SNES vs Genesis

If “Genesis vs Super Nintendo” was a heavyweight boxing match, it would be as popular as Mike Tyson vs. Holyfield, or Ai Vs. Fraiser and as debated as much as “Mac vs PC”. The “battle for 16bit supremacy” was not only a hot topic for any kid growing up in the 90’s, it was first legit battle in the long-running “console war”. Friendships have been lost and families have been torn apart over the SNES vs Genesis debate. Two consoles have never been so evenly matched in both features and game options. Even though the arguments for and against each system were purely subjective and dictated by which system a person owned, it didn’t matter, it didn’t stop.

It is our goal here at WWWAF to stop this battle once and for all. Here’s the break down:

Graphics

“Dude SNES has better graphics!”.. “No way man, genesis has better graphics”. These claims echoed through the cafeterias in almost eery educational facility for the entire term of the two systems stranglehold on the video game world. The 16 bit consoles were a far cry from good ol’ 8 bit Nintendo in a lot of ways, but most importantly, graphics. Graphics were the be all and end all in this console battle because “better graphics” was viewed as the “coolest” advancement in 16bit systems. Thus, if you had the system with better graphics, you had the best best console. The problem with the graphics argument was that there was no significant differences between the graphics on SNES and the graphics on the Genesis. SNES technically had better graphics but no-one could really tell, it was always an argument that went no-where. So we’re calling the graphics: Even.

The Games

This is where it gets interesting. All in all, both game libraries had some gems; starting with the signature character from each system. Genesis had the fast paced Sonic games, whereas super Nintendo had the always extremely enjoyable Super Mario and Zelda games. The Sonic vs Mario debate has to go to Mario. Super Mario World was a simply amazing game. One of the best games of all time. Sonic was fairly one dimensional… That’s a whole other argument to have later.

Moving on to sports games: Genesis wins this one. One game in particular stands out: World series baseball. This was the first time a baseball game featured the “catcher cam” view of the action. Other than this game, it always seemed genesis had better sports games.

“Genesis Envy”

All in all, SNES owners were content with their console but, just like today, Nintendo tried to keep things clean. Even in the face of their young, mischievous adolescent market. Because of the this, there were two games in particular where all SNES owners scowled with envy at their Genesis-owning friends. Beavis and Butt-head and Mortal Combat. The Genesis version of both these games, hands down kicked the shit out of the SNES versions. In the case of Beavis and Butt-head, SNES owners got a boring side scrolling platformer while genesis owners were blessed with a choose your own adventure type roll playing masterpiece. It had a 16 bit open world type thing going on. And Mortal Kombat… Green blood? Really? Come on Nintendo.