Thinking about getting into the Genny world, so school me please!

[funkified]

I grew up on the SNES so I never owned a Genesis at any point in my childhood. Now, I pretty much own anything I'd like to play on my SNES. So id like to experience the other side of the 16bit world I missed out on!

So which gen console is best to pickup? After reading a bit I gathered that there was no factory svideo so a mod is necessary on any of them.

I have a pretty good idea of which games to pick up as well, as I'm mostly into shooters, and beat em ups. But any suggestions are welcome!

 

[theMot]

What's this got to do with the price of fish in Denmark?

Rot bomb incoming!!!

 

[Teddy KGB]

The Gen 1 console has always served me well as it has stereo out (the front 1.5mm jack). I don't think the other generations have stock stereo out. You can certainly mod it to get stereo out the back though. You will get some color bleed or the "rainbow affect" which S-vid can definitely help reduce and will sharpen the overall picture.

I grew up on NES & SNES too but considering I'm a Shmup fan, a Genny was a must for me to play those classics like Lightening Force, MUSHA etc. etc.

Happy hunting!

 

[billbrasky]

i collect genesis stuff and this is a decent guide.

http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showth...-Genesis-2s-from-bad-ones&p=161951#post161951

i have about 7 model 1 genesis, and the non-tmss ones are the best but experience really noticeable rainbow banding. i'm using rgb with one of my non-tmss units and it's excellent, huge improvement and best sound out of any other model.

you'll want to get a scart cable like this one http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sega-Genesi...t=Video_Games_Accessories&hash=item2ec5c2bbe8 that uses the stereo headphone output instead of the mono out from the connector.

as far as game, i would recommend these series:

- sonic
- streets of rage
- phantasy star
- golden axe

as far as shooters go:
- gaiares
- thunderforce
- final zone

others:
- altered beast
- rocket knight
- landstalker

 

[Neo Ash]

This thread should have been posted in Unrelated.

If you are really into shooters get a MegaDrive. I like the model 1 the best; it's a classic. You can use the headphone jack to output stereo sound to you TV. Only the later games were region locked, near the end of the Genesis life. If you are interested in the CD add on, just get the model 2; they are cheaper, more reliable, and easier to find.

 

[funkified]

Shiet My bad! I'm using this tapatalk forum app on my iphone and its messing me up! Please move it if necessary

 

[Viewpoint]

This thread should have been posted in Unrelated.

If you are really into shooters get a MegaDrive. I like the model 1 the best; it's a classic. You can use the headphone jack to output stereo sound to you TV. Only the later games were region locked, near the end of the Genesis life. If you are interested in the CD add on, just get the model 2; they are cheaper, more reliable, and easier to find.

Don't forget there's a few revisions of the model 1 around as well.

 

[GohanX]

Yes, generally speaking, the ones that say "High Definition Graphics" are the good ones, although that isn't always 100% accurate. If you're a baller, the X'Eye and CDX are both good combo Genesis/Sega CD units as well, but are expensive.

 

[SNKNostalgia]

I have the Model 1 VA 6.8 and it is just right. It has the TMSS, but is of slightly better quality due to no rainbow banding and same audio as the earlier ones. The only downside to S-video modding is that you will get vertical jail-bars on all CXA 1145 chip type systems just about. The Model 2 with CXA 1645 are better for composite out and S-video modding, but most of those have not quite right sound. The only Model 2 that has both good video and sound is pretty much the Model 2 VA 4.

Go with a Model 1 VA 6.8 and get an RGB SCART cable and an RGB to Component convertor if you want the most out of the Genesis experience on a NTSC US/Canada CRT. The earliest models are fine if you really want a non TMSS system and don't mind some rainbow banding.

BTW, start with Thunder Force 3 and 4 (Lightning Force in US) for a good blow your mind shooting experience. As for beat-em ups, it goes with saying but.... yeah, start with Streets of Rage 2.

 

[wyndcrosser]

I went that way about three years ago and in about 9 or so months afterwards, I sold everything I got. Including the modded sega nomad's I made. If you grew up with Nintendo, it's not the same with sega. Besides maybe the dreamcast. good luck

 

[Kid Panda]

I went that way about three years ago and in about 9 or so months afterwards, I sold everything I got. Including the modded sega nomad's I made. If you grew up with Nintendo, it's not the same with sega. Besides maybe the dreamcast. good luck

Yea I know a lot of people that grew with nintendo stuff and find it hard to get into genny, still prolly one of my fave systems of all time.

 

[complexz]

I went that way about three years ago and in about 9 or so months afterwards, I sold everything I got. Including the modded sega nomad's I made. If you grew up with Nintendo, it's not the same with sega. Besides maybe the dreamcast. good luck

I actually went the opposite direction, grew up with NES and SNES, but because I love fast paced action games like shmups, I barely touch any of my old snes stuff but I play genesis/megadrive stuff pretty frequently!

I also really like the genesis because anytime I find games in the wild it's cheap while snes games seem hard to come by and never cheap

 

[Liq_Wurm]

Splatterhouse 3

 

[-D-]

I also grew up with NES & SNES, but then got into Genesis in the late 90's, and then never looked back. Nah, I didn't start hating Nintendo or anything like that, but it's gotten to the point that I think SNES is the worst of the big 4 of that generation, and the most over-rated console of all-time perhaps. I used to love the JRPGs, but I don't have time for them anymore, and the slow CPU killed SNES's chances of being a powerhouse for arcade type games and shmups.

This is also completely preferential, but I actually dislike SNES sound in general, that muffled sounding pseudo-orchestration kind of sound. The music in some games is better than others, but that kinda of sound isn't impressive to me anymore like it was back in the early 90s; these days I prefer the unashamedly "video gamey" kind of sound of Genesis, PC-Engine, and the Neo over it.

Anyway, I'm also strongly in the "High Definition Graphics" Model 1, via SCART cable through SCART to component converter box camp. Only caveat I have on that is that Genesis lacked color capabilities moreso than any other console of that generation, and to make up for that some games used really heavy dithering, and the programmers expected everyone to be using composite cables that mask the dithering. But the dithering is used so excessively in some games that I think it gets to the point where it looks bad sometimes when you're viewing it really sharply in RGB. So I actually have 2 GEN setups, both Model 1 HD; one Scart/RGB, the other composite. Just depends on how much dithering a game has on which setup I choose to play it on.

Since you're into shooters, I'm sure you're going to enjoy the hell out of the Genesis, have fun!

 

[GohanX]

The dithering thing never really bothers me. Sure, it looks funny, but the increased sharpness/color clarity more than makes up for it.

 

[funkified]

i collect genesis stuff and this is a decent guide.

http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showth...-Genesis-2s-from-bad-ones&p=161951#post161951

i have about 7 model 1 genesis, and the non-tmss ones are the best but experience really noticeable rainbow banding. i'm using rgb with one of my non-tmss units and it's excellent, huge improvement and best sound out of any other model.

you'll want to get a scart cable like this one http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sega-Genesi...t=Video_Games_Accessories&hash=item2ec5c2bbe8 that uses the stereo headphone output instead of the mono out from the connector.

as far as game, i would recommend these series:

- sonic
- streets of rage
- phantasy star
- golden axe

as far as shooters go:
- gaiares
- thunderforce
- final zone

others:
- altered beast
- rocket knight
- landstalker

Thanks for the links, that guide is pretty damn detailed!

Thanks too for everyone else that has given their input, didn't think there was this much to know about the Genesis!

 

[ChuChu Flamingo]

I never really liked the sound effects of Genesis, they sounded like farts most of the time. Additionally, a lot of the games felt not as polished as SNES games. With that said, there are still awesome games on genesis and awesome soundtracks.

 

[Tyranix95]

Looks like the Genny has some good CAPCOM games.

-------------
Sega Mega Drive/Genesis
--Chiki Chiki Boys
--Forgotten Worlds
--Ghouls 'N Ghosts
--Mega Man: The Wily Wars
--Mercs
--Saturday Night Slam Masters
--Street Fighter II' Special Champion Edition
--Strider
--Strider Returns
--The Punisher

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Capcom_games#Sega_Mega_Drive.2FGenesis

 

[Tron]

This thread needs to be moved Still if you want the best picture go with a model 1,and make sure it says high definition graphics on it.Unless you want it compact for playing cartridge&cd then a x'eye or cdx is fine.

The genesis does indeed have a good deal of shoot'em ups and that's why i bought one again a few years back.Not to mention i missed playing what the console offer.

 

[Jonny l3lanka]

Since its perfectly emulated these days.. I prefer to play MD games on my laptop hooked up to my plasma (on K fusion emulator) via VGA with the built in scanlines + filters.. looks gorgeous.. Also have a sega saturn usb pad hooked up for added awesomeness.

Only do this for convenience.. not really a rom hoarder.. I have 3 boxed mega drive systems and about 20 CIB games

 

[Teddy KGB]

This thread needs to be moved Still if you want the best picture go with a model 1,and make sure it says high definition graphics on it.Unless you want it compact for playing cartridge&cd then a x'eye or cdx is fine.

The genesis does indeed have a good deal of shoot'em ups and that's why i bought one again a few years back.Not to mention i missed playing what the console offer.

Good vid. Wish they spent more time on a couple of my favorites but it's certainly comprehensive which is obviously the point.

 

[Wookiemeat]

Always loved Rolling Thunder 2 maybe because I loved the original in arcades.

Can't go wrong with Shadow Dancer as well.

 

[Danthor]

Splatterhouse 3

GOD YES. For an arcade beat em up, that game is easily among my favourites of the system. Also consider looking up BattleToads, and TMNT: Hyperstone Heist. And while it's not an arcade styled game, I cannot give enough props to Castlevania: Bloodlines. Far and away my favourite Genesis game.

 

[funkified]

I'm checking out all these suggestions, and they look awesome! Man I missed out when I was a kid lol

Also noticed that the prices of many good games are pretty damn reasonable if not cheap. the SNES is such a fail in that dept.

Anyone else think that in general the box art for genesis games is just better than the snes?

 

[dspoonrt]

I agree about the box art, and I much prefer the Genesis clamshell cases to the fragile SNES boxes.

I was a "Genesis kid" growing up. I later learned to appreciate the SNES, but I'm a huge Sega fan and will always have a soft spot for the Genesis. I'm quite happy with the Model 1 Genesis (although I own a few Model 2s as well - primarily to hook up my Model 2 Sega CD). It's worth mentioning that the Model 1 is the only model compatible with the North American Power Base Converter, used to play Master System games on the Genesis. The Master System has a solid library of games, and playing them on the Genesis is a breeze with the adapter and functional controllers (Master System controllers haven't aged well).