"When I was dead broke, man I couldn't picture this."

I know the SNES is the new "it" thing again, with the classic coming out tomorrow, but which video game console did you grow up with as a kid? What about your favorite games, for said system?

As for me, I grew up playing the Super Nintendo (though I did play the Genesis occasionally at a friend's house), and to this day is in my opinion, the greatest gaming system ever made. There is just so many great games for the SNES from Super Mario World, Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, and the Mortal Kombat games, all the way to Donkey Kong Country 2, Saturday Night Slam Masters and TMNT: Turtles in Time to name a few of them.

SNES and PS2 are arguable the best systems ever. I had a Genesis for a short time, but mostly just for Sonic 2.

I always preferred the Genesis, but that might be because it was what I knew. I didn't play the SNES until years later and I enjoyed the hell out of it, but I still preferred the Sega.

Late to the party, but the last to leave. Super Nintendo all the way!

I didn't grow up with either, but I've long maintained that the SNES is the best console of its era. In recent years my appreciation for the Genesis has increased, but Nintendo is still the king. At least until the Playstation came along.

I was a Genesis kid but looking back SNES had the superior library.

Straight 100% biased Sega fanboy all the way. I got a SNES first back on my 8th birthday before I ever got a Genesis. Our cousins had a Genesis and I fell so in love with it because of Shinobi III and the Madden games were way better. Sega Genesis always appealed to me more, I can't really put my thumb down on why exactly, it's just a personality thing I think, Genesis and it's games were more my style, SNES was too colorful and bright and hoppity boppity where as Genesis games tended to have more of my style of edge and attitude.

Genesis may not have anything as impressive as Super Metroid of Zelda A Link To The Past but pound for pound the Genesis library of games is way better overall, especially when you include Sega CD library with Terminator, Road Avenger, Final Fight CD, Robo Aleste, etc. Even just stock Genesis though I'd take over the SNES library, I'd still take Phantasy Star IV and Shining Force over any SNES RPG. I prefer Castlevania Bloodlines and Contra Hard Corp over Super Castlevania IV and Super Contra. Shinobi III and Revenge of Shinobi trumps every action game on the SNES. Road Rash trilogy is one of a kind you won't find anything even remotely like that on SNES. Madden games were better. Shooting games like Musha, Alien Soldier, Thunder Force IV, Gleylancer just completely blow away any shooter on SNES with much better speed and action, Streets of Rage I and II shit all over any beatem up on SNES and few platformers on SNES can touch Sonic 1, 2, Sonic 3 + Sonic & Knuckles. Plus Greatest Heavyweights, Crusader of Centy, Ecco The Dolphin 1-2, Splatterhouse 2-3, superior ports of multi-platform games like Robocop vs Terminator, I could go on and on and on and list at least 200 solid-to-great Genesis games where as I'd be struggling to fill out a top 100 SNES games.

I'm not a complete Nintendo hater though, SNES controller is probably my second favorite controller behind OG NES stick. Street Fighter 2 on SNES is a work of art and just as good if not better than the arcade version of SFII(better than any SF port on Genesis), Super Metroid and A Link To The Past are easily top 5 16 bit games and some of the best games ever made. Pilotwings, Turtles in Time, Power Rangers, Super Mario World are also great. For my tastes though the SNES library is pretty shallow compared to the deep library of the Genesis, and then there is the fact that people are still developing high end games for the Genesis brand new games, the console still lives with great games like Pier Solar and Paprium, show me new games like that on the SNES.

For fun, I thought I'd go through all the different genres and see which system had the best games per genre. To measure this I'm using Gamefaqs User Rankings and only rating games that came out in the US. Scores with 3.5 or above will qualify.

Beat Em Ups
Super Nintendo: 11 (TMNT: Turtles in Time - 4.18)
Sega Genesis: 13 (Streets of Rage II - 4.41)

Fighting
Super Nintendo: 11 (Super Street Fighter II - 4.14)
Sega Genesis: 10 (Super Street Fighter II - 4.12)

Action
Super Nintendo: 7 (Zombies Ate My Neighbours - 3.93)
Sega Genesis: 6 (ToeJam & Earl - 4.14)

Platformer
Super Nintendo: 49 (Super Mario World - 4.53)
Sega Genesis: 63 (Sonic & Knuckles - 4.37)

Shooters
Super Nintendo: 26 (R-Type III - 4.05)
Sega Gensis: 39 (Lightening Force - 4.34)

Action-Adventure
Super Nintendo: 6 (The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past - 4.58)
Sega Genesis: 1

Adventure
Super Nintendo: 0
Sega Gensis: 2 (Fantastic Dizzy - 3.65)

Puzzle
Super Nintendo: 14 (Tetris Attack - 4.31)
Sega Gensis: 9

Racing
Super Nintendo: 10
Sega Genesis: 12 (Road Rash 3 - 3.96)

Action RPG
Super Nintendo: 6 (Secret of Mana - 4.26)
Sega Gensis: 6 (Beyond The Oasis - 4.26)

*Genesis has 4 games rated above 4 stars, giving it the points victory

JRPG
Super Nintendo: 10 (Final Fantasy III - 4.53)
Sega Genesis: 3

RPGs
Super Nintendo: 4
Sega Genesis: 8 (New Horizons - 4.17)

Simulation
Super Nintendo: 2 (Pilotwings - 3.59)
Sega Genesis: 2 (F-15 Strike Eagle II - 3.56)

Sport
Super Nintendo: 33
Sega Genesis: 34 (NBA Jam Tournament Edition - 4.01)

Strategy
Super Nintendo: 18 (Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen - 4.07)
Sega Genesis: 13

Great Games (4 Stars +)
Super Nintendo: 37
Sega Genesis: 44 (Phantasy Star IV - 4.47)

Imports (3.5 Stars +/Never Released in US)
Super Nintendo: 135
Sega Genesis: 28

Total
Super Nintendo - 8
Sega Genesis - 9

Obviously that isn't an accurate measure at all, but it does give you a decent estimation of how well the software compared on both systems. I considered adding an excellent game category (4.5+) which SNES would have won (4-0 - Super Mario World, Zelda, FF III, Chrono Trigger) but we needed a tie-breaker. As you pointed out Shin, you could easily include the 32X and CD into the equation, so it would have been interesting to see just how much that would have tipped the scales Sega's way.

I voted for what I knew which was the Super Nintendo. I played some Mega Drive when I was younger, but no where enough until just recently to appreciate just how good the system truly is. Between both systems there is a wonderful catalogue of games that could never possibly bore you.

Actually let's take a quick look at the Sega 32x and Sega CD

Good Games (3.5+)
Sega 32x - 12 (NBA Tournament Edition - 3.96)
Sega CD - 42 (Lunar: Eternal Blue - 4.55)

Great Games (4+)
Sega CD - 14 (Lunar: Eternal Blue, Lunar: The Silver Star, Snatcher, Popful Mail, Sonic CD, Final Fight CD, Lords of Thunder, Shining Force CD, Dark Wizard, Robo Aleste, The Secret of Monkey Island, Eternal Champions, Flashback, NHL 94, Ecco: The Tides of Time.)

I forgot Eternal Champions. Another excellent Sega CD game was Rise of the Dragon

Sept 29, 2017 12:57:24 GMT shinobimusashi said:

Straight 100% biased Sega fanboy all the way. I got a SNES first back on my 8th birthday before I ever got a Genesis. Our cousins had a Genesis and I fell so in love with it because of Shinobi III and the Madden games were way better. Sega Genesis always appealed to me more, I can't really put my thumb down on why exactly, it's just a personality thing I think, Genesis and it's games were more my style, SNES was too colorful and bright and hoppity boppity where as Genesis games tended to have more of my style of edge and attitude.

Genesis may not have anything as impressive as Super Metroid of Zelda A Link To The Past but pound for pound the Genesis library of games is way better overall, especially when you include Sega CD library with Terminator, Road Avenger, Final Fight CD, Robo Aleste, etc. Even just stock Genesis though I'd take over the SNES library, I'd still take Phantasy Star IV and Shining Force over any SNES RPG. I prefer Castlevania Bloodlines and Contra Hard Corp over Super Castlevania IV and Super Contra. Shinobi III and Revenge of Shinobi trumps every action game on the SNES. Road Rash trilogy is one of a kind you won't find anything even remotely like that on SNES. Madden games were better. Shooting games like Musha, Alien Soldier, Thunder Force IV, Gleylancer just completely blow away any shooter on SNES with much better speed and action, Streets of Rage I and II shit all over any beatem up on SNES and few platformers on SNES can touch Sonic 1, 2, Sonic 3 + Sonic & Knuckles. Plus Greatest Heavyweights, Crusader of Centy, Ecco The Dolphin 1-2, Splatterhouse 2-3, superior ports of multi-platform games like Robocop vs Terminator, I could go on and on and on and list at least 200 solid-to-great Genesis games where as I'd be struggling to fill out a top 100 SNES games.

I'm not a complete Nintendo hater though, SNES controller is probably my second favorite controller behind OG NES stick. Street Fighter 2 on SNES is a work of art and just as good if not better than the arcade version of SFII(better than any SF port on Genesis), Super Metroid and A Link To The Past are easily top 5 16 bit games and some of the best games ever made. Pilotwings, Turtles in Time, Power Rangers, Super Mario World are also great. For my tastes though the SNES library is pretty shallow compared to the deep library of the Genesis, and then there is the fact that people are still developing high end games for the Genesis brand new games, the console still lives with great games like Pier Solar and Paprium, show me new games like that on the SNES.




Same here.   Sega was the always the one pushing the envelope, while Nintendo was always the one following in their wake.     

Super Nintendo, grew up with Nintendo products all the way until the release of the xbox, so I missed out on the gamecube.
Loved Super Nintendo mostly for Donkey Kong Country and Mortal Kombat (I had no idea about the censorship off the first one as a kid)

Grew up playing SNES, a friend had a Megadrive ( Australia's Genesis ) - I actually enjoyed the games on the Sega better. MK, NHL, Street Fighter, etc. However the SNES's accessibility was much more widespread and more popular. I kick myself for never buying the Sega years later, I remember walking into a Cash Converters ( retail pawn shop ) and seeing display bins full of Megadrives for $10 ea.

When I was downloading ROMs years later, it was Sega.

After that, I moved onto a Playstation when everyone else around me was playing N64. Then continued my love for SONY till this day. However, our family's original SNES is a treasured item. I've got a PS2 and a PS3 collecting dust, but that SNES will be protected forever.

That's odd, because supposedly the Mega Drive was meant to be as popular if not moreso than the Super Nintendo in Australia. I was too young to know all the facts and all the sales figures in Australia are hard to come by, but that's the general impression. Although it doesn't speak volumes, I remember Civic Video back in the day would have more stock of Mega Drive games that Super Nintendo.

Also SEGA Street Fighter > Nintendo Street Fighter? What's next? TNA > WWE? Unbelievable.

Oct 10, 2017 11:39:12 GMT Big Pete said:

That's odd, because supposedly the Mega Drive was meant to be as popular if not moreso than the Super Nintendo in Australia. I was too young to know all the facts and all the sales figures in Australia are hard to come by, but that's the general impression. Although it doesn't speak volumes, I remember Civic Video back in the day would have more stock of Mega Drive games that Super Nintendo.

Also SEGA Street Fighter > Nintendo Street Fighter? What's next? TNA > WWE? Unbelievable.

I don't know, it just felt like more people had the SNES. And in terms of Street Fighter on Sega v SNES, it came down to the controller. I was never a fan of the SNES controller. It's a big reason why I've played Playstation for 20 years, the controller through all its evolutions, is great. 

Yes, adding handles to the SNES controller was a master-stroke.

I grew up with and own both, and they both still work really well. I always prefereed SNES, but when sega channel was around back in the day, Genesis got played more. The games for SNES i played the shit out of was..

Final Fantasy 2/4
Final Fantasy 3/6
Chrono Trigger
Secret of Mana
Lufia: Fortress of Doom
Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinistrals
Breath of Fire
WWF Royal Rumble
WWF Wrestlemania the arcade game
TMNT 4: Turtles in Time
Ys 3: Wanderers of the Ys
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the past

Sega Genesis was

Shining Force
Shining Force 2
Joe Montana Sports talk Football
Sonic 2
WWF Raw
WWF Royal Rumble