Genesis VS SNES VS TG-16

[Mel]

What finally solidified Genesis/Megadrive as the 16-bit winner for you as an individual.

For me, it was the Metropolis Zone of Sonic 2. Its beautiful, graphically amazing and I love the music. When I saw that I knew that the Genny had beaten the snes/tg-16.

[Melf]

For me, it was a strive on Sega's part to actually grab you and keep you as a customer. They had offers, where you could send in the UPCs of a couple of games and get free stuff, like a Power Base Converter and a game, a free game, stereo speakers, or an extra controller. Sega always seemed to go the extra mile to gain fans, while Nintendo basically sat on its name brand and NEC just kind of whimpered off in the corner.

[Genesis Knight]

"whimpered off in a corner"

HA!

I know what you mean, though. As a casual little kid gamer back then, I don't *ever* remember hearing about the TG.

[Drixxel]

The TurboGrafx-16 was handled so poorly in North America.. the NEC masterminds must have been thinking something along these lines: "We'll keep all of our best games in Japan, throw an ad or two into Gamepro for a turd like Gunboat, and the riches will pour upon us like a Carribean monsoon!"
Ah well.. my uncle got bored with his and gave it to me around '94 when many stores were liquidating their TG game stock, so the TurboGrafx's doom spelled happiness upon my wallet and TG game collection.

But back on topic..

I was first truly impresed by the Sega Genesis when I used to look around the game rental store and admire all of the awesome-looking Genesis games that I would never have the chance to play, having been a SNES owner rather than a Genesis one at the time. Splatterhouse 2, Kid Chameleon, Chakan.. the box-art for whatever reason looked so awesome and I felt like they had to be the coolest games ever. Then I had a chance to play Sonic 2 over at a friend's place and that really sealed the deal for me that the Sega Genesis was a disher outer of asskickery. It didn't convince me to sell the SNES, because hot damn Super Mario World and Zelda: Link To The Past more or less had made me their slaves, but it let me know that there was more to gaming than just Nintendo. I salute you, Sega...!

[Electroman]

Well, I was one to want the latest n greatest game system. So in DEC 1989, I fell in love with the Genny by looking at EGM articles covering its debut. Most importantly though; Sega arcade games were amongst my favorites. I had to own Golden Axe and Super Hang On someday, so the Genny was the way.

NEC... well by the time I knew enough about it, I was already a Sega fanboy. Plus I thought the gfx on the Genny were still better. Rambo 3 > Bloody Wolf. Last Battle > China Warrior. PS2 > whatever RPG NEC had.

SNES... never owned one, my bro bought one instead in 1991, and by then I was a hardcore schmup/arcade fan, and knew the SNES couldn't handle stuff like MUSHA and Thunderforce 3,4.

Nowadays, I have much respect for the Turbo hardware, being a schmup system and all...

[Drixxel]

Top drawer, Electroman. The TurboGrafx is a really neat console and could have at least offered respectible competition for the SNES and Genesis in North America. If only NEC had included Bonk's Adventure as the pack-in game instead of accursed Keith Courage, and maybe even, oh.. advertise?!?..

But yeah, most of my favourite shooters are for the ol' Turbo. Great console for that. The Genesis is similarly armed with its own roster of quality shooters, but Blazing Lazers is hard to top... maybe I just need to play some more Thunder Force.

Good ol' 16-bit. A golden era, for Sega or otherwise.

[Hokkus]

I wanted a NES! My dad bought Mega Drive instead.

I have such a wise father. TG-16 was never released in Europe, was it?

[Dartagnan1083]

By 1993 I was a completely lost Sega Fanboy.
But I do Remember the Us/Them TG-16 commercials from the 80s.

USUSUS ususus USUSUSususususus

More recently, when I eased up, I found the Duo to be more impressive than the SNES.

It by all means deserved to be a contender, but when you look at the actual marketing that was done, they also deserved to fade into obscurity.

[Mel]

I remember bonk in advertising, and the sega scream, but I don't remember snes commercials.

[Drixxel]

Certainly the mistakes made with the TurboGrafx-16 are inexcusable and the console's failure was inevitable as a result, but damn..
The thing is, the PC-Engine was designed as a direct competitor against the Famicom, not other 16-bit consoles. With its Japanese release in 1987, it had two cozy years of clear technological dominance over the Famicom before the Megadrive would try and bust into the market, and even then the PC-Engine continued to asskick away. If NEC had released the TurboGrafx in North America even a year ahead of the Genesis, it would have had a much better chance of carving out a devoted userbase. Then there was the advertising drop-off soon after the system's release, and the lacking game library as only a portion of the hundreds of PC-Engine games were translated into English. Bahhh.. NEC blew it.

As for SNES commercials.. yeah, I don't recall seeing many of those, besides a few for the big first-party releases like Super Metroid and Super Mario Kart. Then again, Nintendo didn't need to pull the ol' advertising carpet bombing. Nintendo = video games for the majority of people at that time. The NES, as you may recall, was a pretty big deal..

"Now you're playing with power, SUPER POWER!"

Convinced me at the time.

[Electroman]

Top drawer, Electroman.
Good ol' 16-bit. A golden era, for Sega or otherwise.

Thanks...

I also wanted to add that Sega's stance on 'blood', and more mature gaming continued to keep me from the SNES camp.

Besides, I said goodbye to Mario after SMB2(my fav SMB to this day).

[j_factor]

I actually had a TG16 before I had a Genesis, though I did have a Master System before that. What convinced me to get a Turbo first was that it had more games at the time. It was a grand system, and I was quite fond of it, though I also paid attention to what Sega and Nintendo were doing, and I found myself increasingly interested in what Genesis had to offer. I think what sealed the deal for me was when I saw an ad for Toejam & Earl; I immediately decided it must be the coolest game ever and I had to get it. I wasn't far off.

As for what solidified Genesis as the best to me, it was just the accumulation of good games; it eventually surpassed Turbografx, and SNES never caught up to it.

[tim333]

Simply: The Genesis got to me first. I'd only played NES before I got the system and Sonic for Christmas 1991... Wow! I was hooked. Lord, I was SUCH a Sega and Sonic fanboy. The degree to which I was obsessed is kind of embarassing now.

I'm surprised people here don't remember the SNES ads, because I do. "Now you're playing with power... SUPER power" was actually an SNES slogan, a modification of the NES's "Now you're playing with power." Of course, the SNES later switched its slogan to "Play it loud" in the (incredibly successful) marketing blitz that coincided with the release of Donkey Kong Country, a game that I've always found to be vastly overrated.

Some of the SNES marketing knocked the Genesis, as the Genesis did to the SNES. I recall that both systems had lots of pack-ins after a time - at one point, each system was coming with five games in an attempt to seem the most attractive purchase. Wow. Make no mistake: when game companies compete, we win.

I'll admit the SNES has seduced me in later years with its big flashy RPGs, but the Genesis is still my favorite console. It sustained me through a childhood with awesome games like Sonic, Toejam and Earl, and Ecco. I'm only now exploring the further depths of its library.

[DanR]

Ironically enough, it was EA's NHL Hockey. I say it is ironic because it was EA's lack of Dreamcast support that contributed to Sega's departure from the console business.

[daminmancejin2]

i play my sega genesis more then my super nintendo