Genesis vs SNES - The personal Vietnam

[StMaryPiper]

Time for the age old question. Are you a Sega Genesis type of guy or do you enjoy Super Nintendo? You can enjoy both but you need to choose one over the other

 

[Pee Cola]

Team Genesis here, for three simple reasons:

1. Genesis developers were better at squeezing out every last drop of performance than SNES developers, proving that specs aren't everything.

2. The SNES version of Mortal Kombat was cucked by the Big N. It also didn't help that MK had better gameplay on the Genesis than the SNES.

3. I'm not American.

That all being said, I think everyone ITT can agree that the Atari Jaguar was for crayon eaters.

 

[Overwritten Tapes]

Made more memories with the Snes

 

[SSj_Ness (Yiffed)]

Then Stadium launched, you wouldn't believe how many people got an N64 just for that single game

Me

1. Genesis developers were better at squeezing out every last drop of performance than SNES developers, proving that specs aren't everything

They both pushed the systems hard. I never played it but footage of a certain late Jurassic Park game for Genesis looked great (and the arguably better looking version of Aladdin).

On the other hand SNES had Street Fighter Alpha 2 and the DKC games, which look almost too good.

 

[cybertoaster]

Me

See that's my point exactly, without pokemon the N64 would've ended like the Saturn or worse since the latter was at least huge in Japan. Also nobody was buying Gameboys anymore, so where would Nintendo get its money? at least SEGA dominated the arcades which were still a thing.

They both pushed the systems hard

Not really, the Snes relied a lot on FX chips which also made the games more expensive. Its not just the 3D games like Starfox that used it, basically any game that pushed things like DKC and SMW2 used the FX. Don't know why they didn't go for an FX adapter, something like the super gameboy but with the FX chip so you didn't have to buy it again with every game.

BTW that's another product I only saw people getting to be able to play pokemon on TV back then.

 

[Pissmaster]

That all being said, I think everyone ITT can agree that the Atari Jaguar was for crayon eaters.

It was, though the bit of Atari Lynx I've gotten to play made me want to get one. Pretty neat handheld I didn't even realize was a thing when it was current.

The Snes was really about JRPGs, but you had to be a real autist/weeb to play those old turn-based JRPGs with anime-tier writing back then.

They were also like $80 a pop and only Toys R Us carried them in my area. Unless you grew up with wealthy parents, you had to be a dedicated fuckin' autist to point at one and declare that as the only thing you're getting for Christmas that year. (me)

I don't even remember SNES games being all that common in bargain bins, or at least anything worthwhile landing in them. SNES games were expensive.

https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ says that a dollar in 1993 has the buying power in 2023 of $2.12, so you can take any of those prices, double them, and add 12%. Plus your state's sales tax. Imagine paying like $120 for fuckin' Monopoly.

 

[SSj_Ness (Yiffed)]

See that's my point exactly, without pokemon the N64 would've ended like the Saturn or worse since the latter was at least huge in Japan. Also nobody was buying Gameboys anymore, so where would Nintendo get its money? at least SEGA dominated the arcades which were still a thing.

That's true to an extent, but I doubt the Game Boy was ever dead in the water. I'm sure its sales were significantly slowed down, though I assume still a decent revenue stream. I think you're right about Pokemon bolstering the N64 quite a bit, there's a reason they pumped out half a dozen games for it (all spin-offs, granted),

Not really, the Snes relied a lot on FX chips which also made the games more expensive. Its not just the 3D games like Starfox that used it, basically any game that pushed things like DKC and SMW2 used the FX. Don't know why they didn't go for an FX adapter, something like the super gameboy but with the FX chip so you didn't have to buy it again with every game.

BTW that's another product I only saw people getting to be able to play pokemon on TV back then.

Did DKC use the FX chip? I wasn't aware of that. If true I guess that explains why it looks so great.

I don't even remember SNES games being all that common in bargain bins, or at least anything worthwhile landing in them. SNES games were expensive.

I remember some decent games in there, most notably Beavis & Butthead, which is pretty underrated.

 

[Pissmaster]

Did DKC use the FX chip? I wasn't aware of that. If true I guess that explains why it looks so great.

No it didn't. It just uses a whole lot of prerendered sprites. https://superfamicom.org/info/super-donkey-kong

 

[Alex Hogendorp]

I grew up in China with a knockoff SNES that looks like a Genesis.

 

[SSj_Ness (Yiffed)]

No it didn't. It just uses a whole lot of prerendered sprites. https://superfamicom.org/info/super-donkey-kong

That's what I figured, I was like 99% sure it didn't. Imagine if they did use it, I bet the games would look even more incredible.

 

[Pissmaster]

That's what I figured, I was like 99% sure it didn't. Imagine if they did use it, I bet the games would look even more incredible.

I'm honestly a little surprised there were as many games that did use an expansion chip as there were. It's a dedicated GPU built into each cartridge.

Sega went with an ultimately more economical approach by asking people to buy the 32x for more enhanced games, while Nintendo just stuck a SuperFX chip in each and every copy of Star Fox and upcharged accordingly. Interestingly, Nintendo made the right call, as the customer wouldn't feel pressured to buy extra games to get their money's worth.

Then the N64 came along, and they designed the machine from the get-go to take a RAM expansion a few years down the line. I figure it's because RAM prices were still high but declining over time, but I never found out why they didn't just pin out the cartridges to allow more RAM built into themselves.

 

[Grub]

I had both. The SNES has a bunch of my favourite games of all time and I have great memories of playing together with my siblings and cousins. The Genesis had a few games I liked and some fun times playing together with my siblings and cousins.

I'd definitely say the SNES was better hands down pretty much in every way. It had more good games, better controllers (except that 6 button genesis one was better for fighting games) and was overall a better machine.

 

[SSj_Ness (Yiffed)]

I'm honestly a little surprised there were as many games that did use an expansion chip as there were. It's a dedicated GPU built into each cartridge.

Sega went with an ultimately more economical approach by asking people to buy the 32x for more enhanced games, while Nintendo just stuck a SuperFX chip in each and every copy of Star Fox and upcharged accordingly. Interestingly, Nintendo made the right call, as the customer wouldn't feel pressured to buy extra games to get their money's worth.

Then the N64 came along, and they designed the machine from the get-go to take a RAM expansion a few years down the line. I figure it's because RAM prices were still high but declining over time, but I never found out why they didn't just pin out the cartridges to allow more RAM built into themselves.

There's that many FX games? For as much useless gaming trivia I have memorized, for some reason I never looked at a complete list of FX games.

The 32x probably wasn't the right call, but since it wasn't very well supported I think that probably contributed to its lack of success. At least the Sega CD got a mainline Sonic game, they couldn't even bother with 32x.

Speaking of these special chips, there's Virtua Racer for Genesis which used some similar equivalent to FX. Supposedly it was even stronger than the FX, which makes it a shame there weren't more games that used it.

I don't know much about the N64's hardware development timeline, but maybe some of their decisions were based on the 64DD if it was planned early on. That's another thing I wish we saw more of.

 

[The Last Stand]

Genesis had more power and less censorship; SNES had more appeal and creativity.

If you'd want to play it safe, get an SNES. You couldn't go wrong either way.

 

[Pissmaster]

There's that many FX games? For as much useless gaming trivia I have memorized, for some reason I never looked at a complete list of FX games.

There aren't many at all, and there are a handful of other assorted chips used in very few other games. But every single copy of every game that used them had their own chip, so that's a lot of chips produced that'd wind up dedicated to their associated game.

I don't know much about the N64's hardware development timeline, but maybe some of their decisions were based on the 64DD if it was planned early on. That's another thing I wish we saw more of.

I guess they did bank on the 64DD being a thing, considering the Famicom Disk System was a success, and Nintendo was bound to know cartridges alone weren't gonna cut it going into the 21st century. The N64 had that DD slot from the start, after all.

Come to think of it, the Wii was the very first Nintendo console to not have a removeable door on the bottom that hid an expansion slot. I guess that's not gonna be a thing ever again. You ever see those crazy chunky GPU enclosures designed for laptops with Thunderbolt support, so you can have a real desktop GPU on a laptop? I figure that could be a thing for a new Switch dock, but I doubt Nintendo will ever do that.

 

[SSj_Ness (Yiffed)]

There aren't many at all, and there are a handful of other assorted chips used in very few other games. But every single copy of every game that used them had their own chip, so that's a lot of chips produced that'd wind up dedicated to their associated game.

Seems the only one I wasn't aware of there was Doom using the FX chip. I just learned about the Winter Olympics one recently thanks to SNES Drunk (it looks pretty good).

Too bad we didn't get to see that cancelled Transformers game listed there, even if it'd probably have been bad like most of the series' games.

I guess they did bank on the 64DD being a thing, considering the Famicom Disk System was a success, and Nintendo was bound to know cartridges alone weren't gonna cut it going into the 21st century. The N64 had that DD slot from the start, after all.

That probably explains why so many games for it were cancelled or altered, if they did intend for it early on. Sometimes those types of slots do go unused though, I remember Vita had some type of mystery slot that never got used and was actually removed in its revisions. Oddly, I don't think it was ever definitively determined what that was.

Come to think of it, the Wii was the very first Nintendo console to not have a removeable door on the bottom that hid an expansion slot. I guess that's not gonna be a thing ever again. You ever see those crazy chunky GPU enclosures designed for laptops with Thunderbolt support, so you can have a real desktop GPU on a laptop? I figure that could be a thing for a new Switch dock, but I doubt Nintendo will ever do that.

I doubt it too, but it'd be the perfect solution for the people screeching that Nintendo consoles are too weak (admittedly that was also me to a certain extent back in the Wii days, now I barely care as long as it's strong enough to consistently get downports and not lose 3rd part support).

 

[Dynamite Bean]

Both are great but I honestly just love Donkey Kong Country 1 and 2, Earthbound, Megaman 7, and Yoshi's Island more than anything on the genesis

 

[UCT]

Happy that I grew up with both so that gay console war never was a factor in my life, but if I had to pick it would be the Super Nintendo 100%. I love the Genesis but I am a jrpg fag and the SNES was the literal holy grail for that shit, plus Im a Nintendo simp so I always have to bing bing wahoo.

 

[cybertoaster]

Unless you grew up with wealthy parents, you had to be a dedicated fuckin' autist

Dude you're at the main library for autism and you're asking that?

Anyway, rich kids I knew had a 3DO or even an AES, the Ferrari of consoles.

Did DKC use the FX chip? I wasn't aware of that. If true I guess that explains why it looks so great.

Nah my bad, was thinking of Doom.

I grew up in China with a knockoff SNES that looks like a Genesis.

In the 90's?

Sega went with an ultimately more economical approach by asking people to buy the 32x for more enhanced games

Nah the real genius idea that didn't happen was to make the SVP into an adapter like the S&K cart was and you just pop SVP-only games on it. Would've been a far better choice than the 32X, less expensive and wouldn't compete with the Saturn.

But hey, its SEGA...

There's that many FX games?

9, even the 32X had more games.

there's Virtua Racer for Genesis which used some similar equivalent to FX. Supposedly it was even stronger than the FX, which makes it a shame there weren't more games that used it.

Yeah the SVP, an overpowered chip made by samsung and expensive like shit, Virtua Racing was $100 for one game, adjusted for inflation that's more than a Switch lite today, you could buy a GameGear for that much.

The SVP could do 25 MIPS while the FX chips were about 1.5, plus double the RAM, so had SEGA gone ahead with the adapter thing you could've had Doom on the Genesis running better than the Snes, albeit with less colors. Virtua Fighter was being developed for the SVP it got moved to the 32X and maybe that's why it looks like that, because it was actually a Genesis game.

considering the Famicom Disk System was a success

Sort of, it got pirated to fuck near the end which is why the NA version while planned it never launched.

but I doubt Nintendo will ever do that.

Addons were really a product of their time when the idea of having to throw away electronics because the battery is old was insane and even laptops had modular designs where you could swap and repair every single bit, with IBM thinkpads it was even toolless. So in the spirit of the time it made perfect sense to sell you an addon to a game console rather than a new console.

But today nobody cares, so why would nintendo sell you a eGPU when they can sell you a new Switch?

 

[Waifu Days]

PC Engine

 

[Ouro Boros]

For a time, Genesis was definitely the best option considering the only other competition was the TurboGrafx-16....but the SNES was way better in every way, as aside from the library, it also had improved sprite capabilities, hardware that can output a ton of more power at once without needing 2 extra adaptors, a more robust sound chip that doesn't sound like digital farts half of the time (sorry), 6-button controllers from day 1, and can even display limited 3D capabilities.
But what's the best part about it? Nintendo didn't suffer from success, knew when to end their console support, and didn't need to make 2 add-ons to artificially extend the lifetime of their console because the hardware was already decaying the moment it was 4 years old. Sega was....well, all of those things that Nintendo didn't do.