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Better Developer: Sega or Nintendo in their prime?

This is a very hard decision. Sega had some excellent games, most of which are on the Dreamcast, IMO. Still, I would have to go with Nintendo. There isn't any reason for me to say why, it's self-evident.
 
I hate these popularity polls, but that said...

To say "in their prime" implies that both companies have jumped the shark, so to speak. While this is clearly true of Sega- honestly, can we even say there's a Sega left anymore? I wouldn't necessarily go that far with Nintendo, unless of course you want to completely disregard their handheld business which is stupid at best.

There's really no contest here. Nintendo wins, simply because Nintendo didn't wind up being what Sega is right now. Survival of the fittest.

Nintendo's still releasing some of the best stuff around. Pikmin 2, the FE games, Paper Mario, Mario and Luigi, Wario Ware, Metriod Prime plus the handheld titles etc. etc. etc.
 
If we go by reviews, Nintendo.
If we go by sales, Nintendo.
If we go by my personal taste, Nintendo.

SEGA has never been very impressive.
 
While I was a big Genesis fan, Nintendo takes the cake because honestly I don't think Nintendo's ever lost its prime. My favorite games consist of a pretty even amount of Nintendo-developed titles for the NES, SNES, N64, and GCN. I loved Sonic 1-3 and S&K, but after the 32X debacle, I vowed never to buy another Sega system again. Since then, the only games I've played and loved by them are Super Monkey Ball 1 and 2. Still, those weren't the absolute classics that the 2D Sonic titles were. With Sonic Rush, I feel excited for a Sega title for the first time in a long, long while.
 
The 16 bit Mario games sell better individually at $30 a pop than the Sonic games sell all together on one disc at $20. There is your answer.
 
i was born and raised on sega. sonic 2 is way better thn super mario world by a long shot. i mean, nintendo is really close, but my love for sonic is never ending. i can never love the plumber like my friends, who where nintendo fans, can.


BLUE BOMBER
 
Ask any gamer who has played nearly all Nintendo titles, and nearly all SEGA titles.

Unanimously, they would say SEGA for one big reason...VARIETY.

That is, from a non-biased gamer's perspective.

Compare the genres...

Sports: SEGA (by far)
RPGS: Tied
Racers: SEGA (by far)
Fighters: SEGA (by far)
Arcade: SEGA (by far)
Platformers: Tied (Nintendo had some heavy hitters, but SEGA had more with more variety)
Puzzle: Tied (Baku Baku ties with Dr. Mario as the best from either, in my opinion)

I know I'm probably missing some genres...but SEGA has too much of a lead to bother.
 
Fight for Freeform said:
Ask any gamer who has played nearly all Nintendo titles, and nearly all SEGA titles.

Unanimously, they would say SEGA for one big reason...VARIETY.

That is, from a non-biased gamer's perspective.
Click to expand...

I, and many others, disagree. This has been a largely clean thread. Feel free to post your opinion, as you've already done, but keep the broad generalizations to yourself, and please don't even try to tell us that one being the other is some kind of quantifiable fact.
 
I, and many others, disagree.
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Read my post...I make very clear that it's gamer who have played nearly all titles from both developers, and are non-biased.

If you show me otherwise I'll gladly retract my comment. :)
 
Fight for Freeform said:
Read my post...I make very clear that it's gamer who have played nearly all titles from both developers, and are non-biased.
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Once again, I disagree. Yours is essentially a quantity vs quality thing. Quite simply, when I consider my absolute favorite Nintendo games vs my absolute favorite Sega games, I wind up prefering Nintendo, by a huge margin. Besides, this thread is about these companies in their prime, not their stable of libraries in general.

Edit - I do apologize if I overreacted, however. I read your post as saying, in a nutshell, that Sega HAS to be on top, and only biased gamers, or gamers who haven't played all of their respective games would believe otherwise.
 
aoi tsuki said:
F-Zero GX/AX is an oddball. It's Sega's take on a Nintendo franchise. On a related note, i'd like to see Nintendo handle a Sega game, like Sonic.
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Donkey Kong Jungle Beat.

almokla said:
I was soooo tempted to get Sonic Adventure 2 couple of days ago, but I decided to go with Myst IV
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Knowing next to nothing about Myst IV, I'd say you made the right decision.

Nintendo's still in their Prime. Wario Ware: Twisted, Pikmin 2, DK: Jungle Beat, Touch Kirby, Twilight Fucking Princess (like I even need to play it), Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance bitches. God, there's no end to the awesome. Sega, meanwhile, has always been overrated in terms of gameplay. Like Jet Set Radio. Wtf? Fun, but hardly a classic. Put down the style goggles.
 
Yours is essentially a quantity vs quality thing.
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Not really...but I do concede that when I compare platformers this is the case. But across all other genres I looked at the best of each and compared the two.
 
Fight for Freeform said:
Not really...but I do concede that when I compare platformers this is the case. But across all other genres I looked at the best of each and compared the two.
Click to expand...

Then in that case, you're post is completely subjective (not like it could have been anything else, really), and perhaps you shouldn't have phrased it as if there was no other right answer. :)
 
Sega was more diverse in their offerings and had more output it seems, but Nintendo delivered in spades on the quality part. Their stuff from the NES and SNES days set the standard by which all games are still judged. Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time from the N64 days are used as the standard for 3d games nowadays still. That has to say something. Most companies wish they could meet the standards set even twenty years ago.

I give Sega props for not pigeonholing themselves into set genres and being creative, but for overall polish and delivering the goods, I will pick Nintendo anyday.

There is a reason that Super Mario Bros. 3 is still the best selling game of all time.
 
If I could only play games by one publisher for the rest of my life, I'd choose Bally-Williams.

But given the choices, Sega. Their first-party Game Gear stuff was great, the Genesis is home to most of my fondest gaming memories, their arcade stuff was consistently ace (goddammit put out a compilation you bastards -- I want Zaxxon!), and the industry hasn't been the same at all since Sega died. I've only really become a Nintendo fan again this generation... they lost me when they cancelled my subscription to the Nintendo News or whatever and tried to coerce me to subscribe to (the newly-born) Nintendo Power. Not even a free issue, the bastards.

All things considered, Nintendo would almost definitely beat out any other publisher on an objective quality/consistency analysis. They've just never grabbed me like Sega did.
 
I'm still a sega fanboy, but Nintendo had better franchise games that have lasted and sold for years upon years.
 
SEGA on the whole...while Nintendo does make some good games (hell, Nintendo's best games are better than Sega's...no matter how hard it is to admit this) SEGA thankfully didn't get pigeon-holed into certain games like Nintendo did until later on. SEGA and the games that they once created (because let's face it...they are NOT the same as they used to be) were replayable, original, and (above all else) consistantly really damn fun.

Shenmue was what vasty accelerated the destruction of SEGA imo...for such a large project to end up as entertaining as a Rareware game was such a shame...especially considering the money and effort that went into the game. =\
 
I'll say Sega.

True, Nintendo has, to their credit, the BEST games ever made under their belt.

The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros.(Series), Super Metroid, Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, and Super Mario Kart are better than almost anything Sega's ever made.

However, I feel the average Sega game is better than the average Nintendo game. Sega has also developed a lot more games than Nintendo has.

Also, Sega has a lot more....I dunno, diversity in their games. Sega is more of a risk-taker, and they more often than not pay the price for their risks.

Nintendo usually sticks with the cards that they know will work. But that's ok, because you know that what you'll get with Nintendo will always be a great, very polished game. Sega's games are not usually as polished and are usually a lot shorter(Though oftentimes a lot harder). That being said, if I had to choose between Nintendo's library of games and Sega's library, I'd take Sega's in a half a heartbeat.
 
I love Nintendo and SEGA equally, and find it impossible to say which is 'better'.

Looking at it objectively, Nintendo's very best games were probably better than SEGA's, but SEGA made many, many more games in a much wider variation of genres.

How can I possibly say whether I had more fun playing Mario, Zelda and F-Zero, or Sonic, Virtua Fighter and Panzer Dragoon Saga.

Sadly, I've gone from being a Nintendo fanboy towards the end of the 16-bit era and through the N64 days, to being someone who couldn't really care less whether or not Nintendo releases another console. For me, the Gamecube software library has been a bit of a joke on Nintendo's part... Mario Sunshine wasn't as good as Mario 64, F-Zero wasn't as good as F-Zero X or F-Zero SNES, Mario Kart: Double Dash!!! wasn't as good as Super Mario Kart, Wave Race: Blue Storm wasn't as good as Wave Race 64, 1080 Avalanche wasn't as good as 1080 Snowboarding...

The Gamecube is a really great machine - the hardware itself is gorgeous, the visuals are solid and vibrant, loading times are fast. In fact it's probably the overall best designed piece of kit out there right now. And all those titles I've listed are good games, but where's all the innovation that Nintendo used to have? I truly hope that Revolution is, just as it's name suggests (especially for all those Famitsu readers), a revolution in gaming, and that it gives Nintendo to opportunity to bring back some original gameplay ideas. Unfortunately, I'm worried that the company might be going down a niche route if the rumours about Revolution's design are to be believed. I'm fairly certain that, unless Nintendo can market it just right, the mass market could see the machine as being gimmicky. Still, it's not really for me to comment on until the final design and specs have been unveiled.

And as for SEGA these days... well, since Panzer Dragoon Orta and to a lesser extent, Out Run 2, the company might as well have closed down. But the brief videos of Sonic, Virtua Fighter and House Of The Dead that were shown at E3 looked promising, so we'll just have to wait and see.
 
Let's see. Both companies created some of my favourite franchises.

Nintendo - Fire Emblem

Sega - Space Channel 5, Jet Set Radio


How can I choose?

Can we just say WaveMaster/UGA and IntSys instead?
 
IMO, Nintendo is more consistent at developing great games, but every once in awhile SEGA creates a gem that is easily in the same league as Nintendo's best




as to which is better in their prime ...... hmmmm don't know
 
Nintendo.

Sega games rarely interest me, but Nintendo Have the best game in so many catagories. I don't really see any company that could compete with Nintendo.

I will say Sega has had some very nice looking games, very vivid and colorful games.
 
Nintendo's top tier games blow anything Sega have made out of the water. Sega have nothing that has touched the classic status of Mario / Zelda at their peak. I love Sega's variety, anyone that gives me Monkeyball deserves plenty of accolades but when Nintendo hit top form noone, let alone Sega, can live with them.

For arcade of course, Sega thumps Nintendo.

All imo of course :)
 
Nintendo and SEGA made some great games during their respective primes (Nintendo's prime was quite a bit longer than SEGA's in my opinion) but there were a couple of things that were pretty evident to me throughout both of their primes:

During Nintendo's prime it produced heavy hitter titles that perfectly blended gameplay, technology, graphic art, music art, sound effects, and extreme quality control that I feel no other company has come close to matching since. Nintendo did not however have an arcade division and the sheer variety of differnt titles that SEGA had during it's prime (which says something considering Nintendo was in their prime longer).

During SEGA's prime it produced heavy hitter titles that had most of the things that Nintendo was so good at blending together but was always missing something to put it into the truly elite class of game software. On home consoles Sega often came through on the artistic end but fell down in some technical aspect or quality control aspect.

Both companies rarely threw out the total miss.

If it were SEGA's arcade stuff vs. Nintendo's home stuff I'd put them into a tie because they were both producing such good stuff in those respective arenas...However, in considering the entire works of both companies during their respective primes I have to give the nod to Nintendo.

Nintendo +1.0
SEGA +0.5
 
I guess it depends on what you consider thier prime? I didn't like Sega's older games, but I love SMB and PSO.

EDIT: thats super monkey ball, not super mario bros =P
 
Fight for Freeform said:
Ask any gamer who has played nearly all Nintendo titles, and nearly all SEGA titles.

Unanimously, they would say SEGA for one big reason...VARIETY.

That is, from a non-biased gamer's perspective.

Compare the genres...

Sports: SEGA (by far)
RPGS: Tied
Racers: SEGA (by far)
Fighters: SEGA (by far)
Arcade: SEGA (by far)
Platformers: Tied (Nintendo had some heavy hitters, but SEGA had more with more variety)
Puzzle: Tied (Baku Baku ties with Dr. Mario as the best from either, in my opinion)

I know I'm probably missing some genres...but SEGA has too much of a lead to bother.
Click to expand...
Wait... since when is "arcade" a genre? Does that mean Nintendo wins the "console" and "handheld" genres? :P

I'd also take issue with ranking Nintendo and Sega equally for RPGs. I tend to find most Sega RPGs either hugely flawed (Skies), painfully shallow (Shining Force, PSO) or almost unplayably archaic (PStar). On the Nintendo side, they have genre defining efforts like Fire Emblem, Zelda or Pokemon... plus they've never made games as horrible as Fatal Labyrinth, Sword of Vermillion or Dark Savior. :P

Puzzlers are iffy (Dr Mario/Panel de Pon versus Puyo Puyo/Baku Baku is *tough*)... but I'd give the edge to Nintendo for the better version of Tetris. :)

I'd only give Sega a slight lead in racers too, thanks mainly to far more output. The top stuff from both companies (Outrun, F-Zero, Mario Kart, Sega Rally, Wave Race, Daytona, etc) is all on the same level though I'd say. N64 era EAD racers are as good as anything from Sega.

Nintendo should unquestionably win for platformers though. Sega might have pumped out far more over the years but nobody can rival Nintendo's best in the genre. Plus Nintendo's platformers this gen absolutely slaughter Sega's.
 
iapetus said:
20010601l.gif


It's so true.

Also:

20050311h.jpg
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:lol

jarrod said:
Sega in arcades, Nintendo on consoles. Pretty easy.
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I'd agree with that assessment.
 
Nintendo's alot better, their prime was around the 16-bit era to the middle of the N64 era when they rarely released a bad game, Sega's prime was very brief, around when they made stuff like PSII, Sonic & Streets of Rage, but its kinda unfair to compare them because Sega takes far more chances with games, they have alot more variety and original games so they're always gonna end up with alot of misses
 
Nintendo.

I can't see how Sega compares to Nintendo in their prime. I love Sega more than most, and I own a TON of Sega stuff, but I just see how they can be put above Nintendo in any aspect (outside of arcade) of gaming.
 
Link316 said:
but its kinda unfair to compare them because Sega takes far more chances with games, they have alot more variety and original games so they're always gonna end up with alot of misses
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I'd say that has a lot to do with Sega having substantially more internal R&D teams and contracted developers. Until recently anyway, now Nintendo looks to be bigger (in terms of manpower). Coincidentally, I'd say Nintendo's the more "risky" publisher as well these days.
 
SEGA by far.

in their heyday, SEGA first ruled the arcades with their 'super scaler' simulator games and standard 2D games in the 1980s and then later produced many console hits, and ruled the arcades again with 3D games in the 1990s.

the amount of QUALITY awesome in-house games that Sega has produced *far* exceeds Nintendo.

If it were only about GAMES, Sega at their peak totally decimates Nintendo at their peak.
 
midnightguy said:
SEGA by far.

in their heyday, SEGA first ruled the arcades with their 'super scaler' simulator games and standard 2D games in the 1980s and then later produced many console hits, and ruled the arcades again with 3D games in the 1990s.

the amount of QUALITY awesome in-house games that Sega has produced *far* exceeds Nintendo.

If it were only about GAMES, Sega at their peak totally decimates Nintendo at their peak.
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:lol
Right on!
Can't Disagree with facts!

sonic8wv.gif
 
I love Sega more than any sane man should, but Nintendo's top stuff was just MUCH better. When they were in their prime, they were unstoppable. It wasn't even close, really.
 
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