Sega Mega Drive or Super Nintendo?

[Leon Retro]

Me, as I've said both are arse kicking hot but if I had to pick one over the other then I'd have to go with the SFC but only by a whisker.

Yakumo

I thought you'd choose the MD.

Now that you and TA have said the SFC is your favourite machine, I think the argument is settled.

Both machines are must-haves, unlike the GX4000( I hope no fans attack me) ...

Give me an MD with a pile of its AAA games, and I'm happy. Give me a SNES with a bunch of AAA titles, and I'm in heaven. The SNES just has that extra X-Factor for me.

Of course... it's easy to see why some people choose the MD though. Loads of great games in every genre, and the game boxes are far better than the cardboard SNES ones.

Retro gamers are lucky to have both machines to play.

[Team Andromeda]

The simple fact is... I spent far more time with my SNES( love does that ) ... From the very beginning, with MarioWorld, F-Zero, Pilotwings, Joe&Mac, ContraIII, Actraiser, CastlevaniaIV, Axelay, Final Fight, SF2, Bomberman, etc etc.... I was always in awe of the machine. Then came MarioKart, StarFox, Demon's Quest, Donkey Kong etc... The SNES gave me soooo much consistent AAA entertainment, that I naturally neglected my MD.

I was just the same , thats why I like the Snes more , like I've always said NCL were just in a class of thier own (no one came close) and konami were on another planet as well . When it came to AAA games the SNES was the best around .

But the MD had by far the bigger number of good decent games, and wasn't outclassed in the graphics dept , like Snes fans now and again make out , I mean Good grief, play the Snes version of PGA golf , colours mean jack sh8t then .. The PSP kicks the DS in touch , same for the MS VS NES when it comes to tech , But then it's about 'gameplay '.

Lets just do the same for the Snes VS the Mega Drive , none of this tech stuff that isn't applied when it comes to other consoles battles not least the MS VS NES.
I mean if its about tech , then the Neo Geo is in fact the best 16bit machine of the 16 bit age , thanks to it's extra colours and better sound

[Rubix78]

The Snes was a sexy console!

[kernow]

man, that pads so much sexier than a moon pad

[Rubix78]

Sure is, best looking pad ever! Shame if felt like crap

[JP]

Good news if you have access to Japanese Club Nintendo gubbins and loads of points then!

[MarioMark]

Good news if you have access to Japanese Club Nintendo gubbins and loads of points then!

Aww! That pad is ace! A Snes Wii pad!?

Never mind, atleast we have all of those Mario 64 DS wallpapers to download on our Star catalog site instead.

[Leon Retro]

I was just the same , thats why I like the Snes more , like I've always said NCL were just in a class of thier own (no one came close) and konami were on another planet as well . When it came to AAA games the SNES was the best around .

But the MD had by far the bigger number of good decent games, and wasn't outclassed in the graphics dept , like Snes fans now and again make out , I mean Good grief, play the Snes version of PGA golf , colours mean jack sh8t then .. The PSP kicks the DS in touch , same for the MS VS NES when it comes to tech , But then it's about 'gameplay '.

Lets just do the same for the Snes VS the Mega Drive , none of this tech stuff that isn't applied when it comes to other consoles battles not least the MS VS NES.
I mean if its about tech , then the Neo Geo is in fact the best 16bit machine of the 16 bit age , thanks to it's extra colours and better sound

I retract my white flag


We have different views on things. I think the NES was fantastic. It has loads of great games. I had an MS, but when I first played a NES, I never went back.

The Neo Geo was far more awe inspiring than any other console at the time. On a decent sized screen, good Neo games had large sprites, lots of colours, speed, fluid movement, and simply felt much more solid compared to other console games around.

I didn't own a Neo though( too expensive, and I knew that the SNES had better games, even if they weren't as visually amazing )

I was given an MD in 1990, and loved it immensely for a period, but when I was given a SNES for xmas 91, I really felt that the games were a major improvement over the MD.

Nintendo consoles, for many reasons, have always been my favourites. I've always been an open-minded gamer, but Nintendo consoles always had the games that hooked me.

I enjoyed the N64 far more than the PS1. The N64 had good points, and many bad points, but its best games were vastly superior to what I had on the PS1.

My favourite consoles based on time played:

1. SNES

2. N64

3. Dreamcast

4. PS1

5. Mega Drive

I don't dislike any of them. They've all delivered good experiences, it's just a fact that I played some more than others.

I actually bought a switched MD, with lots of games a year ago. My appreciation for the machine is very strong.

[Team Andromeda]

I retract my white flag


We have different views on things. I think the NES was fantastic. It has loads of great games. I had an MS, but when I first played a NES, I never went back.

But I'm not saying the MS is better than the NES. I'm just sayiing that SNES fans love to bang on about the tech of the MD and how thier can't put up the MD lack of colours ,and Oh my God its sound .

Well as a Neo Geo owner , I can't put up with both the MD or Snes lack of colours , forget 256, lets have 4000 on screen , and one play of Last Resort soundtrack kills the rest. Its even more grim for the poor NES, where the Master System kicks in to touch for Graphics , The PS pissed on the N64 becasue they had by far the greater number of games coming out , and most of the games sounded better too . But no, its all about the games then .
.


Fine if people just come out and say Oh the SNES was better thanks to better games , that's fair enough and most of us are with you. Its just a little bit Hypocritical when people on the one hand say the NES is better than the MS, and then say one of the reasons The Snes was better than the MS was thanks to the better tech , when the MS kicked the NES in to touch for specs .

Oh and for what its worth I liked my MS more than the Dreamcast

MY fav consoles would be


1) Saturn

2) Mega CD

3) Snes

4) Master System

5) X-Box /Dreamcast

[Yakumo]

I may as well jump on the bandwagon

1. Saturn
2. SFC
3. Dreamcast
4. Mega Drive / Mega CD
5. PC Engine / CD

Yakumo

[Leon Retro]

But I'm not saying the MS is better than the NES. I'm just sayiing that SNES fans love to bang on about the tech of the MD and how thier can't put up the MD lack of colours ,and Oh my God its sound .

Well as a Neo Geo owner , I can't put up with both the MD or Snes lack of colours , forget 256, lets have 4000 on screen , and one play of Last Resort soundtrack kills the rest. Its even more grim for the poor NES, where the Master System kicks in to touch for Graphics , The PS pissed on the N64 becasue they had by far the greater number of games coming out , and most of the games sounded better too . But no, its all about the games then .
.


Fine if people just come out and say Oh the SNES was better thanks to better games , that's fair enough and most of us are with you. Its just a little bit Hypocritical when people on the one hand say the NES is better than the MS, and then say one of the reasons The Snes was better than the MS was thanks to the better tech , when the MS kicked the NES in to touch for specs .

Oh and for what its worth I liked my MS more than the Dreamcast

MY fav consoles would be


1) Saturn

2) Mega CD

3) Snes

4) Master System

5) X-Box /Dreamcast

I've simply been saying that the SNES and NES made me happier than the MD and MS. Why? .... Primarily because I found a lot of games for the Nintendo machines to be far more playable than on Sega's machines.

Technical talk is always a part of videogaming, but it's far from being important compared to good gameplay.

I was astonished by the Super Nintendo's sound and visuals, when I first played a Japanese machine at xmas 91 in a import shop. The Actraiser music blew me away, and F-Zero was breathtaking.

I had an MD, so why did the SNES impress me sooo much? It must have been because technically, it seemed far more impressive than the MD.

Funny thing is.... away from the visual and sonic thrills, MarioWorld is the game I played all xmas, and into 92. Which once again proves, that gameplay is king.


When we talk about retro gaming, most people are speaking from the heart, and this passion is always for the machines they enjoyed the most. I loved the SNES, because of all the AAA games it delivered. All of them had great gameplay, brilliant visuals, and fantastic sound. I think that's what makes a special game; a title where all three components are top class.

What it does all boil down to at the end of the day, is developer skill. Look at the best MS game( Wonder Boy Dragons Trap ( I put Monsters Lair ) .... far better than 95% of games for the system in everyway. The NES has SMB3, which is full of depth, great visuals, good sound etc.... Titles like these are reason to have owned either machine, and also why rivalry existed.

As you said earlier, NCL were on fire in the early to mid 90s. Their games had sooo much playability, that they could have been classed as a drug ..... When Nintendo shine, there is something magical about it, and Sega, despite trying hard, never really grabbed my attention away from the wonder of the SNES.

The Neo Geo, despite its great visuals and sound, is the third best machine of that generation in my opinion. I'd rather have an MD and its best games, than a NEO.

My favourite Sega machine, has to be the Dreamcast. Technically awesome for its time, it also delivered quite a few highly playable solid titles. It's the machine that made me appreciate Sega more than ever. I still love it.

The GameCube, despite a few nice games, isn't a machine I'm very fond of. The Wii hasn't impressed me in any way, so far. Mario Galaxy is on the way though.

My fondness for Sega and Nintendo is pretty even these days. I look forward to Sega games, like Outrun3, just as much as I desire a new F-Zero for the Wii.

If Sega had a console, I think things would be far more exciting though.

[JP]

There's never a right and wrong answer in things like this for me. The choices we make on things like this are emotional choices rather than factual choices.

I may be able to give you million reasons as to why the Gamecube is my favourite console ever but those reasons are my reasons and only valid to me.

The argument about which of these two consoles is prefered is not the same as the arguement about which is better. One may have far better, sound, games, controllers, graphics than the other but I don't think that's why we choose our prefered consoles here.

I think we choose them because one of just them makes more sense to us on a personal level in some way.

If somebody asked me why I chose the SNES in this thead I don't think me listing reasons as to why it was better than the MegaDrive would be a more effective argument than em saying...because it just works for me, it's my console!

Still interesting to talk about this suff though!

One of the blogs that I've started working on touches on stuff like this in more depth, I'm not sure whether to carry on with it now or go with one of the others that I've started!

[Leon Retro]

There's never a right and wrong answer in things like this for me. The choices we make on things like this are emotional choices rather than factual choices.

I may be able to give you million reasons as to why the Gamecube is my favourite console ever but those reasons are my reasons and only valid to me.

The argument about which of these two consoles is prefered is not the same as the arguement about which is better. One may have far better, sound, games, controllers, graphics than the other but I don't think that's why we choose our prefered consoles here.

I think we choose them because one of just them makes more sense to us on a personal level in some way.

If somebody asked me why I chose the SNES in this thead I don't think me listing reasons as to why it was better than the MegaDrive would be a more effective argument than em saying...because it just works for me, it's my console!

Still interesting to talk about this suff though!

One of the blogs that I've started working on touches on stuff like this in more depth, I'm not sure whether to carry on with it now or go with one of the others that I've started!

Yeah... I find this sort of debate interesting, others find it nauseating, pointless etc etc...

Just watch an episode of Seinfeld to see that smalltalk is often entertaining.


The point I've been making, is that I wasn't a one console gamer, who had a biased and defensive stance towards any one console.

I had an Amiga, Mega Drive, SNES, even a PC-Engine for a bit. Out of all of those, the SNES, for many reasons, gave me far more pleasure.

It went like this: The Amiga blew me away after having a Master System and NES. Then I was given a Mega Drive, and the games not only looked much better than Amiga equivalents, but the gameplay was generally much better too ( in the shooters and platformers mostly ). Next came the SNES, which impressed me more than any machine ever had, or has since. It wasn't just the clarity of the visuals, or the awesome sound, but also the gripping gameplay to be found in the best SNES titles.

I think most great games have exciting visuals, effective sound, and strong gameplay. All three components are essential in my book.

Whilst gameplay is king, it's always been the case that gamers also get excited by nice visuals and sound.


The thing with the MD and SNES from a technical standpoint, is that each have their good and bad points. The MD has a good CPU, which enables a lot of sprites and activity. The SNES offers more colours, some good effects, and nicer sound quality.

If the SNES had double the processing power, I think it would have attracted more coin-op titles, and when it comes to shooters and scrolling fighters, it could have destroyed the MD. Sadly... the weak cpu, meant that most devs struggled with certain genres on the snes.


I feel that the SNES offered a lot of games, which had far better gameplay than most coin-ops though. NCL and Konami, delivered titles which often bettered experiences found in the arcades of the day. This was down to using the machines strong points, and also great design.


NCL, Konami, Square, Capcom, Enix, they all produced the best SNES titles. Compare their output, to most other SNES producers, and then you see what the SNES was capable of, and why so many people were hooked on it.

It's easy to see why someone would choose the MD over the SNES though. It's just a fact that most people, it seems, prefer the SNES. I can understand both sides, but have to side with the SNES fans.

[Commander Marklar]

TA and LA are different sides of the same coin. If I didn't know better I'd swear you were the same person

[Leon Retro]

TA and LA are different sides of the same coin. If I didn't know better I'd swear you were the same person

Much like these Guys...