Sega Genesis vs Super Nintendo - SNES vs GENESIS 

Nintendo is what genesisn't

That AVGN Genesis commercial was perfect.

It's actually really wholesome that James made a career out of the exact same thing he was doing as a kid.

This is my favorite episode. Seeing him as a kid defend Nintendo against Sega is just priceless!

Let's be honest, those people working on the Sega commercials were brilliant.

Back in the day, you didn't choose a system based on which one had the best graphics or controller. You picked a system based off what your friend had. Your best friend have a Genesis? You got a Super Nintendo so you had max game options at the Blockbuster. That shit was a team effort!

41 years old here. This video really brings back a lot of fun memories. I had a snes and my friend had a genesis back in the early 90s. We grew up in some awesome times James. It was a great time to be a kid. Take care bud!

One of the advanced features from this era is the ability for games to never need updates or need a company's permission to work over the internet.

A beautiful example of someone who discovered himself at such a young age and lived his passion and stayed true to himself ... god bless you James

5:52 i can imagine the kid just saying "blast processing" over and over and james getting super pissed

That "resoluation" instead of Resolution was amazing to watch. You had and still do have the passion for this!

The production of this video is very well done - I feel like it’s a timeless video regardless of upload date

I just realized that James speaks the exact same way as he did as a child when he complains about something

This man is so savage he went avgn on himself as a child.

No need to dispute, they were both awesome! Long love the 16 bit era!

I love stories like this! It’s a beautiful thing when someone knows 100% who they are at a young age and actually becomes what they dreamed but it’s even better when it’s actually filmed and we get to be inspired by it!

"they invented a SUPER nintendo" Makes it sound like the Manhattan project

fell out of my chair when the skeleton said, "SEGA!"

Dude this is amazing. Pure gold that you had the presence of mind to record something for later use...like many of us. So sick.

That Sega Genesis parody commercial is not only spot on and brilliant, it's hilarious if you're of the right age. Easily the highlight of this video.

James Rolfe: doing youtube reply videos over a decade before youtube existed.

Man, James has really come a long way since his childhood. I mean, he started off just making videos about games in his house, and now look at him! He's...making videos...about games...in his house...actually, never mind! 😆

21:02 - That's the calmest "What were they thinking?" I've heard from James.

Him pulling out the tiger Simon's quest feels like the most unintentional irony in existence

Can someone please point out just how ridiculously cute he is as a kid arguing Nintendo vs. Sega in the 90s footage?

That kid has the makings of being angry in the future We can see it

When James made his own Genesis commercial, I think it would've been so much better if the clips that he chose were purposefully from bad Genesis games. It could've got the point across more that you can make anything look awesome as long as you make the competition look worse.

Man it's just so nice seeing the passion James had for this even as a small kid.

I wish Nintendo and Sega were still the top 2 contenders in the video game industry, and they were both going at each other's throats like in the early to mid 90's.

"ha get it? a BIT better?" I died laughing

One thing that was not mentioned is that the Sega Genesis used to have a port to connect headphones. The feature was removed in later versions of it.

I remember playing Aladdin and being confused as to why he couldn't use a sword. I saw pictures of the game, with Aladdin wielding a sword, but when I played on SNES, there wasn't a sword. Never knew why, until I got older, and realized the Sega version had a sword.

Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis When I was dead broke, man, I couldn't picture this

Super Nin-Ten-Do Sega Gene-Sis...when I was dead broke, I couldn't picture this

As a kid the best part about having divorced parents was - I had sega at moms house, SNES at dads.

I just bought a new SNES, and my roommate bought me Link To The Past!! Absolutely amazing. Sometimes games age. Not this one. Still as great as ever.

My cousin borrowed my Nintendo and pawned it, then told me it was stolen even though nothing else in the house was taken. If not for him, I'd still have my Nintendo.

I had a Sega Genesi and never had SNES. But my friend had the opposite. We'd play Sega at my place and SNES at his. It was great. There is no contest. They are both great systems. Sonic The Hedgehog 2 and 3, Super Mario World, MKII on Sega, Street Fighter 2 on SNES, man I wish I was a kid again.

I remember watching this in elementary school, in university now, always loved classic games. This video brings back awesome memories.

I personally prefer the Genesis. There is no question the SNES was superior in terms of at least colors and sounds. The Genesis always impressed me with the scrolling and parallax scrolling. They loved using those techniques. In the end it all comes down to what you had lol. I was Genesis all the way cause that's what I had. However game wise and anyone can argue all they want. The Snes had some absolutely awesome game's. The Genesis had a ton a of game's that I personally love. I prefer Road rash 2 and 3, NBA jam tournament edition blew the snes version out of the water. I know this is not a popular opinion but Sonic 3 with sonic and knuckles in my opinion is actually better than Super Mario world. Personally for me the high points of the Snes were Super Metroid , Mortal Kombat 2, and a link to the past. I was not a huge rpg fan but I would pit Shining force 2 against Final Fantasy 4 and 6. Both 16 bit consoles are absolutely legendary and I love having all my sega game's on my switch now.

that last line by James, "Long live the 16-bits" AMEN to that!

90s Kid- "Blast processing!" Adult- "what does it mean?" 90s kid- "I don't know" 2010s kid- "More Terra flops!" Adult- "What does it mean?" 2010s kid- "I don't know"

AVGN : Purposely ignores the 6-button MegaDrive controller, because it didn't came with most MegaDrives. Also AVGN : Mentions the Super 8 (an unofficial adaptor) to give the SNES a relatively unfair winning edge in the Best Backwards Compatibility category.

I would call it a tie. They both competed and had their time of shine over the other. I was jealous I couldn't play Mario Kart and Contra 3. And my friend was jealous he couldn't play Strider and Mortal Kombat with blood. Ninyendo won the war but the battle against Genesis was a tie.

Young James: “Scaling.” James: “I’m talking about “SCALING?”

6:55 "Commercials aren't about stating the facts, they're about what people are going to remember" I wish commercials for laptops and tablets knew that.

I was a Sega kid, but it would still be so funny to see an AVGN episode on this. There could be a blast processing scene where he kicks the shit out of Sonic the hedgehog. He could even go back in time to the 80's to visit himself as kid.

Sports games mattered a LOT back in the 90s...like WAY more than they do now. Those sports games on the Genesis made the Genesis better hands down for anyone who wasn't a nerd.

That "bit" pun was hilarious! xD

Sigh....i wish i have a friend like James Rolfe. He do know how to think.

When it comes to sound, i actually quite prefer the Genesis/Mega drive. it has a stronger "thwang" to it, the SNES has a softer touch to it, MD/Genesis just hits that sweet spot for me.

I like how in the Blast Processing commercial they chose a game that was PURPOSEFULLY SLOWED DOWN so it would be easier to understand & play (look at F-Zero).

James: I just wanna thank you so much for years of entertainment. I have been watching this shit since like 2012 or 2013. You have made some of the most difficult periods of my life a fun time. Thank you bro....

I was a part of this generation and this is by far the best console generation ever. I mean sure, PS1 and N64 are also dope, but damn, the 16 bit era just had TONS of titles that aged very very well.

man its so cool that even as a kid you were already doing what you love to do today.

Love seeing the vintage items show on screen from your childhood video. Would love to see a nostalgia tour using some of your old footage.

Streets of Rage 2 was the best beat em up of all time with the best soundtrack of any 16-bit system. But Super Castlevania IV is probably my all time favorite game.

I've always appreciated the fact that James is able to kind of laugh at/mock himself as a kid. Like it's good that he's able not to take himself too seriously.

As others have said, this is one of my favorite reviews you’ve done, James. When younger you started talking about scaling, I was just as agape as you were.

I remember them both being equally as cool, it just depended on what game you were playing. But yeah I always preferred super nes.

Genesis does become a thrid party company and Nintendont

These can be summed up in two sentences... "Genesis does what Nintendont." and "Nintendo is what Genesisnt"

I'm 41 years old, I don't play nearly as much video games as I use to but I still stand steady that the Christmas that I opened up the SNES was the greatest of my life. I also hold steady that A LINK TO THE PAST is the greatest game of all time.

Young James actually talked surprisingly well about the graphics

I've watched this video way too many times

"Imagine if the commercial said 'the Sega Genesis has a 7.6 MHz processor - the Super Nintendo only 3.6'" - Yeah, we would have gotten the MHz wars instead of the bit wars.

I miss those days when things were much simpler yet new and creative.

This is the kind of content I love the most from cinemassacre.

You gotta love this guy. He gives answers to all the questions that REALLY matter.

And the winner is.... TurboGrafx 16

James is a real and normal person who is actually very pleasant to listen to

I was around fifteen when the Genesis came out and their marketing really affected me into thinking it was the 'big kid' console compared to the Super NES. I wasn't alone, it was most certainly what the cool kids owned back then. We'd laugh at the Super NES and their 'sweat' on Mortal Kombat!

I had the privilege of owning both consoles as a kid. Both were amazing in their own ways.

I didn't even know this console war bullshit existed until a few years ago. Growing up, my friends and I had Nintendo consoles, but my cousin's friend had a Genesis and I always looked forward to going over there to play it. They both had great games.

This is a great episode and I enjoyed it so much. I remember as a kid this exact battle that was waged between all my friends. I was lucky enough to get ahold of both consoles and I enjoyed them both. In the end the console that gave me the most memorable experiences was the SNES but the Genesis was a close second.

4:47 "They invented a super Nintendo." It's funny to hear someone talk about the SNES as something new and cutting-edge! So cool James was able to catch that on film!

The reason some Super Nintendo's turn "piss yellow" after time is because of the plastic. They use a chemical called bromine to make it flame retardant and it turns yellow because of oxidation. All parts don't have this, this is why sometimes only half of the Super Nintendo might change colors.

The power gun allows you to shoot at characters on the Nintendo screen Cool

James is like that one kid on the block who’s house we all went to because our parents couldn’t afford any of that shit lol

Thank you for this video. Very informative, funny and heartwarming towards the end.

I really like the Genesis. I love the SNES. What it comes down to for me is that the SNES' highs are higher, it's where third parties at the time were focused, and it's a more audio-visually versatile collection of hardware. But the larger amount of animation the Genesis can push does even things up a bit, especially in action games & shmups. I just wish it could have displayed more colours, too many games are a bit dingy because of it. But they both rock, the Turbo/PC-Engine absolutely does too.

The yellowing of the super nintendo is a result of the plastic used. I think it is constructed with ABS plastic, which when left in direct sunlight over long periods of time, will begin to yellow due to oxidation. You can fix this by applying some hydrogen peroxide solution to the plastic and setting it in the sun for a few hours. It will look as good as new

"Long live the 16 bits" instant chills

This is a video that perfectly encompasses everything it has to do with, Sega, Nintendo, and James. A perfectly put together video

What we didn't know then was that the 16-bit era game us a timeless style of games that never age. We were all looking forward to the 3D era but early 3D like PS1 doesn't hold up as well. 16-bit will always look good.

I love it how james roasted his younger self.

Too old for arguments over Nintendo vs Sega but we had some rivalry over different computers back at university; like Amiga vs Atari or Sun vs SGI etc.

Both are awesome! I prefer the SNES, too!

He's gonna take us back to the past!

Slight error. While the SNES was capable of outputting higher resolutions. This was only used in menu screens and very rarely. Most Genesis games outputted gameplay at a higher resolution than the SNES.

SNES was always the winner. I remember myself seeing some of those Genesis commercials as a kid and seeing the silliness in them. I also remember how the gaming magazines would accept and show kid's art submissions. There was a lot of SNES vs. Genesis there. Lots of cartoon drawings of Mario and/or Yoshi ripping the head off of Sonic. SNES always seemed to get the nod in the drawing from the kids.

Here is the big issue between the Genesis and SNES. The Genesis came out about two to three years before the SNES? By that time, developers knew how to get the most out of the Genesis while still trying to figure out the SNES. That meant for ports, the Genesis version usually came out performing better. The lead-time the Genesis had was huge.

How can you count that 3rd-party backwards compatibility on SNES but you don't include the 6 button Sega Genesis controller?!

I'm not sure I can get past the chocolate milk story

Hearing that Killer Instinct intro music gave me goosebumps. Me and my buddy back then spent entire afternoons playing that.

This brought me back. Really enjoyed this great content. Thank you for sharing!

I love how he kept his controllers. I bet he still has that NES right behind him.

LMAO!!! I can see the angry nerd in James even as a kid xD

This is really cool dude thanks for sharing. You were truly born for this

I find little James so endearing.