Favorite 16-bit system

[Jay See Double You]

I like the CD-i lots too! It's chock full of memories for me. The Zelda games, Kether, Tetris, with the exception of maybe Tetris, they are none of them very good games, and yet, they are dear to me because they're chock full of nostalgia. I would'nt call it my favorite, but I do feel you on really liking it!

[BrianC]

It's too hard to pick a favorite. I like all three!

[BydoEmpire]

At the time I liked the SNES a little bit better than the Genny. It had more Triple A games, imho, and multiplayer Street Fighter 2 and Mario Kart was HUGE for me in college. These days, however, my SNES is boxed up in the attic and my Genny w/ Sega CD is still hooked up. I have no desire to collect for the SNES, but I will occasionally pick up Genny carts or Sega CD games. The Genny just has sooo much stuff.

 

I had a TG-16 briefly (sold my books one semester when Babbages dropped the TG-16 price to $69). It was a fun system, and it accounts for most of my Virtual Console purchases, but it just doesn't have the quantity of the Genny & SNES. I did like that it had a lot of quirky and unique games, though.

[Multijointed Monster Maker]

I gave Mr_8bit_16bit a thumbs up +1 on both of his posts.

[roland p]

I gave Mr_8bit_16bit a thumbs up +1 on both of his posts.

He hasn't been online since Sep 11 2006, but he'll probably be happy with the reputation points when he comes back

[retrorussell]

Gotta go with the Genesis, seeing as how I never owned a SNES. Once I got an emulator of the SNES, I liked the superior color palette and the dearth of RPGs. But overall IMO the Genesis had superior games.

[malducci]

I need to get something off my chest. Why the fuck do people keep saying technically the TG16 is really an 8bit system? Do you even know what you're talking about!? Who cares what the processor is? It came out as a 16bit console for the 16bit era. It was the first of them and a lot of it's Japanese popularity played off the Famicom (which it over took in the first year it came out). A lot of early titles have that 8bit feel because the Japanese user based came from the beloved 8bit era. It *was* the system that transitioned the console market into the 16bit console era. Plain and simple. Play only hucards (which are primarily earlier softs) and you won't get a complete feel for the system, just the earlier generation of titles. They switched to CD very early on. Second, 8bit processor? It's STILL much faster in instruction per second than the SNES. Shit, I don't even have to go into some long as thread response to explain it. Just go play some damn fine examples on the system. Third, it *IS* the only system of the three to have a *true* 16bit video processor. Very much so. The VDP in the Genesis is an 8bit device, interfaced with 8bit data bus to vram, with 8bit addressing. It uses a pseudo mode to interface with the 68k for word writes (and increment on word writes). The SNES? Both parts of the sPPU are 8bit with 8bit data paths to vram (excluding the MULV unit). But.. does that in anyway deflate either the Genesis or the SNES? No. Not even in the least. What mattered is: what you saw and what you experience. So please, stop with the bullshit. 98% of the crap written on this thread, the people don't have any clue what they are even talking about spec wise (especially the cpu parts). Leave the tech stuff to code jocks that are in-the-know, please. And just enjoy your systems

 

That said... it's a tough question. I got the TG16 first when it came out, the Genesis soon after, and the SNES when it first released, then a Turbo Duo on its release (a year after the SNES). I loved all three. The TG16 and Genesis gave me some of my favorite memories of the 16bit era. Anything was possible back then! It was soo exciting. While the SNES on the other hand, with some great games, just... kinda took that excitement away. Everything was pretty much predictable to be at that point. SNES was going to take over the market. And at that point, NEC was already in a distant 3rd place. SNES game had incredible graphics, regardless of the slowdown in games, from the very first release titles. The writing was on the wall, neither the TG16/Duo or the Genesis was going to be able to complete with that. Turbo Duo got a second wind when Hudson of Japan took over the marketing of the system and such from NEC, but by then the damage was already done. There was no chance of getting any of there lost user base back and that second gust of wind just left there sails (many promised CD titles never made it here. That was really sad.) Sega on the otherhand, wasn't gonna give up that easily. The extreme advertising got even more extreme. But it a lucky shot with Sonic that really saved their asses. Had Sonic not come out, things would have been really different here in the states. Also, the Sega I knew and loved from pre SNES - had changed. I really didn't like the new advertising and image they put on. It was insulting to my intelligence. As if I needed to feel manly or have attitude by extension of my "Genesis" game console. Plenty of kids (and my friends) at school were in gangs, running drugs, carrying weapons and even firearms. Like owning a Genesis was gonna make me cool or something. You had to be either really young or really stupid to fall for such marketing crap. Besides that, (unknownst to me at the time) Sega of Japan wasn't as popular as Sega of America and that was a dilemma for them. All the top selling titles were localizations of Japanese games. Which Nintendo of Japan had a ton of. This was about the time Sega started getting more US developed softs and EU/US teams too. None of those games appealed to me. So while TG/Duo died a much quicker death, Genesis' death was more drawn out and depressing. SNES system lacked that excitement that both the TG and the Gen had early on. Graphics didn't get much better for the most part, relatively speaking. There were already impressive since day one. Super Castlevania IV is still impressive looking to this day. Not to mention there seemed to be an overflow of US/EU junk coming from the Genesis over to the SNES near the end. That just made it even worst.

 

So while I've played many a good game on the SNES, I have to say it's not my favorite system. I spent the last part of the 16bit generation picking up used titles on the Genesis that I had missed early on (and sleeper titles) and importing CD games for my Turbo Duo. Importing was more exciting on the Duo because of the limited amount of games that came out here. So seeing/playing some later gen games, gave me that feeling again from the early part of the 16bit generation. I got Dracula X a couple of months after it came out in Japan. What an incredible game it was. To see what a top tier title on the Duo would look like was inspiring. So, with that... I'd have to vote Turbo Duo. It was there in the beginning and it was there at the end, for me. My middle finger goes out to NEC for their arrogance in thinking they replicate the popularity of the PCE in Japan to that of the US simply... by sitting on their asses, and my hat goes off to Hudson for stepping in (although under the name TTi as not to piss off NOA) and for trying to save the system from certain demise. Genesis was a very close second though

 

On a side note; for all those people that think just because an arcade system or some other system also happens to have a 68k (and even z80!) like the Genesis, from that it makes them similar systems. No. There's a hellava lot more than just the CPU that they would need to have in common to be "comparable" and such. The Neo Geo couldn't *be* any more different than the Genesis. Yamaha FM chip +z80 or not. Same with Amiga/ST to Megadrive. They would have more in common if they had different CPUs but same interfacing hardware (you know, video and sound). The biggest advantage to the 68k is not its raw power, believe it or not. It's the ease of which to code native instructions on it (assembly). It's incredibly easy. People that aren't really assembly programmers, can code with ease on that chip. That's the real reason. And the reason comes from the linear address range + single powerful instructions. They're slow, relative speaking - but you don't have to write as much code. And the fact that the processor, stock no less, came in high speed packages when most others did not - made it an instant success. That and you can write unoptimized code and generally get pretty decent performance, relative speaking. The huge array of addressing modes and linear address range, made it a perfect setup for compiler of high level languages too (like C and such). Work/code time was reduced, code could be both "readable" and relatively fast at the same time. It's just that it *wasn't* the fastest processor out there. The '816 can out perform it at the same clock speed. Even some of the 8bit 65x02 variants can out perform it at the same clock speed in some case situations (and usually pull on par with it). But the 8bit variants require wildy optimized code (very unreadable/unfriendly) of veteran coders. And the '816, while requiring less wild style optimizations than its 8bit brothers, still doesn't have all the benefits that the 68k brings. The ease of code, clean code/readability, high level language friendly address modes, higher clock speeds like the 68k had. Add the 68k's popularity in with the people just repeat what the hear, and the 68k coders that are afraid to touch anything else (too comfortable with there easy to code processor) and/or don't even really have a clue as how to even optimize code on simpler instruction type processors - and just dismiss it with stupid examples. You don't even know how many times I've seen the last example. I wish I could meet those people in real life, so I could just smack them. Heh - and I wasn't going to talk shop in this thread :/

Edited February 9, 2010 by malducci

[Multijointed Monster Maker]

I hate it when people pretend the 68000's registers and the 65816's memory are the exact same thing. THEY'RE NOT!

[mbd30]

SNES and Genesis are both top notch. Genny might have an edge when it comes to sheer variety and adrenaline pumping action titles. The faster processor allows for fast paced gameplay with a lot of stuff going on. But SNES has games that feel the most magically "epic" with depth of play and beautiful graphics and sound... I love my Genesis, but there is no "Secret Of Mana", "A Link To The Past", or "Donkey Kong Country 2" on there.

 

I'm not won over by the few Turbografx games I've played on emulation. "Bonk's Adventure" feels mediocre and clunky compared to the likes of "Sonic The Hedgehog" series, "Super Mario World", "Donkey Kong Country" series, etc. "Blazing Lazers" is a quality shooter, but it's no "MUSHA" or "Gaiares". And these are supposed to be the top tier titles. I know that it has those pinball titles, but there's always "Dragon's Fury" on the Genesis. Never played the legendary Turbo Duo titles... those might still be spectacular.

[Rev. Rob]

I am really surprised to see Genesis ahead in a poll like this. I mean I know that more people bought a Genesis, but it seems like more hardcore gamers are into SNES. Go Sega!

 

Too bad that suck now. By inner 10 year old is sad.

[mbd30]

I mean I know that more people bought a Genesis, but it seems like more hardcore gamers are into SNES.

 

The most annoying cliche that I keep seeing in "SNES vs Genesis" discussions is "SNES is much better, but the Genesis is good for sports games."

 

F!ck sports games. The Genny has plenty of awesome titles that are not sports games.

[Rev. Rob]

I mean I know that more people bought a Genesis, but it seems like more hardcore gamers are into SNES.

 

The most annoying cliche that I keep seeing in "SNES vs Genesis" discussions is "SNES is much better, but the Genesis is good for sports games."

 

F!ck sports games. The Genny has plenty of awesome titles that are not sports games.

 

I think that is said so often because so many casual gamers back then owned a Genesis for just Sega Sports and Madden.

[malducci]

More annoying than the left over sports games at the local store shelves nowadays, are the propagating sport gamers that caused this in the first place from yester-year. How retarded is it to buy more than one copy of a football game!? There's barely any differences. Oh, the team names are different? Here's an idea, ignore the names and use your imagination. I played sports (baseball and soccer), but I couldn't stand sport games (and hated sports-only gamers). Man...

[roland p]

A nice article about bit-ness of GPU in TG-16 and its competition: http://turbo2k.net/features/column/column2.html

[malducci]

A nice article about bit-ness of GPU in TG-16 and its competition: http://turbo2k.net/features/column/column2.html

 

Turbo2k, nice guy But is totally off on alot of his stuff in those episodes.

Edited February 10, 2010 by malducci

[Austin]

SNES and Genesis are both top notch. Genny might have an edge when it comes to sheer variety and adrenaline pumping action titles. The faster processor allows for fast paced gameplay with a lot of stuff going on. But SNES has games that feel the most magically "epic" with depth of play and beautiful graphics and sound... I love my Genesis, but there is no "Secret Of Mana", "A Link To The Past", or "Donkey Kong Country 2" on there.

 

Well said. I find myself coming back to pure action games much more often on the Genesis, whereas the SNES by far has more of those epic, "magical" experiences I always have to play though every-so-often. In that regard that makes them both pretty even in my book.

 

I probably enjoy the Turbo equally, but I have to admit that's only with the CD/SCD capabilities factored into it. There's a lot of bad-ass goodness on the CD format, but the hu-cards don't hold up nearly as well these days. I blame that partially on the sound processor..

Edited February 10, 2010 by Austin

[tisaperfectdayelise]

... I got the TG16 first when it came out, the Genesis soon after, and the SNES when it first released, then a Turbo Duo on its release (a year after the SNES).

 

You must have had a LOT of pennies at the time....

[Jay See Double You]

 

SNES and Genesis are both top notch. Genny might have an edge when it comes to sheer variety and adrenaline pumping action titles. The faster processor allows for fast paced gameplay with a lot of stuff going on. But SNES has games that feel the most magically "epic" with depth of play and beautiful graphics and sound... I love my Genesis, but there is no "Secret Of Mana", "A Link To The Past", or "Donkey Kong Country 2" on there.

 

 

I don't disagree with anything said here, indeed, to support your case, I'd borrow from my original post and add that the SNES had a vastly superior GPU that despite a lower realized resolution than the Genesis still resulted in crisper, sharper, more vibrant graphics (in other words, generally better graphics) which when paired with a sound system that I can only describe as ridiculously superior over the Genesis, that only served to make the "epic" games even more epic. Someone else on this forum referred to them as "Triple A" games, you referred to them as "epic", the analogy I used was "10 out of 10", and I asserted that the SNES had a raging river of 10 out of 10 games whereas the Genesis only has a babbling brook of them.

 

However, what wins the day for the Genesis with software in my mind is not the 10 out of 10s, it's the sheer abundance of 9 out of 10s, the 8 out of 10s, and the 7 out of 10s. The Genesis may not have a Super Metroid, or a Link to the Past, or as you say, a Secret of Mana, but for every Super Metroid, there's a Sonic, theres a Golden Axe, there's an Altered Beast, there's a Gunstar Heroes, there's a Shinobi, there's a Dick Tracy, etc, etc, etc. To borrow some more from my original post, if when it comes to 10 out of 10s, we say that the SNES has a river, and the Genesis has a brook, when it comes to 7-9 of 10s, I'd say the SNES has a pond, while the Genesis has a veritable ocean!

 

I'll also say one thing else from my original post, a paraphrase: What I have just said is highly subjective, but even if you were to agree with the claim, and/or treat it as if it were objective, there'd still be another layer of subjectivity to deal with, and that's which is more important, what I'll call "the greater great (quality of quality)": the greater # of 10 out of 10s, if so, you'd pick the SNES, and that's fine, or "the more abundant great (the quantity of quality)": the greater total number of games that are 7 out of 10 or greater, if so, you'd pick the Genesis. I pick the Genesis (well, I pick both, but of the two, I favor the Genesis.)

 

The result of having a larger pool of quality games even one with less legends for me is that I spend more time playing that system, and am far less wary to buy a game for that system that I've never seen or heard of should I encounter one, than I am for the system with more legends but a smaller overall pool of quality.

[+Cafeman]

I like the analogies comparing the software libraries of SNES vs Genesis here. And I tend to agree with them. I was and will always be pro-Genesis over SNES. I think the main reason is I prefer action titles over RPGs, and the next big reason is simply, "because of Sonic the Hedgehog". If I were an RPG aficionado, I'm sure my loyalties would lean more towards SNES. But I'm not.

 

For me, I found Sonic to be a must-play, and I wasn't attracted to the Marios or the Zeldas. Can't explain why, maybe it was my age of early 20's back then. Whatever it was about SEGA and the SEGA Genesis , it appealed to me. For all the graphical/musical superiority the SNES was capable of, I could not pass up Genesis gems like the SEGA exlusives (Sonic, Ecco, Shinobi, Super Monaco GP, even Shining Force), the EA games (NHL Hockey and Road Rage), and others. I liked the SEGA pad more. I loved games like MUSHA, Biohazard Battle, Spider-Man vs Kingpin. The rental store had shelves stocked with games I wanted to play for Genesis. For 3rd party games, I found the Genesis versions were often rated better based on playability, and I found I even liked the SEGA version of Jurassic Park more than the SNES version (I loved JP back when it hit), I loved the Genny version of Earthworm Jim (extra level over SNES and it 'feels' better to me), and of course the sports games seemed so much more fluid and playable. As time went on, games like Comix Zone and the SEGA CD came out with many great titles, so I had the old Genny hooked up for a long long time, and in use too.

 

Eventually I bought a SNES and found I didn't play it. The graphics and audio were always a treat. I excitedly bought the Super Star wars games - but found I didn't find them fun. Super Mario World is certainly a AAA game, but after playing it once I never touched it. But I still play all the Sonic games on their various compilation packs and I must say, I enjoy playing them.

[Ransom]

I agree with what's been said by Cafeman and others. My experience was similar.

 

Until emulation.

 

Then I started trying out more of the SNES games, and it turns out there are a number that I like very much. But back in the day, I wasn't about to risk $50-$60 on the more obscure games. So my SNES mostly just sat there after the first few months or so because by the time the SNES came out I wasn't much into long games like Zelda, Mario, and the like.

 

I still don't play it much, but then I don't play the Genesis or TG-16 much either. I'm having too much fun with the earlier consoles right now. But I have a small core of games for each, and when the times is right, I'll dive back in. When I do, I know the SNES, Genesis, and TG-16 will all offer some great gaming experiences to me -- both from games I already know I love, and from new ones that I'll discover through emulation and then buy on the secondary market.

[Video]

Of course, the ONLY 16 bit console that matters....Super Nintendo *ducks flying trashcans* Er...for great games like Mario, Starfox, Populous, tons of puzzle games...and best of all, not a new accessory released semi annualy to steal R+D from the core system

 

Sure it's got some problems, like slowdownon a few games (some people will swear all games, but eh..., that's like saying all genesis games flicker trance inducingly ) and a bit less memory, but it makes up in other areas, and has the best controller from the early 90's (untill Jag Pro came along that is )

 

Genesis?....well, it had sonic...if you gave a crap about sports, it slightly edged out the SNES on some games, but for the most part, the music was grating (and didn't have to, some games did prove the system could pull off some good tunes) and the colors weren't half as good.

 

Anyhow, didn't own a Turbografix at the time, I got that in the late 90's, and by then, any chance for growing love for it was long past

[Jay See Double You]

I gave Mr_8bit_16bit a thumbs up +1 on both of his posts.

He hasn't been online since Sep 11 2006, but he'll probably be happy with the reputation points when he comes back

 

I'm sure he'd appreciate it.

[atarian63]

I prefer Genesis, as you all know we sold all this stuff at the retail store, Genbesis outsold Snes until about the last year or so of the era, took awhile for Snes to catch up and in some was to overtake genesis for quality of games. That said there were sooo many more genesis titles. Yes there was the curse of sports games but that was an advantage ealier in the systems life. TG16 sold ok for us and we sold lots of import title and adapters. It was really hot for a short period of time.

Anyway Genesis was groundbreaking at release and the public just ate it up, so much so that people wit ST and Amiga were either buying genesis and not so much for thier pc system or abandoning the homne system for the console altogether. Truley amazing.

Genesis does what Nin ten don't was true for a long time.

[jeremysart]

SNES:

Donkey Kong Country

Yoshis Island

F-Zero

Super Mario Kart

Super Mario World

Super Mario All Stars

Hyper Zone

Mario Paint

Alien vs Predator

Doom

Bubsy

Clay Fighters

Killer Instinct

 

Genesis:

Sonic

Sonic

Sonic

Sonic

Sonic

Mortal Combat

Sonic

 

Sorry, I have to tip the hat to SNES. I had the SNES, my cousin had the monster that was Genesis/32x/CD and even with all those add ons combined, I did not enjoy any of the games as much as I enjoyed my SNES.

[Atariboy]

I like all three quite a bit, but the SuperNes is easily my favorite of the three.