Could the Mega Drive/Genesis be made better?

I know this is a hypothetical question and much like the "could N64 have a CD drive?" questions but I've been looking at some tech specs and I've noticed that the difference between the Neo-Geo and Mega Drive actually wasn't all that huge, technically. They both used very similar hardware, just that one was capable of more than the other. Don't get me wrong, the MD was fine the way it was and I'm not saying they should have made a 599 bucks machine but I also think they could have made some better decisions in the hardware design. It seems to me that they always kinda suggested with all those addons like the Sega CD and 32X that they haven't made the console quite "on-par" with the competition and were kinda short-sighted. The most apparent problems with the MD were the small on-screen color count, low-quality sound FX and the default 3-button controller as well as no hardware support for scaling. I think all these things could easily be improved without all the addons. Of course those addons weren't made just to improve the Genesis but damage to Sega was already made.

What do you think?

well yes

s-video output however there is a mod, and i performed it you can see my video, also added RCA ports on the back

looks way bettar http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHzf6HRfO_w

other than that no, they put a wonderful motorola 68k processor in there, very fast. Also the genesis did not have any problem competing with le snes in graphics, especially sound, which the genesis/md is bettar ofc.

32x/cd came out later when the parts were cheaper and or not available at the time, it would not make any sense to put them in there.

for a 1988 machine... probably not, due to hardware costs but still, ignoring for that a second I'd add a voice chip, sprite scaling hardware and sprite rotating softwarerilpas

Would support for more colors and scaling really make such a big difference in the price? I'm not saying it should feature high-end arcade hardware from that time but I think it could be better than it was (the graphics chip in MD is an enhanced Master System "Video Display Processor").

well yes

s-video output however there is a mod, and i performed it you can see my video, also added RCA ports on the back

looks way bettar http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHzf6HRfO_w

other than that no, they put a wonderful motorola 68k processor in there, very fast. Also the genesis did not have any problem competing with le snes in graphics, especially sound, which the genesis/md is bettar ofc.

32x/cd came out later when the parts were cheaper and or not available at the time, it would not make any sense to put them in there.

JigglyWiggly_

Yeah, that CPU was alrite, similar to Amiga. But it still had slowdown in some games (for example in Jurassic Park and Thunder Force IV). I like SNES' configuration better (slower CPU but better graphics chips and the possibility of extra chips). I find SNES sound better personally.

[QUOTE="rilpas"]for a 1988 machine... probably not, due to hardware costs but still, ignoring for that a second I'd add a voice chip, sprite scaling hardware and sprite rotating softwarenameless12345

Would support for more colors and scaling really make such a big difference in the price? I'm not saying it should feature high-end arcade hardware from that time but I think it could be better than it was (the graphics chip in MD is an enhanced Master System "Video Display Processor").

not sure if it would have made a huge difference, but I'm guessing it would have raised the price a bit.

Honestly the Sega Genesis' color pallete really doesn't bother me save for a few exceptions (the mortal kombat games) I do think that sprite scaling and rotating hardware would have a made a world of a difference though, it would have allowed for first person shooters (yes, I know a few of them made it onto the genesis), the SNK games would have been closer to their arcade counterparts, you could have gotten more interesting special stage designs and all this with a faster processor then the SNES'

[QUOTE="nameless12345"]

[QUOTE="rilpas"]for a 1988 machine... probably not, due to hardware costs but still, ignoring for that a second I'd add a voice chip, sprite scaling hardware and sprite rotating softwarerilpas

Would support for more colors and scaling really make such a big difference in the price? I'm not saying it should feature high-end arcade hardware from that time but I think it could be better than it was (the graphics chip in MD is an enhanced Master System "Video Display Processor").

not sure if it would have made a huge difference, but I'm guessing it would have raised the price a bit.

Honestly the Sega Genesis' color pallete really doesn't bother me save for a few exceptions (the mortal kombat games) I do think that sprite scaling and rotating hardware would have a made a world of a difference though, it would have allowed for first person shooters (yes, I know a few of them made it onto the genesis), the SNK games would have been closer to their arcade counterparts, you could have gotten more interesting special stage designs and all this with a faster processor then the SNES'

Exactly. A lot of the effects SNES could do in hardware Genesis/MD was forced to do in software on the CPU and that's slower and wastes resources. With hardware scaling/rotation support that wouldn't be the case. I personally think that only the Sonic games look trully colorful on the MD. The other games all have an apparent "darkish" look to themselves. I was quite shocked how bad MK1 and II looked and sounded on the MD when I first saw them but to be honest they had some advantages over the SNES versions (like the blood code and a bit more character detail).

[QUOTE="rilpas"]

[QUOTE="nameless12345"]

Would support for more colors and scaling really make such a big difference in the price? I'm not saying it should feature high-end arcade hardware from that time but I think it could be better than it was (the graphics chip in MD is an enhanced Master System "Video Display Processor").

nameless12345

not sure if it would have made a huge difference, but I'm guessing it would have raised the price a bit.

Honestly the Sega Genesis' color pallete really doesn't bother me save for a few exceptions (the mortal kombat games) I do think that sprite scaling and rotating hardware would have a made a world of a difference though, it would have allowed for first person shooters (yes, I know a few of them made it onto the genesis), the SNK games would have been closer to their arcade counterparts, you could have gotten more interesting special stage designs and all this with a faster processor then the SNES'

Exactly. A lot of the effects SNES could do in hardware Genesis/MD was forced to do in software on the CPU and that's slower and wastes resources. With hardware scaling/rotation support that wouldn't be the case. I personally think that only the Sonic games look trully colorful on the MD. The other games all have an apparent "darkish" look to themselves. I was quite shocked how bad MK1 and II looked and sounded on the MD when I first saw them but to be honest they had some advantages over the SNES versions (like the blood code and a bit more character detail).

yep, those are my feelings as well, the genesis didn't need more colours, it needed rotation and scaling hardware :P

I think really the only realistic aspect to improve with price in mind would have been the on screen colors. The TG-16/PCE could display 482 colors simultaneously though split between the spirits and background and was realesed a year earlier. I think the Yahama chip in the MD is a very nice FM synthizier and unknown to many people very good at digitized voice. The problem is many game studios used the PSG for voice and it truly sounded like crap.

Here a link to some horrible and good voice samples for MD/Genesis games

MD/Genesis voice examples

[QUOTE="rilpas"]for a 1988 machine... probably not, due to hardware costs but still, ignoring for that a second I'd add a voice chip, sprite scaling hardware and sprite rotating softwareMLBknights58

Master of Orion 2:Battle at Antares

[QUOTE="JigglyWiggly_"]

well yes

s-video output however there is a mod, and i performed it you can see my video, also added RCA ports on the back

looks way bettar http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHzf6HRfO_w

other than that no, they put a wonderful motorola 68k processor in there, very fast. Also the genesis did not have any problem competing with le snes in graphics, especially sound, which the genesis/md is bettar ofc.

32x/cd came out later when the parts were cheaper and or not available at the time, it would not make any sense to put them in there.

nameless12345

Yeah, that CPU was alrite, similar to Amiga. But it still had slowdown in some games (for example in Jurassic Park and Thunder Force IV). I like SNES' configuration better (slower CPU but better graphics chips and the possibility of extra chips). I find SNES sound better personally.

Why did that other thread stop anyways? It never occured to me to think just the fact the Sonic games had Sega clearly said, should be telling to its clear capabilities. The answer is the developers could have done better.

[QUOTE="rilpas"]

[QUOTE="nameless12345"]

Would support for more colors and scaling really make such a big difference in the price? I'm not saying it should feature high-end arcade hardware from that time but I think it could be better than it was (the graphics chip in MD is an enhanced Master System "Video Display Processor").

nameless12345

not sure if it would have made a huge difference, but I'm guessing it would have raised the price a bit.

Honestly the Sega Genesis' color pallete really doesn't bother me save for a few exceptions (the mortal kombat games) I do think that sprite scaling and rotating hardware would have a made a world of a difference though, it would have allowed for first person shooters (yes, I know a few of them made it onto the genesis), the SNK games would have been closer to their arcade counterparts, you could have gotten more interesting special stage designs and all this with a faster processor then the SNES'

Exactly. A lot of the effects SNES could do in hardware Genesis/MD was forced to do in software on the CPU and that's slower and wastes resources. With hardware scaling/rotation support that wouldn't be the case. I personally think that only the Sonic games look trully colorful on the MD. The other games all have an apparent "darkish" look to themselves. I was quite shocked how bad MK1 and II looked and sounded on the MD when I first saw them but to be honest they had some advantages over the SNES versions (like the blood code and a bit more character detail).

More colors and scaling.

Though I do like how you can look at a SNES game screenshot and a GEN one and tell immediately what system it's from just by the color palette. Something about the funky brights and weird purplish browns/pastels appeal to me. Probably just nostalgia talking xD.