Master System (1985- 1997) Wow!!

[8bitdude]

There are some that love this system, some that don't and some in between.
but for it to be produced in 1985 and to live till 1997 says a lot. (what you guys think?)

These are the games that I love on the Master System

Zillion
Alien Syndrome
Alex Kidd in Miracle World
Alex Kidd in Shinobi World
Sonic the Hedgehog 1
Masters of Darkness
Mortal Kombat 1 & 2
Golden Axe Warrior
Street Fighter 2 (With the limitations of an 8 bit, this game is amazing)
Streets of Rage
Maze Hunter 3D (I love this game)
Out Run 3D ( I love the 3D games)

and many others

[ApolloBoy]

Actually it was produced from 1986 to 1996.

[c2000]

Wouldn't surprise me if Tectoy were still producing them..

[8bitdude]

Wasn't the Master System produced in Japan in 1985 and produced in Brazil until
1997.

[8bitdude]

The number one fan base for the Master System has to be Brazil.

Tec Toy really pushed the system with Street Fighter 2. Some people don't like the game because of their mind set of the 16-bit versions, but for me I was amazed when I first played it.

I was so used to only having two battle grounds with the Mortal Kombat SMS versions, but with Street Fighter 2 I was amazed with ever character having their battle grounds, and how detailed the character sprites were they weren't to far away from the SNES and Genesis versions. And all the digitized sound packed in this cart. I was amazed.

Its by far the best 8-bit SF2 , compared to the Gameboy version and them Nes hacks.

[norkusa]

Tec Toy really pushed the system with Street Fighter 2.

How do you play SF2 with only 2 buttons?

[8bitdude]

2 buttons crazy huh? But it worked out Ok, just like the Mortal Kombat games on the Master System.

You have one for a fierce punch and one for a fierce kick, and the game play is pretty good.

[ubersaurus]

2 buttons crazy huh? But it worked out Ok, just like the Mortal Kombat games on the Master System.

You have one for a fierce punch and one for a fierce kick, and the game play is pretty good.

There's no way in hell I could call the gameplay in SMS sf2 "pretty good." Doing special moves is harder than in SF1! It takes two hits before any damage gets registered! Everything is so choppy!

It's an admirable port, but it should never have been attempted.

[8bitdude]

Its not that bad. Do you dislike Mortal Kombat on the Master System? If you do, then I understand.

If your playing it on a emulator though, the special moves are a bit more tuff, to get off.

I was impressed with Tec Toy's game though, you really have to understand 8 bit hardware, and the way this game runs it could have been worst.

My expectations weren't that high, so maybe thats why, I like this game.

and again its the best SF2 8 bit conversion.

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

and again its the best SF2 8 bit conversion.
I don't think so. I've played a couple of of pirate Famicom versions that feel a little more solid to me. They're not great either, but when you're already scraping the bottom of the barrel every little bit counts, I guess.

The sprites look good in the Master System version. The Master System has a much better color palette than the NES, but like ubersaurus said the animation is so choppy you sometimes can't even tell what's supposed to be going on.

What really kills the game, though, is that there's absolutely no depth or strategy remaining in the gameplay. It's just a shallow slugfest, exactly like the Famicom versions.

This isn't a limitation of 8-bit hardware, either--there were some prett good fighters on the Game Boy and Game Gear thanks to Takara and their Neo Geo ports. It's just that making a good fighter (whether on 8-bit, 16-bit or 32-bit) requires an attention to detail in programming the gameplay engine and balancing the characters. Something that Tec*Toy wasn't able to do any better in the Master System version of SF2 than the Hong Kong pirates did in their Famicom versions.


...word is bondage...

[8bitdude]

So you feel that SF2 for the SMS, was not the Limit?

You felt their could have been more added?

Did the cart need to be larger than 8 meg?

I thought this was probably the limit for the Master System, but if you think it wasn't, I would really like to hear your opinion deeper.

[ubersaurus]

Its not that bad. Do you dislike Mortal Kombat on the Master System? If you do, then I understand.

If your playing it on a emulator though, the special moves are a bit more tuff, to get off.

I was impressed with Tec Toy's game though, you really have to understand 8 bit hardware, and the way this game runs it could have been worst.

My expectations weren't that high, so maybe thats why, I like this game.

and again its the best SF2 8 bit conversion.

I own the actual cart, and it's no easier than using a keyboard to get off special moves. It's just very sloppy detection.

I never played Mortal Kombat on SMS, but I'm not a big MK fan to begin with. I am a big SF2 fan, so I expect a certain level of quality gameplay out of ports that the SMS just didn't deliver on. I will say this-it was better than the Commodore version. But it's something they probably shouldn't have attempted, given the level of control and complexity a fighting game demands that I don't think the SMS was up to.

[8bitdude]

So you feel this was the limit?

[ubersaurus]

So you feel this was the limit?

I think they overreached, yes.

Personally if I had to take a game on the SMS and say that it hit the limit and was also excellent in it's own right, it'd be Power Strike 2.

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

Street Fighter 2 definitely could have been done better on the Master System. It was not "the limit."

Take a look at the ports of Fatal Fury and Samurai Shodown on the Game Gear. The Game Gear is the same hardware as the Master System (it has a better color palette, but the graphics in Street Fighter 2 on the Master System are not the issue), so if 2D fighters that good could be made for the Game Gear, the same could be done on the Master System. Those Takara ports are excellent--not arcade perfect (we didn't get that in handheld fighters until the Neo Geo Pocket), but not at all hampered by poor controls or empty gameplay. AI is really their only problem and that may indeed be a hardware limitation.

For the rest, though, in designing a 2D fighter it's the quality of the development team that is th elimiting factor, not the hardware. I mean, when SNK themselves began porting their games to their own handheld the results were simply astounding. The Neo Geo Pocket was admittedly 16-bit, but I think they could have turned out the same results on 8-bit hardware.

Tec*Toy was simply not a quality developer, so they turned out a low quality product.


...word is bondage...

[8bitdude]

Eventhough you might not like it, it is the Master System's most graphical cart and also the largest. I don't think any 8 bit game has as much digitized sound as SF2 for the Master System.

[8bitdude]

There are a lot of reasons I respect this game, it did somethings I thought the Master System could never do. And with no extra hardware, this was amazing in my opinion. I give the game a 7 out of 10.

[Greg2600]

Given that almost anything on SMS was released on Genesis, or even Game Gear, I was never a big fan of it. Nobody had it back in the day, in fact if you had SMS but not NES, you were pretty much laughed at. Also, while it was still produced into the 1990's, it became virtually extinct as soon as the Genesis was out for a year. I think SEGA deserves credit for making a decent console, unfortunately Nintendo was a juggernaut at the time. However, SEGA used the SMS to get ready for the Genesis, which for a time kicked Nintendo's butt. Other than that, I have little nostalgia for it. Like I said, there just aren't any memorable games for it, because they all came out with better graphics on the Genesis.

[icbrkr]

Given that almost anything on SMS was released on Genesis, or even Game Gear, I was never a big fan of it. Nobody had it back in the day, in fact if you had SMS but not NES, you were pretty much laughed at. Also, while it was still produced into the 1990's, it became virtually extinct as soon as the Genesis was out for a year. I think SEGA deserves credit for making a decent console, unfortunately Nintendo was a juggernaut at the time. However, SEGA used the SMS to get ready for the Genesis, which for a time kicked Nintendo's butt. Other than that, I have little nostalgia for it. Like I said, there just aren't any memorable games for it, because they all came out with better graphics on the Genesis.

You're also viewing this from a US perspective. The SMS did much better in Europe, Brazil and Australia and had tons of better-than-NES releases. Even though, I would think Phantasy Star is a fairly memorable release, also Quartet is fun, Fantasy Zone is awesome, Paperboy is pretty close to arcade quality. If you went with European ones too, the list grows a lot longer (heck we still play Leaderboard Golf on it a lot).

[Policenaut]

Although the games is somewhat limited, I give the SMS SFII the propers the game deserves. TecToy managed to squeeze the SMS with such encarnation of SF and is by far one of the best "original" games from TecToy. Now, if we talk about the same fighting arena, I had a better experience with Masters of Combat. The gameplay in MoC is a tad better than in SF.

[playgeneration]

Masters of Combat is a much better Street Fighter style game than sms Street Fighter 2. It looks and moves great, the controls work perfectly, and there is actual strategy to the game, not mindless button mashing.
Street Fighter 2 could have been done better on sms, even if it mean't using super deformed style character sprites to get their movement more fluid.

Oh and the offical licensed last standalone game came out in 1998, but I wouldn't really call that the last year of sms. Since proper sega licensed consoles are still being made by Tectoy, only the other day they announced a new model with more newly developed games built in.

[8bitgamer]

There are some that love this system, some that don't and some in between.
but for it to be produced in 1985 and to live till 1997 says a lot. (what you guys think?)

These are the games that I love on the Master System

Zillion
Alien Syndrome
Alex Kidd in Miracle World
Alex Kidd in Shinobi World
Sonic the Hedgehog 1
Masters of Darkness
Mortal Kombat 1 & 2
Golden Axe Warrior
Street Fighter 2 (With the limitations of an 8 bit, this game is amazing)
Streets of Rage
Maze Hunter 3D (I love this game)
Out Run 3D ( I love the 3D games)

and many others


I would definitely add Double Dragon to the list, seeing as it has the two-player simultaneous mode.

http://brettweisswords.blogspot.com/

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

Given that almost anything on SMS was released on Genesis, or even Game Gear, I was never a big fan of it. Nobody had it back in the day, in fact if you had SMS but not NES, you were pretty much laughed at. Also, while it was still produced into the 1990's, it became virtually extinct as soon as the Genesis was out for a year. I think SEGA deserves credit for making a decent console, unfortunately Nintendo was a juggernaut at the time. However, SEGA used the SMS to get ready for the Genesis, which for a time kicked Nintendo's butt. Other than that, I have little nostalgia for it. Like I said, there just aren't any memorable games for it, because they all came out with better graphics on the Genesis.
The Master System has many, many excellent and very memorable games.

Wonder Boy 2 and 3 alone are enough to make the Master System an all-time classic console. How about Kenseiden? And Lucky Dime Caper, Zillion, Ys, Enduro Racer, Asterix, Alex Kidd, Fantasy Zone, R-Type, Sagaia, Power Strike, etc. All pure classics.

Perhaps the reason you don't find the system's games memorable is because you spent your time laughing at kids who had a Master System rather than actually playing the games and developing memories of them.


...word is bondage...

[Rob2600]

The Master System has many, many excellent and very memorable games. ... Perhaps the reason you don't find the system's games memorable is because you spent your time laughing at kids who had a Master System rather than actually playing the games and developing memories of them.

You're right. My friends and I apologize for laughing at Sega Master System owners back then. Instead of playing Super Mario Bros. 3, Contra, Mega Man II, Blades of Steel, Castlevania, Baseball Stars, Tetris, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, and Tecmo Bowl, we should have been playing Trans-Bot, The Ninja, ALF, Teddy Boy, Gangster Town, Great Golf, Rocky, Black Belt, and Michael Jackson's Moonwalker instead.

We didn't realize the joke was actually on us. Sorry.

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

You're right. My friends and I apologize for laughing at Sega Master System owners back then. Instead of playing Super Mario Bros. 3, Contra, Mega Man II, Blades of Steel, Castlevania, Baseball Stars, Tetris, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, and Tecmo Bowl, we should have been playing Trans-Bot, The Ninja, ALF, Teddy Boy, Gangster Town, Great Golf, Rocky, Black Belt, and Michael Jackson's Moonwalker instead.

We didn't realize the joke was actually on us. Sorry.
You should have been playing all of them. You were just a kid, though, so it's hard to hold it against you, kids do what's easy for them socially. But to still be acting like an 11 year old even 20 years later is pretty bad.


...word is bondage...

[ubersaurus]

You're right. My friends and I apologize for laughing at Sega Master System owners back then. Instead of playing Super Mario Bros. 3, Contra, Mega Man II, Blades of Steel, Castlevania, Baseball Stars, Tetris, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, and Tecmo Bowl, we should have been playing Trans-Bot, The Ninja, ALF, Teddy Boy, Gangster Town, Great Golf, Rocky, Black Belt, and Michael Jackson's Moonwalker instead.

We didn't realize the joke was actually on us. Sorry.

So wait, you're comparing some of the best of the NES with some of the worst of the SMS? That's just stupid.

That's like me saying that instead of playing Zillion, Power Strike, R-Type, Phantasy Star, Miracle Warriors, and Alex Kidd in Shinobi World, I could have been playing Circus Caper, Peter Pan and the Pirates, Dragon Power, Super Pitfall, and Treasure Master.

[Rob2600]

So wait, you're comparing some of the best of the NES with some of the worst of the SMS? ... That's like me saying that instead of playing Zillion, Power Strike, R-Type, Phantasy Star, Miracle Warriors, and Alex Kidd in Shinobi World, I could have been playing Circus Caper, Peter Pan and the Pirates, Dragon Power, Super Pitfall, and Treasure Master.

You forgot Deadly Towers.

[7th lutz]

You're right. My friends and I apologize for laughing at Sega Master System owners back then. Instead of playing Super Mario Bros. 3, Contra, Mega Man II, Blades of Steel, Castlevania, Baseball Stars, Tetris, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, and Tecmo Bowl, we should have been playing Trans-Bot, The Ninja, ALF, Teddy Boy, Gangster Town, Great Golf, Rocky, Black Belt, and Michael Jackson's Moonwalker instead.

We didn't realize the joke was actually on us. Sorry.

Comparing the best nes games to the worst sms games is childish and dumb. I am sick of people comparing the best games of one system to the worst games of one system because they like the system they own.

This no different then me saying that instead of playing wonder boy 3: Dragon's trap, Xenon 2: megablast, R-type, power strike, Alex Kidd in Mircale world, and Phantasy Star, I could have been playing Hylide, taboo the 6th sense, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes of Lance, Silent Service, Action 52, and x-men. Uber for got put down some of the real stinkers for the nes.

[bangtango]

So wait, you're comparing some of the best of the NES with some of the worst of the SMS? That's just stupid.

That's like me saying that instead of playing Zillion, Power Strike, R-Type, Phantasy Star, Miracle Warriors, and Alex Kidd in Shinobi World, I could have been playing Circus Caper, Peter Pan and the Pirates, Dragon Power, Super Pitfall, and Treasure Master.

I was thinking about saying the same thing because people do that way too often around here.

"Yes! Instead of playing Panzer Dragoon Saga, Guardian Heroes, Virtua Fighter 2 and Nights on Saturn, I should have been playing Kiss Pinball, Spec Ops Covert Assault, ATV Mania and Saltwater Sportfishing on PS1......."

[Rob2600]

I was just trying to have a little fun with the topic. I didn't realize being silly would enrage so many people.

[playgeneration]

Well I'm just shocked you think Thje Ninja is a bad game!
Evil ninjas that disguise themselves as rocks and dogs, you can turn invisible, dodge boudlers, ride logs on a river, throw ninja stars - its pure genius!
And generally people who dismiss the sms are people who don't really know its games very well.

[blue lander]

It's one thing to compare the NES's best games versus the SMS's worst, but if you compare the best NES games to the best SMS games, would anybody really choose the SMS? The SMS has some terrific games and it's certainly underrated, but the NES has far, far more terrific games if you ask me. I'll take SMB3 over Psycho Fox, Metroid over Zillion, Zanac over Power Strike and Dragon Warrior IV over Phantasy Star.

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

Well I'm just shocked you think Thje Ninja is a bad game!
Evil ninjas that disguise themselves as rocks and dogs, you can turn invisible, dodge boudlers, ride logs on a river, throw ninja stars - its pure genius!
And generally people who dismiss the sms are people who don't really know its games very well.
I was disappointed to see Black Belt on his list, too. That's one of my favorite SMS games. It's just pure mid-'80s arcade action. The boss battles are too stiff, but the level play is just greatness. It's a little known fact that it was developed by Yuji Naka, too.


It's one thing to compare the NES's best games versus the SMS's worst, but if you compare the best NES games to the best SMS games, would anybody really choose the SMS? The SMS has some terrific games and it's certainly underrated, but the NES has far, far more terrific games if you ask me. I'll take SMB3 over Psycho Fox, Metroid over Zillion, Zanac over Power Strike and Dragon Warrior IV over Phantasy Star.
Once again I ask: why do we have to choose? Why not play and enjoy the games from both systems? I mean, we're not talking about God and mammon here.

If I were forced to choose, though, I would definitely take the SMS game in some of those false dilemmas you proposed. Dragon Warrior IV? That's not a good game. Also, why does everyone always compare Metroid and Zillion? They're not similar at all.


...word is bondage...

[Policenaut]

You're right. My friends and I apologize for laughing at Sega Master System owners back then. Instead of playing Super Mario Bros. 3, Contra, Mega Man II, Blades of Steel, Castlevania, Baseball Stars, Tetris, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, and Tecmo Bowl, we should have been playing Trans-Bot, The Ninja, ALF, Teddy Boy, Gangster Town, Great Golf, Rocky, Black Belt, and Michael Jackson's Moonwalker instead.

We didn't realize the joke was actually on us. Sorry.

I noticed the sarcasm on the post so I didn't bother to reply, but just laugh. Now, why Black Belt? It is a great game, it shouldn't be on that list.

[blue lander]

I don't recall inferring anybody had to choose between anything. But people were comparing the two systems, but comparing the best NES versus the worst SMS or vice versa. I'm just saying that if you compare the system's strongest games, the NES comes out on top by sheer number of terrific titles. That's not to say there's a better NES analog for every SMS game or that you can only choose one or the other. But if people insist on comparing the two systems, the NES clearly has the better library.

A lot of people around here seem to have the habit of championing more obscure systems/games over more mainstream ones. Just like many indie music fans only like a band if nobody else has discovered it yet, a lot of classic gamers seem to think how obscure their favorite game/system means they're more hardcore than everybody else.

[Rob2600]

Once again I ask: why do we have to choose? Why not play and enjoy the games from both systems?

Okay, I'm being serious now...

Growing up, most of my friends and I had sensible, non-millionaire parents who didn't buy us everything we wanted. For example, they bought us one new video game console every several years. That's why we had to chose.

Of course, now we're adults and can track down and buy all of the game consoles we missed out on as children, but for me, so much time has passed that my level of interest has dwindled to mild curiosity, at best. I'm perfectly happy playing the NES classics I grew up with and am indifferent toward most Sega Master System games. Am I alone?

EDIT:

I should point out that I did end up buying a used Sega Master System and several games from a classmate in high school. I was excited to get home, set it up, and experience a new world of gaming. I remember reading in video game magazines that the Sega Master System's graphics were much better than the NES. When I finally got home and played the Master System games, I was disappointed and felt like I had wasted $80.

Everything had a cheap feel to it...the console, the controllers, even the gameplay. Shinobi looked good in still shots, but was kind of choppy in motion. Rocky had good graphics, but was a terrible game compared to Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!. Alex Kidd in Miracle World was nowhere near as polished as Super Mario Bros. After Burner was only slightly better than Top Gun on the NES, which meant it still stunk. Choplifter was pretty good, but not good enough to justify the $80 I had spent. Reggie Jackson Baseball was also pretty good, but Bases Loaded and Baseball Stars on the NES were better.

I gave the Sega Master System a chance, but it turned out to be another case of video game enthusiasts over-hyping an underdog.


A lot of people around here seem to have the habit of championing more obscure systems/games over more mainstream ones. Just like many indie music fans only like a band if nobody else has discovered it yet, a lot of classic gamers seem to think how obscure their favorite game/system means they're more hardcore than everybody else.

Yes, exactly.

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

Okay, I'm being serious now...

Growing up, most of my friends and I had sensible, non-millionaire parents who didn't buy us everything we wanted. For example, they bought us one new video game console every several years. That's why we had to chose.

Of course, now we're adults and can track down and buy all of the game consoles we missed out on as children, but for me, so much time has passed that my level of interest has dwindled to mild curiosity, at best. I'm perfectly happy playing the NES classics I grew up with and am indifferent toward most Sega Master System games. Am I alone?
Obviously, you're not.

I was in an even poorer boat than you when I was a kid. I didn't have any system at all in the late '80s (well, I think I still had my 2600 somewhere, but I never played it). Most of my friends had NESes and that's all we played. There was one kid who had a Master System and we were totally indifferent to it at the time, just as you are now. It wasn't until about 10 years later--when I once again didn't have the most recent systems that everyone else was playing--that I discovered what a great system the SMS is thanks to the Power Base Converter on my old Genesis.

Today, I guess I like both systems pretty equally. Maybe the SMS just edges out the NES because while it doesn't have as huge of a library, most of the games it does have are of very high quality. I don't really play hundreds upon hundreds of games. On any given system, there's usually five or ten games that I really play. And the five or ten games on the SMS that I play are just as good or better than the five or ten games on the NES that I play (though SMB1 and Tengen's Tetris are pretty unbeatable).


...word is bondage...

[Barbarianoutkast85]

I've been meaning to pick up a few master system games, seeing as I dont own any. I do have two master system consoles though.

[idrougge]

Zanac over Power Strike

MSX1 over MSX2?

[idrougge]

There are some that love this system, some that don't and some in between.
but for it to be produced in 1985 and to live till 1997 says a lot. (what you guys think?)

These are the games that I love on the Master System

Zillion
Alien Syndrome
Alex Kidd in Miracle World
Alex Kidd in Shinobi World
Sonic the Hedgehog 1
Masters of Darkness
Mortal Kombat 1 & 2
Golden Axe Warrior
Street Fighter 2 (With the limitations of an 8 bit, this game is amazing)
Streets of Rage
Maze Hunter 3D (I love this game)
Out Run 3D ( I love the 3D games)

and many others

And if you liked this thread by 8bitguy, check out these:

Master System's 8 meg cart (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=102539)
Master System better than the Nes & 7800 (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=102554)
Sonic 1 (SMS) VS. SMW (SNES) (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=102574)
So if you could only have one of SMS and NES? (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=102594)

[The_4th_Survivor]

allow me to retort!!!

:sarcasm:

d000ddd! j000 guys all sux!

everybody knoes that the PS3, XBox 360 and Wii blows those ancient systems out of da watah!

y r u guys wasting ur time sayn that 8 bit games rule! u guys r dinosours! 8 bit graphics suck! just like u guys cuz yer old and not young!

im gona go an play my gta5, halo4, zelda3, gears of war 3, madden 10 (i got it all before any of you beeyotches cuz im a young kid who getz wht he wantz!!@!!) that i had my mom drive me to gamestop to buy after i traded my old, crappy xbox, ps2 and gamecube in for. they gave me like 40 bux for everything but i wuz like so wut? i get wut i want cuz my mom loves me and not j00 loooses!!


get out of da past and inna da futoor!!

:/sarcasm:


DISCLAIMER - This is a joke, that is meant to lighten things up around here. Please do not argue. It hurts my kitten's ears. ;)

[blue lander]

MSX1 over MSX2?

Zanac on the NES is much closer to Zanac EX on the MSX2 than the original Zanac on the MSX1. But I'd take alot of MSX1 games over MSX2 ones any day anyways.

[Emuaust]

I would take the sms over the nes every day of the week!, why do you ask?
simple, it was the console of choice where I lived and thus what I grew up with.

I play my older games more for nostalgia then anything, I feel little emotion to my nes
as I just dont have as many find memories of it compared to my beloved sms.

Guys and gals from the states are more then likely to have that statement above
switched around for the exact same reason

[greedostick]

No master system is complete without Spellcaster (one of top 5 games of all time), Golvellius Valley fo doom, Donald Duck: The Lucky Dime Caper, and Wonderboy in monsterland, and wonderoby the dragons trap.

Seriously though. Go buy spellcaster. Think of a action rpg, more action then rpg, shadowgate, and a shooter all wrapped into one. One of the best games ever!!!

And don't forget Kenseiden, Alex kid in miracle world, and black belt.

[BydoEmpire]

I'm a little surprised by some of the responses. When my family had an Inty, we were totally happy. But I still wanted to play 2600 games. Friends that had 2600's wanted to play our Inty games. I loved my NES, but when we'd go over to a friend's house that had a SMS it was awesome (and I ended up getting one not to long thereafter). There were no console wars among gamers that I remember - everyone just wanted to play games. If someone had a system you didn't, it was cool because there were new games to try! I always assumed the whole console war/fanboy attitude grew with the rise of message boards. Maybe I just grew up in the wrong... errr.. right place.

If I had to choose one, I'd probably have to pick the NES over the SMS due to the size and depth of the library. But I LOVED my SMS: all the great arcade ports (Shinobi, After Burner, Outrun, Golden Axe, etc), tons of great original titles (Phantasy Star, Penguin Land, Kenseiden, Golvellius, etc), and amazing light gun games (Rescue Mission, Wanted, Rambo III, etc).

And for what it's worth, I really like Black Belt. It was one of the first SMS games I bought, and I still play it occasionally.

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

You may be a little older than me or something, BydoEmpire, but when I was a kid it wasn't even a matter of a war between the SMS and NES, it was just total domination to the point that the SMS didn't even matter. I didn't laugh or look down on my friend who had a Master System, I just didn't care about it at all. Just like I didn't care about the 2600 that I owned.

We used to play his Master System sometimes and it filled the need to a certain extent. I particularly remember playing the 3D glasses games, they were the most interesting to me at the time. And I liked Alex Kidd in Miracle World a lot, too. But his Master System was only something to play when we were desparate for a game fix and nobody who had an NES was home.

As for actual console wars. If you didn't notice any war between the TurboGrafx and Genesis and then later the Genesis and SNES (both long before *I* knew anything about Internet forums, at least), then you were definitely living in a different sort of environment. Doesn't mean we didn't still play and enjoy games from both systems, but there was definitely a choosing up of sides when it came to those systems, especially for kids who owned one or the other of them.


...word is bondage...


...word is bondage...

[The_4th_Survivor]

No master system is complete without Spellcaster (one of top 5 games of all time), Golvellius Valley fo doom, Donald Duck: The Lucky Dime Caper, and Wonderboy in monsterland, and wonderoby the dragons trap.

Seriously though. Go buy spellcaster. Think of a action rpg, more action then rpg, shadowgate, and a shooter all wrapped into one. One of the best games ever!!!

And don't forget Kenseiden, Alex kid in miracle world, and black belt.

Waitasec....

Spellcaster.

Wasn't that game tied in with "Mystic Defender" for the Genesis?

I have Spellcaster, but I haven't fired up my SMS or my Powerbase Converter in a while.

Please refresh my memory with a brief synopsis of the action.

[greedostick]

Waitasec....

Spellcaster.

Wasn't that game tied in with "Mystic Defender" for the Genesis?

I have Spellcaster, but I haven't fired up my SMS or my Powerbase Converter in a while.

Please refresh my memory with a brief synopsis of the action.

You are correct sir, but please don't confuse mystic defender with spellcaster. Spellcaster is far superior. Mystic defender is ok though once you get into it. Spellcaster is also based on the japanese anime (kujakuoh) or Legend of the Peacock King. Which after writing this I am going to go buy cause I have never seen it.

http://www.discountanimedvd.com/product_list_category.asp?cate=28

[Policenaut]

You are correct sir, but please don't confuse mystic defender with spellcaster. Spellcaster is far superior. Mystic defender is ok though once you get into it. Spellcaster is also based on the japanese anime (kujakuoh) or Legend of the Peacock King. Which after writing this I am going to go buy cause I have never seen it. Thanks for the info, I wasn't aware of those facts.

[bangtango]

As for actual console wars. If you didn't notice any war between the TurboGrafx and Genesis and then later the Genesis and SNES (both long before *I* knew anything about Internet forums, at least), then you were definitely living in a different sort of environment...

I agree. The numbers may not suggest it was a big competition but the Turbografx and Genesis had a "war" of their own. It may not have lasted that long but when you have pretty much every video game magazine on the market at the time doing an article comparing the two systems, that pretty much tells you they had something going on between them. I remember reading at least three print articles in well known magazines trying to determine which one was better when they were both young systems.

[rcgamer]

Given that almost anything on SMS was released on Genesis, or even Game Gear, I was never a big fan of it. Nobody had it back in the day, in fact if you had SMS but not NES, you were pretty much laughed at. Also, while it was still produced into the 1990's, it became virtually extinct as soon as the Genesis was out for a year. I think SEGA deserves credit for making a decent console, unfortunately Nintendo was a juggernaut at the time. However, SEGA used the SMS to get ready for the Genesis, which for a time kicked Nintendo's butt. Other than that, I have little nostalgia for it. Like I said, there just aren't any memorable games for it, because they all came out with better graphics on the Genesis.

I actually traded my nes for an sms. I never got laughed at and in fact had friends staying the night to play the games on it. You don't call Phantasy Star memorable? Zillion, Wonder Boy games, Alex Kidd, Gangster Town, After Burner, Out Run? Any of these ring a bell?

[rcgamer]

Well I'm just shocked you think Thje Ninja is a bad game!
Evil ninjas that disguise themselves as rocks and dogs, you can turn invisible, dodge boudlers, ride logs on a river, throw ninja stars - its pure genius!
And generally people who dismiss the sms are people who don't really know its games very well.

I agree with this assessment wholeheartedly. And wether you were kidding or not I actually loved The Ninja.

[greedostick]

I agree with this assessment wholeheartedly. And wether you were kidding or not I actually loved The Ninja.

The ninja was sweet. What was the game with the ninja kid. It was a side view game. Might have been My Hero. That was a good one also.

[playgeneration]

I agree with this assessment wholeheartedly. And wether you were kidding or not I actually loved The Ninja.

Nope I'm not kidding, The Ninja is a fantastic game. Most people just dismiss it as it was an early game with pretty basic graphics, and was sold as a budget title throughout the life of the console along with the likes of Transbot.
The control scheme is brilliantly unqiue, the levels are all totally different to each other, and theres just tons of brilliant ideas all the way through. It's a shame Sega never made any sequels for Master System, or any of their later consoles. A two player sequel with better graphics would have been brilliant.

[BydoEmpire]

[Deleted]Nevermind, I misread some other posts...

[Dire 51]

You are correct sir, but please don't confuse mystic defender with spellcaster. Spellcaster is far superior. Mystic defender is ok though once you get into it. Spellcaster is also based on the japanese anime (kujakuoh) or Legend of the Peacock King. Which after writing this I am going to go buy cause I have never seen it.

http://www.discountanimedvd.com/product_list_category.asp?cate=28
The two definitely shouldn't be confused, as MD is the sequel to Spellcaster. I admit to preferring MD over Spellcaster, as MD loses the text adventure bits and tightens up the controls in the action sequences. To me it always feels like you're running and jumping in slow motion in Spellcaster; not so in Mystic Defender.

But if you prefer Spellcaster, you may be interested in the two Famicom Kujaku Ou games, one of which seems to be a Fami version of Spellcaster minus the action sequences.

I've got a bit more info on the various games here:

http://hg101.classicgaming.gamespy.com/opcfg/kujakuo.html

[Parpunk]

Hey guys, not to throw this off subject or anything. But i am a hardcore NES collector Nintendo fan boy etc. Well i just bought a Sega Master System at my local flea market a few weeks ago and just yesterday hooked it up and tested it out. It was in excellent shape and everything still had that clear plastic film over all the plastics, so when i peeled it off it all looked brand new. And i have to say its a sweet looking retro style system.

Now this was the first time i have played a SMS and i have to say its pretty sweet. I have a few games for it and i was wondering are there any must have awesome games for it? I found a few games at my flea market, alex kidd and the lost stars, spiderman, wonderboy 3 and James Buster Douglas Boxing, All were Complete and minty and only $5.00 each. I just beat alex kidd and the lost stars last night. And it was pretty good.

Anyways basically i just wanna know what other awesome games there are for it. any help would be great. thanks guys!

[playgeneration]

Buster Douglas is a nice find, very sought after game that. Theres loads of great games, especially if you look into the European releases too, nearly all of them play perfectly on a US console. Have a look at the database, and top 100 games list on this excellent sms site: http://www.sega8bit.com/
I'm sure you'll be able to trade Buster Douglas for other sms games with someone on there, unless you really want to keep it, I recommend offering it up on the sites forum.

[Parpunk]

Hey bro, yea i heard it was pretty rare and the copy i got was in stellar condition. But to be honest i played it lst night and it was pretty fun. not no mike tysons punchout, but still played pretty sweet. That power punch in that game rules. I'll prolly just hang onto it. I have always had a notion to keep anything i find in the wild that i dont have dupes of. lol

[greedostick]

Thanks for the info.


The two definitely shouldn't be confused, as MD is the sequel to Spellcaster. I admit to preferring MD over Spellcaster, as MD loses the text adventure bits and tightens up the controls in the action sequences. To me it always feels like you're running and jumping in slow motion in Spellcaster; not so in Mystic Defender.

But if you prefer Spellcaster, you may be interested in the two Famicom Kujaku Ou games, one of which seems to be a Fami version of Spellcaster minus the action sequences.

I've got a bit more info on the various games here:

http://hg101.classicgaming.gamespy.com/opcfg/kujakuo.html

[Gandhara]

Actually "The Ninja" does have a sister arcade game called Ninja Princess. Instead of porting that to the SMS though Sega made a new game for their console.

[BydoEmpire]

i was wondering are there any must have awesome games for it? I found a few games at my flea market, alex kidd and the lost stars, spiderman, wonderboy 3 and James Buster Douglas Boxing, All were Complete and minty and only $5.00 each. I just beat alex kidd and the lost stars last night. And it was pretty good.Very cool - Buster Douglas Boxing has been pretty pricey and difficult to find! Here are some other random games I recommend:

Penguin Land - action/puzzler where you can make your own levels
Shinobi - fantastic arcade port, one of the best of the era
Kenseiden - already mentioned, it's a great game
Alex Kidd in Miracle World - my favorite Alex Kidd game, and the game that sold me on the SMS. It's a pretty quirky little platformer with a little more depth than its sequels.
Fantasy Zone I-III - great arcade games, and unique style.

If you get a light gun for the SMS, you can pretty much do no wrong.

[Edit]FWIW, I really like Black Belt. Then again, I also remember playing a LOT of Deadly Towers with a friend of mine back in the day.

[Ed Oscuro]

Actually "The Ninja" does have a sister arcade game called Ninja Princess. Instead of porting that to the SMS though Sega made a new game for their console.
I thought The Ninja was the same game, just slightly changed. I'm quite sure I played a pretty much direct port of Ninja Princess for SG-1000 (My Card?) a few months ago.

Also, SMS did pretty nice for Japanese themed action games, especially where ninjas are concerned.

I don't think the system was pushed as much as the NES/FC was, and it certainly didn't have as deep a library. Still, without the SMS the world would be a colder place. I can only wonder what the SMS library would've looked like had more big publishers produced games for it.

[playgeneration]

"I don't think the system was pushed as much as the NES/FC was, and it certainly didn't have as deep a library. Still, without the SMS the world would be a colder place. I can only wonder what the SMS library would've looked like had more big publishers produced games for it."

Have you looked at the European games? plenty of games really make the most out of the hardware: Outrun Europa, Lucky Dime Caper, Asterix etc.
US people always say the sms has a limited library and nes is so much better, but then if you're only bothering to look at the limited number of US sms releases and comparing them to the US nes library that had years and years of more games what do you expect!

[blue lander]

A lot of people argue that since Nintendo wouldn't let developers release titles on the SMS in the US, there were few third party developer games for it. Imagine how much better the library would be if it wasn't for Nintendo's monopolistic tactics!

... But did Nintendo do anything to stop developers from working on the SMS in Japan? Look at the PC Engine. While the library was severely limited in the US because of Nintendo, the library in Japan is absolutely massive with tons of third party developed games. Both the TG-16 and SMS got spanked in the US, but at least you could argue that if NEC or TTI or whoever released the "cream of the crop" of the PC engine library over here, it could have easily gone toe to toe with the NES. How much larger is the Japanese/European SMS library than the US one? And how many of those games were actually good enough to make a difference?

It's easy to blame Nintendo's unfairness for the SMS's failure in the US and the relative small size of it's library, but why did it fail in Japan as well?

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

Well, the Mark III was released a full two years after the Famicom, by which time Nintendo had achieved total market dominance in Japan. The PC Engine came out four or five years after the Famicom, by which time there was a market for something new.

The SG-1000 was actually Sega's system that was originally released to compete with the Famicom, but it was just not up to snuff graphically. The SG-1000 should have been capable of Colecovision level graphics, but actually most games are of an even lower quality than that. On the other hand, the Famicom was the Dreamcast of its day, it truly brought home the arcade experience in 1983 with very high quality ports of all the popular arcade games of the time. I think there's also something to the suggestion that Sega was always viewed as a foreign company in Japan whether or not it was functioanlly the case, so their systems always had a hard road which is why none of them were particularly successful over there (the Saturn being the closest).

I absolutely agree that the NES was pushed farther in a technological sense than the Master System. Probably more than any other video game system ever. I mean, can you imagine the Colecovision competing against the Genesis? And not just in a market share sense, but actually on a graphical level.

I don't think any of the European or Brazilian released games pushed the Master System further than the U.S. released games did. For the most part they were lower quality if anything. There is indeed a much larger and deeper library of Master System games when you look into European and Brazilian releases, but I don't think very many of them are worthwhile. A few, sure, but just like the vast majority of NES games over here, the vast majority of SMS games released in Europe and trash. That's just the fate of popular systems.


...word is bondage...

[Ed Oscuro]

Have you looked at the European games? plenty of games really make the most out of the hardware: Outrun Europa, Lucky Dime Caper, Asterix etc.
Well, I haven't checked out Lucky Dime Caper, but those three games aren't really from my favorite genres. There are good entries in the person-based shooting game (Time Soldiers), Castlevania clone (Kenseiden, I hear; never got far in it last time I played), and shooting (various Compile games), but each of those genres is strongly represented on the NES. Lots of variety to be had.

Also, even with Brazilian and European titles the SMS library is a bit slim compared to the SMS. Just a fact of the numbers. Of course, even with the SMS library there's enough titles to keep anyone busy for a long time.

[Ed Oscuro]

It's easy to blame Nintendo's unfairness for the SMS's failure in the US and the relative small size of it's library, but why did it fail in Japan as well?
Crazy irrational product lines (which likely limited the installed base of "current" machines) would have been one factor...I can't say anything else for certain, but not being able to sell in the US should have dampened the enthusiasm of any developer for producing SMS titles as they would've known it was a less productive effort than making NES/FC titles.

For whatever reason, the Mega Drive also seems to have been less popular in Japan, though, so who knows what was going on (I can imagine that Sega Japan was less than supportive of the Genesis add-ons due to the memory of how the SG-era machines fared).

[rcgamer]

Hey guys, not to throw this off subject or anything. But i am a hardcore NES collector Nintendo fan boy etc. Well i just bought a Sega Master System at my local flea market a few weeks ago and just yesterday hooked it up and tested it out. It was in excellent shape and everything still had that clear plastic film over all the plastics, so when i peeled it off it all looked brand new. And i have to say its a sweet looking retro style system.

Now this was the first time i have played a SMS and i have to say its pretty sweet. I have a few games for it and i was wondering are there any must have awesome games for it? I found a few games at my flea market, alex kidd and the lost stars, spiderman, wonderboy 3 and James Buster Douglas Boxing, All were Complete and minty and only $5.00 each. I just beat alex kidd and the lost stars last night. And it was pretty good.

Anyways basically i just wanna know what other awesome games there are for it. any help would be great. thanks guys!

I have to mention Rescue Mission if you have a light phaser. That is probably one of the most overlooked titles on the SMS. The game can be very challenging and ,for the time, had excellent graphics. And as someone else already mentioned , get Shinobi. I was floored by how accurate the translation from coin-op to SMS was when I first played it.

[rcgamer]

The ninja was sweet. What was the game with the ninja kid. It was a side view game. Might have been My Hero. That was a good one also.

I think you are talking about Kung Fu Kid.