Which console is it better on?

[Cobra]

Good read Furnessly, I can tell you've really thought about this. I'll also throw in that the Mega-CD SNK ports were really cool apart from load times. Way better than their MegaDrive counterparts.

Best question is what did you grow up with? As chances are that is what you'll prefer. I favour the MD sound chip over the SNES in most case growing up with it. But I prefer the even more limited C64 SID chip above both in many cases.

[JerryGreenwood]

Earthworm Jim is better on the Genesis (Sega CD too) than the SNES due to an extra stage, no censorship regarding a boss and it is the original version. The graphics are better looking on the SNES though.

This is a game I was curious about. Your whole post is very informative. I'm in the process of (re)collecting some SNES, NES, SMS, and GEN games, but I'm starting to think I should explore more of the lesser known systems. I've never played NEO GEO, I've only played TG-16 once at a demo in a store, I didn't know PC-Engine was TG-16 until just now, and I've never ever heard of Amiga until 2 months ago. I need to expand.

[Necrosaro]

I always preferred some of the Disney-licensed games (like Aladdin) on Genesis as opposed to thier SNES counterparts. The controls always felt tighter to me. But that's probably just me.

I'll agree that most SNES games had better music compared to Genesis, but the Genesis sound chip was pretty difficult to program for. Japanese composers like Yuzo Koshiro could really make the Genesis sing, though.

The best version of Mortal Kombat, that I've played to me anyway, is hands down the Sega CD / Mega CD version. No censored blood, and no blood codes even required, the game was pretty accurate right from the get-go. Sega consoles always had a history of handling 2D fighting games quite well, one of the few exceptions to that rule being the weapons fighter Samurai Spirits (Samurai Showdown) - most people who've played it agree that the 3DO version was closest to being near-arcade perfect at the time.

If you're a big fan of the Valis series of platformer games developed by the now-defunct Telenet, the TurboGrafx-CD and PC-Engine versions are the way to go. Way better than any of their Genesis (Valis, Syd of Valis, Valis III) or SNES (Super Valis IV) counterparts, which tended to be butchered, watered-down ports of the excellent CD games. Valis was originally on the MSX computer (yes, it's THAT old), and was also ported to the Famicom cartridge system and also showed up on the Sharp X68000 computer. So while North America got Valis II and Valis III on the TG-CD in addition to the Genesis and SNES ports, the better remake of Valis and Valis IV stayed in Japan on the PC-Engine CD. It's still sad that today only Valis I and II are available on the Japanese PSN only, but Valis III and Valis IV (arguably the two best Valis game) are still stuck in limbo.

[JerryGreenwood]

I'll agree that most SNES games had better music compared to Genesis, but the Genesis sound chip was pretty difficult to program for. Japanese composers like Yuzo Koshiro could really make the Genesis sing, though.

If you're a big fan of the Valis series of platformer games developed by the now-defunct Telenet, the TurboGrafx-CD and PC-Engine versions are the way to go. Way better than any of their Genesis (Valis, Syd of Valis, Valis III) or SNES (Super Valis IV) counterparts, which tended to be butchered, watered-down ports of the excellent CD games. Valis was originally on the MSX computer (yes, it's THAT old), and was also ported to the Famicom cartridge system and also showed up on the Sharp X68000 computer. So while North America got Valis II and Valis III on the TG-CD in addition to the Genesis and SNES ports, the better remake of Valis and Valis IV stayed in Japan on the PC-Engine CD. It's still sad that today only Valis I and II are available on the Japanese PSN only, but Valis III and Valis IV (arguably the two best Valis game) are still stuck in limbo.

Yuzo Koshiro did Act Raiser. I've turned on Act Raiser and just left it on the Sky Palace theme while doing chores around my house. As for Sega, I'm not sure who did Phantasy Star II off the top of my head, but for my money it's the best soundtrack in video game history.

I've never played Valis, but it is on my list of Genesis games I want to get my hands on. Maybe I'll investigate the TurboGrafx-CD versions if I can get that console. Thanks!

[Cobra]

Wasn't the big difference in sound due to the MegaDrive having a 80's analogue sound chip vs the SNES 90's digital sound chip, or something like that?

[Seno]

Flashback on the MD/gen  - just played the first level on both of them, the MD version sounds better and plays faster - it feels a bit sluggish on the snes

[Fokakis79]

Shaq-Fu on SNES
Shaq-Fu on Genesis

[Ze_ro]

Which has the better version of Populous; SNES or GEN?

You're probably best off playing this on a computer... but if you're dead set on a console version, I'm going to say Genesis because I've heard it actually supports the Mega Mouse, while the SNES version doesn't have mouse support.

--Zero

[bombatomba]

Which has the better version of Populous; SNES or GEN?

Krusty's Funhouse; SNES or GEN?

Flashback; SNES or GEN?

I'd like to preface this by saying all my choices are based on nostalgia:

Which has the better version of Populous; SNES or GEN?  - SNES. While I've played both as well as the PC version, my Cool Aunt gave it to me (along with Inindo and a ton of other "crappy" SNES and NES games) and I jammed on this for hours

Krusty's Funhouse; SNES or GEN? - Between the two I'd say SNES, however, I'd like to point out that the NES version is a ton of fun in its own right

Flashback; SNES or GEN? Genesis hands down.  This game on anything other than a Genesis three button has never felt right to me.

Wasn't the big difference in sound due to the MegaDrive having a 80's analogue sound chip vs the SNES 90's digital sound chip, or something like that?

It's funny, but a lot of Sega Genesis games sound like PC games from the early 90's to me (I'm thinking specifically of Commander Keen 4).  While the Genesis seemed to have a more metallic sound to many of its titles, I certainly don't like on over the other, but rather the fact that they are both distinct and different.