Hardware wise which was actually better?

Veggita2099 · Post by **Veggita2099** » Sat Nov 30, 2002 7:39 pm

I am wondering hardware wise which was a better system The Genesis or Super Nintendo. If I was to guess Id say the SNES had the ability to produce better graphics, but the sound wasn't quite as good as the Genesis.

Only game I ever played on both Systems was Spiderman vs Arcane, and the SNES version had a extra soundtrack and better background graphics. I know compareing 1 game is no way to judge a system, but Im bored and was curious. Also when I think about the last games on each system I think the SNES ones was better graphics wise. I mean while SNES had Donkey Kong Country 3, the Genesis had Vectorman which graphics wise was rather poor.

revengeofLaEternal · Post by **revengeofLaEternal** » Sat Nov 30, 2002 8:54 pm

As far as I know, the SNES was superior (it came out after the genesis after all). I thought the sound on the SNES was superior to the Genesis (I myself compared both versions of Super Street Fighter 2 and the SNES version was better concerning graphics and sound). Another thing to consider is the reason the sega cd came out was to add hardware capabilities to the genesis that the SNES already had. Plus the SNES could take advantage of extra hardware on the cartridge themselves (mainly the FX and FX2 chips used in games like Star Fox and Doom). I don't know of any genesis games that did that. Overall, they were pretty similar and both had their advantages and disadvantages.

Post by **|darc|** » Sat Nov 30, 2002 9:11 pm

The SNES was superior in graphics while the Genesis had a faster processor.

I'm pretty sure the SNES had better sound.

Ghaleon · Post by **Ghaleon** » Sat Nov 30, 2002 9:21 pm

Both systems had the ability for carts to use extra chips. There were a few Genesis carts that took advantage of this(Virtua Racing, for example). The Genesis could process things faster, the SNES had a few more capabilities, however. Here's a brief overview of the two:

Genesis:
- Faster Processing
- Sound unit allowed for clearer sounds due to more channels

SNES:
- Much larger palette of colors, and ability to display more sprites on screen
- Ability to produce special graphics effects (commenly referred to as "mode 7").
- System specs allowed for cartridges to be up to 48 MB

Sega CD:
- Graphic effects like "mode 7" produced
- CD and redbook(I think that's the type) audio
- Games could have MUCH more content than any cartridge(Anime, etc)

32X:
- Faster processing, even on Genesis carts
- Expanded color palette to that of the SNES
- Upgraded audio(or at least, that's what I've heard. Never looked into it)
- Another oversized plug for your power strip :P

bizzle · Post by **bizzle** » Sat Nov 30, 2002 10:55 pm

Ghaleon wrote:Both systems had the ability for carts to use extra chips. There were a few Genesis carts that took advantage of this(Virtua Racing, for example).

is that why the damn Virtua Racing cart is so big? i got the cart, just no Genesis

Veggita2099 · Post by **Veggita2099** » Sat Nov 30, 2002 11:11 pm

Xylene wrote:
Ghaleon wrote:Both systems had the ability for carts to use extra chips. There were a few Genesis carts that took advantage of this(Virtua Racing, for example).
is that why the damn Virtua Racing cart is so big? i got the cart, just no Genesis

Something funny about Virtua Racing is it won't work with the 32X. I had that game and everytime I tried to play it with the 32X adapter on it just locked up after it said the copyright stuff. I even called Sega and they was clueless, but it seems pretty cut and dry to me. The 32X can't handle that chip apparently. You should have seen how high we had cartridges going once on my Sega. We had the 32X on, Sonic & Knuckles, Gameshark, then Sonic 2.

bizzle · Post by **bizzle** » Sat Nov 30, 2002 11:12 pm

Veggita2099 wrote:
Xylene wrote:
Ghaleon wrote:Both systems had the ability for carts to use extra chips. There were a few Genesis carts that took advantage of this(Virtua Racing, for example).
is that why the damn Virtua Racing cart is so big? i got the cart, just no Genesis
Something funny about Virtua Racing is it won't work with the 32X. I had that game and everytime I tried to play it with the 32X adapter on it just locked up after it said the copyright stuff. I even called Sega and they was clueless, but it seems pretty cut and dry to me. The 32X can't handle that chip apparently. You should have seen how high we had cartridges going once on my Sega. We had the 32X on, Sonic & Knuckles, Gameshark, then Sonic 2.

i remember sonic and knuckles, i had that, but i forget why you could connect another cart to it.

Veggita2099 · Post by **Veggita2099** » Sat Nov 30, 2002 11:17 pm

Xylene wrote:
Veggita2099 wrote:
Xylene wrote:
Ghaleon wrote:Both systems had the ability for carts to use extra chips. There were a few Genesis carts that took advantage of this(Virtua Racing, for example).
is that why the damn Virtua Racing cart is so big? i got the cart, just no Genesis
Something funny about Virtua Racing is it won't work with the 32X. I had that game and everytime I tried to play it with the 32X adapter on it just locked up after it said the copyright stuff. I even called Sega and they was clueless, but it seems pretty cut and dry to me. The 32X can't handle that chip apparently. You should have seen how high we had cartridges going once on my Sega. We had the 32X on, Sonic & Knuckles, Gameshark, then Sonic 2.
i remember sonic and knuckles, i had that, but i forget why you could connect another cart to it.

If you connect Sonic 2 or Sonic 3 you could play as Knuckles and find thigns you normally couldn't find. Was a very clever idea. The actual Sonic and Knuckles game was cool, but it lacked save states. I swear Sega ruined a lot of games cause of there lack of Save Support. D1, Sonic 3D Blast, and Sonic & Knuckles was all cool games. I never was able to complete Sonic 3D Blast till I played the Rom of it, and it took me a week even then! Id hate to see how long it would take if a person actaully went after all the secrets.

Calavera · Post by **Calavera** » Sat Nov 30, 2002 11:20 pm

Sega was not the only one that did that to games.

Veggita2099 · Post by **Veggita2099** » Sat Nov 30, 2002 11:27 pm

Calavera wrote:Sega not the only one that did that to games.

Yea but they kept doing it longer it seems like. Nintendo smartened up and usually AT LEAST had password support on most of there SNES games. Mario 3 could have really used save support. It was quick to beat if you used the whistles, but trying to go through the whole game...ugg.

Ghaleon · Post by **Ghaleon** » Sun Dec 01, 2002 12:00 am

Veggita2099 wrote:
Calavera wrote:Sega not the only one that did that to games.
Yea but they kept doing it longer it seems like. Nintendo smartened up and usually AT LEAST had password support on most of there SNES games. Mario 3 could have really used save support. It was quick to beat if you used the whistles, but trying to go through the whole game...ugg.

Actually, in most titles that were released on Genesis AND SNES, the Genny carts were more likely to have save support. Also, I beat Mario 3 all the way through(no whistles) relatively quickly. I believe it was a couple of hours, but definately less than 3.

BlackAura · Post by **BlackAura** » Sun Dec 01, 2002 8:37 am

The SNES's graphics hardware wasn't necessarily more powerful than the Mega Drive's, but it was a lot more flexable. I think it had three extra features that the Mega Drive didn't (scaling, rotation, blending) and a slightly larger colour palette, which combined to allow it to produce a lot more special effects than the Mega Drive (which had limited blending and limited scaling only). Mode 7 was a graphics trick combining rotation with scaling and per-line interrupts.

However, the Mega Drive had a much faster CPU (8MHz, compared to 3.5MHz) which allowed it to compensate for it's graphics hardware to a degree, and do some games that are simply impossible on a standard SNES. A few games I've played used software-based rotation and scaling, and it can also render polygons fairly quickly, although not as quickly as a SNES with a SuperFX chip.

Sound-wise, you just can't compare the two systems. They work totally differently (FM Synthesis vs Sample Playback). Music has to be created with the sound system of the console in mind, otherwise it sounds horrible. Usually, if a game was released on both systems, it's music was designed for the SNES, so the Genesis version sounded really bad. Personally, I liked the Mega Drive's sound system better, but many people prefer it the other way around. It's just a matter of personal preference, and what games you've listened to.

az_bont · Post by **az_bont** » Sun Dec 01, 2002 8:41 am

Funnily enough, out of all the Sonic games on Genesis, the only one I completed in one sitting was Sonic 3 - the only one with save-support

.

Sir Slash · Post by **Sir Slash** » Sun Dec 01, 2002 12:43 pm

The SNes was superior, it had about 3 years after the megadrive/gen to prepare, for a battle they struggled in!

However due to all the more features snes had, it was superior!

-textured maping (games like mario kart)
-higher polygon count (not sure of the exact
- the higher number of colors(over 32,000) gen had i think 64
- the original controller was superior to the genesis original(more buttons)
-customized sound chip (stereo sound and realtime sound samples)
- Multi layer backgrounds

Genesis was powerful ...but the supedr nintendo beat it in every way but speed!

Cless · Post by **Cless** » Sun Dec 01, 2002 1:27 pm

Gens had more sound channel and could use real time sampling. However it had no blending of sounds there for it sounded worse.

Veggita2099 · Post by **Veggita2099** » Sun Dec 01, 2002 3:14 pm

I noticed a lot of the SNES games that came out at first was on par with Genesis, but towards the end SNES games evolved where Genesis games started looking worse. I mean compare Sonic 1 and Vectorman. Graphics wise there about the same, soundwise I think Sonic 1 is actually better. GAmeplay wise sonic 1 was better as well needless to say.

Cless · Post by **Cless** » Sun Dec 01, 2002 3:20 pm

Veggita2099 wrote:I noticed a lot of the SNES games that came out at first was on par with Genesis, but towards the end SNES games evolved where Genesis games started looking worse. I mean compare Sonic 1 and Vectorman. Graphics wise there about the same, soundwise I think Sonic 1 is actually better. GAmeplay wise sonic 1 was better as well needless to say.

Thats because Vetorman tryed to use the smooth prerendered look to give it a 3d feel and the genesis didnt have a large enought palete to make it look right plus the resolution didnt allowed for the smoothness needed to pull it off right.

bizzle · Post by **bizzle** » Sun Dec 01, 2002 3:22 pm

i always liked genesis more.

Veggita2099 · Post by **Veggita2099** » Sun Dec 01, 2002 3:24 pm

Back in the Day I had a Genesis. Course now I got both.

Cless · Post by **Cless** » Sun Dec 01, 2002 3:27 pm

Xylene wrote:i always liked genesis more.

I love you.