Maybe I didn't explain what I meant clearly enough, I've been referring to how the LaunchBox GamesDB defines platforms. At the moment Snes and Super Famicom are considered the same platform but the Satellaview is a separate one.
I'm not personally trying to say either way if they should be separated or merged, I'm just saying it is inconsistent at the moment. I would expect either all separated or all merged. Personally I manage my roms with everything split, however for the database I
I accept your argument that the Sega CD library is mostly NOT ports, I also do agree with you there is a need to identify the different between a game for Genesis or Sega CD, but the Sega CD is an addon for the Genesis, not a standalone console. For me, I think of Sega CD as a sub-category of Sega Genesis, not a separate platform.
What I was trying to say with the DOS analogy is if I have a PC without a CD-ROM I can't run a CD game, if I have a PC with CD-ROM I can, but the GamesDB only has an MS-DOS platform not a MS-DOS (CD-ROM) platform. If there is Genesis and Sega CD why isn't there MS-DOS and MS-DOS (CD-ROM).
What I think is missing is a way to group platforms.
My suggestion would be something like, the GamesDB could be updated to have 2 fields Platform and System, for example:
Platform : "Super Nintendo Entertainment System" (or maybe something like "Nintendo 4th Generation" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_generation_of_video_game_consoles)
System: Super Nintendo Entertainment System
System: Super Famicom
System: Satellaview
System: Bandai SuFami Turbo
A game entry could be linked to 1 or more Systems (within the same platform). This way a game released in both regions could have one entry in the database, but still be identifiable as both a Super Famicom and a SNES game.
I do agree with the need to separate database entries for the same game on different manufactures, eg. 1 entry for SNES and 1 entry for Genesis.
I suspect this will never be changed and there will always be inconsistencies. I've just been curious as to how others decide what should be grouped together or not.