In the US, Sega did better at first, with their climax being a resounding victory over Nintendo in 1993. Part of that was the Mortal Kombat SNES debacle.

By the next year, Nintendo was fighting back hard, and ultimately took the crown. 1994 was loaded with amazing SNES games, including an uncensored port of MK2. The first three years of SNES were also amazing, though. A Link to the Past FTW.

Interestingly, while VGChartz had the Vita ahead at the time, more recent adjustments now have the Wii U ahead of the Vita, so that's one console war that the Wii U actually won.

While it's true that the SNES caught up to, and then edged passed the Genesis by late '94/early '95... I don't feel (and have never felt) that it should count, since Sega had pretty much moved on to the Saturn by 1994. A proper analogy would be two men in a race. If one man is ahead and then voluntarily decides to quit the race so he can go take place in another, did he lose, or did he win? Technically he lost, but I don't see it that way.

News to me. I could be wrong, but I think this is the first time VGChartz had to reduce the lifetime total, at least by that high of a percent (raw number of about 2 million). PS2 and Xbox One were lower on here until new data from Sony and Microsoft raised their totals. 

Vita and Wii U was more or less a war of financial failures. And when you exclude stuff like Virtual Boy, it's a war of Nintendo's worst-selling platform and PlayStation's worst-selling platform. 

SNES came out a year later. Plus, Sega had already started making strategic blunders even when they were at their peak which contributed to the SNES winning in the U.S. That Sega bet big on the 32X and Saturn and lost big doesn’t take from Nintendo’s ultimate triumph. 

If you look at the top selling games of the generation, it’s overwhelmingly dominated by the SNES.

I didn't know about console wars until the ps3-360. I didn't have snes nor mega drive, was in the C64/Amiga 500/PC camp at the time.

PS3 - 360 war introduced pixel counting which DF still continues today. Plus it also started with the HD-DVD - Blu-Ray war. The battle for the living room was on multiple fronts, leading to great games and cheap movies.

Greatest tagline in video game marketing history.

My point is that when Sega was going directly at Nintendo, they pulled ahead and took a sizeable lead in the US. It was only after Sega of Japan decided to transition to the Saturn and devote all their resources toward it that the SNES pulled ahead. Remember, the Saturn launched in 1994. Sega had left the 16-bit war. So while yes, Nintendo ultimately pulled ahead, it was essentially in garbage-time, so I don't recognize it as much of an accomplishment.

I'm with SanAndreasX, if Sega gets the benefit of a head start, then its only fair that Nintendo gets to make up the time later.
Nintendo very much earned their ultimate victory over the Megadrive, through pushing amazing games like Donkey Kong Country, A Link to the Past, Mario World, Super Metroid, Yoshi's Island, Starfox, F-Zero, etc.
It's not their fault Sega bet the house on shit like 32X and Sega CD and lost.

Sega didn't really have enough gas. Sega was a sprinter, Nintendo was a distance runner. Plus, 1994-1995 on SNES were absolutely loaded with world-class titles, and even 1996 had a couple of great titles, particularly SMRPG. Donkey Kong Country alone sold 8 million copies. Sonic 2, the best-selling Genesis game of all time, sold 6 million. Nintendo was also absolutely crushing it in Japan, which contributed to the system's longevity in the US. Nintendo's biggest competition in Japan was the PC-Engine, not the Mega Drive.

Nintendo absolutely earned its victory in both North America and Japan. Even when the Genesis still had momentum, the SNES was still producting bangers like SMW, A Link to the Past, and Secret of Mana.