Lets discuss the technical capabilities of the 16 bit console.

We have

Super Famicom a.k.a Super Nintenod Entertainment System

SEGA Megdrive a.k.a. Genesis

PCEngine a.k.a TurboGraphx 16

(OMITTED FROM DISCUSSION) Neo Geo

Comparison

Name	PC-Engine/TurboGrafx-16	Mega Drive/Genesis	Super Famicom/Super Nintendo Entertainment System	Neo Geo
Manufacturer	Hudson Soft/NEC	Sega	Nintendo	SNK
Console
Launch prices (USD)	US$249.99	US$190.00	US$199.99	US$649.99 (Gold version) US$399.99 (Silver version)
Release date	JP October 30, 1987 NA September 1, 1989 EU 1990	JP October 29, 1988 NA September 15, 1989 EU November 30, 1990	JP November 21, 1990 NA August 23, 1991[cn 1] EU April 11, 1992	JP July 1, 1991 NA 1991
Media	HuCard (card-shaped cartridge) CD-ROM (Turbo CD add-on)	Cartridge CD-ROM (Mega-CD add-on) Data card (Power Base Converter add-on)	Cartridge Magnetic disc (Japan only)[22]	Cartridge Data card (Europe/Japan)[22]
Best-selling games	Bonk's Adventure[23]	Sonic the Hedgehog (15 million)[24]	Super Mario World, 20 million (as of June 25, 2007)[25]	Samurai Shodown
Backward compatibility	No	Sega Master System (using Power Base Converter)	Game Boy (using Super Game Boy)	No
Accessories (retail)	TurboGrafx-CD TurboTap TurboStick Super System Card TurboBooster TurboBooster Plus	Sega Mega-CD Sega 32X Mouse Menacer Power Base Converter Sega Activator Multitap	Super Scope Multitap Super Game Boy SNES Mouse Super Advantage	Neo Geo Controller Pro Neo Geo Memory Card
CPU	HuC6280A (modified 65SC02) 1.79 or 7.16 MHz	Motorola 68000 7.67 MHz (7.61 MHz PAL) Zilog Z80 3.58 MHz	Nintendo-custom 5A22 (based on 65C816) 3.58 MHz (3.55 MHz PAL)	Motorola 68000 12 MHz Zilog Z80 4 MHz
Memory	8 KiB work RAM 64 KiB video RAM	64 KiB main RAM 64 KiB video RAM 8 KiB audio RAM	128 KiB main RAM 64 KiB video RAM 64 KiB audio RAM	64 KiB main RAM 74 KiB video RAM 2 KiB audio RAM

  Its game time.

Nintendo wins.

/thread.

SEGA Genesis was ahead of it's time, 2 years ahead of the game with a price that was good to go.

Loved SMS, SEGA-CD, and 32X addons.  My system was a tower but it was for the good of gaming....

This is what I use now to play my Genesis Games, when not using my smartphone:

I always wanted the SEGA CD but was never able to afford one, being it that I was 9 years old and all that.

I still say the six button was the best core button layout.

I can understand why Neo Geo was omitted from this thread. It's was considered a 24-Bit console--though it was really a juiced up 16-Bit console (Fun fact: The Turbo Grafx-16 isn't 16-bit, either. It's a high end 8-bit console). That's fine. This is your thread.

What I don't get is how, sometimes I say "The most powerful console has NEVER won a generation" and people always say "Super Nintendo won because Neo Geo doesn't count". I can see why you wouldn't compare the two consoles in terms of power but it came out during the same gen and it didn't win! Just like how PS3, Xbox 1 (or Gamecube if you're one of THOSE people), N64, Turbo-Xpress, Atari Lynx, Sega Master system, etc. never won their gen. There's no argument!

SNES had the best sound chip and better colour depth, technically the Mega Drive had a faster CPU but SNES could have extra chips in the carts which allowed games to surpass the Mega Drive. With the CD and 32X add-ons the Mega Drive was the most powerful system on paper out of the 4 but no one brought them so no one cares.

No one brought the others so again no one cares.

Genesis had blast processing. SNES won in virtually every other category.

Genesis was great.

SNES was godly.

And Neogeo, while just a footnote, made games that are still graphics kings to this day for me.

Doesn't CDI count? It was released in 1991 like SNES in NA

It created great gems such as this!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4SLjLen7-c&feature=related

It has by far the best custcenes in any game ever created. 

The Genesis/Megadrive was more capable in hardware from the onset. And Sega did all they could to keep that position over the SNES.

But unfortunately for Sega, the SNES ended up being the more versatile platform which allow 3rd parties to really push the system way beyond what was believed the system could do.

Couple that with a massive increase in SNES sales during the time Sega expected to dominate