10 Reasons Why the Super Nintendo Was Better Than the Sega Genesis

That’s all well and good, but I think we sometimes underestimate how much of an advantage the NES’s success had for the SNES. With the NES, Nintendo created not only a global market for its brand, but also a library of titles and partner studios whose initial SNES offerings were often improved versions of what they had previously developed for the NES. In fact, the whole “Super” tag was often applied to games that were essentially remakes of NES titles (the most famous being Super Castlevania IV AND Super Metroid). Many of the world’s greatest developers were able to use the NES to test concepts that they later refined on the SNES.

Some of the best console RPGs ever made

Contrary to popular narrative, the Sega Genesis had some really good RPGs. Simply comparing the Genesis RPG library to the SNES RPG library immediately exposes one of the most significant genre gaps in the history of the console wars.

In all fairness, Sega would have had to sell its soul to corporate Satan (aka the Devil) to find a studio that could keep up with Square’s RPG output. More importantly, many of these RPGs quickly became selling epics on the console that showcased so many things the SNES could technically do better than the Genesis. Not to mention their widely acknowledged status as some of the best games ever made. I don’t want to rub salt in the wound, but many of the lesser-known and overlooked RPGs on the SNES would instantly become some of the best genre offerings on the Genesis.

A deeper (and overall better) platformer Library

While I wholeheartedly side with Mario in the great Mario vs. Sonic debate, it’s important to remember that these were two platforming franchises at the forefront of a much larger war for relevance in an increasingly popular genre. It was a war that the SNES series ultimately won.

Sure, its victory can largely be attributed to the aforementioned contributions from Nintendo and the older NES studios (Capcom, Konami, Rare, etc.). But in an era when Sega has turned having a viable competitor to Mario into a big deal, it’s easy to forget that some of the biggest and best Super Mario competitors came from the Nintendo ecosystem.

SNES Controller Shoulder Buttons

I can’t argue with my esteemed colleague who suggests that the Genesis’ six-button controller often made it the better choice (especially in genres where the Genesis generally excelled). However, the SNES controller had one significant advantage that’s hard to do without to this day: shoulder buttons.