Sega Mega Drive/Genesis: A Hypothetical

[Kamahl]

Dunno... i think Toy Story's prerendered graphics on Genesis/Mega Drive look at least as good, if not better than DK.

I always thought Toy Story looked like ass (except the FPS level), but my opinion on DKC graphically was never high to begin with so take that with a grain of salt.

[Guntz]

People went apeshit over DKC because it had good marketing, CG graphics in 256 colors, good music and it made SNES look better than the 32-bit consoles of the time. Genesis couldn't compete at all, it had so few colors. Again, upping the colors on the Genesis/MD would have prevented several significant failures in the Genesis and its add-ons. Imagine a 256 color Sega CD, the FMV would have actually succeeded in their intended goal. There would have been more support, the ASIC graphics chip would have been used and the 32X wouldn't have been created.

Clearly, the SNES is proof that, during that time at least, more color really was better. SNES had deficiencies like a slow ass CPU, tiny NES-sized resolution and various architecture limitations, but color was enough to make the SNES seem better than Genesis. Not to mention the SPC700, which could sort of do CD like sound, too bad most games sound horribly "compressed" and generally lacking in quality. But Final Fantasy could sound like an orchestra, mind blowing right? People are quick to forget the sea of third party games with awful quality music on SNES. Genesis sounds like farts lol.

[zyrobs]

The Megadrive, when it was released, was actually pretty much the most powerful console on the market. From what I've heard, it was a cut-down cheaper System 16. Mind you, this was in 1988, and it was up against the NES. The SNES was half a generation more advanced, and it was built on the philosophy of having on-cart cpu expansions, for which the game publishers covered the costs, not Nintendo themselves.

And yet the MD still put up a hell of a fight and could pull off things on its own the SNES could not.

[roundwars]

Nah no need, the main purpose of the Z80 is handling PCM playback. They should have just added some DMA capabilities to the 6th channel. The SN doesn't add enough to the system either, taking it out would remove a some of the system's cost. It's only there for SMS compatibility anyway. There's a reason the PSG component is barely used on later (but still pre-streaming) NEO-GEO games, it just doesn't do enough.

The MD doesn't even have a real SN chip anyway -- that functionality is built into the VDP along with the rest of the back-compatible hardware aside from the Z80. So getting rid of it would've saved on die space rather than cost. Maybe they could've replaced it with some decent PCM channels -- I really, honestly don't think 6 sound channels was enough to have truly good sound for the era. MD could've really used around 4 PCM channels for sound effects and sampled instruments, not to mention freeing up 2612 channel 6 for FM.

Mixing FM and PCM was the best thing you could've done for sound at the time, since the two techniques have different strengths and each can make up for the other's weaknesses rather well. Tons of arcade games did it, with like 8 channels of each for 16 channels total, and I think 10 channels total wouldn't have been overkill on a console.

[Bottino]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A little tale:
It's a rainy day in 1992, Bionic-Kid is in his room, with his stack of EGM magazines by his side, playing Sonic 2 via RF or Composite and thinking "oh boy, this game sure could use more colors just like those Snes games!!"

Three years later...
We have Bionic-Teen playing Alien Soldier in his room, with his stack of EGMs by his side, feeling that this game doesn't have enough colors, it's too hard, the action is too frenetic; he needs something that can offer him a "next-gen experience". Then, out of nowhere, he hears a voice saying: "3D is dah future son! You need some Donkey Kong Country".

End of story.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Yharnamresident]

What could have saved the Genesis? One thing.

COLOR.

Just that, nothing else.

The Genesis in reality was a large collection of small and big errors that ended up acting as the catalyst for Sega's corporate downfall. Every last one of those errors was in some way caused by the extreme lack of color on the Genesis. A measly 64 onscreen colors (usually less in actual games).

If the Genesis had more colors (128 to 256 onscreen):

Genesis wouldn't have seemed any different from SNES
Sega CD would have had better sales, because people would have noticed its enhanced graphics rendering
FMV games would have been far better received, making the SNES feel less advanced
The 32X itself would have never been created, it was initially designed to correct the lack of colors
The Sega SVP co-processor would have seen more interest
Donkey Kong Country wouldn't have had nearly as big an influence against its competition (namely Genesis), assuming Sega could muster up a good CG rendered game in 1994
Because of all of the above, Saturn would have stood a better chance at not horribly failing, assuming SOJ never changed their marketing strategy in the USA

The fans and magazines of the past and especially the fans of today both prove that they judge by what they see first, then sound and quality. The first thing anyone sees is color. Color is what made Donkey Kong Country fool so many people. Color is why the Sega CD largely failed and why the 32X was made.

Common, you Canadian, its colour.

The Genesis colour capabilities were a very pathetic jump over the SMS.

[Guntz]

I defy the Queen's spelling.

[Yharnamresident]

Do at your own risk.