Sega Mega Drive or Super Nintendo?

[MarioMark]

Well, looks like Snes has won 2/1

[Leon Retro]

Mega Drive fans defend the machine to the death.

The MD has a poor sound chip, that is a fact. Some composers managed to create catchy tunes, which can sound good, but there is a tinniness to the sound, and it is far more raw compared to the snes chip.


The Mega Drive also has more of a raw look to it's visuals. The lack of colours was often not a problem with good artistic skill( just look at the nice looking Sonic games ) ... but for most devs, a lot of the games produced looked wishy-washy and at times dirty.


The SNES has 256 colours, a cleaner look to its visuals, and the sound is far more impressive.


Good games are good games though, and the MD has many games that are brilliant imaginative creations. It shows that skilled devs, with a lot of creativity, can overcome any weak points a system may have.

The SNES though, for me, left the MD in the shade. I feel it delivered far more visual, sonic, and gameplay thrills over its life time.

Just look at my "Top5 Most Played Retro Games" thread. The SNES played host to far more popular games than the MD. Only Sonic and Streets Of Rage2 seem to be MD games that a lot of people go on about still.

The people have spoken, and however many good games the MD has, the SNES was, and still is, far more popular.

[Team Andromeda]

Mega Drive fans defend the machine to the death.

Hey I liked the Snes more than my MD . But most SNES games tended to sound the same , I think they were far more Memorable tunes on the MD .
Still I’m one of the few that prefers the MD music of Ghost N Ghouls to the Snes music score .

The SNES has 256 colours, a cleaner look to its visuals,

I think myself it was the SNES hugh Colour pallet that made the realy diff , and its did make a diff I agree. Playing the MD version of Contra is painful on the eye, thanks to the crappy colour pallet. To make up for that the MD had a quite decent CPU, Maybe that's why it was so much better at fast action games like shooters and Sport games ???.

But How may NCL fans will say the Master System is better than the NES , thanks to the MS having by far the better graphics and colour pallet ???. Not that many I'm willing to bet

, the SNES was, and still is, far more popular.

So that's it, sales = win, Then I take it the PS and PS2 are the best consoles bar none, and EA the best 3rd party developer inthe world bar none . Might be true for some, but I don't want to even go there myself

[kernow]

agreed, it was a no contest to me either, snes blew the MD away, better graphics, better games, better styling, better pads, better sound, and super mario world.

[Wools]

agreed, it was a no contest to me either, snes blew the MD away, better graphics, better games, better styling, better pads, better sound, and super mario world.

That's strange, I really have not seen or played a SNES game that looks or sounds better than Sonic 3.

As always, each to their own!

[kernow]

I didn't play sonic games, they just felt inferior.

[Wools]

Well you better not play Call Of Duty 4 then, it's slightly worse than Half Life 2!

Also isint comparing Sonic to Mario a bit like comparing Halo to Half Life? They technically are the same but somwhat diffrent...

[kernow]

pretty much, ones great, ones very poor

[samanosuke]

How do you know if you openly admit to not having played one of them?

[Leon Retro]

But How may NCL fans will say the Master System is better than the NES , thanks to the MS having by far the better graphics and colour pallet ???. Not that many I'm willing to bet


So that's it, sales = win, Then I take it the PS and PS2 are the best consoles bar none, and EA the best 3rd party developer inthe world bar none . Might be true for some, but I don't want to even go there myself

I was fair with my thoughts on both machines. I said that both machines have lots of great games.

With the MD, good developers overcame any shortcomings. When the tech isn't that great, it takes a dedicated skillful developer to push the hardware and produce a AAA title.

The MD has a lot of miserable nasty looking games. In the hands of an average or poor developer, the resulting games were often crimes against videogaming.

The fact is though... that even the best MD games can't totally overcome the systems weak points. The sound, however well made, is always a bit too raw, and the colour palettes are usually too bleak.

I'd say that the SNES isn't perfect. The CPU is much weaker than it should have been. It also didn't attract many coin-op style games, because people like Taito found it far easier to port arcade titles to the MD.

In fact... the SNES attracted many many poor games. Lots of weak developers produced a lot of garbage for the machine.

With any machine, the focus should be on the best games. ContraIII, SuperMetroid, CastlevaniaIV, Actraiser, Star Fox etc... These types of AAA titles show how special the SNES sound-chip is.

The amount of colours and overall visual clarity can also been seen as a major positive over the MD, when you look at the best games the SNES has to offer.

It's the visual clarity, colours, amazing sound quality, seen in the best SNES games, that had people in awe of the machine for many years. Combine all that with the great playability, found in MarioWorld, F-Zero, Pilotwings, SuperMetroid, MarioKart, DonkeyKongCountry etc..... and it's quite clear why the majority of 16bit gamers choose the SNES as their fave.

I've never said the MD is poor, or that it doesn't have any good games. Quite the opposite in fact. It's just for me, the SNES has the edge when it comes to overall quality.

I even said the NES is better than the MS in an old thread. The only thing the MS had going for it, was more colours and a few good games. The NES had a bigger bunch of playable games. Once again... good devs managed to use their brains to produce great experiences on limited hardware.

The SNES simply had too many amazing games to give the MD a chance of truely matching it. The MD is good in its own right, but always a contender, rather than the champ.

[Team Andromeda]

I was fair with my thoughts on both machines. I said that both machines have lots of great games.

I think Mega Drive fans were quite fair too, I will aways say the Snes is a better console that the MD, but that's not down to colours or sound , just it had some of the best games ever made But the Mega Drive had by far the better number of good games and how anyone can try and make out that isn't the case I don't know.

The only thing the MS had going for it, was more colours and a few good games

The Master system had far better HardWare and if we're going to bash the MD and make fun of its Hardware being outdated then lets do the same for the NES. Becase the Master System totally outcalssed the NES , Yet you'll never see a NCL fan say the Master System is better due to far better 2D Hadware , yet NCL fans will always bring up the lack of colours inthe Mega Drive VS Snes debate .

And I really find it insulting when people say they aren't many good games onthe MS. There's loads of top quailty games onthe MS, its one of the best console around imo

With the MD, good developers overcame any shortcomings. When the tech isn't that great, it takes a dedicated skillful developer to push the hardware and produce a AAA title

You say that like the MD was a pile of junk inside , when bar its lacks of colours it was was a very powerful console for its time .

The Snes never got close to matching the graphics in Street Of Rage II or ThunderForce IV (that made most Neo Geo games look like nothing) , the Mega Drive now and again gave a good impression of Mode 7 in games like Street Racer .
Games like Adv Of Batman And Robin and Red Zone were doing some of the best effects on a 16 bit machine, that anyone had seen on a normal MD cart , with no extra chips needs, even the likes of Earth Worm Jim looked better onthe MD with more effects , never mind every EA game . Sometimes Snes fans need to get off thier high horse and plays the likes of Adv of Batman and RedZone and see the effects that the MD could do, with no extra's chip's needed in the cart .
They were a a few developers that said the Mega Drive was the better machine to developer on too, and it wasn't quite as limiting as the Snes

With any machine, the focus should be on the best games. ContraIII, SuperMetroid, CastlevaniaIV, Actraiser, Star Fox etc... These types of AAA titles show how special the SNES sound-chip is

I'm not going to deny those games were brilliant , SuperMetroid is one of the reasons why I like the Snes more , and yes the atmosphere created by the Sound chip was a huge part in it too(one of the reasons why I love Super R-Type btw ).

But the likes of Street Of Rage II , Ghost N Ghouls, Revenge Of Shinobi , Sonic featured some of my fav 16 bits tune ever .


And like I said lets not go by sales , because sales prove that the PS and PS2 are the best consoles around (non HH) and EA the best 3rd party developer bar none, and that Shadow was in fact good (seeing it sold over a million and half copies) Please lets not ever go there , sales prove jack sh8t

[Pilotwings]

Feel sorry for the megadrive cause it came out 2 odd years before the snes. Wow the poll looks harsh on the MD!

I think everyone no's it's closer that what the poll says in terms of game competion. Sega rocked so many good games out on the md and so did nintendo on the snes.

I think sega deserves more credit than nintendo for keeping the rivalry tight with amasing games like SOR, Sonic, Shinobi's, and animation franchies like Spiderman , M mouse , D duck games

Also Sonic sufferd with the weak pal conversion which didn't do it any favours.

I went for snes

[kernow]

How do you know if you openly admit to not having played one of them?

Oh I've played a megadrive and sonic alright, I'm not sure I could erase the pain from my memories.

[Leon Retro]

I think Mega Drive fans were quite fair too, I will aways say the Snes is a better console that the MD, but that's not down to colours or sound , just it had some of the best games ever made But the Mega Drive had by far the better number of good games and how anyone can try and make out that isn't the case I don't know.

The Master system had far better HardWare and if we're going to bash the MD and make fun of its Hardware being outdated then lets do the same for the NES. Becase the Master System totally outcalssed the NES , Yet you'll never see a NCL fan say the Master System is better due to far better 2D Hadware , yet NCL fans will always bring up the lack of colours inthe Mega Drive VS Snes debate .

And I really find it insulting when people say they aren't many good games onthe MS. There's loads of top quailty games onthe MS, its one of the best console around imo

You say that like the MD was a pile of junk inside , when bar its lacks of colours it was was a very powerful console for its time .

The Snes never got close to matching the graphics in Street Of Rage II or ThunderForce IV (that made most Neo Geo games look like nothing) , the Mega Drive now and again gave a good impression of Mode 7 in games like Street Racer .
Games like Adv Of Batman And Robin and Red Zone were doing some of the best effects on a 16 bit machine, that anyone had seen on a normal MD cart , with no extra chips needs, even the likes of Earth Worm Jim looked better onthe MD with more effects , never mind every EA game . Sometimes Snes fans need to get off thier high horse and plays the likes of Adv of Batman and RedZone and see the effects that the MD could do, with no extra's chip's needed in the cart .
They were a a few developers that said the Mega Drive was the better machine to developer on too, and it wasn't quite as limiting as the Snes


I'm not going to deny those games were brilliant , SuperMetroid is one of the reasons why I like the Snes more , and yes the atmosphere created by the Sound chip was a huge part in it too(one of the reasons why I love Super R-Type btw ).

But the likes of Street Of Rage II , Ghost N Ghouls, Revenge Of Shinobi , Sonic featured some of my fav 16 bits tune ever .


And like I said lets not go by sales , because sales prove that the PS and PS2 are the best consoles around (non HH) and EA the best 3rd party developer bar none, and that Shadow was in fact good (seeing it sold over a million and half copies) Please lets not ever go there , sales prove jack sh8t

I surrender

You know I'm a SNES fanboy ... My ramblings about the two machines is based on my passion for both, and the fact that I've always loved the SNES far more, even though the MD gave me years of pleasure with Sonic, Castle Of Illusion, Magical Hat, Biohazard, SOR 1&2, Wrestle War, Quackshot, Alien Storm, Thunder Force IV etc etc.....

You've made valid points. I can't argue that the MD has a better CPU, and that developers did some wonderous things with the tech.

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.

As gamers, we really were spoilt in the 16bit years. The SNES & MD delivered hundreds of immensely playable titles. I think those years between 1990-1995, will never be matched for me. I'm glad both machines were available, because the gaming scene would have been far less exciting without the console war.

[Yakumo]

You know, with all these MD is better than SNES and vice versa comments it's all pretty silly when you look at sales figures. The Mega Drive in Europe blew the SNES away. Plain and simple.

As for which is the best, well that's all down to what you like playing. 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