The Genesis really was better than the Super Nintendo.

[JumpingRyle]

I'm gonna guess you who saw the Genesis/Mega Drive as "more mature and adult" were probably around 8-10 years old at the time, the same demographic that in modern day loves Call of Duty.

Um, yeah, I'm not quite sure that the Call of Duty demographic can be limited to 8-10 year olds.

I don't know what point you're trying to make. That kids are stupid? That they are easily manipulated by advertising and peer pressure? Yes, yes they are.

First you say that nobody saw the Genesis as being cooler than the SNES, which obviously isn't true. Sega played up the "mature content" shit big time. Sales for the Genesis went UP during the Night Trap congressional hearing business. It's even hypothesized that one reason Sega created the Videogame Rating Council to promote the violence in certain games. That "MA-17" label on games was a total lure at a time when games were largely being played by kids.

[Gentlegamer]

I was a teenager when SNES came out. All of my friends, who were actually older, more mature, didn't see SNES as uncool or Genesis as the "edgy, cooler, mature" system. That was the marketing for little kids who aspire to be seen as older. We were driving cars and had jobs, we didn't need extra validation to be seen as "older more mature." That's the irony in that kind of marketing; it's actually directed at babbies.

[Kamahl]

lol yeah I do admit that there is absolutely no originality left in the tank of, not just the COD franchise, but in the whole FPS genre but for sheer stress busting fun after having a tough day there isn't many games that give me that feeling of pretending to be Arnie in Commando and just being a ridiculous one-man army just mowing down everything in sight.

I've always liked the old Build Engine games for that (Duke 3D, Blood, Shadow Warrior, ...). They're over the top and full of cheesy one liners, like old 80's action flicks, pure fun.

[JumpingRyle]

I was a teenager when SNES came out. All of my friends, who were actually older, more mature, didn't see SNES as uncool or Genesis as the "edgy, cooler, mature" system. That was the marketing for little kids who aspire to be seen as older. We were driving cars and had jobs, we didn't need extra validation to be seen as "older more mature." That's the irony in that kind of marketing; it's actually directed at babbies.

I don't know why we're talking about Call of Duty, but more than 100 million people have played the game according to http://www.vg247.com/2013/08/13/call...fired-to-date/ That's a hell of a lot of 8-10 year olds! (Note: I do not play CoD, but I think it's pretty silly to make ANY comparisons between it and the Genesis).

I'm very glad that you, as a teenager, were above marketing directed towards children. That is good to know, and I can sleep a little easier tonight knowing it.

Us "babbies", however, weren't lucky enough when we were 8-10 to be driving cars and having jobs. We were, unfortunately, kids.

[midnightrider]

The first RPG on the Genesis, out the same year as the console came out in North America, has a mature scene with visible blood. An RPG.

The SNES would censor the word "pub/bar," for as long as RPG's would be released on the console, and there's gore on the Genesis in year one, which was still 2 years away from the SNES' release.

It's really not hard to see how these perceptions came about.

[JumpingRyle]

A typical Sega in-house game:



They certainly didn't shy away from the blood and gore...

[saturndual32]

No, no, no. You guys got it wrong. It wasnt about SNES fans being little dorky kids, and Genesis fans being cool mature guys (well i cant deny we are). BITD, it was all about SNES fans being fags, and Genesis owners being true machos. Oh and in the case of girls, SNES owner=fat ugly chick, Genesis owner= hot chick. Seriously, thats how i remember it .

[Iron Lizard]

Whatever I don't know what you guys are going on about. We all know the 3DO was really the cool "mature" system.

[JumpingRyle]

No, no, no. You guys got it wrong. It wasnt about SNES fans being little dorky kids, and Genesis fans being cool mature guys (well i cant deny we are). BITD, it was all about SNES fans being fags, and Genesis owners being true machos. Oh and in the case of girls, SNES owner=fat ugly chick, Genesis owner= hot chick. Seriously, thats how i remember it .

Now that you mention it, yeah, that's exactly how I remember it!

[Black_Tiger]

A typical Sega in-house game:



They certainly didn't shy away from the blood and gore...

I really don't think that is typical at all and barely even in-house, more like summer-home.

[JumpingRyle]

I really don't think that is typical at all and barely even in-house, more like summer-home.

Yeah, I know

But then again this was an MD launch title...:

[Gogogadget]

And they pussied out and removed that and the Fist of the North Star license elsewhere smh.

Not that the game was any good anyway.

[Black_Tiger]

Yeah, I know

But then again this was an MD launch title...:

But they also put out something like 16 Sonic games, 8 Shining games, 5 Wonderboy games, 3 Ecco games, 3 Columns games, 3 Thunder Force games, 2 Fantasy Zone games, 2 Alex Kidd games and stuff like Flicky, Kolibri, Into-the-screen-shooters, racers, sports, war sims, etc, during the run of the Genesis.

[Mega Drive Bowlsey]

I was a teenager when SNES came out. All of my friends, who were actually older, more mature, didn't see SNES as uncool or Genesis as the "edgy, cooler, mature" system. That was the marketing for little kids who aspire to be seen as older. We were driving cars and had jobs, we didn't need extra validation to be seen as "older more mature." That's the irony in that kind of marketing; it's actually directed at babbies.

Newsflash! Kids play COD games and adults play Pokemon games! Well who'd have believed it? You do realise that absolutely anyone of any age or gender is entitled to play and enjoy different games even if it's not necessarily marketed at them don't you?

[midnightrider]

But they also put out something like 16 Sonic games, 8 Shining games, 5 Wonderboy games, 3 Ecco games, 3 Columns games, 3 Thunder Force games, 2 Fantasy Zone games, 2 Alex Kidd games and stuff like Flicky, Kolibri, Into-the-screen-shooters, racers, sports, war sims, etc, during the run of the Genesis.

Edit: Didn't mean for that to sound antagonistic, if it did before.

I remember character portraits getting bloodied in Shining Force. On top of that, obviously we know Sega weren't afraid to let the original Mortal Kombat have a means to keep the blood in.

Prior to Nintendo lifting the blood ban, we saw Splatterhouse 2 & 3. Then there was the Mutant League games(Hockey was after, but let's face it, it still would have come out that way if the idea was in '89). Predator 2's Predator victims blew up in a pile of gore. Blades of vengeance sees organic enemies turn into drops of blood. The immortal had more gory death scenes than any of version of the game.

The Genesis version of Robocop vs. The Terminator came out after Nintendo lifted the blood ban. The SNES version didn't. When the Genesis got a Castlevania, zombies bled. Eternal Champions. Zero tolerance, even if you don't see it up close, it leaves behind bloody corpses.

Even without blood, you have concepts like Road Rash/Skitchin'. Most remembered SNES racer? Mario Kart. Skeleton Krew, which doesn't have in-game gore, but has a lot of blood/skeletal imagery in it's presentation. Devilish with skeletal/demonic imagery. Dragon's Fury with similar imagery, in spite of being a censored Devil's Crush. Hell, Dragon's Revenge has similar imagery.

That's without mentioning the nudity in Rings of Power.

On the flip side, '95, a perfect time to make something gory on the SNES, Spawn, of all titles, has absolutely none.

Bring up all the less graphic, family friendly titles on the Genesis you want, there's a legit reason these console were seen as they were.