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[catmincer]

This is inspired by IrishNinja's excellent Mega Drive appreciation thread. I felt like Sega's earlier console is sadly rather unknown especially to US gamers. Plus, it had 3D!

In my country (New Zealand) the Master System was a massive success, in fact I never knew a kid who owned a NES at all and the NES selection in video shops here was tiny in comparison to the Master system section.

I remember my mother came home one day during school holidays with a SMS system when I was around 5( the mark 2 with Alex Kidd in miracle world built in). I was so excited and once my father set it up, I sat enthralled in it for hours upon hours over the course of that week. On the weekend, they took me shopping to get a game where I picked Putt and Putter which was an extremely fun mini golf game which I think is still a Master System exclusive!

Over the course of the years as I got older, I obtained heaps of games and rented them on a weekly basis too.

Some of my favourites were

Sonic the Hedgehog 1,2 & Chaos (These are all completely different to the Mega Drive ones)
Bubble bobble and rainbow islands
Putt and Putter
Road Rash (I used to love smashing Viper so much and making him come last)
Mercs
Scramble Spirits
Fantasy Zone

The SMS is also home to many excellent Sega arcade ports and many companies (Capcom and Namco in particular) licenced the rights to many of their games to Sega to make ports for the SMS too.

Some excellent ports (IMO)

- PacMania
- Strider
- PowerStrike
- Shinobi
- Outrun
- Double Dragon
- Streets of Rage

I fully recognise that whilst it's library is definitely less varied than the NES, there are a lot of games that still hold up well today. So if you get the chance to find one cheap, pick one up and experience some new games.

I apologise for the rather crap OP, I will update, add some screenshots etc when I am on my home PC.

 

[Dwayne]

The point the Master System Sonic games came out after the Mega Drive one was always surprising to me.
I was a SMS kid, beat Alex Kidd, but when Uncle Kingy came back from Hong Kong with a 110 in 1 NES cartridge, we sold the Master System, got a NES and got it modded at the video shop, & never looked back.

 

[ekim]

I had the MS2 :

The moment I found out, that you can pause Alex Kidd with that big button on the console and wear that fire-ring... priceless.

 

[Alex Connolly]

Such a great little system. It was true in Australia, too. I think the ratio of SMS owners to NES owners was in Sega's favour hands down.

 

[brightroar]

Yep, loved my Master System, most of my friends had them too.

Might be the only safe place to say this, but also not sure how it stands with others who had it on MS - I much prefer the MS version of Ninja Gaiden over the NES version.. I played it so much I was timing myself and keeping track of my fastest times, probably the only game I completely mastered in my youth.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Me and my best friend both had Master Systems, although mine was of the Mark 1 type, but with Alex Kidd built-in. Most people around here had the NEs though, as I think Nintendo was generally more popular than Sega in Scandinavia back then.

There were some great games for it, OutRun, Lucky Dime Caper, Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Sonic 1 and 2 and Castle of Illusion are all games from my childhood that I still like to play once in a while.

 

[televator]

My first memory of the system was when I visited my cousins in California when I was about 7 years old. They had a ton of games and I used to play Shinobi.

Here's how I play SMS today.

I'll have to take a pic of my SMS games later.

 

[Recall]

Sonic 2 on Master System was crazy good, well I've not played it in forever but as a kid I loved it. So weird though how different it was to the Mega Drive version.

 

[toddhunter]

We were a Sega Master System family (and thank you for using the old school pic). We didn't need that purple NES rubbish (boy did I want one...).

But anyway, you made do with what you had. What did I have?

Well there was this magical moment where you found the built in snail maze game. It was actually pretty fun too.

From there, the early days were filled with Teddy Boy (endless shooter):

and My Hero (endless jump kickerer):

and the awesome Trans Bot (endless shooter):

Then there were classics that are still fun today like Fantasy zone

(Dat ending. Seriously look it up.

Spoiler

Your Dad stages a war to help you, a living space ship deal with your schizophrenia

))

Psycho fox (tricky to master platformer)

and of course? This little Phantasy gem:

And of course one or two all time greats:

Mickey mouse:

Wonderboy 3

And the best SMS game of all time (except the fucking red steps at the end)

Wonderboy in Monster Land

 

[Combichristoffersen]

and My Hero:

and the awesome Trans Bot

Even though I had fun with both, I'd never ever consider them, especially not Trans-Bot, to be awesome

 

[Ivan]

I really liked Master System. Alex Kid and Sonic made me a VERY happy kid. In my case it was a time without asking questions, generations didn't matter, years didn't matter, you just had VIDEO GAMES! Even if something better already exists, who cares?

We played Alex Kid like crazy together...good times. I'm thankful for it.

And My Hero...My Hero .

 

[toddhunter]

Even though I had fun with both, I'd never ever consider them, especially not Trans-Bot, to be awesome

Coming from the Atari and Amstrad PCW? They were pretty mind blowing to me! Yeah they are pieces of crap now, but when you got one or maybe two games a year you made it work.

 

[flak57]

Over the last few years I've realized I have a big thing for exploration games where you get that solitary feeling like Metroid, and so I heard about WBIII and ended up purchasing an SMS with about 30 games on Ebay. The darn 3D glasses and phaser don't seem to work on an LCD though.

Been a little skeptical of the Master System for awhile since Ive read through some forums with some die hard fans claiming it had a better library than the NES (I still think that's insane by the way, the NES just has so much more variety and quantity, looking at gamefaqs)

That said, WBIII is incredible.

The controls were spot on, where as the original Zelda and Metroid felt so rough around the edges, although I understand they came earlier. Jabbing with the sword while jumping just felt good.

But the moment in the game that really won me over was when I missed a platform over the water and fell in, revealing that it was explorable. Not sure what I expected to happen, but that was pretty cool for me.

I did have a little issue with the map layout though, had some varying archetypes but was mostly just a few long tubes and made the world feel a little small by the end.

Eventually I'll get around to trying Golvellius. I'm finding it's easier for me to sit down and play these older games than the newer ones.

 

[toddhunter]

That said, WBIII is incredible.

I actually remember spending a couple of days trying to get through the lava world/section with I think the mouse character. I finally pulled it off against all odds only to find that I was completely stuck and couldn't progress.

Of course you are not meant to be in that area to much later on. Still felt pretty good though and the pirate/zombie snot firing dragon just sealed the deal.

Been a little skeptical of the Master System for awhile since Ive read through some forums with some die hard fans claiming it had a better library than the NES

No question that the NES had a better line up. However the SMS was still amazing, just that the NES was a bit more amazinger.

 

[DarkFlow]

First system I ever had. I only had a few games but it was great fun. Ghostbusters that seemed to be like pacman and I never knew what to do. Then outrun that was hard as hell. Then there was my fav, gangster town since I could use the lightgun.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

First system I ever had. I only had a few games but it was great fun. Ghostbusters that seemed to be like pacman and I never knew what to do. Then outrun that was hard as hell. Then there was my fav, gangster town since I could use the lightgun.

I actually really dug Ghostbusters a a kid, and I think it may actually be the best version of the game. It gets quite hard once you reach Stay-Puft though.

 

[flak57]

I actually remember spending a couple of days trying to get through the lava world/section with I think the mouse character. I finally pulled it off against all odds only to find that I was completely stuck and couldn't progress.

Of course you are not meant to be in that area to much later on. Still felt pretty good though and the pirate/zombie snot firing dragon just sealed the deal.

Oh trust me, that's my bread and butter in these kinds of games. My mind sends me off on some crazy tangents and I end up almost putting actually completing the game on hold to go on my little adventures. I did the exact same thing as you and if I remember correctly when I got to the shop out there I didn't have the points required to get any new weapons. I did the same thing in the original metroid, I got one of those bug things to go through the door that leads to the final area, and then I froze him and used him as a platform to get over the lava pit and to the area where the metroids were, and I ended up stranded over there as well. I believe that was before I had the high jump boots but I had the ice beam, if you've played the game.

Edit: The shop may have been half way into the lava area, there was another building at the end of it

 

[Infernal Monkey]

Oh man, this is a thread I can get behind! The Master System is by far my favourite console ever. Stuff like Wonderboy in Monster Land, Sonic 2, Teddy Boy, Jurassic Park, Alex Kidd in High-Tech World - so many memories, so good. <3

I had a NES growing up, but a friend down the street had a Master System, and I just loved everything about it so much more. I didn't actually get one for myself until long after the Mega Drive and SNES had come out. But I've since been collecting for it over the past... many, many years. I took these photos for some other SMS thread here on GAF about two months ago.

I've since come across copies of uh, Zool, Psychic World (which has some freakin' amazing music~) and Dick Tracy. I'd like to have a complete PAL collection one day, but no rush. Besides, stuff like Smurfs 2, Buggy Run and Masters of Combat are almost impossible to find.

It's just an incredible machine.

Such a great little system. It was true in Australia, too. I think the ratio of SMS owners to NES owners was in Sega's favour hands down.

Definitely. I grew up in a little country town in QLD, but Master System was everywhere in video rental shops compared to the NES.

 

[Neff]

Still gaming royalty as far as I'm concerned.

 

[catmincer]

Ghostbusters without a manual was impossible. I had no idea what i was doing.

The ports of mortal kombat was also really good fun.

 

[Alex Connolly]

Definitely. I grew up in a little country town in QLD, but Master System was everywhere in video rental shops compared to the NES.

I was in Tassie, and I think I only saw one NES as a young bloke growing up.

Great collection, too, man. Incredible stuff.

 

[colinp]

Psycho Fox <3
Monster Land <3
Tennis Ace <3 (Did anyone else play this??? Such fond memories playing against my brothers.)

 

[toddhunter]

Oh man, this is a thread I can get behind! The Master System is by far my favourite console ever. Stuff like Wonderboy in Monster Land, Sonic 2, Teddy Boy, Jurassic Park, Alex Kidd in High-Tech World - so many memories, so good. <3

Nice pics. I think I've played every game there

Kenseiden was the shit and Choplifter was another great one. You could beat the whole game easily by flying backwards. We thought we were gods

Ghostbusters without a manual was impossible. I had no idea what i was doing.

Heroes of the lance was the same for me. Every time I borrowed it from the video shop I figured this was the time I would work it out. Nope, I still don't understand.

 

[Alex Connolly]

I have a very soft spot for the SMS versions of Taz-Mania and Asterix. Two games wrapped in fond memories.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

I have a very soft spot for the SMS versions of Taz-Mania and Asterix. Two games wrapped in fond memories.

Asterix was pretty great, although some of the levels were fucking hard. Still a bit disappointed there was no real final boss in the game, just that chariot race at the Colosseum

 

[Alex Connolly]

Asterix was pretty great, although some of the levels were fucking hard. Still a bit disappointed there was no real final boss in the game, just that chariot race at the Colosseum

As a young bloke, those auto-scrolling levels...holy shit.

 

[toddhunter]

I have a very soft spot for the SMS versions of Taz-Mania and Asterix. Two games wrapped in fond memories.

Didn't like Taz, but Asterix was my holiday rental game of choice. So many memories.

 

[IrishNinja]

^yeah light phasers and 3D glasses won't work on HDTVs, refresh rate is too fast. Black Falcon will be incoming to detail all of this far better than i can, heh

also: goddammit Infernal Monkey, puttin everyone to shame again i see

sub'd! OP is a champ.

i was the odd kid on the block with an SMS, and i had to admit: i was jealous of a lotta stuff my NES friends had. I had about 40 titles by the time i had to sell my stuff, and looking back, there was only a handful i'd revisit, at least by the point when the Genesis was in full swing.

but ive been slowly rebuilding said SMS library, and trying out stuff i missed too - youtube series like ChronSega don't really give them their due sometimes, i think: it's pretty impressive that Sega put out such a library damn near by themselves back then (Mark Cerny's called it a sweatshop before, sounds likely). the average SMS title might not've been a classic, but there's a number of them that were, and again, the Power Base Converter was the coolest thing for that (so long as you weren't trying to use the cool 3D glasses with it, or play F-16 Fighting Falcon for some reason).

my top tier picks that i've bought back:

Phantasy Star
Shinobi
Rastan (decent arcade port, hunting down Taito Legends for a better one soon though)
Wonder Boy 3: Dragon's Trap
Golvellius
Zillion
Kenseiden
The Ninja
Vigilante
i know im forgetting stuff, one good buddy of mine still swears by Rocky

stuff that isnt super awesome but i dug it

Lord of the Sword
Alex Kidd in High Tech World - i know everyone hates this one, but every Alex Kidd game was different, and i had no exposure to point-and-click in the day, so i actually liked it
Penguin Land - making your own level was so cool in the day
Rambo First Blood part 2 - hard as balls but fun co-op
Spy vs Spy - this is like Chu Chu Rocket level trolling your friends, great 2p game
Gangster Town - poor man's Hogan's Alley, but even so...more forgiving than Rambo III anyway
Alex Kidd in Miracle World - yeah i know people love it, but fuck you this game took me five years to beat
Outrun/Space Harrier/etc - the Yu Suzuki classics were done as well as they could've been, i thought...even Hardcore Gaming 101 calls them disappointments because of how little of the awesome arcade experience they captured, but i think that's a bit unfair. still, a few short years later, the Genesis would see better versions of all of them anyway

still looking for:
Fantasy Zone - i love you, Opa Opa
Alex Kidd in Shinobi World
Golden Axe Warrior - this one's gonna take some searching, apparently it's rare now...fun title if you want the most blatant Zelda clone out there
Master of Darkness - came up in the Genesis thread, it's a great Casltevania rip
Bubble bobble - holy crap i didnt even know this was on SMS back then
R-Type - was this a good port?

i'm told the Ys port was excellent too, at the time

oh yeah! finding the Snail game was like the best thing ever as a kid, too.

Ghostbusters without a manual was impossible. I had no idea what i was doing.

perfect example: i know this wasnt a good game but i played the fuck out of it. i still have my code about where id put together something like a million dollars from replays, used to take this game down at least once a week

 

[Combichristoffersen]

As a young bloke, those auto-scrolling levels...holy shit.

Yeah, but even some of the later, regular levels were a pain in the ass. Still, the game was great and I had a ton of fun with it.

Alex Kidd in Miracle World - yeah i know people love it, but fuck you this game took me five years to beat

Alex Kidd in Shinobi World

Took me like 7 or 8 years to beat Miracle World, so don't complain And the only reason I was even able to figure out the final puzzle to get the crown was because I had a book with a walkthrough for the Alex Kidd game for Mega Drive, which had the same puzzle :lol

Shinobi World is kinda eh, btw. Not awful, but not really all that great either.

 

[catmincer]

I have to say there were some awful games too though. Global Defence was especially terrible.

 

[Alex Connolly]

Didn't like Taz, but Asterix was my holiday rental game of choice. So many memories.

There were admittedly better Taz games elsewhere, but I think it was just that fidelity of platforming. Found it very responsive.

Having a nice nostalgia session right now.

My first ever SMS rental? This curious affair.

Behold, the mighty

Spoiler

retrospectively lame

Bank Panic!

 

[IrishNinja]

I have to say there were some awful games too though. Global Defence was especially terrible.

haha i was at a comic con last weekend, happily came across a table in the back with 5 SMS titles that i picked up for $20 before even seeing what they all were! got a dupe of Rambo (if anyone wants it), and sure enough, there's Global Defense. still haven't played it yet but even as a kid i could eyeball it and assume it sucked.


for me, the biggest bitch of being a Sega fan in the day - besides trying to find another kid to swap games with - was the limited availability my local Toys R Us had of SMS titles. i'd go looking for Psycho Fox or King's Quest or whatever Team Sega newsletter (also awesome) made look cool and it'd almost never be there, so id buy some bullshit and hope for the best.
worst time was when Lionel Playworld was closing & liquidating titles on the cheap, i passed on Space Harrier thinking i'd see it again at TRU, tried my hand at Aztec Adventure instead...man what a piece of shit that was.

ps i just looked around & turns out, i still have those Phantasy Star 1 maps you could get from calling 1-800-USA-SEGA in the day, totally forgot about it till Shane mentioned em on an old Retronauts! so awesome. i should scan them if they're not online.

Took me like 7 or 8 years to beat Miracle World, so don't complain And the only reason I was even able to figure out the final puzzle to get the crown was because I had a book with a walkthrough for the Alex Kidd game for Mega Drive, which had the same puzzle :lol

Shinobi World is kinda eh, btw. Not awful, but not really all that great either.

ahahaha, it warms my heart that you know my struggle~
i did the crown puzzle shit with trial and error based on whatever that stone youd look at said, but i still remember the sheer terror id get at that one @#%^ing room of underwater spikes in Janken's castle...how'd you do it, man? I used the wizard's cane or whatever made you levitate and sweat a fucking bucket

and: really? man how could Alex Kidd in a Shinobi game not be awesome? i just gotta find it on the cheap, that was the only mainline title i never played (BMX one don't count).

 

[ekim]

Pro Wrestling, Asterix, Enduro Racer and Rainbow Islands were my favorite games I think.

 

[dreamcastmaster]

Master System was my first console, I got it in 1989 when it was reasonable still powerful. No regrets, love that machine and being in England meant it got decent software support for a long time.

 

[IrishNinja]

i keep telling myself i don't need to rebuy an SMS thanks to the aforementioned Power Base Converter, but i just know one day my classic game room project is gonna land me a nice TV, and i'm gonna wanna try the 3D glasses again.

I only had Missile Defense and Zaxxon, but id always wanted to check out Space Harrier and others. to this day that's still the coolest 3D effect i've seen.

 

[Alex Connolly]

Surely many a fellow rocked a Honeybee controller here?

EDIT: Awesome. 100 SMS Games in 10 Minutes - Video montage. The old feelings, the warm feelings.

 

[toddhunter]

Pro Wrestling, Asterix, Enduro Racer and Rainbow Islands were my favorite games I think.

I always wanted Rainbow Islands because I loved Bubble Bobble but never got it.

Pro Wrestling and Enduro Racer were my other holiday favourites though (the video shop at my Grans was pretty bare boned). Pro Wrestling was probably the last wrestling game I sunk some effort into and enjoyed.

i keep telling myself i don't need to rebuy an SMS thanks to the aforementioned Power Base Converter, but i just know one day my classic game room project is gonna land me a nice TV, and i'm gonna wanna try the 3D glasses again.

I only had Missile Defense and Zaxxon, but id always wanted to check out Space Harrier and others. to this day that's still the coolest 3D effect i've seen.

The 3D was pretty god like (until your eyes burnt out. Maze hunter was the game I spent most of my time with, Space Harrier just didn't have the same effect.
I do remember one particularly immersive gaming session being interrupted by my cat jumping up on my lap. I think I pulled the console off the shelf as I shit myself. Just wait until all the Occulus Rift supporters realise how many lives will be taken by that

 

[Burai]

Surely many a fellow rocked a Honeybee controller here?

Nah, I used a Mega Drive controller. Thank you based Sega for using the standard 9-pin controller input.

 

[IrishNinja]

a more timeless cover than Phalanx

Surely many a fellow rocked a Honeybee controller here?

EDIT: Awesome. 100 SMS Games in 10 Minutes - Video montage. The old feelings, the warm feelings.

sorry bro, i was too young/stupid/busy using the sega arcade stick things (with rapid fire dongle!) that were oddly made for left handed people, so my brother'd hold them upside down heh

also that's a great video

 

[Alex Connolly]

Nah, I used a Mega Drive controller. Thank you based Sega for using the standard 9-pin controller input.

The Megadrive was at the time a good while off for me, sadly.

Just watching that Youtube vid, I'm actually really surprised at how good some of the Disney platformers look on the 8bit system.

 

[ResidentDante]

I had the MS2 :

The moment I found out, that you can pause Alex Kidd with that big button on the console and wear that fire-ring... priceless.

Haha, I remember the exact moment too. Why on earth they put the pause button on the console I often wonder. I also had the MS2, still works fine:

 

[toddhunter]

Fantasy zone + rapid fire attachment for the controller = so much win.

Loved that little bit of plastic.

 

[Phonomezer]

 

[Infernal Monkey]

also: goddammit Infernal Monkey, puttin everyone to shame again i see

Haha <3

Alex Kidd in Miracle World - yeah i know people love it, but fuck you this game took me five years to beat

Seriously, Miracle World was insanely difficult. I think I managed to complete it... once? Or maybe I just dreamed it.

 

[Harlock]

The light gun games are amazing. I believe the Zillion anime was made at same time, but don´t know if the design rights belongs to Sega or the studio who made Zillion.

In the second phase of anime the design was altered:

I love the style of light gun games at Master System:

 

[Combichristoffersen]

ahahaha, it warms my heart that you know my struggle~
i did the crown puzzle shit with trial and error based on whatever that stone youd look at said, but i still remember the sheer terror id get at that one @#%^ing room of underwater spikes in Janken's castle...how'd you do it, man? I used the wizard's cane or whatever made you levitate and sweat a fucking bucket

and: really? man how could Alex Kidd in a Shinobi game not be awesome? i just gotta find it on the cheap, that was the only mainline title i never played (BMX one don't count).

The underwater room in Janken's castle was, and still is, a nightmare. Whoever put that in there is a sadistic fuck who probably tortures small, furry animals in his/her free time. But anyway, I managed to get past that by just carefully wiggling the D-pad to make Alex slowly swim between the row of spikes.

The concept/setting of Shinobi World is actually pretty cool, but the gameplay and controls are clunky, making the game kinda eh to play. I did manage to complete it once back in the day, and the final boss was a bit of a bitch from what I can remember. I tried replaying it last year, and I couldn't even beat the first level, as I got stuck towards the end where you have to pull off some wall-jumping move while hacking away a bunch of blocks that block your passage, and the clunky controls just pissed me off :lol

 

[Roland Deschain]

and: really? man how could Alex Kidd in a Shinobi game not be awesome? i just gotta find it on the cheap, that was the only mainline title i never played (BMX one don't count).

Nah, it's pretty awesome though a bit on the short side.

 

[Quackula]

Only thing that sucks about using the Power Base Converter is the fact that you don't get the little bios screen logo diddle.

 

[@MUWANdo]

The worst part about Alex Kidd in Miracle World is that it's probably the best Alex Kidd game of the lot. Man, Sega really struck out with that guy, didn't they?

 

[Quackula]

The worst part about Alex Kidd in Miracle World is that it's probably the best Alex Kidd game of the lot. Man, Sega really struck out with that guy, didn't they?

Shinobi World is better, imo.

But yeah.