Megadrive Im not too convinced that the M2 is 2x mo powerful than an N64. while they did show some impressive tech demos, the games that came out had ps1 quality graphics.
theres a list of game at
http://www.system16.com/konami/hrdw_m2.html
and two reviews i found at
http://shmups.com/reviews/polystars/index.html and
http://nfg.2y.net/games/polystars/
I am fairly convinced M2 was at least 2x more powerful than Nintendo64.
The arcade games we saw were more impressive than the average PS1/ System 11 game. the texture mapping on that arcade fighter looks pretty good, and it moved at 60fps. something we didnt see on N64. plus those arcade games were probably made on older M2 kits that didnt have the final twin PPC 602 CPUs. also, those arcade games were first gen software on M2. it's much more impressive than first gen PS1 or N64 games imho.
now here is why I really feel M2 eclipsed both the PS1 and the N64: the general concensous on the polygon shifting ability of M2 which was over 1 million flat shaded polys (compared to PS1's 360k) or 700,000 with texture mapping and 300,000~500,000 with effects on. even if we take the low figure of 300,000 textured mapped polys with effects on, that is still 2x what the N64 could do.
The hype for M2 was something like this: 7 to 10 times more power than Playstation. Then developers chimmed in with their experience on M2 bringing things down to earth: they said M2 was more like 2 or 3 times stronger than N64 or PS1, and that was the reality of the M2 situation. I believe that was most likely the truth.
the PS1 is 1993/1994 technology (released 1994)
the N64 was 1994/1995 technology (released 1996)
the M2 was 1995/1996 technology (would have released in 96 or 97)
After Warp, who had made D2 for the M2, had moved up to the Dreamcast, making D2 for it, they said in an interview that Dreamcast was 3-4 times more powerful than M2. if that's the case, that would fit well with M2 being several times more powerful than PS1 or N64.
I'm pretty confident the M2 was more powerful than PS1 and N64 combined, although it was not leaps an bounds beyond them like the Dreamcast was.
