as unbiased as possible (if that is possible) Snes v MD v PC Engine

[Duddyroar]

There arent, to be fair, many people who are going to own a PCE, let alone all 3 consoles

The PCE will set you back a bit but you can pick up a MD and SNES second hand these days and still have change from ?30. Back in the day obviously you'd have to be pretty rich to have all of them, but these days there's no excuse not to own all three, IMO.

I think out of the 3 consoles mentioned, the PCE was probably the only one real as near to arcade perfect ports you can get

The PCE had some great ports (R-Type, Tatsujin, Fatal Fury 2) but it's a bit of a sweeping statement to say it had the "best" arcade conversions. The MD and SNES also had some excellent ports that weren't as good on NEC's machine (Strider, Golden Axe and Altered Beast on the MD for example). Also some of the conversions on the SNES and MD simply would not have been possible on the PCE.

But regardless of that, I'll return to my opening statement on this reply - it's so easy to own all three machines these days, that's really what everyone should be doing!

[Leon Retro]

If I opened a retro shop dealing in one brand of console- it would definitely be Nintendo!

Look at the Nes and the MasterSystem- the Nes has a much bigger collection of AAA and popular titles. People are even prepared to pay ?25 for GBA ports of nes classics. Then look at the MD and Snes- the snes has a bigger collection of AAA and popular titles. People are even prepared to pay ?30 for GBA ports of snes classics.

Nintendo at their best have a magical quality that over-shadows other brands. The fact that Mario64 is the most popular DS game says a lot. When Nintendo get things right they produce machines and games that inspire people to love videogaming.

I think Nintendo know they are a unique company- they never seem to follow trends and always try to offer products that stand-out from the crowd. Sega used to be more like Nintendo when it came to having a unique identity- but this has been diluted to a degree since the Dreamcasts death. I find it sad that Sega can't build and create new franchises- I would love for them to come-back as a true rival to Nintendo!

[wheelaa]

In regards to Wheelaas post in particular...

To be honest I think the idea of this post (or id like to assume) was to give personal views as to whats best. I think that the title should have read `give your reasons whats best vs etc`. As each and everytime this is going to come down to personal experience.

My point exactly.Sorry, post bank holiday blues in the office.

Although I would say

Afterall as we can tell, theres no one who hasnt owned a PCE and has stated that it is the better of the 3 consoles.

But similarly anyone who hasn't owned a pce can't judge something to better than it.

Just get all three anyway. For ?50 you could pick up any of the three plus at least 8 top draw titles

[muse hunter]

So it looks like the Super Famicom has won it by a clear margin, hopefully i'll aquire one of these within the next two weeks. The super famicom will be presented with its crown in due course, and while thats happening lets remember what made the sfc so great, unlike today everything that came out off nintendo's doors were pure magic, games of the highest quality. The SFC broke bounderies games such as f- zero and mariokart amazed anyone who came in contact and while the MD provided stiff competition at the time it just couldn't match the output that came from nintendo and third party's at the time. Time has been kinder on the sfc (snes) those titles that amazed us back in the day are now still entertaining a new generation of gamers, the sfc was the highpoint of videogaming one that will never be beaten and will never be forgotten.

[Team Andromeda]

I agree nobody could touch NCL and thier Snes output (They made everybody else look silly), but the MD had by far and adway the better 3rd party support and games.

Plus when it came to sport, fighters and shooters, The MD was king.

[Hysteria]

Cheese,

im biased and i only like rpgs >>> fighters > shmups

and as snes rpgs were/are? second to none that will always be my top choice

(just to establish - i wasnt in anyway saying snes had better figters/shmups than md, the arrows mean i like rpgs a lot more than the next in line )

[Duddyroar]

I agree nobody could touch NCL and thier Snes output (They made everybody else look silly), but the MD had by far and adway the better 3rd party support and games.

Plus when it came to sport, fighters and shooters, The MD was king

Amen!

I get a bit sick when people say "the SNES had better third party support" and all they have to base their argument on is Squaresoft RPGs. An awful lot of third party games for the SNES were utter trash.

Although Capcom supported the SNES before the MD (most of Capcom's early games on the MD were actually Sega-produced) by the time Capcom did pull their finger out, they were crafting some amazing pieces of software. Super Street Fighter II with the MD six button pad remains my favourite way to play the game. Treasure's support of the machine was second to none - nothing on the SNES can rival Gunstar Heroes IMO (not even the mighty Contra). Konami also released some amazing games that closed the gap in graphical terms between the MD and SNES. EA (before they turned all crap) knocked out some stunning titles like Desert Strike, Populous, NHL and of course the mighty Madden (all better on the MD than the SNES). Then there's the hundreds of smaller Japanese third party developers who flocked to the MD to consider. And as TA rightly points out, if you're a shooter fan you'd pick the MD (or PC Engine) over the SNES any day of the week. With the exception of Area 88, Axelay and Aleste, Nintendo's console has a pretty dire selection of shooters.

[Vince]

With the exception of Area 88, Axelay and Aleste, Nintendo's console has a pretty dire selection of shooters.

I really liked R-Type III, the Parodius games and Gradius III (despite the slowdown) as well, but i do agree that the PC Engine and MD are better consoles for shooters.

[MonkeyJuggleDX]

I get a bit sick when people say "the SNES had better third party support"

Zamuse, Namcot, Banpresto, NCS, Taito, Capcom, Konami, Enix, Chun Soft, Tnn, Datam, Human, Epoch, Naxat, Jaleco, Natsume... All made quality games for the system.

Out of those, the ones who did do MD games didn't exactly cover themselves in glory.

At the end of the day I see it this way out of the 3 systems.

RPG's - SFC > PCE > MD
Shooters - PCE > SFC > MD
Platformers - SFC > PCE > MD
Fighters - SFC > MD > PCE
Sports - SFC > PCE > MD
Driving - SFC > PCE > MD

Many can call me a SFC fanboy but in my personal opinion, after having had all 3 systems in their prime, the SFC is the one that gave me the most enjoyment.

[Team Andromeda]

Zamuse, Namcot, Banpresto, NCS, Taito, Capcom, Konami, Enix, Chun Soft, Tnn, Datam, Human, Epoch, Naxat, Jaleco, Natsume... All made quality games for the system.

Out of those, the ones who did do MD games didn't exactly cover themselves in glory.

NCS did better stuff on the MD (imo), I'll say the same for Capcom (with the SEGA ports).
People are never going to agree on this though. MD owners could just say they got the best from Treasure, Technosoft, Climax, Westone in the 16 bit days

Plus when it came to western developers it really was no contest as the MD enjoyed much better support than the Snes

[Duddyroar]

NCS released two of the finest strat-RPGs for ANY system in the shape of Langrisser 1 & 2. They also produced the Assualt Suit Leynos which was pretty decent (if not as good as Valken on the SNES). And let's not forget the almighty Gynoug.

Namco(t) gave us the brillaint Rolling Thunder 2 and the not-too-shabby Marvel Land (a very underrated platformer IMO).

Taito supported the MD and SNES in equal measure as far as I can recall. Darius II was miles better than Darius Twin on the SNES. Best to forget Runark however (although for some reason people rate it).

Capcom - The aformentioned Sega conversions probably don't count but the MD still got amazing ports of Strider, Ghouls n Ghost and MERCS. As soon as Capcom got their act together things took a turn for the (even) better. Like I said - Megadrive Super Street Fighter II is fantastic.

Konami - Once they started to support the system we saw some fantastic games. Castlevania: Bloodlines/New Generation is brilliant, going pretty much toe-to-toe with Castlevania IV. Contra: Hard Corps is a example of how impressive Megadrive games could be. Tiny Toons was great. Teenage Muntant Ninja Turtles: Return of the Shredder remains one of my favourite scrolling fighters (if only for the fact that it's kinda like the TMNT arcade machine). Rocket Knight Adventures features some of the most impressive 16-bit visuals I've ever seen. International Superstar Soccer Deluxe is as good as the SNES version.

Please bear in mind that the games I mention are off the top of my head, I'm pretty sure all of the companies listed above have produced other classics too. To say that they didn't 'cover themselves in glory' is pretty silly IMO.

As for the other companies, with the exception of Enix they're not exactly top-drawer devcos IMO. Besides you could list other companies that supported the MD over the SNES (Toaplan being one of the best).

[Team Andromeda]

At the end of the day I see it this way out of the 3 systems.

RPG's - SFC > PCE > MD
Shooters - PCE > SFC > MD
Platformers - SFC > PCE > MD
Fighters - SFC > MD > PCE
Sports - SFC > PCE > MD
Driving - SFC > PCE > MD

Many can call me a SFC fanboy but in my personal opinion

Sorry but that's blatant SNES fan boy talk :P (There I said it). How anybody can say the Snes had better Sport or Shooters than the MD is just beyond me (I think the same for Fighters as well).

Fan enough for platform and RPG?s, but for Sport ,and shooters based games ??.

[Duddyroar]

But then you'd expect that from someone called Superfamifreak

The MD clearly pisses all over the SNES in terms of shooters and sport-based titles.

[Team Andromeda]

But then you'd expect that from someone called Superfamifreak

The MD clearly pisses all over the SNES in terms of shooters and sport-based titles.

Exactly!
I can think of one sports based game that was done better on the SNES and that?s it (Super Tennis)

While Super R Type/III, Super Aleste, Axlay were good
Thunder Force 4, Grey Lancer, Gynoug pissed over anything the Snes could offer from a massive height.

Thuder Force 4 made Neo Geo shooters look tame for the most part

[Duddyroar]

Don't forget Hellfire, Zero Wing, Aero Blasters, Tatsujin, MUSHA Aleste, V-5, Slap Fight...