Not a massive fan of the MegaDrive

[hankwangford]

The SNES has some awesome RPGS, but the MD is often underrated in this respect. Shining Force 1, 2 & CD, Shining and the Darkness, Landstalker, Crusader of Centy, Phantasy Star 1, 2, 3 and 4 (4 is totally, totally awesome), Sword of Vermillion, Story of Thor, Langrisser 1 & 2, Bahamut Senki, Surging Aura, Y's and Blue Almanac are all decent RPGs. There's nothing on the MD that can stand up against Zelda but that's not to say you'd be missing out on the genre if you only owned a MD.

I'm glad someone passed comment on this. To say the SNES was the only option for RPGs is an ignorant point of view. Sure, it has more out and out "classics" but who are we to say Shining Force, Phantasy Star 4 and the Ys series aren't all classics? Solid, in depth RPGs are abound on both platforms.

Although I'll never ever forgive Sega OR Nintendo for not giving us an English version of Bahamut Senki. Mother****ers.

[Duddyroar]

Sculptured Software MK 1 and II on the Snes were more or less Arcade perfect. Probe’s MD ports didn’t come close

Hmmm. Maybe my memory is failing me. I seem to be remember the SNES version being really poor, and the MD version being excellent...probably the fact that the only thing that kept me interested in the series was the gore, and the MD version had it.

Come on you honestly believe that ?
Sensi was great for its time i was a true fan of the game. But the amount of options for a team with Iss deluxe was staggering.
You could edit positions, tactics and you had morale . Even the players had their own attributes. Which didn't make it to sensi until SWOS(which is what you really should be comparing it to). Yes it was down right hard to score on lvl 5 but that was about it. You could actually dribble past an opposing defender

There were loads more options in Sensi on the MD! I remember creating an entire team based around Leicester City at the time. But regardless of that, ISS falls down because it simply wasn't flexible enough. The easiest way to score was to dribble up to the keeper, turn 45 degress, run along the goal line, tempt the keeper out then shoot. You'd score almost every time. There simply wasn't enough ways to score, you'd keep resorting to the same cheap tactics whenever you went behind because you knew you'd score. And long-distance efforts hardly ever went in, aftertouch wasn't as good, etc, etc...the game engine in Sensi was better all-round.

SHO in the arcade was one of the finest games of that era, and is still bloody fun and rock hard now. The MD version ain't nothing more than shovelware

Oh well, there's no changing your mind I suppose. I love the game, always have done and always will. Playing it for the first time was a real gaming moment for me.

[wheelaa]

The Neo Geo is no more a 24bit console than the Mega Drive is. Both had a 16- Bit CPU, along with a 8-bit Sound chip

Fair enough..always thought it was 24 bit myself. Obviously too much time browsing ngcom..and snks adverts/flyers etc. Confused

[carbon boy]

Megadrive all the way for me.

Why?

Not because it was 'better' as a piece of technology but because the type of games that I wanted to play were on the platform. I still play Devil Crash, Thunderforce IV and Streets of Rage II to this day.

[Wild_Cat]

Actually, the Z80 (8-bit CPU) in the Neo Geo wasn't used for the sound. it was a true secondary processor.

[Team Andromeda]

LOL, a bit of pot calling the kettle black TA, eh? :P

Super Hang-On MD's problems were threefold. One: It was dull, and bland graphically. Obviously expecting the MD to sprite scale that early in its life is a foolish thing to consider, but none the less SHO shouldn't have been about counting how many objects were scattered across the sides in a level on a single hand... Two: Consumer mode was pure trash. It was far too slow to get moving, full of irrelevent and useless options, and its structure was fundamentally broken by the need to keep racing a single track 3 million times (a slight over-exagerration) to even begin to get a good set of wheels. Three: The controls were ****, and if you're going to suggest that was because of the fact you have a **** bike to start with in consumer mode you are incorrect, because it was the same in arcade mode - full of undersensitivity and more of a feeling of fighting the pad rather than fighting the bike.

SHO in the arcade was one of the finest games of that era, and is still bloody fun and rock hard now. The MD version ain't nothing more than shovelware.

BUT!

Sensible Soccer was great on the MD... but I don't see how you can level the MCD version as much better. It had some dodgy CG and some enhanced sound - which was delayed when things happened because the machine had to load the sample from disc.

"YAY, I SCORED!" *2 seconds later* *fans cheer*

BUT! TBFH, Nintendo World Cup = best football game ever :P (just playin')

Fanboy that I am, but even I couldn't overlooked the classics on the Snes. Like said I liked the machine more than the MD, and Super Mario IV is the best platform games ever. Sonic doesn't come close. So I?m not one of these totally bias fanboys.

Anyway it looks like we are never going to agree on Super Hang-On. I thought it was a top port, and loved the consumer mode. I haven?t seen any MD with decent Sprite Scaling in-game to say the truth. Graphics wise this was by far the best home port on anysystem.

I thought the weight of the bike gave a good impression of what it must be like to fight and turn a bike that huge. The difficulty curve for me was spot on too.

As for Sensible Soccer.
I had both the MD and MCD version but the MCD won it all the time for me. It had better sound effects (Like when you hit a post), and those crowds samples just won it for me.
Really did help to create a brilliant atmosphere especially when plugged into a stereo. I take the point about the delay, but it wasn?t that bad most of the time. Love the silly chants like that woman saying ?Oi Your tripper ?.
My and one of my mates still play this loads today, it?s by far the best football game ever made.

BTW should add that the MCD played host to the best 16bit version of FIFA as well.

[Team Andromeda]

Actually, the Z80 (8-bit CPU) in the Neo Geo wasn't used for the sound. it was a true secondary processor.

I always thought it was for the Yamaha soundchip ???

[mr-monday]

The megadrive has a the following sounds chips:

Yamaha YM 2612 6 channel, 4 operator stereo FM chip
Texas Instruments 4 channel 76489 PSG chip
1 channel PCM for samples. This is duplexed for games like SFII.

The Z80a chip is used to control these chips while also providing backwards compatibility for MKIII/ Master System. When used correctly the Megadrive hosted some amazing tunes. It was only the sample playback that let it down.

[2FreshRecords]

So what was the conclusion then?????

[Duddyroar]

Megadrive.

Oh, and great forum mate - 'Hardcore Breakbeat' and 'Hardcore Gaming' are like two peas in a pod.

[Duddyroar]

Fair play mate. It just tickled me, tis all.

[rule]

Nope the conclusion in reality is Neo first, snes, second and md third (forget what the md fanboys say maybe they could make a case against the snes, but the neo makes the md his bitch and anyone who disputes this is insane)

[Duddyroar]

Nope the conclusion in reality is Neo first, snes, second and md third (forget what the md fanboys say maybe they could make a case against the snes, but the neo makes the md his bitch and anyone who disputes this is insane)

The NeoGeo cannot be included in this debate as at the time most games were ?100+ and this meant it simply wasn't an option for most gamers. This is between the SNES and MD (and maybe the PCE).

MD still wins, though.

[wheelaa]

Nope the conclusion in reality is Neo first, snes, second and md third (forget what the md fanboys say maybe they could make a case against the snes, but the neo makes the md his bitch and anyone who disputes this is insane)

Obviously the neo is a powerhouse compared to the md...but the games are what it is all about..and the md kicks arse over the neo all day long for sure 100% always forever in my lifetime...and the ngcd blows big time.

Hell I'd rather play on my acorn electron than the neo...metal what?? King of Failures? (And if you believe that you'll believe anything!)

Edit: PCE ****ing rocks though..class through and through.

[wheelaa]

Neo CDZ aint to bad but agree loading times on the normal Neo CD make some games unplayable

cdz shmeedz - still sucks imho..especially as you know that for every game bar 5 or 6 you can get it on a nice quick to load, sexy looking cart, be it aes or mvs.