Author Topic: Why SEGA was better than Nintendo in the 16-bit era  (Read 5485 times)

Offline Spock

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Why SEGA was better than Nintendo in the 16-bit era
« on: July 31, 2016, 09:25:58 am »
What do you think are some really good reasons that SEGA was better than Nintendo in the console era? I will start off by saying that the Genesis came first and that it had better music.
« Last Edit: July 31, 2016, 05:11:39 pm by Barry the Nomad »

Offline Sharky

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Re: Licking A SEGA Is Better Than Fishing For Pencils
« Reply #1 on: July 31, 2016, 09:52:33 am »
You need to stop making topic titles that don't reflect anything in the thread.
« Last Edit: July 31, 2016, 09:59:41 am by Sharky »
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Offline Centrale

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Re: Licking A SEGA Is Better Than Fishing For Pencils
« Reply #2 on: July 31, 2016, 12:03:20 pm »
I think this would fit better in the Classic discussion section if we're going to be talking about the console era.

Offline Barry the Nomad

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Re: Why SEGA was better than Nintendo in the 16-bit era
« Reply #3 on: July 31, 2016, 05:12:31 pm »
Seconding Sharky, please stop making topic titles that make no sense. Happy to have discussion, but that title was very very weird. Also, moving to classic discussion. :)

Offline pcm92

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Re: Why SEGA was better than Nintendo in the 16-bit era
« Reply #4 on: August 01, 2016, 07:21:40 pm »
I was unable to read the original thread title this time, I must say that your threads would actually be great without the weird topic titles. That's the reason they don't get many responses after being renamed.

Sega was superior to Nintendo until they released the 32X. That was why Sega went bankrupt. They should have released the Saturn at that time instead of when they did.

Offline Berto

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Re: Why SEGA was better than Nintendo in the 16-bit era
« Reply #5 on: August 01, 2016, 07:36:15 pm »
I was unable to read the original thread title this time

Actually you could always read the original thread title by checking the title on second post. Lol.

Quote


And on topic, the reason SEGA was superior because SEGA was David and Nintendo was Goliath.
David was destined to win. The only way he'd fall was because of a mistake he made to himself.

Offline Artwark

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Re: Why SEGA was better than Nintendo in the 16-bit era
« Reply #6 on: August 26, 2016, 07:22:47 pm »
I'll never understand the bland hate most of you express towards Nintendo. Yes I get that no company is perfect and Nintendo to some (not for me though) is one of them but hating for the sake of hating is just plain dumb.


And to those who will put my former posts on how I cursed SEGA and what not, yeah I realize that's wrong to say but I just wanted SEGA to do good and to make great Sonic games (which so far is working out thanks to Sonic Mania) and that's that.


Offline Sharky

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Re: Why SEGA was better than Nintendo in the 16-bit era
« Reply #7 on: August 27, 2016, 06:03:40 am »
I'll never understand the bland hate most of you express towards Nintendo. Yes I get that no company is perfect and Nintendo to some (not for me though) is one of them but hating for the sake of hating is just plain dumb.
So far nobody in this thread has said a bad word against Nintendo.


Quote
And to those who will put my former posts on how I cursed SEGA and what not, yeah I realize that's wrong to say but I just wanted SEGA to do good and to make great Sonic games (which so far is working out thanks to Sonic Mania) and that's that.

Yes but it was your outburst of hate towards SEGA that triggered most of the negitivity towards Nintendo that you first saw. Most people here actually like Nintendo. BUT this is a SEGA fansite, if you come in kicking and screaming about how SEGA sucks and Nintendo are the best thing since sliced bread you're bound to find opposition. People tend to defend what they like.



ANNNYYWAYY.
As for why SEGA were better than Nintendo (imo), it comes down to one thing really... Game preference. There's no right or wrong, both companies were making plenty of great games. So in the end it just comes down to what style you prefer... I prefered SEGA's style, it always felt a little cooler and riskier and more off the wall... Plus, I always love the underdog.

I think SEGA, at the time, represented what the best indie developers represent today; They didn't just stick to the tried and tested formula. SEGA were always trying new things... Games like Ecco, Comix Zone, Gunstar Heroes, Virtua Fighter even Sonic was pretty revolutionary once upon a time. It's why SEGA are responsible for so many 'firsts' even though videogame consoles had been around for 2 decades prior to SEGAs first. Many of the things that seem newish today like online gaming on console, DLC, Steam, VR head sets, motion controllers... SEGA were doing these things far before their time.

It's also sort of what has shot SEGA in the foot though, how many beloved classic IP's do they have that people are moaning about not seeing a sequal for years? Possibly well over 100... The fanbase is so fractured and everyone wants their game of choice to come back.
« Last Edit: August 27, 2016, 06:08:15 am by Sharky »
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Offline crackdude

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Re: Why SEGA was better than Nintendo in the 16-bit era
« Reply #8 on: August 27, 2016, 08:23:46 am »
NintenDON'T.

Plus, BLAST Processing.
SEG4GES

Offline Barry the Nomad

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Re: Why SEGA was better than Nintendo in the 16-bit era
« Reply #9 on: August 27, 2016, 08:36:05 am »
Do we need Nintendo fan trigger warnings on the forums? I kid... I kid.

Offline OriginalName

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Re: Why SEGA was better than Nintendo in the 16-bit era
« Reply #10 on: October 08, 2016, 09:36:47 am »
Y'know, the more familiar I've gotten with the Japanese library on the Super Famicom, the harder it's become to make a case for why the Sega Mega family of consoles was better overall. It's fairly widely agreed that Japanese developers were still a cut above Western ones back then, and Nintendo was just dominant over there back then, so a lot of incredible games, even ones that better fit the Sega style (Undercover Cops, Wild Guns, Clock Tower, Hagane, Majyuu Ou, EVO: The Search for Eden, et cetera) wound up being exclusive to their console. In certain cases, I think that the fact that Nintendo is more popular now has altered the way that we regard the status of these games in context, and I think that a lot of people are frustratingly dismissive about what was being offered on the Mega Drive/CD simply because it's become the popular notion that Sega "lost" (more on this later), but when you're comparing something like 1,500 games for Nintendo's console worldwide vs. maybe 1,000 for all of Sega's combined, it just adds up.

But in regards to Sega's output vs. Nintendo's specifically, I don't think it's any contest. Nintendo only released a couple of games every year, and in terms of productivity, Sega ran circles around them. Not taking titles that either company produced into account -- I'm talking ones that they developed in-house -- Nintendo developed around 20 games over the entire seven years that the SNES was on the market, and that's including co-developed titles (Star Fox, Sim City) and compilations. Sega developed nearly 100 in the same span of time. Quantity doesn't always equal quality, but out of those 20 games Nintendo released, I would only really deem about 10 of them classics -- once you take out less celebrated games like Yoshi's Safari, Wario's Woods, Super Play Action Football, Super Scope 6, and Winter Gold, what you're left with is a collection of dizzying highs, to be sure: the Super Mario series, Link to the Past, Super Metroid, Super Mario Kart, Star Fox, F-Zero, Pilotwings, Stunt Race FX, Tetris & Dr. Mario, and Super Punch-Out... But do those few games really stand up to...

The Sonic, Streets of Rage, Phantasy Star, Shining, Shinobi, Super Monaco GP, Puzzle & Action, and Mickey & Donald series, alongside Ristar, Golden Axe, Virtua Fighter, Virtua Racing Deluxe, Star Wars Arcade, Space Harrier, After Burner II, Out Run, Super Hang-On, Comix Zone, E-Swat, Bonanza Bros., Alien Storm, Gain Ground, and The Hybrid Front, among others?

Honestly, I don't think so. And if you're not a fan of one or a few of those Nintendo games (personally, Mario Kart, Pilotwings, and Super Punch-Out do nothing for me), pit those 10 against Sega's 35+, and things are starting to look a bit dire. You have to really, REALLY like Mario, Zelda, and Metroid to give them the nod clean over all of the quality that Sega was pumping out.

This leads me rather haphazardly into something that really bothers me: I don't agree with the popular notion that Nintendo "beat" Sega during the 16-bit period. So many years on and journalists are still coming to this discussion from a playground perspective: who sold more at the end of the day. There are a lot of flaws in this approach when you consider this bearing in mind how big business is actually run. Nintendo was projected to maintain 90%+ market share with the SNES, and they faltered all the way to 35%, and didn't maintain a remotely convincing lead until Sega had already shifted their focus on to their next generation of hardware. Had the Nintendo 64 not been delayed by an entire year, it's doubtful that they ever would've racked up all of those extra sales after the competition was already over.

The Super Nintendo outsold the Genesis only by the point that their entire company was going full-bore against the last of Sega of America's graveyard shift that was giving their last-generation console a send-off. Nintendo lost in the ways that mattered: they lost a monopoly, they lost a ton of money (the pay cuts after diving from 90%+ to less than 40% market share must have been massive), they lost third-party support, and their entire vision for how they would run the industry was permanently ruined. Sega, on the other hand, stood only to gain. The exact opposite of all the negatives I just mentioned for Nintendo. And again, Nintendo didn't catch up, quite specifically on the 16-bit front, until Sega had already moved on.

Not to reduce how incredible the Super Nintendo was as a console, just that it didn't "win" in any way that had meaning in the real world. Nintendo did a LOT of losing that generation. Doesn't make Super Metroid any less of a masterpiece, though.
« Last Edit: October 08, 2016, 08:03:49 pm by OriginalName »

Offline Berto

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Re: Why SEGA was better than Nintendo in the 16-bit era
« Reply #11 on: October 10, 2016, 04:03:32 am »
Quantity doesn't always equal quality, but out of those 20 games Nintendo released, I would only really deem about 10 of them classics -- once you take out less celebrated games like Yoshi's Safari, Wario's Woods, Super Play Action Football, Super Scope 6, and Winter Gold, what you're left with is a collection of dizzying highs, to be sure: the Super Mario series, Link to the Past, Super Metroid, Super Mario Kart, Star Fox, F-Zero, Pilotwings, Stunt Race FX, Tetris & Dr. Mario, and Super Punch-Out...

Don't forget Donkey Kong Country series. 
The first game was a big hit back then.
There are even many bought the game just because of the amazing 3D-look-alike screenshot.
Donkey Kong Country is the first game I'd associate with every time I heard word "SNES" (just like Alex Kidd with Master System, Sonic with Genesis, Mario with NES, and Crash Bandicoot with PS1).


The Super Nintendo outsold the Genesis only by the point that their entire company was going full-bore against the last of Sega of America's graveyard shift that was giving their last-generation console a send-off. Nintendo lost in the ways that mattered: they lost a monopoly, they lost a ton of money (the pay cuts after diving from 90%+ to less than 40% market share must have been massive), they lost third-party support, and their entire vision for how they would run the industry was permanently ruined. Sega, on the other hand, stood only to gain. The exact opposite of all the negatives I just mentioned for Nintendo. And again, Nintendo didn't catch up, quite specifically on the 16-bit front, until Sega had already moved on.

Well said.  Agree 100% on this.

Offline OriginalName

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Re: Why SEGA was better than Nintendo in the 16-bit era
« Reply #12 on: October 10, 2016, 06:02:27 am »
Don't forget Donkey Kong Country series. 
The first game was a big hit back then.
There are even many bought the game just because of the amazing 3D-look-alike screenshot.
Donkey Kong Country is the first game I'd associate with every time I heard word "SNES" (just like Alex Kidd with Master System, Sonic with Genesis, Mario with NES, and Crash Bandicoot with PS1).

Oh, for sure, Donkey Kong Country was huge back in the day. I remember playing it in Toys 'R Us as a kid, and actually thinking that I was playing a brand new system because the graphics were so good. Nintendo didn't do any development on the title, though. They just licensed the rights to Donkey Kong out to Rare. That's also why I didn't include games like Super Fantasy Zone, Gunstar Heroes, Ecco the Dolphin, ToeJam & Earl, or Vectorman on Sega's side to be fair. Just going purely by what Sega and Nintendo proper developed as first-parties that generation. I'm just glad I got on one of those classic, goofy, name-a-billion-games-in-a-forum-post bents, 'cause I'm definitely going to be reliving some 16-bit memories tonight. Cheers!