The 16-bit wars: Who REALLY won???

[CronoTriggerfan]

With all this talk of new consoles, I couldn't help but reminisce about console wars of the past. So I start the heated debate once again! Did the Genesis or the SNES come out on top? I'll post my opinion later, but here are some facts:

SNES:
Units sold:
20 million (US) 49 million (Worldwide)

CPU:
16-bit 65c816 Ricoh 5A22 3.58 MHz

Genesis:
Units sold:
35 million

CPU:
16-bit Motorola 68000

The Sega vs. Nintendo "console war"
Mario riding on Yoshi in Super Mario World for the SNES
Enlarge
Mario riding on Yoshi in Super Mario World for the SNES

Sega and Nintendo pushed hard for advantages in the marketplace. The Sega mascot Sonic the Hedgehog was swiftly marketed as the "cooler" alternative to Nintendo's Mario. Sega coined a marketing term called "Blast Processing" that posed as a technical advantage for the Genesis. Sega advertising was very confrontational in this time, with slogans like "Genesis does what Nintendon't" and the "Sega scream".

Nintendo countered with franchise games such as the Mario series, The Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, Super Metroid, and later Donkey Kong Country, and many others for the Super NES and Game Boy. Sega released Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in 1992 amidst a huge marketing push (in the UK and US, it was released on "Sonic 2sday"), which became more popular than the first game. Less than a year later, Nintendo released enhanced remakes of the original NES Super Mario games on the Super NES titled Super Mario All-Stars.
Bonk's Adventure
Enlarge
Bonk's Adventure

NEC pushed the TurboGrafx-16 using their mascot Bonk. This head-banging caveman was used in most of the TurboGrafx advertising from 1990-1994. The platform was well received initially especially in larger markets in the US. In smaller metropolitan areas, the TurboGrafx was difficult to find as NEC did not have as many store representatives or as focused in-store promotion as in the larger urban areas. The Japanese version of the TurboGrafx, the PC Engine, was quite successful in Japan through the popularity of its titles available on the at the time new CD-ROM format. NEC released a CD add-on in 1990 and by 1992 had released a combination TurboGrafx and CD-ROM system known as the TurboDuo.
Mortal Kombat was released on both the SNES and Genesis, but the Nintendo version featured censorship.
Mortal Kombat was released on both the SNES and Genesis, but the Nintendo version featured censorship

When the Mortal Kombat controversy hit the consoles, Nintendo decided to censor the game's gore, while Sega kept the content in the game, allowing players to access it via a special code. Nintendo has had a long-standing policy of censorship, but now Sega began to position itself as the more "mature" console, willing to give gamers the content Nintendo deemed "not family friendly". Sega's gamble paid off, and their version of Mortal Kombat was often given higher and more favorable reviews in the gaming press. As a result of this, Nintendo reconsidered its position, and when Mortal Kombat II was ported to the console, all of the violence was intact.

Many (particularly younger) gamers labeled themselves as either a Nintendo fan or a Sega fan, as though the two were mutually exclusive. Even single-format magazines got in on the rivalry, with attacks at each other's hardware and software fuelling the flames of fanboyism.

By 1994 the TurboGrafx-16 and its CD combination system the Turbo Duo were out of manufacture in North America, though a small amount of software continued to trickle out for the platform. NEC released the 32-bit PC-FX console the same year in Japan. Plans were underway for a US release of the PC-FX but an already flooded market of platforms including the far more powerful 3DO and Atari Jaguar systems caused TTI (who had taken over running the TurboGrafx platform) to halt their North American release plans.

Overall, the SNES came out the winner in the console war.

Even though Sega saw success in the 16-bit console war, this proved to be the beginning of the end for them with their attempts to usher in the new generation needlessly ahead of time, for they were performing well in the current one. The worst examples of this were the 32x and Mega CD add-ons for the Mega Drive, which were commercial failures. This, combined with Sega dropping virtually all support for the Mega Drive and its add-ons in favor of the upcoming Saturn upset loyal fans, and resulted in the Saturn getting off on the wrong foot.
[edit]

Worldwide sales standings:

Super Nintendo Entertainment System: 49.02 million

Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis: 30.75 million

TurboGrafx-16: 5 million

Choose wisely!

CTFan

[Klefmung]

SNES took it by storm. Easy.

[grahf]

In the US, the Genesis had a greater market share than the SNES for 2 years i think. Evry other year the snes was on top. Towards the end especially.. Nintendo got ahead big time around the time when Donkey Kong Country was released, and just kept on running.

EDIT: just another note, the "war" was always really close. I dont think you can really say either one lost. Nintendo and Sega both did very well for themselves, and it was a phenominal time in gaming. Its just a shame the TG16 didnt have the same success in the US as the PC Engine did in Japan.

[Sparkfist]

Yeah as far as games went Genesis really was ahead of the SNES. But as grahf mentioned games towards the end of the 16bit era really went to the SNES, better graphics, audio and larger games total over took the Genesis in the end. It was close but as I see it Sega's Genesis won, the key reason being that one they had the money to make and market the Sega CD, two is that they just had a larger library.

Kind of like the 128bit era. PS2 had more games then the Xbox, towards the end people were able to show that the Xbox was far better but it was too late the PS2 has sold more consoles and more games then Xbox had.

Now the last paragraph was an example don't turn this thread into a PS2 vs. Xbox thread... Or I will lock it.

[scherzo]

For me personally, the SNES wins. It was able to do things the Genesis either couldn't do or struggled to do at all. This includes hardware rotated sprites/backgrounds and true 3D graphics using polygons. This made games like Mario Kart and Starfox not only possible but damn good too.

Another point that was very important to me back then was sound and we all know the SNES tops the Genesis here.

But it's not like I didn't enjoy the Genesis for some of its strong points, one of which was processor speed. Games on Genesis were less prone to slowdown. This really was evident in the sports and shooters.

In the end it was pretty much a tie but I think SNES came on top slightly.

[gannon]

I say snes, but in all actuallity you should look at gross profit from the consoles, not the sales.

[jones]

I would have to vote for the Genesis, but both were and are great systems.

I was big into sports games during that time and every sports game on the Genesis that had a counterpart on the SNES (in other words EA games) was far superior in terms of graphics and performance. Plus, the Genesis did have some other cool stuff like Sonic, Golden Axe, Super Monaco GP, Columns, etc.

The Super Nintendo was no slouch either. The sports game sucked, but it made up for it with great games like A Link to the Past (still one of my all time favorites), Actraiser, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 2, and so on. It even had Simcity!!!

Overall though the Genesis prevails for me even without bringing the joy that playing Snatcher (another of my all time favorites) on my Sega CD into the proceedings.

I played the Genesis way more than the Super Nintendo and I was one of the few people I knew with a Super Nintendo, whereas most of my friends had the Genesis. By this crude method of measurement I say the Genesis won with the Super Nintendo a solid second place.

[totokan]

I never have owned a SNES, my uncle has one, it's got good games. Also, the 3d games mentioned used a chip in the cart, the snes was not capable of that on its own. I'm sure the genesis carts could make something like that, but I doubt its usefulness beyond POC.

[Krepticor]

that is why the Genesis had the 32x!

I really don't know Iliked them both but I think the SNES was tailored for the North American audience game-wise(Kinda like comparing the Saturn and the PSX, again example)

Also, the Genesis came out earlier so there was also the issue of the jump on the market, it also had games that were also released on the NES on its repritoire

Everything must be taken with a grain of salt, I think the Genesis has some gems, as well as some games that seem, well incomplete or just not completely thought out...

The SNES Had a library of really good games, but lets not forget the retarded Slo-Mo that was a sign of neglect...

[Turbo Tax 1.0]

i think the SNES is way better than the genny, but thats just my opinion

its really all about the games you like, i will agree with jones on the sports game dealy, the only sports game i really enjoy on the SNES is griffey all others pretty much stink except for NBA jam


but there are so many other games, mainly RPGs that are wicked for the SNES, earthbound, chrono trigger, FF2 and 3, SMRPG, they were all killer in my opinion.

i guess im just a Nintendo fanboy also, i guess my portables show that also

[lifeisbetterwithketchup]

I say snes, but in all actuallity you should look at gross profit from the consoles, not the sales.

I disagree with that. Sega was a relatively new company for gaming (in the consumer's eyes at least; yes they had the master system but that wasn't all that popular), and needed to prove themselves to the consumers. Now I don't know the SNES vs. Genesis profit numbers, but I still think that they are irrelevent. Nintendo was already a formidable force with gaming a la NES.

A more current-day example is the Xbox 1. Microsoft lost 4 billion dollars with Xbox. However, I would say that it was worth it for them simply because of the fact that it established the Xbox brand and got people familiar with Microsoft in the gaming world.

Oh and if you go by profit, Gamecube won last gen.

[Metroid fan]

I say that the snes won no matter what the genesis was ok but the snes has some of the best games of all time on it for me.

[ShockSlayer]

SNES FTW!

FTW back wards is WTF...

SS

[teraflop122]

I used to defend the Genesis because I owned one as a child. Now I wished I had owned a Snes, because so many of the PC titles I love, such as Simcity and Civilization, and Doom, happened to exist on the Snes!

If only...

[grahf]

Wow i cant beleive how civilized this thread is staying (so far ). Thats really rare in console discussion threads. Everyone pat themselves on the back

I have much fonder memories of the SNES, since i was really into RPGs during that era. On the other hand, my neighbor had a Genesis. I remember getting really exited over a few of Genesis only games. Sonic was f'in awesome the first time i played it, as was X-Men.

People get waaay worked up over which one was better, but i think it all comes down to which one you had the most fun playing.