SNES vs Genesis: Which had better music?

NickyP

NickyP

Active member
The old console wars of the 90's are long gone, but sometimes us gamers who grew up in that era find ourselves still arguing over the SNES and Genesis. But instead of fighting over the game library, the graphics, or anything else, I thought we could switch things up a bit. So between the Super Nintendo and the Sega Genesis, which system do you think had the better music?

This is a little more interesting discussion than just games/graphics, because music ties directly to the games department. One console might have exclusives that the other didn't, and said exclusives could have had stellar music. So we'd now have to explore the entirety of the library, spanning the different genres in order to find "definitive music" to compare. I'm not so sure if I've come up with "definitive" music, but at least I can post 5 of what I think are shining examples for both consoles. And mind you, I'm not going to be lazy and pick multiple songs from the same game or series; but instead, five songs from five individual games.

For the SNES,

1. Chrono Trigger - Memories of Green
2. Secret of Mana - Into the Thick of It
3. Terranigma - The Underworld
4. Donkey Kong Country - Aquatic Ambiance
5. Megaman 7 - Wily Stage 1

And now for the Genesis,

1. Sonic 3 - Hydrocity (Act 2)
2. Phantasy Star IV - Laughter
3. Langrisser II - Knight's Errand
4. Streets of Rage 2 - Go Straight
5. Castlevania Bloodlines - Iron Blue Intention

IMO, the SNES wins by a substantial margin. The Genesis was capable of producing some funky sounds, and composers definitely knew how to use them. But even still, they were clearly Genesis songs. Composers for the SNES somehow broke through technical barriers and made music you'd never think came from the same processor that ran Mario. As much as I love my Genesis, I'd wager the soundtrack to Chrono Trigger alone could be pitted against the entire library, and SNES would come out on top.

But don't take my word for it. What do you think? Post examples of SNES/Genesis music that you would use to compare against the other console!  :)
 
Oh joy! Music comparisons!

This subject usually attracts a number of hollow technical arguments from people who know only half the story, so I'll start by tackling those:

1. "The SNES had 32KHz sound while the Megadrive had only 22.5KHz, therefore the SNES had better sound."
Yes, the SNES did output audio at 32KHz. However, because of the way sounds were processed prior to output, many music notes ended up with a much lower effective frequency. So, moot point.

2. "The SNES could output PCM samples (i.e. recorded sounds) while the Megadrive could only do FM synthesis (i.e. generated waveforms), therefore the SNES had better sound."
The limited space available for those PCM samples, as well as the effect described in point 1, made PCM audio on the SNES much less effective than it could have been. These problems did not occur with FM synthesis. Also, ways to play recorded sounds on FM hardware were well-known (although this did produce lesser quality results). Anyway, bottom line: it's a moot point.

3. "I heard SNES/Megadrive audio and it sounded shrill/noisy/muffled."
Perhaps, but did you listen to it as it was produced by the first generation of the original hardware? Emulators don't sound quite the same. Even the original systems didn't always sound quite the same, because later models were often produced with cheaper, lower-quality hardware.


As for my personal preference:
Although the sound of some SNES games certainly was impressive, I think there are still a few Megadrive games that beat them by miles. In my mind, there is no cartridge-based 16-bit game in existence with more amazing sound than Sub-Terrania. Also, on account of the reasons I mentioned above, SNES music in general tends to have many notes with looping artefacts and sudden stops. This is also very audible in all of the examples posted by NickyP. I much prefer the Megadrive's synthesised audio. Even though it also has its shortcomings, at least its notes aren't cut short all the time.

Link: Crystal Space (recorded directly from an actual Megadrive)

 
I've never played Sub-Terrania nor heard its music, but I can see your point. What I'm not getting is the part about notes being cut short. Are you talking about how a sound channel switches instruments? I'm listening to the Secret of Mana theme I posted with earphones, and it doesn't seem like any notes are being cut short... maybe it's just me, though.

Also, while I agree that technical arguments are moot, there's an elephant in the room that can't be ignored: the SNES produced a vocal song.

Other than that, I really do believe it comes down to personal preferences.
 
That example clearly shows an amazing composition. But I think it wiould sound better on snes. Although the song is amazing, I still prefer the snes sound, it sounds more like real instruments.

just compare same games ported to both consoles, compare their sound and music. Snes beat most of the times, Aladdin on Genesis sounded better though.

Also the opening song from Tales of Phantasia for snes, its the first song with vocals on a home console, Im not sure if Genesis can handle that.

edit: Ninja'd by Nicky.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0nHM4ZOBvo

the "voices" on most snes games sounds more cleaner than the Genesis. And in case of arcade ports, sounds very close to the original (MK series, SF series...)
 
Roel is on the money. On paper the SNES had superior audio hardware, but there were major issues that limited its potential. More to the point, the Genesis doesn't come to this fight unarmed; its Yamaha YM2612 clone could output some serious music in the right hands.

While the SNES has some good moments, (Chrono Trigger IS sweet) I personally found most SNES games to have a very generic sound overall. Never really bad, but rarely great. The Genesis seemed to go the other way. When it sucked, it SUCKED (Hello Streets of Rage 3), but for every stinker, there was a masterpiece that created the perfect mood.

  • Shinobi Series: Terrible Beat, Shadows, The Shinobi, BGM 04 (Shadow Dancer), Idaten, and Whirlwind; just to name a few.
  • Phantasy Star 2: Rise or Fall and Violation; both simple but so emotionally resonating. Really the whole Phantasy Star series soundtrack.
  • Streets of Rage series: Yes, 3 sucked. Bad. But the first two were Yuzo at his best. From Dreamer to Go Straight and every track in between, the sound test on both games are probably getting a workout to this day.
  • Afterburner: Again simple, but effective. The tracks (After Burner and Final Takeoff in particular) didn't just convey action; they had just the right amount of cock sure Navy Top Gun flavor to standout from generic shooter fare.

These are just quick off the top memories; there are plenty more.

Both systems also had a kind of signature to their audio; even if you never heard a certain track before, most of us could almost instantly identify it as "Genesis" or "SNES". I just happen prefer the Genesis sound. It was a bit tinny at times, but again - the SNES just seemed heartless and generic to me, not to mention muffled (and I DO mean from the real console). It's not to say one is truly better than the other - the SNES has more powerful equipment, but the Genesis can hold its own.

My verdict? Superior hardware does not and did not not mean superior music. The SNES setup was too complex and hampered by several bottlenecks, whereas the Genesis hardware was versatile, simple to program and very similar to readily available synthesizer equipment. This ease of use meant better support. Better support means better output. Both systems had some great music; but in the end, the Genesis just had more IMO.

DC
 
Good topic! I may have not spend much time with a Genesis as much as the Sega Master System, (and I love the kind of music that console could pull off in so many games such as Space Harrier and Alex Kidd in Shinobi World!) but I definitely would like to add my two cents:  ;)

I believe part of the reason that the SNES featured higher quality music was due to the fact that the SNES sound processor was able to play 2 or more sound samples at the same time,  while the Genesis sound processor could not. This was highly noticeable on games with multiple voice samples such as the SFII: CE port (music would stop at the moment a voice sample was to be on cue).

Having said that, good music comes from good composers and not necessarily from merely using good tools: Splatterhouse II prologue is a personal favorite, also Aladdin´s Agrabah Market is another great music track.

DC does make a good point though: aside from the SNES classic AAA titles such as Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy III, Super Metroid, etc., the rest of the SNES library did seem somewhat uninspired in this regard.  ???

 
Yep you guys nailed it,

SNES had to keep everything in 64k blocks (or something) so this meant using short instrument samples.  This would of affected somewhat even how music was actually composed for SNES. 

Like Zankurous said, good game music comes from good composers/musicians.

One of the best sounding games I remember actually playing on SNES is 'Super Ghoul's n Ghosts'
It sounded huge in the day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYzHyVt78ws (might be emulated version thou)

Everyone is going to have different memories of both consoles, remember that nearly everyone was just using TV's and their built in speakers to hear sound from their consoles.  Most TV's only had 1 speaker (mono output).

Two people can own the exact same hi-fi, but have them in different locations/rooms and one will sound better than the other, it's the nature of audio and sound.  Some of us might of had lounge rooms with nice acoustics, while others did not. :)

For digital samples, many console games were simply converted from arcade games back then, some bad samples in both snes and genesis are probably due too samples already in low quality having to be converted again for the console (possibly even dumped from arcade boards), so you end up with ugly sounding samples.  Anything produced directly for the console is going to have good quality.

Good vs Bad samples on SEGA Genesis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsMRe_QenvU
 
BeasTie said:
Good vs Bad samples on SEGA Genesis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsMRe_QenvU
Click to expand...

Damn. Task Force Harrier EX is almost crystal clear. I'd have expected something like that from the Sega CD, not Genesis!

And while I wouldn't call it an AAA title, the boss theme from Power Rangers is among my favorite on the SNES. I suppose a Genesis equivalent boss theme that had a similar impact on me was from Ghostbusters.
 
BTW I was a nintendo kid, but also a PC gamer in 90s, Fm synth just sounds cooler imo.

I saw an argument that genesis couldn't do music like mario and donkey kong country.  In response, you might like this vid I found.

SNES soundtrack on SEGA Genesis sound chip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMZJ6oQayAU

 
Beastie that video sounds really amazing, much better than any actual Genesis music I have heard, even much better thaat the song Roel posted (talking about sound, not composition).
Beastie, on that same video some guy commented that exactly as played on the video, it's not possible on actual hardware, ergo the video argument is invalid, and it's maybe the reason that there aren't Genesis games with that high quality music. (again, from a sound stand point, not better or worst songs).

SpiralPegasus hace 2 meses
You sure? There are 6 channels on the YM2612, plus 4 on the SN76489, and both can do fadeout/fade in, vibrato, legato, pitch bending, etc.
Not arguing, just asking...

tkwtube01 hace 1 mes
Yes, there are 6 YM2612 channels and (kind of) 4 channels on the SN76489, but each channel is monophonic. Some of these songs use all 6 YM2612 channels at once, but when each channel stops playing a note it fades out and continues to fade out while another note starts playing IN THE SAME CHANNEL. The YM2612 can't do that. It would completely stop the first note and replace it with the second note.

SpiralPegasus hace 1 mes
Ah, that is true indeed. Guess there's always someone out there whose "techie level" surpasses yours, lol!
Click to expand...

I can imagine perfectly the OST of Megaman X series on Genesis, but just can't picture these songs on Genesis, I think it's just not possible.:
Lufia 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBnYGYa6l3M
FF 6

Demon's Crest:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOzkzx1RKgw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g3FCZbokQE

plus Ogre Battle, TMNT Turtles in Time (The Hyperstone ost... not thanks) and I could continue and continue...

Rock songs can be done perfectly on Genesis, but atmospheric/ambient songs I'm not sure.
 
Arguments have already been made, but I do want to point out another Sega title that had great music. I had many Genesis games while growing up, but I suddenly started remembering the tunes from the TaleSpin game, and while the entire soundtrack wasn't great, it made some goo tracks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHhlrfDCuyw
If you care to open this link, the tracks I want to point out are at:
1:39
3:26
6:11
Before I even got that far in the game, I spent a lot of time in the soundtrack section and heard those last two tracks a lot(didn't even like the second one back then, now I think it's really good, but it may have been because it didn't have a beat, just melody). I also want to point point out another game called Dinosuars for Hire, which I thought was good soundtrack overall(and I think made by the same people who made TaleSpin, I recognized the soundFX right away when I first played this game):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12Tnl_90CKM

Also to add, the two Spider-man and Venom games: Maximum Carnage and and Seperation Anxiety. While both had good soundtracks, MC did much better on the SNES then it did on the genesis, but SA was good on both systems, with the SNES version having two extra tracks, one of them being a remix of a BGM from MC, which was a cover of "The Mob Rules" by Black Sabbith, IIRC.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXKLi2PiJAg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6hx-FTijQY

As a bonus, here's a video of Super-Villains(MC) mashed with "the mob rules"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5raE8lvquA

x)
 
NickyP said:
What I'm not getting is the part about notes being cut short. Are you talking about how a sound channel switches instruments?
Click to expand...

I'm talking about how, more often than not, the instruments are noticeably shortened in order to save space.
 
I agree with DC on this one. Mega Drive's YM2612 (made by Yamaha) was capable of some very acid and cool sounds. As a keyboardist myself, I just loved that, even SNES having more power.

Shinobi have some very cool tunes, if not the best tunes on Mega Drive
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjaW4ZYzVHI
Whirwind is my favorite from that game.
 
answer is obvious, just listen to snes and genesis song next to each other :o
But crappy song on snes wont be better than great song on genesis, so for many people its subjective.Technically snes is better, much better if you compare side to side, snes could use samples and that was huuuuuuuuuuuge difference and big advantage compared to sega and its midi like gritty sounds. BAsically all snes songs were sample based so they could use whatever instrument they like.
 
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