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For your custom home arcade machine needs, visit here and use Coupon Code: DREAM220 |
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Sega Genesis*
The system that finally dethroned Nintendo from their top spot dominance for most of the 16-bit era of videogame systems. While the system had graphical and audio deficiencies relative to the competition, a speedy processor and clever programming kept the machine competitive. Unfortunately, countless poor add-on/peripheral/expansion decisions didn't help parent company Sega's long-term financial health.
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System Information |
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Released: 1989
Resolution: 320x224
On-Screen Colors: 64
Sound: 8 Channels, Stereo
Media Format(s): Cartridge
Main Memory: 64K
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Armchair Arcade Ratings |
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User Comments |
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| davyK |
[2004-08-08 17:47:52] |
| A console I own with a reasonable collection of games (Thunderforce IV, Gunstar Heroes etc.) but the controllers feel clunky to me and the system leaves me cold. Sonic, for me, has to be the most overrated series of games ever. I remember people comparing Sonic1 to Super Mario World! Sonic1 would have a hard time going up against the Mario All-Stars version of SMB1. |
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| Mark1970 |
[2004-08-12 03:53:29] |
| Sonic is fast and has a lot of secrets that allow you to get a higher score! I must say I very much like Sonic. It´s controls are simple and at first glance the gameplay is very easy and you´ll reach the end of the level fairly easy. But there´s more depth to it, hidden treasures and higher scores. I quite like the superfast pace of it.
I got quite a few nice shmups for mine: Greylancer, Raiden Trad, Thunderforce, Xenon2, other bitmapbrothers games and quite a few others outside of the shmup type of game. :lol: |
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| Matt Barton |
[2004-08-14 21:09:19] |
| I was wondering something. I've come across "bare units" without any accessories, including necessities like a power supply, video cable, and controller. How much do you think a "bare unit" would be worth, and how expensive/difficult is it to find the components? How much of it is proprietary? |
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| Bill Loguidice |
[2004-08-15 01:26:05] |
| You can find multi-system power and video adapters that will work with the various Genesis models, but frankly these things should be common enough and cheap enough where I would hold out for a complete unit. There were at least three different Genesis models in the US. I have revisions 1 and 2 myself. The first revision is the most compatible and probably the most fully featured overall (works with the Sega Master System converter, has the stereo headphone jack, etc.). Interestingly, some of the first third party (EA, Accolade, etc.) games require a type of swap trick on most models to make them work. This system was also home to many Amiga (ECS models) conversions of varying degrees of success, and, along with the Super Nintendo (though moreso for Genesis!) was among the last consoles to port a decent selection of pure computer role-playing games (see the Sega CD too!). |
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| ryuhayabusa |
[2004-09-29 18:44:58] |
| Nice console with some good arcade ports, good shooters, and some nice platformers as well. Sega did some nice ports of their arcade titles, Konami made some nice titles like Contra:Hard Corps and Castlevania:Bloodlines, and Capcom released some good titles like Mercs and Mega Man:Wily Wars. Three problems I always had with the Genesis were the poor color palette, the sound hardware, and the controller. Overall though, a nice console with some great games. |
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| Bill Loguidice |
[2004-09-30 12:45:46] |
| Well, that's the thing about the matrix, it's all relative. The Genesis had a comparitively poor color pallete to the TG-16 and SNES, but when utilized correctly, 64 colors was pretty great. Same for the sound. It was better than what the TG-16 could produce, but far behind the SNES. The Genesis made up for it with a quicker processor and clever programming. Of course clever programming can make any system look its best. |
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| Mark1970 |
[2004-09-30 17:41:49] |
| The system's FM sound synth can sound pretty nice. I know quite a few FM-synth fans who bought a genenesis again quite recently mostly because of that special FM sound. |
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| ryuhayabusa |
[2004-10-02 09:40:16] |
| Back in the SNES-Genesis days, it seems everyone was comparing specs and arguing which system was the best. Both systems had their weaknesses. For instance, everyone knows how slow the SNES' processor was, running at a paltry 3.58 Mhz compared to 7.6 Mhz for the Genesis. The SNES tended to slow down a lot, especially when too many sprites were on screen. I remember reading in an interview with Treasure that if they had tried to do Gunstar Heroes on the SNES, it wouldn't have been possible because it would've slowed the machine down too much. Also, I've read that it is very difficult to do scaling and rotation through software on it. That's why we see so much Mode 7. Of course, only backgrounds can been scaled and rotated with Mode 7, so that posed even more problems. Various tricks had to be used to make it appear as though the sprites were being scaled. With the Genesis, scaling and rotation through software was much easier, and the Genesis tended to handle a large amount of sprites on screen much easier, thanks to it's faster processor. As we all know, the main weaknesses of the Genesis were it's color palette and sound capabilities. While 64 colors can look nice, there's no denying that 128, 256, or 512 look much better. Also, while the FM-synth sounds good with the right composition, the Sony DSP is considerably better. Take 2 games with soundtracks composed by Yuzo Koshiro, Streets of Rage 2 and Super Adventure Island. Both feature techno soundtracks, and while one may enjoy the composition of the SoR 2 tracks more, there's no denying the difference in the quality of the sounds. So, in the end, both had their high points and low points. Both were great systems with lots of great games. |
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| deshrill |
[2004-11-19 20:55:49] |
| I never owned a Genesis back in the day, but I appreciate it more now than I did back in the day when I was a SNES fan. "Shining Force" was a great game and the sheer sense of speed from the old "Sonic" games is still thrilling in their own way. |
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