Head To Head: Genesis Vs. SNES. Which Is The Better Classic Machine? - The Final Word

Submitted by Christopher Groux; February 23, 2013

Article Index
1. Head To Head: Genesis Vs. SNES. Which Is The Better Classic Machine?
2. Which System Had The Best Music?
3. What Games Were Better?
4. Which Console Sold More?
5. The Final Word

Page 5 of 5

The Final Word

Alright, so it's no secret that just like in their own time it seems that this battle is clearly going to be won by the SNES. Still, I don't want all of my readers out their to think that all of these choices made were completely obvious or easy to make. Both consoles had pretty strong hardware, memorable music, and even better games. If we were living back in those times, I would probably encourage all of you to get both machines, but obviously emulation can suit that purpose well enough now.

Sonic and Mario

However the winner in this for me comes down to two aspects: legacy and overall sales. Sonic was incredible during the 16-bit era, but where is he now? New games still get made in the franchise, but the only ones that still really sell are the ones that remake the original series. After all, those were the best ones. The SNES on the other hand is really just the beginning of a much bigger legacy that still pushes on today with a string of strong Mario, Donkey Kong and Zelda games. In their time, sales numbers show the SNES was the more popular system and that momentum has been able to stick around. With a market margin that wide that was full of quality games that still show up today it's hard not to call the SNES a winner.

The Genesis was quite clearly one of the best classic systems we will ever see, but I personally don't stack it up to what the SNES was able to accomplish.

Overall Winner: SNES

Don't sit there and say nothing! I'm sure you all have opinions too. You should share them in the comments section below!

<< Back - Read Next Page of this Story

Tags: classic, Genesis, Nintendo, SEGA, SNES

I sincerely hope you don't mean to say that the scores from any final fantasy or chrono trigger are in any way shape or form worse then sonic? Because I'd like to see a solid reasoning for that besides "Well, it had a gimmicky taste the fit the era." because thats just letting personal taste ahead of professional judgement.

+1 # RE: Head To Head: Genesis Vs. SNES. Which Is The Better Classic Machine? — FouadtjuhMaster 2013-02-23 17:34

The only reason why I liked the Genesis was because of Sonic ^-^

# RE: Head To Head: Genesis Vs. SNES. Which Is The Better Classic Machine? — no0B 2013-02-24 01:25

Hardware i disagree, when you add in the fact sega had expansion hardware,, SEGA-32X & SEGA-CD. with these SEGA is the winner..

# SNES of course. — Brian Edlund 2013-02-24 05:49

Of course it was SNES because it had alot of my fav games, Mario games, Final fantasy games and many other RPG games too.

+1 # RE: Head To Head: Genesis Vs. SNES. Which Is The Better Classic Machine? — tsibosp 2013-02-24 07:59

haha better music Sega? really? yoy have played Donkey Kong Country 1+2 & Killer Instinct and you still think Sonic 2 has the best music? There is something with your ears man. Check it out.

# RE: RE: Head To Head: Genesis Vs. SNES. Which Is The Better Classic Machine? — Christopher Groux 2013-02-25 16:29

Okay man, you've got me with DKC there. Some of the best music ever composed for a game. Thanks for reading!

# RE: Head To Head: Genesis Vs. SNES. Which Is The Better Classic Machine? — Retro Ash 2013-02-25 04:16

I have read 2 of these so call head to head, and both state the Snes (Angry Gamer).

Both the reviews are from people who had a Snes and are some what nintendo Fan Boys.

I was lucky enough to have access to both system,

i have favorite games on both systems and my childhood wouldnt be the same unless both systems where around, i would say there is no overall winner here, both systems were loved and cherished by all gamers of all ages. wether your a mario or a sonic guy both systems had good and bad games, good and bad music.

these .vs debates will go on and only because both systems where so great.

OVERALL WINNER : BOTH

# RE: RE: Head To Head: Genesis Vs. SNES. Which Is The Better Classic Machine? — Christopher Groux 2013-02-25 16:28

Hey man. Just replying that I am not a Nintendo fanboy in the least. I kind of see your point that both are really great machines but if I were to sit there and say "both" every time I did one of these I think it would be a little boring.

I actually owned both systems as well. But yes it is a pretty amazing debate. :)

# RE: RE: Head To Head: Genesis Vs. SNES. Which Is The Better Classic Machine? — MasterAlec 2013-03-16 15:45

to say nothing about which one is better, i would say snes and genesis are the greatest consoles ever made. end of story. without bias, a narrow mind or bigotry affecting that decision at all, they are the greatest. i never even owned a snes but ive played lots of emulated or remade games.

# RE: Head To Head: Genesis Vs. SNES. Which Is The Better Classic Machine? — at2ecw 2013-02-27 20:51

I had both systems back then. I played the Snes more than the Genesis. I had the Sega CD also. After the Lunar games came out for Sega CD I didn't play many games after that on it. I was big into RPG games back then, so the Snes had me hooked especially with Zelda. I did love the Phantasy Star games for the Genesis though. The 3rd and 4th games of PS were really expensive for me back then. Luckily i get the chance to play them now on Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for my PS3!

# Boo! — Patrick327 2013-03-03 04:14

You know what, Sega is way better than SNES, I played both systems, my bro and grew up playing the Genesis, my grandma however had a super Nintendo, I played that too. I didn't like the graphics on SNES, it's to cartoony, DKC's music sounded eerie, and as far as legacy, sonic is still making new games that aren't just about the past, sonic ryders for example, and you totally forgot about all the cheat codes that you could do with sega, specifically sonic games (Sonic 3's cheats were the best.) This article is very insulting to me, clearly sir, you have a bias toward Nintendo, like all the rest of the ppl on this site. I think you need to do a lil more research on sega, starting with actually picking up a console and playing and not insulting us sega fans. Ok how bout this, who was the hotter game character, Princess Peach or Amy Rose, and needless to say, I loved Amy Rose, she is still one of the sexiest game characters out there, but I think Helena from DOA is somewhat hotter.

# RE: Head To Head: Genesis Vs. SNES. Which Is The Better Classic Machine? — MasterAlec 2013-03-16 15:40

it seems no one has played phantasy star. how pathetic can you get? still i would say snes is better. most of the best games for genesis were also for snes like sparkster or rocket knight adventures. and nintendo has dragon quest, which is hailed as the greatest rpg series in japan. i dont wanna elaborate on that so let me just say japan knows best.

# RE: RE: Head To Head: Genesis Vs. SNES. Which Is The Better Classic Machine? — MasterAlec 2013-03-16 15:42

btw, im taking into mind gameplay, music, art, etc. as a whole to sum up a game.

# Mr. — Abdul Rahman Jalloh 2013-04-19 08:28

well as for us growing up in this part of the world (Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia), it is deadly crime punishable. during the the Nineties i mean 1992 to 1999 people exchange Sega mega drive/Genesis and playstation for SNES. Nintendo was ruling these three countries. games like Mortal kombart 3 Ultimate, Killer Instict, Donky Kong country, Street fighter etc. this is really crazy to us in this part of the world to even compare Nintendo (SNESS) with Sega (Genesis)

# My 41 year old two cents lol. — Rocky Matthews 2013-04-24 02:29

Well first off I am blessed to to be born in 1972 so i have witnessed the american home video game market from it's birth to now.That means me and the industry are both 41 yrs old(nod to you magnavox odessey), With that said I know from a hardware only point of view the snes should be compared more to the sega saturn and ps1 than the genesis, proof of this lies in the fact that donkey kong country and street fighter alpha 2 could not have even been attempted on the geness and have the same results/execution as they did on the snes hardware.The problem with this fanboy fight of epic ferver is this.... While yes the snes was more advanced in all major catagories except processor speed, there is a special place in the hearts of all sega fans who lived thru the first real fanboy fight which was the nes vs. the sega master system.The reason being is that while the nes crushed the master system in sales in the US it did so by cheating.... this is proven by the fact that nintendo lost several major lawsuits in the laste 80's and early 90's for using monopoloy type tactics to keep a stranglehold on the home gaming market, anyone old enough to know knows that the master system was stronger and had much more arcade accurate ports than the nes in terms of sound ,speed,and graphics. Alas the nes won the numbers games because so many great games both in the US and Japan could not come to the master system because of the contracts nintendo made third parties sign, In many cases these companies could not release games on competing systems till 2 or three yrs after they released on the nes. This continued even in the 16-bit era look how long after streetfighter 2 released on the snes did it finally release on the genesis. So when the Genesis released in 89 it was game set and match finally sega had the upper hand with their am2 acrade division having hits like, altered beast,outrun,af ter burner,space harrier 1and2,michael jackson's moonwalker,supe r hang-on,westle war,and capcom cps1 and2 games such as strider,forgott en worlds,mickey mouse castle of illusion(yeah take that mario lol)and so many other accurate acrade translations the truth had finally found the video game light, nintendo had no answer with thier 1983(when the famicom was created)outdate d nes tech.So of course the snes won they had two years to watch,study,and improve on every aspect of the Genesis. The genesis was indeed the peak of sega everything after led to it's eventual death.

Refresh comments list

Add comment

JComments


	CREATE ACCOUNT NOW TO POST COMMENTS! Why create an account on the Dashhacks network? Because being logged in has its privileges! • COMMENTS! Only logged in users comments go live without waiting for moderator approval! • No video! The video ad in the upper right doesn't interrupt you on all pages! • Customize your profile! Flaunt your xBox Live & PSN gamertags! • It's FREE and it's EASY! And one login works for all of the Dashhacks review sites! So what are you waiting for? Go to the TOP RIGHT of the page and LOGIN or click REGISTER!


	Would you like to get all the new buzz from Dashhacks in your email each day? Subscribe to our Daily Digest! Want to learn more about the team bringing the news to Dash Hacks? Click here to read about them

Head To Head: Genesis Vs. SNES. Which Is The Better Classic Machine? - The Final Word

Related Stories:

Comments

Add comment