within its second month and by the end of 1996 N64 software dollar sales were markedly higher Saturn cumulative software dollar sales up that point in time.
In US Saturn bite the dust from the get go.

Software revenue in US was higher on Nintendo platforms than Sega platforms (and Sony's) for both 1995 and 1996.
 
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This is Mode 7. The MegaDrive could not do this. So in the end, it is the lack of Mode 7 that is real issue here. The zoom-out effect on the characters could be handled without any issue. Which makes sense, as Yu Yu Hakusho displays exactly this feature on MegaDrive
The PC engine CD version of this game seems to offer a similar trick as the characters do in the SNES version of this game for the whole screen.

It's a bit jarring, but that must have been pretty impressive back in the days:
 
On the Sega CD it made the FMV games look pukey, and limited the potential of any games otherwise enhanced by the added scaling abilities.

The 32X lacked native video hardware for scrolling 2d images, so it relied on the Genesis to handle backgrounds that were color-limited.




Says Mr. Stadia as user image.

I'm not going to knock PS2 for not having a homebrew scene because it's hard to program.



There are games that are much, much worse with backtracking. Super Metroid has plenty of shortcuts that open up as you progress.

If you don't care for exploration as much, that's one thing.
I think that what he means is that the controls in Shinobi III are some of the best in a side scroller ever. They're responsive, offers enough depth and punch to be satisfying. But the music in this game is horrible, it kind of ruins the ambiance for me.

Super Metroid is a timeless classic, despite it's awkward controls and repetitive graphics. The music, exploration and general ambiance just come together perfectly in the end.

Not gonna argue against your takes on the 32x and Sega CD. SoA ruined the Sega CD by pushing for FMV games and the 32x has a decent library, but no big hitter and its lack of scrolling ability makes it borderline useless for 2d games.
 

cireza

Banned
The PC engine CD version of this game seems to offer a similar trick as the characters do in the SNES version of this game for the whole screen.

It's a bit jarring, but that must have been pretty impressive back in the days:

In this case it is done with two different set of tiles changed on the fly. The update process is a but weird, as they don't change the entirety of the background at once but proceed with various parts. That's why is looks weird. But in the end, I have only seen two versions of the tiles (near and far) and not more.

The Game Gear implements the same idea with Ninku 2, but does it in a much cleaner way. Amazing 8 bit fighter by the way.
 
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Belthazar

Member
Yes, but the way they handled their relation with developers and publishers due (and to maintain) that advantage meant they all flocked and ran away from them as soon as a viable competitor arrived.

But yes it did win in the end, even though the Genesis did fantastic .
 

Belthazar

Member
Wait were the numbers really that low? Which countries had poor game sales around that time compared to now?

The videogame market was just a different size at the time, it didn't have the mass appeal it has today. It wasn't common for adults to buy a SNES for themselves for example, unlike today.
 
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Lunarorbit

Member
Just to set things straight about who knew:


and on the game boxes of most super FX games displayed it prominently:
51206_front.jpg

FOk7SVEX0AUkUr_.jpg:large

game002box.jpg

480681-DD23.jpg


But most kids didn't understand there was an actual coprocessor inside the cart that aided the console. FX chip just looked like marketing techno jargon to the masses and it played better looking/different games.
Granted I subscribed to Nintendo power but I totally knew what the fx chip was as a 10-12 year old kid. Remember mega blast processing! that was splashed everywhere for Sonic when he came out? I knew more about the fx chip than segas technology.

Nintendo had it in more games too and advertised it better probably cause sega was winning the pr battle already. Sega games felt faster so maybe this was Nintendos tech response
 

German Hops

GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief
Kids, forget your Xbox vs PlayStation pish. This was THE console war of all console wars and it's seemingly still going on for some. These two titans will never die.
Yeah, some people actually think that old age console wars die off...

This thread proves otherwise.
 
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Granted I subscribed to Nintendo power but I totally knew what the fx chip was as a 10-12 year old kid. Remember mega blast processing! that was splashed everywhere for Sonic when he came out? I knew more about the fx chip than segas technology.

Nintendo had it in more games too and advertised it better probably cause sega was winning the pr battle already. Sega games felt faster so maybe this was Nintendos tech response
The Genesis is pretty good with sprites, that probably helped with the idea that games were more arcadey on it (the street fighter games had more speed options on the Geny, brawlers had more enemies on screen at once, sprites often had more animation frames, etc.).

I'm not one to dismiss the advantage the SNES had because of the extra chips, the machine's architecture was built to take full advantage of them, this is part of the architecture, and games like donkey Kong do very impressive stuff without them.
 
SNES first party (and many third party) games still hold up perfectly today, and many of them are still the best games in their respective genres. Mario World, Super Metroid, Link to the Past, Yoshi's Island, Donkey Kong Country, Chrono Trigger, FF5/6, Earthbound, not to mention the weird/awesome experimental shit like Mario Paint and Super Scope 6.

Sega never had a stellar lineup of games until the Dreamcast launched.
 
I think that what he means is that the controls in Shinobi III are some of the best in a side scroller ever. They're responsive, offers enough depth and punch to be satisfying. But the music in this game is horrible, it kind of ruins the ambiance for me.

Super Metroid is a timeless classic, despite it's awkward controls and repetitive graphics. The music, exploration and general ambiance just come together perfectly in the end.

Eh.. i never was a gamer back then. I have always been a PC gamer since '98, and took an interest in console gaming through emulation in '03, then finally took the plunge in home console gaming '08 with a 360. I bought physical machines of each respective console of the 4th generation in 2008 - 2009 for the first time to collect for them, then promptly sold them off and stuck with emulation.

Out of the 4th generation machines, i've had a strong inclination towards the SEGA Mega Drive (and PC Engine) because i don't know, those fast, twitch, responsive 2D games produce a much stronger kick of enjoyment than almost anything on the SNES. I've explored each of their library extensively, i mean really fucking deep uncovering every single hidden gem that could potentially be worth experiencing before death. I love exploring retro libraries to know my history and to have a frame of reference. Each of them have their strength and weaknesses. They are the only two machines i can think of out of any home console ever made that complement each other to a near complete perfection. If you want to experience the best 2D video gaming has to offer, you gotta experience both of them.

Now individually speaking, i'll take fucking Shinobi III over Super Metroid because i love playing it a hell of a lot more, haha. I could go in details as to why, but i don't care that much. I don't intend to diss people that have strong emotional attachments towards it, because i know how hopelessly subjective this is.

And presently, i'm not on a 4th gen roll. I'm on a occasional 5th gen roll with the SEGA Saturn, in between the breaks i take from my obsession with Elden Ring.
 
in between the breaks i take from my obsession with Elden Ring.
Elden Ring stole GOTY awards from GoWR!!! Mouhahahah

Shinobi III is extremely satisfying to play, there is no mistake in that, but given that I witnessed Super Shinobi very close to releaseI have a softspot for it. If Yuzo Koshiro had time to make the sound track for III I would probably not have been disappointed with the music before I started playing the game (which kind of tainted my enjoyment of III).
 
I've explored each of their library extensively, i mean really fucking deep uncovering every single hidden gem that could potentially be worth experiencing before death.
I remember at a time I went through the libraries of all 8 and 16-bit machines + all the games that were on MAME around 2005.

However, I did a pass and did not go very weep in the libraries (I did take the time to replay some of the games that caught my attention, especially on the 16-bit machines).
 

pramod

Banned
Is the OP trying to say that even though SNES outsold the MD, it was sort of a tie?
I guess thats true. Both consoles ended up with long lives, huge varied libraries, and are still considered two of the most legendary systems of all time.

The only true loser of the 16bit war was the poor Turbo.
 

Romulus

Member
Kinda interesting. I guess since n64 was around the corner there was no point, but the animation is impressive.

 

Fat Frog

I advertised for Google Stadia
In the previous page, some people had the nerve to mock Sega hardwares... 🤣

Sega boys had a generational leap with the Genesis two years (!!!) before Nintendo and the console did remain competitive with the Snes years later.(i'll show screenshots from late multi on both consoles soon).

Some folks don't understand what 2 years difference means for most consoles:

1994 Sega hardware


1996 Nintendo hardware


1998 Sega Hardware



So... Who delivers the bigger gap in 2 years ? 😎

Look at you sad sad sad nintendogs 😁, you know i'm right.

Nintendo cheaped out Snes CPU, many elements of the N64 (dat sound lol) but did an exception with the pretty well balanced gamecube (powerful, efficient, cheap, good job honestly)...

And then the apocalypse 🤣.
Nintendo sold twice a rebranded 1.02 Gamecube feat sex toy called the Wii.

Always remember, Nintendo boys 😍 :
wii_fun.gif

In 2012, they sold another useless hardware a littie bit more powerful than a PS3... 😅(With ridiculous gimmick to justify the high price as always).

Stop the bullshit, Nintendogs.😜
The world would be better with Nintendo as publisher (you don't weak hardwares anymore. Imagine BOTW and Bayonetta 3 on PC...) and Sega as a console maker.(the Dreamcast was a good balance between performances and reasonable price).

Cheers 😇 (but Nintendo still sucks at hardware making💩)

PS:
1994 game (6 years after the Genesis launch...)

Where is the 2 years hardware difference ?
The genesis proves games could be very colorful on it (Snes has real transparency though) with less slowdown...

Traveler Tales confirmed later that the Genesis wasn't crushed by Snes hardware with the multi Toy Story in 95 (same tech as Donkey Kong... Of course, more colors on the Snes version but extra 3D kart level on Genesis.)
 
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Romulus

Member
In the previous page, some people had the nerve to mock Sega hardwares... 🤣

Sega boys had a generational leap with the Genesis two years (!!!) before Nintendo and the console did remain competitive with the Snes years later.(i'll show screenshots from late multi on both consoles soon).

Some folks don't understand what 2 years difference means for most consoles:

1994 Sega hardware


1996 Nintendo hardware


1998 Sega Hardware



So... Who delivers the bigger gap in 2 years ? 😎

Look at you sad sad sad nintendogs 😁, you know i'm right.

Nintendo cheaped out Snes CPU, many elements of the N64 (dat sound lol) but did an exception with the pretty well balanced gamecube (powerful, efficient, cheap, good job honestly)...

And then the apocalypse 🤣.
Nintendo sold twice a rebranded 1.02 Gamecube feat sex toy called the Wii.

In 2012, they sold another useless hardware a littie bit more powerful than a PS3... 😅(With ridiculous gimmick to justify the high price as always).

Stop the bullshit, Nintendogs.😜
The world would be better with Nintendo as publisher (you don't weak hardwares anymore. Imagine BOTW and Bayonetta 3 on PC...) and Sega as a console maker.(the Dreamcast was a good balance between performances and reasonable price).

Cheers 😇 (but Nintendo still sucks at hardware making💩)


The thing is, the SNES had a higher clock speed because of the FX chip. It's a legitimate argument.

Why?

Because it was an actual viable option for fans. For a measly $10 you could have games with much more CPU grunt of Genesis and more colors with like 10x more polygons per second. No one outside of hardcore fans cared that the snes was "cheating" lol, especially in the 90s. Most games in the 16bit era were 2d, so there was rarely any need for a higher clock for the vast majority of titles, but if it was needed, developers had options that were viable...and so did fans. :messenger_beaming:

SVP was not viable for anything other than breaking wallets. It was used once for a reason. It made no sense.

Starfox and Doom for example were content-rich for 16bit. Actually, Doom had more levels and monsters than some 32 bit versions, including the 32x.
 
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Fat Frog

I advertised for Google Stadia
That's just in general. It's been said for years on forums.
To be fair. I absolutely adore Genesis and Snes, it's like choosing between Tifa or Aerith. Impossible, so i had both of them 😎.

Gamecube was a pretty charming hardware as well but in terms of hardware Nintendo didn't respect us with the N64.The Wii was an insult ! (I'm not talking of the pretty good library, just the pathetic hardware).
 
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Naked Lunch

Member
I grew up a Nintendo kid. Used to think nothing could touch the SNES. I played and liked Streets of Rage back then but I was Nintendo fanboy for life in the 90s.

In the past few years I completed my retro setup and thats what I play mostly these days.
I gotta say playing currently, the Genesis holds up better in my eyes over the SNES.

The Genesis shmup library will simply never get old. Thunder Forces, Crying, Eliminate Down, Gleylancer.
And bangers like the Shinobis, Battle Mania, Alien Soldier, Leynos - SNES has nothing that compares.

Maybe if youre into soley JRPG grindfests - sure - but for pure action gaming, "Genesis does..."
 
Sega Saturn was never competitive in US, not even in 1995.

You are incorrect. Articles constantly had them announcing numbers making it seem competitive until sometime in 96.

In US Saturn bite the dust from the get go.

Nope, competitive=/=winning.

At the start of December they didn't have 500,000 units put together 1995.

In April 1996 Sony had only sold 1.2 million consoles in NORTH AMERICA, not even separating the US though would be most of it,
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1996/06/26/Sony-reports-strong-PlayStation-sales/2058835761600/
Prior to cutting the price of the 32-bit player, Sony reported it had sold 1.2 million of PlayStations in North America and 5 million worldwide. It did not disclose Wednesday how many additional machines it has sold. Jim Whims, executive vice president of Sony Computer Entertainment America, said, 'Typically, the summer months are a quiet season but the reaction from consumers has been dramatic. What we are experiencing is Christmas in June.' Roger Goddu, president of the Toys R Us chain, said his outlets are selling four times as many of the PlayStations and have increased software sales. 'We are ecstatic about the acceleration of PlayStation sales since the price decrease,' he said. '$199 finally positions a new platform at a price point which is mass/consumer-related.'
 

Drell

Member
As an SNES fanboy, I have to admit I love this console to death because it was my first one. My favorite game, for a long time was Kirby's Fun Pack (Superstar in USA) and I have a so much fond memories associated with childhood about the games on this console that I can't hate it. Even past the Nostalgia bias, my favorite games today are Fire Emblem 4 and 5 on this system, games I discovered later.

But that said, after some technical reading during all those year, I can clearly see Sega made better hardware choices. The Megadrive isn't crippled by some 8 bit data bus, slow DRAM, cheap slowrom cartridge chips or stretched image (thank you 256x240 res). They clearly knew what they were doing, being the leader of the arcade technology... The only real weakness this console had, in my opinion, is not even the color palette that was fine when used wisely but the sound system. Don't get me wrong, the YM2612 can produce beautiful sonorities in right hands. It's about those DAC samples. While today, some clever persons made drivers that make them sound right, back then, commercial games had these horrible voice sounding like the person who said it had sore throat. That always distracted me so much when trying Megadrive games. I even prefer the overly muffled voices from the SPC700. On that subject, I wonder why Sega chose the YM2612 which is a downgraded version of the YM2608. That one had the same FM + PSG capabilities but also a lot of sampled percussion channels and a free ADPCM channel.

That said, back then it was all about japan. SFC won in that country so 3rd party devs from there (the most important back then), except for some exceptions didn't care about Sega and gave everything to Nintendo. Sega Japan didn't care about US and Europe either since they killed the Megadrive for the Saturn while it was still being succesful there. Nintendo was free, launched DKC and it was over.

As a side note, I live in Switzerland and as an 89 kid, I got my SNES in 96 when the 16-bit war was over comercially. Despite this, most of us weren't spoiled brats whose parents automatically buyed them next gen consoles automatically. And so in my early school years, everyone was about SNES. I didn't even know the name "Megadrive". It was "the Sega", that console where you played Sonic who goes fast, and every kids were exchanging SNES games. So I guess it was a win for SNES in my turf, even if small :messenger_grinning_sweat:. Also, Next gens were only PS and N64, I don't even remember anyone talking about the Saturn. I learnt about the existence of that console years later when browsing emulation sites.

Thanks for reading
 

Romulus

Member
I sometimes forget how polished these games were. The 2d graphics were amazing at the time, but a lot of people overlooked the music and the polish of the platforming.

 
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