Which Was the Greatest Sega System?
It's an illustrious history. I think I've included everything that was available from Sega and subtracted out variations like the X'Eye and LaserActive Sega Module, leaving what should be a choice of "pure" Sega hardware.
Which console had the greatest impact on your gaming lifestyle? Whether this means you logged the most time into it or simply that it changed the way you perceived gaming from that point onward.
Share your thoughts after voting.
I voted for the Sega Genesis. Even though I don't own one anymore, it still had quite an impact on my views of gaming.
The NES was pretty much "it" in the terms of a video game system. Yes one could get a Sega Master System (a Sega Master Who? is probably a better name thanks to Tonka's marketing blunders), an Atari 7800 (I played Asteroids before, thanks) or perhaps an Atari XE (a computer, a game system, what is it?) but the NES had the GAMES-monopoly or not. On one hand it was kinda nice as it was a good solid system with a selection of decent games. On the other hand it was sad that equally good systems like the SMS were locked away in back corners and whose bad games seemed to stand out like sore thumbs painted neon.
Then news spread about the Genesis. This was pretty much a little over a year after we started seeing dedicated video game magazines on the shelves again. VG&CE and Game Players both devoted a section to the new machine. For me my jaw dropped when I saw the graphics on some of these games. I was an arcade gamer and while the NES was able to satisfy me with home ports before, it was showing its age by the late 80's. The Genesis showed and later proved that it was capable of bringing home decent arcade ports. Followed up with a hip ad campaign reminiscent of the Atari/Coleco/Intellivision day it became a hit.
It was also a big deal to me because it was the first game system I bought brand new with my own money. My last paycheck of my seasonal job was rather large so I was able to buy the system (with Altered Beast) and Golden Axe. The NES didn't see activity until Super Mario 3 came out.
Man, tough call, but I have to go with the Genesis. So many games to choose from and some of the best 2-D action you could ever ask for. The Dreamcast is a very close second though....
I liked the saturn personally. I may have just gotten lucky, but every game I've played on it (10-20 games) were all great.
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I can't disagree with people who pick the Genny, it's a classic but to me the Genny wasn't leaps and bounds better than my NES experiences. Sure everything was prettier but the gameplay was equally excellent on both.
I voted for the Dreamcast because it brought me into the modern era of consoles. NFL2K, NBA2K, Virtua Tennis, and Soul Caliber were blow-me-away graphics and gameplay games. I didn't get a PSX until a year after I got the DC at launch so I hadn't gotten a chance to play Gran Turisimo 2 which would have gotten me up to speed sooner
Though I'm tempted to say the Master System was, I have to go with the one that surprised me the most. That would be Dreamcast. No other system wowed me time and time again with quality titles like Soul Caliber (still looks better than many of the titles on current consoles) and Sword of the Berserk. For me, this system came out at the perfect time, a time when I was getting fed up with the blurry, muddy graphics Nintendo was dishing out. The second I put on my import of Marvel VS. Capcom on the DC, it was like a revelation. I thought, "I have an arcade maching in my house."
There are very good arguments for the Genesis.
For my personal gaming experiences, believe it or not, I choose Sega CD.
See, with Sega, I was always way behind.
I only bought an SMS for the first time about 3 years ago.
I only bought a Genesis after both my NES and Super NES, so I was maybe 4-5 years behind the curve on Genesis.
Even then I only bought one after realizing how superior the Sports Games were compared to SNES.
Picked up tons of sports titles and a 4way adapter and had many, many tournaments with the buddies.
Ditto for Dreamcast, only picked one up well after I had bought my PS2.
Now, I have a real fondness for the SMS, the Genesis and the DC, but I was so much farther behind than everyone else that I was enjoying my experiences with these consoles well after everyone else.
I chose Sega CD, because it brought me my first console faithfull version of Dragons Lair, my favorite game of all time (I never had a 3do back in the day either).
I liked the FMV sequences in many of the games, I actually liked Sewer Shark and Tomcat Alley and Night Trap.
FMV was a new experience for me in console gaming.
It also brought me Lunar:SSS, and I have never had the same awe about a console title as I did when I first played that game.
Most people wouldn't choose the Sega CD here, the overall lack of quality titles ensures that, but for me, my best Sega gaming experiences were with that console.
An easy question to answer for myself: Genesis.
The other machine that popped into my head was Dreamcast, but only because I figured it would get lots of votes. It didn't have nearly the impact that the Genesis did, at least in my world. I was still very much a SNES man, but the Genesis was a competitor I respected. As good as the Dreamcast system is, in the post Saturn days it barely registered on my radar.
Time will be when the broadest river dries
And the great cities wane and last descend
Into the dust, for all things have an end
I would have to go with the SMS. I think it is because I owned a SMS when I was a kid and there are some games on there that I just LOVE. Choplifter, Enduro Racer, Double Dragon, Rocky, California Games, and the list goes on and on. The SMS was my first real system. I got it for Christmas one year.
A close system would be the dreamcast. It was a great system with a lot of good games.
~Rich
The greatest Sega system? Easy: DREAMCAST.
All of Sega's consoles are great, I'm a huge fan of the Genesis, Saturn, et al. But the Dreamcast is definitely the greatest. Sure, it has the technological edge as a result of having been the latest and greatest, but that alone isn't why it's the greatest.
In fact, if anything, it makes its status as "the greatest" that much more impressive.
In an era where eye candy is "easy" to conjure up (as a result of CD/DVD media, better technology in general, etc.) the Dreamcast still has tons of awesome games that are FUN to play. The arrival of the Dreamcast was like the second coming of the golden age of gaming. The giddy, "can't wait to buy this game and race home to play it" feeling was back in spades. And it was only on the Dreamcast. Sega's greatest.
Selling collection, Atari through XBox. Send a PM with whatever games you're looking for.
I voted Genesis for sentimental as well as actual gaming reasons. The Genesis was the first BIG gift I got from my girlfriend (now wife of 7 years) for my birthday in 1991. It became my system of choice till I bought my Playstation in 1998. My original Genny has never been unhooked except to be moved. I still play it more than any other system.
The choice of games is HUGE and so many are great. I LOVE the many sports title and don't care that they are basically worthless from a collecting perspective. I can't get enough NHL 96.
and Sonic of course, gotta love Sonic.
I've got all the other Sega systems except the SG-1000 so I've played them all and while the Dreamcast is the most impressive I still gotta favor the Genesis.
I voted for the Genny. Even though I think the Dreamcast was Sega's best system, because it died a premature death, I really couldn't give it my top vote.
I spent much more time with my Genesis and to some extent, the Sega CD. The Genesis was one of the all time best systems in my book. Especially the sports games. As much as I love the Super Nintendo, and boy do I love the Super Nintendo, the Genesis always had the better sports games. Madden was a sensational game on the Genny and a pretty horrible game on the SNES. Same thing with NHL Hockey.
Plus the Genesis had a ton of other outstanding games, besides just the sports.
To me, the Genesis was the workhorse of all the video game systems. It just put in work. Nothing spectacular, but it got the job done, and got it done well.
Gee, the 32X doesn't have one single vote.
What a shocker! NOT!
Not that anyone would vote for it, but you left out the PICO.
And I would have voted for the Genesis, but the Mastersystem was made during a time before EVERY game made was a platformer with a "hip" lead character....that, and I LOVE the Wonderboy series.
For pure enjoyment and value defined by "fun" memories, I have to say the Genesis.
I'm dating myself just a little, but I got the Genny with the Altered Beast pack-in in the first week it was out (at Toys R' Us.)
I sold my NES and most of my comics and bought that puppy.
I brought it to campus with my (I was a freshman in college.) NO ONE had one of these, everyone still was playing with the NES (which I also love.)
Man, I had huge amounts of people in my room over the next 3 years (I also got the Super NES the day that system came out as well) playing Madden and NHL for hours on end.
Some of my best college memories and friends were a result of that system.
To this day, I have yet to duplicate the excitement and fun factor on any other console.
For me - I will always thank SEGA for creating the Genesis - I never ever regretted what I gave up to get that system.
The Dreamcast is great, but I never got as excited about looking forward to getting any game, as I did when the new Madden would come out. Or Phantasy Star IV, or whatever - the list goes on.
Truth be known though - I have loved ALL of the SEGA consoles, for better or worse...even the 32X.
Peace -
Steve
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Wow, some really great stories and recollections here.
It was close for me, between the Genesis and the Dreamcast (which no matter how it would have ended up, they'd be #1 and #2 for me). I ended up going with the Dreamcast because when I look over the library of games it's clearly of a very high quality. Think about the crappy titles that litter most every system's library. Usually too many sports games, edu-tainment, and cheaply made shovelware. Well, on DC there are very few sports games and the ones that are here are of an unusually high quality (thank Sega Sports domination), there's NO edu-tainment titles, and there wasn't time for lame ass developers to drop their crappy shovelware titles into the mix since the DC died a sudden and untimely end. So it's 250+ game library is mainly composed of high-quality titles and many, many classics.
The fact that this was the first system that also got me involved in online console gaming (PSO and Quake III Arena being the main culprits), had games that actually used the keyboard (PSO again but mainly Typing of the Dead), still manages emulation so well (I can play SNES, NES, and even MAME on it), had 2 microphone games that were a tremendous novelty, featured the first true production Visual Memory Unit, and even sports some nifty import products and games... all of those things put it above the Genesis, a system I also cherish.
Which reminds me... has anyone played Championship Surfer on DC? I finally started playing it. You know, I expected a piece of crap, as most surfing games tend to be. I should have known better. It's not GREAT, but it is FUN.
*sigh
When you look at the list, its a pretty impressive one.
Does anyone think Sega will ever try to climb on the hardware hog again in the future?
They deserved a better fate, but unfortunately they brought alot of it on themselves.
Still I hope somewhere down the line they give it another ahot.
I agree wholeheartedly with that statement.Originally Posted by digitalpress
The other reason I chose Dreamcast is that it completely floored me when I first saw it running NFK 2K. I was a doubter at first, but seeing that completely changed my mind. It was leaps and bounds beyond the current generation of machines.
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Genesis, definately in my mind. Some great licenses were created for the Genesis (Toejam & Earl, Comix Zone), and some great names were made greater (Phantasy Star, Sonic the Hedgehog). The Genesis is, in my opinion, one of the greatest systems in history, not just between Sega's other consoles.
You know, I never played Quake III on the DC until last week. I'm still going through the games that came with the DC my parents got me and this was a surprise. Crisp clean graphics, smooth animation, and a mean AI. I asked myself "this is on DREAMCAST?!". I popped in Unreal Tournament and my eyeballs popped out of their sockets. I swear this looks better and loads faster than the PS2 version. I miss the second analog stick for looking up and down, but still its a great conversion.
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