Dear Future Gamer,

Who do you think you are kidding Mr Khazanchi? (Genre Wars FG20). Let's take a look shall we?

Action: a toughie, as you said. The problem is that is covers so many genres. PS & PC do edge ahead of N64, but only because the target audience is older.

RPG/Adventure: Hmm.. another toughie. The PS has loads of decent RPGs, not many of them are out here you see. The crux of my argument can be boiled down into two words: Final Fantasy VII (okay so that's three). I know that this is out on the PC but where did it come from? PS! The answer doesn't lie there though. The best RPG belong to the... SNES... Zelda, Final Fantasy 3, nuff said. In adventures though, the PC wins it hands down (unless LucasArts see the light and release Grim Fandango for the consoles).

Strategy: PC. No contest.

Beat 'Em Up: PS. Don't forget Streets of Rage though, that's a classic. (Mega Drive if you can't remember).

Sports: The PS has a more varied selection but the three consoles are more or less equal (Except the N64)

Racing: two words- Gran Turismo. No contest. PS wins it for not only having GT but the best version of WipeOut & Micro Machines V3. The SNES comes second for Mario Kart with the Mega Drive bringing up the rear with Micro Machines 2. What? I forgot the PC? Sega Rally anyone?

Platformers
Not fair, the best game of all time wins it for Nintendo again? Nope. You see there're only two platformers for the N64 worth getting, so I award the title to the Mega Drive for the Sonic series, Dynamite Heddy and Bubsy the Bobcat. All classics (Okay, so I was kidding about Bubsy!)

Flight/Space Sims: "Ha, I'd like to see either one of the consoles handle an F22 flying at mach1." Umm... PlayStation 2 anyone?

Shoot 'Em Up The PS. If only for the brilliant R-Types. Well what do you know, only the PS has truly new original ideas. Parappa the Rapper & Kula World are just two. The last original PC game was Lemmings in '91 and the N64 games are mostly old Nintendo titles with a "64" After it.

Puzzle: Nothing beats Tetris, sorry!

Ellis Meredith-Owen

FG: One man's meat is, indeed, another man's poison when it comes to which games are better than which but there is no denying that some systems are more suited to certain genres than others. This is probably less to do with the hardware though and more to do with the perception of the machine's target audience. PC owners are generally considered to be older and as such less likely to want to play beat 'em ups like Tekken (I know there are PC beat 'em ups). This is just a generalisation however and I'm sure we'll see the day when a Tekken-beater appears on the PC because someone who knows what they're doing will sit down and code it.