Genesis Lets Talk about the Sega Genesis Megadrive, the videogame console that forced Nintendo to do discounts on the Super Nintendo

[bcdusk]

What Sega CD games were ported to Windows?

By Sega?

Sonic CD for Windows 3.1.

Ecco The Dolphin, for Windows 95.aka the CD version.

For old Sega games on PC this video covers most of them:

While not done by Sega, Earth Worm Jim for Windows 95 is the Sega CD version with better colors.

Cadillacs and Dinosaurs: The Second Cataclysm, had both PC and Sega CD versions.

Heck I had Cadillacs and Dinosaurs: The Second Cataclysm, good game but I was bummed it wasn't a port of the Arcade game and it can get quite hard in the later levels.

A more complete list of Sega games for Windows here:

https://segaretro.org/Windows_PC#List_of_Sega_games_for_Windows_PCs

You've also still not addressed how anyone forced Nintendo to do anything, which is odd given that it's the title of the thread. The pricing video you posted, shows that this was not the case. Unless you're talking in brazil or something, but the video is referring to US pricing.

The competition with Sega was why Nintendo had to cut prices do note once they basically "won" over the Sega Genesis they actually did RAISE the Price of the Super Nintendo.

 

[PhaseJump]

Genesis had a 2 year head start, was native backwards compatible with the 8bit generation, and performed better in many ways compared to the delayed SNES. Sega was competitive and a lead platform for 2-3 years.

It was by far the better platform to develop games for despite Nintendo making it's best games in house. It is still getting games, the SGDK has opened it up to easy development.

It is the perfect machine for homebrew devs these days.

This picture is giving me uncanny valley vibes. The mix of genesis & mega drive boxes, the model 1 sonic 1 and a 6 button pad elevated by the cable, the C button height on the pad itself is throwing my brain for a loop, expecting it to be a mini-6 genesis 3 pad, but it's not.

 

[bcdusk]

native

No, it was an adapter.

Power Base Converter (Genesis, 1989) - Sega Does

By shoving the Power Base Converter into the top of your Genesis Model 1 unit, you could play Master System games. What a scoop!

segadoes.com

Considering that Sega was able to basically run Sega Master System games on a portable, even if the Game Gear handled colors slightly differently, it doesn't surprise me this thing exists.

Sadly an adapter to run Game Gear games on the Sega Genesis was never officially made.

It is the perfect machine for homebrew devs these days.

Not just homebrew, COMERCIAL GAMES still get released for the Sega Genesis once in a while, that's nuts.

For example:

Astebros – Sega-16

www.sega-16.com

And unlike those new releases made for the Nes that only work in clones, they do work in real hardware.

This picture is giving me uncanny valley vibes.

May be made by AI.

I could make a similar pic but most of the games would be bootlegs cause Latin America.

I am missing several stuff to make a tower of power but I do have a Sega 32x and a Sega CD.

 

[PhaseJump]

No, it was an adapter.

Power Base Converter (Genesis, 1989) - Sega Does

By shoving the Power Base Converter into the top of your Genesis Model 1 unit, you could play Master System games. What a scoop!

segadoes.com

Considering that Sega was able to basically run Sega Master System games on a portable, even if the Game Gear handled colors slightly differently, it doesn't surprise me this thing exists.

Sadly an adapter to run Game Gear games on the Sega Genesis was never officially made.

You wouldn't say a pin adapter removes native game support if you're talking about Famicom games running on an NES. They are the same hardware. Genesis also contained the same hardware as the SMS and ran the games natively, the adapter didn't contain any hardware.

I bought that OG PBC back in the day.

Not just homebrew, COMERCIAL GAMES still get released for the Sega Genesis once in a while, that's nuts.

For example:

Astebros – Sega-16

www.sega-16.com

And unlike those new releases made for the Nes that only work in clones, they do work in real hardware.

I never implied it was just homebrew and non-commercial. Yuzo Koshiro is the latest OG dev to put out a new game for it.

May be made by AI.

I could make a similar pic but most of the games would be bootlegs cause Latin America.

I am missing several stuff to make a tower of power but I do have a Sega 32x and a Sega CD.

Maybe. The artist name is on it, I don't know how much of their stuff is AI generated. I do know I've been figuratively buried under a treasure mountain of Sega games and hardware revisions for more than 3 decades and looking at that image is somehow off-putting.

 

[bcdusk]

hardware revisions

Model 1 or Model 2 only please, the rest all have problems. Yes the Model 2 sounds different but not in a bad way. Apparently in some cases the Model 2 sound can be improved and some Model 1 have bad video quality?

https://www.reddit.com/r/SEGAGENESIS/comments/16astm7/is_it_worth_buying_a_model_2_to_save_money/

Personally I had no problems with the Model 2, wish more emulators offered to change the emulation between Model 1 and Model 2 as some soundtracks do sound better in Model 2 for some reason.

 

[PhaseJump]

Model 1 or Model 2 only please, the rest all have problems. Yes the Model 2 sounds different but not in a bad way. Apparently in some cases the Model 2 sound can be improved and some Model 1 have bad video quality?

https://www.reddit.com/r/SEGAGENESIS/comments/16astm7/is_it_worth_buying_a_model_2_to_save_money/

Personally I had no problems with the Model 2, wish more emulators offered to change the emulation between Model 1 and Model 2 as some soundtracks do sound better in Model 2 for some reason.

They all have problems if you don't mod and recap them, but launch Model 1 is preferable, Model 2 variants aren't all bad, but there are differences. Both need typical repairs and maintenance now. Genesis 3 and similar ASIC clones are best avoided entirely.

Hyperkin's fleet of cheap retro consoles are kicking around out there with no quality. Some clones are using the wrong voltage and going out of spec on their own chipsets.

The only clone I use every day is the Analogue MegaSG. It is the best, but even that thing is not completely accurate in FPGA. You would need to be crazy to notice and nitpick over it though.

 

[petran79]

Sega fared better in Europe because it had much better distributors. The NES especially came very late in some countries, giving Sega free reign.

 

[bjork]

For old Sega games on PC this video covers most of them:

The competition with Sega was why Nintendo had to cut prices do note once they basically "won" over the Sega Genesis they actually did RAISE the Price of the Super Nintendo.

Out of curiosity: do you watch the videos you're linking as sources? The only Sega CD title in there is Sonic CD. The rest is older arcade ports and Saturn stuff. The complete list of Sega PC titles is largely unhelpful, though.

As to the second point: why isn't it that Sega had to drop prices to compete with Nintendo? The video you posted about console pricing clearly says, "Price cutting is an important and necessary business strategy that surely anticipates reactions from both the consumer and the competitors." It also points out that Genesis launches at $189 with a pack-in, and stayed there through 1990. June 91 was $179 with Sonic. August is SNES with SMW for $199. If anything, I'd say the impending launch of the SNES was why the Genesis was cut. As a smart marketing move, not being either company was forced to.
Sorry to keep going back to that, but it's just an odd phrasing that's completely untrue.

 

[bcdusk]

Yes Sega did cut prices but so did Nintendo and Nintendo ended RAISING PRICES once they had beat the Sega Genesis.

In Argentina, Nintendo advertising for the Super Nintendo mostly consisted in paying for Super Nintendo games to get reviewed in local TV programs that talked about games. And they later did a massive campaign about Donkey Kong Country that consistsed in airing secrets and tips for the game constantly for several months.

In hindsight it was weird how those shows reviewed stuff like the Super Nintendo mouse games and didn't touch Sega Genesis games, and how they were mostly possible about everything.

And also didn't mention prices at all.

How popular is Sonic in Argentina?

He got a statue.

https://www.reddit.com/r/SonicTheHedgehog/comments/159fc7n/a_statue_they_put_in_a_park_in_argentina/

Anyway, should I talk about the Sega CD and 32x here? Frankly I don't think they deserve their own thread, and they did need the Sega Genesis to work anyway.

 

[diet_orange]

The Genesis was meant to compete against the NES at first but sadly it had some struggles against mid to late SNES ones.

Yeah a LOT of people seem to forget that fact, same with the Turbografx-16/PC-Engine. And even when the SNES came out, the Genesis still kind of had the advantage to a degree. But I'm not going to lie and say that it was better. Both of them had their own strengths and weaknesses

 

[bcdusk]

Turbografx-16/PC-Engine

It actually did well in Japan, unfortunately it wasn't a real 16 bit console and it showed, so once it came to the states Sega crushed it.

To give you an idea to how bad the console did worldwide, the total sales, including the CD version, were between 5 and 6 million units, about 5.84 million.

That's less that Sega Master System units sold in Brazil alone, 8 million..

Although to be fair that number includes units Brazil sold to the rest of South America and in Brazil the Sega Master System was keep alive a ridiculous amount of time. Even if you only count the Sega Master System units that could take cardridges that's over a decade.

Anyway, Nintendo was definitely quite arrogant in the USA with the Super Nintendo.

It launched years after the Sega Genesis, with very few games and a price higher that the Sega Genesis was selling at the time.

Also Super Mario World, the launch tittle was criticised for being too similar to Super Mario Bros. 3.

It didn't help that Nintendo was still selling Nes games at the time.

Also yes, Nintendo was criticised because Nes games didn't work on the Super Nintendo while Sega had an adapter that let you run Master System games in the Sega Genesis. Nevermind the Master System sales in the USA were abysmal, while it Brazil it eventually sold eight million units.

 

[bjork]

I'm giving up. I can only ask so many times. Have fun!

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Yeah a LOT of people seem to forget that fact, same with the Turbografx-16/PC-Engine. And even when the SNES came out, the Genesis still kind of had the advantage to a degree. But I'm not going to lie and say that it was better. Both of them had their own strengths and weaknesses.

The SNES was objectively stronger than the other two hardware and Mode 7 was borderline revolutionary in term of tri-dimensional movement in a 2D space before 3D came to home consoles.

Although the Neogeo was also the strongest when it came next but was too expensive and too fighting/shooter centric while the SNES was polyvalent.

 

[PhaseJump]

NES and SNES were the lead platforms in North America, Sega was just an arcade company that made an irrelevant 8-bit machine where it seemed like 1 out of 10-20 kids heard about it, had one or gave a shit about it. The relaunch of Master System went straight up in the air and fell into the clearance or trash bins.

Genesis shook things up by the end of 91, but Nintendo products between NES staying relevant with awesome games halfway through the 90s, or SNES launching and dominating, they were in more than half of households. Sega opened up the market, but it only took the lead for a few years.

No amount of South American hype or popularity can sway the history of it. I would even argue that it doesn't even matter that Sega was a lead platform there due to their restrictive and anti-competitive market. Europe? Sure, they took it because Nintendo didn't meet the market fast enough. South America? Companies were pretty much knee-capped from doing any business there.

NES was inferior hardware, but it had the Japanese developers. Sega had to license and reprogram everything in house to get it to market.

Sega was cool, it has better development scene now, I will die on the hill of hating SNES hardware specs due to a bombastic need to shit on the 816; but I mean, what the hell are we even talking about here?
Nintendo ruled all. It was all encompassing and wiped out Atari. Old people said you "played Nintendo" even when it was a Sega Genesis.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I'll never forget getting my first Genesis.

 

[diet_orange]

The SNES was objectively stronger than the other two hardware and Mode 7 was borderline revolutionary in term of tri-dimensional movement in a 2D space before 3D came to home consoles.

Although the Neogeo was also the strongest when it came next but was too expensive and too fighting/shooter centric while the SNES was polyvalent.

The overall weak point of the SNES was the CPU. I've heard people talk about how they kind of staggered it because it was originally supposed to have backwards compatibility with the NES at some point in development, but I'm not sure how true that is exactly

And while Mode 7 wasn't exactly an SNES creation (most older consoles could do it limited success, 3D World Runner for the NES for instance), it did do it fairly well

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

The overall weak point of the SNES was the CPU. I've heard people talk about how they kind of staggered it because it was originally supposed to have backwards compatibility with the NES at some point in development, but I'm not sure how true that is exactly.

Maybe this explains the slow downs.

I still like the games despite that and the SA-1 hacks fix most of the issues.

And while Mode 7 wasn't exactly an SNES creation (most older consoles could do it limited success, 3D World Runner for the NES for instance), it did do it fairly well.

3D World Runner uses a technique similar to Space Harrier with its perspective but full rotations of a plane in real time was made by the Mode 7 (ie: Castlevania IV's chandelier).

The biggest downside about M7 is the lack of proper background with that effect in use (so that's why the Golem Boss was in a pitch black space when the entire level was in a mansion).

 

[bcdusk]

The Super Nintendo had more colors, but sound was "complicated" to figure out early on and it was slow.

How slow was the Super Nntendo you may ask?

There is a reason Fastrom hacks for Super Nintendo games are popular.

Nintendo also relied a lot in special chips to make certain games be better graphicaly and so 3D while the Sega Genesis can do bare bones fake 3D without adding a special chip to the cardridge.

List of Super NES enhancement chips - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Heck they did so since early on Super Mario Kart needs a special chip!

Post automatically merged: Today at 12:30 AM

Now the reason why I said Sega forced Nintendo to drop prices is because they did, otherwise Nintendo wouldn't have bothered.

Heck they even raised prices quite late on the Super Nintendo life when it was clear they had "won".

The quite aggressive Donkey Kong Country advertising was to compete with the Sony Playstation and the Sega Saturn because yes the Nintendo 64 released really late.

 

[ThunderBoy]

 

[bcdusk]

One of the best looking games for the system that doesn't play like crap like Toy Story or is ultra hard like Lion King.