Why Sega Genesis vs Super Nintendo Was the Greatest Video Game Console War - Retro Bird 

I grew up poor in a poor neighborhood. I mostly played the NES in the 80s on a 13 inch black and white tv in RF. I didn't upgrade to a color tv to play on until like 1992. My friends grew up in similar situations so we just had what we had. When I got my Genesis all my friends came over my place or I'd take to one of their places (depending on who had the better tv that was available to use) and we'd all take turns playing it. When one of my friends got a SNES we all went to their house and did the same. I remember one friend got F-Zero and we all took turns, learning from playing and watching, for like 2 months straight until we beat it on the highest difficulty. We were too poor to really rag on one another so we joined forces and whenever anyone of us got a new game it was a neighborhood wide event. I remember when one friend got an Atari Jaguar and we all were sprinting like the kids chasing after Stallone in Rocky 2 to this kid's house. Hilarious to think about now but back then it's how we rolled.

This was the greatest console war ever. You had two consoles that were radically different from each other in so many ways unlike most of today's consoles.

SNES and Genesis/Megadrive had soul. :)

IMO Genesis vs SNES was "the" console war and there has never been one as popular since then. Gameboy vs Gamegear sort of had one and the same for PS1 vs N64 but never the same caliber as Genesis vs SNES. I had a SNES and my friends had a Genesis so I enjoyed both systems at the time.

Imagine if Konami and Capcom teamed up to make a console in the early 90's and all their SNES and Genesis hits were exclusives on their own console.

Sega made such an impact with the Genesis that it's easy to forget that it was the only console they ever had that was competitive in the United States. I think our perception is somewhat skewed because those five years when Sega was in the race happened to coincide with a large chunk of our childhood.

I discovered this channel a week ago or so, and I've been going through pretty much all your videos since then, you diserve a TON more of suscribers! Cheers from Argentina.

Even though I was in Team Nintendo, I secretly wanted some of the stuff the Genesis had. What I miss most about this console war was Nintendo had fight in them back then.

We had the NES, Genesis and SNES at home. We were really spoiled back then :) Not hard to guess which console is my favorite but I fondly remember the countless hours spent on the other two !

I was coming off my NES when I got my Genesis, and there wasn’t a SNES on the market yet. That time period turned me into a Sega fan. Sports game were the best! Then by the time the Super Nintendo was released I had already built my game collection up with Sega. My uncles bought the SNES and I got to play Zelda, Mario paint, SMW and Sim city. I eventually did buy myself a Super Nintendo. I’m truly thankful to have grown up in the front lines of the console war. I have equal love for both systems, as well my NES. To this day NES is still my all time favorite console, however SNES & Genesis are as well.

back in the day the reality was this: if your parents bought you a snes you will defend it to death against any genesis kid argument(attack) because it was the only console you'll ever get for a while. Nowadays as an adult it doesn't make sense to not play all those genesis games just because you were loyal to snes

Growing up I was fortunate to be able to play both SNES and Genesis at the time... I would have to say I leaned more toward Genesis at that time.

Ugh I wish I found this video sooner. No time like the present! I had grown up in the 80s and was a teen during the 90s. I was blessed with having both the NES, and Super NES, but I did not have the Genesis growing up. Naturally I was one of those in the school playground or in the cafeteria arguing what was better and I was on the SNES side of course since I had one. However, going over to a friends house to play Sonic or NFL '94 or what have you was always a great experience. I really enjoyed my time back then and seeing the differences. I'd play the games on my console and then see the same game on Genesis at a friend's house and it was very interesting to see what those differences were. Aladdin comes to mind as being a much different game that I wish was the version we got on SNES. Today it's weird. I own both consoles now, and I find myself a lot wishing that I had grown up with the Genesis instead. It has more games on it that speak to me more than SNES did. For example, I love shooters and sports games, and that is where the Genesis blows the doors off of the SNES. I am not an RPG guy, for example, and unfortunately, that's where the SNES is at its best from what I'm told. So for me, the majority of the games I get most enjoyment from were on the console I didn't grow up with, the Genesis. So if I had to pick sides today it would be the Genesis. With that said I really enjoy both consoles, honestly. They both have an outstanding library of games, and I'm very thankful I have access to them today.

Great video!!! I grew up on the SNES, but I did LOVE going to my cousins house who owned a Genesis to play Sonic 2, Streets of Rage 2, Columns, X-Men, etc. Now that I own both, I appreciate what they both brought to the table and they’re both great systems that I still play to this very day.

Green Hill Zone! That has to be my favourite music from any video game. Sometimes I pop in Sonic the Hedgehog just so that I can run through Green Hill Zone and bop to that track. 30 years later and it still never gets old.

SNES vs. SMD Forever!

The music from these consoles is fantastic. When I finished a game as a child I would wait to see who made the music for that game in the credits. The coolest thing these days is in the comments sections is the composer of those tunes thanking everyone who loves there music. After all these years of just seeing someone's name in the credits to now having a face to go with it is so cool. Like with Duke Nukem's theme, bands will rock out this tune on youtube and in the comments section is the man himself, Lee Jackson. I guess back in the day everyone would talk about what was on the radio while I'm jamming 8 and 16 bit tunes in my head, wondering if others are doing the same. Now I know I wasn't alone. Great content my friend! you deserve more views.

I used to hook the SNES to my VCR and use Mario Paint to record 1 second bits of pictures I would draw. I was able to make little visual novels with limited animation. I need to find those VHS tapes

All my money was spent on the Super Nintendo, but later one of my brother's friends left a Sega Genesis at our home with a copy of Mortal Kombat II. I did not want to invest the same money into the Genesis that we did on the Super Nintendo, but luckily our local cable company was offering the Sega Channel. It allowed us to play about 50 different games a month. It was pretty cool. We had a decent amount of Super Nintendo games and the Sega channel. No one seems to remember the Sega Channel but I had a great time with it.

I would say that the game which won SNES back the market was Street Fighter II. With the hype surrounding the arcade scene at that time this one title sold systems. Genesis would eventually get it's own port but that was several years later.

The SNES actually has one big hardware drawback compared to the Genesis other than the CPU speed, but it doesn't show up on a spec sheet. Resolution. On paper it looks like the SNES has a higher resolution, but that's actually because it has multiple resolution modes and the spec sheets everyone points to only list the highest one it can output which is used almost exclusively for still images and the like (Kirby 3 being a notable exception). Gameplay wise the SNES was generally 256x224 while the Genesis could do that resolution for multi-plats and some exclusive games, but many of its exclusives instead used a 320x240 resolution giving them extra detail or more screen space depending on the game. This is why SNES games display in an 8:7 aspect ratio when emulated or shot through an upscaler if you don't adjust it to 4:3 in the settings which causes them to blur slightly on interpolation. A bit of a damned if you do damned if you don't scenario that the Genesis often doesn't have since most of its games are a native 4:3 out of the gate. This effect also exists on CRTs though it's less noticeable due to the natural softness and the analog nature of the image, but it does still exist.

Had all and enjoyed all, but Sega always seemed to pushed the envelope while Nintendo would stick to the same recipe.

My Nintendo-fan wife and I are still trapped in a neverending 90s console war. Our children have become the soldiers in our opposing armies, locked in battle for all time.

Today: I own Playstation, you have an X-Box. Whatever floats your boat. Back then: I own SNES you have Genesis. You and I are enemies now.

Indeed. It’s the uniqueness that makes this the most interesting war ever. I’d say PS1 and N64 come second because they were also vastly different for different reasons. As tech advances, all consoles run more similar than back then. Genesis sounds definitely reminds me arcade sounds. I found out something like they used the same or similar sound chip so it all made sense.

Love the nod to “the game,” so to speak, or pointing out how incredible the rivalry itself was rather than making it about one console over the other. With some distance from my more fandom days of the 80s (and no longer having to pick between Sega and Nintendo), I agree with your appreciation of both consoles and their incredible libraries. Always love your perspective and quirky sense of humor. Great work outta you, recently stumbled on the channel and loving it!

Yep I grew up in the console wars and it was a great time. I was the kid that Picked the TG16.... Strange system but I loved it. Then I got a SNES later and finally a Genesis.

Sega was more arcade focused so the games were quick but challenging, whereas Nintendo wasn't as focused on it and instead gave us long adventures instead. Both have their merits. Sega's games were more challenging but still fun. Maintaining challenge and fun is a delicate balance. Nintendo's games are easy but fun, more of a casual stroll in a nice park. Sega is like walking through a dark forest filled with monsters and you're armed with a double barrel shotgun.

Great video. You know exactly what you are talking about and I remember everything that you are making a reference to great work!!!

I worked the entire Summer of 89 to get my Genesis. 1 friend had TG-16 but most were playing NES until SNES dropped over 2 freaking years later (Nail in TG16 coffin). Genesis really made the NES look antiquated/childish. Older brother picked up a SNES but always preferred Genesis. Love both of them kids though!

Comcast added blast processing onto my cable package for an extra $20 a month. Thanks Sega

Pretty good overview on the legendary 16bit console war. One thing most people over look is that Sega was super aggressive in the north America market due to its leadership. Also Nintendo pulled a lot of dirty tricks early on with Sega, like trying to keep Sega from being able to get the master system in many retailers and telling 3rd devs they couldn't port the nes version of the game to the master system. So of that carried over into the 16bit systems since Nintendo had licensing deals with 3rd party devs which often continued the no porting of this game to the genesis. This is a big reason why we often seen 2 completely different games made for snes and the genesis.

I really like your video’s, been watching one daily for the past week and you have a new subscriber :) I grew up with Nintendo, but a friend had a Genesis (or Megadrive as they are called here). Those were the good days, Mariokart at my place and Golden axe at his. Nowadays I have my original SNES and a Megadrive living in peace next to my TV :)

Marty's technique was used within various Mega Drive games. Example Vectorman "Press Start" screen. You can see the cram dots. Now Jon's technique never was used at least within released games, but within demoscene demos both techniques were used.

I definitely lived through this console war. Like you, it’s my favorite and most nostalgic time of video gaming. I was a Sega fanboy since I owned it first. But today I absolutely love both the Genesis and SNES. I also don’t think we’ll ever see this type of console war ever again. Great video!

This one is incredibly well done and insightful. Really explain very well what makes a true console war. I will admit that I am from an earlier generation of gamers, and these times were absolutely more exciting in terms of the differences between approach and hardware.

I was there through it but had both consoles and loved them both for different reasons. However some things I learned more recently surprised me like how well the Genesis versions of same games could be as well as SNES counterparts that could surprisingly be better in certain cases too. The show Console Wars here on RU-vid really opened my eyes to that.

I grew up in this time, in my town everyone had Nintendo except for 2 kids who also had a Sega genesis. We would trade games often, most of us rented games & had 5 or 6 games to our name. Me & my brother shared a paper route so our money went to buying teenage mutant ninja turtles & renting video games every weekend & fixing our bicycles of flat tires to maintain the paper route. It was a magical time for us but not without major life problems either. Video games became our chosen escape of fantasy.

dude the face you make when you talk about blast processing and whether we believe you or not is the exact face i was making at the screen!

Sega genesis was my first console it came with Sonic 2. And my older sister had a super Nintendo so I was lucky enough to have both and I still have both systems to this date.

In the era of online game play i would argue that video games during the 90s were much more social than they are today. You would trade and borrow cartridges from friends and get together in person to play. You had to go to the store and interact with a salesperson when buying them. Now you play with random nameless people you will never actually interact with in real life and download them without ever speaking to anyone. Old school era of gaming was so much more meaningful and fun than today...

Wow bro u are an amazing person love to listen to someone who thinks like me. I'm 41.. keep it up bro don't let these classics die.. they are forever better

Great video, growing up I loved SEGA all the way but as a adult love both. That was a magical time in gaming!

I'm not going to lie I absolutely couldn't stand this guys videos. His look, his goofy expressions, his voice... And now I cant get enough of it. Crazy.

whenever any piece of technology works slightly slower than i expect it to, like a vending machine taking a couple seconds to think about me my candy bar, or a website taking too long to load, i make a comment about how it must not have blast processing

I agree..there really was something to choose at that time.

I had both. But I remember the first party games were definitely what caught the most hype and fun to be completely honest. But that's not to say that both don't have their own sets of ground breaking games that still hold true today.

I am a veteran of that glorious console war and I was on the Nintendo side. Indeed it was the best console war ever. Now as you said we play both systems and we all love both. The rivalry of SEGA and Nintendo produced some of the best games industry has ever produced. It was a war where both sides won. The best kind of war.

I miss the purity of fun in video games that pressured you into buying a console. We are so damn spoiled as older gamers these days with emulation alone, I will forever praise emulation workers. I miss the "different feeling" that pretty much dropped entirely with PS4/Xbox One. I go back to 8-32 bit eras the most because of how unique they all were.

I was a die hard Sega fan at the time. That said, playing friend's SNES systems was one of my favorite things to do. In 2002 it felt like betrayal to have Sonic on the GBA, even though I had a N64 in between the Genesis and Dreamcast were some of my favorite consoles

I had an SNES first, but eventually bought a Genesis by saving up for it... A kid with $500 cash from allowance who's 8 years old. Still have the same SNES, but gave up the Genesis to get an N64 around launch.

At the beginning of the 16 bit era I wasn't really in either Sega or Nintendo's camp. I was an Atari fan who fruitlessly waited for the comeback to mainstream prominence that never happened. Beyond that, though, I was more in the "anyone but Nintendo" camp, as I had already gotten sick of the NES and didn't want to see Nintendo continue to have a stranglehold on the US market. During the early and middle of the 16 bit era, I had an Atari Lynx and a TurboGrafx 16, both of which I was quite happy with. I had plenty of friends with a mix of Genesis and SNES consoles between them all, so I always got to play the top games for all of the systems. I ended up getting a SNES of my own towards the end of the 16 bit era and a Genesis a short while after it ended, so I truly got to experience all of the best from that era. What a time that was to be alive and a gamer!

I can't think of a single SNES game more visually impressive than Ranger X on Genesis.

I had the Megadrive first (sonic 1 pack) and really loved Sega, but once I saw street fighter 2 on the Snes I knew I had to have one and saved up till I could purchase one (super mario world pack). My first 2 consoles I owned and they are just as awesome now as they were back then - it's also funny how when I have picked up a game for these systems that I had never played before how the graphics and sound can still amaze you! 👍

I grew up during it and was a Genesis man. I do think that the PS1 vs N64 war was more interesting and fun, talk about two completely different visions! The Nintendo vs Genesis war felt more designed by the companies involved, where the PS1/N64 debate was schoolyard grown and the two sides were drastically different gamers. The cool part of that war was that it seemed like everyone enjoyed going to their friends house for some Goldeneye, or watching your friend explain what the hell a Saga Frontier was.

All the format wars were interesting up until the point of Sega's exit. And the European 8 bit computer wars inspires passionate loyalty to this day.

I was lucky enough to have both SNES and Genesis/32X/Sega CD hooked up to the TV in my room. In the early 90s, I was definitely more team Sega, but in the mid 90s, around 1995, I was more team Nintendo, thanks to games like Donkey Kong Country 2 and Chrono Trigger.

As long as you own both consoles, you'll have enough to play for the rest of your life.

i owned both for their different content and advantages and weaknesses. my biggest problem with the snes is its self censorship of content and seemed more like a young kid's console generally

The opening Sonic clip with Mario music made me feel all funny.

I have both of them for one reasons Genesis and SNES are both unique in their own right, but I'm a Sega fan because Sonic made me that way

There's something about playing any Sonic game with the original 3 button Genesis controller that just feels right. The bulky size and easy access to the buttons and stiff D-Pad just works so well in Sonic. It's like playing a different game and makes you want to play it. The 6-button is great for Street Fighter but not near as enjoyable with Sonic IMO.

I did live through this war, but I was focusing my attention on my Laser 286 PC by this point. A buddy of mine would often bring his SNES over, and I would play SNES and he would play Wing Commander on my PC. I was blown away by the awesomeness that was Actraiser, Mario World, Contra III, and finally Street Fighter 2. I didn't play as much Genesis with friends, but I remember a fair amount of Mortal Kombat and Sonic. Nowadays, I would say I like them both equally. I think one reason the console war in the 90s was more interesting than the current one is that the hardware for each system was very different, which required teams to essentially built the game twice for cross-platform games. I suspect this encouraged more exclusives from third-party developers and is responsible for how different console versions of a game could diverge substantially. Currently (if memory serves), the Xbox and PS4 both are both using an AMD CPU and AMD GPU on the same die. They are both using PC architecture and American hardware. No wonder most games end up on PS4, Xbox, and PC. Thanks for the thought-provoking video!

You couldn't put two better consoles together for a war. They were both amazing

More than 5K subs, good job !

I think what's fascinating about the 16 bit era is the hardware was actually very different. SNES games have so much color to them, and the mode 7 was so impactful in games like F-Zero and Final Fantasy. But the fast CPU on the Genesis avoided a lot of the slowdown issues you get with old SNES titles, and the games were really fun and performed great because of it. They were actually different, which I feel like the only real difference between PlayStation 5 and the XBox Series systems is you can actually find and buy a Series S 3 years after launch.

In North America Super Mario Bros was a launch title on the NES, but back in Japan the Famicom had already been available for 2 years already.

I grew up during the Genesis and SNES console war and it was really interesting. Most kids I knew picked a side and stuck with it because they could only have one game console. I had a Genesis as I absolutely loved Sonic, but I knew I was missing out on some great SNES games. I had to go to friends' houses to experience the SNES and we even sometimes traded systems/games. I love both systems equally now as an adult. It was amazing that both consoles had many exclusives. I kind of miss that with modern consoles. It seems beyond a bunch of first and second party support, many consoles share a good number of the same games. Many games are ported between modern consoles and don't have much (if any) exclusive content on a particular console.

I loved going to my friends house to play sega, sonic mostly but also other games too, and he would come over to my house to play nintendo, mario kart and donkey kong and other games, it let us get to enjoy both systems while of course each of our parents would only buy one.

I lived in it partially in France. It seemed that Sega had the upper hand there, at least among my peers.

Yeah i lived through it at the time but here is the funny thing back then i never knew there was a console war lol but i was only 6 or 7 at the time and i never payed to much attention to that sort of thing in till later on the only gamer war thing that i was ever part of was the Pokemon first generation war on Gameboy when Pokemon was at its peak that was in the summer of 1999 that only lasted for like two years and i can tell yeah that was one hell of a experience and in my opinion still holds up to this day at a global scale.

It's because of this "war" that many games from that generation are simply awesome and timeless! I was a Mega Drive / Genesis fan myself mostly because many of my friends had one too. I had Mega Games 2 so I played Golden Axe, Streets of Rage and Revenge of Shinobi almost to exhaustion, but I still like to play them every once in a while, among many other awesome games. Never was a Sonic fan, though. Now I own both the Mega Drive and the SNES with Everdrives and Retro-Bit controllers, and it's the best of both worlds: I have all the games without needing an entire room to store them (I'm neither rich nor a RU-vidr), and play on controllers that are identical to the originals without the hassle of wires.

I started out with a SNES but later bought a Genesis for GUN STAR HEROES ( having beat CONTRA 3 A NUMBER OF TIMES) and the sports games.

This was such a fun time to be alive! Everybody won

I've always been a fan of both

I had both SNES and Genesis as a kid. I loved them both for different reasons.

I agree 132% Their hasnt been a rivalry like that since

In the UK the NES came too late. Only the Game Boy was successful in 1991. They made up for that mistake and pushed the SNES which became popular just behind the Master System and Megadrive. The marketing was completely different to the US. Neither Nintendo or Sega referenced each other. And there was no Blast Processing mentioned.

I found this console war to be so ridiculous. People would say they couldn't afford both consoles, yet the systems were both $99, the last few years, the same price as Earthbound or Virtua Racing.

I was really a lucky kid and was able to have both of them as a kid. Damn my parents rock thanks mom and dad.

Yeah I remember that When Donkey Kong Country came out it was a wrap!

Lol yeah i told my friends. "Yeah my sega has blast processing" later that year i got a snes for christmas.

Growing up with Sega Master System I felt I always had to defend it against the OG Nintendo. I was team Sega all the way and only got a NES last year, but now I can appreciate it!

They were so affordable, that I bought all three of them.

4th gen is the only one I consider a console war... the NES and Genesis both were relatively expensive, and very few were the households that had both. In my community, your allegiance was likely chosen by your parents, but if you were lucky enough to have a console, you defended whichever choice your parents made to the death (of your honor). I was on the Sega side, and the Genesis remains my favorite, especially for the sound, but the SNES definitely took the cake for Mech games. The console wars ended in the course of the fifth generation; partly because the Playstation swept the show, and partly because it became normal for a household to own two consoles.

I used to think SNES was the overall better console but missed out on some really good Sega games. I still think that but there were more great Sega exclusives than I knew about. Things get much more complicated when you start comparing games released for both consoles but Sega often wins on the versions that played better. That said, it's kinda fifty fifty on that topic and the best console is really about which games are more important to you.

Random question. Are you playing sonic 1 around 9:30 mark, but you’re doing a spin dash from sonic 2 and 3?

In terms of power when you exclude helper chips, really both consoles are not really that different. The snes has a lot more colors and can have more sprites on screen, but the genesis is almost two times faster which ironically allows it to have more sprites on screen without slowing down, that is why shmups are far better on genesis. And really people don't realise just how many classic snes games used helper chips, the sfx chip is well known for star fox, dkc and others. But even kirby, mario kart and pilot wings used other types of helper chips. Which to me makes it kind of an unfair comparison, if you are bringing up hardware enhancements then is only fair to also mention sega cd games, which was the actual response from sega to nintendo's chips strategies.

Yes, this console war is definitely the 'WW II' in gaming history. What a fascinating era it was.. We grew up with the NES from 1990 -1993, then the SNES came for us and hell broke loose. The war had caused the 2 factions as if it were football-hooligans....something that is not very common in gaming society nowadays anymore due to having multiple platforms is quite common. You're very right that the 'systempushers' gave the console their identity and the 3rd party developers were more loyal to their respective console like Squaresoft and Rare to Nintendo. Especially the J-RPG's had their prime in the 90's with Nintendo. Killer Instinct and DK series. But what you mentioned in the last part of your video did it all. Nintendo managed to let the software (FX chip for example) do the hardware-work what makes games like Yoshi's Island, Starwing (Europe), Super Mario RPG possible. And last but not least, games like Chrono Trigger were boosted audio-wise by it's software and as of today is considered as the best game with best soundtrack all time. I have such good memories about those days.....😆

I was a tween turned teenager during this time period and it was some serious tribalism. At the time I was on the SNES side and no one could change my mind…stop looking at me Toe Jam and Earl. For today, these are both amazing consoles with so many great games. I actually have more genesis games now than I do SNES.

Hard to argue a better console war than Sega vs. Nintendo... Atari vs. Coleco vs. IntelliVision was pretty good too. (Or computer-wise Atari vs. Commodore.)

The console wars gave birth to grown 40 yr Old Men who go to war over PlayStation/Xbox instead of just owning both.

I like the games back then better then today for the fun factor

i played a lot of sega genesis games with my friends but i fell in love with the snes, but i did not play ip's as mario, metroid or dk, i played harvest moon, aerobiz, chrono trigger, Aladin, and other games that i find them better than the sega genesis games, even so, games like streets of rage, toejam an earl, kid chamaleon are some of my favorites on that generation.

Could it have something to do with them being completely different systems? These systems were designed by their respective companies, not just cobbled together from the same parts you'd build your next PC with. The 16-bit rivalry was almost a spectator sport.

Growing up I had the mega-drive. I used to sneak downstairs late on a school night, plug that bad boy in to play Sonic and be blasted with “SEEGGAA!” Because our TV turned on at a base volume that was loud enough to warn people of a nuclear strike. The mega-drive has always been one of my favourite consoles but I was pretty ignorant to anything else. I had a friend who had a Super Nintendo and I remember playing Super Mario World round his house. Ever since I first played the SNES back then I’ve had a love for it. I haven’t had much exposure to the SNES since then; other than ports of its games or sometimes emulation. But I bit the bullet yesterday and bought one off eBay with Super Mario World. I can’t wait to plug it in, play it for 5 minutes and then go back onto RU-vid for the rest of the day 👍

My little sis loved all the Donkey Kong country games. Of course big brother helped get her past some hard levels lol

I really feel like Sega genesis won the 16 bit console war despite selling less overall versus snes. Sega was the leading 16 bit system 1988 to around 1994 and snes only passed genesis after Sega stopped supporting the system. And if you look genesis sold better in North America, South America, Europe, Australia. Only place in the world where snes sold better was a highly concentrated area of the world Japan

This was THE Console War. I mean, kids were willing to "settle it outside" during recess. If that's not true war, what is? 😂

I grew up during this time and it really felt like a competition! I was a SNES guy and I still am to this day. The marketing was good at establishing the brand loyalty that made me actively dislike Sega, and root for SNES. That said, Sonic was so cool and took every opportunity to did play Genesis games at friends’ houses. Some of those guys were fortunate enough to have both consoles! Fun stuff!