Not a massive fan of the MegaDrive

[Leon Retro]

I agree that the MD had a much better cpu and could do some cool stuff, but at the end of the day the Snes graphical capabilities allowed for a much crisper colourful display.

I had the MD first and thought it was excellent compared to the Amiga. Then the day I went to my friendly importer and saw the SFC for the first time was like entering fantasyland. I was in a trance, the hi-res sharp graphics, and the way every game looked so slick and fresh really nearly made me weep with joy.

I wasn't imagining this, it wasn't some Nintendo fanboy wetdream this was a glorious moment in my gaming life, I knew from that moment the SFC would go down as the best console in history.

Whilst a few games had some slow-down, who cared the games were AAA anyway. Developers soon got used to the machine, and all the initial glitches were left behind.

I soon relegated my MD to secondary status. The SFC was put on a throne, I worshipped it as the God of gaming. Such delights were bestowed upon SFC owners in it's reign as King of consoles that those days are now looked upon as paradise lost.

I have gone back to the MD and it is a great machine, mainly because some developers went against the odds and produced some technical marvels. I like the range of shooters, and the treasure stuff is excellent, as are the arcade conversions. I then play some SFC games, and whilst the MD has games to match the playability, the MD can never come close to the majestic glory of a AAA SuperFamicom game.

[2FreshRecords]

The thing is the SFC had something that no other brand except Nintendo could ever have the pure genius "Shigeru Miyamoto" the guy was on fire in the early 90's! and delivered soooooo many classic titles for the SFC

[2FreshRecords]

I was told when Enix released Dragon Quest V in around September 1992 it was GameOver to any compertition the SFC had had till then.

[Leon Retro]

The thing is, all the top developers for the SFC were on fire. They seemed so enthused by the machine, the quality of output has never been equaled.

All the SFC obsession and excitement was electric. Games were not only graphically amazing, but new genre's were being created and it was like the industry was going into overdrive. Every game from Nintendo was AAA, they were so hot NCL nearly caught fire. This atmosphere inspired so much creativity within the industry, people just loved to make games for the machine.

The SFC was the last of the Nintendo machines to attract major third-party support. The amount of development was phenomenal, just look at Goeman and its four incarnations. All over the world, people embraced SFC development, even British Softcos enjoyed and pushed the machine with games like Equinox, Plok and DonkeyKong.

There is little doubt in my mind that the SuperFamicom will be remembered as the true masterpiece of the 90's and be seen as prove that Nintendo at their best can rule the console market.

The MD without Sonic though would probably be seen as just another bygone console. Imagine if the Americans had never had Madden, that says a lot.

It doesn't matter that people like the MD and that it does have a selection of great games because it will always be in the shadow of the might SFC.

[Yakumo]

I owned a Mega Drive and a SFC. At first I loved My Mega Drive with such great titles ('All original) such as Super Shinobi, Devil Crash, Bare Knuckle 1 & 2, Alisa Dragoon, Sonic 1 & 2, Out Run, After Burner II, Strider, Gouls & Ghosts, Aero Blasters, Thunder Force 2,3 & 4, Virtua Racing and so on. I had over 60 original Mega Drive games (All Japanese even when I lived in the UK). Then the Super Famicom ! I fell in love with it after seeing F-Zero and Pilotwings. Mario does nothing for me and never will. In my eyes Sonic wins hands down. Still, the SFC did have the upper hand in grabbing my attention. I owned about 30 odd original carts (Japanese again) and probably every game released on 3.5 inch discs (I was in the know, you could say). For a few years until I got my Saturn on the day of release, the SFC became my number one system with the poor MD and Mega CD stuck to the side. These days however I really enjoy both machines. The Mega Drive still suffers in areas such as colour or sound compared to many SFC games but it does seem to offer the more "Beefer" Games if you knwo what I mean. take Bare Knuckle on the Mega Drive then fine it's rival on the SFC. What do you have? Final Fight m 2 and 3. Hmm they are good but no where near as good as Bare knuckle. then there's Rushing Beat series on the SFC. While the 3rd was good the other two are quite poor. Same goes for shooters. THe MD was far better. Only Super Aleste and Macross on the SFC were really any good. Parodius 1 to 3 were nice but I felt they weren't really serious enough to qualify

Anyway, what I want to say is that both systems to me are wonderful but I can't help in thinking that the SFC was the better one. Still, the SFC is the PlayStation of the time while the Mega Drive was the Saturn. this makes Mega Drive more interesting to collect for in my eyes.

Yakumo

[tokyochojin]

oh god, not this old chestnut again....

[Kotatsu Neko]

When I think of the MD I always think low-res, and when I think of the SFC I savour that feeling I had when I first witnessed it's ultra sharp hi-res image.

It was basically down to raw resolution. The SNES was 256x200, but the Mega Drive was 320x200.

It could only muster 64 colours on screen at once of course, the SNES could handle 256.

I think with games like Thunderforce 4 it just comes down to amazing use of those 64 colours, packing in superbly detailed visuals (and so looking much crisper than a SNES), and throwing around many more sprites than a SNES could ever handle without chronic slowdown.

[wheelaa]

Not really a chestnut I wanna debate...

However there's a lot of talk about colours, resolution, developers on fire, pushing the machine etc. That's all well and good but I still only want to play games that are truly enjoyable..and ideally those that take me to a new level of pleasure. Sure the sfc has 100s of games that are worth playing..its just that the 30 or so top md games are streets ahead imo.

I suppose a parallel in my eyes would be between the ps1 and n64..both kinda flourishing at similar timespans etc..the ps1 a massive library of good games..the n64 a smaller library but such superior quality.

Quality over quantity I always say, and as a scrolling fighter fan the md is the king!

PS you still suck 2fresh

[Baseley09]

Megadrive is for narly arcade games, Super Famicom is for kids, girls and latent homosexuals.

[Duddyroar]

oh god, not this old chestnut again....

Amen to that...I'm getting flashbacks of playground arguments back in 1991...

It could only muster 64 colours on screen at once of course, the SNES could handle 256

Didn't Eternal Champions display 256 colours at once? It was the only MD game that did, mind you.

Personally the one console I would never, ever get rid of is my MD. It was my first real console (and also the first import console I owned) and I still play MD games today. I love the machine to bits. Some of the games are utterly timeless. Games like Sonic, Golden Axe, Gunstar Heroes, Alien Storm, Shinobi, Shadow Dancer, Shining Force, Alex Kidd, Aero Blasters, MUSHA, Herzog Zwei...these are games that I grew up loving. I love my SNES, but to a far lesser degree.

I think in terms of instant appeal the MD always wins for me. It just seemed to be the 'cooler' console of the two. But the best way to enjoy them is to have both. This argument was valid back in the early 90's when owning both machines would cost you an arm and a leg but these days you can get both consoles and some games for the same money you'd spend on a full price modern game...so there's no point in arguing about it now.

[wheelaa]

[QUOTE=Duddyroar]


Didn't Eternal Champions display 256 colours at once? It was the only MD game that did, mind you.

[QUOTE]

Not too sure...I seem to recall that it was 256 colours on the mcd version only. From memory the mcd could handle 128 colours on screen as standard, but a unique compression tool or something meant that you could swing the mcd to do 256 colours..with eternal champions being the one game to utilise this.

But second your point about owning both now..both are must haves (although I'd rather have pce than sfc any day)

[Ady]

It?s like the C64 vs Spectrum all over again.

I had an MD back in the day (essentially the Speccy to the SNES's C64, if you will), but experienced the SNES some time later. Technically, there was no contest in that the SNES was easily the superior machine, but both had great games (though the MD had the edge where shooters were concerned because of its faster processor).

The MD also had the best version of Flashback - but there are exceptions to every rule (see Speccy Renegade). These exceptions do not override the rule, however.

[Tirian]

Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

Suffice to say, everyone here knows which they prefer, and there is little or no danger of anybody changing anybody else's mind. So why keep at it?

Tirian

[DjSatansfury]

For me personally, it kicked strips out of the SNES. But i suppose many wouldnt agree

[Duddyroar]

Me too. The MD games just seemed faster and more exciting. For slower paced games like RPGs, the SNES usually won though.