Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis

[The Drunkard Kid]

Uh, no. Playing Street Fighter with the 3-button controller was ass.

I didn't have any problems once I learned that the start button switched the buttons between punches and kicks. Granted though, I wasn't playing competetively and had switched to the 6 button ASAP, but I always found special moves on 4 directional DPads to be a lot less responsive than I was comfortable with.

TMNT Tournament Fighters was vastly different and superior on the SNES, though.

[MikeP]

SNES, no contest. Too many great games.

[Wedge Antilles]

Never tried the SNES. Enjoyed Sega Genesis though, especially Madden and the NBA games starting with Lakers vs Celtics.

[Tom Badguy]

I've always felt the Super Nintendo was the best console ever created. My favorite game of all time, Chrono Trigger, is on that console and the selection of good games was very wide. I never got into Genesis. Sonic never interested me and the few games I've played like Altered Beast and Risky Woods(god, this game sucks) weren't enough to suck me in. Though, I did love the Golden Axe games on the Genesis. SNES has so much nostalgic purpose for me that it's hard to put something else over it.

[The Drunkard Kid]

Honestly, while I preferred CT's art and battle system, I think the story and characters in Phantasy Star IV was superior. Not by a huge margin (and vice versa re: art and battle; the manga-panel cut scenes and macros were awesome), but the characters and story in PSIV seemed more fleshed out, especially with the weight of PSI's and PSII's stories behind it.

I'm still annoyed that they never got around to doing that updated remake of PSIV like they did to PSI and II. Dunno if PSIII got it.

On that note, PSIII was a little too far ahead of its time and couldn't make its several great ideas work out enough to justify implementing them in the first place.

EDIT: Though, in retrospect, PSIV and CT had so much in common that a crossover between the two would have been awesome.

[alex]

I think PsIV had a better story, but Chrono Trigger was a better game and had a much more interesting world.
It was also linear, but not as linear as Ps4 which offered pretty much no player choice.

[Tom Badguy]

I think PsIV had a better story, but Chrono Trigger was a better game and had a much more interesting world.
It was also linear, but not as linear as Ps4 which offered pretty much no player choice.

It was linear to a degree. CT had things you could just flat out ignore and not care about, like reviving the main character. Though, the options weren't vast, you could still look at the pieces and decide yourself how you wanted to go through it.

[alex]

It was linear to a degree. CT had things you could just flat out ignore and not care about, like reviving the main character. Though, the options weren't vast, you could still look at the pieces and decide yourself how you wanted to go through it.

What i mean is, while it's not a fallout or elder scrolls game, you could finish the game at different points if you wanted. You had some control in who was in your storyline party, and who was in your party in general. And yes, as you said you could or could not do a lot of things.
Ps IV you started at a point and ended at a point and that was kinda it. Also, desert planet, ice planet...these aren't thrilling or visually interesting locations.
Still, best classic RPG on the genesis by leaps and bounds.

[GozertheGozarian]

I have a soft spot for the Shining series. I was so overpowered at the end of Shining in the Darkness Dark Sol could only do 1 damage on any attack.

[gearsofcrabs]

Super Nintendo. Forever. And ever.

[Tom Badguy]

I have a soft spot for the Shining series. I was so overpowered at the end of Shining in the Darkness Dark Sol could only do 1 damage on any attack.

Shining Force 2 was pretty cool.

[The Drunkard Kid]

What i mean is, while it's not a fallout or elder scrolls game, you could finish the game at different points if you wanted. You had some control in who was in your storyline party, and who was in your party in general. And yes, as you said you could or could not do a lot of things.
Ps IV you started at a point and ended at a point and that was kinda it. Also, desert planet, ice planet...these aren't thrilling or visually interesting locations.
Still, best classic RPG on the genesis by leaps and bounds.

Ooh, good point about the multiple endings, but PSIV couldn't really go that route since it wasn't a (then) standalone game, but instead the final note in the entire PS saga (until Online/Universe/etc..., which went the MMORPG route). The somewhat contentious PSIII tried to do something like that, with each generation having branching points so that there were 6 potential main characters, throughout the game, with their own plots, but it didn't really pan out all that well and all the stories kinda merged into one main plot for the end game. I'd love to see a fleshed out remake of that.

While I agree that the art direction in CT was more vibrant, the desert planet is a lot more thrilling when you've played PSII and know that it used to be a lush garden world before the party destroyed the AI that controlled the climate, dooming it to becoming a nigh-uninhabitable wasteland from PSI, populated by random monsters that can summon boss level monsters. And the ice planet was fun to travel through with the ice digger, and had a town crawling with zombies, the mansion full of espers, another town filled with giant adorable penguins, a cavern filled with talking cats led by the giant adult form of the mascot party member from PSI, a giant forest of regenerating maneating trees, and a massive evil tower made of pulsating organs. There was also a crystal planet, too, and a castle that floated in space, as well as tons of technologically advanced dungeons and the space time warp that was the last dungeon.

[GozertheGozarian]

I remember my first time playing PSIII. Got through the first part, into the snow area, and killed by three bunnies. My roommate made fun of me for a week.