Video games have been a major piece of charm for teenagers and sometimes adults as well. Many companies have done revolutionary experiments in the gaming industry to provide the best video game experience for players.
Sega Genesis and SNES was a very trendy home video game console in the 90s among youth which was discontinued.
Key Takeaways
- Sega Genesis has a faster processor and more aggressive marketing; SNES features a larger color palette and better sound capabilities.
- Sega Genesis targets a more mature audience; SNES appeals to a broader demographic.
- Sega Genesis pioneered blast processing; SNES introduced Mode 7 scaling and rotation effects.
Sega Genesis vs SNES
The difference between Sega genesis and SNES is that Sega Genesis is a type of home video game console that is developed by Sega Corporation and launched before SNES. SNES, on the other hand, is also a type of home video game console that was developed by Nintendo Entertainment and launched after two years of the launch of Sega Genesis.
Sega Genesis is a game console. It is a 16-bit fourth-generation video game console that is developed by Sega. Sega Genesis is known outside of North America as Mega Drive Mini while its full and original name is Sega Genesis Mini.
This game console has multiple versions available for different countries such as Japan, Brazil, and others.
SNES is a home video game console based on 16-bit architecture. The expanded form for SNES is Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
SNES is also known shortly as Super Nintendo, Super Comboy, Super Famicom, NES, etc. The company known as Nintendo developed SNES.
One of the main features of SNES is it supports multiplayer games.
Comparison Table
| Parameters Of Comparison | Sega Genesis | SNES |
|---|---|---|
| Launched by | The home video game console, Sega Genesis was developed and launched by a company known as Sega Corporation. | Super Nintendo Entertainment System shortly known as SNES was launched by Nintendo Entertainment. |
| Year of launch | Sega Genesis game console was launched for the first time in Japan on October 29, 1988. | SNES home video game console was launched for the first time in Japan on 21 November 1990. |
| CPU | The CPU which is used in the Sega Genesis game console is Motorola 68000, Zilog Z-80 coprocessor. | The CPU which is used in the SNES home video game console is known to be WDC 65816 core. |
| RAM | Sega Corporation’s game console Sega Genesis Mini comes with 64 KB RAM which was enough for 2D games. | The SNES is also known as Super Nintendo offers 128 KB RAM and it was more than Sega Genesis. |
| Channels | The number of audio channels provided in Sega Genesis for players is almost 10. | The number of audio channels provided in the SNES game console for players is 8. |
What is Sega Genesis?
Sega genesis mini is the game console that belongs to the 16-bit era. The 16-bit era started on October 30, 1987, when Japan launched TurboGrafx-16.
It is also referred to as a home video game console. Sega genesis survived in the market from 1988 to 1999.
It was released in Japan for the first time then gradually in North America, South Korea, Pal Reign, and Brazil. From 1988 to 1997 it was sold under the title sega but then it was changed to Majesco in 1998.
Sega Genesis mini was discontinued by Majesco Entertainment in 1999. Sega Genesis sold around 30.75 million around the world.
Sega genesis mini was developed under the supervision of Masami Ishikawa and Hideki Sato by the team known as R&D.
Sega Genesis performed very poorly in its origin country against its two major competitors PC Engine and Super Famicom. But surprisingly Sega Genesis made a hit in North America and Europe.
At first Sega Genesis included a modest library but to attract more players, it started to contain many games. The first game offered by Sega was Altered Beast, it was an arcade game.
In the year 1991, Altered Beast was replaced by Sonic the hedgehog and another game was Disney’s Aladdin. It also paid reasonable attention to action games.
What is SNES?
Super Nintendo Entertainment System, shortly known as SNES is a game console developed by Nintendo. It was initially launched in Japan and South Korea and after a year in North America followed by in Europe and South America.
SNES was known as SFC (Super Famicom) in Japan while Korean players knew this game console as Super Comboy.
Hyundai Electronic was the company to launch SNES in South Korea while in North America, SNES was launched by Playtronic. The SNES home video game console survived in the market from 1990 till 2003. SNES sold almost 49.
10 million game console units worldwide. SNES was the video game that forced on the 3D simulation and the graphics offered by it were also quite advanced.
The number of games developed and launched for SNES was quite high, it was almost 1757 and 1448 alone was for Japan.
Some of the games that supported SNES video game console were The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country, EarthBound, Yoshi’s Island, Super Metroid, etc.
Due to its advanced features, SNES was named the world’s best video game console. The upgraded versions of SNES also launched such as Virtual Console, classic games service, etc.
Main Differences Between Sega Genesis and SNES
- Sega Genesis game console offers a resolution quality of 320×224. On the other hand, the resolution quality provided by the SNES game console is from 256×224 to512×448.
- The number color system supported by Sega Genesis is 512. SNES, on the other hand, supports up to 32,768 colors.
- The types of panels for playing or operating the game on a screen in Sega Genesis are 1 sprite layer, 2 scrolling, 1 window plane while SNES offers 1-4 layers of panels.
- The speed of the CPU to perform several tasks is 7.67 MHz for Motorola 68000 in the Sega Genesis game console while SNES provides 3.58 MHz of CPU speed.
- Sega Genesis game consoles come with 64 KB RAM. SNES, on the other hand, offers 128 KB RAM for its users.
- https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=lGRjDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Sega+genesis&ots=5tJ4uoEahh&sig=ILZpm5FAlOlcd1sJ092gzOAlN1k
- https://arxiv.org/abs/1611.02205
Last Updated : 13 July, 2023
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Sandeep Bhandari holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Computers from Thapar University (2006). He has 20 years of experience in the technology field. He has a keen interest in various technical fields, including database systems, computer networks, and programming. You can read more about him on his bio page.
I strongly disagree, I genuinely think that Sega was the superior choice of the two.
I’m with you on that. Sega was way ahead of its time.
I’m sorry but that’s just not true. SNES was miles ahead
I find it surprising to say the least, how influential these game consoles were on the market.
Very informative article. I was mostly a Sega fan, now I understand why!
Absolutely, the article really helped me settle the debate about which was better. Thanks
Yeah, the article is very thorough and well-researched, I appreciate that.
NO WAY! The SNES was so innovative it blew any other consoles out of the water.
The Super Nintendo is like the holy grail of gaming. Sega could never compete
Those were the days, it’s amusing how big of a deal these consoles were back then.
Haha, interesting debate, but no doubt SNES wins!