The 16-Bit Console Wars - Why Sega Were Equal To Nintendo

[Spark Of Spirit]

The Sega Genesis is so underrated these days even among the retro crowds. Since Sega has fallen out of the system wars, there's a lot of cover-up going on that just isn't right. I'm going to try to set the record straight as to why Sega at their peak were better competitors to Nintendo than any other company since. Here's a list of reasons why the Genesis still rules, and why it went toe to toe with the SNES back in the day.


1. Sonic The Hedgehog



The only character who has ever went up against Mario as a real rival. Sonic was meant to be the anti-Mario which not only attracted those who were not interested in the portly plumber, but also those who were already fans of Mario and wanted something new. Sega was smart back in the 90s, something companies like Sony and Microsoft should be looking into. Instead of copying their competition, look into what worked for them and instead of emulating, find something new from it. The Sonic series not only left 5 distinctively great games in the Genesis era, but had countless spin offs and was a sales juggernaut. If you own a Genesis and don't own a Sonic game, you are a hipster. Admit it, the games were great. Sonic helped lead the charge against Nintendo.


2. Arcade experience Vs. Console experience






Sega were already the kings of the arcades, and used that to bridge into the console arena. Nintendo knew how to get it out there to everyone, but they didn't offer the same style quarter-munching and twitch gaming the arcades had. The SNES was also not as fast as the Genesis despite outclassing it in most other areas. Sega got together with other arcade greats like Capcom, and Namco as well as shmup and smaller developers (like the quickly rising EA) and went out of their way to offer experiences you just couldn't get on a Nintendo system. Rolling Thunder, Forgotten Worlds, MERC, Road Rash, General Chaos, E-Swat, OutRun, Shinobi... You just weren't going to get that on the SNES.


3. Advertising



Again, Sega is still the only competitor of Nintendo to get this. Aping your competitor doesn't get you further ahead. Outclassing (or at least offering something completely different and pretending it's better) is a much better way to do that. I have yet to see a good video game commercial not from Nintendo or Sega, which is probably why they are still the only companies synonymous with gaming.


4. Third Party exclusives





But Sega didn't stop at the anti-Nintendo and non-gamer crowd. They went for the Nintendo fans, too. Getting original games in series and genres known for being on Nintendo systems. Obviously, this era has since died off, but it was a key to Sega infiltrating the homes of anyone interested in a Nintendo system as well as those without. This lead to a lot of school yard fights, but for those of us who knew better, this was fantastic.


5. Quality





Sega's first party support for the Genesis was incredible. Not only in securing exclusives from third parties, but in their original offerings. Sega wasn't just blowing smoke. They were good at delivering on all their promises (blast processing aside), and even secured a few deals with publishers that made sure their content would be different than what the SNES offered. While multiplatform games would vary between the two, they were not really the point here. In the end it came down to if you thought what Sega was offering was as good as what Nintendo was offering. Everyone knew that they offered a similarly great experience, but the problem was not everyone could afford it. Hence the console wars.








In recent times you hear tales of how the SNES came out with Donkey Kong Country at the zero hour and the SNES left the Genesis in the dust. Securing a win in the console war.

That didn't happen.

Until the day the N64 came out and the Saturn was being cobbled together, the SNES never overtook the Genesis or vice-versa. There was no winner in the 16-bit console war. However, since Nintendo is still in the game and Sega fell out of it thanks to the Sega CD/32X/Nomad/Saturn bombs due to the US and Japan branches actively sabotaging each other, despite the Dreamcast doing great business (another travesty, the fanboys painting the Dreamcast as a failure when it most definitely WAS NOT) Sega left the hardware race and now certain parties are attempting to discredit what they accomplished.

For anyone who lived at the time they know that the only winner of the 16-bit console war were the developers and the gamers. The way it should be.

Oh yeah, in the 16-bit wars there was also the Turbografx, but it was still second to the Genesis and SNES. Look the system up, though. There are lots of great games on that. 

[gunswordfist]

What the hell is Nomad? Every day I'm hearing about Sega consoles I've never heard of.

Also,  I wish I didn't just own a Genesis as a kid (NES was the only Nintendo console I've ever owned) so I could have really enjoyed both sides but the Sega fan in me loves this hooray for their best console.

[Spark Of Spirit]

The Nomad was a portable Sega Genesis, basically.

Yeah, the 16-bit generation is the best gaming era, in my mind. The competition was fierce, but the level of output from every company was pretty high. Even the Turbografx was an underrated gem-maker. Honestly, I just think I see Sega getting underrated these days from even people who lived in that era. It really was a neck and neck race the whole way, and us gamers really benefited for it.

[Kiddington]

For the record, part of the reason why I ignored the Genesis growing up (despite having one, as well as an SNES) is that it was often difficult to get my parents to buy me games for both consoles. I mean, yeah, there were rentals, but you know what I mean. Other than Sonic, and a few other things (Ristar, Gunstar Heroes, Comix Zone, etc. etc.), I choose the SNES for the bulk of my wishlist. It's just how things turned out, you know?

Seriously though, once I get a job again, I'll really start making an effort to add to my collection. FYI, I did buy Rolling Thunder 2 the last time I went to the retro game store in town for only $5 (I believe that was one of your recommendations in another other thread). Definitely liking it so far, too. Not sure how I missed this one before, but it's pretty good.

[Spark Of Spirit]

For the record, part of the reason why I ignored the Genesis growing up (despite having one, as well as an SNES) is that it was often difficult to get my parents to buy me games for both consoles. I mean, yeah, there were rentals, but you know what I mean. Other than Sonic, and a few other things (Ristar, Gunstar Heroes, Comix Zone, etc. etc.), I choose the SNES for the bulk of my wishlist. It's just how things turned out, you know?

I had friends who did this, too. And some who did the other. Since I rented pretty much everything, I had enough for both systems (I had to wait a long time for the Genesis, though) and thankfully the rental stores had a lot of cool and obscure games.

The 16-bit era had everything. 

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Its funny how today I can't even afford more than one console per generation, whereas back when I was a kid, my dad used to make a lot more money and I didn't have to worry about silly things like college tuition fees and having to get a job and whatnot.

Anyways, my point is that my brother and I were among the smaller crowd of kids who were lucky enough to own both consoles. I ended up playing a decent amount of games for both, but admittedly my brother and I stuck to mostly mainstream games, and of course we also rented stuff more often than buying games (which was more like a rare occasion for us, as we usually only ever got games to actually own as birthday gifts). Of course given that the average game back in those days only took a couple of hours to complete (unless you wanted to 100% them, of course, which I was never that big on to be honest), renting was almost always a good option.

Its just a shame that our SNES ans Sega Genesis weren't kept in good condition and ended up becoming scrap when we moved onto later console generations. Personally, I blame my older brother for this because he was the one who always mishandled the systems and generally didn't show any respect for the stuff that we owned. As for me I still played the SNES (I had admittedly kind of lost interest in the Genesis at that time), but not enough to prompt my dad to get it repaired after it stopped turning on (I never actually found out what went wrong with it), since by that time I was mostly playing either N64 or PS1 games (yeah, even during that generation we could still afford 2 consoles). It'd be nice to own both the SNES and Sega Genesis again just to be able to experience the authentic versions of their games on the original consoles, but unfortunately I'll have to stick to mere ports for now (which don't quite feel the same without the respective controllers for each console).

[talonmalon333]

This generation was my real start into gaming (there was an NES in my house long ago, but I either too young or not born yet, so I don't remember ever seeing it). I was also lucky enough to own both an SNES and Genesis (What's the abbreviation for Genesis?), but I owned a Genesis first. Lots of memories playing this console when I was really young. To be honest though, when I got older, I grew to feel like the system had very little besides Sonic. It was only when I got even older that I understood otherwise.

... Though my favorite for the system is still S3&K. I have a feeling that'll never change.

But still...

[Spark Of Spirit]

I started with NES, though I don't remember when I got it, but the 16-bit era was when it seemed gaming really blew up. It was always Sega this or Nintendo that, and there were all kinds of great games everywhere. Sure there was bad stuff, but that didn't matter when there was always a bunch of good stuff you'd never even seen before. Even the licensed games were still pretty good.

It was good competition between the two, and we really benefited from it. I don't think there's been a competition in the industry as good as that yet.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Found this on Sonic Stadium.

This is what I'm talking about. This is revisionist nonsense. This did not happen.

[Commode]

Yeah, Sega killed Sonic. And their console business.  It was nobody's fault but theirs.

Get it right or pay the price, Budnick.

Wait, what mag is this, Ninty Power?

[Spark Of Spirit]

The UK Nintendo magazine.

Super Mario World is pre-Sonic 2, by the way.

[Commode]

Well, if you wanna go that route, Sonic wasn't released "a few months" after the Mega Drive, it was released two years later, after the Super Famicom was released in Japan(but before the Super NES was released here).

[Spark Of Spirit]

Pretty much, but Super Mario World was not made to combat either the Genesis nor Sonic, it was just a new Mario game. Nintendo's reactions to Sonic and the Genesis were seen with stuff like Yoshi's Island, Donkey Kong Country, and Star Fox which were well after the launch. Nintendo was hardly aware of Sonic when the first game hadn't even been released by the SNES launch in Japan.

All that said, I'm a massive fan of both companies and especially the 16-bit era but to pretend there was a clear winner between the two is just wrong. In fact, it's probably the only console war where there wasn't one.

[Avaitor]

Get it right or pay the price, Budnick.

Ug. Lee. Ug. Lee. Ug! Lee! UG! LEE! UG! LEE! UGLY!!!!

[Rosalinas Spare Wand]

The whole 16-bit wars deal was almost entirely a North America thing anyway. As far as I've read, the Genesis and Mega Drive were the runaway winners in Europe and were pretty far behind the NES and SNES in Japan.