The Genesis had separate FM synthesis and sound effects chip. The sfx chip was the same as the Master System and was kind of shitty.
Meanwhile, the SNES had a single 16-bit digital signal processor for all audio.
The sound effects tended to be worse than SNES in general. Compare the Street Fighter editions on both consoles for a good example.
However, dedicated titles that properly used the FM synth chip could have fantastic music. Example: all first party titles with music by Yuzo Koshiro (Streets of Rage series, Shinobi series).
TLDR: Sega Genesis had good music hardware but shitty SFX hardware, and not all developers utilized the music hardware properly.
The Genesis music hardware was a pretty legendary Yamaha synth with a really distinctive, crisp sound, but not a hell of a lot of flexibility. The SNES sound processor was made by Sony and at the time was considered pretty revolutionary. It couldn't produce the the fidelity the genesis could, so no crisp drums, no gritty fat basslines, but what it could do was sample circles around anything else from that era. The SNES's SPC chip always sounded a little soft, but it had the range to pull out convincing vocals, higher quality strings than you'd ever heard before from a game console, and pump tons of channels at once. So the Genesis sounded like a really sweet Yamaha synth which was cool and all, but it meant every title was samey and the SFX were lame. The SNES was pumping out orchestral jams with reverb and chorus effects, switching to rock and roll, steel drums, banjo, ragtime piano, ambient noise tracks, everything.
Thanks, DK! That basically corroborated everything I thought about it.
every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.
Wasteland on C64 was the first game I had that "oh shit it's been six hours? where did the time go?" response.
When other kids were playing Legend of Zelda and stabbing Octorocks, I was shooting desert dwellers with assault rifles and turning them into fine red mist.
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every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
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JacobkoshGamble a stamp.I can show you how to be a real man!Moderatormod
I try to represent for the great PC games because nobody ever fucking talks about them and it drives me nuts
"gamer culture" is all about the zeldas and the metroids and I wasn't playing that stuff and goddamn it there are so many good games that do not deserve to be forgotten
Wasteland on C64 was the first game I had that "oh shit it's been six hours? where did the time go?" response.
When other kids were playing Legend of Zelda and stabbing Octorocks, I was shooting desert dwellers with assault rifles and turning them into fine red mist.
for many years my internet avatar was the "New Waver" gang member in the mesh shirt
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JacobkoshGamble a stamp.I can show you how to be a real man!Moderatormod
where did you find that? I couldn't find anything but the WC movie soundtrack for love or money.
Wing Commander 1 is still my gold standard for video game soundtracks and dynamic music handling in general. Getting shot up till your ship was in the red, charing a Fralthi and launching all your missiles at its engine ports, splashing it, and then heading home - the soundtrack accompanied all that perfectly.
I know that with a Roland sound board they sound better, but I will always like the SoundBlaster version of the Wing Commander music.
where did you find that? I couldn't find anything but the WC movie soundtrack for love or money.
Wing Commander 1 is still my gold standard for video game soundtracks and dynamic music handling in general. Getting shot up till your ship was in the red, charing a Fralthi and launching all your missiles at its engine ports, splashing it, and then heading home - the soundtrack accompanied all that perfectly.
searched youtube for "wing commander 2 soundblaster"
JacobkoshGamble a stamp.I can show you how to be a real man!Moderatormod
I like to imagine where games would be today if more children of the 90s had spent their time turning desert mutants into red mist
I am not trying to hate on classic console stuff because I do love a lot of those games very much but one of my least favorite parts of gamer culture is enforced tweeness
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Rear Admiral ChocoI wanna be an owl, Jerry!Owl York CityRegistered Userregular
I don't really care for the Genesis' brand of beep-boops so some Sonic tracks fall flat for me but there's a lot of good stuff and at least one track that is good despite the beep-boops
I still can't believe I was able, as a ten year old boy, to buy and play a game about being a sniper who goes around murdering people and banging chix to regain health
it's rather more recent, but in the excellent side scrolling shootemup (like Gradius or R-Type) "Jets n' Guns" (which was recently added to steam) there is a level where you have to blow the shit out of a concert being given by the band who did the soundtrack for the game while they are playing this song:
I still can't believe I was able, as a ten year old boy, to buy and play a game about being a sniper who goes around murdering people and banging chix to regain health
Yeah. I mean it's one of the more "WTF" licensing decisions for the NES. It was great. It was like I was playing a Bond film. Sniping like Dalton. Shooting dudes like Connery, macking on the ladies like Moore.
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
I try to represent for the great PC games because nobody ever fucking talks about them and it drives me nuts
"gamer culture" is all about the zeldas and the metroids and I wasn't playing that stuff and goddamn it there are so many good games that do not deserve to be forgotten
No, it came out when I wasn't watching many movies. I am going to try to catch it soon because it sounds great.
Yeah. It's basically Dynasty Warriors the movie. They gave John Woo a ton of money and just let him go. It will teach you important lessons like Chinese Generals generally didn't bring weapons to a battle because the enemy would bring plenty and you can just take them.
that part is actually in the books. The Wu were running low on arrows so Liu Bei got tasked with getting more. He put a bunch of straw bales onto boats and went within range of the Wei armada who opened fire. Then he brought the ships back and pulled the arrows out of the straw.
I still can't believe I was able, as a ten year old boy, to buy and play a game about being a sniper who goes around murdering people and banging chix to regain health
Yeah. I mean it's one of the more "WTF" licensing decisions for the NES. It was great. It was like I was playing a Bond film. Sniping like Dalton. Shooting dudes like Connery, macking on the ladies like Moore.
Getting lost in a maze like elderly Connery.
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ThomamelasOnly one man can kill this many Russians. Bring his guitar to me! Registered Userregular
Hilariously enough visits to a kid with a PC's house were always a coveted prize to be had in school for me
When I was 5 or 6 playing Putt-Putt seemed a lot more fun and engaging than running around and stomping Goombas
And that one sweet taste of Doom on a friend's older brother's computer when I was 7, those were good times
When I was 12 another friend's dad was the one to show me Duke Nukem 3-D and that was something else
PC games were a precious thing to be had only occasionally when I was growing up
We would sit huddled around a PC taking turns playing Scorched Earth. Over time house rules regarding the use of Death's Heads developed. Later on MIRVs once I started getting good enough to get the occasional "I go first, you all die" rounds.
HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
If anyone played Ys 3 (or digs video game chipset music) check this out. It's one track from the game, but every iteration of it across every platform it was released on.
I like to imagine where games would be today if more children of the 90s had spent their time turning desert mutants into red mist
I am not trying to hate on classic console stuff because I do love a lot of those games very much but one of my least favorite parts of gamer culture is enforced tweeness
on the other hand, we have a lot of aggressive grittiness, and much of that came from the Quake-Daikatana era
every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
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JacobkoshGamble a stamp.I can show you how to be a real man!Moderatormod
Posts
Thanks, DK! That basically corroborated everything I thought about it.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
bottom paged
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
for many years my internet avatar was the "New Waver" gang member in the mesh shirt
I never played IV on SNES (I had it on Apple II) but I remember the Ultima: Exodus NES music being really good in a Final Fantasy kind of way.
That and Pac-Man.
I had Pac-Man. I enjoyed Pac-Man. But I wasn't a fanatic about it.
But I don't care. Pac-Man is a general-purpose signifier for early-1980s video gaming.
What I'm saying is
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
where did you find that? I couldn't find anything but the WC movie soundtrack for love or money.
Wing Commander 1 is still my gold standard for video game soundtracks and dynamic music handling in general. Getting shot up till your ship was in the red, charing a Fralthi and launching all your missiles at its engine ports, splashing it, and then heading home - the soundtrack accompanied all that perfectly.
searched youtube for "wing commander 2 soundblaster"
edit: no wait, wrong one. I liked that level, but this was my favorite music:
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
I am not trying to hate on classic console stuff because I do love a lot of those games very much but one of my least favorite parts of gamer culture is enforced tweeness
I dig
fuck
yes
I still can't believe I was able, as a ten year old boy, to buy and play a game about being a sniper who goes around murdering people and banging chix to regain health
When I was 5 or 6 playing Putt-Putt seemed a lot more fun and engaging than running around and stomping Goombas
And that one sweet taste of Doom on a friend's older brother's computer when I was 7, those were good times
When I was 12 another friend's dad was the one to show me Duke Nukem 3-D and that was something else
PC games were a precious thing to be had only occasionally when I was growing up
Yeah. I mean it's one of the more "WTF" licensing decisions for the NES. It was great. It was like I was playing a Bond film. Sniping like Dalton. Shooting dudes like Connery, macking on the ladies like Moore.
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/146226/hitoshi-sakimotowns-videbrogamemusic
Because y'know.
dis game
so good
The game encapsulates basically everything good about the Genesis, and it is my ideal classic game.
Amazing soundtrack, beautiful spritework, imaginative environments, and a really clever and unique platforming mechanic.
EDIT: Replaced with a better video
That scene was beautiful
It was actually just a really good game too, one of the best platformers ever.
Getting lost in a maze like elderly Connery.
We would sit huddled around a PC taking turns playing Scorched Earth. Over time house rules regarding the use of Death's Heads developed. Later on MIRVs once I started getting good enough to get the occasional "I go first, you all die" rounds.
*weeps quietly, afraid of what this might awaken*
Ristar was a very good sleeper on Genesis. It deserved a lot more attention than it got.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
Some masculinity?
on the other hand, we have a lot of aggressive grittiness, and much of that came from the Quake-Daikatana era
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
@spool32 you are doing God's work. show chu no mercy.
Edit - That was the Sega CD version, here's the Genesis version. Which is catchier in some ways:
does it involve clint eastwood and Sergio leone?