RetroWars III: Mega Drive vs Super NES

[Neon Ignition]

Mega Drive vs Super NES

Touched upon in the original thread but now receiving a full focus as it's surely one of the key schoolyard debates of all time. The third RetroWars emerges with Sega and Nintendo's 16 bit systems once again waging war on each other for supremacy. It's generally considered that the Super NES won the battle between the two systems when it comes to sales but in western markets the battle was sometimes much closer between the two.

In each RetroWar we pit two titans of rivalry against one another as many school kids would do back in the day, weighing up the strengths and weaknesses of each side, arguing in favour of your childhood 'top dog' and sharing your modern day hindsight view on who truly was the greatest.

Let's look at our two competitors:

MEGA DRIVE
Sega came out with a much more aggressive marketing approach to their new system. Offering to do what Nintendon't and claiming that to be this good too AGES|SEGA, the cyber razor cut of a system hit markets with its black finished design and took on a slightly less family friendly image than its rival. Games such as Golden Axe, Sonic and more defined the system and in time it became equally known for Sega's attempts to extend their success with their series of hardware add-ons such as the Mega-CD and the 32X. In the end the Mega Drive represented a commercial high point for Sega's console ambitions before a rocky road unravelled before them.






SUPER NINTENDO
Nintendo came into the 16-bit era off the back of a major winner with the NES, it's new system came with a softer and cleaner physical design than Sega's (unless you liked the abysmal US redesign of the system) and a strong momentum behind it as well as launching with several classic tier new titles. It was an era that saw the console technically pushed more and more as time went on, going from the relatively simple looking Mario World to the eye melting for its day DKC games just a few years later as well as some 3D titles beyond what the Mega Drive could put out.







THE DEBATE
This is an open ended discussion. A good leading point is to cast your vote then tell us why your chosen option was just that, but beyond that there's a lot to break the subject down into:

-What made Mega Drive/SNES the better one?
-Was the Sonic trilogy or Mario World games the best choice?
-Which controller was the best?
-How did you come to experience each system?

Defend your Favourite - Defeat your Rivals

[Leon Retro]

I've always preferred the SNES, since getting one for Xmas 1991. The design of the Super Famicom and its controller appeal to me more than the Mega Drive and its controller, despite them also being great designs.

When it comes to games, as much as I am very fond of both machines libraries, I have spent far more time with my favourite SNES games than any MD titles. I could easily appreciate why someone might prefer the Mega Drive's library, because it has tons of classic shooters and action games. So as much as I'm in the SNES camp, I'd definitely miss my Mega Drive if I had to choose between the SNES and the MD.

When it comes to 'Mario World vs Sonic', I can easily choose Mario World. It's such a perfect platformer that is always a joy to play through. The Sonic series, as much as they are great games, doesn't keep me coming back for more and more like Mario World does. Although, I do play the first Sonic game a few times a year and never fail to love it.

When it comes down to it, the Mega Drive gets an 'A' in my book, with the Super Nintendo receiving and 'A+'. They're both still my favourite consoles that have loads of classic games that keep enticing me back time and time again. I'd certainly be happy to just own a SNES & Mega Drive if I could only have two consoles. But given the choice of only one console, I'd choose the SNES.

[Baseley09]

Megadrive is for arcade badasses.

[noobish hat]

Grew up with the Mega Drive and didn't get a SNES until I was a teenager (well into the PS1 era), but I tend to go back to the MD only for nostalgia. Sonic is one of the most powerfully nostalgic games of all time for me. I can still play it and have a massive grin on my face the whole time, it just fills me with the purest happiness from childhood. Super Mario World is an infinitely better game though. The SNES just has a much better library (and crucially a more well-rounded library) that the Mega Drive just can't compete with. There's not much the MD can put up against the likes of FFVI, Super Metroid, Super Mario Kart, Starwing, Link to the Past, Earthbound, etc. Castlevania Bloodlines is better than Castlevania IV though fight me

[Solar]

Now, reaching middle age, I've realized that IF I had played as much Megadrive as I did SNES, I would have enjoyed them both equally. Or maybe I'm just getting too old to care anymore
But in my school days, SNES was always the king. It's what all my mates had.

[QualityChimp]

Growing up, I didn't want to be a cute plumber or a cute elf, or a cute space fox or a cute cloud thing.

I wanted to be a ninja, an axe-wielding dwarf, cybernetic SWAT guy, vigilante cop, an Apache pilot, alien blaster, brawler that turns into animals, Kenshiro, Sir Arthur, space tank, space ninja in future Russia, a Kombat fighter with the gore, a violent bike racer or a different ninja, but still a damn ninja.

I still feel the same way.

[Atticus]

I owned a Mega Drive first but the SNES took it to a different level for me. It was the point I went from liking video games to loving them.

[wakka]

Growing up, I didn't want to be a cute plumber or a cute elf, or a cute space fox or a cute cloud thing.

I wanted to be a ninja, an axe-wielding dwarf, cybernetic SWAT guy, vigilante cop, an Apache pilot, alien blaster, brawler that turns into animals, Kenshiro, Sir Arthur, space tank, space ninja in future Russia, a Kombat fighter with the gore, a violent bike racer or a different ninja, but still a damn ninja.

I still feel the same way.

So SNES then?

Megadrive for me. I like @noobishhat's post above, and I agree with most of it - the SNES does have a more well rounded library, and it also has far more narrative-driven games. But Megadrive is where my heart is. I love that machine and those games. There is something very, very cool about the whole vibe of the machine and its quintessential titles.

[Leon Retro]

Megadrive is for arcade badasses.

Castlevania Bloodlines is better than Castlevania IV though fight me

I'll see you in the Bordersdown car park.

I owned a Mega Drive first but the SNES took it to a different level for me. It was the point I went from liking video games to loving them.

Yeah, the SNES also took my love/passion for gaming to another level. It's still the machine that inspires me the most.

[beecee]

Like most I got the megadrive first, and was perfectly happy with it, even after the snes launch, none of the snes games popped out, at first. Then I saw and played contra 3, I was instantly blown away not just by the brilliant graphics, but it was the soundtrack and effects, they were in a whole other level to anything I had heard on the md.

I picked up a snes soon after, and it was my main console until the n64. It has so many of my fave games ever, it can't be beat. Don't get me wrong I adore the md and it comes very close behind.

[HailMary]

I grew up as a Sega fanboy, because my parents got me the Mega Drive and Saturn, always had a special place in my heart. But the Snes had some decent RPG's which I discovered when I was much older. Both are equal to me really, cause Snes has a decent RPG library as well as the Mario games, but Genesis did arcade ports better...Well, to a good standard to enjoy at least.

[Leon Retro]

Then I saw and played contra 3, I was instantly blown away not just by the brilliant graphics, but it was the soundtrack and effects, they were in a whole other level to anything I had heard on the md.
.

It's one of the main games that reminds me why the SNES impressed me so much back in the day. The graphics and music are immensely impressive. I'd put Castlevania IV and ActRaiser alongside Contra 3 as showcases for the hardware.

Other great SNES games that I played a lot are: F-Zero; SF2:Turbo; Super Mario Kart.

Buying the SNES Mini also made me appreciate how a lot of SNES games stand the test of time really well.

[Asura]

I was very much a Sega kid. In truth, I don't know why. We had an Amiga after years of owning an Amstrad CPC, but for some reason I got a Game Gear for my 9th birthday, which I can only assume was after some prompting, rather than my parents just buying it out of the blue. I do remember, however, that my dad had bought the GG after hearing its original name "Microdrive", and like many, he thought it was a handheld Megadrive - or certainly, not a handheld Master System.

Another assumption was that this led to me getting a Megadrive for my 10th birthday, somehow. I mean, I read Sonic the Comic so that was probably responsible. It's difficult to remember but I believe it came with Sonic, World Cup Italia 90, Test Drive II and James Buster Douglas Knockout Boxing, all of which I remember thinking were fantastic games; Sonic is the only one I've played in ~20 years so I'm not sure if they were.

But the rivalry between the consoles was really quite strong. I remember there were kids at school who had Megadrives, and a few with SNES consoles (along with that 1 lucky prick who had a NeoGeo, a fact we all thought was a lie until we went to his birthday party one year). It was a source of seemingly endless discussion, which is bizarre. I don't even know what we managed to talk about! It's not like we had much to go on, with no internet to read about the latest games and limited access to things like games magazines.

All of this is just to illustrate that for years, it never entered into my mind that I might want a SNES. I was a huge Sonic fan; Sonic 3 is one of my favourite games ever, and seeing it just gives me a nostalgiagasm. Another is Streets of Rage II, which I never owned, but several friends had it and we must have finished it dozens of times.

As a kid, I just dismissed games like Mario as slow and boring. The first SNES game I particularly liked playing was Street Fighter II, but I knew a Megadrive version of that would be along eventually.

There was only one SNES game that got through to me; Starwing. 3D games were on the horizon, and were this mysterious thing... We were seeing TV shows like Reboot, The Cyberzone and Battletech on TV, and I also loved Bucky O'Hare; Starwing was like a mashup of those things and whilst I wouldn't readily have admitted it, I was a jealous green monster about that game, and really wanted to see something similar on the MD.

Despite all this, I actually think the SNES might've been the better machine. It just has some real classics which are incredibly playable today; in a way it has aged exceptionally well. I'm not totally sure if this is because those games are less "played-out" to me ("grass is greener" etc.) or if they're genuinely better, but I certainly feel as though it has an edge, with a really wide array of titles.

What I will say is that my faith in Sega was unshaking. My dad asked me years later whether I wanted a Playstation or Saturn, and we picked the Saturn purely on faith that Sega, as the seasoned party, would do a good job (we kinda thought Sony's console might go the way of the Phillips CDi or JVC's 3DO efforts). Even after we saw games like Wipeout and Tekken, we stuck by the Saturn despite their clear visual superiority to the Saturn Daytona and Virtua Fighter (remember we hadn't played any of the home versions; we saw them in pictures). Brand loyalty can be powerful.

[Leon Retro]

(along with that 1 lucky prick who had a NeoGeo, a fact we all thought was a lie until we went to his birthday party one year). It was a source of seemingly endless discussion, which is bizarre. I don't even know what we managed to talk about! It's not like we had much to go on, with no internet to read about the latest games and limited access to things like games magazines.

The thing is, as much as I also wanted to be a "lucky prick" I don't feel I missed out too much by not owning a Neo Geo. Sure it had some impressive games, but the SNES & MD got loads of great games in all genres. So as much as it would have been cool to own a Neo Geo and show off, I probably would have still played on my SNES & MD far more. Especially as the SF2 games are my favourite fighters. The Neo Geo, as much as it's great tech, just doesn't have a huge library of brilliant games that appeal to me. The MD & SNES have tons of great games that I've always enjoyed.

[Asura]

The thing is, as much as I also wanted to be a "lucky prick" I don't feel I missed out too much by not owning a Neo Geo. Sure it had some impressive games, but the SNES & MD got loads of great games in all genres. So as much as it would have been cool to own a Neo Geo and show off, I probably would have still played on my SNES & MD far more. Especially as the SF2 games are my favourite fighters. The Neo Geo, as much as it's great tech, just doesn't have a huge library of brilliant games that appeal to me. The MD & SNES have tons of great games that I've always enjoyed.

I probably should've been clearer, he had all those things too.

You know how when you're a kid, you don't really think you're rich, or poor, or in-between? You just kinda accept the reality into which you're born, and you don't really find out about that stuff until you get a bit older, and you see how other people live; I mean at school everyone wears a uniform so it's not like they're showing off designer clothes. Despite this, I knew immediately when I saw this kid's home that they were absolutely loaded; like they had a lifestyle that was many tiers above my own. I don't know how they got so rich but I remember that "oil" was involved; like they owned an oil shipping company, or drilling company, or something to that effect.