The Trials & Tribulations of the Sega Genesis

[@RamonHernandez]

One thing I appreciate about the videos in this channel is that when footage of a game is used, SLX puts the name of the game on screen. This sounds like common sense, but very few of the channels I follow seem to do this consistently. There are a ton of times I see game footage that piques my interest but I have no idea what game is on screen. So THANK YOU for doing that consistently.

[@MagillanicaLouM]

Yeah very appreciated

[@Saturn2888]

I've noticed this same thing. If I see a cool game or hear a cool song, I wanna know what it is.

[@64-Bit-Gamer]

Also seems to be new footage rather than recycled as some others channels do.

[@HellTantrumbull]

Some of the people you're talking about are a combination of just lazy, don't care and assuming people watching will just know what the games are. I also hate the ones that don't even put the names of the games in the video description and never answer people when they ask what he games are.

[@clivehenry5750]

Its a nice touch however I'm forced to disagree on this particular video as I wanted the names of the two baseball games and they wasn't used haha... anyone ?

[@Larry]

I still say Sega not allowing their European division the ability to create it's own titles affected the library massivly. It's something that Sony embraced for the launch of the PS1 to huge success.

[@UltimateGamerCC]

facts

[@miltiadiskoutsokeras9189]

Yes they should have created a European house. The Master System was huge in Europe.

[@KevinBall1982]

Absolutely, you just need to look at the Amiga to see where the best European games of the 16 bit generation lived. The Megadrive could've benefited massively from more of that talent.

[@JustPeasant]

Yup. Both Master System and Mega Drive were more popular in Europe than NES & SNES.

[@miltiadiskoutsokeras9189]

@@JustPeasant Up until 1992-1993.Then came the SFII and Mario All Stars SNES bundles and the thing started to flip. SNES is responsible for the start of migration from PC to consoles in Europe and Playstation put the nail in the coffin. Up until early 1990s it was all personal computers and SEGA. After the Gameboy and SNES, it was a different story.

[@andrewdowell6474]

Wow, that was an eye opening perspective on history and you did a great job telling it. You've outdone yourself again.

[@reagandow850]

Indeed. As usual Mel, you’ve done your homework and put together an amazing video. Absolute perfection dude!!!

[@dreamawake2670]

Agreed. And im not a genesis fanboy.

[@JohnDoe-wq5eu]

@@dreamawake2670 Neither am I, never was but perspective is always a good thing.

[@Soynereh]

I experienced 90s consoles as a kid, hearing perspective from older fans who can actually recall launches and such is fun.

[@JohnDoe-wq5eu]

It also helps flesh out and give contacts to that time and what's has come after. Sega was never the same company after the 16 bit era.

[@tylongkicks8821]

I was like 7 or 8 when the Genesis release in the USA

[@becomeanolive1637]

Sega had the Road Rash series, the ultimate Nintendont. EA was a huge part of the Sega Genesis success.

[@johnbowles5399]

EA's awesome lineup of games on the Mega Drive/Genesis definitely helped Sega. The Road Rash trilogy and the Strike trilogy were just gaming perfection. I know you could get the Strike games on the SNES, but they didn't play as well and the music was awful by comparison. I think EA had a third party port them to other systems, and they just weren't as polished as the Mega Drive ports.

[@Gorilla_Jones]

I was already 20 when the Genesis launched and remember picking it up launch day at ToyWotks. My friends and I had a regular rotation back in the early 90s. Friday was bar night. But Saturday was video game marathon night. We'd start with TurboGrafx and Military Madness and by nights end we'd be on Road Rash and Madden. Best days of my life. The hilarious part is when I see those guys today at holidays or kids birthdays we hum the Military Madness theme and laugh. 😄 "MOVE YOUR BISONS ASSHOLE!"

[@chaospoet]

I was only 8 so I had to wait for my parents to buy me a Genesis, but my Uncle who lived nearby got the Turbografx on launch and I was over his place practically every Sunday playing it. He too had Military Madness and we played the ever living Hell out of that game either competitively or taking turns trying to beat it, which we eventually did. I have that Military Madness music permanently stuck in my head and find myself humming it at work from time to time without even realizing it at first sometimes.

[@danielespeziari5545]

This is one of your deepest and most clever videos (all of them are great however). You have a very clear vision of what really happened during the 16-bit era, and as someone who lived that console war (on Nintendo's side) it was a pleasure to watch this.

[@sitdod17]

I absolutely love when Sega Lord gives us a history lesson!

[@adultmoshifan87]

Much better than the nonsense one of my class"mates" force-fed me from 2001-2004! He claimed that when Sega discontinued the Dreamcast, Sega would be forced to port ALL their Dreamcast exclusives, like Jet Set/Grind Radio and Shenmue, to the NINTENDO 64! He even claimed that when Sega discontinued the Game Gear, the official Nintendo magazine published pictures of Mario FLUSHING A GAME GEAR DOWN THE TOILET! He was also a MASSIVE Xbox hater FOR NO VALID REASON and even claimed a pro model Gamecube was on the way that was more powerful than the Xbox! He claimed he was more mature than me because he played Grand Theft Auto and Resident Evil, both game being too violent for my taste, but because of how mean he was to me and how much he made stuff up (although not specifically aimed at me, he even claimed the PS3 was coming out on NEW YEARS DAY 2003!), he was actually THE MOST CHILDISH PERSON I EVER MET!

[@sting7789]

I got me a Sega mini and I love it. Sega will always have a special place in my heart for the joys it continues to bring.

[@danielrecommends]

Your videos reveal so much that wasn't apparent when I was growing up during the 16-bit wars. I love how you paint Sega in a positive light, even though a lot of game magazines at the time would have us believe Sega just couldn't compare to Nintendo. I was always of the mindset that it wasn't the console but rather the games.

[@devryndrives6623]

Phantasy Star IV is one of the greatest games ever published on any 16 bit console. Graphics, music, gameplay, story...All TOP NOTCH

[@dtester]

loved that game!

[@jeanpaulmichell7243]

I only recently (2 years ago) played Phantasy Star IV, and even having never really been into RPGs, yes it is amazing. It pretty much single handedly turned me on to retro RPG gaming. I'm currently working my way through the Breath of Fire series and have beaten a number of others; Phantasy Star IV is still the best imo.

[@dtester]

@@jeanpaulmichell7243 nice, did u play 1,2,3?

[@devryndrives6623]

@@jeanpaulmichell7243 that's awesome! For Sega RPGs it's probably the best, but Shining Force is a close second for me. I liked Breathbof Fire, but other than the SNES Final Fantasy games, I think Lufia is my favorite there

[@evshrug]

I tried to go back and play Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom and Shining Force (I bought the cartridges and still had my old system) because of the raving reviews by retro gamers. Even though I grew up with the Genesis as my first system, trying to go back years later during the Xbox 360 generation, I found the graphics (limited color pallet) and gameplay grind of random battles too fatiguing for me to get past and appreciate the story of these games. Ever once in awhile, I think about going back and trying again, but I don’t. I wasn’t into RPG’s until I got my Dreamcast. As someone who loved RPG games like Skies of Arcadia and Grandia II during their time, but struggles with the grind now (less time as an adult), is PS IV still something I could possibly enjoy?

[@BigSnipp]

The Genesis was still insanely popular when they released the Saturn. Sega's lack of focus made me start playing lots of great SNES games.

[@ynotwalk7391]

some of these graphics are great, but that grunty sound driver,,,

[@G.L.999]

This was because Sega of Japan ordered their western divisions to discontinue everything 16-bit related by mid 95 to put all resources on trying to save the Saturn in North America and Europe; eventhough the Genesis/Mega-Drive was still seeing strong profits. Pretty much leaving whatever remained of the 16-bit era for Nintendo to gobble up with the SNES onward till 2000 in all regions!

[@ynotwalk7391]

@Benjamin Jagun sega dominated arcades since the days of old electro-mech games - know your history

[@G.L.999]

@@ynotwalk7391 Yes that's true. However as the arcades were beginning to show major symptoms of dying(especially in the west), Sega's advantage of sustaining profit losses would also put them at a big disadvantage during the 5th generation as Sega relied heavily on their arcade centric business model to help them recoup any big losses they were losing over the course of mid 93 onward! Plus, software sales weren't making Sega enough money to ensure the Saturn and Dreamcast would remain a profitable business venture for them to continue any longer in the hardware market. So after their arcade business began faltering, so did their home console business model of remaining in the competitive hardware market against Nintendo, Sony, and eventually Microsoft!

[@KyleReeseCel2029]

Genesis was not very popular anymore in the United States by 96. It had hardly any games at that point. The console was dead and it was time to move on.

[@thecunninlynguist]

It was interesting to experience in real time as a kid. All the Highs were high, and the lows got there...but sega experimented and were so a head of their time...what they tried then, became common now

[@JohnDoe-wq5eu]

I look at the relationship between Sega and Nintendo a lot like the relationship between Tesla and Edison. One man was a genius well ahead of his time but he couldn't market a product worth a damn. The other was also a genius but truly more like a businessman less of an inventor. A man who was all about selling the sizzle not the steak. Sadly, it goes to prove it's the sizzle that sells a product. Which is why Nintendo continues to sell tens of millions of consoles to this day while Sega is out of the (console) game.

[@akschannelhome]

This is by far the best piece of journalism you’ve ever done. This was as well written as can be. You deserve credit and praise. Bravo on this.

[@Soynereh]

I'd say the Genesis library got many of my favs from 93 onwards. So agree, wish the MegaDrive was as popular as the PC Engine in its home country.

[@oscarzxn4067]

The most surprising part about the huge number of games Sega published themselves at the time is that it was not limited for the Genesis, they also had the Game Gear which I'm sure at least 1/3 of it's line up were first party games, they kept supporting the Master System for years (mostly with Game Gear ports but still), and also developed the most high end arcade games in the market in huge numbers, which is something Nintendo didn't do other than the few KI and Cruis'n game they produced with Midway, and also the 32X and Sega CD. Is really incredible how many games they could produce between all the companies they contracted or owned.

[@maxxdahl6062]

I liked sega cd myself, but I could have done without the 32x.

[@rafecolii]

I'm so glad I found this channel. I don't remember how I found it, but I am glad that I did. Good show, lad.

[@evan2902]

Some people: 1994 and 1995 were piss poor years for Sega Dynamite Headdy, Ristar, Vectorman and Comix Zone: Are we nothing to you?

[@arnmrs1660]

Also the best gane ever made (Shining Force 2, english version), Monster World IV, X-Men 2. Alien Soldier, Gargoyles, Beyond Oasis (english version), PhantasyStar IV (english version), Desert Demolition, Light Crusader, Sonic 3 & Knucles, Bare Knuckle 3, Contra Hard Corps, Sparkster,, Castelvania Bloodlines, Ristar, Soleil, Ecco Tides of Time, Comux Zone, the firt and best version of aEarthworm Jim, Urban Strike, Road Rash 3 and many others

[@At0micGarden]

One of the best content creators in the retro scene hands-down.

[@buckroger6456]

Also loved Sega and the Genesis is still may favorite console. The problem with Sega is they seem to be very hit and miss, and they often miss more then they hit, but when they hit oh boy is it something special. I've seen Sega do this many times with games and hardware. Although I am sad they aren't in the hardware space anymore, I am glad they still make games.

[@jeremygregorio7472]

I don't think Sega had a choice when it came to seeking out Western studios because Nintendo was using their market dominance to clamp down on the Japanese studios hard. In the United States that was much harder to do because we have stronger antitrust laws, or at least we used to. Nintendo eventually lost a lawsuit over that but in the meantime Sega needed somebody to make games for them. And to be fair there were some pretty good games in there and plenty of stinkers on the super Nintendo

[@mattb6522]

Man, it seems like Sega was always in the middle of a struggle! I actually was never fully aware just how much Sega was treading water even during the 16-bit days. This sounds familiar as it sounds like the same story the Saturn had as well. The Saturn being released earlier than its competitors and the hardware having a higher difficulty curve for its developers. I still loved Sega as a kid, but I remember still being quite jealous of my SNES-owning friends and all the amazing games they received every year. This explains so much! 😅 However, you have to give credit to some developers like BlueSky Software, Konami, and Treasure for still giving some support to Sega to create some all-time Genesis classics! 😄

[@jamesaitchison9478]

Being from the UK i loved this time in gaming history. Coming off the success of the Master System in the UK and Europe the pre-Sonic Mega-Drive era was a juggernought that swept all aside. I still remember that time well, the hype, the graphics, the games, the sleepless nights dreaming of certain games i'd saw in a Magazine...good times.

[@58jharris]

Weren't you guys more into the Amiga at that time though lol.

[@charliehustle2591]

The first couple of years felt magical. I had an SNES as well but never loved it like the Genesis. Even then though (1993 and forward), you could tell the Genesis wasn’t getting max effort from the devs.

[@maroon9273]

Unless the games was as colorful from developers like technosoft, treasure disney and sega. Games like rangers x (nex entertainment), gunstar heroes, dynamite heady, pocahontas, panormara cotton (sucess), and lost world jurassic park (Appaloosa Interactive)

[@blastedmcgraw152]

I think this is my favorite of all the videos you’ve done. This is something I’ve always wondered about, but have never heard anyone explain before. Hats off to you for this one, sir.

[@pipikakachu]

This channel just helps with my everyday life. When I see a new video it makes me happy. Nice channel and content !

[@Moshugaani]

Thanks for this retrospectice, and indeed this channel! As a mostly Nintendo player historically speaking I've grown to appreciate Sega much more in later years and you've helped to shift my perspective. :)

[@forcedfeedbackclassicgamer5499]

I was a hardcore Nintendo fanboy as a kid, growing up with the NES, SNES and N64. I enjoyed playing the Genesis at my best friend's house back then, but never to the level where I was like "Oooh, I need one of those!". HOWEVER, years later, after "rescuing" my brother-in-law's old Genesis from my mother-in-law's garage sale fodder, I started reconsidering a lot of things. Nowadays, my Genesis/Mega Drive collection makes up a much larger portion of my game library than my SNES, and it gets played almost as frequently as my PS4/PS5 games do. Love the machine and all of its quirks (that 3-button controller is probably my favorite controller design of all time). Like you said, though, it wasn't the hardware's fault when Nintendo started mopping the floor with Sega. The company dug its own holes with poor management and logistics decisions while Nintendo went absolutely cutthroat with their business tactics.

[@jeremygregorio7472]

The reason strider 2 got made by Western studio is that the computer ports of strider sold incredibly well and Capcom thought they had a good thing going there so they let them make a sequel.

[@leeg12000]

Had your videos on in the background before while playin' Streets of Rage 2. Gets me in the right mood. Love your work Mel. Thank you 👍.

[@SegaLordX]

And thank you right back for watching.

[@powwow360]

A very important channel. Great perspective and can work as a historical document for the future

[@GameSack]

Thanks for this video. People don't realize how amazing the Genesis did despite being older/more primitive and the cards stacked against it the entire time. Instead fanboys just yell "Chrono Trigger!" and masturbate each other off all night. The fact that the Genesis did as well as it did really says something. Also about your episode note #4... the Genesis did this as well. The music could be run by the 68000 or the Z80. Not everybody took advantage of having the Z80 do it, weirdly. I don't know if the 68000 had access to the PSG or not.

[@Carsonj13]

I thought the consensus was that the Genesis trailed behind the SNES but when Donkey Kong Country came out sales and support for the former stopped dead in their track. That's what I keep seeing and hearing in other retrospectives.

[@GameSack]

@@Carsonj13 The Genesis was ahead of the SNES in sales until somewhere around Mortal Kombat 2-ish. And even then, there weren't exactly a ton more SNESes sold over Genesis worldwide. They did definitely win, however. It's still amazing that Sega did so well.

[@Carsonj13]

@@GameSack Yeah, I know. I was just saying what people regurgitate in their retrospectives.

[@SegaLordX]

I’m glad you understood what I was trying to do here. A lot of responses seem to think I was just shitting on western devs and saying only Japanese games were any good. I was really just putting together how hard it was for Sega to do well at the time. It really was an incredible underdog.

[@Gamevet]

@@SegaLordX GreenDog!

[@dreamawake2670]

As a kid sega seemed like the bully with attitude when they in fact was the underdog with an older hardware and not third party monopoly backing them up.

[@DreamcastQ]

I love these history type videos man

[@miguelroman4294]

Gotta love Genesis and SLX's content!

[@olyna]

Just absolutly adore your content. It really put perspective on the game industry, despite all the fun that we had at the time. Thank you very much for doing this incredible piece of work every single time.

[@blueskies792]

I love your channel. We are almost the same age and have had very similar experiences as young men. I joined the service to help myself. Now 20+ years later you've helped me. Thank you!

[@jiface]

This was a brilliant video essay. Well done. Think this may be my favorite video so far

[@realtrisk]

THANK YOU for giving a correct assessment of GEMS. It was not the disaster some people say it was. In the hands of a skilled composer, it could do awesome music. Poor sound and music is more of a reflection of the composer than the system.

[@T.Sizzle]

Great analysis! You answered some age old questions for me. When the Genesis was in its heyday, I didn’t hear much criticism concerning graphics as much as the sound - and you nailed that topic down. I can still remember the 1990 Nintendo fanboys telling me how much of a high tech behemoth the “Super” Nintendo was going to be. Admittedly, it was better and I have love for that machine too but there was something special about being a Sega kid and the scrappy underdog feeling that went with it.

[@akschannelhome]

Sooo very true.

[@JohnDoe-wq5eu]

I think the reason it was cool to be a Sega kid was not only were they the underdog you wanted to root for but they were the bad boy. Nintendo was the family-friendly console and Sega successfully harnessed the attitude of the era. Of all the things I can say about Sega the thing I can't say is that they didn't go '90s AF with their marketing. I'll remember that stuff forever.

[@akschannelhome]

@@JohnDoe-wq5eu Well said

[@DarDarBinks1986]

@@JohnDoe-wq5eu Nintendo was TOO family-friendly for their own good, though. Remember Mortal Monday? The Genesis version of Mortal Kombat outsold the Super Nintendo version because the latter sucked. Sega and Acclaim at least left the blood intact, albeit with a cheat code to activate it.

[@JamesChessman]

Dude awesome topic!! Always knew about Nintendo's monopoly practices etc. but I never saw anyone focus specifically on the Genesis library general challenges, from several factors.

[@SegaLordX]

Sega had some real hurdles in front them while making consoles. And not all of them were put there by competitors.

[@HellTantrumbull]

Really sad the master system had to suffer because of what nintendo was doing at the time. I really liked playing on the system with the games I had for it but eventually gave up on it since it wasn't getting games like Megaman, TMNT, Castlevania and so on. still find myself wondering after all this time what games like Double Dragon 2 and 3, Contra, Ducktales, Ikari Warriors and Dragon Warrior would have been like if they were on master system, too.

[@Adamtendo_player_1]

@@HellTantrumbullthe Master System was a good system but it’s the games that make or break a system and unfortunately for the Master System, the best games were on the NES which has a much better sound chip as well as the Master System’s bleeps and bloops were often unpleasant to listen to outside of a few exceptions and I understand people feel like this about the Mega Drive sound chip as well.

[@deltakid0]

2:59 SEGA needed more software and they needed it _pronto_ . LOL, I love this channel, greetings from Colombia.

[@heavysystemsinc.]

Keep in mind that Nintendo could afford to develop games longer in-house due to the fact they got a cut of all cartridge sales and didn't stretch themselves thin with a home and arcade division simultaneously like Sega did. Just adding some context to a claim made in the video. I don't know what Sega's licensing cut was for the MD/Genesis, but that doesn't take away from the first point that Sega was running two major divisions and Nintendo just one.

[@JustPeasant]

General consensus about Mega Drive/Genesis being shy in an auditory department just might hold water. Or not. In 1994, a certain game would challenge this notion. A game that had, perhaps the best overall sound design of a 16-bit (4th generation) era. A game that just happened to be on a Mega Drive/Genesis. What's even more surprising, the game was not produced in Japan, but CA, USA. The game that I'm referring to is Earthworm Jim by Shiny Entertainment. Never before, a home console game, had an audio this amazing! 🎶🎧🔊

[@voodooturbo]

The Genesis had some incredible soundtracks, no doubt. I didn't spend as much time on the SNES so I can't say with authority, but most of the games I've played didn't have very memorable soundtracks. Or the samples were so shrill and annoying that it just turned me off.

[@tonberrymasta]

Not just Earthworm Jim, their prior games like Aladdin and Terminator on Sega CD were exceptional. Genesis also had the superior version of Jurassic Park in 1993 which was red hot at the time. Superior versions of Madden and NHL and even games like Flashback too. With respect to Lod X's opinion, I really don't think the problem was western game development. There are so many great Western Developed games that were good on the Genesis. I don't think games was the issue, I think it was Sega's poor decisions when they transitioned from the 16-bit era into the 32-bit era that doomed them. I know it because I lived it, I bought the 32X at the time and got screwed. I was enough of a Sega fan to still buy the Saturn afterwards, but I totally understand if some people felt burned and just went with the PS instead.

[@JustPeasant]

@@tonberrymasta my subject revolved around overall games audio design on Mega Drive/Genesis. But, your arguments are indeed correct. During the generational transition, SEGA Enterprises has made bad decision after another. Yes, I was a Sega fanboy and around 1998 even I have given up on them. PlayStation was readily and widely available, had killer apps. Windows PC was having a renaissance during the late '90s and early '00s: Fallout 2, Planescape Tourment, Baldur's Gate (plus Tales of the Sword Coast expansion), Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (again, another expansion: Throne of Bhaal), Icewind Dale, Quake, Quake II, Quake III Arena, Hexen II, Unreal, Unreal Tournament, System Shock 2, Deus Ex, Battlezone, StarCraft, HoMM III, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six, Grim Fandango, Thief: The Dark Project, Thief 2, Falcon 4.0, Myth, Myth II: Soulblighter, Descent 3, Starlancer, MechWarrior 3, Counter-Strike, Dungeon Keeper 2, Jagged Alliance 2, Homeworld... I could go on forever. And what did Sega do? Dreamcast. Dreamcast does what PlayStation don't! They advertised their new console as the response to PS1. They weren't focusing on Dreamcast as a next-gen system, but as a competitor to aging and soon to be replaced PS1!? 😱😱😱 Oh, Sega... you poor thing. Looking back at their decision making, one can do nothing, but facepalm 😢😢😢

[@tonberrymasta]

@@JustPeasant Yeah, you are right in that you were focused on music, but I saw you mention Earthworm Jim and that just made me remember their earlier Genesis games like Aladdin and Terminator. Lord X is right, the Genesis had to rely on Western game developers, but the flipside of that is some of them were really great. Yeah, the PC was indeed a monster at the time. It's too bad that the Genesis couldn't exploit this more. It got games like Dune and Doom (32X) but people already had access to those years earlier on PC, so playing an inferior version of an "old" game on the Genesis just wasn't so exciting.

[@Adamtendo_player_1]

Earthworm Jim was one of the best sounding western developed games for the system but the system was capable of great sounding games, because it was the talent rather than the hardware determined how good or bad a game sounded because the Mega Drive sound hardware was as complicated due to it being FM synthesis.

[@jaymzx2587]

Awesome video man, so many things i didn't know yet! Great stuff and really love the research you put into it.

[@Siosal01]

This was both amazing and informative. Thank you!

[@blackflame4506]

Thanks for another great video SLX. These kind of videos make me wish I had a Sega Genesis instead of Super Nintendo but I love them both as a kid and still do to this day.

[@ckstafford2003]

Lord you knocked this one out of the park. Thank you again for your knowledge and I'm sure that you done a lot of research on this one. It's like being in a video game history class watching your channel.💯 A+

[@Supersayainpikmin]

It's funny, I always thought the Genesis had a really beefy third party lineup, but when you pointed out how many major third parities made it to the Genesis, made me realize how many developers of the games I enjoy on the Genesis, made by Sega or not, didn't really past beyond the 16 bit era before being dissolved or merged.

[@AlanAndalon]

A great case study: The Neo Geo ports to the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive vs SNES/Super Famicom. TAKARA first ported Fatal Fury to both consoles with very different results. Two different teams worked on them usually leaving the SEGA Genesis / Mega Drive versions incomplete. 2 Characters missing from the Sega Genesis version, and the SNES/SFC version had all the fighters! Same thing happened with Samurai Showdown. Earthquake was left out from the SEGA Genesis/MD port, while the SNES/SFC version was complete. Worst of all the ports was World Heroes for the Sega Genesis. It got programed by some cheap SEGA of America development team called "SEGA Midwest" with very disappointing results. I hope you can consider this as your next project SEGALORDX! Great Video!

[@supersexysega]

I am pretty sure there is an article on the net somewhere that explains "Sega Midwest" was just a few guys in Chicago 😂 I don't agree with you on the Neo Geo ports subject though aside from the trainwreck World Heroes. The games generally played better on Genesis and had better music. Samurai Shodown was only 24 Mb on Genesis 32Mb on SNES. That would be a SOJ issue because they were reluctant to use carts past 24-Mb. Earthquake wouldn't have worked on Genesis anyways with the size of the sprites. The SNES sprites were minature.

[@Bloodreign1]

@@supersexysega It would make you sick to your stomach when you realize how much was sacrificed just to get those bigger sprites for SS on Genesis.

[@supersexysega]

@@Bloodreign1 Lots of moves and speech samples. That being said they made the right decision as far as using the big sprites. First impressions are everything and at the end of the day you are trying to sell the game. These guys got the memo the boys who made Golden Axe 3 didn't get. Golden Axe 3 awesome game, huge movesets, mediocre visuals and reviewers completely shit on it. Samurai Shodown tons of missing moves and speech yet it was received extremely well. More favorably then the far more complete SNES version with minature sprites.

[@SonofSethoitae]

All this being said, plenty of my favourite Genesis games are western-developed. Flashback, Starflight, Mega Turrican, Toejam & Earl, Zombies Ate My Neighbours, and Sid Meier's Pirates!, among others, are all games I've sunk a ton to time into and love to death.

[@gc3k]

A number of Western Genesis games were technical showpieces, that either ran better on Genesis than SNES (Earthworm Jim) or were different developers with the same IP (Adventures of Batman&Robin)

[@Bloodreign1]

Mega Turrican may have been western developed, but seemed more influenced by Japanese games of the time. Not to mention the fact that a Japanese company, Data East, is the one who distributed the game for Manfred Trenz.

[@tonberrymasta]

From my experience the Sega Genesis was neck and neck with the SNES from 1991 to 1993. In the early days of the SNES, the Genesis had the best sports games, faster action games, exclusives like sonic, streets of rage, shinobi, uncensored games like Mortal Kombat, and a nice backlog of games due to the two year head start. The SNES had a huge software drought in 1991 and 1992 where Street Fighter 2 practically saved the console at retail because months would go by with only an occasional game like Super Star Wars or Mario Kart being of note. 1993 was again a lean year for the SNES (Super Mario All Stars was Nintendo's big holiday game, and it was a bunch of NES ports), and the Genesis at the very least matched it with Shinobi 3, SoR2, etc.. It was really in 1994 when Nintendo started to move ahead with games like DKC, Super Punch Out, Super Metroid, Mega Man X, and Final Fantasy 3 (Sega had great games but ruined a lot of them like Dynamite Headdy and SoR3 by making them too hard), and then in 1995 Nintendo really killed Sega because of the 32X killing Genesis development, and then the jump to the next generation. I understand what you mean Lord X of Sega always being the underdog, but in 1993 at least the underdog had its day and moved ahead of Nintendo even with MK came out. It's just that its time at the top was very short lived.

[@PixelShade]

Awesome episode! I love the analysis and take on it. As a game developer today, indulging in pixel art on my free time, I can only say that the Mega Drive specifications is great for pixel art and sprite graphics. Primarily colorful games as the 512color palette makes it hard to mix and match colors in the darker spectrum. But generally, give me 32 colors and amazing pixel art can be made, give me 64 and it feels like endless possibilities. give me 256 and it actually starts to become a bit overwhelming and unnecessary in my honest opinion. The number of colors is not indicative of great pixel art. Color theory, good use of colors, and art style is what really matter.

[@jasonlashmen7689]

Wow, that was kinda, really something, good frikn job, and some noteworthy points, obv, as well

[@ravagingwolverine]

One thing I learned about by reading quite a bit on the old sprite-based systems is that the total maximum amount of colors on screen is not as important as it's made out to be. Most SNES and PC Engine games didn't use a ton more colors than the Genesis. The thing that mattered more was the number of sub palettes. The side effect of having more sub palettes was a higher theoretical on-screen color count, but the practical benefit was flexibility, since designers didn't have to share colors among sprites unless they wanted to. But as you point out, and as many games demonstrate, good planning made a big difference and produced great results. And it's worth pointing out that limitations can lead to creativity, which is likely how Comix Zone came to be.

[@petirgarda1005]

THIS, this is eye-opening stuff.

[@PixelShade]

@@ravagingwolverine Agreed. But it also becomes kind of unnecessary to have many many sub palettes. Usually you just end up with very similar colors. that doesn't offer any meaningful difference to the pixel art. And there's also a risk of falling into the VGA-trap, since there is such an abundance of shades it is easy to fall into the trap of shading assets with the same color tone (instead of using cross-color shading and complementary colors, light warm highlights and cold shades) Heretic being a perfect example of this. There's a lot of shades going on but it ends up looking very flat and saturated since the shades basically has the exact same color value.. If you look at CPS1 and CPS2 games you often find 180+ colors on screen, but many of them are extremely similar to one another. It results in you having to choose colors over and over again, instead of making one palette and just working out of that one. I remember converting the Final Fight cast from 256+ colors to 32 colors without any meaningful loss in shading quality. So really, having a strict palette is kind of freeing as an artist as well, because you have less decisions to make during the pixel art process. You just stick with the palette you have. The biggest issue for the Mega Drive is really the 512 base color palette. If it would've had 4096 colors like the game gear, you would've been able to create more subtle shifts in colors, especially in the darker or de-saturated tones. This is why Mega Drive games generally benefit from having very colorful art styles. :) Then you hardly notice the complications of the 512 base colors.

[@jbmaru]

@@PixelShade Do you take part in homebrew development? You sound like you could make some good stuff :)

[@johnbewty]

I've been following the MD/Genesis since I was a kid, even before it launched. This... is one of the freshest and most nuanced takes ever. You are kicking incredible amounts of butt.

[@elel.]

Kid chameleon is my favourite sega genesis game!

[@RobsMemoryLane]

This was an awesome explanation about the differences between the two platforms and two companies. Sega really was the underdog.

[@gc3k]

Interesting topic with a lot to think about

[@Psmgamer]

I really like the Sega Genesis as I was able to discover games like Primetime Football Starring Deon Sanders, Road Rash 2/3, Vectorman, Streets of Rage 2, Sonic The Hedgehog, Toejam and Earl, Golden Axe, etc. I think only games I never checked where RPGs like Phantasy Star and Shining Force.

[@99Vood99]

SLX, this was a well put together video. Ultimately the Genesis/MD was hugely successful but had a ton of shovelware. That's the nature of the beast sadly.

[@urbanmidnight1]

The Snes did too.

[@ostiariusalpha]

Like Computer Man says, the SNES was rife with shovelware, especially on the Japanese side. Give that library a serious perusal, and you'll find piles of games that little to no effort were put into.

[@aionarkhe5260]

lol seriously. What kind of comment is this? All older consoles "had a ton of shovelware". It's only tapered off recently with the advent of modern AAA game development practices. It still exists, but today's customers are more game savvy.

[@ostiariusalpha]

@@aionarkhe5260 Free to play is the new shovelware, it's worse than it ever was back in the 90's.

[@retrospiel]

The big difference is that the shovelware came from Sega themselves. Yes, it was Sega of America, not Sega of Japan, but people could not really differentiate back then.

[@jasonz7788]

Great work Sir thank you

[@benvanasdale6273]

Did Earthworm Jim use GEMS? If it did, holy hell did Tommy Tallarico know how to make it sing like an angel. EDIT: I had the Genesis and SNES versions of the first ewj. The Genesis version sounded better by a country mile. The SNES also had far fewer voice samples. It was a case where the Genesis kicked the SNES's ass when it came to sound. As a Sega kid I was so proud lol Underrated game soundtrack when talking about the greats of the era. New Junk City was such a phenomenal first level theme.

[@JahElOfYHWH]

Awesome retrospective!

[@mikeeone5649]

Sega lord X. You should do a video on modern ways to play retro game's. Like and say how close they are to the original. Like sega genesis classics on switch. In my humble opinion having Sonic 2 , gunstar heros, shinobi 3 , Streets of rage 2 , Shining force 2 , golden axe 1 and 2 alone make the compilation worth it. Like I would give that one a solid 9.5 out of 10. There's also one for the X box 360 and it includes a couple of different games and even ways to unlock master system and arcade versions. Pretty cool!

[@Apothekari]

Hey man, FANTASTIC videos. You have worked your ass off becoming THE Sega Historian on you tube. Followed you for a while now and your hard work is really showing in your Videos. Thanks for all you do.

[@SegaLordX]

Appreciate the comment. Thanks for watching.

[@Risperdali]

This was a great video. I didn't realise how desperate Sega was for 3rd parties that they had to find Western devs who had no console experience! It makes sense if you ever stray into shovelware for the Genesis/MD. I guess Nintendo still had an irongrip on 3rd parties that they'd established during the Famicom's life

[@dreamawake2670]

Very interesting video about the Genesis technical evolution issues. Very informative for a former Nintendo fanboy.

[@eppskevin]

Wow this provides so much appreciated context

[@daveruda]

Interesting perspective. I had left the Mega Drive behind in 1992 and never really got to play these lower quality titles. My experiences with Altered Beast, Strider, Eswat ect was top notch graphics and music. And to be clear some of the later titles looked spectacular. Im impressed the Mega Drive lasted into the mid 90s considering it was a 1988 console. It should probably have had a bit stronger hardware. I read about the development that they wanted to do more than what turned out.

[@cesaravalost7247]

Very enjoyable video and eye opening information. Thank you and great job!

[@jahdorose8659]

One of the best video games content on KZbin

[@Canadian_Gamer]

The turning point was the year 1994. Final Fantasy III, Donkey Kong Country, & Super Metroid.

[@maroon9273]

And mk2 as well which was superior than the genesis port even with the frame animation issues.

[@ghostito]

Yeah, the late Megadrive/Genesis games were kinda weird, but the early titles were so good that even if you arrived late to the party you still could get gream games that aged extremely well, Golden Axe, Shadow Dancer, Ghostbusters, Out Run, Super Hang On... They might not be the latest titles, but if you liked Sega arcades this was definetely your machine.

[@Andrew_TS]

A lot of this rings true. Honestly, for most of the 16 bit generation, I believed western developers just sucked at making games, because good western made games were so rare.

[@OhChristopher]

Another Sega Lord X banger! I have such a profound respect for these old school consoles and games!

[@antoniomemo636]

Ecco the dolphin was a celebrated title and a hit at the time though.

[@Bloodreign1]

I've always said that Sega's strongest releases came from Japan, where experience and creativity were strongest. I love more the Japanese games created for both 16 bit consoles, and few western developed games.

[@58jharris]

The best western developers were generally only developing for computers at that time (i.e. Doom for example).

[@liquidclown1974]

Keep the great videos coming brother

[@SegaLordX]

Thank you.

[@LEYGSL]

This was so informative and revealed a lot of things I didn't know! Great work.

[@Des_Zee]

Nice in depth video. I enjoyed the Sega Genesis since '89 to about '94 and I never longed for anything on the SNES.

[@miltiadiskoutsokeras9189]

Not even Street Fighter II in 1992? :)

[@mickael486]

DEFINITELY one of your best topics to date on your channel. Actually, I can't think of a better one. The titles you mentioned (and a few others that came out shortly after) STILL manage to easily crack the top 10 best Genesis games ever.. because they were all made in Japan. Not by fly-by-night companies that won the lowest bid to get the gig to make Sega games 🤔

[@albdamned577]

damn you mentioned one of my favorites on this, Toejam and Earl. I should have known that wasn't developed in Japan. Neat!

[@epicmetalwarrior5476]

The Mega Drive /Genesis was the arcade experience for me... until the day that i saw the Neo Geo... it's was unfair. Great video like always SLX

[@jeffburns3240]

Once again, fantastic video! The subject of this one is particularly interesting to me, very well done.

[@jaredwhite200]

This is just one of the many reasons why this channel is awesome. Please keep on making these awesome videos on Sega

[@SegaLordX]

Thank you. Appreciate the message.

[@lasersnake]

Superb episode. Thanks.

[@mtshark7]

Awesome video man! That's pretty interesting.

[@EventHorizon_Alex]

Well done!!! Great video about the challenges SEGA was up against

[@Konuvis]

What a great episode and perspective!

[@GamingintoEternity]

Great, insightful video SegaLord!

[@tillythelad]

Awesome video SLX!

[@winstonpendarvis9943]

You always bring me back to my childhood👍🏿 thanks alot for all your hard work

[@SegaLordX]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@felman87]

Even before the Saturn came around in 94, Sega was being split between two different pieces of hardware. They launched the Sega CD. Honestly, I look at the Sega CD and just think it's the best piece of 16bit hardware there is. You had the sprite-scaling capabilities of the Neo Geo, the background scaling of the SNES, you had some great music thanks to the CD and improved sound chip. A shame so many devs just opted for terrible FMV games.

[@maxxdahl6062]

The FMV games especially the arcade ports, didn't frustrate me at all compared to the lazy genesis to CD ports. At least with CD, you could get accurate (Though downgraded in quality obviously) home ports of dragon's lair, space ace, mad dog mccree 1 and 2, etc. You weren't going to be able to do that on a cartridge system. The lazy genesis to cd ports were sometimes JUST the cartridge games with better music. What the fuck?

[@Bloodreign1]

Sega tried to do too much in so little time, they had no real focus it seems, unlike when they were just developing mostly for the Genesis, and the Game Gear.

[@maxxdahl6062]

@@Bloodreign1 They always had other systems between those. It was never just "genesis and game gear." they had sega cd at that time, master system, etc.

[@_TheElMan]

Great video on an interesting topic that most don't think about.

[@robertross8243]

Shadowrun was the only reason i wanted a genesis.

[@tonberrymasta]

I loved that game! Blew the SNES version away IMO.

[@EnygmaRecords]

Great analysis of the period, technical aspects, and both companies’ perspectives!

[@miltiadiskoutsokeras9189]

The fact is that many Japanese companies were competitors of Sega in the arcade business. So they preferred Nintendo and NEC for home market for quite some time.

[@58jharris]

Sega really screwed themselves in the long run by sticking with the arcade business in the 90's. They should have done what Nintendo did and closed down their arcade division and concentrated on the home market.

[@miltiadiskoutsokeras9189]

@@58jharris Well if this had happened, many great arcade games from SEGA and others would not have been a reality. So I'm not sure if without SEGA in the arcades would be better. It depends.

[@Adamtendo_player_1]

I wouldn’t say that’s the reason, the reason is because of poor sales in Japan of the Mega Drive which is why most Japanese companies choose to develop for the PC Engine and Super Famicom instead as we didn’t even see games like R-Type on the Mega Drive for those reasons.

[@miltiadiskoutsokeras9189]

@@Adamtendo_player_1 It is one of the reasons. I do not understand why this is, but I guess the PC Engine and Famicom were more than enough for most Japanese.

[@SomeOrangeCat]

It really feels like competition from the SNES spooked Sega into making a lot of mistakes, because for those first couple of years they were absolutely crushing it.

[@SegaLordX]

Sega had hurdles, man. When SNES showed up 3rd parties started making SNES games. That was less for the Genesis. Sega tried to ramp up production by making even more games. You can't do so much at once without something going wrong.

[@SomeOrangeCat]

@@SegaLordX I can't help but think the SNES kind of spooked them into making less than stellar decisions to combat this.

[@retrospiel]

@@SegaLordX Sonic was planned by Sega of Japan specifically to counter the SNES and Super Mario World. - I think it was their decision to give so much autonomy to the inexperienced US branch, and to let them produce Western developed games for the Western market while at the same time give them veto rights to which Japanese games should be localized. It weren't devs alone that were inexperienced, but the US management as a whole, with almost none of the people still with the company from the Master System days.

[@SomeOrangeCat]

@@retrospiel I'm trying to understand the "why" though. They HAD to know handing the reigns to people who just didn't have the knowledge and experience was a bad idea.

[@48hourrecordsteam45]

Sega was worried about everybody else.! Nintendo made them drop the genesis instead of battling it out with the master system for 2 years more Nintendo made them rush the game gear Atari made them design this stupid 32x Sega just didn’t do a lot of damage control and future proofing. They move on adrenaline instead of fine tuning . When they fine tuned we got Shinobi 3, streets of rage 2, sonic 2 All sega had to do was take their time with their games .. They could have. Talken take with their system and think things through

[@samfrito]

Love the video, SLX. Always a treat to hear how you give background to why games aren't as polished as they should have been. Aladdin on Genesis always struck me as the best of the West and it still holds up well. When Sega of Japan was creating the foundation of the Megadrive library we wanted all we saw and could learn about in the magazines. Nintendos NES was very impressive with its later titles and almost never slowed down. Its a shame Sunsoft didn't keep all their Genesis titles in-house. Konami while making games under their Ultra brand should have gone over to Genesis due to Nintendos 5 title a year limitation.

[@48hourrecordsteam45]

I think virgin made alladin

[@Komagb]

An excellent and highly informative video, thanks!

[@InfectiousGroovePodcast]

As much as I loved my Genesis from day 1, you made a lot of good points about licenses and third party really holding the system. I still love it, but I think it could have had a longer life if it had been taken care of.