It would be more forgivable if they marketed & sold the Sega cd titles cheaper than the cartridge being disc based but I’m sure the MSRP was the same if not more for most.
A lot of ports were made with just CD music added, but there's a lot of worthwhile versions with extra stuff. Spiderman vs Kingpin is the best example, they made a great remaster of the old game with a ton of new stuff, it would be great to have more "remixed" games like these in the time.
That Spider-Man game is a great example. Road Rash is another where the gameplay was amped up and had a killer soundtrack (not featured here due to copyright unfortunately).
It's really striking to see how similar most of these games are - practically identical in most cases. I remember Sega CD being more capable as shown by the original games made for, but these ports are barely different. I do remember Spider-Man having significant upgrades and even new levels, so that's cool.
Man..... I hate to poopoo on your hard work but the two screens are identical! Just kidding! Thank you for putting these together. I owned the SEGA CD and ohhh... The waisted potential...
I think the sega cd was never used to its full potential. With all data available on cd the developers could have added many more sprites, animations and backgrounds instead of using it just for high quality music and fm videos
Yeah same here, I wish there were more Sonic CD and Terminator type of games that made the most of the hardware rather than having a lot of Genesis games with a better soundtrack.
I will update with a greater response, I just want to make note to send to Batman... "Yo Batdude, it would have been easier to fly just above the bridge..." lol An amazing coding marvel on the Genesis tho! I am looking forward to watching this in full! A fun surprise drop my good buddy!!!! Keep up the badassery!
Like, who is going to love the experience of waiting 20 seconds for a video to load of a goalie saving a goal, every time a goalie saves a goal? The NFL games don't use a skew transformed mode 7 pitch when the SNES versions of those games did. Which actually didn't improve the look of the game as much as I thought it might. Scaling the players would have looked pretty dope. I think using the scaling chip is a piece of piss. But you can't tell from screenshots so the devs didn't bother.
The whole goalie saving the goal was probably cool like the first 2 times you saw it back in the day but even then it must have gotten tiresome almost instantly. It reminds me of Arch Rivals where there's a cut scene after every basket.
Another big comparison here, Bill. For the vast majority of the titles that appeared on both, Sega CD owners barely got an upgrade: usually some CD-Audio or maybe some soundtracks mixing the Genesis FM with some PCM samples and maybe a few more or better sample for sound effects or voices. That's about the total amount of extra effort that many of the developers put into the Sega CD versions. But, maybe you were lucky and got a bit of FMV. Or, in a few cases, you actually did get more effort: The vehicle stages in Batman Returns, the snowboarding in Cliffhanger, Mortal Kombat, etc. And then there are the few that are different takes on the title/series, and at least that's at least interesting: Batman & Robin, Jurrasic Park, Road Rash, Shadowrun, Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy (actually my favorite by far of the 8 and 16-bit Jeopardy games), Bram Stoker's Dracula (I'd much rather play the Genesis game, but the Sega CD game, though I don't like playing it, is at least pretty cool looking), Frankenstein, Power Rangers, etc. Samurai Shodown gets a new port too from FunCom though; IMO, though it's better in some areas, it's not better enough than the Genesis port plus is worse in a few things. There's a number of games here I'm not familiar with, but most seem to be of the 'new soundtrack only' variety. I didn't have a Sega CD during the 90s (though my friend Devin and his brother did), and when I got one off e-bay in '02 the only games I ever got were Vay, Popful Mail, Mortal Kombat, Samurai Shodown, Final Fight CD, Puggsy, Mickey Mania, Jeopardy, and Sonic CD. So, of the ones I own that appear on both the Genesis and Sega CD, I think Samurai Shodown is a wash, Puggsy is better in someways though I slightly prefer the Genesis soundtrack, MK is slightly better (I love Matt Furniss's Genesis MK soundtrack though I do also like the arcade rips used in the CD port...and, the better animation is nice, but, man, is the Shang Tsung fight annoying and load times are a little annoying but not the worst), while Mickey Mania and Jeopardy I prefer on the Sega CD. Some day I need to play the Sega CD version of Flashback. I think, even though the vast majority of these games just add a bit of sound enhancement, I would say that still puts the Sega CD overall in this particular comparison just slightly ahead, since that *is* an enhancement and the games with more care put into their Sega CD versions help to push the Sega CD ahead. Some of these games, IMO, are great on the CD (the Chuck Rock ports are great), but where the Sega CD shines are the games that DIDN'T appear on the Genesis: Vay, Popful Mail, Final Fight CD, Sonic CD, Shining Force CD, the Lunar games, Heart of the Alien, Eye of the Beholder, Rise of the Dragon, WWF Rage in the Cage, Fatal Fury Special (not the best port though), etc.
As usual another incredible assessment my friend! Like with many of these bigger videos you touched upon everything so well that I don't have a lot to add so I'll throw in my two cents. While the large majority were lazy cash grabs with no upgraded visuals, one of my favorite things from this are the two Game no Kanzume games on the Sega CD that compiled a bunch of Sega Channel games like 16T, Hyper Marbles, and maybe my favorite on the whole video, the Pyramid Magic series. I see "hidden gem" thrown around for pretty much everything these days on youtube but those are the true definition of a hidden gem. I played through all 4 of them a few years ago with my girlfriend and it's some of the most fun I've ever had doing a puzzle game. Of course outside of what's on this video you gave some great examples of excellent Sega CD games that weren't merely lazy ports of Genesis games. I've probably said this before but Rage In The Cage was THE game that made me want a Sega CD as a kid because of the (at the time) large roster you could select from. Playing that game now it's a major disappointment compared to a game like Raw but seeing all of those wrestlers to choose from was incredible at the time.
@@RetroComparisons Yeah, those Pyramid Magic games looked pretty cool as did Hyper Marbles: I've never played those or the other Game no Kanzume games though I've heard of them because of you've covered a few of the games on them, and I've watched some stuff otherwise that included the Phantasy Star side stories. And, yeah, I loved the few times I got to play Rage in the Cage at my friend Devin's. There was no way I was going to be able to get a SEGA CD at the time (and I know his brother had got his before I even got my Genesis), so the game had that extra sparkle of something you only get to play once every couple of months. Yeah, it's not great, but it was cool to us at the time. Same with MK1 on CD and the NBA Jam port: they are not enough over the Genesis versions, but they were cool to us kids. EWJ: Special Edition and Popful Mail, which they also had, were a leap above the other games they had, especially Popful Mail, which is probably my favorite game on the system: I *had* to play it later on.
@@shotgunl There is something very magical about those times before being able to quickly go online and watch a video of the newest tech. You make a great point with something like Rage In The Cage where if you owned it that may have been a bummer but if you only got to experience something like that at a friend's house every once in a while you'd probably be thinking about it all day and hoping one day you'd be able to get a Sega CD. I know that was my experience with things like that starting with my cousin's NES when all I had was the 2600. I'd highly recommend those Pyramid Magic games if you're ever in the mood for a fun and challenging puzzle game. They start off pretty easy but get pretty complicated half way through.
It's amazing how the Sega CD underachieved on the 3 ninjas game like it barely looks different it's just a tiny bit better. But then again I've always heard that it was hard to develop for the Sega CD
I think like 90% of these games are almost identical visually with only a better audio quality soundtrack. For most of these the upgrade wasn't worth it if you already had the Genesis port but there were some fantastic games on the console that made it worth it as long as you stayed away from the lazy cash grab ports.
@@RetroComparisons yeah that's what I noticed from watching this video because that's basically the first time I've seen a lot of the footage of the Sega CD versions of a lot of those games. Most of them I didn't notice much different visually most of them had better sound. It seems like there were a few standouts especially adventures of Batman and Robin. Also the sound is better on samurai shodown and it actually looks brighter
Obviously when you don't even show the added parts that use the ASIC chip in the game, it looks the same... ua-cam.com/video/mZBmz3-JdX0/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/mZBmz3-JdX0/v-deo.html
Nice comparison. I saw the MK one! 😂😁I think i actually liked the genesis version a little more though the CD sounded better. Also I consider these videos the big boss fights of your videos lol. Every now and then you do the big video compilation 😅
Haha thanks buddy! The CD audio is so much better on MK yet I have such nostalgia for the Genesis soundtrack that I actually prefer that. Lol ya know that's a great analogy, I guess these are the boss fights of my channel.
I appreciate the effort of putting such a comparison but it can't do anything else than being a disservice as it compares exclusively short portions of gameplay, which are often the same because the SEGA-CD was not meant to change how the MegaDrive renders its visuals. Even in games where the base is the same, you always get more content, more animations, more stages, excellent Redbook soundtrack, videos etc... and it makes it totally worthwhile as it builds a very different atmosphere and some people simply enjoy all of these additions. Why should I play Mickey Mania or Pitfall or Flashback on the base MD if I have the SCD games ? And this is only to talk about games that were MD to SCD ports, because th add-on also had a ton of exclusive games...
You just provided the best comment here! And I well know that for this reason you didn't get a "heart" from the channel. But here it goes, from me: ❤❤❤ 03 hearts. Most comments here come from people who did not understand the intention of the video, which is also rather misleading.
@@RetroComparisons Even if it had the same restricted movement but better control and better/fewer enemies. I'm thinking Splatterhouse (the original arcade and TG16) style gameplay would have been incredible with the scrolling video backdrop.
@@caseyhayes4590 If it had Splatterhouse gameplay with those graphics at that time I think it would still be considered one of the best of the genre to this day.
The Genesis and Sega CD ports were done by different companies. The Sega CD port is a straight up port of the PC version with CD quality music. The Genesis port had upgraded graphics, but they added several additional levels without adjusting the time limit and the controls were terrible, making it almost unwinnable/unplayable. A couple years ago a “fixed” version of the Genesis port was made available for download..
Imo most of them should feel a bit like little remasters but instead they look the same with better music with exceptions like Power Rangers or Jurassic Park.
I had a CD back in the day, and it seems all it added was full motion video that looked bad on Genesis tiny color palette. Larger storage, yes, more animation. Better sound, yes, as it should since the games were on CD, but did nothing to improve what the Genesis really needed, which to me was more colors onscreen and a larger color palette.
There were some cool games but way too many were lazy ports of Genesis games with the bare minimum effort put in them. It's a shame that it could have been so much more.
Absolutely. I have a big project that I'm hoping to get finished by the Spring and then that will probably be my next big project unless another channel beats me to it.
@@RetroComparisons original cases? Shit I even have every receipt for all my games and systems... All of my Genesis,32x and Sega cd games are all in original cases along with receipts... And all of my systems are in original boxes with receipts up in my closet at my parents house...
It was pretty much different in every regard. It's so weird that back then you could get 2 completely different games with the same name that came out around the same time.
This has to one of the hardest comparisons to create in this format, and not only because of all the hours lost to load times. Most of these games are the same, but. How do you do that "same, but..." justice? My ideal solution would be showing each side of it... but I'm not making this, and my present complete ROM collections are hardware restricted to 2600 and DMG Gameboy...WAIT now there's a compari$on nobody thought of! Damn... it's actually a pretty big... I'm sure I can just point my phone at the DS and Flashback Portable... Seriously though, you always go the extra mile to keep these engaging, and, even if this video can't tell the full story, you find things nobody else calls out... Look at how much more stuff Road Rash on Sega CD is scaling using the Genesis engine. No wonder why the frame rate didn't improve. I also want to point out that SamSho CD is using the original Neo Geo character sprites, and restores more of their animation. Back then, getting anything that high quality in a home fighting game? It was worth some sacrifice. That said, it's beautiful SNES/Genesis/Sega CD all made different sacrifices, in order to teach us a bit about game development.
Thanks for the kind words and your support as always! Yeah for videos like these it can never quite capture everything whether it be the load times, some levels that show off more, etc. I finally got the formula down for 30 second clips of each game being the sweet spot for viewers to not get bored but to still see enough to get a small window into the games. I figured there's other great channels like VC Decide and VS Games AaZ that do deeper dives for a lot of these anyways so it's more of a sample. And actually that 2600 vs GB video does sound intriguing.
@@RetroComparisons Yeah, that started as a joke, then blew my mind as I wrote it while thinking about all that overlap. If you want to have a go, go for it. I'm really curious how many games they share.
@@juststatedtheobvious9633 I went through the GB lineup for a few nights in the past week for another project and I did notice quite a few, probably at least 20 if not more. I have a major project I'm working on for the channel but that will be one I'll keep on that back burner.
O Sega-CD era pra ser mais colorido.... exibir 64 cores de 512 de paleta já é pouquíssimo até pra época. Acho que esse é o segundo ponto principal do problema, depois do preço salgado do dispositivo, que é o primeiro.
it's incredible how the sega cd has been like the emperor's new clothes, and the beginning of the nosedive of the credibility of sega. A brand that was on the top of the world until this scam arrived.
It was a great idea in concept but there were too many games like in this video that were an audio upgrade at best over the Genesis counterpart and the abundance of crappy FMV games didn't help.
Lunar 1&2, Snatcher, Final Fight, Sonic CD, Thunderstrike, Batman Returns, Terminator, Spider-Man, Mansion of Hidden Souls, Challenge from the Darkside... people are really forgetting how mind blowing the Sega CD was in the context of 92-95. Many of us never saw another CD console outside retail demonstration. And FMV was a lot more popular at first, than people care to remember. Even Sewer Shark and Ground Zero Texas grabbed eyeballs whenever I popped them in. Remember, most console games were side scrollers decorated with static screens... say what you will about FMV gameplay and you're probably right, but they were as close as the time period could get to imitating modern AAA graphics.
I don't think it was a scam. Like profiteering. It was just sort of shoved out the door. I don't think Sega even turned a profit on it. I don't think Sega were excepting everyone to run out and buy it. Besides, the consoles don't make money, the license fees from publishers are the only revenue stream for a console. Well, also first party games and peripherals.
@@iwanttocomplain there were basically 10 games that had something more than the genesis version, and the prices were crazy (even for games exactly identical to the cartridge). ...and with the 32x they managed to make an even worse disaster!
As a sega fan it always amused me how the mega cd basically turned the console into a snes XD I liked my mega cd back in the day but it would have really disappointed me if i had paid full price for it thats for sure. Games I enjoyed on megadrive, i thought, already sounded awesome (earthworm jim, puggsy etc) some games i preferred on mega drive as well (terminator, power rangers) games like ecco sounded better but i preferred the megadrive version as the songs stood out more and had more of a melody to them. That being said I loved the soundtrack to brutal paws of fury on the cd. sherlock homes vol 2 was cool even though i didnt know what i was doing in it.. Sonic CD was brilliant, sega classic collection was a cool way to replay streets of rage with the different voice samples and final fight on mega cd was incredible on it, so much better than the snes version and the soundtrack is spot on, better than the arcade version too!
It's a great video, but the comparision between Batman Returns and Batman Returns CD is quite misleading. The main attraction of the CD version is the fantastic soundrack from Spencer Nilsen and the great looking driving sequences, which are completely in 3D. ^^
I had the CD add-on and was never impressed with it. Mostly a waste of $ since background music wasn't important to me. I did buy a few games that for some reason were cheaper on CD instead of cart but that never justified the expense. Too few titles that really needed the CD capacity.
@@RetroComparisons Yeah they were, I had a Sega CD many years ago, but mine didn't work. A shame they couldn't make a comeback with some of these though in today's market. Sega always had interesting designs other than Dreamcast which was by far the ugliest system they ever made with the worse controller design ever. But the Saturn on the other hand, It looked Next Gen before Next gen was even a thing.
@@RetroComparisons Indeed lazy programmers that Batman game had scaling that was beyond anything outside the arcades. The same thing plagued the Saturn or the 32x for that matter. With duel cpus its easier to just code for one. The Jaguar had a 16 bit standard cpu as a basic task manager. Most of its games ran off its co processor lol
@@MrSnapy1 The driving scenes in that Batman game were so cool for the time. Hell I even think it looks great to this day. Actually speaking of the Jaguar I'm putting out a series of comparisons over the next two months now that I finally bought one.
O que a Sega fez com o Sega CD foi vergonhoso,em sua biblioteca teve sim alguns ótimos jogos mas nenhum deles usou o real potencial do Sega CD,e pra piorar a situação a Sega do Eua colocou aquele catálogo de jogos em fmv que não tinha nada haver com arquitetura do Sega CD,o que a Sega deveria ter feito era lançar seus exclusivos usando o real potencial do Sega CD,e trazer jogos famosos de outras desenvoldoras como Street Fighter 2 por exemplo,baixar o valor do add-on aí sim a Sega teria igualdade com o Super Nintendo,mas infelizmente a Sega fez total descaso do Sega CD e ainda lançou a bomba do 32X marcando de vez seu fim nos consoles,sempre fui fã da Sega mas por tantos erros a Sega mereceu perder seu lugar para o Sony,diferente da Sega que só fez seu público de bobo a Sony fez de tudo pra agradar tanto o público como as desenvoldoras.
The Terminator and (maybe) Flink are the stand-out upgrades in my opinion, most of the others are shades of meh 😒 … saying that, CD quality music can massively improve a game!
I totally agree. The CD upgrade was big though it did often come at the cost of high load times. That Terminator game is one of my favorites of any game I've played on the Sega CD.
@@RetroComparisons yup … love how The Terminator’s CD quality music makes this already great Sega CD game (itself a massive upgrade to the Genesis original) feel another-lever of epic, and much more immersive! They went the extra mile there :)
With these comparisons it's obvious SEGA didn't need to develop the Sega CD there was no point to it besides a couple shitty digitized games. Other than that these games are exactly the same no wonder SEGA went out of business. They put way too much money into something that wasn't needed.
Such a shame the dev proritised the Megadrive over the Mega CD when it comes to making games for both. That strategy contributed to the downfall of the Mega CD. I blame Sega for not creating enough incentive for the Devs to think differently.
@@RetroComparisons It's so much worse than Sega not trying. They kept Sega CD features hidden in order to prevent word from getting out and to give themselves a competitive edge. Then they pulled an even worse version of that stunt with the Saturn - designing development tools that physically locked developers out of the full hardware.
@@RetroComparisons It's why you don't get in bed with the Yakusa or punish your employees if your allies outperform them. It leads to unfortunate solutions for unnecessary problems. Of course, it's never a surprise to find a sadistic idiot in charge of a successful company that begins failing. .
Of all the lazy ports here, I can't believe Sega acually tried to rerelease Columns and convince buyers it was any different from the Genesis version. Imagine the buyer's remorse after picking up that one 🤦
Fortunately that one was part of a 4 pack (or 5 pack for Europe) otherwise that would have been a horrible game to sell solo unless it was a budget title.
@@RetroComparisons yeah I can see the point, maybe at the time if I saw something similar into fifa 95 or any of those, I'd probably be excited to see that, but after two or more times it get really old immediately... As I can see from hockey night it's even so loooong to get play again, isn't it?
@@DsDoomAlexander Yeah it takes forever to get back to the play. It reminds me a bit of Arch Rivals where after every basket there's a cutscene which breaks up the flow of the game.
I still lament the end of Sega consoles. The Master System and Genesis were a couple of great pieces of hardware. The Dream Cast, in my belief, would have beaten out the PS1, were it o have been given the same resources and familiarity that Sony's system got. Nobody's fault but Sega's, only that I think architecturally the Dream Cast was superior hardware to anything out in that era.
By comparing the two, you can see how producers at the time were a little lazy with the Sega CD.
Most of these ports are as lazy as you can get.
You're being too kind. Not a little ,but a lot i'd say
It would be more forgivable if they marketed & sold the Sega cd titles cheaper than the cartridge being disc based but I’m sure the MSRP was the same if not more for most.
Sega should have had better Quality control or made them release them at a discount on the CD.
the big thing with sega cd was fmv and improved audio
A lot of ports were made with just CD music added, but there's a lot of worthwhile versions with extra stuff. Spiderman vs Kingpin is the best example, they made a great remaster of the old game with a ton of new stuff, it would be great to have more "remixed" games like these in the time.
That Spider-Man game is a great example. Road Rash is another where the gameplay was amped up and had a killer soundtrack (not featured here due to copyright unfortunately).
It's really striking to see how similar most of these games are - practically identical in most cases. I remember Sega CD being more capable as shown by the original games made for, but these ports are barely different. I do remember Spider-Man having significant upgrades and even new levels, so that's cool.
Terminator on Sega CD is one of the system's best games. Gameplay, graphics, and the incredible Tommy Tallarico soundtrack.
It's so good! This was before Tommy became a villain.
This game was one of very few that I could see an appreciable difference.
Man..... I hate to poopoo on your hard work but the two screens are identical! Just kidding! Thank you for putting these together. I owned the SEGA CD and ohhh... The waisted potential...
I think the sega cd was never used to its full potential. With all data available on cd the developers could have added many more sprites, animations and backgrounds instead of using it just for high quality music and fm videos
It's a shame. There were some great games on there but I'd love to see the full potential of it especially now with the amazing homebrew scene.
RAM and sprite limits don't go away just because you move to CD. Games like Soul Star and Terminator really do show off what CD brings to the table.
16T on Sega CD... Who would have known...
Yeah that's an obscure one for sure
There are almost too many "Here's the cartridge game, but with a CD soundtrack tacked onto it!" to count.
Lol yup
love the sega cd and the potential that came with it. Wish that there were more quality titles for it though.
Yeah same here, I wish there were more Sonic CD and Terminator type of games that made the most of the hardware rather than having a lot of Genesis games with a better soundtrack.
I will update with a greater response, I just want to make note to send to Batman... "Yo Batdude, it would have been easier to fly just above the bridge..." lol
An amazing coding marvel on the Genesis tho!
I am looking forward to watching this in full! A fun surprise drop my good buddy!!!! Keep up the badassery!
Lol I blame that on Robin. No way Batman would have been that dumb. Thanks buddy, as always I really appreciate your continued support:)
I just found out your channel today, I was looking for Expandable comparisons between DC and PS1. Such irformative and interesting videos. Great work!
Thanks so much for checking out the videos and for the kind words:)
Like, who is going to love the experience of waiting 20 seconds for a video to load of a goalie saving a goal, every time a goalie saves a goal? The NFL games don't use a skew transformed mode 7 pitch when the SNES versions of those games did. Which actually didn't improve the look of the game as much as I thought it might. Scaling the players would have looked pretty dope. I think using the scaling chip is a piece of piss. But you can't tell from screenshots so the devs didn't bother.
The whole goalie saving the goal was probably cool like the first 2 times you saw it back in the day but even then it must have gotten tiresome almost instantly. It reminds me of Arch Rivals where there's a cut scene after every basket.
¡Gracias!
Thank you so much!! You are too kind:)
Another big comparison here, Bill. For the vast majority of the titles that appeared on both, Sega CD owners barely got an upgrade: usually some CD-Audio or maybe some soundtracks mixing the Genesis FM with some PCM samples and maybe a few more or better sample for sound effects or voices. That's about the total amount of extra effort that many of the developers put into the Sega CD versions. But, maybe you were lucky and got a bit of FMV. Or, in a few cases, you actually did get more effort: The vehicle stages in Batman Returns, the snowboarding in Cliffhanger, Mortal Kombat, etc. And then there are the few that are different takes on the title/series, and at least that's at least interesting: Batman & Robin, Jurrasic Park, Road Rash, Shadowrun, Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy (actually my favorite by far of the 8 and 16-bit Jeopardy games), Bram Stoker's Dracula (I'd much rather play the Genesis game, but the Sega CD game, though I don't like playing it, is at least pretty cool looking), Frankenstein, Power Rangers, etc. Samurai Shodown gets a new port too from FunCom though; IMO, though it's better in some areas, it's not better enough than the Genesis port plus is worse in a few things. There's a number of games here I'm not familiar with, but most seem to be of the 'new soundtrack only' variety. I didn't have a Sega CD during the 90s (though my friend Devin and his brother did), and when I got one off e-bay in '02 the only games I ever got were Vay, Popful Mail, Mortal Kombat, Samurai Shodown, Final Fight CD, Puggsy, Mickey Mania, Jeopardy, and Sonic CD. So, of the ones I own that appear on both the Genesis and Sega CD, I think Samurai Shodown is a wash, Puggsy is better in someways though I slightly prefer the Genesis soundtrack, MK is slightly better (I love Matt Furniss's Genesis MK soundtrack though I do also like the arcade rips used in the CD port...and, the better animation is nice, but, man, is the Shang Tsung fight annoying and load times are a little annoying but not the worst), while Mickey Mania and Jeopardy I prefer on the Sega CD. Some day I need to play the Sega CD version of Flashback. I think, even though the vast majority of these games just add a bit of sound enhancement, I would say that still puts the Sega CD overall in this particular comparison just slightly ahead, since that *is* an enhancement and the games with more care put into their Sega CD versions help to push the Sega CD ahead. Some of these games, IMO, are great on the CD (the Chuck Rock ports are great), but where the Sega CD shines are the games that DIDN'T appear on the Genesis: Vay, Popful Mail, Final Fight CD, Sonic CD, Shining Force CD, the Lunar games, Heart of the Alien, Eye of the Beholder, Rise of the Dragon, WWF Rage in the Cage, Fatal Fury Special (not the best port though), etc.
As usual another incredible assessment my friend! Like with many of these bigger videos you touched upon everything so well that I don't have a lot to add so I'll throw in my two cents. While the large majority were lazy cash grabs with no upgraded visuals, one of my favorite things from this are the two Game no Kanzume games on the Sega CD that compiled a bunch of Sega Channel games like 16T, Hyper Marbles, and maybe my favorite on the whole video, the Pyramid Magic series. I see "hidden gem" thrown around for pretty much everything these days on youtube but those are the true definition of a hidden gem. I played through all 4 of them a few years ago with my girlfriend and it's some of the most fun I've ever had doing a puzzle game.
Of course outside of what's on this video you gave some great examples of excellent Sega CD games that weren't merely lazy ports of Genesis games. I've probably said this before but Rage In The Cage was THE game that made me want a Sega CD as a kid because of the (at the time) large roster you could select from. Playing that game now it's a major disappointment compared to a game like Raw but seeing all of those wrestlers to choose from was incredible at the time.
Holy shit.
I got a stroke reading that.
Full stops and commas dude.
@@RetroComparisons Yeah, those Pyramid Magic games looked pretty cool as did Hyper Marbles: I've never played those or the other Game no Kanzume games though I've heard of them because of you've covered a few of the games on them, and I've watched some stuff otherwise that included the Phantasy Star side stories. And, yeah, I loved the few times I got to play Rage in the Cage at my friend Devin's. There was no way I was going to be able to get a SEGA CD at the time (and I know his brother had got his before I even got my Genesis), so the game had that extra sparkle of something you only get to play once every couple of months. Yeah, it's not great, but it was cool to us at the time. Same with MK1 on CD and the NBA Jam port: they are not enough over the Genesis versions, but they were cool to us kids. EWJ: Special Edition and Popful Mail, which they also had, were a leap above the other games they had, especially Popful Mail, which is probably my favorite game on the system: I *had* to play it later on.
@@shotgunl There is something very magical about those times before being able to quickly go online and watch a video of the newest tech. You make a great point with something like Rage In The Cage where if you owned it that may have been a bummer but if you only got to experience something like that at a friend's house every once in a while you'd probably be thinking about it all day and hoping one day you'd be able to get a Sega CD. I know that was my experience with things like that starting with my cousin's NES when all I had was the 2600. I'd highly recommend those Pyramid Magic games if you're ever in the mood for a fun and challenging puzzle game. They start off pretty easy but get pretty complicated half way through.
@@RetroComparisons Woah and here I was thinking I was the only sub to make big posts 😁 Interesting read.
26:00 Was there ever a version of classic Pitfall! on the Genesis? Could not find anything on the net.
Hidden via code in Mayan.
@@juststatedtheobvious9633and in a secret area of the full game
It's part of Ptifall: The Mayan Adventure which is a cool little bonus.
It's amazing how the Sega CD underachieved on the 3 ninjas game like it barely looks different it's just a tiny bit better. But then again I've always heard that it was hard to develop for the Sega CD
I think like 90% of these games are almost identical visually with only a better audio quality soundtrack. For most of these the upgrade wasn't worth it if you already had the Genesis port but there were some fantastic games on the console that made it worth it as long as you stayed away from the lazy cash grab ports.
@@RetroComparisons yeah that's what I noticed from watching this video because that's basically the first time I've seen a lot of the footage of the Sega CD versions of a lot of those games. Most of them I didn't notice much different visually most of them had better sound. It seems like there were a few standouts especially adventures of Batman and Robin. Also the sound is better on samurai shodown and it actually looks brighter
@animemaster4861
Check out the Sega CD exclusive sprite scaling stages for 3 Ninjas. It's a showcase... visually, at least.
Obviously when you don't even show the added parts that use the ASIC chip in the game, it looks the same...
ua-cam.com/video/mZBmz3-JdX0/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/mZBmz3-JdX0/v-deo.html
The prince of persia's Genesis version looks much better
I kind of prefer that version over the Sega CD though to be honest I'm not a big fan of the game in general.
Good video. SegaCD was absolutely wasted by devs. It's a shame when consoles don't fulfill their potential
Thanks for watching! It was a great idea in concept but the games that really made it worth the price tag were lacking in quantity.
Nice comparison. I saw the MK one! 😂😁I think i actually liked the genesis version a little more though the CD sounded better. Also I consider these videos the big boss fights of your videos lol. Every now and then you do the big video compilation 😅
Haha thanks buddy! The CD audio is so much better on MK yet I have such nostalgia for the Genesis soundtrack that I actually prefer that. Lol ya know that's a great analogy, I guess these are the boss fights of my channel.
@@RetroComparisons Oh totally agree once consoles went CD they all sounded better for sure. Haha thanks! Glad you like the analogy!😅
@MKF30 You haven't gotten to Shang Tsung on the Sega CD version...
@@djstyles97 Yes I have. I've beaten MK on every console I've played it on including Shang tsung lol 😆
I appreciate the effort of putting such a comparison but it can't do anything else than being a disservice as it compares exclusively short portions of gameplay, which are often the same because the SEGA-CD was not meant to change how the MegaDrive renders its visuals. Even in games where the base is the same, you always get more content, more animations, more stages, excellent Redbook soundtrack, videos etc... and it makes it totally worthwhile as it builds a very different atmosphere and some people simply enjoy all of these additions. Why should I play Mickey Mania or Pitfall or Flashback on the base MD if I have the SCD games ? And this is only to talk about games that were MD to SCD ports, because th add-on also had a ton of exclusive games...
You just provided the best comment here! And I well know that for this reason you didn't get a "heart" from the channel. But here it goes, from me: ❤❤❤ 03 hearts. Most comments here come from people who did not understand the intention of the video, which is also rather misleading.
@@tedgregersenvalasko2375 Thanks, appreciate the support.
If Sega CD Bram Stoker's ad better play mechanics it would have looked like an early 2.5D sidescroller, they had a good idea in trying it.
The look and idea were so good for that game. The execution is a whole different story.
@@RetroComparisons Even if it had the same restricted movement but better control and better/fewer enemies. I'm thinking Splatterhouse (the original arcade and TG16) style gameplay would have been incredible with the scrolling video backdrop.
@@caseyhayes4590 If it had Splatterhouse gameplay with those graphics at that time I think it would still be considered one of the best of the genre to this day.
That's one of the reason why segaCD failed...nobody would pay a lot of money to play the same games(or worst) with long load times
Ugh yeah the load times on these early CD based consoles are unbearable.
3 Ninjas cd also had these neat little pop up fmv’s of Victor Wong
Thanks for this comparison! I just wonder why the genesis' version of prince of persia looks much much better than the sega cd one...
Thanks for watching! Yeah I was wondering that too. When I was editing this I thought I had messed up at first.
The Genesis and Sega CD ports were done by different companies. The Sega CD port is a straight up port of the PC version with CD quality music. The Genesis port had upgraded graphics, but they added several additional levels without adjusting the time limit and the controls were terrible, making it almost unwinnable/unplayable. A couple years ago a “fixed” version of the Genesis port was made available for download..
I feel awful for asking my parents to shell out money for the Sega CD
Lol!
Imo most of them should feel a bit like little remasters but instead they look the same with better music with exceptions like Power Rangers or Jurassic Park.
The Spider-Man game was kind of a semi remaster but yeah a lot of the others were just one to one ports with CD quality audio.
I had a CD back in the day, and it seems all it added was full motion video that looked bad on Genesis tiny color palette. Larger storage, yes, more animation. Better sound, yes, as it should since the games were on CD, but did nothing to improve what the Genesis really needed, which to me was more colors onscreen and a larger color palette.
There were some cool games but way too many were lazy ports of Genesis games with the bare minimum effort put in them. It's a shame that it could have been so much more.
No Eternal Champions.
that good ol genesis fart sound
can you make a video of all PS1 Vs Nintendo 64 Games Compared Side By Side please?
Absolutely. I have a big project that I'm hoping to get finished by the Spring and then that will probably be my next big project unless another channel beats me to it.
I miss playing my Sega cd... I should just hook it all up again.... My favorite system of all time I think
There were some incredible games on there like Final Fight CD, The Terminator, Sonic CD, etc.
@@RetroComparisons i have all those plus a lot more... i think i have about 50 sega cd games
@@joek1978atyahoo Holy crap that's a ton. You may be sitting on a small fortune especially if you have the original cases.
@@RetroComparisons original cases? Shit I even have every receipt for all my games and systems... All of my Genesis,32x and Sega cd games are all in original cases along with receipts... And all of my systems are in original boxes with receipts up in my closet at my parents house...
@@joek1978atyahoo That is freaking amazing!!
Why does the turf at FIFA International Soccer CD look worse than SMD?
Great question, you'd think with the superior color palette that it would be better.
The adventure of batman and robin look like completely different game
It was pretty much different in every regard. It's so weird that back then you could get 2 completely different games with the same name that came out around the same time.
This has to one of the hardest comparisons to create in this format, and not only because of all the hours lost to load times.
Most of these games are the same, but. How do you do that "same, but..." justice? My ideal solution would be showing each side of it... but I'm not making this, and my present complete ROM collections are hardware restricted to 2600 and DMG Gameboy...WAIT now there's a compari$on nobody thought of! Damn... it's actually a pretty big... I'm sure I can just point my phone at the DS and Flashback Portable...
Seriously though, you always go the extra mile to keep these engaging, and, even if this video can't tell the full story, you find things nobody else calls out...
Look at how much more stuff Road Rash on Sega CD is scaling using the Genesis engine. No wonder why the frame rate didn't improve.
I also want to point out that SamSho CD is using the original Neo Geo character sprites, and restores more of their animation. Back then, getting anything that high quality in a home fighting game? It was worth some sacrifice. That said, it's beautiful SNES/Genesis/Sega CD all made different sacrifices, in order to teach us a bit about game development.
Thanks for the kind words and your support as always! Yeah for videos like these it can never quite capture everything whether it be the load times, some levels that show off more, etc. I finally got the formula down for 30 second clips of each game being the sweet spot for viewers to not get bored but to still see enough to get a small window into the games. I figured there's other great channels like VC Decide and VS Games AaZ that do deeper dives for a lot of these anyways so it's more of a sample. And actually that 2600 vs GB video does sound intriguing.
@@RetroComparisons Yeah, that started as a joke, then blew my mind as I wrote it while thinking about all that overlap. If you want to have a go, go for it.
I'm really curious how many games they share.
@@juststatedtheobvious9633 I went through the GB lineup for a few nights in the past week for another project and I did notice quite a few, probably at least 20 if not more. I have a major project I'm working on for the channel but that will be one I'll keep on that back burner.
Awesome Comparisons Bill!
Thanks Mark!
It feels like the sega CD wasn't necessary... Good lord what have they done...
There were some fantastic games on there but a lot of these ports were just plain lazy.
O Sega-CD era pra ser mais colorido.... exibir 64 cores de 512 de paleta já é pouquíssimo até pra época. Acho que esse é o segundo ponto principal do problema, depois do preço salgado do dispositivo, que é o primeiro.
it's incredible how the sega cd has been like the emperor's new clothes, and the beginning of the nosedive of the credibility of sega. A brand that was on the top of the world until this scam arrived.
It was a great idea in concept but there were too many games like in this video that were an audio upgrade at best over the Genesis counterpart and the abundance of crappy FMV games didn't help.
Lunar 1&2, Snatcher, Final Fight, Sonic CD, Thunderstrike, Batman Returns, Terminator, Spider-Man, Mansion of Hidden Souls, Challenge from the Darkside... people are really forgetting how mind blowing the Sega CD was in the context of 92-95. Many of us never saw another CD console outside retail demonstration. And FMV was a lot more popular at first, than people care to remember. Even Sewer Shark and Ground Zero Texas grabbed eyeballs whenever I popped them in. Remember, most console games were side scrollers decorated with static screens... say what you will about FMV gameplay and you're probably right, but they were as close as the time period could get to imitating modern AAA graphics.
I don't think it was a scam. Like profiteering. It was just sort of shoved out the door. I don't think Sega even turned a profit on it. I don't think Sega were excepting everyone to run out and buy it. Besides, the consoles don't make money, the license fees from publishers are the only revenue stream for a console. Well, also first party games and peripherals.
@@iwanttocomplain there were basically 10 games that had something more than the genesis version, and the prices were crazy (even for games exactly identical to the cartridge). ...and with the 32x they managed to make an even worse disaster!
@@AtoragoN1 Are you excluding original games with an inferior Genesis counterpart like Terminator?
Maravilloso magistral wowwwww que video estuve esperando por años gracias
Thank you so much for watching:)
@@RetroComparisons al contrario a ti por mostrarlos qué tanto me gusta sega bro
As a sega fan it always amused me how the mega cd basically turned the console into a snes XD
I liked my mega cd back in the day but it would have really disappointed me if i had paid full price for it thats for sure. Games I enjoyed on megadrive, i thought, already sounded awesome (earthworm jim, puggsy etc) some games i preferred on mega drive as well (terminator, power rangers) games like ecco sounded better but i preferred the megadrive version as the songs stood out more and had more of a melody to them.
That being said I loved the soundtrack to brutal paws of fury on the cd. sherlock homes vol 2 was cool even though i didnt know what i was doing in it.. Sonic CD was brilliant, sega classic collection was a cool way to replay streets of rage with the different voice samples and final fight on mega cd was incredible on it, so much better than the snes version and the soundtrack is spot on, better than the arcade version too!
Best port: Samurai Shodown
That is a fantastic port and one of the few on here that's a true upgrade.
It's a great video, but the comparision between Batman Returns and Batman Returns CD is quite misleading. The main attraction of the CD version is the fantastic soundrack from Spencer Nilsen and the great looking driving sequences, which are completely in 3D. ^^
can u do this over again but first highlight the genesis audio and then the cd audio.
I had the CD add-on and was never impressed with it. Mostly a waste of $ since background music wasn't important to me. I did buy a few games that for some reason were cheaper on CD instead of cart but that never justified the expense. Too few titles that really needed the CD capacity.
Doesn't look all that much different from each other
other than some colors are more brighter and have better saturation than the Genesis did.
A lot of these ports were just lazy where they maybe added a little more color and had improved audio.
@@RetroComparisons Yeah they were, I had a Sega CD many years ago, but mine didn't work.
A shame they couldn't make a comeback with some of these though in today's market. Sega always had interesting designs other than Dreamcast which was by far the ugliest system they ever made with the worse controller design ever. But the Saturn on the other hand,
It looked Next Gen before Next gen was even a thing.
Poor Sega CD.
Sega vs Game boy advance
I do want to do a SNES vs GBA video at some point. There's a lot of overlap there.
The gba can do a whole lot more
Poucos jogos tinha diferença em algo na versão cd e alguns mais coloridos e sons melhorados
Yeah unfortunately most of these were lazy ports. Stuff like Final Fight CD or Sonic CD showed off more of what the add-on could do.
If you're wondering why the Sega CD games look like Sega Genesis games, yes.
Only a handful of these games used the extra more powerful cpu the Sega cd offered. Most was a direct port with cd sound such wasted potential..
They could have done so much more and it's a shame that a lot of these are quick cash-grabs rather than enhanced ports.
@@RetroComparisons Indeed lazy programmers that Batman game had scaling that was beyond anything outside the arcades. The same thing plagued the Saturn or the 32x for that matter. With duel cpus its easier to just code for one.
The Jaguar had a 16 bit standard cpu as a basic task manager. Most of its games ran off its co processor lol
@@MrSnapy1 The driving scenes in that Batman game were so cool for the time. Hell I even think it looks great to this day.
Actually speaking of the Jaguar I'm putting out a series of comparisons over the next two months now that I finally bought one.
разница есть ?
O que a Sega fez com o Sega CD foi vergonhoso,em sua biblioteca teve sim alguns ótimos jogos mas nenhum deles usou o real potencial do Sega CD,e pra piorar a situação a Sega do Eua colocou aquele catálogo de jogos em fmv que não tinha nada haver com arquitetura do Sega CD,o que a Sega deveria ter feito era lançar seus exclusivos usando o real potencial do Sega CD,e trazer jogos famosos de outras desenvoldoras como Street Fighter 2 por exemplo,baixar o valor do add-on aí sim a Sega teria igualdade com o Super Nintendo,mas infelizmente a Sega fez total descaso do Sega CD e ainda lançou a bomba do 32X marcando de vez seu fim nos consoles,sempre fui fã da Sega mas por tantos erros a Sega mereceu perder seu lugar para o Sony,diferente da Sega que só fez seu público de bobo a Sony fez de tudo pra agradar tanto o público como as desenvoldoras.
The Terminator and (maybe) Flink are the stand-out upgrades in my opinion, most of the others are shades of meh 😒 … saying that, CD quality music can massively improve a game!
I totally agree. The CD upgrade was big though it did often come at the cost of high load times. That Terminator game is one of my favorites of any game I've played on the Sega CD.
@@RetroComparisons yup … love how The Terminator’s CD quality music makes this already great Sega CD game (itself a massive upgrade to the Genesis original) feel another-lever of epic, and much more immersive! They went the extra mile there :)
With these comparisons it's obvious SEGA didn't need to develop the Sega CD there was no point to it besides a couple shitty digitized games. Other than that these games are exactly the same no wonder SEGA went out of business. They put way too much money into something that wasn't needed.
Game developers did the bare minimum on the Sega CD. I always felt that Nintendo was playing dirty during the console wars vs Sega.
Sega CD was probably the biggest Scam ever. 🤣
COOL !
Thanks!
@@RetroComparisons i want : DOS vs -
heavy nova, ernest evans, cliffhanger, batman and robin...terrible games -.-
Such a shame the dev proritised the Megadrive over the Mega CD when it comes to making games for both. That strategy contributed to the downfall of the Mega CD. I blame Sega for not creating enough incentive for the Devs to think differently.
It was one of the first signs of bad things to come for Sega internally.
@@RetroComparisons It's so much worse than Sega not trying. They kept Sega CD features hidden in order to prevent word from getting out and to give themselves a competitive edge.
Then they pulled an even worse version of that stunt with the Saturn - designing development tools that physically locked developers out of the full hardware.
@@juststatedtheobvious9633 It was just one blunder after another.
@@RetroComparisons It's why you don't get in bed with the Yakusa or punish your employees if your allies outperform them. It leads to unfortunate solutions for unnecessary problems.
Of course, it's never a surprise to find a sadistic idiot in charge of a successful company that begins failing. .
@@RetroComparisons I wanna say it was the American side of the company that knew better than to pursue this course of action?
same
buy the sega cd just for better music in the majority of cases isn't worth the price.
The Mega CD didn't have only Mega Drive Ports😊
Of all the lazy ports here, I can't believe Sega acually tried to rerelease Columns and convince buyers it was any different from the Genesis version. Imagine the buyer's remorse after picking up that one 🤦
It was part of a 4 game compilation pack. You'd get it free with the system.
Fortunately that one was part of a 4 pack (or 5 pack for Europe) otherwise that would have been a horrible game to sell solo unless it was a budget title.
Who the fuck was Ernest Evans?! LOL, have no recall of that game at all!
genesis win
Se ve muy bien el modo 7⃣
ESPN national hockey night on Sega cd is a joke
The cut scene thing was probably super cool the first time you saw it back then and then cumbersome every time after.
@@RetroComparisons yeah I can see the point, maybe at the time if I saw something similar into fifa 95 or any of those, I'd probably be excited to see that, but after two or more times it get really old immediately... As I can see from hockey night it's even so loooong to get play again, isn't it?
@@DsDoomAlexander Yeah it takes forever to get back to the play. It reminds me a bit of Arch Rivals where after every basket there's a cutscene which breaks up the flow of the game.
Sega CD is just Sega Genesis
Никакой разницы в графике нету Зачем надо было покупать Сегу сиди
more than half the time the genesis looks better with richer colors than the sega cd
Разницы нет практически....так что практичнее картриджи покупать,а сиди без полезная присавка
Resumindo. Na época vc pagava absurdo. Só. No sega cd. Pra. Joga com áudio melhor pois o jogo são os mesmo kkkkkkkkk
Wrong. Do you really think that the Mega CD had only Mega Drive ports?
Looks like Sega ripped a lot of gamers off with the Sega CD. Never felt bad about their hardware downfall.
I was bummed when they stopped making hardware but Sega really shot themselves in the foot repeatedly.
I still lament the end of Sega consoles. The Master System and Genesis were a couple of great pieces of hardware. The Dream Cast, in my belief, would have beaten out the PS1, were it o have been given the same resources and familiarity that Sony's system got. Nobody's fault but Sega's, only that I think architecturally the Dream Cast was superior hardware to anything out in that era.
no difference
31:45 ROAD RASH 2 vs ROAD RASH 3🤣
Практически не отличаются! поэтому sega cd никому не нужна была в то время, тем более за такой прайс
Man, the video.is just a comparison of games released on both systems. The Mega CD had several exclusive games! Wake up!