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Genesis Does

Who can forget the rivalry between Sega and Nintendo? Long before people posted fan-boi comments on messages boards there was a real divide between some Nintendo fans and Sega Genesis fans. Funny thing was many people had both consoles and would still claim they were a specific fan of one over the other.

It is believed Sega fired to first shot attacking Nintendo for being too slow and later on the Genesis was looked at to be the more adult system because the games were harder and more bloody, take for instance Mortal Kombat. When MK was first released both version were edited to remove the blood and some of the fatalities, but the Genesis offered a code to add in the blood. Many fans considered the lack of blood in the SNES version to be “kiddy” and so the divide was also split by age.

Some believe today that because of that early move Nintendo decided to market to a younger audience, however, some claim that was always Nintendo’s goal. Another issue was speed, obviously the Genesis was faster than the NES, but when the Super Nintendo was released there were claims that games such as Sonic would not run at full capacity on the SNES.

Sometime late an article was released stating that Sonic could indeed run at full power on a SNES. That did not stop the wars, it made them worse. Many Nintendo fans claimed the graphics looked better on the SNES and in some cases they were correct, but what it came down to in the end was licensing with Nintendo gaining ground with titles such as Final Fantasy.

The Genesis does commercial was a hit with Sega fans and gave Nintendo fans a phrase that drove them crazy; “Genesis does what Nintendon’t” it could be heard across the school yard, the park and the dinner table and there was really never a comeback for the commercial or the phrase.

In the end it was all fun and games and in the end Sega and Nintendo began working together. Even today some find the fact that you can play a game with Sonic and Mario together sickening, but money makes strange bed fellows.

Want to see more classic commercials? Check out the Obsolete Gamer YouTube Channel.

Visits: 2011