Why did genesis and SNES music sound different?

[Maximilian]

Just listening to some old genesis tracks:

Genesis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSaSBzOw5SM

SNES
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6gqGCAvMfk&feature=related

IMO the SNES one sounds a bit better. Why did they do different songs for each system? Or was it just the audio processor in the SNES was better or something? I do remember simcity 2k also from that era of games sounding different when i moved it to a newer computer which i assume had a better sound card.

 

[brblx]

the SNES had a superior audio chipset. that much i know, maybe someone else can explain precisely why.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

yeah, I remember the Angry Video Game Nerd's review of the Sega 32x and he compared Doom from the SNES and the 32x. The 32x had clearly better graphics but the sound was terrible.

 

[smackababy]

IIRC the SNES had superior hardware than the Genesis. I know the processor was better, but I think everything else was as well. That was the reason Star Fox was like it was.

 

[Fox5]

Genesis had a really powerful processor, and little in the way of additional hardware. I think it used it the cpu of sega's previous system (the master system) as the sound chip though, and also to provide backwards compatibility. In fact, the same cpu (more or less) was used in the master system, game gear, and gameboy color (though that came a decade later).

The SNES had more advanced graphics hardware, including some pseudo 3d fx hardware which could do some basic bitmap manipulation or even up to 1000 polygons per second. It also had a much more advanced sound DSP.

The SNES could also have additional sound and graphics chips on cart, so the games were basically add in boards. Genesis could do the same, but rarely did. Nintendo had their FX chip for real 3d graphics in games (could do a rather impressive 30,000 polygons per second, but didn't support texturing). Sega had something similar, but theirs was more expensive and less used, plus they preferred just to make a $200 add on, rather than multiple $90 games. The FX chip wasn't far behind the capabilities of the 32x in 3d though, besides lacking texturing ability. It was a dedicated polygon chip, while the 32x had dual general purpose processors.

 

[mmntech]

Genesis had a really powerful processor, and little in the way of additional hardware. I think it used it the cpu of sega's previous system (the master system) as the sound chip though, and also to provide backwards compatibility. In fact, the same cpu (more or less) was used in the master system, game gear, and gameboy color (though that came a decade later).

Ah, the Zilog Z80. It was used in a lot of stuff in fact it's still used. The MSX and the venerable TI-84 graphing calculator had Z80s in them.

The Genesis itself used a Motorolla 68000, which was the same CPU used in the original Macintosh.

 

[Fox5]

Ah, the Zilog Z80. It was used in a lot of stuff in fact it's still used. The MSX and the venerable TI-84 graphing calculator had Z80s in them.

The Genesis itself used a Motorolla 68000, which was the same CPU used in the original Macintosh.

And the current day TI-89s. Man, those things are long overdue for an update, HP's ARM9 based calculators are probably so much faster. Though at this point, I think calculators really need large, hi-res, color, backlit screens so they can do useful 3d graphing, and function as something of a mobile spreadsheet too.

 

[nageov3t]

did genesis ever have any games that could compare graphics-wise to some of the top end SNES games like Mario RPG?

 

[SandEagle]

i miss the old genesis vs. snes days

 

[ShawnD1]

did genesis ever have any games that could compare graphics-wise to some of the top end SNES games like Mario RPG?

Nope. SNES was top of the line hardware when it came out and the Genesis was released 2 years before that.

 

[raystorm]

did genesis ever have any games that could compare graphics-wise to some of the top end SNES games like Mario RPG?

Depends on what you mean graphics-wise. The limited color pallete of the genesis hurts it a ton compared to the snes. Any game on the genesis that tried that "cgi rendered" look like mario rpg and Donkey Kong Country would look horrible because of the limited color palette on the genesis. There are a few genesis games with some great effects like the Treasure games and while its not a great game you should check out videos of The Adventures of Batman and Robin. Its a contra style game that is hard as hell but it has tons of amazing effects for the genesis like scaling, rotation, tons of parallax layers..etc. The dev group that did that game disappeared afterwards.

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

The Genesis had a sound system that was barely a step above the NES.

The Genesis' graphic system was also faster than the SNES', but that is because it had far fewer features and did far less that the SNES.

SNES > Genesis

 

[purbeast0]

wierd thing was how EA Sports games always were better on genesis than SNES.

i also remember that MK1 had tradeoffs as well.

SNES had the graphics/sound but Genesis had the control/blood.

 

[R Nilla]

I found an old SEGA design document that may shed some light on this:

 

[mmntech]

If think you have to really take a step back when comparing the two. The Genesis was originally intended to be essentially a home arcade system. Thus the hardware was specifically designed to "emulate" Sega's big arcade titles of the mid 80s. This is what most games were on the system prior to 1991. Computer technology was also moving much faster than it is even today, so the two year gap between releases did make a technological difference.

As for audio, the Genesis was still using FM synthesis for audio processing. The SNES had a 16-bit 32khz DSP. Sega pushed ahead with the Sega CD in 1991, which clearly did have superior audio than anything that existed at the time. Full 16-bit 44.1khz audio. Problem is nobody bought it due to the cost and poor loading times.

 

[mugs]

I found an old SEGA design document that may shed some light on this:

They should sue Verizon (or Motorolla)

 

[Fox5]

If think you have to really take a step back when comparing the two. The Genesis was originally intended to be essentially a home arcade system. Thus the hardware was specifically designed to "emulate" Sega's big arcade titles of the mid 80s. This is what most games were on the system prior to 1991. Computer technology was also moving much faster than it is even today, so the two year gap between releases did make a technological difference.

As for audio, the Genesis was still using FM synthesis for audio processing. The SNES had a 16-bit 32khz DSP. Sega pushed ahead with the Sega CD in 1991, which clearly did have superior audio than anything that existed at the time. Full 16-bit 44.1khz audio. Problem is nobody bought it due to the cost and poor loading times.

The impression the Sega CD and 32x gave was that Sega needed addons to get the same type of graphics and sound as the SNES. The genesis had the far superior cpu, but SNES made good use of additional hardware add on chips.

 

[acheron]

i miss the old genesis vs. snes days

me too. back in the days before Sony ruined console gaming. *sniff*

 

[zerocool84]

As for audio, the Genesis was still using FM synthesis for audio processing. The SNES had a 16-bit 32khz DSP. Sega pushed ahead with the Sega CD in 1991, which clearly did have superior audio than anything that existed at the time. Full 16-bit 44.1khz audio. Problem is nobody bought it due to the cost and poor loading times.

Pshh I bought 32x and Sega CD. One of my favorite games of all time was on Sega CD.

 

[cyphilis]

That one dude in a reply said that Ozzy's "Over the Mountain" lines up perfect with the track. Anyone have a link of that by chance?

 

[mmntech]

Pshh I bought 32x and Sega CD. One of my favorite games of all time was on Sega CD.

Sonic CD? I had the PC version.
The Sega CD did have some good games, and cult classics. So did the 32X. Innovative as they were, the two were still poorly thought out.
I only knew one person that had a Sega CD. It was his brother's and I think it got used more for playing audio cds than anything else.

Interestingly, the Sega CD still goes for quite a bit on Ebay.

 

[Xellos2099]

IIRC, snes got better sound and better graphic, but Genesis got better processor so games usually run faster on genesis version.

 

[Dacalo]

Believe it or not, the sound chip inside SNES was built by Sony, none other than Father of Playstation, Ken Kutaragi. This partnership once led to SNES CD-ROM based addon, built Nintendo pulled out at the last minute to Sony's dismay. This led a 32bit system from Sony called Playstation and the rest is history.

And yes, SNES sound chip is much more potent than Genesis. More sound channels, effects, etc.

 

[Matilda]

Good info. Regardless of which ones sounded better I think video game music overall was better then it is today. I just remember growing up that most of the titles had some killer theme songs...I don't really think many of the new games do.

 

[erwos]

Good info. Regardless of which ones sounded better I think video game music overall was better then it is today. I just remember growing up that most of the titles had some killer theme songs...I don't really think many of the new games do.

I utterly disagree. While there were a few iconic tracks that have managed to stick around, I'd much rather listen to the soundtrack from Persona 4 than Dragon Quest 4...