All NES Vs SNES Games Compared Side By Side

This is a compilation of every game to come out on the NES/Famicom that also got a release on the SNES/Super Famicom.
0:00 - The Addams Family
0:30 - The Addams Family: Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt
1:00 - The Adventures Of Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends
1:30 - Aladdin
2:01 - Alfred Chicken
2:30 - Alien 3
3:01 - American Gladiators
3:31 - Asterix
4:01 - Batman Returns
4:36 - Battletoads & Double Dragon
5:06 - Beauty And The Beast
5:36 - Best Of The Best: Championship Karate
6:07 - The Blues Brothers
6:37 - Bram Stoker's Dracula
7:07 - Captain America And The Avengers
7:37 - Championship Pool
8:02 - Chessmaster
8:33 - Cliffhanger
9:03 - Crazy Climber
9:32 - Dr. Mario
10:02 - Dragon Warrior 1, 2 & 3
11:57 - Dragon's Lair
12:27 - Family Feud
13:06 - Gemfire
13:36 - Genghis Khan 2: Clan Of The Gray Wolf
14:06 - George Foreman's KO Boxing
14:37 - Goal! Two
15:07 - The Great Waldo Search
15:37 - Home Alone 1 & 2
16:41 - Hook
17:12 - The Hunt For Red October
17:42 - The Incredible Crash Dummies
18:12 - James Bond Jr.
18:42 - Jeopardy!
19:12 - Joe & Mac
19:43 - Joust
20:13 - The Jungle Book
20:43 - Jurassic Park
21:12 - Kick Off
21:42 - Krusty's Funhouse
22:13 - Last Action Hero
22:44 - Lemmings
23:14 - Lethal Weapon
23:44 - The Lion King
24:15 - Mario Bros.
24:35 - Mario Is Missing
25:06 - Mario's Time Machine
25:36 - Metal Max
26:10 - Metal Slader Glory
26:40 - Micro Machines
27:11 - The Miracle Piano Teaching System
27:41 - Monopoly
28:11 - Ms. Pac-Man
28:31 - Nigel Mansell's World Championship Racing
29:02 - Ninja Gaiden 1, 2 & 3
30:35 - Nobunaga's Ambition 1 & Lord Of Darkness
31:37 - Pac-Man
32:03 - Paperboy 2
32:33 - Parodius! From Myth To Laughter
33:04 - Pipe Dream
33:34 - Prince Of Persia
34:04 - Pro Sport Hockey
34:34 - Rampart
35:04 - The Ren & Stimpy Show: Buckeroo$!
35:34 - Robocop 3
36:04 - The Rocketeer
36:35 - Roger Clemens' MVP Baseball
37:09 - Rokudenashi Blues
37:39 - Romance Of The Three Kingdoms 1 & 2
38:37 - Side Pocket
39:07 - Smash TV
39:41 - The Smurfs
40:12 - Space Invaders
40:42 - Stargate (Defender 2)
41:12 - Super Mario Bros. 1, 2, 3 & Lost Levels
43:18 - Super Off Road
43:49 - Tecmo Super Bowl
44:21 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters
44:52 - The Terminator & Terminator 2
45:53 - Tetris & Tetris 2
46:53 - Uncharted Waters
47:24 - The Untouchables
47:54 - Wario's Woods
48:27 - Wayne's World
48:58 - Wheel Of Fortune
49:28 - Where In Time Is Carmen Sandiego?
49:58 - Wizardry 1, 2 & 3
51:29 - Yoshi's Cookie
52:00 - Ys 3: Wanderers From YS
52:25 - The Adventures Of Dr. Franken
52:55 - Batman: Return Of The Joker
53:26 - Hit The Ice
53:56 - Robocop Versus The Terminator
54:25 - Simcity
54:58 - Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends

[@RetroComparisons]

0:00 - The Addams Family 0:30 - The Addams Family: Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt 1:00 - The Adventures Of Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends 1:30 - Aladdin 2:01 - Alfred Chicken 2:30 - Alien 3 3:01 - American Gladiators 3:31 - Asterix 4:01 - Batman Returns 4:36 - Battletoads & Double Dragon 5:06 - Beauty And The Beast 5:36 - Best Of The Best: Championship Karate 6:07 - The Blues Brothers 6:37 - Bram Stoker's Dracula 7:07 - Captain America And The Avengers 7:37 - Championship Pool 8:02 - Chessmaster 8:33 - Cliffhanger 9:03 - Crazy Climber 9:32 - Dr. Mario 10:02 - Dragon Warrior 10:48 - Dragon Warrior 2: Luminaries Of The Legendary Line 11:17 - Dragon Warrior 3: The Seeds Of Salvation 11:57 - Dragon's Lair 12:27 - Family Feud 13:06 - Gemfire 13:36 - Genghis Khan 2: Clan Of The Gray Wolf 14:06 - George Foreman's KO Boxing 14:37 - Goal! Two 15:07 - The Great Waldo Search 15:37 - Home Alone 16:07 - Home Alone 2: Lost In New York 16:41 - Hook 17:12 - The Hunt For Red October 17:42 - The Incredible Crash Dummies 18:12 - James Bond Jr. 18:42 - Jeopardy! 19:12 - Joe & Mac 19:43 - Joust 20:13 - The Jungle Book 20:43 - Jurassic Park 21:12 - Kick Off 21:42 - Krusty's Funhouse 22:13 - Last Action Hero 22:44 - Lemmings 23:14 - Lethal Weapon 23:44 - The Lion King 24:15 - Mario Bros. 24:35 - Mario Is Missing 25:06 - Mario's Time Machine 25:36 - Metal Max 26:10 - Metal Slader Glory 26:40 - Micro Machines 27:11 - The Miracle Piano Teaching System 27:41 - Monopoly 28:11 - Ms. Pac-Man 28:31 - Nigel Mansell's World Championship Racing 29:02 - Ninja Gaiden 29:35 - Ninja Gaiden 2: The Dark Sword Of Chaos 30:05 - Ninja Gaiden 3: The Ancient Ship Of Doom 30:35 - Nobunaga's Ambition 31:05 - Nobunaga's Ambition: Lord Of Darkness 31:37 - Pac-Man 32:03 - Paperboy 2 32:33 - Parodius! From Myth To Laughter 33:04 - Pipe Dream 33:34 - Prince Of Persia 34:04 - Pro Sport Hockey 34:34 - Rampart 35:04 - The Ren & Stimpy Show: Buckeroo$! 35:34 - Robocop 3 36:04 - The Rocketeer 36:35 - Roger Clemens' MVP Baseball 37:09 - Rokudenashi Blues 37:39 - Romance Of The Three Kingdoms 38:09 - Romance Of The Three Kingdoms 2 38:37 - Side Pocket 39:07 - Smash TV 39:41 - The Smurfs 40:12 - Space Invaders 40:42 - Stargate (Defender 2) 41:12 - Super Mario Bros. 41:44 - Super Mario Bros. 2 42:18 - Super Mario Bros. 3 42:48 - Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels 43:18 - Super Off Road 43:49 - Tecmo Super Bowl 44:21 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters 44:52 - The Terminator 45:22 - Terminator 2: Judgment Day 45:53 - Tetris 46:23 - Tetris 2 46:53 - Uncharted Waters 47:24 - The Untouchables 47:54 - Wario's Woods 48:27 - Wayne's World 48:58 - Wheel Of Fortune 49:28 - Where In Time Is Carmen Sandiego? 49:58 - Wizardry: Proving Grounds Of The Mad Overlord 50:28 - Wizardry 2: Knight Of Diamonds - The Second Scenario 50:59 - Wizardry 3: Legacy Of Llylgamyn - The Third Scenario 51:29 - Yoshi's Cookie 52:00 - Ys 3: Wanderers From YS 52:25 - The Adventures Of Dr. Franken 52:55 - Batman: Return Of The Joker 53:26 - Hit The Ice 53:56 - Robocop Versus The Terminator 54:25 - Simcity 54:58 - Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends

[@Cliffordlonghead]

First

[@Cliffordlonghead]

Ok

[@Cliffordlonghead]

BOOM FIRST TAKE THAT CRIMINAL FROM GAMEXPLAIN

[@stl-xx5rq]

It would have been easier if you put these timestamps in the video description because of the chapter feature.

[@RetroComparisons]

@@stl-xx5rq Ah good call on that, I'll do that now. Thanks for the advice!

[@SuperTrainStationH]

The video every kid wishes they could show their "But you already have a Nintendo" parents back in 1991.

[@RetroComparisons]

Lmao!

[@acarbonbasedlifeform70]

-- But it has 16 bits! -- What are bits? -- ... I dunno!

[@JohnSmith-zw8vp]

But this is a SUPER Nintendo! It's 16-bit!!

[@ShadowMan64572]

Can't do that nowadays. PS5 games don't look much different than PS4.

[@johndrey32]

I appreciate this video. Jumps straight in. No BS. No fluff. Just content.

[@RetroComparisons]

Thanks! Yeah I always steer clear of that "hey what's up youtube" type of content when making videos.

[@125scratch2]

@@RetroComparisons Wish everyone else would too.

[@sheepdoghr415]

No CC No sign up No Bs

[@MoonSarito]

It really makes me think... currently the differences of a cross-gen game are basically just resolution and frame-rate, a game on PS4 is basically the same game on PS5 but with a few more things, even between PS4 and PS3 the difference was already small, of course there were games that even had very big graphical differences but that were still the same game in essence. On the NES and SNES, many of the games are completely different even though they have the same name, some of them can't even be said to be the same game, it's incredible.

[@RetroComparisons]

That is so true and it's very fascinating. That's why I love comparing these older consoles. Take for instance a game like Batman Returns; you get a different experience on the NES, SNES, Master System & Genesis. That would be unheard of these days. On the other hand you got games that were similar in style but the leap from 8 bit to 16 bit was huge and instantly noticeable. Like you were saying with the PS3/PS4/PS5, if I walked in a room and saw someone playing Madden I may not be able to tell right away if it's Madden 15 on the PS3 or Madden 19 on the PS4.

[@hggfhh4449]

A possibly even more interesting comparison is nba hangtime on snes vs n64. A 2d sprite comparison between 16 and 64 bit hardware ( whatever that means) its the only example I can think of of that.

[@xtokumaru]

Pedantically, the NES actually has a slightly larger resolution than the SNES (256x240 vs. 256x224). The SNES does have a high resolution mode, but hardly any games used it. Graphically, the SNES mainly improved the color count, the sprite coverage and added multiple background layers. As for the frame rate, most games on both consoles targeted 60 fps, which is what they natively output, but there would be occasional slowdowns when the CPUs were too overworked.

[@Justforvisit]

As somebody who was born in the 80's and has seen the amazing technical progression from Atari 2600 -> NES -> SNES -> Playstation 1 -> Playstation 2 -> Playstation 3 (and DOS -> Amiga -> Windows alongside, yet on it's own compared to consoles) it really made it clear to me: The reason why I aint so amazed by modern gaming anymore, it hasn't just to do with Nostalgia....back then, the jumps in technological advance were unbelievable, I remember how often we used to say back then: "Man, that's almost like real life, how can it get any better?!" just to be totally blown away by each new console generation. And nowadays, as you mention it, even between 3 (!!!) generations of consoles (PS3, PS4, PS5) these jumps are so tiny and only in very small detail....details so small, you have forgotten that they are there after the first 10 seconds of playing....

[@DretDe]

One interesting fact: Addams Family SNES is the same game as Pugsley Scavenger Hunt NES, just with updated graphics and different story and main character. Overal, this video is 10/10

[@RetroComparisons]

Thank you so much for watching! Yeah that whole Addams Family thing is strange. I was almost contemplating doing a comparison of those games instead but I ended up doing the same-name games.

[@Neo_Shadow_X]

This is intresting.i always come to appreciate comparison videos.great stuff!

[@RetroComparisons]

Thank you so much for watching!

[@donniewhy6582]

As I already subscribed to your channel, all I can do to support you is to leave a comment, give a thumbs up and recommand you to people I know and who like retrogaming. Man, this is a huge work doing these comparisons. Wish you many more subscribers and views for 2022, you deserve it!

[@RetroComparisons]

Thank you so so much!! That really means a lot to me:) It keeps me motivated to keep cranking out videos like this knowing that people like you are watching and enjoying.

[@shotgunl]

The SNES pretty well wins out in the majority of titles (though sometimes the PSG music in some of the NES games is great in its own way). The NES has an amazing library and so does the SNES. I have a ton of NES nostalgia, and though I didn't pick up an SNES until it was 8-ish years old and a decade after I got an NES because I was a Genesis owner, I still played a ton of SNES at friends' houses during the time it was relevant. I do think my friends and and I all agreed though that Ninja Gaiden Trilogy, which my friend Matt bought when it hit shelves, was a big disappointment in terms of graphical and audio upgrades compared to the upgrades in Mario All-Stars, as can be seen in the video. Even Dragon Warrior/Quest I & II are a better example of early enhanced re-makes compared to NG Trilogy where Tecmo just phoned it in. Still, both are great consoles with plenty of classic games...and Wayne's World which is one of my least favorite licensed games of the time period...I knew a girl who thought the SNES version of Wayne's World was the greatest game of all time...as her brother always said "my sisters not dumb....but you know she's not too bright!" Indeed.

[@RetroComparisons]

From a technical standpoint it's hard to say that any of the NES games could win out but there is just something about that NES sound that I love so when it comes to games that are pretty similar I'd tend to go with those over the SNES. The Ninja Gaiden games are like the equivalent of Mario 64 on Mario 3D All-Stars. It's technically an improvement but in the laziest way possible. Speaking of that, it's disappointing how low effort 3D All-Stars is considering the complete overhaul they did in the original SNES All-Stars. Lol wow she must have been the only person in the world who thought that Wayne's World was the greatest game. That game is like a fever dream, what the hell is happening in it??

[@mikec3260]

I was also going to add in how Dragon Quest 2 and 3 had strong improvements on NES but most so on SNES. Batman Return of the Joker looked amazing on both in their own ways. The sprite sizes are what impress me the most between the 2 systems. Althouth Micro Machines NES won in my opinion! Ninja Gaiden is still the biggest flop of them all. I get they may have tried to keep it as close to original but dang they could have bumped the visuals a bit more. The lineup of games are impressive, I was late to the SNES show since I had a Genesis, a couple of my friends did own SNES giving me the to play some games early on.

[@shotgunl]

​@@mikec3260 Years on, Return of the Joker is still one of the best looking games on the NES (and the SNES version looks great too, but to me the Genesis Revenge of the Joker always felt like it could look better...I think it was the graininess that was a bit off putting for me in the Genesis version). Also, another shout out: the SNES version of Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt is so nice looking, especially colorwise, for a licensed title that you would expect more mediocre visuals.

[@RetroComparisons]

@@mikec3260 I don't get why Batman Return of the Joker wasn't released on the SNES. If it wasn't for a licensing issue then that was a dumb decision to shelve it. I totally agree with Micro Machines, the NES completely held its own against the SNES or Genesis for that matter. Yeah Ninja Gaiden really should have been better, especially since Mario All-Stars showed how it should be done. I was in the same boat. I didn't get an SNES until around 97 or 98 when people were selling them super cheap at tag sales but I was fortunate enough to have several friends who not only owned it but somehow had different game libraries from one another so I got to try a lot of different games.

[@mikec3260]

@@RetroComparisons My SNES was my RPG and fighting game system with some shmups. My Genesis was platformer, shmup, sports system.

[@TommyDeonauthsArchives]

Masayuki Uemura would be proud.

[@RetroComparisons]

That's such a kind thing to say! What a legend, he is sorely missed:(

[@general_pigface7203]

it's a nice touch that you made the nes audio come out of the left earbud and the snes audio come out of the right earbud

[@RetroComparisons]

Thanks! And thank you for checking this out!

[@JustJulyo]

Came to drop a like for your tremendous effort and ability to pull this off!

[@RetroComparisons]

Thank you so much, I appreciate your support!

[@mikec3260]

This was an amazing comparison, very well done sir! Cliffhanger NES and SNES is very worthy of noting, the difference between the 2 games is almost like Atari 2600 vs Neo Geo, was such a stark comparison Wow! Disney to Game adaptation for 16 bit platforms is such a win, Aladdan, Jungle Book, Lion King all look amazing on SNES. Dragons Lair animation on NES was top notch for the system, Prince of Persia was right up there. Renting Ninja Gaiden Triology SNES was an incredible let down, ir actually seemed way more difficult, I was always blown away by NES NG3's parallax scrolling. Super Mario All Stars was such an amazing game, the visuals to sound upgrade was flawless. Seeing and playing Super Mario World demo at Target was mind blowing as a kid, it was a must own due to the amazing visuals and sound improvements over SMB3. It was awesome to find out they remade 1 2 and 3. Again great work!!!! My notable note goed to Blues Brothers NES, TOP Notch visuals for the system. Clear sprites, great background visuals, def a solid win visually for the NES games listed. This was fun one to watch!

[@RetroComparisons]

Thank you so much!! It's funny that you mentioned Cliffhanger on the NES because that's a prime example of a game that I would have considered bottom of the barrel years ago but now doesn't seem as bad, just like I was talking about last night. Don't get me wrong, it's still not great by any stretch of the imagination and your comparison of it being like the 2600 vs Neo Geo is spot on, but it's kind of fun in its own way. Those Disney games look so freaking good on the SNES. I still prefer the Genesis version of Aladdin more but the visuals on the SNES are so vibrant. The Ninja Gaiden remakes vs the Super Mario Bros remakes are such a stark difference and goes to show what a difference it makes to have a great team remastering a game. I had a friend who had Super Mario All-Stars when it first came out and it blew my mind since I was so used to the NES versions. For the Ninja Gaiden games I didn't notice the difference in difficulty, probably mainly because I suck so bad they both seemed overwhelmingly difficult lol. Blues Brothers is a great example of how a game can look incredible for a system's capabilities but yet be such a letdown when it comes to gameplay. I think the opposite example of that would be Bram Stoker's Dracula. The 8 bit versions of that game are way more enjoyable than the 16 bit versions and about 1,000 times better than the dreadful Sega CD version. As always, thank you so much for your support!

[@mikec3260]

@@RetroComparisons Maybe that was my problem with NG... By the time I played the SNES version I was too rusty lol!

[@RetroComparisons]

@@mikec3260 Lol I could totally see that being the case. I was sucking on the plane level in Sonic 2 recently which I never used to have trouble with. I'm hoping it was just rust and not old age setting in lol.

[@mikec3260]

@@RetroComparisons Lol naw I stopped playin a lot of those games due to being rusty! lol. Some of those levels are tough. I was playin Sonic 1 the other day and I was like dang this game is easy lol. Then I tried to play Double Dragon and got my ass whooped.... lol

[@GameModeRetro]

@@mikec3260 Double Dragon always kicked my ass

[@blublur06]

Great video. I didn't realize some of these games had NES versions, like Smash TV and Lion King. Funnily enough, some games on NES look better to play than the SNES, like Lethal Weapon, to me

[@RetroComparisons]

Yes Lethal Weapon is a great example of that. The Rocketeer falls in that category also of the NES version being way more fun than the SNES version. Smash TV was pretty good on the NES but The Lion King...wow that should not have been released.

[@AFriendRemembers]

So many games crossing over. Puts the current intergenerational crossover in perspective a bit

[@RetroComparisons]

It's pretty surprising how many there were. When I was researching this I was expecting maybe 50 games at most.

[@juststatedtheobvious9633]

@@RetroComparisons To be fair, quite a few of these games only share a name in common.

[@RetroComparisons]

@@juststatedtheobvious9633 Very true. While I didn't want to leave those games off it was tough to compare games like Cliffhanger and The Rocketeer since they're almost nothing alike.

[@juststatedtheobvious9633]

@@RetroComparisons But those are some of the best comparisons, because they show just how dramatically different the capabilities of hardware used to be. The Famicom and the Super Famicom were both very similar tile based rendering systems, but their practical capabilities were a generation gap apart unlike anything we've experienced since the dying days of Nintendo DS demakes. Besides, the Rocketeer was better on NES.

[@RetroComparisons]

@@juststatedtheobvious9633 I kind of miss the days of radically different demakes. I liked that you would get a completely different experience with the inferior hardware. And yes, the NES version of Rocketeer was so much better. The SNES version with mini games was pretty lame.

[@newageBoundhippie]

technically there are 2 others....Famicom Detective Club: The Girl Who Stands Behind, which had a Super Famicom remake, and Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light, which had a shorter remake as part of Mystery of the Emblem. but so cool seeing all these dual release comparisons

[@HoudiniFontmeister]

If we include famicom games then we have megami tensei I and II as well

[@annmimi_extraextra]

NES seems to have a very retro arcade look, with empty backgrounds and less vibrant colors, while SNES has a very stylized feel to it. It's also way more colorful and detailed, also having way more personality than NES thanks to the upgraded hardware. Overall, I prefer SNES over NES, easily.

[@RetroComparisons]

I love the charm of the NES but yeah the SNES does blow it away in almost every regard. Thanks for watching!

[@ghosttiee9212]

@@RetroComparisons yessss expect for one game Batman return of joker and on the nes damnn like everything is moving and looks 3d

[@RetroComparisons]

@@ghosttiee9212 I can't believe how good that game looks on the NES! They had some wizards programming that game.

[@ghosttiee9212]

@@RetroComparisons yessss it used its whole hardware for most games but I prefer the mega drive version of Battletoads the nes Version is hard but I agree snes is better for everything I like genesis and snes the most and arcade and n64 sega Saturn my favorite game is earth worm Jim for the Genesis the music is so crisp the first level it’s just so scfi

[@RetroComparisons]

@@ghosttiee9212 I love that Genesis version of Battletoads even though I got my butt kicked every time I played it lol. Oh Earthworm Jim is such a classic! It's great on every system I've tried it on, even the SMS version is pretty good.

[@yahc2041]

Amazing piece of work ! Good job !

[@RetroComparisons]

Thank you so much for watching:)

[@dumpnchase]

Very cool. I appreciate the effort to make this. I subscribed to your channel.

[@RetroComparisons]

Thank you so much for watching and for your support:)

[@intelligent1964]

I love how most games i recognized where either iconic games than avgn reviewed

[@RetroComparisons]

Haha yeah he's covered a ton of the games in this video. In fact when playing some of the really bad games I was wondering "what were they thinking??"

[@Dremag_Gaming]

Fun to see some older games you haven't seen in a long time. Nicely done on this. 👍

[@RetroComparisons]

Thanks! I appreciate you taking the time to check this out.

[@Justforvisit]

What really amazes me is that some of these, like for example "Blues Brothers" look WAAAY better on the NES than on the SNES, proof to me that sometimes less is way more and a good and cohesive artstyle really can make a big difference and be the better choice as compared to only using the graphical and technological prowess but without any coherent plans or aesthetics behind it.

[@RetroComparisons]

Exactly. Gameplay should always come first and it's not always about what looks the best.

[@thomasffrench3639]

@@RetroComparisonsI don’t know, I honestly play Castlevania for the visuals.

[@RetroComparisons]

@@thomasffrench3639 I love everything about that first Castlevania game from the visuals to the gameplay to the music.

[@Nicksolo85]

I generally like Super Nintendo better than NES, but there are some games I prefer on NES... -Monopoly -Super Mario Bros -Super Mario Bros 2 (USA) -Super Mario Bros 3 -Tetris 2 -Wario's Woods Games I like better on Super Nintendo... -Championship Pool -Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters I only know 1 version of the following... -Aladdin (Super Nintendo) -Dr. Mario (NES) -The Lion King (Super Nintendo) -Mario is Missing (Super Nintendo) -Tetris (NES) I didn't know there were NES versions of Aladdin & The Lion King, unless they were either home brewed or officially (& exclusively) released to regions other than the USA. I've never played any other games on your list, so I can't give in opinion or comparison about them, but I can say that this was an awesome video.

[@RetroComparisons]

Your list is pretty much spot on with mine for the games you'd rather play on the NES. I'd also add Micro Machines to that list though it's fun on both. Aladdin & The Lion King were PAL exclusives but both were so bad that they shouldn't have even released them. Thank you so much for watching this video! I really appreciate your support:)

[@Phediuk]

Nice work, but this is missing Ys 3: Wanderers from Ys, which has both a Famicom and a SFC/SNES version. EDIT: nvm, you got it in the updated version of this vid.

[@RetroComparisons]

Thanks for checking this out!

[@The_Bad_Guy.]

Of course the SNES wins by a landslide but there's just something special about the NES. Still to this day it's probably my favorite system of all time. Probably because it's the system I first owned and had my first real video game experiences on.

[@RetroComparisons]

It's hard to beat out your first system. Well unless you had like a Virtual Boy or Apple Pippin as your first. There is something timeless about so many of those NES ports which just have more charm than the SNES.

[@cjeelde]

41:12 - the four Super Mario Bros games starts here! (I just wish that The Lost Levels could have been putted in between game 1 and the american/european SMB2.)

[@FoxUnitNell]

Back then as a kid, youd just do a in your mind 16 bit texture map mod these nes versions even after just playing the snes version because in any case youd already have had a perfect real life like xenomorph in your mind to have a fpv of the scenes on screen.

[@sambas9257]

Gameplay is pratically intact in many games.There is just a notable graphic improvement...we can't tell the same for the last 3 console generations:gameplay is intact but if you see a ps3/ps4/ps5 game the graphical improvement is lot less notable than the nes/snes one.

[@RetroComparisons]

Exactly. That's why I'm so fascinated with comparing these older consoles. The changes between generations is massive.

[@48hourrecordsteam45]

Nes has a charm that can’t be replicated

[@RetroComparisons]

Totally! The SNES ports are technically superior in most ways on almost every one of these but there's so many that I'd rather play the NES version of.

[@davidhill8565]

Judging by charm is unfair and esoteric.

[@Arcad3n]

Whoa, there was an NES version of Aladdin?? This video is great, thank you for making it.

[@RetroComparisons]

They did make it for the NES but they shouldn't have lol! With the framerate of that port it's almost unplayable. Thank you for checking this video out:)

[@stevehintze3055]

Only released in PAL regions. Same with Lion King

[@RetroComparisons]

@@stevehintze3055 I don't know why they even bothered porting those over to the NES in Europe. The Master System was the more popular 8 bit system and by the mid 90s it seems like it would have lost them money. Still though, it's cool to see how they stacked up to a 16 bit system for those games.

[@Ruudos]

@@RetroComparisons In some countries the NES was more popular. I didn't know anybode with a Master System, first heard about Sega when they released the Mega Drive. Aladdin on NES sucks big time though, the Master System is way better and an original game.

[@RetroComparisons]

@@Ruudos Oh 100%, that SMS version of Aladdin is a masterpiece compared to the NES port.

[@MrMartellSincere]

I subscribed to this channel after watching game explain 😀

[@RetroComparisons]

Thank you so much for subscribing! GX is an awesome channel, I can't get enough of those Superstars streams.

[@MrWolfTickets]

Great idea for a video. I forgot how many titles were on both systems!

[@RetroComparisons]

Thank you for watching! I was shocked at how many games crossed over, I honestly thought it would be like 50 at most.

[@wedasantika6079]

Aladdin also has NES version identical to SNES one. It plays exactly like SNES one except there's no Abu nor Aladdin's scream when he takes damage, nor Jasmine during the first boss battle. It also skips the final boss (vs Jafar in snake form). Also lack cutscenes. It's "ported" from the company who made Power Rangers 3 for SNES. Forgot the company names. The other games I know are Ghost n Goblin and Battletoad & Double Dragons.

[@RetroComparisons]

That version is so much better than the one in the video. That was is an unofficial game though so I had to stick with the inferior version.

[@JoseRios-lr2ie]

Excellent Job on the video. Enjoyed watching the differences. 10 out of 10.

[@RetroComparisons]

Thank you so much for watching, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@ADHGaming]

Nice video! Not sure all of these are the same game like - Aladdin for example is completely different (based on the sega version).

[@RetroComparisons]

Thanks for watching! There definitely are some on here that are completely different games like Cliffhanger, Bram Stoker's Dracula & more but I figured I should include them just to cover all bases.

[@SomeOrangeCat]

Smash TV was one of the ones I had for the NES, and honestly it was a pretty slick version! Had all of the stages, the arcade speech samples, and if your held two pads vertically, you had arcade-accurate controls.

[@RetroComparisons]

Holy crap I didn't know that about the dual controllers, that's so cool! That NES version is great for a port of an early 90s arcade game on 1983 hardware.

[@SomeOrangeCat]

@@RetroComparisons Yeah. It was a chore money purchase. One I did not regret at all. If you had a multitap, both players could play that way as well.

[@outerspaceman7534]

Back when console generations actually showed progress. Nowadays it’s the same look, just higher resolutions and performance.

[@Binighted]

This is awesome. Subscribed!

[@RetroComparisons]

Thank you so much for your support!

[@geremygonzalessleepwalkerr2900]

POV: What Comedy World and Business Friendly would look like in the 80s or 90s...?!

[@QuarioQuario54321]

I doubt there were many games released on both SNES and N64. The difference between those two is massively different from these

[@RetroComparisons]

Yep hardly any, only 12 to be exact and that's if you include stuff like Jeopardy & Monopoly. That video will be coming out soon btw.

[@Juaquinovich]

Increíble simplemente increíble. Estos videos los vere 1000 y 1 veces 😂 Saludos desde España

[@RetroComparisons]

Thanks so much:)

[@michaelwhitacre8499]

Never realized how many games were on both. When i was a kid the games i really wanted in nes were only on SNES

[@RetroComparisons]

Same here until I started putting the list together. I thought it was going to be a quick video to make lol!

[@Dwedit]

Note that SNES Addams Family has a direct port to the NES in the form of "Puglsey's Scavenger Hunt", so it might have been better to compare against that game.

[@RetroComparisons]

I considered that. It's one of those really weird situations where I felt I should compare title to title but it's not a true 1 to 1. Yet if I compared different titles to each other it wouldn't be a 1 to 1 either in a different sense. I don't know why they made those games the way that they did.

[@tahamohammad8842]

I’m genuinely shocked to say that for some of these I prefer the NES. Particularly for when you can tell the SNES versions were made with the care of the ninja gaiden trilogy on SNES(that’s not a compliment, they seriously look like an NES game)

[@RetroComparisons]

The Ninja Gaiden trilogy in particular is a weak "remaster" especially when considering how good the Super Mario & Dragon Warrior remasters are.

[@tahamohammad8842]

@@RetroComparisons that’s not even taking into account the butchered sound track of the SNES versions. At least the visuals are on par with the original, sure they’re disappointingly weak but considering they’re based on a strong foundation they aren’t too bad on the whole. The soundtrack of those games are completely butchered, when you compare it to something like Mario all stars, the ninja gaiden trilogy version just looses all personality and spunk and sounds more like the genesis version of action 52. On an entirely different note though, I have to say that you guys(or guy, I don’t know if it’s one person or multiple running the channel) did a great job on the video. I learned about some games on SNES I didn’t even know existed. Considering Nintendo only releases the NES version of games like wario’s woods or yoshi’s cookie I thought those were the only versions of those games that existed but apparently there was in fact an SNES version of wario’s woods.

[@RetroComparisons]

@@tahamohammad8842 That's a great point with the soundtracks. I don't know how they managed to get that so wrong with that trilogy, the NES games are crisp and kickass whereas the SNES are just kind of meh. I really appreciate the compliment! It's just me running the channel for now. If this ever takes off someday I'd love to have multiple people running it so I can get more videos out in a shorter period. Oh I was the same way with learning about all of these different games that I had no idea existed. When I was researching the games that crossed over I thought that maybe there would be 40 or so but there ended up being over 100 which was a complete shock.

[@Zarathustra-rj4yz]

That rocky and bulwinkle music is something from a nightmare lol

[@RetroComparisons]

Haha it's pretty horrific and add to that the slightly different keys of the 2 consoles and it's that much worse.

[@Zarathustra-rj4yz]

It sounds like something they play on loop as some kind of psychological torture to like prisoners of war lol

[@RetroComparisons]

@@Zarathustra-rj4yz Lol!

[@cjeelde]

I didn't know that SO many NES games also had a SNES remake! Before I started to watch all I could think of are those four Super Mario All Star games and "maybe a few more". And I even had both NES and SNES when I grew up. But we sold our NES plus all games to buy a SNES and a few games. There's one thing I would love to add to this comparison video, if you gonna update this video in the future: which chip/cartridge is it for each NES game? So for example Mario Bros had an old chip and SMB3 had a much newer and better chip. Maybe it's possible to make a comparison videos for the NES games with the better chips only and the SNES games? Love these kind of videos!!

[@RetroComparisons]

I was just as surprised as you. When I started to put together the list I thought it was going to be a quick video lol. Ugh yeah that always seemed to be the case where my friends and I would sell our "old, worthless games" to get the new console only to regret that decision years later. I think our generation could retire now if we had held onto our games rather than sell them for a few bucks in the 80s and 90s. That's an interesting and great idea with the chips! I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to what games used what chip so that's something I should start paying attention to and could maybe implement that in future videos. Thanks for the suggestion and for checking out the video:)

[@cjeelde]

Oh yeah those NES games I had was CIB. Not perfect condition but not "trash condition". So pretty good condition what I can remember. Not sure if I could retire today by selling those games pretty expensive. But I miss those games. What bother me the most is not that I don't have these exact copies today. It's that I cannot remember exactly all games that I had. I remember some of the games. And I also borrowed a few games from friends. We shared those games sometimes. I also played some games at my friends. One friend had that bootleg cartridge with "100s of games" loaded and that was more than amazing! That was so unreal! Have never heard of something like that and he just had it and showed it for me. That guy was like "god" to me. Now I got NES Classic Mini from Nintendo and many of those 30 games are games that I grew up with. If I only had a photo or something that could show me which NES games that I had. Anyways these different chips in the NES cartridges. I often say that "half of the console is the cartridge" (because of that chip). So they never needed to create a "NES 2" which was great for us gamers because a new console will cost some more money. I think the first SNES game that I played was Zelda ALTTP and what should I say? What a generation leap between NES and SNES. Now in 2023 I love both NES and SNES. NES to SNES is one of the biggest leaps ever! But that is so hard to compare honestly. So much feeling, too emotional. Just compare Zelda 1 with ALTTP. It's night and day! Zelda 1 is still a really really great game! And now this ROM hack Ancient Dungeon made it even more amazing. So 255 random rooms in a dungeon. I've played it maybe 20-30 times now and only beaten it once and it took me 1 hour and 47 minutes according to the ROM hack itself. The great players can beat it at around 1 hour or maybe faster. I hope I can improve my time a lot :) It took me years and years and years to understand that the reason why SMB3 for example was that amazing (graphics and diagoal scrolling) was because a better chip that allowed it. When we're that young we don't understand everything. So it's now recent years thanks to KZbinrs and Wikipedia that I know about these better chips in the cartridges. One more possible comparison: Mega Man Wily Wars (Sega MD/Genesis) Mega Man 1-3 (on NES) Maybe also compare these two games: Crusader of Centy (MD/Genesis) Zelda ALTTP (SNES) ...because CoC is often called "Sega's Zelda".

[@RetroComparisons]

​@@cjeelde I ran into that where I couldn't remember a lot of the games I had played as a kid and sometimes randomly either for this channel or just browsing youtube videos I'd come across one and be like "holy crap that's the game that was on the tip of my tongue for years!". Even though it's kind of a crappy game Bimini Run on the Genesis is the one that always stands out because I'm pretty sure my brother thought I was making the game up in my head. Yeah that leap from the 8 bit gen to the 16 bit gen was huge. I think the only other leap that could match it was from that gen to the 3D generation but unlike that leap the 16 bit games still hold up well to this day. With the chips I would have never guessed that was the reason some games looked and ran better than others. I'm really looking forward to trying out that Zelda rom hack. The quality of life improvements alone make it sound like a fantastic upgrade. I'm thinking of eventually doing an entire NES vs Genesis video which will include the Mega Man games. I kind of unoffically did those versions in my recent Genesis vs PS1 video. The PS1 versions are just straight ports of the NES games but I would like to cover the official original ports to the Genesis too sooner than later. It's one of those projects that I have on my to do list which includes some really big ones that I'll try to tackle within the next year.

[@davidhill8565]

For the Super Mario and Dragon Quest games, I prefer the SNES versions. Dragon Quest is meant to have orchestral soundtrack. The NES version looks like a ROM hack.

[@ShinyArjunSingh]

Nice one Subscribed Please keep it comin

[@RetroComparisons]

Thank you so much for your support! I've got a bunch more on the way and by the end of the year I'm hoping to complete my SNES vs Genesis series.

[@adrenalinex4]

Crazy how 16 bits is a big improvement even tho its just 2x the bits of an nes game lol

[@RetroComparisons]

Haha yeah 1 generation can make a huge difference. The NES generation walked so the SNES generation could run.

[@rafa-qq7xm]

Ninja Gaiden 1, 2 & 3 is like just using little different colour palette.

[@mikecraftbro]

You forgot about wrecking crew there was a snes game but I think it was a jp exclusive

[@jojojoma3026]

NES Jurassic Park had a fire soundtrack for sure (the GB version sounds even better!)

[@RetroComparisons]

It's way better than I expected. I've heard negative things about that game but it's actually pretty damn fun.

[@jojojoma3026]

@@RetroComparisons It's one of the better movie license games on NES. I mean, it's no Batman, but, what is?

[@RetroComparisons]

@@jojojoma3026 Great point. The only thing from that era (granted a little later) that could compete with Batman for a licensed title would be something like Aladdin.

[@mymusic3354]

I didn't know there were so many games that were both NES and SNES....

[@RetroComparisons]

Me neither until I started making this video. There's so many crossovers.

[@justworkingfortheweekend8504]

Lots more detail and high quality of graphics in super Nintendo

[@RetroComparisons]

It's pretty fascinating to see what they could do just one generation later that they couldn't do on the NES. Thanks for watching:)

[@davidvilchez2209]

Im surprised Ys 3 is on here. Not many people know about the Ys series

[@RetroComparisons]

I was surprised it was on both consoles. Usually with a series like that once it goes to the next gen they don't bother porting it to the inferior hardware.

[@davidvilchez2209]

@@RetroComparisons I only found out about the Nes port a few years ago. There is also a pc engine, sharp 6800 *I think*, msx, and genisis port of it

[@davidhill8565]

The SNES version of Ys 3 is harder than its NES counterpart.

[@thomasshakelton]

This is great stuff 🙏

[@RetroComparisons]

Thanks so much!

[@protospy9597]

You forgot about Cool World

[@BBfanfun]

3 NES versions of MARIO bROS !

[@RetroComparisons]

It's pretty weird. To be fair, 1 of those is unofficial since it's in Mario Bros 3 but even having 2 versions is odd.

[@Virusone1980]

Aladdin on NES is why you don't code with molasses.

[@Martynde]

GameXplain sent me here.

[@therealhardrock]

How many times were any of you saying "There was a _____ NES game?!?!?"

[@jr01theweeb]

Who's here from GameXplain?

[@Alianger]

Cool but why mix the sound like that? Can't watch this without a specific kind of earphones and even then you just get a game's sound in one ear which sucks Btw the aladdin nes port is based on the MD game, not the SNES one. Same with Alien 3

[@RetroComparisons]

Thanks for watching! The problem with doing these is there isn't necessarily a perfect way to do the audio. I prefer to have one game panned hard left and the other hard right but that can get muddled with mono headphones or even just going through TV speakers. If I go back and forth it can sound terrible if the timing of the music isn't exact on both which it usually isn't and sometimes the pitch can be close but a little off which also sounds bad. It's one of those things that is a plus and a negative either way it's done. Yep some of these games are based off of other consoles or even DOS ports but for the sake of including everything I figured I'd include games like Alien 3 even if they're not a 1 to 1.

[@Alianger]

@@RetroComparisons A channel called phil's lab or something similar fades between the two as a track is playing for his music comparisons (Descent for example), I like that way of doing it personally. But that requires the music to sync up pretty well. Right, fair enough.

[@RetroComparisons]

@@Alianger Thanks for letting me know! I'll check that channel out to see how they execute that. I do get a lot of people that like the game's audio being split like this and others that don't care for it. I guess the opinion is as divided as the audio in this video:)

[@Aaroncarter55726]

Imo NES games were more difficult than SNES.

[@RetroComparisons]

There's certainly a ton of extremely difficult SNES games but like 90% of the NES library is just insanely hard.

[@Aaroncarter55726]

@@RetroComparisons Yeah, Silver Surfer and Final Fantasy were among the hardest NES games I ever played.

[@RetroComparisons]

@@Aaroncarter55726 I'm tempted to try Silver Surfer out of curiosity's sake but at the same time I don't want to break my controller from slamming it out of rage lol

[@Aaroncarter55726]

@@RetroComparisons Yeah, I would throw my controller on the floor but I was lucky I played on the carpet and not a hardwood floor lol.

[@DobygamesGC]

I didn't know some nes games had snes remakes

[@DenisSailor130]

Super Nintendo Wins!

[@Mincifaya]

Where the heck do you buy those games?!?! You have so many of them

[@RetroComparisons]

Oh I wish! I have Everdrives that I put these games on.

[@Mincifaya]

@@RetroComparisons how about the consoles?

[@RetroComparisons]

@@Mincifaya I do have a ton of consoles and I kind of lucked out. My brother and I used to get consoles pretty cheap at flea markets and tag sales in the late 90s into the mid 2000s. He lost interest in gaming around that time so I ended up with most of them. The only one we ever sold was the Jaguar and now I'm kicking myself for that since it goes for so much now and I can't justify spending hundreds on it unless this channel really takes off.

[@2kBofFun]

If he had used real hardware, the sprite-loading zones would have been cut off from the visible screen area.....

[@SkitBitProduction]

Awesome work

[@RetroComparisons]

Thank you so much for watching!

[@brianjl7477]

Cool vid - very interesting.

[@RetroComparisons]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching!

[@slodziak222222]

those 2 consoles had the same resolution

[@Rayquaza3010]

I can’t find the second Famicom Detective Club in the list. :-/

[@RetroComparisons]

That one was actually on the Famicom Disk System so I didn't include it on here. However I'm thinking of making a similar video that has the FDS and Super Famicom Satellaview games as a companion piece to this video so I can get the add-ons included.

[@darkerfalcon3747]

1:30 You should compare the bootleg Hummer Team's version of Aladdin because is based on the SNES Capcom's Aladdin instead of the official NES one that is based on the Genesis one. Btw HT Aladdin is 100 time superior than the crap of official NES virgin Aladdin. 27:41 *NES MONOPOLY IS UNDEFETABLE!*

[@RetroComparisons]

I've tried that version out and it's so fantastic. They were just phoning it in with the original official release.

[@Anakunus]

What the hell? Why does the SNES version of that Crazy Climber look graphically _worse_ than the NES version? It doesn't make sense.

[@RetroComparisons]

The only thing I can think of is the SNES port is part of a compilation that is emulating the arcade original so that's probably why, but even still it's a little jarring.

[@Bane_of_the_Moonsea]

I got my first nes at 7 in 86, and by the time the SNES was released I was pushing 13, not really caring so much about it because i ended up getting the TG16 and the cd attachment for it when it came out. I did get a SNES in maybe 95 or 96, but never really played more than street fighter alpha 2 and Mario world. The experience wasn’t the same. The NES was magical. The SNES was just kind of boring by that time.

[@RetroComparisons]

That's so cool that you had the TG16 & CD! I never knew anybody that had that growing up. I grew up in the 16 bit generation so the SNES/Genesis will always hold a special place in my heart but there is something so cool about the NES that even the "superior" ports of the 4th gen can't capture. There's a reason the NES is considered a timeless classic.

[@dynamon911nz]

I cant belive the SNES version of hook Is far superior than the nes counterpart. I played that game heck out It and i love how the character Is smooth the animation. Also the ost Is Lit. This One of Sony imagesoft. But i belive there others out there games by them are good.

[@RetroComparisons]

I think both versions of Hook are really fun, but it is super smooth on the SNES. It's unfortunately one of those games that never seems to get much love.

[@dynamon911nz]

@@RetroComparisons yeah i agree with you

[@KevTheGalaxybender]

So this is where Undertale got Sans design from 🤔

[@aazart8886]

SNES Definitely Wins Everything + is a 4th generation very powerful machine have a better graphics quality every game the all the texture quality look fantastic even the all sports games look great no lie NES is a good system is 3th generation still look very good 1985-2023

[@tigerwolfcast]

The music on this video is unbearable. Love the idea of this video, but I wish you had PluralEyes or similar to at least sync up the music. Or even just picked one and muted the other

[@IvanFranco120]

Nice job for those comparations. 😅

[@RetroComparisons]

Thank you for watching:)

[@IvanFranco120]

@@RetroComparisons Yes, please do one of SNES and GBA versions.

[@RetroComparisons]

@@IvanFranco120 You've got it! That's on my radar of videos to make in the upcoming year. There's a ton of crossover between those.

[@mikeywise3411]

i noticed with some games the nes simplistic style is acceptable or even better than the snes and in other cases the snes is a clear winner

[@RetroComparisons]

Most definitely, sometimes simple is better but it does depend on the game.

[@Y2Jay99]

Great stuff

[@RetroComparisons]

Thanks!

[@johnpappas6497]

Considering the hardware limitations of the NES many of those games look and play far better than they should. Some of the games are graphically far superior on the SNES. But any more fun to play?

[@RetroComparisons]

There's a certain charm to the NES where I almost feel like they play better than their graphically superior SNES counterparts but that may be more of a personal preference. Either way the NES really had some great looking games late in its life which is crazy when you think about how this is really a console from 1983.

[@TheBraineat]

Hehe, you forgot Fire Emblem ) There is version of first nes game on snes 🤭

[@RetroComparisons]

I wasn't sure if that was considered a sequel or remake. If it's a remake I'll need to make an amendment at some point.

[@newageBoundhippie]

@@RetroComparisons it's both. Mystery of the Emblem has 2 "books". Book 1 is a shortened remake of Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light and book 2 is the sequel Mystery of the Emblem. when they remade them again on DS, New Mystery was just book 2

[@RetroComparisons]

@@newageBoundhippie Ah thanks for clarifying.

[@davidhill8565]

A handful of the chapters were cut from the SNES game but are reinstated in the DS game.

[@Monafide3305]

Awesome video. Crazy Climbers on SNES looks so shitty lmao

[@RetroComparisons]

Lol! It may look shitty, but the controls are somehow even shittier than the visuals.

[@mikec3260]

I was blown away this made it to the SNES... lol. Easily the worst looking of all the games!

[@RetroComparisons]

@@mikec3260 Lol! Absolute trash. To be fair, it was part of a compilation but even still that's not really a valid excuse. Plus, the controls on this game are too much for my puny brain to handle.

[@mikec3260]

@@RetroComparisons lol!

[@Dwedit]

Crazy Climber strongly resembles the Arcade version, so it was going for what it was trying to do. But you don't generally want an early 80s arcade look on a SNES.

[@HatsuneMiku-tr9td]

good like remake on snes or perhaps demake version for nes 😅

[@aryinc]

16bit generation when graphics really started to pop.

[@RetroComparisons]

Most definitely. They still look good to this day.

[@aryinc]

@@RetroComparisons for sure. genesis had that colour barrier to work with, but really did that good, Even tough i'm a sega guy. some games i dare to pick a fight, toy story for instance. some games just better on snes. The genesis versions of those limit pushers are more so novelty to see.

[@victorcortes7800]

NES always seemed to me to have more difficult games than SNES

[@RetroComparisons]

Oh yeah, the frustration level with a lot of those NES games is off the charts.

[@ghosttiee9212]

Snes and mega drive are the best

[@RetroComparisons]

Those are 2 of my all-time favorites. In case you're interested, here's all SNES & Mega Drive games compared. kzbin.info/www/bejne/a5C4faGFj7BmpM0

[@ghosttiee9212]

@@RetroComparisons sameee and ooo thamk you my favorite is n64 ps1 mega drive snes gba and rn I’m playing quake remastered

[@RetroComparisons]

@@ghosttiee9212 Those are all incredible systems. Oh nice, have fun with Quake! That game is so amazing.

[@ghosttiee9212]

@@RetroComparisons same I ended quake remastered it’s so good

[@RetroComparisons]

@@ghosttiee9212 Nice!! I've got to play the remastered at some point.

[@Nickwilde2295]

Is the super Nintendo backwards compatible to the Nintendo entertainment system games?

[@RetroComparisons]

Not natively but there is something currently being worked on called Project Nested that will allow NES games to be played on SNES hardware.

[@f.k.b.16]

Dragon's Layer looks better on the NES by far!

[@RetroComparisons]

The SNES game is kind of odd and doesn't look so great and the NES version is slow and extremely difficult. It's probably for the best to avoid both.

[@f.k.b.16]

@@RetroComparisons Good idea!

[@hirschlord341]

By some nes games in comparison i think i get augenkrebs 😂

[@MAMoreno]

The SNES really seems to suffer with some of those platformers. Yes, the sprites are larger and more detailed, but the image is so zoomed in (thanks to the SNES's rather disappointing screen resolution) that it's often hard to see the surroundings clearly, while the NES versions look far more player-friendly. On the other hand, other genres have a clear advantage on the SNES, such as beat 'em ups, tournament fighters, and RPGs. Puzzle games can go either way (with the exception of Tetris 2, which looks like garbage on the NES), as can ports of early 1980s arcade games (which the NES could already handle pretty well). I have really mixed feelings about the SNES remakes of popular NES titles. Ninja Gaiden Trilogy is notoriously mediocre, but I do appreciate that it still looks like the same game(s). I cannot stand the version of Super Mario Bros. that appears in All-Stars, as I feel that the new graphics actually change the tone of the game. That's probably even more true in regards to the sadistic Super Mario Bros. 2 (Japan), but I've always found the Famicom game pretty ugly, anyway. Super Mario Bros. 3 fares better, but the upgraded graphics slightly mute the stage play aesthetic, and I still prefer the NES version. Super Mario Bros. 2 (USA) benefited the most, as its NES version always looked like a ROM hack of another game with Mario sprites tossed in carelessly. (I wonder why?)

[@RetroComparisons]

Very well said. It is quite a mixed bag depending on the genre. I personally like the Super Mario Bros remakes but I prefer the original NES. It's like getting a new spin on an old favorite. Being a big beat 'em up fan I think the SNES may be the king of that genre which pains me to say as a Genesis fanboy. Thanks for checking this video out!

[@jojojoma3026]

Right! Like, why does Blues Bros on NES slap but the SNES version is a snoozefest

[@RetroComparisons]

@@jojojoma3026 Very good question. Laziness is the only answer that makes sense.

[@maquiztop6018]

@@RetroComparisons streets of rage?

[@RetroComparisons]

@@maquiztop6018 The Streets Of Rage Trilogy alone is enough to justify getting the Genesis.

[@crashingblow3753]

Can we all agree that Ninja Gaiden Trilogy on the SNES is perhaps one of the worst examples of remaking a game(s) for a newer console? Just look at the NES and SNES version side by side. Some of the backgrounds, characters, and enemies look nearly unchanged. Literally all Ninja Gaiden Trilogy for the SNES did was just give the NES games a fresh coat of paint, and a pretty lazy one too. At least the other games Like the Mario games for example, REMADE the graphics and sprites, and make them original and stand out from the NES original. That is the whole point of a REMAKE. To MAKE something that has already existed all over again, only make it a great improvement over the version that came before. If just slapping in a few extra colors and calling it a day is what you consider the bare minimum of a REMAKE, then you must have some extremely low expectations for remakes.

[@RetroComparisons]

The 3 biggest remakes in this vein from this era were this, the Mario games and Mega Man on the Mega Drive. This is easily the worst example of a 16 bit remake of an 8 bit trilogy.

[@2kBofFun]

Easy win for the NES in most cases, much more charm to the sprite design and colour palette. If you had put the average Ebay price with each game, the balance would tilt even more towards NES. NES carts are a fraction of their SNES counterparts.

[@RetroComparisons]

There is a charm to the NES that is hard to beat. I'd say the same thing with the 2600 in comparison to some of the more advanced consoles of the time like the Intellivision & Colecovision. I like that we're getting out of that overpriced NES bubble where you don't have to sell a kidney to get a game.

[@2kBofFun]

@@RetroComparisons Made a list. Came to 43 wins for the NES, 31 ties, 16 wins for the SNES and 8 games I could not care because they were utter garbage. Excluded unrealeased ones. What was amazing is that many SNES games looked simpler/zoomed in. The NES had much more happening.

[@RetroComparisons]

@@2kBofFun That is incredible that you took the time to go through all of these to rank them! That means a lot to me:) Were there any in particular on each system that stood out as being one of the best?

[@2kBofFun]

@@RetroComparisons For example games like Alladin, Alfred Chicken, Asterix, Joe&Mac, Smurfs... Those seem to have simpler but clearer sprites, and more happening on screen. The SNES delivers little action in comparison. The dino in Joe&Mac for example at the end of the level. In the SNES version it just screams. On the NES little dino's and fire balls come out of the mouth. I would call it the DK Country problem. No idea why, but that game is also mostly empty. Astonishing music and graphics, but one or two enemies on screen is about peak complexity.

[@RetroComparisons]

@@2kBofFun Those are great examples.

[@corneliusraibon2825]

Cornelius Raibon born October 31 1985 Halloween nes episode to 1990’s snes

[@KevTheGalaxybender]

I'm surprised no final fight

[@RetroComparisons]

It would have been cool to see how they scaled it down for the NES. I know we got Mighty Final Fight but it's a separate entity.

[@KevTheGalaxybender]

@@RetroComparisons yeah but someone is making a Megadrive version as well. Also Avengers is completely different on NES and SNES, but st least both final fight games are neat em ups

[@RetroComparisons]

@@KevTheGalaxybender I didn't hear about that, I really want to try that when it get released. I wonder if it will be based on the SNES port or the Sega CD port.

[@shyguy85]

Arebt Aladin and lion king bootlegs? If so, why didn't you compare the smw bootleg

[@RetroComparisons]

I may do that some day. I try to keep videos like this with only official games but I think doing a comparison with some of the arguably better bootleg versions would be a fun project. Thanks for watching:)

[@Dwedit]

Those two versions of Aladdin and Lion King are officially licensed games, only released in Europe. The bootleg versions were better though.

[@RetroComparisons]

@@Dwedit I'm yet to try out those bootleg games. I've watched videos and they look like a lot of fun.

[@damin9913]

Nes just got that magical feeling Snes lacks

[@DrJones20]

SNES has plenty of magic going for it

[@2kBofFun]

Agree, if you watch this, you won't get the "SNES best console ever" thing. NES beats SNES in most occasions. The low colour sprites have a charm the SNES lacks.

[@damin9913]

@@2kBofFun Nes didn't need all that color and sprite effects like Snes did and it was doing just fine

[@thomasffrench3639]

@@2kBofFunI don’t know about most occasions, but NES did have better shoot ‘em ups and platformers while SNES had better RPGs and fighting games.

[@2kBofFun]

@@thomasffrench3639 There is a video that shows 101 games that came out on the SNES and the NES. I the idea that the NES clearly wins in the majority of those 101 comparissons. It is mostly platforms though. Shmups are really rare on the NES, especially in Europe there are maybe 3-4 worth playing. I have a PC Engine for shmups.

[@mtshark7]

I'd say the SNES takes most wins here.

[@RetroComparisons]

Some of those were massacres like The Lion King & Aladdin. The NES did hold its own on some of these but yeah the SNES was just too damn good.

[@Dwedit]

Hummer Team would go on to make a better NES version of SNES Aladdin, and Super Game ported over Lion King and Genesis Aladdin.

[@2kBofFun]

I came to roughly 70/30 NES/SNES. The colour palette of the NES is so much easier on the eyes, and it gives every object a very recognisable shape. On the SNES things look more blurry and blend together.

[@waynecuff3140]

This is when true generational leaps happened. Unfortunately tech has hit a ceiling now. Everything on every system practically looks the same. But it's practically the same hardware nowadays.

[@RetroComparisons]

Back then every generation was a new mind blowing experience. Now there's improvements with framerate, visual clarity, etc but it's rare that I could see footage of a PS4 game and PS5 game and immediately tell the difference.

[@waynecuff3140]

@@RetroComparisons totally agree 👍

[@tm0054]

@@RetroComparisons This is so true, once they master 4k/60fps/ray tracing which could be a system or two away I wonder where they go. You don't really get a ton of benefit from going beyond those numbers.

[@RetroComparisons]

@@tm0054 Exactly. I've been thinking the same thing recently. Even with stuff like phones where do they go from here with stuff like screen resolution? I just went from a 1080p phone to a 4k phone and with such a small screen I honestly can't tell the difference 99% of the time. I know at some point 8k is going to be the hot new thing everyone wants but it's diminishing returns at that point.

[@tm0054]

@RetroComparisons I have trouble telling the difference between say 1440p and 4k already (even 1080p honestly) on a 55 inch screen. Going to say 8k will do nothing for me personally. Maybe if I'm playing on an IMAX screen lol.

[@GameModeRetro]

Still not as good as the PS5 but great video!!

[@RetroComparisons]

I beg to differ. The PS5 boasts about it's almost non-existing load times. The key word there is "almost". The NES and SNES never heard of such a thing. Only 1 way to settle this, next season of Game Mode Retro vs Retro Comparisons will be me on the NES and you playing emulated versions on the PS5.

[@GameModeRetro]

@@RetroComparisons Deal. And make sure you plug the NES directly into the router, to ensure game updates are downloaded quickly.

[@RetroComparisons]

@@GameModeRetro I'll bring over my Famicom Disk System and update it that way.

[@GameModeRetro]

@@RetroComparisons extremely solid idea!

[@mikec3260]

@@GameModeRetro There is a really cool youtube of the communications port on the bottom of the NES... Could have been capable of net play!