Page 8 - OSG Presents Classic Gamer Magazine #8

Super NES

Sega Genesis

By Scott Marriott

In an industry where originality is at a premium, it is not surprising to
see the same games appearing on as many platforms the market will
support. After all, companies need to be profitable and not every console
system has the user base to justify spending the added time and expense
associated with retooling an already existing game. So it is surprising
when two versions of a game — released by the same publisher — end up
being different.

Though cross-platform releases have been a part of the console industry since third-
party publishers like Activision, Parker Brothers, and Imagic welcomed the Atari VCS’
competition with open arms, the trend became increasingly popular during the 16-bit
era, where the two titans of the time, Sega and Nintendo, battled neck and neck for
the ultimate in bragging rights: the number-one selling console in the United States.

If history is any indication, there are two types of multiplatform releases. The
overwhelming majority are near-identical titles offering slight improvements on the
more technologically advanced system, which in the case of Sega versus Nintendo,
typically meant the game enjoyed more colorful graphics and more pleasing sound on
Super NES. Thus, by and large, most players would want the Nintendo version of the
same game.

Yet there are also those titles that cater to a specific platform, with the developers
changing key design features to accommodate a perceived difference in audiences or to
simply play up a system’s strengths. The latter approach is obviously of most interest to
classic gamers, since it means there is potentially a better title out there worth
experiencing.

The two main competing systems at the time (the third, NEC’s TurboGrafx-16, simply
didn’t have the third-party support to draw suitable comparisons) also presented unique
challenges to developers. The Super NES, in the hands of inexperienced programmers,
could suffer from bouts of slowdown, earning the system the derogatory nickname of
“sneeze” for its comparatively slower processor.

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