Sega Genesis
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 15 of 23 game consoles by recommenders
A 16-bit console people remember fondly and say still works reliably, with a distinctive feel; critics mainly point to its limited colour palette.
10 people recommended Sega Genesis in Hacker News comments, 4 had mixed feelings and 3 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026.
Summary written by Claude from 17 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 16 of those comments still count.
17 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 10
- mixed feelings
- 4
- warn against or regret it
- 3
The record
Recommended in 8 of 12 months
In 8 different threads.
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
Why it carries the badge
- 10 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 3.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 8 of 12 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
- Recommended in 8 threadsNeeds 5 or more, met.
- The biggest thread supplies 20% of its recommendersNeeds half or less, met.
The same rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. Mixed feelings count toward neither side. How the badge works
What people say about it
Reasons grouped from a sample of 16 of the 19 opinions about it, picked in proportion to how many people recommend it, have mixed feelings and criticize it. Each mark is one comment in the sample. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Nostalgia and fond childhood memories
“I have such fond memories of my time back in the day owning a MegaDrive”
Comment from 30 Jun 2026 in “It's Linux, on a Sega Genesis” “My eight year old nephew loves my old mega drive.”
Comment from 4 Aug 2026 in “Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc” “the first console I owned and loved”
Comment from 19 Feb 2026 on Hacker News - Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “Sega Channel: VGHF Recovers over 100 Sega Channel ROMs (and More)”
Still works reliably after years
“Sega genesis and Nintendo SNES cartridge games that worked flawless”
Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “Consoles continue their trend of just becoming worse PCs” “still functioning perfectly after all these years”
Comment from 30 Jun 2026 in “It's Linux, on a Sega Genesis” Ahead of its time
“Genesis was a better system at the time”
Comment from 26 Apr 2026 in “The Super Nintendo Cartridges” “SEGA was always ahead of its time.”
Comment from 26 Apr 2026 in “The Super Nintendo Cartridges”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Limited colour palette and resolution
“I was always put off by the color palette of the Mega Drive. Every game looks a little sad and drab”
Comment from 26 May 2026 in “Earthion: A New Mega Drive-Style Shoot-Em-Up” “That's the biggest Achilles' heel of the Genesis/MD, too. The lack of color resolution.”
Comment from 8 May 2026 in “PC Engine CPU” Analogue sound and audio filtering problems
“it also imposes a fairly aggressive low-pass filter. This is rather undesirable for 44.1 kHz CDDA.”
Comment from 13 Jul 2026 in “The art and engineering of Sega CD Silpheed” “early Mega Drive revisions are somewhat infamous for showing that Sega hadn’t quite mastered the dark arts of analogue sound circuitry”
Comment from 13 Jul 2026 in “The art and engineering of Sega CD Silpheed”
Other game consoles people recommend
The four most recommended other game consoles, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Mixed | Criticize | Approval | Months | Had for | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valve Steam Machine | 221 | 79 | 207 | 52% | 12 | — | — |
| PlayStation 5 | 73 | 35 | 168 | 30% | 12 | — | — |
| Xbox 360 | 31 | 7 | 18 | 63% | 11 | — | — |
| PlayStation 2 | 31 | 9 | 6 | 84% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Sega GenesisThis page | 10 | 4 | 3 | 77% | 8 | — | Approved |
Also compared with Xbox console, Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3 and MiSTer FPGA.
What people said
16 of the 19 opinions about it, picked in proportion to the three counts, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“My eight year old nephew loves my old mega drive.”
“it also imposes a fairly aggressive low-pass filter. This is rather undesirable for 44.1 kHz CDDA.”
“early Mega Drive revisions are somewhat infamous for showing that Sega hadn’t quite mastered the dark arts of analogue sound circuitry”
“Sega genesis and Nintendo SNES cartridge games that worked flawless”
“still functioning perfectly after all these years”
“I have such fond memories of my time back in the day owning a MegaDrive”
“I was always put off by the color palette of the Mega Drive. Every game looks a little sad and drab”
“compared to the SNES / Genesis”
“Sega of America was just really good at understanding the US market.”
“That's the biggest Achilles' heel of the Genesis/MD, too. The lack of color resolution.”
“SEGA was always ahead of its time.”
“Genesis was a better system at the time”
“No other device gave me the feel Sega did”
“the first console I owned and loved”
“I have a wonderful collection of retro consoles and games”
“Sega Genesis was my first console.”
Counts come from 1,791,911 Hacker News comments labeled by Claude, November 2025 to October 2026, with data through October 31, 2026. Counts updated 2 Nov 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.