The SNES fans’ guide to Genesis RPGs (and vice versa!) - Nintendo VS Sega 

Oh my god, just a few seconds of Phantasy Star IV gameplay footage and I instantly get a hankering to play it again even after all these years. God that is such a satisfying play.

Phantasy Star 4 is one of the greatest RPGs ever made

Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium is so underrated

Back then when i played any rpg, my friends thought i'm some kind of genius for understanding how to play those games. I was 10-12 y/o.

The Phantasy Star series was amazing.

"Final Fantasy VI vs Phantasy Star IV". This section immediately brought a smile to my face, because those are my two favorite rpgs, paired together. Also, props for putting Zone Eater and the Sandworm side by side, too!

I think in your comparison, some of the Genesis versions are actually better (like Oasis or Shining Force). The thing I'd also argue, however, is that overall the SNES has about three to four times as many great JRPGs compared to the Genesis... if you include the ones that remained in Japan. From Seiken Densetsu 3 to Rudora no Hihou, from Treasure Hunter G to Star Ocean to finally Terranigma (okay, we had that in Europe), the SNES has some pearls the west never got. But that doesn't make Genesis games bad, the Genesis still really has some great ones.

I do like phantasy star 4 probably better than most notable snes RPGs, well except chrono trigger.

Damn! You found and compared my 2 best RPG games: Phantasy Star IV Vs. Final Fantasy VI (cannonically speaking). I'll never be able to choose between them...

EarthBound: “You won’t find it’s equivalent on any other console either.” Mother 3: “AM I A JOKE TO YOU?!”

There's no shame in losing to Earthbound!

I was VERY lucky in that when I was a kid, I had a Sega Genesis and my best friend had a Super Nintendo... We would just trade back and forth so we got to experience all the greats...

Great comparison video. I need to play more Sega RPGs.

What I like so much about Sega Genesis ( Mega Drive ) RPGs is that they try to be more than what they can and they actually succeed . Like including cutscenes , or character sprites in the dialogue , it’s minor , but goes a long way to make them unique . Even Final Fantasy didn’t do that .

Phantasy Star 4 was amazing, as well as Crusader of Centy. Thx for the video on this. Also loved Beyond Oasis.

I honestly like the Classic Phantasy Star series more than the Classic Final Fantasy series. FF7 was the first one I actually liked, as well as my favorite of the series.

This list really shows how hard Sega has fallen off in recent years. Shining Force is what got me into Tactical RPG like Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy Tactics and Disgaea. Phantasy Start 4 was the all time high point in the Phantasy Star Series the Music, Characters and setting all just knocked it out the park. Nice list.

Oh boy.... it'll be interesting to see how this plays out! Great video BTW, I had never heard of a couple of these... Also great to see a good Sega defense :D

Just found your channel. I love your take on these!! Wonderful and rewatchable content. A++

After seeing the beginning to this video, I _kinda_ wanna see a video about RPG commercials, lol. I sort of remember that now that I see it again, but it also sort of seems like it may be a weird nightmare filled with stop motion and puppetry :P Great video! It's always rad to hear about stuff I never knew of before (I had NO IDEA _Warriors of the Eternal Sun_ existed - I can't believe Westwood would try to rip off Ultima that much, holy jeez) and there's TONS of cool stuff here; it's always nice to see 'em highlighted! Especially, personally, the woefully under-the-radar _Popful Mail_ - I love that game, especially since I grew up watching _Slayers_ among other fantasy anime :)

Thanks for mentioning Landstalker! That was one of my favorite games back in the day!

Great concept for a video. For me Chrono Trigger and Phantasy Star IV make an excellent pairing, as they are both extremely refined, easy to get into, fast paced, and fun RPG's that represent the zenith of the genre on their respective systems. They also share great graphics, memorable music, and that wonderful sci-fi/fantasy aesthetic.

The praise for EarthBound at the end, and how it has no comparable counterpart, made me smile :)

Good video! This broke down many good alternatives whilst keeping it short, yet informative. Thanks for the upload.

Since I know a lot of snes RPGs, I am curious to find some genesis RPGs, I am glad I am able to discover a lot of them with the help of this video! Thank you! =D Edit: I love Phantasy star 4 and final fantasy 6 equally!

Imo maybe its a stretch,but I think Earthbounds closest Genesis counterpart may be ToeJam and Earl especially the 90s ness,graphics,and sense of humor/zaniness of both.

Great video! When I saw this video's title I thought "it would be really cool if she mentions Warsong, no one talks about it".

This is an enlightening video - thoroughly enjoyed it! While we've performed well over 10 pieces of music from popular SNES RPGs, we've only tackled ONE Genesis title so far (Phantasy Star IV). It would be interesting to see a similar SNES-Genesis RPGs comparison on the basis of the game music alone.

Great list! So many games I remember wanting to play when I had both a SNES and Genesis way back when--Beyond Oasis for sure was on that list, along with another (probably not well remembered) Zelda clone called Crusader of Centy.

This is a very nice list for comparing. Phantasy Star IV is THE rpg for me. Nothing else tops it, love that game so much. Need to give some love to WB in Monster World, still a good game IMO and prefer it over the game you used for comparison (Mario RPG) but hey to each thier own. Overall I prefer the Genesis RPGs but the Nintendo ones are still good and I did enjoy them. Nice video that I ran across here.

´love your channel i just discovered it (subbed inmediately of course), you have great insight on the topics you choose and have a knack for choosing interesting stuff to talk about... congrats and keep up the good work!!!

You had me Subscribed at Lufia II! ^_- One my favorite games of all time. I just watched the podcast from Dark Pixel Gaming featuring your comments/channel and came over to check out your videos. I enjoy discussions of older games. ^_^

I love Phantasy Star II: the characters, soundtrack and story it's all good but it's just too bad that the gameplay is not as fluid as Phantasy Star IV.

This may be my favorite video from you, well done! The 8 and 16 bit RPGs aren't really for me but this does make me want to play Warriors of the Eternal Sun. It looks like Westwood learned a lot from it, that eventually made its way into Lands of Lore. Also Shining in the Darkness looks cool.

hi...whiCh final fantasy game is that doggone intro music from? Thankss!

Surprisingly well done video. I've played most of the games you covered and the comparisons totally work.

" you won't find earthbound's equivalent on any other console either." off, lisa, undertale basally you'll find them on pc.

Love how the "RU-vid Ecochamber" seems to consider Final Fantasy 6 "vastly superior" to Phantasy Star 4, yeah not imo, PS4 is easily as good, and better in some aspects :)

Just came across this channel, and already like the content. Nice work!

I kind of forgot I had Phantasy Star II, Shining in the darkness , and Shining Force until I watched this . Keep up the great work !

Love this one, though I prefer Shining Force 1 over 2, because its more driving story line and score.

I would personally suggest a better alternative to Arcana in the Snes Dungeon Crawler category: The Shin Megami Tensei games or the remake of the first two Megami Tensei titles, that one is named Kyuuyaku Megami tensei. I have yet to play BoF2 or SF2, but I would say that Tactics Ogre would be a better foil for Shining Force. Also, funny thing, Der Langrisser (the sequel for Warsong), has ports for both SNES and Genesis, it would be interesting to see a comparison covering those.

Great stuff, I love recommendation / comparison videos

Good job on the video. Just wondering, why did you leave out Pier Solar?

This is mega insightful and I am so indulging you right now. LOL #teamgenesis

Sega RPGs are some of my favorite, especially Phantasy Star 2 and 4, Shining Force. Where as the SNES ones all seemed weaker, other than Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger anyway. Though I am a story lover, so that is part of my bias.

I love all of the overlapping that you used in this video! Nifty! Damn, there are a ton of Genesis RPGs I need to check out. I'll just refer back to this video when I'm hankerin' for a new 16-bit RPG to play.

What a charming video! 😀Short and snappy with some really cool games. Thanks!

Sega Genesis shadowrun was far superior

Hahaha earthbound is it's own beast

Awsome awsome video Daria so good loved every comparison

Would it be correct to compare Mechanically, Wonder Boy or Popful Mail are similar to Ys III or Faxanadu (NES)?

Great vid! Always enjoy people repping Sega and their vastly underrated RPG library

I grew up with sega but once I found my love for rpgs so did for the snes.

Randomly saw a shortcut for your Chrono Trigger PSA, which mentioned this video. Suscribed :D

Great video Daria! I always value your opinions on RPGS and I enjoyed watching. You rock!

Excellent video. I owned a snes and genesis/sega cd back then, and as great as the snes was with rpgs, it's foolish to sleep on sega

How about comparing n64 rpgs to saturn rpgs. Sega definitely beat nintendo in rpgs in that generation.

Hey this video was great :) new sub. Keep up the great work!

I always heard about Phantasy Star games but it wasn't what I grew up and I didn't mess with it. Got to say I finally got a copy of each and sat down and played the hell out of them on the Genesis. Great games.

The problem with the argument in Nintendonts favor is that only one of the RPGS on your list was made by them, while several on the Genesis side were made by Sega themselves.

STOP STOP!~ FULL STOP... You cannot make a meaningful comparison between Lunar and Chrono Trigger... Chrono Trigger is just THE defining RPG of all time. I am sorry. Sega is awesome, but Sega will just have to suck that one up.

I've been wanting to get Landstalker for some time now, mainly being the predecessor to Alundra. I played Shining in the Darkness a few years ago for the first time and despite those sharp difficulty spikes in the middle of each flood, I really enjoyed it. I love the Monster series, but haven't played World yet, and Popful Mail is one I've wanted to play since I was a kid and saw it in gaming mags, but haven't gotten to it still. Lunar is fantastic. The Genesis really does get ignored when it comes to RPGs, and my collection is definitely lacking still. Great picks and many seem like fair contenders.

This was fun! I’m gonna check out those ultima comparisons, didn’t look amazing but something I could probably get into. Thanks Daria!

I was about to like the video then I heard "Wonderboy is not even Popful Mail good " lmao Mario RPG is one of the most boring rpgs I ever played and it looks like shit too, Please DO NOT compare this crap to Wonderboy. Thank you in advance for your courtesy and cooperation in this mater.

snes kills genesis in every way. its not even a contest really. especially in the rpgs

I mainly had snes growing up (36yrs.old) I'm only just now finding the phantasy star and shining games and they're fantastic mapping out shining in the darkness rite now

I've played nearly all these rpgs you've mentioned in this video :P Great video, now I need to check out Land Stalker.

SEGA >> Nintendo No contest

Omg you mentioned Warsong!!! My save did not work on Warsong so when I started playing I would have to keep playing to see how far I got. Never got to finish this game. It has been slowly simmering in my mind. I mentioned this game to some of the kids at work. They just don’t know.

Missed out on most of the genesis library growing up, so I'd be down to try a few of these. I'm bookmarking this video for reference later

This is a really neat video and I've been trying to make progress through some of your recommendations. I've only been able to try a few so far. While they've been interesting games in there own right, I think trying to compare them to snes titles has done them a huge disservice. Especially Beyond Oasis, I was really excited to think there might be a worthy SoM style game out there I hadn't played yet, but Oasis definitely isn't scratching that itch at all. I imagine if I had stumbled on it just looking for an action adventure instead I'd of been quite satisfied with it, maybe. Anyway, just wanted to give my 2 cents, I'll see myself out now!

Every couple of years I’ll play Phantasy Star IV again. Love that game...

Awesome comparisons. I'm very fortunate to have played almost all these title's all though not to completion. Wonderful wonderful games.

I just played through Popful Mail again a few months back. Great game. I mean most of these games are solid. Great job on this.

what about ogre battle or zelda 3? final fantasy 5? paladins quest 1 and 2? robotrek? any comparisons that weren't already in this video?

Great video! Subscribed.... I will say though, Zelda vs Centy seems like a major missing feature here :)

What an excellent video and comparison! Have you tried some of the newer Genesis rpgs? I’m just trying Pier Solar myself and Brave Battle Saga was a very fun though fairly simple rpg (though that was perfect for me). I’m trying to get Canon Legend of the New Gods which looks like a Shining Force clone. Anyway, great video and I’m glad I found your channel.

Love this video, I grew up playing all these Sega RPG's. Made me realize how attached I was to Lunar Silver Star. My emotions got all stirred up during that comparison.

There's so many 16 bit library vs. videos out there. This puts a bit more of an interesting spin on it at least! Nice

Awesome video Daria! I definitely haven't given enough love to Sega in regards to their rpg catalog.

Great job Daria! Can't wait to dig into the rest of the Phantasy Star series! Also, you've piqued my interest in the original Lunar Silver Star. Maybe I'll give it a shot sometime. :)

Such an amazing guide! Incredible work!

Any equivalent for the Quintet games? Actraiser I and II, Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia, Terranigma?

Oh that hurts. Wonder Boy In Monster World is one of my favourite Genesis games. Popful Mail is good too. Need to add that game to my list of finally beating it. The Lunar series on Sega CD just makes my day! Lunar Eternal Blue is my favourite JRPG of all time. Good list!

Wow great video. I have most of these games in this video so it was a great trip down memory lane. Thank goodness i was able to get both the Sega and Nintendo systems so i was able to get the best of both worlds.

I always though the thing was more between Fire Emblem and Shining Force, and between Famicom Wars and Langrisser (Warsong), though Langrisser seriously tried to break the mold, scale-wise. Popful Mail is a late child of the 80's, and I love it for that.

Are there similar games to Secret of Evermore, Soul Blazer, Illusion of Time/Gaia or Terranigma on the Genesis?

It's like this video was made especially for me. :) This was really well made! I'd played Landstalker and Shining in the darkness. I liked Landstalker so much I've replayed it many times since, but I never made it very far in Shining in the Darkness. That game was _tough_ ! I look forward to trying some of your recommendations.

Nice to see a channel about these old RPGs :D. I don't play them much nowadays because I prioritize games I own, but these old games will always be with me.

I'd actually argue that Phantasy Star 4 is almost the exact middle ground between Final Fantasy 6 and Chrono Trigger in terms of gameplay (random battles using characters that have a pre-determined move list with possible unlockable combo-techs, on a massive over world that allows random battles, but you can eventually switch between drastically different varients of overworld at will as the story progresses), with a heavy dose of Super Metroid in terms of music, and a more developed cast, and a better story than any of them (mostly because this was the very well done culmination of 3+ games worth of backstory while the other two were standalone titles, plus the manga stills during the cutscenes allowed a lot more emotive presentation than in-game graphics of that era allowed, though both FF6 and CT pay the envelope hard on that front). Another comparison between Final Fantasy 4 and Phantasy Star 2 is that both games have extra games released in handhelds that expand upon the story and/or characters.

Good video. You really like this stuff and it shows.

Great comparisons! Also your shoutout for earthbound and stating how’s it’s incomparable/peerless has inspired me to subscribe. Looking forward to watching more 😊

3:55 Hey thats me in the corner!!! For real its like someone made a pixel art of me (thats why its my avatar) I love the video. Love to see PS1 RPGs get in the mix on this. Kings Field (1 and/or 2) would of fit perfectly in the dungeon crawler comparison (Arcana and Shinning In The Darkness). Ive been trying to find Shadowrun for SNES for a decent price (25-30 cart only)for my brother but no luck. Subbed

This is a well-conceived comparison. Subscribed.

Really good idea for a video, hope people discover a few new favorites this way

Really awesome video, Daria. Have you ever played Secret of Evermore on SNES? It's one of my favorite action RPGs of all-time.

Hey found this channel by total accident... Glad i did... Nice channel :)

Awesome video! I heard you on the Drunk Friend podcast and thought I'd check out your content! Good stuff! By the way, what is Multitapped? I noticed that on Super Derek RPG's also