I give up. The Genesis is true 16Bit and the PCE is a 16Bit imposter.

[Tatsujin]

I personally think the SFC sounds amazing.
Why do people always hate on the echo? It adds a lot to the atmosphere in some games.

It can sound amazing if it is in the right hands, but unfortunately that wasn't the case for like 94% of all its games.

[BlueBMW]

I regularly listen to video game music (because I'm just that geeky I guess)  My ipod is packed with nothing but game tunes...  the SFC/SNES games I really like the soundtracks to are the following...

Donkey Kong Country 1 and 2 (some of this music is just excellent IMO)
Megaman X, X2, and X3 (Again some excellent stuff here)
Fzero (luv luv luv)

But then again I also have some NES game soundtracks (mostly the megaman games) and a few Genesis titles (the sonics, outrun 2019) and of course some TG/PCE tracks (Alien/Devils crush, Drac X, Sapphire, LoT, GoT, Splash Lake, Ys 1/2)

Whether SFC/SNES is better or worse, or has aged well or not, I still listen to it for pleasure.

[spenoza]

I personally think the SFC sounds amazing.
Why do people always hate on the echo? It adds a lot to the atmosphere in some games.

Used properly, absolutely. There are some games in which the echo/reverb is awesome. But so many games used it just because they could. There were a lot of tunes where the samples and melodies weren't suited at all to the reverb settings chosen. The end result is that a lot of SNES games sound like a "metal waste bin" or "empty tile bathroom" filter was applied to the output.

[spenoza]

I regularly listen to video game music (because I'm just that geeky I guess)  My ipod is packed with nothing but game tunes...  the SFC/SNES games I really like the soundtracks to are the following...

Donkey Kong Country 1 and 2 (some of this music is just excellent IMO)
Megaman X, X2, and X3 (Again some excellent stuff here)
Fzero (luv luv luv)

But then again I also have some NES game soundtracks (mostly the megaman games) and a few Genesis titles (the sonics, outrun 2019) and of course some TG/PCE tracks (Alien/Devils crush, Drac X, Sapphire, LoT, GoT, Splash Lake, Ys 1/2)

Whether SFC/SNES is better or worse, or has aged well or not, I still listen to it for pleasure.

There was a time when I did this, too. From time to time, I still do. The MMX series would never have made my queue, though. The tunes were interesting, but the over-reliance on really crappy electric guitar synths was just painful.

My SFC list would include:

Actraiser
Actraiser 2
Super Castlevania IV
Hyperzone
Joe and Mac
Ys III (yes, I do like the SFC renditions of those tunes)
A couple tunes from Pilotwings (but not most of them)
UN Squadron (for some reason the crappy guitar synths don't bother me as much here, but then, the crappy guitar synth tunes aren't my favorite)

And there are some NES tunes that I definitely love, like almost anything from a Natsume or Sunsoft title.

[nectarsis]

Come on, guys. I love the PC Engine too, but I think some of the fan boy talk is getting out of hand here. You show me a HuCard that sounds as good as Super Adventure Island, Axelay, Donkey Kong Country, or Chronotrigger and I'll eat my hat.

Wouldn't touting personal OPINION that the SNES kills the PCE sound wise be JUST as fanboyish?  

[esteban]

Come on, guys. I love the PC Engine too, but I think some of the fan boy talk is getting out of hand here. You show me a HuCard that sounds as good as Super Adventure Island, Axelay, Donkey Kong Country, or Chronotrigger and I'll eat my hat.

Pick some SFC/Super Nintendo games that actually have a soundtrack worthy of the humble Dungeon Explorer and we will see.

[ceti alpha]

Come on, guys. I love the PC Engine too, but I think some of the fan boy talk is getting out of hand here. You show me a HuCard that sounds as good as Super Adventure Island, Axelay, Donkey Kong Country, or Chronotrigger and I'll eat my hat.

Wouldn't touting personal OPINION that the SNES kills the PCE sound wise be JUST as fanboyish? 

Not only that, but more importantly, are you going to post video of you eating your hat? 

[nectarsis]

Come on, guys. I love the PC Engine too, but I think some of the fan boy talk is getting out of hand here. You show me a HuCard that sounds as good as Super Adventure Island, Axelay, Donkey Kong Country, or Chronotrigger and I'll eat my hat.

Wouldn't touting personal OPINION that the SNES kills the PCE sound wise be JUST as fanboyish?  

Not only that, but more importantly, are you going to post video of you eating your hat?  

Ah yes the PWOOF is needed 

[Arkhan]

Wouldn't touting personal OPINION that the SNES kills the PCE sound wise be JUST as fanboyish? 

Theres no such thing as PCE Fanboys.  Everyone that has blind love for the PCE is just one with mother earth.


Unlike those jackass SNES/MD fanboys!

[Bonknuts]

I personally think the SFC sounds amazing.
Why do people always hate on the echo? It adds a lot to the atmosphere in some games.

 The dislike for it, was early on for me. It comes from the fact that they used it EVERY where and when it had no appropriate setting. They used just to use it. It's a bit like tacky mode 7, except it was everywhere in a lot of games. Annoyed the crap out of me. For some sound FX, it just sounds completely wrong - even if the setting was in a cave. Explosions that had it sounded the worst.

 

[Black Tiger]

Come on, guys. I love the PC Engine too, but I think some of the fan boy talk is getting out of hand here. You show me a HuCard that sounds as good as Super Adventure Island, Axelay, Donkey Kong Country, or Chronotrigger and I'll eat my hat.

Wouldn't touting personal OPINION that the SNES kills the PCE sound wise be JUST as fanboyish?  

Although, many people have been surprisingly harsh discussing the SNES sound, I don't think that anyone actually said anything as extreme as 'no SNES games sound as good as these PCE games'.

It's all about personal taste. I could list games that sound nicer to me (for example, Somer Assault sounds perfect for an Adventure Island game), but if someone already has a personal benchmark of specific games worth eating a hat over, I really don't think that anything else will come close for them.

Pick some SFC/Super Nintendo games that actually have a soundtrack worthy of the humble Dungeon Explorer and we will see.

How about Crystal Beans.

[Joe Redifer]

I have been recording cartridge game music for a loooong time.  I have over 10 CDs-worth so far.  I always record it from real hardware which means I am not always able to record each game due to a lack of sound tests (oh how I would love a CD that let me play HuCard music from games that don't have sound tests).  The only time I ever used emulation in a recording was for about 1.5 seconds in a short Ristar tune to remove where the voice said "c'mon" because it sounded cheesy and the voice samples in that game are horrendous and embarrassing, but the rest of the recorded tune was from real hardware and you can notice my fine mixing of 1.5 seconds of emulation in (mainly because that part is virtually silent other than the crap voice).  I wish all games had sound tests.  Also, I hate sound tests which make a sound when you press the button to start playing the music (looking at you Wave Race 64).  

About SNES reverb:  It was used a lot to cover up the poor and mushy sample rate.  For example, in Tales of Phantasia there is an opening song which is sung by some bitch.  The sound test gives you the option to turn the reverb off and if you do, it turns into complete mushy sludge.  The reverb makes it so it at least SEEMS like it has some semblance of high frequencies (treble).  But at the same time it sounds like I am listening to the song in a cave.  Half of one, six dozen of the other, I guess.

[Black Tiger]

I have been recording cartridge game music for a loooong time.  I have over 10 CDs-worth so far.  I always record it from real hardware which means I am not always able to record each game due to a lack of sound tests (oh how I would love a CD that let me play HuCard music from games that don't have sound tests).

There are HES rips of the PSG soundtracks from pretty much every HuCard and CD game that was released. The only exceptions seem to be soundtracks that mixed in ADPCM. There is a utility that will turn any of them into a sound test rom that you can play on real hardware using a flash card.

[RyuHayabusa]

Wouldn't touting personal OPINION that the SNES kills the PCE sound wise be JUST as fanboyish? 

I never said that the SNES kills the PCE soundwise. I am saying that the SNES sound hardware is superior, and in the right hands can do things that the PCE can't come close to. I'm not an SNES fanboy either. I have a Supergrafx in the box, a PCE CDRom2 in the box, Coregrafx in the box, white PCE, 2 Turbografx-16s, the Turbo CD, Arcade Card Pro, and a shit load of games. I love the PCE as much as anyone here, I just couldn't help but notice everybody poo-pooing the SNES not only in this thread but the MD/SFC/PCE comparison thread.

[Joe Redifer]

BT - the only problem with that is I don't have a flash card.  Lemme borrow yours!  But you bring up an interesting question... does any music actually mix the ADPCM into it for instruments?  I know Sega CD games do this a lot when there is chip-based music on a CD game.  Also, if the interface unit is attached, why couldn't the ADPCM be played anyway?