Define "Turning Point"? As I mentioned earlier, Nintendo eventually caught up and outsold the Genesis, 49 to 40.

After the penultimate shot, I meant.

What edge? The SNES outsold the Genesis (after starting way late), 49 million to 40.

Sure, after it was all said and done...but Nintendo was used to being the king with no "real" competition. Those Sonic/MK/EA Sports years put Sega on top for a little bit....Nintendo still "won" in the end...they still had the best Street Fighter 2 ports, great 1st Party games like Yoshi's Island, Donkey Kong Country series, Final Fantasy and other Japanese RPGs, etc.

I don't think most people noticed or cared about the blood in SF2. The SNES colors/sound/gameplay was so good...it was off the radar. MK was ALLLL about the gore. That was its gimmick. It never had gameplay that was that great...it was all about the over the top visuals and finishing moves. Take that away and you've pissed off the fans.

This is true. SFII was about pulling off helicopter kicks, dragon punches, razor kicks, etc.

What edge? The SNES outsold the Genesis (after starting way late), 49 million to 40.

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But what did it really get Sega? Bragging rights about blood for a year? Whatever coolness Sega briefly had, it was lost with their 32X and Saturn disasters. That's why today, Sega writes games for Nintendo, and Sonic has become one of many Mario characters.

It sold them a shitload of Genesis consoles and thrust them into the forefront as a real player....#1 for a little bit...when Nintendo had been king of the consoles and Sega had always just been "the other guy"....but yeah, they blew it with the add-ons and consoles that came after. Not that Nintendo was perfect after SNES, either. Virtual Boy was a disaster. N64 was a relatively embarrassing console outside a few key titles. Gamecube was a 3rd place behind Xbox & Playstation. You could say that Sega was the first to unseat them - and the other guys delivered the final blow.

Nintendo has stayed in the game from the success of their handhelds & the casual gamer embracing the Wii.

For the record I'm a huge Nintendo fan. I'm probably not going to buy any more consoles except for Nintendo stuff.

Expect that Sega didn't unseat them. And when was there a "final blow", as you say? You realize the Wii was the best selling console of the 7 Generation, right?

The N64 was an amazing system, and the most powerful of the 5th Gen. Came in 2nd in sales for 5th Gen. Hardly embarrassing.

If you're a Nintendo fan, I'd hate to see their enemies.....

Get a room you two.

In Ann Arbor? No thanks.......

Than I can't watch you 2 tongue tussle with each other thru a window.

Damn..... I loved my SNES, various Gameboys/Advances, DS, DS Lite....the only thing I play now is 3DS and Wii U. Even though the N64 and Gamecube were just OK, I had those too. The only Nintendo system I never owned was Virtual Boy.

The "final blow" was them not being on top anymore. I'm well aware that their comeback was the Wii. You must have missed that part where I said that. My main point was that Nintendo was the KING of the 80's. "Nintendo" = "video games" the way "Kleenex" = "tissue". Sega changed that & after that Nintendo could never just assume they'd be #1 in the home console arena. However, with handhelds...Nintendo has been #1 since Gameboy.

N64 may have been #2....but WAY behind Playstation & Saturn killed itself. Sticking with cartridges was a bad move & they lost good 3rd party support. They had Goldeneye & Mario Kart...but overall the library was weak compared to the competition. Personally I loved Mario 64 but not much else...I finally bought one when Conker's Bad Fur Day came out...that game was amazing.

Gamecube couldn't compete with PS2/Xbox...aside from a few key 1st party titles, 3rd party support wasn't there...and the stuff that was was inferior to the PS2/Xbox versions.

Wii was a success because they realized it was pointless to compete on a hardware/tech level. They sold a unique experience and had massive success because of it. Unfortunately they haven't been able to replicate that with the Wii U.

N64 is a lot better than you are wanting to believe. Yes, the original Playstation was a massive success, but the 5th generation was long and crowded, starting with the 3DO, Jaguar, CDi, Saturn, Playstation, and finally N64. Coming in #2 isn't anything to scoff at. Super Mario 64 is the best video game ever, and is worth owning the system for that alone. Not to mention Goldeneye, Shadows of the Empire, Mario Cart, DK 64, etc...

I didn't mind cartridges in the mid 90's. All CD's meant then was cute scenes played very slowly on underpowered CD-ROM drives. I'll pass, and pop in the cartridge an be playing instantly. Only in the next decade, with DVD, was it worth switching formats. The drives were faster and the CPU's more powerful to handle that stuff better.

The original X-Box barely sold more than the GameCube (24 million to 21). Here's a fun fact, the GameCube was more powerful, hardware wise, than the X-Box or the PS2. The smaller discs hobbled many 3rd party games though, as their storage capacity was much smaller.

The devil, as always, is in the details.....

I love MK... but now I think I'm gonna marry it..

Rarehero,

I was going to quote your answers, but there are too many and you've hit the nail on the head in so many ways!

As for Nintendo vs Sega MK: you're right, it was blood that sold the Genesis version. The graphics were wretched and the sound was ear-splittingly hideous. But it had tighter controls, so gameplay won. The SNES MK had no blood, but WONDERFUL graphics and sound (almost exactly like the arcade). Even if it had blood/fatalities, the control was HORRIBLE. I remember pressing and holding all 4 buttons at once....and random moves came out! Nintendo learned their lesson by 1994 and MK2 had the blood, tight gameplay and superior graphics. You're right about other quality N games (Super Metroid, the DKC trilogy, Konami's games: Contra 3, CV4, Axelay, etc).

I share your disappointment with Nintendo's choice to use cartridges. A few quality games (you forgot to mention the Banjo Kazooie games ) and blocky, muddy graphics with the rest. I bought the PS1 in 1998 (with Tekken 3 and Castlevania SOTN) and many games had minimal load times, smooth graphics and crystal clear sound, which made me wonder why Big N were so damn stubborn to shun CDs. Plus, the cost and dev't time of cartridges were outrageous compared to CD-ROM. It was so NOT worth having limited memory cartridges just to eliminate load times...

Moreover, N backed out of a deal to join with Sony in the early 90s to collaborate on a CDROM console....which became the Playstation. Oh what could've been...I give credit to N for rebounding with the Wii, but I feel it's time for them to mature into more adult gaming while still holding on to their trademark franchises. But that's just me...

Sega was outselling Nintendo for most of the sale years. It wasn't until Sega used it's power towards the Saturn, that nintendo pulled ahead. Because the N64 was behind schedule, SNES had a few more years of support, which pulled their numbers ahead of Sega. Segas saturn was a flop.

I've heard that Steve Ritchie's tears cure cancer.

Was Saturn considered a flop in Japan? Tons of great games, especially Capcom fighters and classics like Radiant Silvergun were released in Japan but not the US. Most of my Saturn library is imported.

Chuck Norris tells jokes about Steve Richie .

They didn't teach ya this in arcade 101?

Unknown, I can't speak Japanese.

Conker's Bad Fur Day was awesome!! The multiplayer modes were the best. Also, the N64 and the Zelda games. At the time I had a Sega then a ps1. But in retrospect I think the SNES and N64 have done a better job holding up over the test of time.

I think the Genesis MK worked better because they had a a 6 button controller where as Nintendo had the 4 buttons.

Conked was badass, indeed! I loved the overall raunchiness, stellar soundtrack and digs of then-current films. Some of my favorite moments were the Great Mighty Poo, killing the evil Tediz, the robot with brass balls and pissing on the rock guys at the techno club.

FYI, the SNES controller DID have 6 buttons, just arranged differently. Genesis had 6 on the face ala Street Fighter 2, SNES had 4 on the face in a diamond pattern, plus two shoulder/bumper buttons on top.

Genesis originally had a 3 button layout and you would have to hit a combination of buttons to do some of the moves in both SF2 and MK. They later came out with a 6 button layout. I always hated playing SF with the L and R buttons. It wasn't as bad with MK as you would only really need it for blocking. Although when MK3 came out and incorporated the Run buttons it became a little more of a pain in the ass. By then I was playing it on the PS1 though. Now I just use a fightstick when I play SF and such on consoles.