Megadrive VS SNES

[gimbal]

Originally Posted by TheCyberDruid

Those two games (along with a few others) really have great soundtrack on the MD

Lets just forget the hack version of SOR3 we played eh. Blood is still running from my ears when I think about it...

[laffer]

Both have dear memories for me, I wouldn't be without either... I can't decide.

But I spent more time with the SNES... simply because that's the one we ended up owning. But I played Megadrive games often with friends.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by gimbal

Lets just forget the hack version of SOR3 we played eh. Blood is still running from my ears when I think about it...

Yep
laffer has a good point there Don't want to miss either one and it's personal preference which sound style you prefer. Just the bit about the 'far superior' abilities of the MD got my attention

[Dan Locke]

Originally Posted by Adropac2

I loved the Megadrive but what you talk of here is more a personal taste thing isn't it.Megadrive wasn't as vibrant a colour palette as Snes and for some that's a big enough reason right there not to like the games.Great machine with some great shooters like Thunderforce 3 but it was always so gloomy in most Megadrive games.And of course some folk will prefer that gloomy atmosphere

That's actually more of a stylistic approach than anything else. If anything, the Genesis's palette was more "vibrant" as it had only 512 colors to the SNES's 32768 (lower color depth gives fewer subtle shades until you get eye-burning ZX Spectrum-style colors).

That said, at anything above 8-bit color depth, you really can't tell the difference with so few colors on the screen, so it's irrelevant anyway.

Originally Posted by PowerPie5000

I think the Megadrive's Yamaha audio chip was great... it produced far more detailed music than the Snes The Snes sounded as though it had a very limited number of channels

It had two more than the Genesis did.

Originally Posted by PowerPie5000

and alot of the games had that same "monotone" kind of music (it's hard to describe what i mean).
Can you imagine the Snes trying to produce the rave sounds of Streets of Rage in all their glory or the funky music in Toejam & Earl?

I can image it doing a much, much better job, actually. Compare the soundtracks of the SNES and Genesis versions of the Earthworm Jim games - there's no contest.

Originally Posted by PowerPie5000

The Snes is not very good at re-producing instrument sounds,

And the whiney, twangy, whistley, scratchy Genesis is?

Originally Posted by PowerPie5000

But it is far better at producing clear digitised sound for speech and sound FX

And, by extension, for music.

Originally Posted by PowerPie5000

Anyway i agree the graphics were slightly better on the Snes

32768 colors to the Genesis's 512
256 onscreen colors to the Genesis's 64
128 sprites to the Genesis's 80

"Slightly" is a ridiculous understatement. The only advantage that the Genesis had was its higher resolution.

Originally Posted by PowerPie5000

I own and love both consoles but i think the Megadrive will always be my favourite over the Snes (only just )

Same here, but I don't pretend that it rivals the SNES technically.

[LocalH]

That's not true. The 68000 is technically much better than the 65816 in terms of raw processing power.

[PowerPie5000]

@ Dan Locke

It seems i've hit a nerve

The Megadrive (or Genesis - gay name btw!) had a total of 10 audio channels compared to 8 on the Snes. Yes the Megadrive handles higher resolutions and is also a faster machine thanks to a better processor.

I meant the graphics are "slightly" better if you compare them side by side... The Snes has a larger colour palette but this does not make a tremendous noticeable difference in real world gaming.

Also i think it does rival the Snes technically... both have ups and downs but neither can compare to an Amiga or a 16-bit Neo-Geo

All i can say from years of experience playing both machines and ignoring technical specs is the Megadrive appears to be faster and has more detailed music whilst the Snes has much better speech sampling and the visuals are better.

Thats my opinion and nobody needs to agree with me

[TCD]

Originally Posted by PowerPie5000

The Megadrive (or Genesis - gay name btw!) had a total of 10 audio channels compared to 8 on the Snes.

Well, the Yamaha had 6 channels. Where did the other 4 came from?

[PowerPie5000]

Originally Posted by TheCyberDruid

Well, the Yamaha had 6 channels. Where did the other 4 came from?

The Yamaha YM2612 chip had 6 channels (5 channel FM + 1 channel FM/PCM) and the Texas Instruments SN76489 chip had 4 channels. The Megadrive may use 2 audio chips instead of 1 but it still has a total of 10 channels between them

[s2325]

He had Amiga near MegaDrive.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by PowerPie5000

The Yamaha YM2612 chip had 6 channels (5 channel FM + 1 channel FM/PCM) and the Texas Instruments SN76489 chip had 4 channels. The Megadrive may use 2 audio chips instead of 1 but it still has a total of 10 channels between them

Ah, okay. Would call the TI chip a noise generator, but yeah it had 10 channels then

[PowerPie5000]

Originally Posted by TheCyberDruid

Ah, okay. Would call the TI chip a noise generator, but yeah it had 10 channels then

And how many channels from the 8 on the Snes would have been used for noise/FX? leaving maybe 4 for music/FM synthesis? They both have their advantages/disadvantages but both sound great for different reasons

[Dan Locke]

Originally Posted by PowerPie5000

The Megadrive (or Genesis - gay name btw!) had a total of 10 audio channels compared to 8 on the Snes.

Ah, I had forgotten about the Texas Instruments chip.

Originally Posted by PowerPie5000

Yes the Megadrive handles higher resolutions and is also a faster machine thanks to a better processor.

I had forgotten about the processor advantage. Outside of shoot-em-ups, though, it hardly matters.

Originally Posted by PowerPie5000

I meant the graphics are "slightly" better if you compare them side by side... The Snes has a larger colour palette but this does not make a tremendous noticeable difference in real world gaming.

It does make a noticeable difference. The SNES can have four times as many colors onscreen as the Genesis can, and it shows. Genesis games have far more dithering than SNES games; conversely, SNES games look much smoother than Genesis games. It's the same reason that Amiga games can be less grainy than ST games.

Originally Posted by PowerPie5000

Also i think it does rival the Snes technically... both have ups and downs but neither can compare to an Amiga or a 16-bit Neo-Geo

Both are far better than the Amiga (for moving graphics, that is; the Amiga can render still images better than any other 16-bit system), both have nothing on the 32-bit Neo Geo.

Originally Posted by PowerPie5000

All i can say from years of experience playing both machines and ignoring technical specs

Why am I not surprised?

Originally Posted by PowerPie5000

is the Megadrive appears to be faster and has more detailed music whilst the Snes has much better speech sampling and the visuals are better.

The SNES has better sampling period. And the graphics surpass the Genesis's as much as the Neo Geo's surpass the SNES's.

Originally Posted by PowerPie5000

Thats my opinion and nobody needs to agree with me

I have the actual hardware on my side.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by Dan Locke

I have the actual hardware on my side.

Wow, actual hardware vs. opinion. Not sure who would win the battle... wait, what?

[PowerPie5000]

[QUOTE]

Originally Posted by Dan Locke

I had forgotten about the processor advantage. Outside of shoot-em-ups, though, it hardly matters.

You actually think only schmups benefit from having a 68000 processor?? Not sure how that works.

It does make a noticeable difference. The SNES can have four times as many colors onscreen as the Genesis can, and it shows. Genesis games have far more dithering than SNES games; conversely, SNES games look much smoother thang Genesis games. It's the same reason that Amiga games can be less grainy than ST games.

Yes it makes a difference but you missed the part where i said it does not make a "tremendous difference" at least not enough to make the Snes a more popular choice (here in the UK).

Both are far better than the Amiga (for moving graphics, that is; the Amiga can render still images better than any other 16-bit system), both have nothing on the 32-bit Neo Geo.

I think you will find the Neo Geo IS a 16-bit system... but you are right as the Snes and Megadrive cannot touch the Neo Geo (which also uses a 68000 processor and Yamaha audio chip similar to that of the Megadrive).

Why am I not surprised?

No need to be a smart ass.

The SNES has better sampling period. And the graphics surpass the Genesis's as much as the Neo Geo's surpass the SNES's.

Believe what you want about the music and sound fx... I still think the Megadrive produces better music (drum patterns, hi-hats, synths etc...) and the Snes produces better digitised samples (speech and sound fx). Also i never said the Megadrive had better graphics than the Snes so why keep bringing it up?

I have the actual hardware on my side.

I own the hardware too and have done since the day it all got released. I just find the Megadrive more fun to play overall unless it comes to RPG's.. then the Snes wins hands down.

[Adropac2]

Truth is both had great games and people probably favoured one over for the obvious reasons like owning a machine first.Lots of games you couldn't get for your machine of choice

I'm not sure i agree that it was a style choice thing regards to why Megadrive games looked so glum - like there was a rain cloud always overhead - as even games like the brilliant Dynamite Heady had the same type of glum feel and that featured very rich colour schemes.Just about any game i can think of came with a muddier look on the machine.Each system tends to have it's own feel just like how it was on the 8bits, and Snes's output was a much more vibrant candy land style compared to the Megadrive- that of course doesn't make it better but for some i'm sure it was a factor.To be fair these days i like the different type of feel i get from both systems and of course this aspect at least is really only a preference thing

The Snes and Megardive could both pump a lot of sprites around but Treasure benefited more in really pushing that faster cpu i would guess in the form of all the clever stuff we got to see in Gunstar- Snes's limit was perhaps more easily met but it didn't honestly need to be any more impressive thanks to all the clever stuff it could already do

This is all farily redundant anyway these days as we can play both quite easily enough

[Dan Locke]

Originally Posted by PowerPie5000

You actually think only schmups benefit from having a 68000 processor?? Not sure how that works.

I only said that it's only a marginal advantage with other games. On the SNES, 9 out of 10 shoot-em-ups have horrible slowdown due to the slow-as-molasses 65C816 CPU - but you don't see that kind of thing anywhere else. Unless you're trying to move loads and loads of bullets and enemies around, CPU speed really doesn't come into play very much.

Originally Posted by PowerPie5000

Yes it makes a difference but you missed the part where i said it does not make a "tremendous difference" at least not enough to make the Snes a more popular choice (here in the UK).

When was this ever a popularity contest? It does make "a tremendous difference" - you will never see graphics like this or this on the Genesis. And we haven't even gotten into things like transparency and sprite rotation/scaling, to say nothing of Mode 7 - things like that put it on a new level entirely.

Originally Posted by PowerPie5000

I think you will find the Neo Geo IS a 16-bit system...

Ah, you're right. I could have sworn that I read about it being 32-bit somewhere.

Originally Posted by PowerPie5000

but you are right as the Snes and Megadrive cannot touch the Neo Geo (which also uses a 68000 processor and Yamaha audio chip similar to that of the Megadrive).

Similarly, the Genesis can't touch the SNES.

Originally Posted by PowerPie5000

I still think the Megadrive produces better music (drum patterns, hi-hats, synths etc...)

That's the composers' talent, not an inherent ability of the system. And check out Nobuo Uematsu's score for Final Fantasy 6 for something that shows off the SNES's hardware while being awesome as music at the same time. [ Show youtube player ]

Now, ask yourself - could the Genesis ever produce anything close to that in terms of quality?

Originally Posted by PowerPie5000

and the Snes produces better digitised samples (speech and sound fx). Also i never said the Megadrive had better graphics than the Snes so why keep bringing it up?

I never said that you said that. What you did say was that the SNES's graphics were only marginally better. Which is completely untrue.

Originally Posted by PowerPie5000

I own the hardware too and have done since the day it all got released. I just find the Megadrive more fun to play overall unless it comes to RPG's.. then the Snes wins hands down.

Well, we can agree there. At least on the first half - I can't stand RPGs.

[Jawsykilla]

Wow my thread is still going. @PowerPie5000 and @DanLocke I think you two should probably stop shouting at each other. I never intended for this thread to make people bring up the technical specifications of the systems because that is when the flaming begins but I suppose it is inevitable right? Anyways all i wanted to see was what you Amiga guys preferred SNES or MD. I was surprised to see that more people enjoyed more of their time on the SNES. Where I live most people had a SNES but wanted a Megadrive. As for the gloomy feel to things on the Megadrive I know exactly what you mean and that is what I liked about the console.

I always thought the music sounded better on MD also, I own both consoles and I just checked and the music regarding instruments definitely sound better on the Megadrive.

Also when you guys start talking about technical specs I hope you know it is all redundant because the power of the system means absolutely nothing. The PS3 can perform twice as many raw data calculations per second than the 360 yet the games on the systems are identical are they not? Before anyone starts a PS3 360 war just know that no-one cares.

Cheers,
Jawsykilla

[Antiriad]

Hmmm, if I was objective I would say the SNES was the better machine, but the subjective part of me prefers the Mega Drive as it was 'cool'.

[killergorilla]

The Megadrive was better as it had more chipware.

[PowerPie5000]

Originally Posted by Antiriad

the subjective part of me prefers the Mega Drive as it was 'cool'.

Coolness applies to the MK1 Megadrive... the MK2 was a cheap cut-down mess with inferior audio circuitry (did not sound as sharp!).

As for looks i think both the Megadrive and Snes were excellent... except the US Snes as it looked absolutely horrible! Just as bad as the Turbografx 16