Console Debate #12 Sega Genesis/Mega Drive

[The Count | 527]

9/10. Amazing library and a decent run worldwide. 

[fcgamer | 4,723]

I'd go 8 or 9. I only got one as a teenager from Funcoland, so I have little nostalgia compared to SNES; however, I think that likely makes me like this machine better than SNES.

Super Nintendo looks nice, but it's basically the bulked up guy that your girlfriend dumped you for, only to decide that she wants to get back with you a week later. No substance, aside from RPGs , most of the NES franchises when upgraded to SNES lost their soul.

Mega Drive, on the other hand, never tried to be a souped up NES. It does it's own thing, and provides a fun experience because of that, all while looking nice.

[JamesRobot | 5,800]

ABACABB!!1!1!!!11!!!1!

[mbd39 | 2,020]

1 hour ago, Sumez said:

That's well known. The system also has Streets of Rage 2, though.

Except that Golden Axe is awesome. I also like that it's a quick playthrough compared to Streets of Rage 2.

 

[Br81zad | 629]

1 hour ago, Sumez said:

That's well known. The system also has Streets of Rage 2, though.

Oh, I'm aware. I just always see or hear adoration for the 2 games I mentioned, and I can't figure out why.

SoR2 is a fun game, it doesn't confuse me when I see praise for it. lol

[MagusSmurf | 577]

8/10.

Could conceivably be worth more (or less) than that, my experience with the library isn't very extensive. When its great it's great but I've been disappointed or at least underwhelmed by enough games with reasonably high reputation or profile I'm not inclined to call it one of the best.

[PII | 1,885]

3 hours ago, Splain said:

What are the Zelda, SMW, and Chrono Trigger of the library?

For Zeldas you might have a look at crusader of centy, sword of vermillion, and beyond oasis.  Personally, I think Chrono Trigger is probably in a class all its own but have a look at shining force, pier solar and phantasy star 2,3 & 4.  As for Marios there's this blue guy with spikes on his back, can't remember the name... ;9

[Californication | 1,477]

I'm fairly new to the Sega library. Have no real nostalgia for it, but I really enjoy playing it.

I think the Mickey Mania, Contra, Castlevania, and Sunset Riders (gameplay not graphics) are superior to their Snes counterparts and 10/10. 

Mega Turrican, Truxton, Pulseman, High Seas Havoc, Musha, are great 10/10 exclusives. 

(Haven't played Gleylancer, Eliminate Down, Crusader of Centy.)

But even though there are a ton of exclusives I feel like most of them hit that above average level where the Nes and Snes have more that are 10/10.

 

Edited January 22, 2021 by Californication

[mbd39 | 2,020]

1 hour ago, Br81zad said:

Oh, I'm aware. I just always see or hear adoration for the 2 games I mentioned, and I can't figure out why.

SoR2 is a fun game, it doesn't confuse me when I see praise for it. lol

People have different tastes. Golden Axe isn't boring for me at all. Yes it's an older and simpler beat em up and that's what I like. It's short and sweet, and it has three totally different characters with different strengths and weaknesses so there's a lot of replay value.

For me boring is  monotonous Turtles beat em ups that go on way too long fighting the same enemy over and over and over and then the boss fights that drag on forever.

 

 

 

 

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

I was a Genesis kid and there is just too much to love here. A solid 9 and a great companion/competitor to the SNES. I love the unique visuals and music to go with the more arcadey focus.

[elprincipe | 142]

9

Growing up, I had a SNES and my best friend had a Genesis. Rather than argue over stupid marketing language or which machine had better technical capabilities, we traded systems every so often. So he got to play Super Mario World, Castlevania IV, Zelda LTTP, etc. and I got my hands on Ghouls 'N Ghosts, Shining Force, Thunder Force III, etc. What a great time to be playing games!

The Genesis comes in ever so slightly below SNES as the third-best console ever for me. The number and breadth of awesome games it offers is staggering. This truly was Sega's golden age. The machine tends to produce distinct graphics and especially sound compared to the SNES, and sometimes with great effect (check out the music in Streets of Rage 2, Thunder Force III, Revenge of Shinobi, many, many more). I like the controller although obviously the 6-button version is necessary for certain games.

Just a few favorites to mention: Ghouls 'N Ghosts, Golden Axe, Revenge of Shinobi, Streets of Rage (1-3), Shadow Dancer, Shinobi III, Castlevania Bloodlines, TMNT Hyperstone Heist, Shining Force (I-II), Crusader of Centy, Beyond Oasis, King's Bounty, General Chaos, Thunder Force III, Space Harrier II, Gunstar Heroes, Rocket Knight Adventures, Michael Jackson's Moonwalker, and many, many, many more. Can't recommend this system enough!

[DorkOverlord | 686]

Can I give it a 9.99/10? 

[Splain | 2,569]

35 minutes ago, PII said:

For Zeldas you might have a look at crusader of centy, sword of vermillion, and beyond oasis.  Personally, I think Chrono Trigger is probably in a class all its own but have a look at shining force, pier solar and phantasy star 2,3 & 4.  As for Marios there's this blue guy with spikes on his back, can't remember the name... ;9

Thanks, I'll check these out. I meant the heavy-hitters in general, like if you post a collection of SNES games and say "I've got all the must-plays!" You're going to get comments like "where's SMRPG?" "No DKC?" etc.

Lots of good info from other comments in this thread too.

And I was going to make a joke about finding the "blue guy with spikes" but I made the mistake of scratching the surface of the internet's collection of weird Sonic fan art. It's... uh...

[PII | 1,885]

On 1/22/2021 at 2:32 PM, Splain said:

And I was going to make a joke about finding the "blue guy with spikes" but I made the mistake of scratching the surface of the internet's collection of weird Sonic fan art. It's... uh...

Weird Sonic fan art?  Whatever do you mean?

 

Edited September 16, 2023 by PII

[PII | 1,885]

@Splain Ristar and Rocket knight Adventures are both pretty well loved side-scroll platformer types, in all seriousness.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,523]

52 minutes ago, Splain said:

I was going to make a joke about finding the "blue guy with spikes" but I made the mistake of scratching the surface of the internet's collection of weird Sonic fan art. It's... uh...

You should google Sonichu

[Strange | 1,700]

5 hours ago, Webhead123 said:

The graphics, sound and even style of many of its games are just uniquely "Sega" and that helps make it stand out as worthy of owning and playing.

This. Part of why I like collecting games is the personality of the individual console and I’m really impressed by good sprite work. The Genesis oozes personality in a way not many machines have matched. When I think 16-bit, those arcade style graphics from the Genesis come to mind. My avatar is an example.

[GPX | 1,369]

I owned both Megadrive and SNES when in the 90s. I started as a devoted Sega fan (having owned the Megadrive first). Then I switched alliance to become a Nintendo fan (after selling off the Megadrive to buy a SNES). Then sometime later, I became simply a gaming fan, and appreciative of all the games that produced enjoyment to me, with brain stimulation with dopamine releases. 

Whilst I agree the Megadrive is probably not as good as the SNES, I tend to think that the SNES wouldn’t be as great as it was if it wasn’t for the fierce competition that it had in the Megadrive. The 2 platforms had pushed each other to their limits.

I’d rate it 9.5/10, SNES a 10/10.

 

[MagusSmurf | 577]

Since they've been recommended to someone unsuspecting, I'll warn that even many RPG fans back in the day didn't really like Phantasy Star III and that while the praise for Phantasy Star II around release made some sense, the game has absolutely aged like milk and is among the disappointing games I was talking about.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,523]

Phantasy Star II is rough

[sp1nz | 611]

Okay here's why Mega Drive/Genesis is the GOAT for me and only console I will give a 10 as per the score descriptions:

It was my first console, so nostalgia points for that. Sonic the Hedgehog was the first game I ever played and I was 4 years old. I used to sneak in my big brother's room when he was sleeping and I would play with the sound off. Eventually he just let me have the console so I wouldn't bother him about playing it.

More powerful processor (this is what the term "blast processing" basically means) than the SNES hence less slowdown in busy or action filled games. I prefer action games to RPG games (which SNES is strong at) so less slowdown is a really big deal for me. I prefer the SHMUP selection to that of the SNES and again faster processor helps here. When talking of resolution or colors I prefer gameplay to graphics in any case but SNES definitely has MD beat often in those departments but also sometimes the SNES multiplatform games are too zoomed in or whatever. In general for multiplatform games between MD and SNES; I prefer MD versions in more than half of the games. Lots of sports games in the library (well SNES has quite a bit too) but many of those are fun with friends at least and of course some are more quirky like Mutant League games and Super Baseball 2020 - I could argue that my love for the MD made me more open to appreciating "real" sports games instead of just dismissing them as trash.

Dragon's Fury is my favorite pinball game even if not full on exclusive to MD, I remember visiting "Musta Pörssi" appliance store with my dad and buying that game on a whim from the box art or something and damn was it good. Shining Force II is my favorite strategy game although it's more of an RPG adventure than hardcore strategizing - then again Fire Emblems didn't get western releases in those days, so it was a great boon. Once as a child I randomly found Alisia Dragoon and Super Hydlide in some closet's upper shelf, never knew we even had those games - Alisia Dragoon was great and Super Hydlide not so much, especially cause I couldn't understand the English language at the time. I used to play the weird art game "Art Alive!" a lot and animate or edit some random ToeJam and Earl or Sonic sprites and watch them bounce across the screen. Comix Zone had a baller style. Streets of Rage series is GOAT. I could babble on endlessly about all the known and unknown MD games but I'll leave it at that.

When utilized correctly the YM2612 sound chip produces my favorite sound for any video game console and maybe even favorite sound among all of music. The rich FM synthesis waveforms just resonate with me but sadly a lot of the western developers didn't really dig deep into the sound chip and also some console models and versions sound way worse, so combining lazy approach and bad console model leaves worse impression forever in the minds of many.

Controllers are not my favorite but not bad either and there are many variants to choose from and if you emulate then you're not limited either. During the market time of MD I feel like everyone knew certain games but had way different exposure to the other parts of the library, so you could always find some great obscure games when visiting a game store or your friends.

SEEGAA!

[TDIRunner | 2,735]

I grew up with an SNES, but several of my friends had a Genesis.  I'm proud to say that I was not a fanboy during those years.  I was always excited to play the Genesis at my friends house when I visited.  It was nice having friends who had the system because it was my only chance to play those games because there was absolutely zero chance my parents were going to purchase both an SNES and a Genesis.  I can also say that I never knew a single person who owned both while the systems were still active during that generation.  While I was a huge fan of the system, at the end of the day, I was glad we had the SNES because I felt at the time (and still do today) that it was the superior system.  But even if the Genesis was second best, it can still be considered one of the best consoles of all time.  The 4th generation just happened to be the most competitive generation in video game history.  It truly was the greatest "console war" ever and I'm happy that I got to live through it during a time in my life where I could take advantage of the amazing games.

One other thing I want to note is that while most people today consider the Sega CD and 32x to be failures, I still look back and think that it was impressive that Sega was at least trying to improve their console.  As a kid, I didn't know much about this stuff, but I knew enough to know that the ports on the Nintendo and Sega consoles could have been used to improve the performance in some capacity.  I was always frustrated that Nintendo would never use these (at least in the US).  As an adult looking back at the history and seeing what happened to Sega, it makes much more sense to put your resources into the next generation console.  It didn't work out for Sega, but at least they tried.  

[T-Pac | 7,539]

[hyrulevyse | 151]

I gave it a 7 (but that's in no means a slight), but I tend to grade these sort of questions on a curve and if I have 5 or so consoles above it then it's hard for me to justify giving out so many 10's if I make this a 9. 

But there's a ton to love here.  Library is amazing, hardware is durable, 6 button controller is one of the best ever, and it does rgb out of the box.  Even the much maligned sound capabilities are something I enjoy because even thought it isn't good, it's unmistakably Genesis.  Just typing this I can hear that throaty base sound that's made during every explosion in every game, and that uniqueness has been completely lost these last few generations.

[Californication | 1,477]

This thread got me looking for new games and I found/ordered this: 

Has anyone played it?