What gave Mega Drive / Genesis bad rep?

[WiiCube_2013]

Admittedly the Super Nintendo was in fact superior but that shouldn't have made the SMD irrelevant because it was still a great 16bit console, plus the more mature games were uncut whereas SNES had them censored. Although, later on they made it available via a feature or a cheat code to activate it.

Just take this example below:

SMD



SNES

 

[The Real Jdbye]

It wasn't irrelevant, it was just that people had to choose between one or the other, since few people could afford both.
Most people just went with the SNES because it had a better library and that's what everyone else had, but there were a lot of Sega fans too.

 

[WiiCube_2013]

It wasn't irrelevant, it was just that people had to choose between one or the other, since few people could afford both.
Most people just went with the SNES because it had a better library and that's what everyone else had, but there were a lot of Sega fans too.

In the 90's Nintendo pushed really hard for devs to stick to their consoles and reject the competition so it's a shame that they had to hold back due to such things.

Yeah, the SMD wasn't irrelevant it's in fact my favourite 16bit console but people prefer a lot more the SNES.

 

[RevPokemon]

Probably IMO people think of it as the sonic console. I actually have to say while I think the SNES is better, its actually a lot more even to me since Sega released a lot of good non sonic games and many of the 3rd party games where better

 

[chavosaur]

I bet Foxi could yell you why

We need a revival of BFWWIWA
https://gbatemp.net/threads/bfwwiwa-issue-1-sega-saturn.361538/#post-4906856

 

[Sakitoshi]

the bad reputation the Genesis/Mega Drive was mainly due the sound quality. in lots of games the SNES sound better.
here's an example:

Spoiler

also note how the Genesis/Mega Drive has to stop the music to reproduce Larry voice.

and while that is true, some other games sound better on Genesis.

Spoiler

to add insult to injury listen the same tune from Earthworm Jim Special Edition on Sega CD:

Spoiler

and we can't forget the masterpiece that is this:

Spoiler

aside from that is the facts that Wiicube and Rev pointed out. Nintendo had all the 3rd party hot stuff.

 

[emigre]

The Mega Drive has a bad rep? What the fact? Have I entered a parallel universe? The Mega Drive was the ducking sex.

 

[FAST6191]

Doesn't that depend upon where you are in the world? In the UK and a few other European countries it was probably (means of measurement can argue both ways, raw sales are usually put as higher) the more popular of the 16 bit consoles. Equally where it might not have been I am not sure it got a bad rep, such things usually being reserved for things like the CDi.

Also relevant at this point
http://retro-sanctuary.com/Comparisons Main.html

 

[the_randomizer]

The Genesis was actually very successful, what the problem (among others), was they tried to keep it alive for longer than it should have been by adding useless add-ons like the 32x, Sega CD, requiring extra power supplies and AC adapters for each peripheral, turning the Genesis into a proverbial Frankenstein's monster.

I never owned a Genesis/Megadrive, my next door neighbor and friend did and have fond memories of playing games on it, but the Snes was my first console in 1993, and since then it's been a favorite.

 

[TecXero]

I don't think the MD/Gen did poorly, just it didn't quite have timeless games like the SNES, so it's just not quite talked about as much. Most of the games at the time tried to look cool and pushed things graphically, but gameplay wise, they still felt a lot like the 8-bit games. While the noteable SNES games pushed things in other ways as well, not just graphically. That said, the MD/Gen still had a few classics, and I'd argue it's still better than the SNES for multiplayer games.

Instead of going for expansions, Sega probably should have gone for expansion hardware built into the cartridges like the SNES had, or focused on developing the next generation console. The expansions (32X and CD) were expensive to develop, expensive for the consumer, and inherently splits their consumer base. Maybe they could have done with Nintendo (normally) does with handhelds. They could have had it so all games would work with the basic Genesis/MD, but certain games would have enhanced graphics, performance, and sound with a 32X, instead of having 32X exclusives.

 

[WiiCube_2013]

Saki @ The sound was another factor plus Nintendo had all the great 3rd party support but even then, the SMD had a pretty decent amount of multiplatforms too.

 

[the_randomizer]

Saki @ The sound was another factor plus Nintendo had all the great 3rd party support but even then, the SMD had a pretty decent amount of multiplatforms too.

I think you tagged his name wrong The sound was the thing about the Genesis that was very hit and miss, some games sounded like arcades, others sounded like a raspy mess; Earthworm Jim 1 and 2 sounded horrible on their non-Special Edition/CD counterparts.

 

[Sakitoshi]

Saki @ The sound was another factor plus Nintendo had all the great 3rd party support but even then, the SMD had a pretty decent amount of multiplatforms too.

Yup, a game I always remember because was the only that used both consoles prefixes for the naming is Turrican there was Super Turrican for SNES and Mega Turrican for Genesis/Mega Drive.
fighting games where released for both consoles and where pretty close to the arcade in both cases.
the 1st party games where always cool, I remember always playing Comix Zone because it was so cool "look, I'm playing inside a comic!!".
and had some good 3rd party exclusives, like X-Men 2 Clone Wars(also played this a lot), Castlevania Bloodlines and some Mickey Mouse games.

 

[RevPokemon]

Yup, a game I always remember because was the only that used both consoles prefixes for the naming is Turrican there was Super Turrican for SNES and Mega Turrican for Genesis/Mega Drive.
fighting games where released for both consoles and where pretty close to the arcade in both cases.
the 1st party games where always cool, I remember always playing Comix Zone because it was so cool "look, I'm playing inside a comic!!".
and had some good 3rd party exclusives, like X-Men 2 Clone Wars(also played this a lot), Castlevania Bloodlines and some Mickey Mouse games.

Yeah plus in many areas there were better games like Aladdin,MK and street fighter were better on genesis

 

[WiiCube_2013]

Yup, a game I always remember because was the only that used both consoles prefixes for the naming is Turrican there was Super Turrican for SNES and Mega Turrican for Genesis/Mega Drive.
fighting games where released for both consoles and where pretty close to the arcade in both cases.
the 1st party games where always cool, I remember always playing Comix Zone because it was so cool "look, I'm playing inside a comic!!".
and had some good 3rd party exclusives, like X-Men 2 Clone Wars(also played this a lot), Castlevania Bloodlines and some Mickey Mouse games.

SMD didn't have Turtles in Time but it did have that TMNT Heist game, as well as other cool 16bit games.

 

[G0R3Z]

MY problem is that they constantly tried to get money out of people by bringing out more and more peripherals when they were just awful. Their games were good and I loved the genesis for its games, but they kept trying to keep it alive and it didn't work. It looked more like a coma patient than a console, just wires everywhere trying to keep it alive just a bit longer.

It wasn't as 'fun' as the snes either. The more 'serious' gamers went for the genesis because of sports games and there were more fighting games as well. The genesis was a good competitive console.

 

[emigre]

I actually have a soft spot for the Mega CD.

*runs away*

 

[G0R3Z]

I actually have a soft spot for the Mega CD.

*runs away*

There was a couple of good games for the 32x and CD (or even the 32x CD *shudders*), but it was like fondling through a trash pile trying to find them.

 

[RevPokemon]

There was a couple of good games for the 32x and CD (or even the 32x CD *shudders*), but it was like fondling through a trash pile trying to find them.

Snatcher,doom,sonic CD were good and other games certainty benefitted from the CD tbh

 

[G0R3Z]

Snatcher,doom,sonic CD were good and other games certainty benefitted from the CD tbh

Certainly, but there was so very few titles on the expansion systems that were good.