While the world of video gaming saw a lot of spats in the first part of the 1990s over the Sega Genesis vs. the Super Nintendo, I never really took part in all that. Both of those 16-bit consoles offered
a lot to consumers and each has a fantastic set library of games available. Between these two machines, there were thousands of titles made, and both consoles still enjoy a measure of popularity today in spite of the fact that we’re in the realm of 128-bit gaming.
The Genesis came out in 1990 to challenge Nintendo’s supremacy in the gaming market. At the time, the eight-bit Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was king, and Sega had failed to seriously challenge it. Sure, Sega produced the Master System to fight against the NES, but that machine never gained more than a cult following.
However, the Genesis was a different story. That system challenged Nintendo’s dominance in the conole market and sold millions of systems to consumers. In fact, Sega has never replicated the success it had with the Genesis, even though the Sega Saturn (32 bit) and Sega Dreamcast (128 bit) were both fantastic machines. As most folks know, Sega has fallen a long way since the glory days of the Genesis. The company no longer makes hardware and exists as a software manufacturer for other consoles. That’s too bad. Sega was once a major player in the market and is now just another software producer. That’s too bad, indeed!
While the Genesis and Super NES both had fantastic software libraries available, the Genesis held an edge in sports titles. Truly, companies like Electronic Arts found ways to exploit the capabilities of the system and come up with absolutely wonderful games of football, soccer, basketball and hockey. There are some pretty good racing games out there, too, and a good selection of fighters (try
Mortal Combat or any of the super hero titles (particularly the Spiderman ones) on for size). Oh, and the
Madden football titles from Electronic Arts are the best football games you’re going to find for a 16-bit system. Platform games are available too, and perhaps the most famous is
Sonic the Hedgehog. That’s a lighting-quick game of running, jumping and grabbing stuff that gained the system a lot of fans and really pushes the imits of the console.
And, then there’s
Road Rash. That’s one of my favorite games for the Genesis, and is simply a motorcycle racing game in which the player fights computer-controlled riders. Sure, the game looks slicker on the Playstation, but the Genesis version is pretty darn good.
As for the differences between the Genesis and the Super NES, the Sega has a faster CPU, but the Super NES has better-defined graphics and more available colors. Also, the wealth of sports titles available for the Sega didn’t make it to the Super NES, but the Nintendo gets the nod for role playing games. And, the Sega is considered more an an ’’adult’’ console than the Super NES is. That’s probably because of cute games featuring the likes of Mario, Kirby and Link from the
Zelda series.
Now, the best thing about the Genesis is the portable version of the machine. The Sega Genesis Nomad is a fantastic little device that accepts Genesis carts and can be taken on the road. Sure, it eats batteries like crazy, but the sheer coolness of the machine makes the system a real find. And, a Nomad can be hooked to a television like a regular Genesis console and even accept extra control pads and such. It can behave, then, like a typical Genesis, but it’s portable.
Sadly, the Nomad never cut into Nintendo’s dominance on the portable gaming market. Therefore, the Nomad rather failed and is hard to find. For some reason, the 16-bit power of the Nomad never seriously challenged the 8-bit Nintendo GameBoy -- odd, since the Nomad was against the black and white GameBoy when Sega firt started making the system.
So, the Genesis is a fantastic console that broke Nintendo’s death grip on the gaming market. It’s a rugged, reliable little machine that’s still a bit popular today. Of course, you can find these at pawn shops and eBay all over the place for cheap, so it might be worth your time to look for one.