All Sega Genesis Vs SNES Games Compared Side By Side

[@rickvug]

30 years later I appreciate that the SNES and Genesis have unique characteristics that give them their own character and strengths. Genesis had the speed, resolution and rocking chip tunes that worked so well in so many Shmups. SNES had large, colourful sprites, more advanced effects and sound that worked wonders in RPGs. A fun part of going back to play the best of both is to see how developers made the most of what was available.

[@timmyp6297]

"In Rpgs?" Uh Castlevania 4 crushes the entire genesis library and it was a launch title or close to it. Then listen to Castlevania 5 first level. Genesis chiptunes are a joke.

[@charlotte_la_mycose]

@@timmyp6297 Calm down, little fanboy, calm your emotions and everything will be fine.

[@timmyp6297]

@@charlotte_la_mycose Not a fan boy moron. SNES DSP\MSU was a fully programmable wavetable synth, limited only by memory. PC had no equal until Soundblaster 16 came out, nearly 10 years later. Think about that.

[@timmyp6297]

@@charlotte_la_mycose Not a fanboy SNES had a Sony-developed fully programmable wavetable synth. It was nearly 10 years ahead of pc, which wasn't able to mix waveform audio until later 90s. It was a piece of hardware left behind, because SNES was supposed to be a collaboration between Sony and Nintendo. Nintendo backed out, and Sony made the Playstation. They left Nintendo that sound chip, which especially in big games like *DKC, Earthbound, Final Fantasy, or Chrono Trigger, you saw developers actually making use of this, which was not present in anything at the time, save for a rare Amiga accessory.

[@charlotte_la_mycose]

@@timmyp6297 It's an off-the-wall response to justify your blind fanboy side. 😆

[@MagisterHamid]

The Mega Drive had a CPU running at 7.6 MHz compared to 3.58 on SNES so that’s why most games ran smoother on Mega Drive. It had however a limited colour palette of 512 colours compared to 32768 on SNES hence why SNES games often had a more vivid looking colour.

[@bryansteele832]

The genesis also had a much sharper contrast ratio and better image output.

[@MagisterHamid]

@@bryansteele832 it often had higher resolution output than SNES. But yeah that limited colour palette is a bummer.

[@GodKitty677]

Mega drive had a 1536 colour palette. There is a shadow and hilight palette. 3x512 colours. Its used I believe in the Titan Overdrive 2 demo for 512 colours onscreen. The best colour hack used DMA and is covered in this video DF Retro Extra: Sega's Blast Processing Was Real - But What Did It Actually Do?. Its used in the video Chilly Willy's Direct Color DMA Video Demo v4 Wolf3D

[@MrZillas]

There is a HUGE mistake in believing in colors between SEGA and Nintendo and I want to lose a word or two about that. The most important thing is not, HOW MANY colors the console had, but HOW MANY colors you see same time on the screen. Count the colors at Sonic and Mario and I doubt, both display 50 colors the same time, maybe rather 30. I mean: How many colors can you name? More than 30? Where do 32.000 colors come from? Let's pretend SEGA uses really 512 colors the same time, can you name a SNES-game that displays 512 colors? .... Can you name a SNES-game that uses 512 colors and looks same time better than SEGA? No, you can't. The human being can see only around 200 different colors. So, where are the 32.000 colors? Yeah, it's maybe about brightness, you will say now. But put Mario and Sonic side by side and you will see no difference. By the way, the SEGA Game Gear could display 4096 colors "only", but still it had a TV-receiver and the TV-screen was excellent. There was no lack of colors. Just wanna say, the number of colors does not tell much here between the consoles.

[@GodKitty677]

@@MrZillas The issue with the mega drive is with the palette as well. The SNES has a larger palette of colours. On the mega drive they used something like colour dithering to use the CRT to hide the lack of colours/banding. Also in Sonic 1 you can see the trick being used for transparent water on waterfalls in Green Hill zone. The mega drive kind of blurs colours together in composite output but not in RGB output. This is why people buy CRT monitors with their mega drives. The image looks better and sharper in composite but with normal LED TV you want RGB output because of upscaling causing artifacts.

[@MattMonnig]

I had both Genesis and SNES as a kid I loved BOTH !!..Genesis had some of my Favs like Streets Of Rage 1 and 2..Road Rash..Sonics..Mortal Kombat..Turtles..and Many More and the SNES had games like...Zelda..Mario World..Final Fight..Ken Griffey Jr Baseball..Gradius and Many More !!..Its hard to compare both but if I had to pick one i would say SNES only do to GAMEPLAY and Sound I think the SNES just sounded and played smoother if that makes any sense !!..I LOVE the BOTH and cant live without neither

[@RetroComparisons]

If I was stranded on a desert island and I only had the games you listed I could be happy the rest of my life. You can't go wrong with either console as they both brought something amazing to the table.

[@iwanttocomplain]

You get used to things.

[@leonardork]

Huge difference on resolution, Genesis plays so much smooter

[@javiergonzalezcalvo1544]

Two great consoles !!

[@RetroComparisons]

Absolutely. Two of my all time favorites.

[@TheRedRaven_]

Captain America and the Avengers is one of those classics that ran waaay better on Genesis, not just the graphics but surprisingly the audio/speech sounded better as well.

[@Yuzoboy]

This is a dream come true. a true comparison of all the games between the consoles. Great video!

[@RetroComparisons]

Thanks so much for watching:)

[@jiraiya0698]

The work put together in this... Insane

[@RetroComparisons]

Thanks! Lol yeah this video nearly broke me.

[@slimmsg7]

​@@RetroComparisonswell we appreciate it, thanks bro ...

[@RetroComparisons]

@@slimmsg7 Thanks so much! I appreciate you checking it out:)

[@st1ka]

Personally, I prefer the Sega Mega drive, but this is definitely an interesting video and it's cool to see the differences between them. It's hard to tell which one had the better overall multiplatform games. It mostly comes to down to each system's strenghts. The SNES generally had more colors and more people tend to prefer its sound chip. The Mega Drive generally has a higher resolution and can handle more stuff on screen without slowdown or with fewer slowdowns.

[@RetroComparisons]

I also personally prefer the Genesis/Mega Drive as it's the console that got me into gaming but the SNES was equally excellent. I think if you asked 100 people who never played either which was better after playing a bunch of ports that it would be close to being a 50/50 split.

[@st1ka]

@RetroComparisons indeed! I will admit one thing that does bother me though is how much the Nintendo discourse controls the retro gaming scene. I think I see more people talking about the N64 than the PS1 for example. Nintendo has a such a stranglehold on the US that in turns ends up affecting the discourse for the retro gaming scene in the rest of the world

[@RetroComparisons]

@@st1ka That's a great point and when you have that loud of a presence online it tends to lead to an alternate history from what really happened that becomes "reality" to those who don't know better.

[@st1ka]

@@RetroComparisons indeed, it's not uncommon for people outside the US to talk about the videogame crash, thinking it applied to Europe and South America too lol

[@namelesssoul8098]

@@st1kaPS1 smokes the N64 and it’s not even close. N64 was very disappointing to me.

[@animemaster4861]

Basically this is the list of the single most recognized games out of an entire era. There might be no more games recognized than the super Nintendo and the Sega Genesis the ultimate of console wars

[@RetroComparisons]

That's a great point! Anyone who grew up around this time knows so many of these games. It was a magical time to be a kid.

[@animemaster4861]

@@RetroComparisons I think it's really cool you know cuz I know it took you a bunch of time to put all these individual letters and stuff together like that you know this was like you can tell not an overnight project

[@RetroComparisons]

@@animemaster4861 Thank you so much! Yeah this was quite time consuming but it was definitely worth it. I hope everyone got to see some of their favorites, some games they forgot about or some they never heard of. I certainly did and found some gems that I would have never tried otherwise.

[@juststatedtheobvious9633]

@@RetroComparisons Care to share a few? Sometimes, I take late 70's-early 2000's console libraries for granted, and it's easy to forget that the majority of each are new to most people.

[@RetroComparisons]

@@juststatedtheobvious9633 The first one that pops into mind is Time Trax, probably because I just played that one last week. Donald In Maui Mallard/Maui Mallard In Cold Shadow looked outstanding on both consoles. Phantom 2040 was one that I wanted to try forever and I thought it lived up to expectations unlike The Tick which I also wanted to try forever and was blander than white bread with a glass of water for dippin'. I guess one that I assumed would be terrible was True Lies since Last Action Hero had greatly lowered my standards but it was actually a very fun playthrough with cool and varied stage designs. Were there any that you hadn't seen before that peaked your interest?

[@milesr4609]

For those argueing about the bigger sprites on the Snes note that os nothing like that, but the Genesis had a better and wider aspect ratio allowing for more sprites on screen at the same time and better panoramics, thats why characters look more "far away".

[@damin9913]

Yup snes sprites are too big which I don't like cause they want the games all up in your face which sega genesis is the perfect size and you can see everything

[@somedude6647]

@@damin9913it didn’t matter at the time because a lot of the extra genesis resolution was lost to overscan unless you had a really good tv (professional grade).

[@miriamalmeida6687]

Tv sharp c2199b ​@@somedude6647

[@tskraj3190]

Actually the SNES could do 512x448P and the Genesis did 320x220P but there were only a few games on the SNES that used 512X448P resolution most used 256X224P because televisions at that time only displayed 256x224P.

[@tskraj3190]

@deansatan9573 Yes at 512X448P the color pallet is reduced to a 4-Bit 16 color pallet and if it were @ 384x256P it would use a 9-Bit 512 color pallet using 128 colors simultaneously and two parallax scrolling backgrounds. If the Genesis Mega Drive could perform 512X448P it would also be limited to a 4-Bit 16 color pallet.

[@poncho828]

Genesis has better resolution, and smoother gameplay.

[@skyhero1888]

The Sega Megadrive games looks and sounds a million times better.

[@lw7918]

ahahahahaahahhahahahaha

[@JonBR-622]

Worse graphics, fewer layers and ear-shattering sound. If this is "sounding better", I don't even want to see the worst.

[@MicahBuzanANIMATION]

SNES colors are brighter and more saturated, the Genesis favors a darker palette.

[@JonBR-622]

In pre-rendered graphics, the SNES, having more palettes, has a lot of advantage over the Genesis.

[@blueelectric05]

Depends, in some games the snes is darker for some reason

[@phonedork]

Differences usually come down to the higher resolution 320x224 sega genesis vs low resolution SNES 256x224 but with more colors. Sound or music is usually a matter of opinion. Genesis also runs almost twice as fast. More colors of the snes is what most people talk about but forget almost 90% of genesis games run in a higher resolution.

[@JonBR-622]

If that mattered, Sega would have used the resolution to attack Nintendo in its advertisements. Nobody talked about resolution before the internet.

[@iwanttocomplain]

@@JonBR-622 HIGH DEFINITION GRAPHICS. Nobody knew what that meant though. They probably should have told the sales people to explain.

[@zane01235]

For me the Mega drive was for platforming and shootem ups/sports games, particularly the EA games. The Thunder Force series were also phenomenal, blew R type out of the water. Snes games felt slower, also had a warmer feel, more colours and less synthetic soundchip gave it a less edgier vibe. Rpgs were the go to. Overall I preferred Sega, shame what happened to them, if only rhey could have packaged their model 2 board into a console, they would have owned the game industry.

[@bryansteele832]

I love the 16 bit era so much!

[@RetroComparisons]

That generation was a magical time to be a gamer

[@damin9913]

It was sega genesis vs super nintendo no other consoles did that

[@jumbo999614]

@@damin9913 Turbo Grafx 16 was also great. Too bad only few games were made.

@@damin9913 Neo Geo blew them both away.

[@damin9913]

Nobody even talked or cared about neo geo it was about Nes,Super nintendo,Genesis

[@dreamland7661]

WOW!!! This video took a lot of work to make Congratulations, impeccable editing, EXCELLENT!!! ❤

[@RetroComparisons]

Thank you so much for watching and for the kind words:)

[@jasonm7298]

I was honestly just thinking the exact same thing. very impressive especially for a channel that isn't super big.

[@RetroComparisons]

@@jasonm7298 Thanks so much!

[@franesp4835]

Genesis have more details and objects on screen and the games works faster. SNES look great but a little horizontally stretched.

[@RetroComparisons]

The SNES games are interesting in how they were stretched. A majority of games technically have an 8:7 aspect ratio but everyone played them at a 4:3 ratio back in the day (which is how they're presented here) so they got a stretched look.

[@JonBR-622]

Big lie. Many Snes games have more details such as better graphics, an extra layer or weather effects.

[@shotgunl]

Excellent culmination of all the work you put into this series, Bill. There's some winners on each side and a lot of ties or near-ties, but the true winners are the gamers: whether we were able to play some of the individual games back in 16-bit time period or for those who missed some or all of these games (or were not even born!), at least today there are ways to experience any of these that we might want to try, and you've provided a great video reference with the series and this masterwork of an aggregate video! Three cheers to Retro Comparisons for putting in the time and work to cover this many videos! We may each have our own preferences in controller design and sound chip types, but the SNES and Genesis are both amazing consoles each with some amazing games both exclusive and cross-platform. And, the PC-Engine/TG-16 too, since that time period was its heyday too. Years away from the school-yard or water-cooler console rivalries, I'm glad we live in a time where we can experience nearly any of these games easily, whether that's through flashcarts and optical-disc-drive emulators on original or FPGA-based hardware or through emulation on a multitude of devices. I know some players still get maybe a bit too gung ho about their favorite consoles especially with the SNES/Genesis/Turbografx, but we can see here with 3 hours of footage with the Genesis and Super Nintendo that there's plenty of good and great games to go around for that generation of consoles and this video doesn't even cover the exclusives. So, try some games from the console(s) you didn't own or are less familiar with and maybe you'll gain a little bit more love for similarities and differences of all 3; and, "Be excellent to each other!"

[@RetroComparisons]

Masterfully said! If you had a Genesis back in the day you were jealous of your friend's SNES and vice versa. For those who had or knew someone with a TG16 the same could be said for that too. This era was ripe with incredible titles for all 3 of the big consoles of the time. I've always been a Genesis fanboy but I have a newfound respect for the SNES. They both bring something unique to the table. I'll give three cheers back to you and everyone who's watched this series for keeping me motivated to finish. To those who hate these consoles, throw them in the iron maiden.

[@mikec3260]

Sega Does What Nintendon't! I loved my Genesis and witbout a doubt I was envious of anyone with a Super Nintendo. Loved playing the games that were out for it. After this comparison tho, the Genesis performed very well for being much older. With that said I give my Biased vote. Overall Winner: Seeeeeeegaaaaaaaa!

[@RetroComparisons]

@@mikec3260 I was the same way, I loved my Genesis but was envious of my friends with Super Mario World, Mario Paint, Final Fight, etc. The Genesis gets my vote too but it's so biased as I can't remove my childhood memories from the overall rating.

[@mikec3260]

@@RetroComparisons It is really all about the memories and fun had. You have def brought up a ton of memories!

[@shotgunl]

@@mikec3260 Though I love the TG-16 and SNES, I'm glad I had a Genesis. I wouldn't have traded my experiences with it for the world.

[@JustMe99999]

I had both (only got the SNES because I was working at a computer store that carried it and I got it with the employee discount). Both were great systems. I remember being blown away by Altered Beast on the Genesis when I first got it.

[@RetroComparisons]

Having both of these back in the day must have been one of the coolest things ever! You got the best of both worlds. I still love Altered Beast to this day, it was a great launch title.

[@washingtonsouza.2183]

Street Fighter II Special Champion Edition and Street Fighter II Turbo Hyper Fighting on consoles are practically the same game, they were missing in the comparison.

[@caseyhayes4590]

The fact that it's such a unique and rich comparison and ultimately kind of a draw is a testament to the Genesis as releasing in the late 80s. It took a few years to get its footing but once it did, it really held its own. The newly developed games for the Genesis are of insane quality, it's technically a modern supported system.

[@iwanttocomplain]

I agree. The low quality of new Mega Drive games is surprising. Mega Q-Bert is probably the highest quality homebrew I've seen so far. I can't speak to Real Bout, but it looks a bit fugly. I think the developers made poor use of the hardware, despite decries of superb quality.

[@DenisSailor130]

3:31 Genesis Version of Yogi Bear is Released only in Europe (Yogi Bear's Cartoon Capers)

[@xtlm]

I was the only person I knew that had an SNES. Every single friend and relative had the Genesis lol. (And even more weird, none had a Sega CD but multiple had a 32x) This video was very interesting!

[@RetroComparisons]

Haha I was one of those who had the 32x but no Sega CD, though I wanted that so bad. I was in the opposite situation where I was the friend with the Genesis while everyone else had the SNES. Even with our opposite experiences it seems like neither of us knew a Turbografx 16 friend lol

[@baronhausenpheffer]

Astounding achievement as a video! I know this is the accumulation of tons of individual pieces and steps edited together, but what important work isn't exactly that? Anyway, this is truly the definitive 16-bit Console War video, at least of digestible size, and an honest-to-god resource for people who love video games and want to understand the strengths and weaknesses of these systems and their libraries. Kudos to the nth degree to you!

[@RetroComparisons]

Thank you so much my friend! That means a lot to me and I really appreciate the kind words and you being a constant supporter of the channel. Plus I always enjoy reading your comments, you always make excellent points.

[@toysmoke]

Much prefer the sound chip of the snes. megadrive sfx were way more crunchy sounding

[@davidsonnow]

I think they were both good Units and both had their strengths. This video seems to highlight for me the fact that Sega had more vibrant colors, and better contrast. The SNES however had a bigger color palette an extra special effects but the color seemed a little washed out.

[@djhaynes99]

The sega had more washed out colours because of the lack of colours. Street fighter 2 was when this was very noticeable.

[@ARIOCH_VL]

Excellent video. It showed the strength and weaknesses of both consoles. Great work!

[@RetroComparisons]

Thank you so much for checking this out:)

[@damin9913]

Snes looks good but they don't tell you how bad the controls are with most of the games that's why I like sega genesis way better😊

[@iwanttocomplain]

@@damin9913 _IN_ cons.is..ten...t fr.....a....merate.

[@backcuetheoriginal]

Nice long comparison video! Great job!

[@RetroComparisons]

Thank you so much for watching!

[@LITTLE1994]

16-bit Console Wars fully explained!

[@TextRich]

Thank you very much for this labor of love!

[@RetroComparisons]

No probs, thank you so much for checking it out:)

[@mikec3260]

This is how RC breaks youtube... sheer badassery!! I felt this video drop from Colorado my Man!!! Congratulations for one hell of an effort and showing Bill!!!!!!

[@RetroComparisons]

Thanks my friend for the kind words:) This was quite a time consuming project but knowing that you and the others who checked this series out were enjoying this and sharing awesome insight and stories kept me going. Thanks for being so supportive!! If you're on a trip in CO I hope you're having a great time! Haha well I hope you're having a great time if that's where you live too;)

[@shotgunl]

The fabulous, the incomparable Mike C's right: you deserve a ton of praise for putting this series together!

[@RetroComparisons]

@@shotgunl You are also too kind buddy! You guys are the best and I truly appreciate your support for all of these years.

[@mikec3260]

@@RetroComparisons You are the best and your videos and efforts are what brought us together and you sir are appreciated!

[@mikec3260]

@@RetroComparisons I am from Colorado buddy lol!

[@DenisSailor130]

Segas Failed 1995s Nintendos Passed 1995s

[@cireza_]

This shows quite well how much bigger the resolution was on MegaDrive. The console really pushed more pixels and offered a wider field of view. SNES often had very pretty gradients that were impossible on MegaDrive. Great times !

[@filevans]

MegaDrive was also usually smoother, especially when there's a lot of sprites on screen, or if the game was fast

[@skorpers]

@@filevans Double default cpu speed with option to overclock to almost 4x with some games (can be manually oc'd too)

[@portnawak]

Zoomed in when sharing the base game assets, his shows how much the Inferior res of SNES makes things no more visible or harder to find also, option panels are less dense like in Madden serie...

[@tr3vk4m]

@@portnawak *laughs in Mode 7*

[@timmyp6297]

It dithered. Who cares if it was slightly higher res when it dithers for alphas? Made almost all games look subjectively worse.

[@AZI97]

I personally loved the Sega and owned the Genesis.

[@RetroComparisons]

That was my favorite system growing up. It's still fun in 2023.

[@perfectfutures]

This was quite the revelation. I had always been a Nintendo man and thinking they must have the best specs- but not altogether so. The sheer speed of the Genesis often left it in the dust, as did the framerate. But then the Nintendo has a more interesting and subtle colour palette, with also more special effects, giving more scope for each game to have it's own 'look'. It makes sense that Ninty's triple-A games were more about world-building and using the mode-7 effects for immersion, whilst the Sega games excelled in action and speed. If I'm to carry on with this vast over-simplification (I only ever had a SNES), it seems that Sega's vision was to bring the arcade into the home, whilst Nintendo was making something more 'homey' that you'd take your time to play. Both fantastic consoles from an exciting time in gaming, thanks for all the work you put into this!

[@RetroComparisons]

That's a great assessment of these systems and you hit the nail on the head, these were both amazing consoles which each brought their own thing to the table. Thanks for checking this out:)

[@TheTourist33]

I think the Genesis had more special effects, the Snes always uses only Mode 7.

[@iwanttocomplain]

@@TheTourist33 special effects are usually done by developers who use programming and hdma to create almost anything, depending on the ease of use of the system and power available.

[@brugges]

@@TheTourist33 Mode 7, transparency, scaling, zoom, rotation, gradient fills... the Genesis with its basic architecture is far behind on that matter

[@iwanttocomplain]

​@@brugges Mode 7. A rotating background layer. Good for not much. Very difficult to program. Best use imo is Super Off Road: The Baja. Otherwise for a cart racing game. All racing games that used it failed more or less with the exception of Street Racer and Mario Kart. Both kinda boring games. Swinging candelabra in SCIV is a joke. Turning background in SGnG is clunky and not fancy. Camel Try is another best use of mode 7. Otherwise it looks pretty awful. Colour averaging/mosaic. Crap. Can be done on an 8bit micro easily. Transparency. Limited application due to 4 of the 8 sprite layer palettes only being able to interact. Gradient fills. The big bomb in Contra 4? Looks all out of place. Used well in Pocky'n'Rocky to make the time of day change. Difficult to use and program. The hardware effects are not useful in the snes. What a developer can do with fast graphic bus speeds and hdma is only limited by their imagination. You could program in sprite scaling and rotation in some cases. I've seen large rotating sprites in Mickey's Mystery thingy game, the gnomes in batmanand robin game. Effects are done by programmers. Having the mode7 is ok but I think it was a bit too tricky to program.

[@raihidara]

This is honestly one of the most helpful videos on KZbin. Thank you for putting the work into this

[@RetroComparisons]

I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks so much for watching:) BTW, in case you're interested I put together a video with every single Sega Vs Nintendo game which includes this as well as 6 more hours in total.

[@manslee5457]

메가드라이브가 동시구현색상수는 더 적지만 대체적으로 더 생동감 있어보이는!

[@The_Prizessin_der_Verurteilung]

We need to get an SNES and a Mega Drive together, put the same game in both and let them sing. The Mega Drive especially is one of my favourite sounding consoles ever, but the SNES is certainly no slouch in the sound department either.

[@RetroComparisons]

That would be wild to see!

[@BERSERKERDEMON1]

amazing job (really) thank you for the efforts you put in this.

[@RetroComparisons]

Thank you so much for watching! Your support is greatly appreciated:)

[@Xale007]

Unfortunatly most player only had Mario/Sonic games... we were on a budget and had to get the best games only... how many non-Mario/Sonic/Street Fighter we had ? Maybe 10 or 15 maybe...

[@RetroComparisons]

Oh yeah there were a ton between those franchises. Almost a bit of overkill with that with stuff like Sonic 3D Blast and Sonic Spinball.

[@PS1Fan1991]

When I was a kid, I played Road Rash II, The Lion King, Desert Strike, Streets of Rage, Mortal Kombats II and III, Marco's Magic Football, Aladdin, Donald Bradmans Cricket, FIFA 9X (I can't remember which year), ARL, Sonic 2, Superman: Man of Steel and X-Men and Spiderman: Arcade's Revenge. There were many that I missed, but I must say that the games that I played, I had a blast with and to me that is what matters with a console. If you enjoy it, it doesn't matter if you didn't experience it to its full potential.

[@RetroComparisons]

@@PS1Fan1991 A lot of those were my go-to games back then too. The Streets Of Rage & Road Rash series were some of the best 16 bit games money could buy. There's others too that were gems you couldn't get on the SNES like those 2 X-Men games, Biohazard Battle, Mutant League Football, etc. I missed out on so many games as a kid that I'm just discovering now but I totally agree with you that it doesn't matter as long as you had fun with it back then.

[@Justforvisit]

1:10:38 To think that the Genesis was able to pull off these flight sequences in "The Lawnmower Man" without the famous Mode 7 of the SNES, I only have one question: HOW?! 🤯

[@danilomiranda6251]

I think maybe neither of them actually use mode 7 🙂

[@blueelectric05]

Lol it doesn't even use mode 7 on the snes

[@iwanttocomplain]

The system runs around 4 times the speed. So it could have done alot more. But if you spec a game for both systems, you need to target the weaker of the two.

[@DontKnowDontCare6.9]

Creativity backed by excellent programming skills. Thats how.

[@iwanttocomplain]

Really though, The Lawnmower man is an 8bit game. Especially the platforming. But the engine Sales Curve made for the flying sequences was designed to run on the snes first at a decent speed. If they specced the flying engine to mega drive capabilities they would have no doubt been able to achieve something a bit more detailed.

[@xtokumaru]

These are my 2 favorite consoles to this day, closely followed by the NES and the Master System.

[@RetroComparisons]

Thanks for watching! These are two of the greatest consoles ever. The fact that there's so many people playing both in 2023 is a testament to how great they were. Just as an fyi, I did a video recently on the NES vs SMS in case you're interested. kzbin.info/www/bejne/aqmlhamsf8qcoK8

[@darklaker]

I had the snes and some other nintendo consoles but I like the look of some genesis versions since they have a more arcade look even knowing the snes had a bigger color palette.

[@RetroComparisons]

I was the opposite where I had the Genesis growing up and I like the look of some of the SNES games more than I thought but it depends on the port. I guess any way you slice it if you had either of these consoles growing up you were in for a great time.

[@thuggeegaming659]

The SNES was better on paper, but in reality it's lower display resolution and slower CPU speed meant that most multiplatform games looked better on the Genesis. But since the Genesis only supported composite cables, the video quality was degraded.

[@darklaker]

@@thuggeegaming659 génesis had less RAM and lower color depth, the cpu speed was never a problem. The resolution may be the reason why I liked the look of some genesis games over snes versions.

[@iwanttocomplain]

@@thuggeegaming659 The Mega Drive supports, composite or rgb (scart) from stock (in uk at least). Nearly everyone used composite to the ariel though, for both systems. The Mega Drive had superior video output clarity and colour reproduction. The SNES I think had a s-video output capability. But it requires a special cable and actually, I got a bit confused understanding the s-video support for the snes.

[@leetaylor3888]

I remember when my mate came over and saw Batman Returns on the SNES and he was blown away compared to his (sega) version.

[@RetroComparisons]

That may be the biggest disparity between all of these. Even though I was a Genesis kid I can't defend it there. That version of Batman Returns is one of my least favorite games ever meanwhile the SNES version is an incredible beat em up.

[@akpokemon]

didn't realize how many cross-platform(?) games there were. Despite that, Sonic and Super Mario World both made a huge impact on their respective consoles, and were big determining factors in determining people's favorite...as well as the sound chips. Genesis has a distinctive "gurgly" sound

[@JonBR-622]

Most of the games shown are mediocre.

[@DenisSailor130]

1:30 Prototype Version of Addams Family Values also used but only on SNES

[@Red-Revolution708]

I like both and used to have both, they were great back in the day .

[@PatrickA1]

NBA all star challenge has reflections on the SNES!

[@meatballmeatwad5730]

You need to consider that the Genesis was meant to compete with the original NES. Sure, SNES may have more colors,graphical effects, and better quality sampled sounds. But the fact the Genesis is roughly comparable with it's higher screen resolution and less lag shows how impressive the Genesis was for a 1988 console. The Genesis hardware was just a stripped down version of the Sega system 16 arcade board from 1985. And yet it's still comparable to the SNES from 1990.

[@theguest103]

This. Sega were always ahead of their time, but seemed to be lagging behind the market to an outsider at a glance. Especially with projects like the Nomad, which did not meet sales expectations since the market was not ready for the idea of a portable console hybrid at the time. (Most kids these days only know Nintendo history, so most people you ask would say the Nintendo Wii U and Switch did the console/portable hybrid first)

[@Have_a_good_day_dude]

You need to consider shit. Stop being a fanboy!

[@davidaitken8503]

The Genesis released AFTER the PC Engine/Turbo Grafx 16 with an inferior color palette and much smaller sprite sizes. I'm not trying to bash the Genesis but I'm getting really tired of fan boys trying to make it sound like it was way ahead of its' time when the reality is more of a mixed bag.

[@andersonmoura3549]

Afirmar que o Genesis foi feito para competir com o NES é um erro histórico, Genesis é um 16 bits, uma antecipação de geração, lógico que eles sabiam que a Nintendo iria criar algo equivalente, o confronto do Mega Drive com o NES seria temporário.

[@iwanttocomplain]

The Master System was supposed to compete with the NES.

[@lNFERNO]

Many years have passed and I had no idea that many games that I considered exclusive to one system have the other and vice versa, how interesting, let's try them!, thanks for the video

[@RetroComparisons]

Thanks for watching:) I was in the same boat. There are some that really surprised me like Columns which I would have assumed was Sega exclusive.

[@raiz1642]

SEGA BEST SEGA BEST SEGA BEST SEGA BEST SEGA BEST SEGA BEST SEGA BEST SEGA BEST SEGA BEST SEGA BEST SEGA BEST SEGA BEST SEGA BEST SEGA BEST SEGA BEST SEGA BEST !!!

[@raw3380]

Sega is da best

[@clydecash5659]

Yea “blast processing” really doesn’t equate to shit when your competitor’s system has a higher resolution, color range and double the RAM.

[@evandro6613]

MegaDrive is two years older and fights on equal terms with the Super Nintendo, few differences. The sound of the Mega is the sound of the arcades of the time, very good.

[@a-dutch-z7351]

It was not really on equal terms, but with crap games like these it might look that way.

[@DontKnowDontCare6.9]

Try listening to Mortal Kombat for Genesis where there are lots of dialogues. It sounds like a DOS game on Sound Blaster.

[@HE360]

This is a very very cool video!! I've always wondered how some games compared to other on both systems!!

[@RetroComparisons]

Thanks for checking this out! Same here, I was always wondering how these ports stacked up to each other.

[@believein1]

This happened many times picking something out at Blockbuster .

[@RetroComparisons]

Haha I miss that.

[@roldanrosario8292]

Thanks for choosing Ultimate MK3. That’s the fairest comparison because it was the same development team. Showing both consoles at their prime.

[@spaceage4151]

I was a diehard Genesis kid back in the day and absolutely disavowed the Super Nintendo. But now I can admit that the SNES actually was the better console overall. Although nothing can take away the memories the Genesis gave me and the console wars of the time were definitely fun between my friends at school.

[@RetroComparisons]

I was in the same boat as you being a diehard Genesis kid. I did enjoy playing SNES games at friends' houses but I always thought of the Genesis as the superior machine. It wasn't until much later that I came to appreciate the SNES for the incredible console that it was.

[@damin9913]

I used to play snes alot but I got very bored with it because it was just the same games over and over and alot of snes games wasn't my style only a few which sega genesis had all the games I liked to keep playing 😊

[@JEFFALITY]

I'm the opposite. Was an SNES kid but then became a Hardcore SEGA fan. The exclusives and way better framerate was just snes killers for me. Love nintendo just love sega more

[@RetroComparisons]

@@JEFFALITY Your last sentence is the best way to describe the 16 bit console war. No matter which side you were on you got to experience an amazing time in gaming history.

[@JEFFALITY]

@deansatan9573 I was with you up until I read the second part. I could easily stick to the Genesis library for the rest of my life and be a happy camper but Nintendo does have alot of solid and fun IPs that can suit alot of people. Just because wer SEGA Fanboys doesn't mean we have to be blind to Nintendos strengths and it's wonderful IPs both First and Third-party.

[@ModernClassic]

Well, the reputation each system had at the time (and this was pre-internet) is basically validated here. Games requiring fast scrolling, including most sports games, run better on the Genesis (unless they're using an SNES Mode 7 effect). Games that have a deeper color palette usually look better on the SNES. That said, occasionally even in games where it's clear the SNES is displaying more colors, I still prefer the look on the Genesis. Often the wider color palette of the SNES results in more muted tones, where the Genesis is bright and colorful, if a little flatter. The exception to this is any game going for realism, especially using scanned or photographed assets. The dithering on the Genesis is really obvious compared to the smoother gradations on the SNES. But overall, I'd stick with the Genesis, and that's the choice I made back in the day too.

[@RetroComparisons]

That's an excellent assessment of these consoles! I was more wowed by the Genesis growing up too though I've come to respect the SNES for many of the reasons that you pointed out. I guess the perfect scenario besides owning both back in the day was to own one and have a best friend that had the other.

[@thornstrikesback]

No matter what people think of the Mega Drives graphical colour limitations... Ill take Sega any day because there is no lag in fighting games and the framerate is always going to be better when compared to the SNES.... Not to mention the Mega Drive could display more sprites on screen and its parallax scrolling was 10x better than the SNES.... But in saying all that.... I grew up with a mega drive in the early 90s but always enjoyed swaping consoles for the weekend with my mate down the road who had a SNES.... Long live the 16bit wars.

[@RetroComparisons]

I grew up with the Mega Drive too but was always excited to play the SNES when seeing friends. Besides the kids who had both consoles that was the most win-win situation.

[@umairsqu]

sega did contra, castle vania, alladin, wrestle mania and mortal kombat and beat em up games like streets of rage/ bare knuckles better. snes did everything else better. i grew up on sega mega drive. recently bought a snes mini a couple of years ago and have to say it is more fun to play.

[@RetroComparisons]

Your first sentence basically described my whole gaming childhood. I was always a Genesis/Mega Drive kid but as an adult I've grown to love and respect the SNES for being an amazing console.

[@Lilbroda]

The Mega Drive have a way bigger resolution, while the games on Super Nintendo needed to be streched to fit the TVs. Plus if you notice close, MD games have way better framerate. Snes had much bigger color palette, and it used sampled music instead of the classic midi on the Sega console, which depending on the game could sound better in each console. I still find very impressive how a console who came out almost 3 years before the Snes could still give Nintendo a run for his money.

[@yeahyeahwowman8099]

​@deansatan9573I'll say right now I have no idea what meth rock you were smoking when you think the Genesis had better sound and crisper graphics, even diehard Genesis fans have finally admitted the Snes had better sound, better sound effects, better graphics.

[@yeahyeahwowman8099]

@deansatan9573 I'll play your stupid game of no matter what I pick you will just shut it down, if you are this dumb to realize it, do I really need to do your research for you, its a trap, no matter what anyone brings up, you will just say it's worse.

[@iwanttocomplain]

@@yeahyeahwowman8099 no Sega fan ever thought the snes sounded or looked better. Only after years of hard work is it starting to sink in as to how poor the sound and graphics are for the snes. You are not being analytical or unbiased.

[@LEETCH_2]

Genesis better sound and graphics than snes? Ahhhh, no.👎 Genesis strength was the awesome 6 button controller, but snes had better graphics and sound.

[@iwanttocomplain]

@@LEETCH_2 no. It's only weakness was the 6 button controller. Otherwise is is superior to the snes in every way. But most importantly, the games have instant controller response, making the games fun and not suck.

[@DenisSailor130]

"Gargoyles" Also used on SNES but unreleased

[@RetroComparisons]

That would have been a cool one to see if it had been finished. I love seeing the games later in the lifespan of these consoles.

[@RealmsofPixelation]

Most of these look better on the SNES to me but there are certainly quite a few that do look better on the Genesis. Imo it's about 70/30 in favor of the SNES.

[@DenisSailor130]

Mega Drive Version of Pitfall Doesn't have a Pause... (Plus Gloomy Colors here)

[@Robotoda2000]

I love the SNES, especially for its rpgs like Secret of Evermore and Terranigma. But how I wish it had a true 4:3 aspect ratio. The lower resolution stretching 8:7 to 4:3 is the SNES's biggest weakness. And also the slower CPU. The perfect 16-bit console would be if the Genesis and SNES merged into one taking the best of both! The GENESNES or SNENESIS!

[@RetroComparisons]

Lol now that would be a beast of a console!

[@DancesRainyStreets]

It exists and was released even before the SNES. It's called the Neo Geo, except it only has arcade games and no strategy/adventure/rpg.

[@Robotoda2000]

@deansatan9573 it seems like you dont know that much about the SNES or what it's capable of. The SNES's sound capabilities are actually very diverse and is good for creating a large range of different atmospheres to carry different emotions and set specific tones. It can display more color, can do transparency and has mode 7. All I'll say is, the RPGs on the SNES are fantastic and if ported to the Genesis they would loose a lot of the emotion in the audio department.

[@Robotoda2000]

@deansatan9573 lol, looking at your other comment. You're clearly one of those weird fanboy types. You gotta let go of these bias the commercials and silly playground arguments installed during your childhood.

[@Alianger]

This only gives a brief audiovisual overview, console wars and others are so much more in-depth!

[@RetroComparisons]

This is meant as more of a brief synopsis of the games rather than a complete analysis of each game individually. They do awesome reviews over on Console Wars.

[@brejaemcasa]

Most of time Genesis scrolling and animation looks way better than SNES. SNES has better colors and Mode 7, but Genesis has paralax scrolling and animations look smoother.

[@TomiMolina97]

Que la variedad cromática no te confunda, Genesis es más potente solo que Snes tiene más color, pero ni así podía con la máquina de sega y en muchos casos para correr juegos que la consola de sega podía de base necesitaba chips y ayudas a falta de potencia.

[@sylvainwillaume636]

Graphically, Super NES was often technically superior. But, some developers did great with some of the Genesis limitations in this field. ( I was a Genesis owner back in these days… And it was, objectively, a great system thanks to the developers finding solutions. Never forget that a great game is a great game thanks to developers, no matter what system you play with…) Also, Super NES had another additional asset which is: « The 8-bit Sony SPC700, 8 sound channels », a special chip dedicated only to music and sounds effects designed by Ken Kutaragi himself, known as the father of the PlayStation later. Super NES was and still is one of the greatest 16-Bit system, and we also owe a lot to this system about the design of our modern console’s controllers. Both system were great, and back in the days, were a major step forward towards innovations in the video games field. I’m so happy to have been able to witness these times where innovations were leading us to more and more advanced and creative games. Lots of hours of fun, without needing to add any micro transactions. The immersion was pretty incredible despite the technical limitations of the machines. Imagination of the player were also adding a lot to the experience.😊

[@iwanttocomplain]

Well technically, the SNES is an 8bit system. So developers had to use tricks to get their games presentable, such as delayed control responses, letterboxing, frame skipping etc. The SNES is without a doubt the weakest of the three major 16bit consoles and to include the Amiga CD32 and FM-Townes Marty, it's far and away the least powerful, technically. But by limiting the scope and ambition of your game or spending money researching, developing and manufacturing co-processors, developers could overcome _some_ of the issues of the slow system. It could go very wrong though, like choosing hard mode in Chessmaster... It's a shame the gaming sphere is so stagnant right now, which I think is a major component of large monopolies and serious engineering of the gaming landscape to accommodate business plans set in place around the time these consoles were abandoned.

[@unclematt3134]

Funny you cant see how the Sega Genesis controls were much easier. SNES is like playing in quicksand and the controller is too advanced for the console. I owned both at the same time and the Genesis was more fun to play.

[@lw7918]

yeah too advanced, you ever play fzero or mario kart? you need shoulder buttons for such games

[@DontKnowDontCare6.9]

unclematt3134 No one will believe you owned a SNES. You dont even know what youre talking about the controls.

[@unclematt3134]

@@DontKnowDontCare6.9 another Nintendo fanboy.

[@unclematt3134]

@lw7918 I never liked mode 7. A cheap trick that didn't make the game fun.

[@zoompoker2960]

​@@unclematt3134starfox is another game that needs shoulder buttons, there's a reason fzero 99 crazy popular on switch, fzero smk had deep driving mechanics which the genesis never had, honestly do you think if super Monaco gp was rereleased more than 5 people would b playing it, all other consoles copied the snes controller for a reason, diamond confirmation for main buttons with shoulder buttons

[@CarlosTorresCali]

Awesome Nintendo Video.... nerd.. jeje Thanks for Whatching - Saludos desde Cali - Colombia 😄

[@RetroComparisons]

Thanks for checking this out!

[@poepeter8394]

Sometimes snes is better sometimes Genesis wins. I always like it when the Genesis beats the snes 😂 Both are the best consoles ever imo.

[@RetroComparisons]

Haha I was always a Genesis kid too but both are incredible.

[@a-dutch-z7351]

When you saw the two in action side by side the difference was incredibly noticeable.

[@jubiladoatope]

Genesis -> Better graphics Snes -> Better/More colors

[@damin9913]

Genesis -> Better games too😊

[@fernnochez3555]

Super Nintendo -> Best in everything

[@TheSebasMaster]

@@fernnochez3555not in terms of osts tho

[@lw7918]

@@damin9913 hahahahahahahahaha

[@PSKuddel]

Interesting video. Currently building a collection of ROM‘s for an emulator with games from the 16-bit era when I was a kid. Any perceived technical difference in each direction is mostly rather small as you can see in this video here. SNES graphics and sound tend to seem a bit nicer, but nothing too critical. Actual decisive difference between the 2 systems are the games not in this video, as the SNES had so many more fantastic franchises and unique games for the system, which were not available on the Genesis (or available only later as SNES was the more important system for developers). It‘s like the difference between a supermarket in the western world and in the eastern european communist bloc in the 80‘s! The building itself (the hardware), where you select your groceries is not too different, but the choice of tasty goods to choose from is.

[@RetroComparisons]

Haha that's a great analogy! Both consoles had fantastic libraries but a lot does have to do with preference. If you liked sports games and games with that 90s 'tude the Genesis was for you. If you prefered RPGs and great fighters the SNES was the right choice. Not to say each of those systems didn't also have their fair share of RPGs, fighters, sports games, etc.

[@PSKuddel]

@@RetroComparisons I don‘t know about the sports games as I‘m European and were never too interested in typical games for the US audience, and the best soccer games (as player or as manager) were for PC at the time and not for video game consoles. But in general, the whole internet doesn‘t seem to know any outstanding Sega-exclusive franchises other than Sonic, that people seem to see on a similar level as Mario/Metroid/Zelda/etc., so that seems to say something. And my personal list of favorite outstanding ROM‘s from the 16-bit era for example includes Nintendo-exclusive franchises and games like all the Super Mario Games (World 1 and 2, All-Stars, Kart, RPG), Super Metroid, Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong Country 1-3, Contra, F-Zero, Parodius, Pilotwings, Super Punch-Out etc., which were all not available on the Genesis and I‘m not even too much into some of the even more Nintendo-exclusive franchises of the time, that are highly favored by so many, like the Final Fantasy games, the Castlevania games, the Kirby games, all the Mega Man games, Star Fox 1 and 2, Chrono Trigger or the whole Gaia Trilogy. On the other hand, regarding outstanding games and as I personally don‘t have much of a knack for the Sonic games, I have Ecco The Dolphin as my ONLY Sega-exclusive game on my list of emulator ROM‘s for the Genesis and other than that only games, that were equally available for the Super Nintendo anyway (Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, …). It was just hard or close to impossible to beat King Nintendo with all their fantastic games at the time until they finally beat themselves by bailing out of the hardware contract with Sony and therefore tempting Sony to just try and build their own console from what they now already had instead of writing off all the work and money they already had put into it as sunk costs.

[@RetroComparisons]

@@PSKuddel That is an incredible list that you've put together! On the Genesis it does have some fantastic beat em ups if you're into those like Comix Zone & the Streets Of Rage series, some excellent RPGs like Crusader Of Centy & Phantasy Star series, and some great run and gun games like Gunstar Heroes & Contra Hard Corps. I agree though that Sonic is basically the only household name from the system whereas Nintendo has big name after big name.

[@PSKuddel]

@@RetroComparisons Never heard of Comix Zone, but looks interesting and quite unique. I may take a look at it, thanks.

[@RetroComparisons]

@@PSKuddel No probs! Yeah it's a pretty cool one.

[@Nobunaga1983]

Overall Sega better gameplay faster/smoother and less slowdown. Snes better use of colors, voice sample clearer

[@Jormungandr85]

Lmao you're dreaming. There's not a single SNES game that's also on the Genesis that doesn't play the exact same (they all play smoother actually) or experience "slow down" 😂😂😂😂

[@Nobunaga1983]

@@Jormungandr85 are you on drugs? You must be just a casual retro gamer. Many games play smoother with tighter controls on genesis. Out of this world, flashback, mortal kombat, hard racing, race driving, Kawasaki challenge, wwf wrestlemania etc etc

[@GacMan47]

I like the music from Snes more.

[@Nobunaga1983]

@@GacMan47 meh snes has awesome orchestra music but could never throw down an action packed track to get you going

[@indianagilles1722]

... and last but not least, better resolution on MD/Genesis

[@slamjamtime202]

I had a really good idea on the differences going into this between the snes and genesis, but I was surprised to see how often the genesis came out ahead when it came to colors. The limited colors seems to have generally forced developers to use more contrasting colors which creates a striking and pleasant image in most cases. Although in the cases where the game looks identical, you know they just ported the genesis assets over to the snes where you can't do the reverse because of genesis limited color palette.

[@iwanttocomplain]

I've found two games so far that leave a palette empty.

[@iwanttocomplain]

Rocky and Bullwinkle is a port to the Genesis but they didn't degrade the colours.

[@stephenhall2980]

I've seen many SNES Vs Megadrive/genesis comparisons in regards to visuals and sound over the years and have come to the (very simplified) following conclusions: the megadrive has a higher horizontal resolution,the SNES can do 3 parallax scrolling playfields in hardware compared to the megadrive's 2 layers, although both can achieve a lot more with line scrolling and clever coding.the SNES can do true transparency in hardware but the megadrive has to use dithering to achieve a similar effect. The SNES has a much higher colour palette and can display more on screen at a time and it's very noticeable, although it's subjective wether you prefer a more 'pastle' look or a more 'gritty' look in your 16 bit games. Sound capabilities are a hugely subjective thing. Do you prefer PCM samples or FM synth? I guess it varies from game to game and your own personal taste in music. I love both but technically speaking the SNES soundchip was more advanced. Megadrive music was often more 'punchy' and basey which suited arcade style games whereas the SNES could do great orchestral scores which went great with many JRPG'S.The megadrive's M68000 CPU was much faster than the SNES which more often than not resulted in faster action with more sprites on screen and less slowdown but the SNES countered this with it's secret weapon -mode7! The hardware scaling and rotation of a background layer was a revelation at the time and something the Sega machine could never do with the same fidelity.

[@RetroComparisons]

That is an awesome breakdown of these consoles! A lot of these features do come down to personal preference in the end but it's fascinating to hear about the technical side of things when it comes to how they achieved their visual and audio style.

[@stephenhall2980]

@@RetroComparisons Thanks for the compliment. I owned both machines back in the day, along with an Amiga 500. I was always fascinated by the differences between the 16 bit systems despite having no real knowledge of coding or game development. They always seemed so unique. Much more interesting than a PS5 game having a couple of more pixels or 3 frames per second more than an Xbox game (or vice versa) nowadays.

[@RetroComparisons]

@@stephenhall2980 Oh nice! That's awesome that you got to experience both back then. I was a Genesis kid but all of my friends had a SNES so even though I didn't have one of my own until years later I got to play at their houses all of the time. I've actually never seen anything on an Amiga 500. I'd be interested in watching some videos on that. Are there any games in particular you'd suggest that I check out? Oh yeah totally! I love seeing the differences between consoles back then and especially from one generation to the next whereas now any subtle differences are kind of meh to study or see comparisons of.

[@stephenhall2980]

@@RetroComparisons Oh man,the amiga is amazing! It was very popular in Europe but almost unknown in the states. It was the first 16 bit system I ever saw and to say I was blown away at the time is a massive understatement. There is this one game called 'shadow of the beast' that all Amiga fans will know what I'm talking about. It had an intro sequence with high Res,4096 colour graphics, amazingly atmospheric sampled music,128 on screen colours,12 layers of parallax scrolling which gave the in game graphics an almost 3D effect with the trees,mountains and clouds stretching off into the distance combined with... absolutely terrible,and overly difficult gameplay.

[@RetroComparisons]

@@stephenhall2980 Awesome I'll check that out! Actually the SNES & Genesis versions of that game are in this video so it will be cool to see how they stack up against that port. Thanks for the recommendation!

[@thesadmusicboy]

Sega Genesis is a Music Instrument. Super Nintendo is a whole MIDI Orchestra The fact that the Genesis is older than the genesis and still can stand out for itself makes me proud of being a SEGA fan

[@godzilla12325]

Megadrive just consistantly shitting all over the snes. The blast processing is here on show and clear for all to see. Remember, sega does what nintendon't.

[@dytallixx1268]

mega drive has higher res, better sound (imo), less slowdown. i grew up with nes and snes first and got a mega drive later, but i just prefer the mega drive. both have their pros and cons, the snes can do better colors and music. (depending on your preference). but also better sound effects.

[@JOSClaudess]

I did realize that the most part of these games released on both Genesis and SNES are better on the Genesis, anyway, great video!

[@RetroComparisons]

Thanks so much for watching! It was fun seeing which port would win out and it was always cool to get 2 different games based off of the same franchise like Animanics or Aladdin.

[@khamla616]

Wow this is awesome must have taken you forever to edit this

[@RetroComparisons]

Thanks for checking this out! Haha yeah this did take more hours than I'd like to admit to finish this one:)

[@johnsonpedia3173]

Great video, i prefer Super Famicom but love Mega drive too. Love this video.

[@RetroComparisons]

Thanks for watching! You really can't go wrong with either console, they're two of the best ever.

[@RickyHarlow]

Had both, Genesis first then SNES, Loved both for different games. Genesis was my first love, but the SNES had a big part of my heart as well. The best of times.

[@greensun1334]

It all depends on the games. Both consoles are great and have pros and contras: the Genesis has a faster CPU and higher horizontal resolution (used just in some games), while the SNES has up to 4 independent scroll layers (Gen: 2), mode 7 and a bigger color palette.

[@you2be839]

Aww man, a good chunk of my early teens is right here... and it's the 1st time I'm actually seeing the gameplay of many games of that era, and a video comparison side-by-side! Because unless someone had lent you the game, or set up a game demonstration kiosk, chances are you only read and seen pictures about many of these games back then!

[@RetroComparisons]

Same here, most of these I'd never heard of or if I did I may have seen a single screen shot in a magazine. There were so many incredible games on these two systems just in the shared catalogue alone nevermind the amazing exclusives each had.

[@you2be839]

@@RetroComparisons Yeah, reading and lusting at magazine screenshots and imagining what the game played like was the norm up until PS1 era... then came weekly TV shows with game previews/reviews; and Demo CDs!

[@RetroComparisons]

@@you2be839 I love having everything right at our fingertips these days but there is something magical about that era when you'd spend nights thinking about how a game would be and if you could only get a copy of it someday.

[@GoldStandardGames]

The Sega Genesis colors POP!!!!

[@CactousMan639]

I much prefer the SNES color pallet. Genesis wins in resolution and speed.

[@davidaitken8503]

Generally speaking, they most certainly do not "Pop". The colors are generally a bit more drab.

[@tarantinoish]

You should’ve played like 5-10 seconds from the Genesis versions, while highlighting the word Genesis, then switch to the SNES music and highlight the word SNES at the top. That way we could hear the difference and know which one is playing

[@сергей7-к7ш]

Sega much better.

[@DenisSailor130]

You stupid? It has Sh#tty sound processor and bad graphics & Colors!

[@Dariothehungry]

Commenting 11 months late but ran into this and well im subscribed now.

[@RetroComparisons]

Thanks so much for your support and for checking out the video!

[@Ronsilk-pu5hr]

Anyone with a good eye can tell the Sega Genisis games always look better. Clearer picture. Brighter picture. No slowdown. So many things

[@lw7918]

hahahaha. clearer picture, brighter picture!! got any snake oil for sale?

[@mazengwe28]

Needs to be an X-box vs Playstation 2 comparison. And do the same for the other generations of X-nox and Playstation.

[@RetroComparisons]

I definitely want to do a PS2 vs Dreamcast video at some point. I'd love to down the road do a PS2 vs Xbox too but that that will be quite time consuming.

[@blueelectric05]

Gamecube vs playstation 2 would make more sense since the XBOX and ps2 has big difference in performance, while it is less obvious with GC

[@cliffchampion5501]

Super Nintendo always had the better graphics and sound 9/10 times I mean you’ve got people here that fight tooth and nail for the genesis but it was just lacking in major categories. And felt like a downgrade after playing a Super Nintendo.

[@facthunt2facthunt245]

But this video proves that wasn't the case. This is a side by side comparison showing Sega has a clearer picture. The only product worth buying from Nintendo was the gameboy.

[@chi1449]

Had both enjoyed of both, but SNES has a overal better experience.

[@damin9913]

2:08:14 Sega genesis Mhz is way faster then Super Nintendo

[@ExtremeWreck]

Surprised you didn't include unlicensed games like Pocket Monster(a Pokemon platform game where you play as Pikachu), Pokemon Stadium(ports of the N64 game... well, sort of), Squirrel King(called simply "Squirrel" on SNES), Aladdin II(A Genesis port of Capcom's SNES Aladdin game), Aladdin 2000(An SNES port of Virgin's Genesis Aladdin game), A Bug's Life(ports of the GBC game by Tiertex), Super Mario World 64(a Genesis port of the SNES game, Super Mario World, with "64" slapped on because the Taiwanese developers were making it by the time Super Mario 64 had came out), Dragon Ball: Final Bout(ports of the PS1 game, Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout, though arguably it's better than the original by several factors), Super Big 2(a card game based on Big 2), Super Mario Bros. 2(despite its name, it's a crappy Genesis port of SMB All-Stars' SMB1. Weirdly enough, this port started out as Sonic Jam 6 with Sonic in place of Mario, making it a reverse Somari), Soul Blade(ports of the PS1 fighting game by Namco), Hercules 2(known simply as "Hercules" on the SNES, & a crappy port of the PS1 Hercules game), Rockman X3(Genesis port of Megaman X3), Mortal Kombat 5: Mortal Combat Sub Zero(or "Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Gold 2000" on SNES & a port of the PS1 game, Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub Zero), King of Fighters '98(ports of the Neo Geo game of the same name, though both Genesis & SNES ports have some differences to them)... ok, maybe that's a bit too much for one to handle really.

[@RetroComparisons]

I was considering doing even more with this but I wanted to keep it as future-proofed as possible. Since there's always new unlicensed & homebrew games on the horizon it could make this video out of date very quickly so I wanted to stick with official games from when the consoles were relevant. I know the same could be said about the unreleased games but old prototype roms being suddenly discovered after 25+ years is becoming less and less frequent. But damn that is one hell of a list of games and I badly want to try some of these out! Mortal Kombat 5, Aladdin 2 & Super Mario World are at the top of that list.

[@juststatedtheobvious9633]

Thank you for this nostalgia tour. What do you think of the two machines after completing these comparisons? I knew the SNES was a novel experience for you, and you were favoring it early on. For me, owning both... Aladdin really does the best job of demonstrating how the Genesis vs. SNES battle looked early on. Like Sonic vs. Mario World, it was ultimately the shock of the new and experimental vs. the comfort of the familiar and a steady improvement on tradition. Capcom's game is, by far, the more polished game - the levels are no larger than they need to be, and hitboxes are far more precise. Your attacks get a better response from the enemies. Cheap deaths are kept to a minimum. But the western developed Aladdin on Genesis was faster, gives you the catharsis of using a sword, and redefines the state of the art in 16-bit graphics. If you didn't know anything about game design, and had to choose the better game based on first impressions and pure Id appeal, then Sega was the clear audience favorite. It wasn't any deeper than that. Mortal Kombat was a clear win for Sega, but that win wasn't based on the closer accuracy to the arcade's gameplay. People noticed instead that the SNES game was superficially superior, and the Genesis version had the uncensored fatalities, if you weren't a DULLARD. The Mortal Kombat comparison is also a great metaphor for how the console wars would be remembered for years afterwards. The SNES being remembered as the more powerful console...as measured in how big its sprites could be, compared to the lower resolution they were stretched across, and how many colors were on screen at once. The Genesis being remembered for terrible sound (GEMS can't explain those Thunderforce III voice samples) and cheap thrills. Which brings us to KZbin, and the present day. What comparison best sums up the current zeitgeist? Probably the Adventures of Batman and Robin. They each show off the personality of the platform - including the most common flaws like unnecessary SNES slowdown and an ambitious Genesis developer favoring cool software effects over a sensible difficulty curve. The audio is exactly what you'd hope for, with the SNES imitating the original atmospheric soundtrack and the Genesis going in hard with an original techo rave. The SNES is a little more thoughtful with the gameplay. The Genesis is Valhalla zen for twitch reflexes. Sure, there's better games on both platforms, and this is still incredibly dumbed down, but there's never been a single console wars debate that brings out the best in everyone.

[@RetroComparisons]

Thank you for continuing to watch and adding your two cents to these videos. I love hearing what you have to say about these games. It's hard to say overall which I like better after this because some of my favorites on the Genesis were Sega exclusives like the Sonic games, SOR series, World Series Baseball, etc. but in terms of just the games that were ported to both I may go 55/45 SNES over the Genesis. It may be due to the novel experience though so it's hard to remove that as a bias. Your assessment of Aladdin is perfect and this is yet another bias for me but I much prefer the look and gameplay of the Genesis version, however with that being a top 10 16-bit game for me since I got it in the 90s the SNES version didn't stand a chance. But with both of these consoles being so different from each other in what they brought to the table yet both providing amazing experiences I think personal bias is still the biggest factor in how these are judged. I for one can't give the SNES the win on audio from a personal standpoint because the Genesis metallic sound is the soundtrack of my elementary school days, yet as an adult I can recognize that the SNES soundchip was superior in most ways. For people who didn't grow up during this time they may be biased towards the SNES purely because they know more of the franchises that live on to this day. I guess in conclusion but you said it well with this forever debate does bring out the best in everyone. And like shotgunl said, the winner is the consumer as there were 3 incredible consoles which all brought something unique and amazing.

[@juststatedtheobvious9633]

@@RetroComparisons Alas, I've spoiled myself on game comparisons for the past two decades, and SNES vs. Genesis were some of the easiest to find. For the most part, there's not really many surprises to be found here....well, not in the games themselves. But seeing how other people experience this many? That's rare coin. Especially when they actually know themselves, and can go into more detail like you and shotgunl do. The real surprise was what's happened beyond this channel. Through your comparisons and your comments on these posts, you broke my fear of talking to people, after I'd pretty much gone hermit. And you encouraged my sense of humor, whenever it broke out, despite my best efforts to be as dry and analytical as humanly possible. That sarcastic comparison where the games rated themselves based on their manly dithering stubble? That was so ridiculous that it unlocked some of my inhibitions, and somehow I'm flirting with a lovely sadomasochist. And it's like a bit of cat and mouse where the roles are always switching without warning. It's my new favorite game. To sum up: I would be enjoying my life a lot less, without this series. Thank you.

[@RetroComparisons]

​@@juststatedtheobvious9633 That really really means a lot to me to hear that! I'm glad you decided to start commenting because your posts are always hilarious and super insightful. Between you and the other regulars I've learned so much about these games. I'm a simpleton when it comes to the histories of most of these games or the technical aspects so every time a new video comes out I feel like I'm getting a cool history lesson. Even in cases where I may know a lot about a particular game I love hearing everyone's experiences since there's always unique stories to be told. I truly from the bottom of my heart appreciate you for supporting this channel. There are times when I question myself if it's worth continuing to make videos but because of you and the other's who enjoy these it keeps me going.

[@DenisSailor130]

Aero the Acro-Bat on SNES Looks more colorful