![]() Until this day, I am not sure what “Blast” really meant, and when I ask my enlightened friends, they don’t really know either. Utilizing the sheer game speed of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 as the basis of their marketing, the Blast Processing campaign sought to exhibit the Genesis’s technical superiority over its competitor. Sega was so great with marketing the Genesis that their campaigns and slogans are showing up on this list multiple times. Terminator, and Zombie Ate My Neighbors, while shown in their full glory on their Genesis counterparts. Blood was also removed from the SNES versions of Street Fighter II, Robocop vs. Genesis, on the other hand, allowed players to input a Blood Code to unlock these features rather than removing them completely, which satisfied gamers, as well as conscientious parents. ![]() Nintendo censored out the blood by recoloring it as sweat and removing several notable fatalities. One of the most widely-known of these instances was the port of Mortal Kombat to the home consoles. While Nintendo took the stance of family friendly and went to great lengths to censor violent titles on their Super Nintendo, Sega disregarded that notion and allowed the inclusions of blood and violence to remain on the Genesis versions. Bar none, Genesis maintained a more blood-friendly approach. Some might say the SNES had Killer Instinct, but I look to that as more of an outlier. Titles such as Splatterhouse and Eternal Champions were classics that featured great gameplay with some gruesome deaths sprinkled in. Genesis had a litany games to whet the appetite of those looking for violence and gore. Terminator just seemed better on the Genesis. I knew of many disappointed gamers who purchased the SNES version only to find out the blood was omitted and the fatalities changed. Also, they threw in that “controversial” fight in the intro and decided not to censor the blood and win quotes. Genesis gave us the first chance to play as Balrog, Vega, Sagat, and M. Knowing how the folks at Sega are, they would gladly take the cake, smash it in Nintendo’s face, and scream an endless stream of catchphrases like the Rock did on a classic episode of Raw is War. Yet, the Genesis incarnations of Madden 93 and Aladdin just take the proverbial cake. Sure, there are times when Genesis just stinks up their ports and versions of games, such as was the case with Primal Rage. I think there is some 'je ne sais quoi' about the Genesis version or most third-party games. What should be considered a better game? Better gameplay, graphics, or sounds? For me, when it feels right and fun, that is what constitutes better. Thus, Namco ended up making nearly twice as many games for the Genesis than for the SNES, including the Pac-Man and Splatterhouse series. Despite a great relationship between the two companies (40% of the third-parties sales were on NES), Namco didn’t receive any preferential treatment. ![]() Namco founder Masaya Nakamura spoke out against Nintendo’s monopolistic practices. While Sega did strictly control cartridge manufacturing for the Genesis, the were more than open to various types of games than Nintendo. At the end of the day, Nintendo controlled all production of gaming cartridges. For the duration of the company’s first two home consoles, Nintendo placed quotas on how many games each third-party could release any given year, what kind of censorship each title went through, and even preventing them from doing business with competitors, NEC and Sega. Nintendo did not make it easy for third-party companies, due to the strict rules they presented in their contract agreements. Here are 15 reasons the Sega Genesis is still better than the Super Nintendo. Though they eventually lost the war, Sega did do a lot of things right. So influential was this competition that years later, the internet geeks of the dial-up generation are still debating the 16-bit wars. If you were a preteen or teen, the Genesis was the clear choice for the cool kids. ![]() One point Sega wanted to present time and time again to the consumers was that the SNES was geared for family fun, and the Genesis was for hip and serious gamers. It called for creative advertising campaigns attacking the prudish and tame nature of the gray brick known as the Super Nintendo. For Sega, taking down Nintendo, who were dominating the home gaming market for an entire decade, wasn’t going to be a cakewalk, but more of a food fight that featured numerous smear campaigns and dirty tricks. The age-old question of the nineties child: Genesis or SNES? Long before internet geeks flamed each other on forums and Reddit threads about specs and performance of the next-generation consoles, Nintendo and Sega were embroiled in the inaugural console wars.
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