SNES vs MegaDrive/Genesis, which is better

so what do you all think, which is the better system, or maybe you cant decide cause both excellent

personally I cant decide, every quality game the MegaDrive has, the SNES has a equally good game. both I would say are equal

so what do you think??

audio and graphics are better on the snes. im preferable of the snes library as well. the genesis has a pretty good library too tho

I had to vote Genesis, I mean it was good enough to be called Genesis in America (religious afiliation?). I looked at my collection, and realised that I had like 3 times the ammount of Genesis games that were excellent games by anyones standards. Musha ftw, Robocop Versus the Terminator, Rocket Kight Adventures, sonic games. I think the Genesis had more appealing games, SNES was popular more overall, or more popular in Japan. They sucked up the Metroid game, Mario games, thing is I might have a more even ratio of cartridges, if the games were not uber expensive on the SNES. Americans liked the Genesis while Japanese liked the Snes, which there are more Japanese than there are Americans. Its a close call though, I mean Musha can be compared to Starfox, Sonic to Mario/Donkey Kong. I played Earthworm Jim on both the Snes and the Genesis, and the Genesis one was better.

Neo Geo

Mega Drive. It had a much better game line-up.

Both were AMAZING systems... my best bud at the time had a Genesis and I had the Super NES... I loved going over there and playing Sonic and Spiderman!!!! But I do give a slight edge to the SNES... wait, no... man, this is possibly one of the toughest questions in history!! Genesis was way ahead of its time... while SNES revolutionized video games with stuff like Donkey Kong Country, Star Fox... but as did Sonic... :\

I grew up owning both the SNES and MD. My friends and I would waste away weekends and afternoons playing games on both consoles, though we mostly played the SNES. With that being said, after growing up and collecting games for both consoles I can without a doubt in my mind say the SNES is way better than the Mega Drive.

I vote for the snes.

while its a close call, I prefer the Genesis. I had a blast playing Sonic 1, 2 and 3. but the main reason I prefer Genesis is Road Rash. For some reason Nintendo couldnt get 1 Road Rash game on the SNES, while Sega got 3 of them.

SNES won the console war for a reason. One of my problems with the genesis was it didn't know when to all it quit's. Genesis, Genesis 2, lets add on a cd (Sega CD), wait that still didn't work. lets try one more time (Sega 32X). each of these add ons costed like $150 dollars in addition to the console itself. All just to compete with the SNES, know when to call it quits and admit you have been bested.

SNES won the console war for a reason. One of my problems with the genesis was it didn't know when to all it quit's. Genesis, Genesis 2, lets add on a cd (Sega CD), wait that still didn't work. lets try one more time (Sega 32X). each of these add ons costed like $150 dollars in addition to the console itself. All just to compete with the SNES, know when to call it quits and admit you have been bested.

Stange13

And the Mega-CD sold more 6 million units. More than all of the crap add-ons Nintendo devised combined and that no one ones about like the FamiDisk, and 64DD, and even the Virtual Boy included.

[QUOTE="Stange13"]

SNES won the console war for a reason. One of my problems with the genesis was it didn't know when to all it quit's. Genesis, Genesis 2, lets add on a cd (Sega CD), wait that still didn't work. lets try one more time (Sega 32X). each of these add ons costed like $150 dollars in addition to the console itself. All just to compete with the SNES, know when to call it quits and admit you have been bested.

Panzer_Zwei

And the Mega-CD sold 6 million units. More than all of the crap add-ons Nintendo devised and that no one ones about like the FamiDisk, and 64DD, and even the Virtual Boy included.

It's really hard to believe the Genesis outsold the SNES here in the states. It's not a bad system but what does the Virtual boy have to do with the SNES is was a crappy flop that should have never happened. The Genesis just couldn't compete with the SNES hence all the overpriced add ons that didn't improve the games.

Edit Nintendo moved 49.1 million Super NES consoles over the course of the generation and beyond, far surpassing the Genesis, which sold a still impressive 29 million units. Don't believe me? check for yourself. http://retro.ign.com/articles/965/965032p1.html

[QUOTE="Panzer_Zwei"]

[QUOTE="Stange13"]

SNES won the console war for a reason. One of my problems with the genesis was it didn't know when to all it quit's. Genesis, Genesis 2, lets add on a cd (Sega CD), wait that still didn't work. lets try one more time (Sega 32X). each of these add ons costed like $150 dollars in addition to the console itself. All just to compete with the SNES, know when to call it quits and admit you have been bested.

Stange13

And the Mega-CD sold 6 million units. More than all of the crap add-ons Nintendo devised and that no one ones about like the FamiDisk, and 64DD, and even the Virtual Boy included.

It's really hard to believe the Genesis outsold the SNES here in the states. It's not a bad system but what does the Virtual boy have to do with the SNES is was a crappy flop that should have never happened. The Genesis just couldn't compete with the SNES hence all the overpriced add ons that didn't improve the games.

Edit Nintendo moved 49.1 million Super NES consoles over the course of the generation and beyond, far surpassing the Genesis, which sold a still impressive 29 million units. Don't believe me? check for yourself. http://retro.ign.com/articles/965/965032p1.html

The SFC didn't outsold the Mega Drive until 1994, when the Saturn, Playstation and PC-FX next-generation consoles came out. In 1992 SEGA still had around 60% of the market share.

The Mega Drive dominated the entire generation, the SFC sold the most units after the generation was over.

Seems to me the system competed more than well enough.

It still comes down to the fact that SNES Dominated Genesis! The numbers don't lie.

It still comes down to the fact that SNES Dominated Genesis! The numbers don't lie.

Stange13

Yeah, 20 million is quite a lot.

SNES was in another league.

It still comes down to the fact that SNES Dominated Genesis! The numbers don't lie.

Stange13

But if it makes you happier thinking that way, then be my guess. I've already had this same argument countless times already.

It still comes down to the fact that SNES Dominated Genesis! The numbers don't lie.

Stange13

SEGA mega drive.

It still comes down to the fact that SNES Dominated Genesis! The numbers don't lie.

Stange13

Wrong, you have to remember that yeah 30 mil vs 50 mil may seem like the SNES squished the MD, you also have to remember that roughly 20 million of that number came from Japan, whereas the MD sold some thing 3-4 million there. Secondly, MD won Europe, and it was also winning NA right up till 1994. I know some may disagree but Nintendo really stepped up their game in that year and as a result were a good hold-over console till PSone/N64/Saturn arrived.FirstDiscovery

Even if you take out the sales for Japan the SNES still outsold the MD, just by 4 million instead of 20. (50-20=30, 30-4= 26)

Yeah the MD was winning North America during the early 90s, but the MD was designed to compete with the NES and when you compare the NES to the MD there is a huge generation gap, so consumers are going to flock to it. Add that to the fact that the MD was released a good two years before the SNES it's pretty obvious that Sega is going to have a great head start.

[QUOTE="FirstDiscovery"]Wrong, you have to remember that yeah 30 mil vs 50 mil may seem like the SNES squished the MD, you also have to remember that roughly 20 million of that number came from Japan, whereas the MD sold some thing 3-4 million there. Secondly, MD won Europe, and it was also winning NA right up till 1994. I know some may disagree but Nintendo really stepped up their game in that year and as a result were a good hold-over console till PSone/N64/Saturn arrived.KronikX9

Even if you take out the sales for Japan the SNES still outsold the MD, just by 4 million instead of 20. (50-20=30, 30-4= 26)

Yeah the MD was winning North America during the early 90s, but the MD was designed to compete with the NES and when you compare the NES to the MD there is a huge generation gap, so consumers are going to flock to it. Add that to the fact that the MD was released a good two years before the SNES it's pretty obvious that Sega is going to have a great head start.

Ignoring Japan, the SNES was still ahead, but it only gained the lead once the generation looked like it was over. 1994 was won by Nintendo for good reason, but that doesnt mean Sega didnt do anything. All throughout 1994 and 1995 they had their own quality releases, but it didnt matter, preparations were being taken for the next generation, the MD had run out of steam (except in EU where it was still being produced) and it was during this period that Nintendo regained much of the market, thats right, during the transitional period. But it doesnt matter, because Sega TOPPLED Nintendo. They had 2% of the marketshare and had to fight against their illegal contracts that they choked their third-parties with, thats an achievement. Competing with the NES meant that they could get a heads up while the SNES was being prepared, and when the SNES hit, they made sure they had more than enough ammo to compete.FirstDiscovery

I don't remember saying Sega didn't do anything, I think they did great. Around my neighborhood its hard to find anyone who has even heard of the Sega Master System even after the invention of the internet. So to go from an unknown company (from around here) to some of the toughest competition that Nintendo has ever faced is very impressive.

Of course the SNES is going to overtake the MD during those years, thats when you have huge titles like FF6, Super Mario RPG, Chrono Trigger and Earthbound being released. None of those were released in Europe so it's easy to see why the SNES never overtook the MD in EU.

I think most people were more simply graphic whores back then, so they went what simply looked better. Genesis was an America console, as we named it Genesis. I am thinking about buying the Castlevania on the Genesis, I remember playing the Snes one, I dont see what was so good about that one. Genesis had games that were awesome, but no one payyed attention to. Like Rocket Knight Adventures.

Sales dont really matter, there is a lot of factors that effect sales, but if we really went by that, the Original Nintendo is twice as good as the Sega Genesis, when its still somewhat about preference. Sega Genesis was competing against the Original Nintendo, then had to turn around and compete against the Super Nintendo, which was superior in every way except speed. Even then the Sega Genesis managed to make a lot of games that played and looked better than the Snes.

[QUOTE="FirstDiscovery"]Wrong, you have to remember that yeah 30 mil vs 50 mil may seem like the SNES squished the MD, you also have to remember that roughly 20 million of that number came from Japan, whereas the MD sold some thing 3-4 million there. Secondly, MD won Europe, and it was also winning NA right up till 1994. I know some may disagree but Nintendo really stepped up their game in that year and as a result were a good hold-over console till PSone/N64/Saturn arrived.KronikX9

Even if you take out the sales for Japan the SNES still outsold the MD, just by 4 million instead of 20. (50-20=30, 30-4= 26)

Yeah the MD was winning North America during the early 90s, but the MD was designed to compete with the NES and when you compare the NES to the MD there is a huge generation gap, so consumers are going to flock to it. Add that to the fact that the MD was released a good two years before the SNES it's pretty obvious that Sega is going to have a great head start.

The Master System wasn't also very successful in North America neither, on a time where Nintendo had third party companies monopolized by forcing them to sign an exclusivity contract.. So I don't see how the success of the Mega Drive was obvious.

And Yet it still took 4 years for the SFC to catch up with it, pretty much the whole entire generation.

Genesis was an America console, as we named it GenesisSegaGenesisfan

I don't remember saying Sega didn't do anything, I think they did great. Around my neighborhood its hard to find anyone who has even heard of the Sega Master System even after the invention of the internet. So to go from an unknown company (from around here) to some of the toughest competition that Nintendo has ever faced is very impressive.

Of course the SNES is going to overtake the MD during those years, thats when you have huge titles like FF6, Super Mario RPG, Chrono Trigger and Earthbound being released. None of those were released in Europe so it's easy to see why the SNES never overtook the MD in EU.

KronikX9

[QUOTE="KronikX9"]

[QUOTE="FirstDiscovery"]Wrong, you have to remember that yeah 30 mil vs 50 mil may seem like the SNES squished the MD, you also have to remember that roughly 20 million of that number came from Japan, whereas the MD sold some thing 3-4 million there. Secondly, MD won Europe, and it was also winning NA right up till 1994. I know some may disagree but Nintendo really stepped up their game in that year and as a result were a good hold-over console till PSone/N64/Saturn arrived.Panzer_Zwei

Even if you take out the sales for Japan the SNES still outsold the MD, just by 4 million instead of 20. (50-20=30, 30-4= 26)

Yeah the MD was winning North America during the early 90s, but the MD was designed to compete with the NES and when you compare the NES to the MD there is a huge generation gap, so consumers are going to flock to it. Add that to the fact that the MD was released a good two years before the SNES it's pretty obvious that Sega is going to have a great head start.

The Master System wasn't also very successful in North America neither, on a time where Nintendo had third party companies monopolized by forcing them to sign an exclusivity contract.. So I don't see how the success of the Mega Drive was obvious.

And Yet it still took 4 years for the SFC to catch up with it, pretty much the whole entire generation.

Yeah thats my mistake, I should have proofread my paragraph, but I had to hurry off to my early morning courses. What I meant to say was the MDs only competition at the time was the NES and that there was a huge advancement between the MD and the NES not only in graphics but gameplay as well and because of this a lot of people bought up a MD during the early 90s (I know I did!).Therefore the MD had a good 2 year head start against the SFC with only an aging 8-bit console for any real competition. Not to mention Sega's harsh campaigining (Nintendon't anyone)?

The success of the Mega Drive is obvious to me because like I said in my neighborhood and within my friends no one had even heard of SMS and for Sega to come out with the MD and become a household name and create animosity between friends by fighting over which system is better (SNES or MD) is a story of success imo.

Yeah it took the SFC 4 years to catch up and eventually SURPASS the MD by 20 million. You make it seem like the 16 bit generation came to a complete stop during 1994 just because you have the Saturn and PSX coming out. Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't both the MD and the SFC getting top tier releases well passed 1994? I said in my earlier post that FF6, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG, Earthbound came out after 1994 and there were even releases for the both consoles well into the late 90s.

everything is good for both except the gen had worse sound than snes and it didnt play 3d games well

Yeah thats my mistake, I should have proofread my paragraph, but I had to hurry off to my early morning courses. What I meant to say was the MDs only competition at the time was the NES and that there was a huge advancement between the MD and the NES not only in graphics but gameplay as well and because of this a lot of people bought up a MD during the early 90s (I know I did!).Therefore the MD had a good 2 year head start against the SFC with only an aging 8-bit console for any real competition. Not to mention Sega's harsh campaigining (Nintendon't anyone)?

The success of the Mega Drive is obvious to me because like I said in my neighborhood and within my friends no one had even heard of SMS and for Sega to come out with the MD and become a household name and create animosity between friends by fighting over which system is better (SNES or MD) is a story of success imo.

Yeah it took the SFC 4 years to catch up and eventually SURPASS the MD by 20 million. You make it seem like the 16 bit generation came to a complete stop during 1994 just because you have the Saturn and PSX coming out. Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't both the MD and the SFC getting top tier releases well passed 1994? I said in my earlier post that FF6, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG, Earthbound came out after 1994 and there were even releases for the both consoles well into the late 90s.KronikX9

I mean you look at the Saturn and the PSone, they both came out in 1994, but then again LATE 1994 and ONLY in Japan. Once the Saturn hit, it wasnt exactly flying off the shelves, and the PSone didnt arrive till LATE 1995, pretty much 1996 so yeah. In fact, SNES sales remained strong into 1995 and even 1996 in NA and JP so i think that the MD slowing down in 1994 in NA had little to do with the 32-bit systems.

Yeah thats my mistake, I should have proofread my paragraph, but I had to hurry off to my early morning courses. What I meant to say was the MDs only competition at the time was the NES and that there was a huge advancement between the MD and the NES not only in graphics but gameplay as well and because of this a lot of people bought up a MD during the early 90s (I know I did!).Therefore the MD had a good 2 year head start against the SFC with only an aging 8-bit console for any real competition. Not to mention Sega's harsh campaigining (Nintendon't anyone)?

The success of the Mega Drive is obvious to me because like I said in my neighborhood and within my friends no one had even heard of SMS and for Sega to come out with the MD and become a household name and create animosity between friends by fighting over which system is better (SNES or MD) is a story of success imo.

Yeah it took the SFC 4 years to catch up and eventually SURPASS the MD by 20 million. You make it seem like the 16 bit generation came to a complete stop during 1994 just because you have the Saturn and PSX coming out. Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't both the MD and the SFC getting top tier releases well passed 1994? I said in my earlier post that FF6, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG, Earthbound came out after 1994 and there were even releases for the both consoles well into the late 90s.

KronikX9

Thats actually something i strongly disagree with him on too

I mean you look at the Saturn and the PSone, they both came out in 1994, but then again LATE 1994 and ONLY in Japan. Once the Saturn hit, it wasnt exactly flying off the shelves, and the PSone didnt arrive till LATE 1995, pretty much 1996 so yeah. In fact, SNES sales remained strong into 1995 and even 1996 in NA and JP so i think that the MD slowing down in 1994 in NA had little to do with the 32-bit systems.

FirstDiscovery

I remember I had to beg my parents to buy me a Saturn and I still had to wait until the price drop. I was the only kid I knew with a Saturn but I used to play so much virtual on and die hard arcade with my pals. Now thanks to the internet I have a whole collection of imports to buy.

[QUOTE="KronikX9"]

Yeah thats my mistake, I should have proofread my paragraph, but I had to hurry off to my early morning courses. What I meant to say was the MDs only competition at the time was the NES and that there was a huge advancement between the MD and the NES not only in graphics but gameplay as well and because of this a lot of people bought up a MD during the early 90s (I know I did!).Therefore the MD had a good 2 year head start against the SFC with only an aging 8-bit console for any real competition. Not to mention Sega's harsh campaigining (Nintendon't anyone)?

The success of the Mega Drive is obvious to me because like I said in my neighborhood and within my friends no one had even heard of SMS and for Sega to come out with the MD and become a household name and create animosity between friends by fighting over which system is better (SNES or MD) is a story of success imo.

Yeah it took the SFC 4 years to catch up and eventually SURPASS the MD by 20 million. You make it seem like the 16 bit generation came to a complete stop during 1994 just because you have the Saturn and PSX coming out. Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't both the MD and the SFC getting top tier releases well passed 1994? I said in my earlier post that FF6, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG, Earthbound came out after 1994 and there were even releases for the both consoles well into the late 90s.

Panzer_Zwei

Didn't I agree with you that it took the SFC 4 years to catch up with the MD? Where are you getting the idea that I said the SFC squashed the MD upon release? I'm not really stretching the 16-bit generation at all, but you make it seem like anything that happened after 1994 doesn't count which doesn't make sense to me, because you still have very important games coming out after those years.

As for the MD dominating the SFC for the most number of years, it seems to me that you don't want to accept the fact that the SFC eventually became the more popular platform (as shown by sales) and surpassed the MD. I'm not sure how you figure out how the MD "dominated" the SFC for the most number of years because the SFC to this day "dominated" the MD and that's not going to change, unless Sega starts selling more MDs.

Honestly, I don't like talking sales, but since which console has the better game library is up to personal preference it makes it hard to form an argument.

[QUOTE="KronikX9"]Yeah thats my mistake, I should have proofread my paragraph, but I had to hurry off to my early morning courses. What I meant to say was the MDs only competition at the time was the NES and that there was a huge advancement between the MD and the NES not only in graphics but gameplay as well and because of this a lot of people bought up a MD during the early 90s (I know I did!).Therefore the MD had a good 2 year head start against the SFC with only an aging 8-bit console for any real competition. Not to mention Sega's harsh campaigining (Nintendon't anyone)?

The success of the Mega Drive is obvious to me because like I said in my neighborhood and within my friends no one had even heard of SMS and for Sega to come out with the MD and become a household name and create animosity between friends by fighting over which system is better (SNES or MD) is a story of success imo.

Yeah it took the SFC 4 years to catch up and eventually SURPASS the MD by 20 million. You make it seem like the 16 bit generation came to a complete stop during 1994 just because you have the Saturn and PSX coming out. Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't both the MD and the SFC getting top tier releases well passed 1994? I said in my earlier post that FF6, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG, Earthbound came out after 1994 and there were even releases for the both consoles well into the late 90s.FirstDiscovery

I mean you look at the Saturn and the PSone, they both came out in 1994, but then again LATE 1994 and ONLY in Japan. Once the Saturn hit, it wasnt exactly flying off the shelves, and the PSone didnt arrive till LATE 1995, pretty much 1996 so yeah. In fact, SNES sales remained strong into 1995 and even 1996 in NA and JP so i think that the MD slowing down in 1994 in NA had little to do with the 32-bit systems.

No one is denying that the SFC didn't outsold the MD, but lets say that somehow the PS3 manages to outsell the other consoles at the end of this generation. Maybe people 20 years from now will think that the PS3 dominated the entire generation because it just sold more. Why? because they lacked the persipective and just look at the numbers. While right now we all know that with years deep into this generation we know it is not so.

That's why all this sounds absurd to me.

It doesn't really matter. Lets say the generation ended in 1996, that still would be only 2 years of market dominance by the SFC against the 4 of the MD. Of course the SFC managed to sold more million units, which certainly has a merit. However Nintendo also profited from a better market standing. The game market was a whole lot better by 1994 than by 1992.

No one is denying that the SFC didn't outsold the MD, but lets say that somehow the PS3 manages to outsell the other consoles at the end of this generation. Maybe people 20 years from now will think that the PS3 dominated the entire generation because it just sold more. Why? because they lacked the persipective and just look at the numbers. While right now we all know that with years deep into this generation we know it is not so.

That's why all this sounds absurd to me.

Panzer_Zwei

Yeah I understand what you're saying and I have from the beginning. I think you, other posters and I have tried to make it clear that the SFC didn't burst through the door and start outselling the MD. But really? "It doesn't really matter" that the SFC outsold the MD? I'm going to have to disagree with you on that one. We can spend all day arguing which console has the better games, controllers, graphics and/or sound, but what would be the point? You have your opinion and I have mine, but what factual evidence we do have is that the SFC eventually outsold the MD (Note for anyone not paying attention: after MD winning during the early 90s) thus the SFC became the more popular console of the two.

[QUOTE="Panzer_Zwei"]

It doesn't really matter. Lets say the generation ended in 1996, that still would be only 2 years of market dominance by the SFC against the 4 of the MD. Of course the SFC managed to sold more million units, which certainly has a merit. However Nintendo also profited from a better market standing. The game market was a whole lot better by 1994 than by 1992.

No one is denying that the SFC didn't outsold the MD, but lets say that somehow the PS3 manages to outsell the other consoles at the end of this generation. Maybe people 20 years from now will think that the PS3 dominated the entire generation because it just sold more. Why? because they lacked the persipective and just look at the numbers. While right now we all know that with years deep into this generation we know it is not so.

That's why all this sounds absurd to me.

KronikX9

Yeah I understand what you're saying and I have from the beginning. I think you, other posters and I have tried to make it clear that the SFC didn't burst through the door and start outselling the MD. But really? "It doesn't really matter" that the SFC outsold the MD? I'm going to have to disagree with you on that one. We can spend all day arguing which console has the better games, controllers, graphics and/or sound, but what would be the point? You have your opinion and I have mine, but what factual evidence we do have is that the SFC eventually outsold the MD (Note for anyone not paying attention: after MD winning during the early 90s) thus the SFC became the more popular console of the two.

Maybe I'm not getting my point across. I'm just trying to make it clear that while the SFC sold more, it doesn't necessarily mean it was the market leader the longest, nor that it dominated all other systems.

But this is a very complex argument with no easy answers. Pretty much all of the SFC games of 1994 that you mentioned became huge sellers, and that's something that just not happened with the MD. Why? because gaming just wasn't as mainstream during the glory days of the Mefa Drive. At the peak of the Mega Drive's popularity in 1992, SEGA just couldn't profit the same way than Nintendo did in 1994. Not because its games were of a less quality, but because they just had a lesser market to sell. Would you really think that games like FFVI and Chrono Trigger would have sold as much if they had been released in 1992?

SFC sold its 20 million more units from 1994 and on, not after. And I think this is very important. You can't just take the whole units sold, and place them in the lifespan of the system as you'd like, and say the SFC was always the market leader and crushed the competition, it doesn't work that way.

People can argue that the FC sold more than the SFC, but even then the FC had no real competition. The market potential of each generation is gathered for all the hardware and software sold within that generation, not for the popularity of one system. and in this aspect, the 16-bit generation clearly doubled the 8-bit gen. It was a whole lot difficult for Nintendo to sold its 50 million units with the SFC, than what it was for them to sell their 60 FC units. So their popularity did not drecrease, in fact it increased .

Also, something that doesn't get taken into account, is that unlike the SFC, the MD had many model variants that don't count towards the total sales units. Sure, none of them ever became big sellers, but if you gather them all togeter, they sould add up 2-3 million. The Nomad alone sold more than 1 million units for example.

[QUOTE="FirstDiscovery"]

[QUOTE="KronikX9"]Yeah thats my mistake, I should have proofread my paragraph, but I had to hurry off to my early morning courses. What I meant to say was the MDs only competition at the time was the NES and that there was a huge advancement between the MD and the NES not only in graphics but gameplay as well and because of this a lot of people bought up a MD during the early 90s (I know I did!).Therefore the MD had a good 2 year head start against the SFC with only an aging 8-bit console for any real competition. Not to mention Sega's harsh campaigining (Nintendon't anyone)?

The success of the Mega Drive is obvious to me because like I said in my neighborhood and within my friends no one had even heard of SMS and for Sega to come out with the MD and become a household name and create animosity between friends by fighting over which system is better (SNES or MD) is a story of success imo.

Yeah it took the SFC 4 years to catch up and eventually SURPASS the MD by 20 million. You make it seem like the 16 bit generation came to a complete stop during 1994 just because you have the Saturn and PSX coming out. Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't both the MD and the SFC getting top tier releases well passed 1994? I said in my earlier post that FF6, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG, Earthbound came out after 1994 and there were even releases for the both consoles well into the late 90s.Panzer_Zwei

I mean you look at the Saturn and the PSone, they both came out in 1994, but then again LATE 1994 and ONLY in Japan. Once the Saturn hit, it wasnt exactly flying off the shelves, and the PSone didnt arrive till LATE 1995, pretty much 1996 so yeah. In fact, SNES sales remained strong into 1995 and even 1996 in NA and JP so i think that the MD slowing down in 1994 in NA had little to do with the 32-bit systems.

No one is denying that the SFC didn't outsold the MD, but lets say that somehow the PS3 manages to outsell the other consoles at the end of this generation. Maybe people 20 years from now will think that the PS3 dominated the entire generation because it just sold more. Why? because they lacked the persipective and just look at the numbers. While right now we all know that with years deep into this generation we know it is not so.

That's why all this sounds absurd to me.

So yeah, youre right, it didnt matter much that SNES sold more in the end but at the same time, theres no denying that Sega couldve gained a lot too if they followed

No, no, I wasn' reffering that it didn't matter the SFC sold more. I was referring that it didn't matter where he considered that generation to have ended in 1994 or 1996 or any year you wanted, because the Mega Drive would still end up as the system that remained the market leader the longest time. And In my opinion, this shouldn't be dismerited.

Maybe I'm not getting my point across. I'm just trying to make it clear that while the SFC sold more, it doesn't necessarily mean it was the market leader the longest, nor that it dominated all other systems.

But this is a very complex argument with no easy answers. Pretty much all of the SFC games of 1994 that you mentioned became huge sellers, and that's something that just not happened with the MD. Why? because gaming just wasn't as mainstream during the glory days of the Mefa Drive. At the peak of the Mega Drive's popularity in 1992, SEGA just couldn't profit the same way than Nintendo did in 1994. Not because its games were of a less quality, but because they just had a lesser market to sell. Would you really think that games like FFVI and Chrono Trigger would have sold as much if they had been released in 1992?

SFC sold its 20 million more units from 1994 and on, not after. And I think this is very important. You can't just take the whole units sold, and place them in the lifespan of the system as you'd like, and say the SFC was always the market leader and crushed the competition, it doesn't work that way.

People can argue that the FC sold more than the SFC, but even then the FC had no real competition. The market potential of each generation is gathered for all the hardware and software sold within that generation, not for the popularity of one system. and in this aspect, the 16-bit generation clearly doubled the 8-bit gen. It was a whole lot difficult for Nintendo to sold its 50 million units with the SFC, than what it was for them to sell their 60 FC units. So their popularity did not drecrease, in fact it increased .

Also, something that doesn't get taken into account, is that unlike the SFC, the MD had many model variants that don't count towards the total sales units. Sure, none of them ever became big sellers, but if you gather them all togeter, they sould add up 2-3 million. The Nomad alone sold more than 1 million units for example.

Panzer_Zwei

Yeah i guess you make a lot of sense, because in the very early 90s, gaming in NA and EU was very much a kids thing, and given that, attach rates for consoles were too high. BTW, do you mean the MD3 and Nomad? I thought that WITHOUT them, the amount of MDs sold is something like 26 mil?

FirstDiscovery

No, no, I wasn' reffering that it didn't matter the SFC sold more. I was referring that it didn't matter where he considered that generation to have ended in 1994 or 1996 or any year you wanted, because the Mega Drive would still end up as the system that remained the market leader the longest time. And In my opinion, this shouldn't be dismerited.

Maybe I'm not getting my point across. I'm just trying to make it clear that while the SFC sold more, it doesn't necessarily mean it was the market leader the longest, nor that it dominated all other systems.

But this is a very complex argument with no easy answers. Pretty much all of the SFC games of 1994 that you mentioned became huge sellers, and that's something that just not happened with the MD. Why? because gaming just wasn't as mainstream during the glory days of the Mefa Drive. At the peak of the Mega Drive's popularity in 1992, SEGA just couldn't profit the same way than Nintendo did in 1994. Not because its games were of a less quality, but because they just had a lesser market to sell. Would you really think that games like FFVI and Chrono Trigger would have sold as much if they had been released in 1992?

SFC sold its 20 million more units from 1994 and on, not after. And I think this is very important. You can't just take the whole units sold, and place them in the lifespan of the system as you'd like, and say the SFC was always the market leader and crushed the competition, it doesn't work that way.

People can argue that the FC sold more than the SFC, but even then the FC had no real competition. The market potential of each generation is gathered for all the hardware and software sold within that generation, not for the popularity of one system. and in this aspect, the 16-bit generation clearly doubled the 8-bit gen. It was a whole lot difficult for Nintendo to sold its 50 million units with the SFC, than what it was for them to sell their 60 FC units. So their popularity did not drecrease, in fact it increased .

Also, something that doesn't get taken into account, is that unlike the SFC, the MD had many model variants that don't count towards the total sales units. Sure, none of them ever became big sellers, but if you gather them all togeter, they sould add up 2-3 million. The Nomad alone sold more than 1 million units for example.

Panzer_Zwei

"SFC sold its 20 million more units from 1994 and on, not after. And I think this is very important. You can't just take the whole units sold, and place them in the lifespan of the system as you'd like, and say the SFC was always the market leader and crushed the competition, it doesn't work that way."

Again I agreed with you before that the MD was the market leader up until 1994, then the SFC caught up and then after 1994 it sold 20 million more units. I don't see how the SFC could outsell the MD by 20 million and then catch up with the MD in sales, it just doesn't make sense.

"Would you really think that games like FFVI and Chrono Trigger would have sold as much if they had been released in 1992?"

Considering that Zelda: A Link to the Past and even Starfox outsold all of those games and came out in 1991 and 1993 respectively, then yes I think they could have sold as many units as they did if they had come out during another year. We can both speculate as much as we want, but we'll never know.

"It was a whole lot difficult for Nintendo to sold its 50 million units with the SFC, than what it was for them to sell their 60 FC units. So their popularity did not drecrease, in fact it increased."

Yes, as did Sega's popularity.

"Also, something that doesn't get taken into account, is that unlike the SFC, the MD had many model variants that don't count towards the total sales units. Sure, none of them ever became big sellers, but if you gather them all togeter, they sould add up 2-3 million. The Nomad alone sold more than 1 million units for example."

The SFC did have another model variant, the SFC Jr. which came out in 1997 which im sure doesn't get taken into account either. I remember you saying that from one of your other posts and while it seems unfair for both consoles when it comes down to it their sales were so low that it doesn't affect much in terms of overall sales.

Sega and Nintendo each won their share of battles, but SNES ultimately won the war.

You have to remember that up until 1994, the numbers may been similar but much of SNES userbase came from Japan, given the wild success it was there and that fact that it trailed MD in EU till the end and was behind in NA up to that point, much of the extra 20 million came from those two regions which MD dominated.FirstDiscovery

Why does it matter where the sales are coming from? In the end the SFC won by having more of the global population buying it compared to the MD. So I don't see why it matters what parts of the world buys which console. You can pinpoint any area and say a country sold more there, the SFC sold more in the US and JP, while the MD sold more in EU, but overall globally the SFC was more popular.

Nintendo didn't seem to like EU very much, a lot of the top games like the ones mentioned before didn't even make it there and Nintendo didn't even release the SFC Jr. in EU either.

Considering that Zelda: A Link to the Past and even Starfox outsold all of those games and came out in 1991 and 1993 respectively, then yes I think they could have sold as many units as they did if they had come out during another year. We can both speculate as much as we want, but we'll never know.

KronikX9

However we know for a fact that SEGA had around the 60% market share by 1992 (and you can read about this in wikipedia, SEGA-16, or any other source you want) in spite that the SFC already had legendary franchises like Contra, Akumajou Dracula, Zelda etc. And it still the SFC took two more years to catch up the outdated Mega Drive.

We can speculate all we want like you say, but nobody can't say that keeping a system like the SFC at bay for 4 years doesn't have a lot of merit, and my point stands, in that the Mega Drive was the longest market leader during its generation. Bottomline, you can bring sales numbers all you want, but it won't change the fact that the MD was the system that dominated that generation the longest time, if someone can't accept that, is just out of close mindedness.

And the SFC Jr. counts towards the total sales. It was just a model redesign. The Jr. model counts as does the Mega Drive model 2 and 3.

i swear you lot were arguing about this very same thing last month... :|

I don't think so, Zelda and Starfox are first party mainstream titles, while FFVI and Chrono Trigger are JRPGs that still weren't as mainstream in the market.

However we know for a fact that SEGA had around the 60% market share by 1992 (and you can read about this in wikipedia, SEGA-16, or any other source you want) in spite that the SFC already had legendary franchises like Contra, Akumajou Dracula, Zelda etc. And it still the SFC took two more years to catch up the outdated Mega Drive.

We can speculate all we want like you say, but nobody can't say that keeping a system like the SFC at bay for 4 years doesn't have a lot of merit, and my point stands, in that the Mega Drive was the longest market leader during its generation. If someone can't accept that, is just out of close mindedness.

And the SFC Jr. counts towards the total sales. It was just a model redesign. The Jr. model counts as does the Mega Drive model 2 and 3.

Panzer_Zwei

I think you missed the whole point I was trying to make with the whole FF6, Chrono Trigger etc statement. What I was trying to point out is that it seemed to me that Nintendo didn't try very hard in the EU market, these games are undoubtedly very big name games that didn't even get sent over to the EU. Nintendo didn't even bother to send the SFC Jr. over there either.

Yeah we've established that the SFC took 2 years to catch up with the Mega Drive, but the MD also had exactly 2 years of a head start. Within its head start it gained 60% of the marketshare, while the SFC hadn't even started to sell in the US or EU until late 1991 (US) and mid 1992 (EU). Do you really think that the SFC could outsell the MD within a couple months, with a lead like that?

As for longest marketshare, again it depends on when you think the 16-bit generation ended, I just don't think that it should end in 1994, but if we go by your rules then yes the Genesis had the longer market share during the generation. But, in the end the SFC outsold the MD 49.1 million to 29 million thus the SFC became the more popular console period.

I hope I dont come off as trying to demerit the Genesis and what it did. I love my Genesis I have more Sega consoles hooked up to my t.v than I do Nintendo consoles. The only two consoles that I dont even bother hooking up are the N64 and the Gamecube.