Master System vs NES

[krooper13]

I really love the Master System, so innvariably this will be a little biased!

I just don't understand why the Master System was so completely demolished by the NES, I live in the UK so the Master System was more popular here, but I think Western Europe is the only place it was. Ok the argument could be that the NES has a wider and thus better games catalouge, but that was due to it winning the console war, the Master System is alot better graphicaly and as far as I'm aware its better from a technical stanpoint, plus it had Alex Kidd in Miracle World from early on, which is reason enough to have one me thinks!

So if you do prefer the NES or simply know why it fared so much better please share...

[Tupin]

Nintendo had an iron grip on all third parties releasing NES games in America. They had to be extensively tested for glitches and such. Then we get to the fact that Nintendo committed some acts that were later shown to be antitrust violations, such as limiting developers to only bringing out five games a year and threatening stores that carried unlicensed NES games or Master System games that they wouldn't sell them games anymore. Did I mention that once you made a game on NES, you couldn't put it on another system for two years?

This basically killed the Master System in America.

[j_factor]

Not only that, but Sega handed over the Master System to Tonka for the most crucial 2-3 years of the 8-bit era (1987-89). Tonka didn't know how to market a game system, and did very badly. By the time it was back in Sega's hands, they were ready to release the Genesis.

[Steve W]

Then we get to the fact that Nintendo committed some acts that were later shown to be antitrust violations, such as limiting developers to only bringing out five games a year and threatening stores that carried unlicensed NES games or Master System games that they wouldn't sell them games anymore.
It wasn't just Master System games that stores weren't allowed to sell in competition with Nintendo, it was Atari games too, so much so that Atari ended up suing Nintendo over it. And another one of the illegal acts Nintendo was doing was claiming there was a chip shortage so they could price gouge American consumers, a fact discovered after a Senator tried getting his daughter a copy of Super Mario 3 (hard to find at that time) and found warehouses in Japan filled with carts ready to be shipped. Nintendo was claiming it had to raise the price because of chip shortages and dole them out slowly (much like the Wii), when they were really basically screwing over the American public. And then they got out of the Senate investigation by sending $5 off coupons to everyone who sent in a warranty card at some point. So they got people to use the coupon and buy even more games from them. This was the point where I decided to stop buying anything Nintendo, when it was shown how little regard they had for America.

[Nionel]

It's funny to think that Nintendo used to be so tyrannical about what games they would allow to be released on their console, especially with all of the shovel ware you see on the Wii and DS these days, I used to work in a retail store and we literally didn't have the shelf space for all the crap that came out for those two consoles.

Anyway, the Master System was also really big in Brazil, so much so that games were released for it well into the mid 90s. Nintendo was what killed the Master System in the US. Honestly, I had never even seen a Master System sold in a store when I was younger, I remember seeing Nintendo every where, but never a Master System.

[Tupin]

It wasn't just Master System games that stores weren't allowed to sell in competition with Nintendo, it was Atari games too, so much so that Atari ended up suing Nintendo over it. And another one of the illegal acts Nintendo was doing was claiming there was a chip shortage so they could price gouge American consumers, a fact discovered after a Senator tried getting his daughter a copy of Super Mario 3 (hard to find at that time) and found warehouses in Japan filled with carts ready to be shipped. Nintendo was claiming it had to raise the price because of chip shortages and dole them out slowly (much like the Wii), when they were really basically screwing over the American public. And then they got out of the Senate investigation by sending $5 off coupons to everyone who sent in a warranty card at some point. So they got people to use the coupon and buy even more games from them. This was the point where I decided to stop buying anything Nintendo, when it was shown how little regard they had for America.
Yeah, and their tactics also killed the TurboGrafx-16 because it came at the wrong time. It was also NEC that did a big part of killing it in America, but that's another story.

[The 1 2 P]

The one time I played games on the Master System(Rocky, Rambo and something else) I enjoyed it very much. But unfortunately the MS could never come close to touching all of the great games available for the Nes.

[krooper13]

Well that sorts out why Nintendo won the battle, but why is the NES so ridiculously popular with American colletors? I just don't see the appeal its so far behind graphicaly it looks like a previous generation. I appreciate there are a fair share of classic games, but the Master System has some great titles too which seem to be ignored.

[j_factor]

The NES has over 700 games released in the US. The PAL NES only had something like 200 games. On the other hand, the US Master System only has like 120 games, compared to however many were available in Europe. So it's a different comparison. However, it is very easy for us to import European SMS games, whereas I understand it's difficult for people in PAL land to import NES games.

[jb143]

Well that sorts out why Nintendo won the battle, but why is the NES so ridiculously popular with American colletors? I just don't see the appeal its so far behind graphicaly it looks like a previous generation. I appreciate there are a fair share of classic games, but the Master System has some great titles too which seem to be ignored.

One word. Nostalgia

People like to collect what they know, what brings back memories. While I'm sure plenty of people on here collect for the Master System and other systems that they didn't have as a kid, nothing beats firing up your favorite games from the past and reliving the old memories.

[Greg2600]

The NES was simply the best system at the time, in terms of gameplay, graphics, movie and celebrity licenses, sound and music, etc. They spent huge amounts of money on advertising, which SEGA did not, or did not have at the time. I've sampled a lot of SMS games on emulator, and in comparison they don't measure to the NES games. Nintendo also had a head start. By 1987 they were firmly placed as "the" system to get.

The company itself hasn't changed. I don't care what anybody tells me, they have purposely held back Wii deliveries in the USA to drive up demand. Ironcially, why you see so much "shovelware" is that many of the big name game publishers are not releasing for Wii. Either for graphical shortcomings, or violience/mature content in the games. If it wasn't for the Wii-Mote, the systme would be a bust. The Gamecube was a lot cheaper to buy than the Xbox or PS2, but sold the least by far.

I was once a Nintendo-ite, but totally gave up on it after the N64. If I wanted to play games with lesser graphics and kiddy themes, I'd go back to the NES. Still doesn't mean I don't love the NES and SNES (still the best system ever made). I just want to see more technology, an evolution of it. The Wii-mote is, but the Wii is not. It's Nintendo DS on a TV, for kiddies and girlies. LOL Also, I'd rather give my money to a company owned by mostly American shareholders. Oh say can you see!

PS: It's Monday, and I'm cranky!

[DigitalSpace]

why is the NES so ridiculously popular with American colletors?


One word. Nostalgia

What he said.

[Graham Mitchell]

The NES was simply the best system at the time, in terms of gameplay, graphics, movie and celebrity licenses, sound and music, etc. They spent huge amounts of money on advertising, which SEGA did not, or did not have at the time. I've sampled a lot of SMS games on emulator, and in comparison they don't measure to the NES games. Nintendo also had a head start. By 1987 they were firmly placed as "the" system to get.


I agree with this to some extent, although I would say that, due to the more diverse color palette, SMS games tended to look better than NES games if done properly. (There are some stinkers...like Captain Silver.)

I too was going through some SMS games on an emulator last year and I noticed for the first time that a lot of the SMS games were lacking in some respect. I couldn't spend more than 2 minutes with most of them. Most of them felt like sub-par, rushed rehashes of decent-selling NES games. Not all of them, mind you, but many more than I remembered. I'm not saying I'll never play an SMS game again-Spellcaster, Phantasy Star, Fantasy Zone, etc., are all classics. I guess I just realized that the SMS catalog really ended up being stuffed with a lot of crap, especially at the end of its life-span.

[Greg2600]

The SMS also began with a lot of ports from the previous generation games that had been released on Atari, Colecovision and MSX. Plus even some of the most popular titles were given Genesis sequels and ports which were barely different than the original, other than graphics and sound. After Burner I/II, Alex Kidd, Alien Storm, Lighting Force, Shinobi, Space Harrier, etc. Kind of redundant. Not nearly the same comparison as Super Mario Brothers 2 or 3 and Super Mario World. I have no problem with SMS, and one of these days, when I clear some space up, I'll probably get one. It's just not as good (to me) as the NES. And in hindsight, neither is the Genesis over the SNES. They're still great systems with good games though.

[savageone]

I had a Master System before a NES.. Here in the US, even. There was one major problem though I could not find any place to rent Master System games! Every rental store had NES games, none had SMS games. Also, only one store in my area actually sold SMS games as far as I can remember. I think it was K-Mart or Wal Mart and the selection was slim pickings compared to the NES.

You guys can debate all you want about the factors that made the SMS perform so poorly in the US but I think the only real problem was you couldn't find the system or games in stores easily.

Side note: To this day Ghostbusters (far superior Master System version of course) remains among my favorite 8-bit games!

[Roehm21]

I also have never remember seeing the Master System or games at any of the stores I went to when I was younger. The first time I actually played games was at a friends house and we played it on his Genesis via the SMS converter. This is one reason why I am going to eventually get a Master System just because I never had a chance to play it. Right now I will just have to put up with playing the games on my Game Gear.

Peace,
Dan

[Blitzwing256]

The system had a small handfull of decently made games, but overall the quality was terrible...sure the games were prettier..had more colours..but gameplaywise most of them were beyond garbage, a few examples:

double dragon, yeah it was closer to the arcade comsmeticlly, but it is NO FUN to play, awfull control, terribly unfun dificulty, very repetitive and just no fun to play.

golevious (keep in mind I like it)
awfull control, poor level design, awful combat, great idea executed poorly (pplay the msx version to see what it shoulda been)

miracle warriors
blech ;-)


ROCKY
very limited boxing game, again pretty graphics...very little to do..no variety between apollo clubber or ivan the traniing wasn't intersting and the game just yuck.

rambo
slow moving, unfair dificulty poor hit detetion (i'll give it credit its light years more fun then the nes ikari warriors...and less buggy then commando...but still blech)

I could go on and on, but just overall the quality of the games was lacking, you can tell where they were rushed to the market compared to how very polished simmilar games on the nes were (zelda dragon warrior punchout etc etc)

[j_factor]

Wow, I thought Miracle Warriors was great. But either way, any system will look bad if you randomly pluck 5 mediocre games from its library. SMS had some great stuff, too. Don't forget games like Phantasy Star, Master of Darkness, Ninja Gaiden (better than the NES games IMO), Cyborg Hunter, Zillion, etc. For better or for worse, the SMS tended to have more sophisticated offerings compared to NES. Compare Miracle World to Super Mario Bros. I personally think Mario is a slightly better game overall just in terms of fun, but Miracle World is definitely a more "advanced" game in many ways.

[megasdkirby]

golevious (keep in mind I like it)
awfull control, poor level design, awful combat, great idea executed poorly (pplay the msx version to see what it shoulda been)

miracle warriors
blech ;-)

Blasphemy! LOL

Honestly, I thought Golvellious was an awesome game. I loved everything about it and found it more accessible than Zelda at the time. It even captivated me more than Zelda ever did. I remember playing Zelda at the time, and how it was so obscure in many parts of the game that it angered me. At least Golvellious gave out cryptic clues to what to do. Plus I loved the entire concept.

A shame part II was never released on the SMS.

Miracle Warriors is also a fantastic game, though very complex, specially for it's time.

What I don't understand is this: if there were "quality testers" at the time, how can so many terrible games get released for it? (for the NES) I always thought the NES had more lackluster games than the NES. Sure, some may argue that the comparison isn't fair, since the NES library has more games than the NES, but taking it by percentage, it wouldn't surprise me that it's actually higher than on the SMS.

Of course, this is all a matter of opinion. But I personally found more terrible games on the NES than the SMS.

But the NES did give us Kirby... :D:D:D

[Sabz5150]

It's funny to think that Nintendo used to be so tyrannical about what games they would allow to be released on their console, especially with all of the shovel ware you see on the Wii and DS these days, I used to work in a retail store and we literally didn't have the shelf space for all the crap that came out for those two consoles.

Anyway, the Master System was also really big in Brazil, so much so that games were released for it well into the mid 90s. Nintendo was what killed the Master System in the US. Honestly, I had never even seen a Master System sold in a store when I was younger, I remember seeing Nintendo every where, but never a Master System.

They didn't want a replay of Custer's Revenge. I don't blame them... the NES was marketed squarely at the younger generation.

[ccovell]

To start, I own a couple SMSes and a Game Gear. I like both. They have some amazing games, but none that make me want to play them for more than an hour straight. (I don't like turn-based RPGs on any system, if that'll pre-empt the "Phantasy Star defense.")


I always thought the NES had more lackluster games than the NES. Sure, some may argue that the comparison isn't fair, since the NES library has more games than the NES, but taking it by percentage, it wouldn't surprise me that it's actually higher than on the SMS.

Of course, this is all a matter of opinion. But I personally found more terrible games on the NES than the SMS.
While that may be true, most of us are smart enough to steer clear of crappy games. Where the SMS fails against the NES is in the number of good-to-great games to steer TOWARDS.



For better or for worse, the SMS tended to have more sophisticated offerings compared to NES. Compare Miracle World to Super Mario Bros. I personally think Mario is a slightly better game overall just in terms of fun, but Miracle World is definitely a more "advanced" game in many ways.

Yes, Alex Kidd in Miracle World is a more advanced game than Mario. Mario 1. But Sega basically stopped there. Nintendo, on the other hand kept delivering great sequel after great sequel of Mario (2,3,World, World 2,64), which is what we had asked for.

Yes, of course, Nintendo was cruel and restrictive to game developers, but this problem is not really related to game quality, just game type and numbers. Sega (and its hopeful licensees) could have made more mind-blowing-quality games which were fully polished and had long gamelife, to rival Nintendo's offerings, but they didn't. (Most of the games lack polish, is what I'm saying.) They couldn't rival NES licensees, let alone Nintendo themselves.

[Chainclaw]

Aside from the obvious nostalgia factor for current popularity among collectors, the NES is just more available than most other classic consoles. There are nowhere near as many Master System cartridges in the USA as there are NES cartridges, so you run into NES carts all the time.

And for the marketing at the time... Look at a Sega Master System game box. Those have some of the most useless box art ever, and for kids, the blue grid on a white box is pretty lame. Nintendo's game boxes were often more exciting, and they did a good job of changing up the style every few years. You also had things like the propaganda machine that was Nintendo Power in the US doing an excellent job at making kids want everything Nintendo. They went so far as to send free copies of Dragon Warrior to everyone with a subscription, which is the game that introduced me and got me hooked on RPGs for life.

I had one friend with a Sega Master System when I was a kid, and there were some OK games on it, nothing on it matched the games I played all the time as a kid: Mario, Mega Man, Chip 'n Dale's Rescue Rangers, Dragon Warrior, Ducktales, and Zelda.

[Graham Mitchell]

They didn't want a replay of Custer's Revenge. I don't blame them... the NES was marketed squarely at the younger generation.

The "adult content" wasn't the only thing Nintendo was trying to avoid, though.

By the end of the 2600/Intellivision/etc. glory days, the market was flooded with shit games that despite a few sprite changes and palette swaps, were identical games to the ones people bought less than a year prior. (Look at Saboteur and the A-team, for example.) This was mostly due to the arrogance of Ray Kassar, who basically believed that you could cram a turd in a 2600 cartridge and sell a million copies. The public, rightfully so, voted with their pocketbooks and decided to stop buying games because there was no regard for the quality of what was being released (from Atari, specifically.) The shit home version of Pac-Man that Atari churned out actually worked to destroy many a consumer's faith in Atari, and I know several people who actually considered that the final straw before they stopped buying games entirely.

THIS is what Nintendo was trying to prevent with many of their tight regulations towards publishers. They didn't want the market flooded with garbage again, and so, at least in the NES days, the "Official Nintendo Seal of Quality" actually meant something to some extent because there are plenty of Famicom games that are just total abortions that never made it over here. (Bokosuka Wars, for example. I'm sure somebody would have loved to steal American dollars for that POS, but Nintendo wouldn't let them.)

So, say what you will about Nintendo's business practices during that period. I think a lot of their dicking around with publishers and retailers was, of course, entirely unethical and unprofessional, and is not to be commended. But really, had Nintendo not been so strict about what they were allowing on their machine, the industry never would have recovered from the crash because retailers would never have allowed any more video games on their store shelves.

Then Sony came along along some years later, who utilized a different marketing strategy--flood the market with whatever you can. Oddly enough, that worked for them, and now systems have diverse library of crap, and nothing much more than that.

[NE146]

I can speak from direct personal experience as I'm probably one of the rarer members who in 1989, was in college and had both a Sega Master System and an NES, and would purchase games for both freely. (why limit yourself I thought :p)

I'll admit I preferred the NES. The SMS did give me my best gaming experiences at the time with Phantasy Star & Y's, but let's just face the fact that the majority of SMS titles were slow & flickery. And the music sounded terrible in so many of them with that toy-like 'synth" sound.

The NES may have been somewhat weaker, but it was really obvious how solid some of the stronger software titles such as Megaman 2, Blaster Master, and Zelda 2 were in comparison to anything the Master System had to offer.

I loved both, but the NES won sheerly on the strength of software I guess is my point. Marketing practices & distribution be darned.

[eskobar]

I think that the major strength of a video game system is the software available (or in development).

SEGA MASTER SYSTEM was maketed to an older consumer and that was very obvious in the end of the 80's. Many friends had a Nintendo and i only knew one friend that had Master System and he was 10 years older ...

It was strange to find the SMS on the stores where my family shopped and i really wanted one of those beautiful black consoles but i was out of luck until i desisted on purchasing one (well, my father will pay for it, hehehe).

Although i wanted one SMS i never missed it because the NES had all the games one could ask for : RPGs, Adventure, Platforms, Arcade, Shooters, Puzzle ... It doesn't matter if SMS had was more powerful, NINTENDO had the best and biggest library.

I will only mention a few of my favorites on the NES, can you try to match those selections on SMS ?

Mega Man 2
Dragon Warrior III
Final Fantasy
Super Mario 3
The Legend of Zelda
Kid Icarus
Crystalis
Castlevania
Contra
Adventures of Lolo 3
Little Samson
Duck Tales
Willow .....

I love SMS, but there is no comparison between the library of both systems. And i didn't mention any FAMICOM games that were widely available on Mexico ... i love the Samurai Pizza Cats game !!

[Orion Pimpdaddy]

Reason #1
No Super Mario

Reason #2
The Master System artwork is horrible compared to the NES. Those white boxes are the ugliest things in my video game room. I'm sure this has something to do with the SMS demise.

Reason #3
Lack of selection and quality. As many people have already stated, the games just don't measure up.

Reason #4
No ROB. After the video game crash, stores did not have faith in the video game market. The robot set allowed Nintendo to get a foothold in these stores because it was viewed as a toy, rather than a game system. As soon as they got their foothold, they discontinued ROB :( SMS had no ROB.

[Dr. Dib]

I read the whole topic in two sitting, but I may have missed someone mention why the Master System did better in Europe than the NES. The reason was that SEGA got to Europe before Nintendo in most countries and was sold in some countries that Nintendo did not sell to. As a result, the Master System is more common in Europe while the NES is more common in America. Although strangely the original Master System is rarer in Europe, or at least the U.K., and the 2nd edition is rarer in the U.S. At least that's what I remember.

Anyway, my time with the Master System has more or less been stunted by the lack of games I could find. The game store I go to usually only has copies of Hang-on/Safari Hunt and Great Baseball in stock. The game I played with the most potential was Zillion. It seems like it had potential, but I only played it for a few minutes while testing my purchases.

Surprisingly, the Master System didn't sell for too much in the store as it was only $21. Still, it was the only time I ever saw one in the video game store. I don't think I knew much about it as a kid. For a time, it seemed like the Genesis was the first SEGA Console.

[PresidentLeever]

It doesn't matter if SMS had was more powerful, NINTENDO had the best and biggest library.

I will only mention a few of my favorites on the NES, can you try to match those selections on SMS ?



Another reason for the nes maintaining the upper hand through that era was that Nintendo had the third party support (Konami, Capcom etc.), and they kept it by forcing companies to develop exclusively for their console.

Ok since most people here who prefer the nes can't even mention any sms games I'll take you up on this comparison thing..

Mega Man 2 - If Capcom were allowed to produce for the sms, I'm sure we'd have seen a superior version. As for futuristic platformers for the sms, well Zillion is good. And Cyborg Hunter is OK.

Dragon Warrior III - Phantasy star is at least on par, if not better than any of the nes RPGs I've played, with it's excellent presentation (cutscenes and smooth faux 3D dungeons), it's unique theme, and modern interface (for the time).

Final Fantasy - Well, I know how revered this game is but personally I didn't think the FF games got good until FFIV (2 us). But try Ultima IV.

Super Mario 3 - Well, no platformer on the sms is on par to be honest. But some of the best are Sonic The Hedgehog, Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Land of Illusion, and Bubble Bobble.

The Legend of Zelda - Golden Axe Warrior. It's basically the same game but with added content like actual towns, save points etc. Golvellius is another similar title and again is a more varied and satisfying experience than LoZ.

Kid Icarus - You know, this game isn't that good anyway.

Crystalis - Wonder Boy III: Dragon's Trap and Spellcaster are similar.

Castlevania - Kenseiden, Ninja Gaiden, Shinobi, Jurassic Park.

Contra - Rambo: First Blood Part 2. Again, a Contra port for the sms would probably have been better.

Adventures of Lolo 3 - While it is nothing like Lolo it's a good puzzler: Penguin Land.

Little Samson - Psycho Fox? I haven't played this one yet.

Duck Tales - There were several quality Disney games on the sms - Castle of Illusion, Land of Illusion, Lucky Dime Caper, Deep Duck Trouble.

Willow - see above (LoZ and Crystalis).


Now I'd like to see what you can come up with against this lineup :)
Power strike 2
Gangster Town
Fantasy Zone 1-2
Road Rash
R-Type
Ecco 1-2

[tom]

Reason #1



Reason #3
Lack of selection and quality. As many people have already stated, the games just don't measure up.



Quality? on NES/Famicom? 2200 titles, maybe 200 quality/average titles, rest is rubbish....

NES was only popular as a console in USA because of bullying tactics, nothing else (Game Over, the book)
http://www.videogamecollectors.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=246204&g2_serialNumber=1

[eskobar]

Another reason for the nes maintaining the upper hand through that era was that Nintendo had the third party support (Konami, Capcom etc.), and they kept it by forcing companies to develop exclusively for their console.

Ok since most people here who prefer the nes can't even mention any sms games I'll take you up on this comparison thing...

Very nice comparison, my point is :

NES had 6 original Mega Man games ... and a few "look-like" games like "The Krion Conquest" for example.

NES had 4 Dragon Quest, 2 Zeldas, Ultima, Wizardy ... for example.

Kid Icarus is very good but if you do not like it you can choose Metroid instead...

3 castlevanias, Toki, 3 Adventure Island, Blaster Master, 3 ninja Gaidens, 3 super marios and the list goes on ... and on :)

Yes, you can match the ones of my favorites, but notice the difference in quantity of quality games.


About the games you put as an example, some of them are not very good ... and i will never buy a system just to play any of those games, maybe Aleste 2(not sure if aleste 2 and Power Strike II are the same :S ).

And to cover similar gameplay for those games you can try : 1942, 1943, Gradius, Life Force, Contra, Guerrilla War, Super Spy Hunter, Wild Gunman, Samurai Pizza Cats, Macross, Gun Smoke, Burai Fighter; to name a few :D

And i have nothing against the SMS, i loved it and if i could i would had purchased it if i had the money as a kid, but if i get to choose only one system there is no comparison.

[tom]

Nothing wrong with SMS box art:
http://www.videogamecollectors.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=197858&g2_serialNumber=1
http://www.videogamecollectors.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=197860&g2_serialNumber=1
http://www.videogamecollectors.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=197870&g2_serialNumber=1

[krooper13]

I always thought the NES box art was a weak point, they look so very 80s that they've dated alot worse. Though some of the SMS stuff is poor there are highlights:
http://www.smspower.org/scans/sms/h

[Ruudos]

Nothing wrong with SMS box art:


Nothing wrong with those, but these are rare games and aren't good examples of the typical SMS box art.

Now I'm wondering. What are those European countries where they didn't sell the NES, but did sell the SMS? BTW, the SMS wasn't more popular in every European country. The first time I heard the word "SEGA" was when the Mega Drive was released.


The NES has over 700 games released in the US. The PAL NES only had something like 200 games. On the other hand, the US Master System only has like 120 games, compared to however many were available in Europe. So it's a different comparison. However, it is very easy for us to import European SMS games, whereas I understand it's difficult for people in PAL land to import NES games.

I don't see why that's difficult. I see a lot of US games floating around here for any system.

[tom]

European countries did sell the NES, but marketing from Mattel was very poor, and NES games were mostly bad, and twice the price of SMS titles (Example Star Wars NES was GBP 50.99, SMS version GBP 29.99 or less).

Sega did extremely good marketing in UK selling the SMS, more European software houses developed for the SMS than for the NES, and many were of top quality.

Also, during the 80s in Europe, computers ruled, C64 in Europe, and in the UK, the awful Spectrum computer, their software titles were usually bewtween GBP 1.99 - 14.99, and later the ST and Amiga had better softs than consoles (and still cheaper).

The SMS was not popular in Netherland? Was the NES more popluar as it was in the Skandinavian countries?

[Chainclaw]

The 3D dungeons in Phantasy Star are a huge turn-off to a lot of people.

[swlovinist]

I want to say that I am a huge fan of both(Sega and Nintendo both have their own wall in my game room). For me, and 9 out of 10 kids growing up, you did not see Sega when the Nes was out. Sega was a just a small glimmer of what it grew into with the success of the Genesis in the states. If I want to play something, I choose the Nes, becaue there were alot more childhood memories made with that system. My friends had a Nes, I rented Nes games, and at the time, that is pretty much what I played. I also now have a US liscensed set of games for the Nes(770+), so I get to play all the great games that were overlooked and underappreciated(castle of dragon for example).

Now for the SMS, I knew abou the system when I was about 12, but really did not play it much. The US got pretty screwed when it came to marketing and great US games. As time went on, I finally finished my US set and got to see some good SMS games, as well as play many of the great UK games on my dreamcast by emu, but it plays awsome.

If I grew up in the UK, then I probably would prefer the SMS. Does one have to be better than the other? I prefer the Nes, but the SMS was a good system too. Nostalgia will trump any tech specs and game comparasions. I could say that the NES has better sound, but in the end will it matter? If I lived in the UK, saw a limited Nes selection and high priced games, I would probaby play the SMS and be merry.

Now with all that crap that I just said, I am going to play not only some Guerrilla War, but I will also pop in some Kenseiden as well.

Let us have a truce!

[grolt]

Plenty of blind criticisms lobbied in this thread. The SMS casing is the ugliest ever? Really? It's one thing to not appreciate the consistent, minimalist style of the first generation of releases, but the majority of the games on the system feature some really stunning artwork. Golvellius, Altered Beast, Ghouls'n Ghosts, Golden Axe Warrior, Phantasy Star, SpellCaster, Lord of the Sword, Kenseiden, Ys, Psycho Fox, Miracle Warriors, Power Strike and Aerial Assault all feature some amazing illustrations. Indeed, all those games and more wouldn't look out of place at all if displayed solely as artwork.

Even if you compare early and later releases from both systems, it's hardly a one-sided affair:

http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/4358/240pxalexkiddinmiraclewyc2.jpg http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/8559/256pxsupermariobrosboxmp1.jpg

http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/580/gollllyl3.jpg http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/2686/256pxzeldaiitheadventurif9.jpg

I'll save my games rant for another day.

[Rob2600]

Mega Man 2 - If Capcom were allowed to produce for the sms, I'm sure we'd have seen a superior version.

Contra - Again, a Contra port for the sms would probably have been better.

Better/superior, how?


Now I'd like to see what you can come up with against this lineup :)
Power strike 2
Gangster Town
Fantasy Zone 1-2
Road Rash
R-Type
Ecco 1-2

(SMS) Power Strike 2 - (NES) Legendary Wings, Dragon Spirit, Gun-Nac, 1943, Twin Cobra

(SMS) Gangster Town - (NES) Freedom Force, Hogan's Alley, Wild Gunman, Gotcha!

(SMS) Fantasy Zone 1-2 - (NES) Stinger, TaleSpin, Bee 52, and of course Fantasy Zone and Fantasy Zone II

(SMS) Road Rash - (NES) RoadBlasters, R.C. Pro-Am, Cobra Triangle

(SMS) R-Type - (NES) Life Force, Abadox, Star Soldier

(SMS) Ecco - (NES) The Little Mermaid


Note: I didn't count non-U.S. games like Crisis Force, Recca, or Parodius.

[Greg2600]

Honestly, I recall seeing more Master System games being sold in the early 90's, alongside Genesis games, than in the 80's. Few sold them, and whoever said nobody rented them is 100% correct. Nintendo also had Nintendo Power, trading cards, a couple cartoons, product placement all over the place, Konami, Capcom, Tecmo, and its own games. However it happened, by 1988, Nintendo was the only system you had to have, as a kid. We talked about Nintendo every day. When the Genesis came out, most of us figured SEGA came out of thin air (we didn't take notice who made arcade games). Yes, there were definitely many people who had never seen or heard of a Master System. The effect from word of mouth is unstoppable.

Plus, here's an NES top ten I just came up with right now:
Super Mario Bros., Zelda, Metroid, Punch-Out, Contra, Tecmo Bowl, R.C. Pro-Am, Mega Man 2, Blades of Steel, and Castlevania. All released by 1988 I think. SMS does not have a list of 10 that measure up to those.

[swlovinist]

As for a Power Strike 2 comparison on the NES, there was Zanac

[PresidentLeever]

NES had 6 original Mega Man games ... and a few "look-like" games like "The Krion Conquest" for example. Etc.

And to cover similar gameplay for those games you can try : 1942, 1943, Gradius, Life Force, Contra, Guerrilla War, Super Spy Hunter, Wild Gunman, Samurai Pizza Cats, Macross, Gun Smoke, Burai Fighter; to name a few :D

And i have nothing against the SMS

Ok let's see.. 6 Mega Man games. I've played them all, but the only ones worth having are 2, 3, 5. They're all too similar and the series peaked at 2.

For RPGs I think the genre isn't really worth bothering with for the 8-bitters but of course there were many more of them for the nes.
..And much more of everything since the library is like, 5 times bigger (?). There are much fewer sms exclusives.

some of those shooters are pretty good, like Life Force, Burai Fighter and 1943. some are awful.. ^^ But the only ones that measure up to power strike 2 or R-Type, in my opinion, would be Crisis Force and Gun Nac.

I've nothing against the nes either, I grew up playing both (owned a sms but many friends and relatives had the nes) and love them almost equally. My reply wasn't meant to be competitive, just wanted to inform some of the heavily biased people who posted here.


Rob2600:

Well don't you think they would've improved them somehow considering the hardware is better? Only the sound chip is arguably worse, but it's a matter of taste I guess.

As for the comparisons..
(NES) Legendary Wings, Dragon Spirit, Gun-Nac, 1943, Twin Cobra - Excluding Twin Cobra these are good choices, and I'd agree that Gun Nac is on par with Power strike 2. The others aren't must haves or anything but still enjoyable.

(NES) Freedom Force, Hogan's Alley, Wild Gunman, Gotcha! - I know Freedom Force is quite good, but not the rest. From what I've played I think that in general the zapper games were better on sms. They ported later, more advanced titles for it.

(NES) Stinger, TaleSpin, Bee 52, um, Fantasy Zone and Fantasy Zone II - Well, stinger is really poor, it's very repetitive and ugly. Talespin isn't great either, one of the few exceptions when it comes to disney games for nes. And FZ is better on sms, of course :)
I think I liked Bee 52 though, I haven't played it much.

(NES) RoadBlasters, R.C. Pro-Am, Cobra Triangle - None of these are biking/fighting hybrids but they are pretty good, esp. Cobra Triangle. RC Pro-Am 2 is probably the best racing game on nes.

(SMS) Ecco - (NES) The Little Mermaid - Well, Ecco might be better on the mega drive but it's not That bad on sms :P

[CDiablo]

As a child I did not really remember many ads for the Master System....Also all my friends had NES. And lets face it....Nintendos marketing machine was a monster. TV, Movies, Cereal, product placement everywhere.

[j_factor]

The "adult content" wasn't the only thing Nintendo was trying to avoid, though.

By the end of the 2600/Intellivision/etc. glory days, the market was flooded with shit games that despite a few sprite changes and palette swaps, were identical games to the ones people bought less than a year prior. (Look at Saboteur and the A-team, for example.) This was mostly due to the arrogance of Ray Kassar, who basically believed that you could cram a turd in a 2600 cartridge and sell a million copies. The public, rightfully so, voted with their pocketbooks and decided to stop buying games because there was no regard for the quality of what was being released (from Atari, specifically.) The shit home version of Pac-Man that Atari churned out actually worked to destroy many a consumer's faith in Atari, and I know several people who actually considered that the final straw before they stopped buying games entirely.

THIS is what Nintendo was trying to prevent with many of their tight regulations towards publishers. They didn't want the market flooded with garbage again, and so, at least in the NES days, the "Official Nintendo Seal of Quality" actually meant something to some extent because there are plenty of Famicom games that are just total abortions that never made it over here. (Bokosuka Wars, for example. I'm sure somebody would have loved to steal American dollars for that POS, but Nintendo wouldn't let them.)

So, say what you will about Nintendo's business practices during that period. I think a lot of their dicking around with publishers and retailers was, of course, entirely unethical and unprofessional, and is not to be commended. But really, had Nintendo not been so strict about what they were allowing on their machine, the industry never would have recovered from the crash because retailers would never have allowed any more video games on their store shelves.

I don't really buy this. I've always found the seal of quality to be little more than a rubber stamp process. There were many, many games on the NES that were absolute garbage. I think it was more to enforce their contracts than anything.

[Sudo]

I don't really buy this. I've always found the seal of quality to be little more than a rubber stamp process. There were many, many games on the NES that were absolute garbage. I think it was more to enforce their contracts than anything.

Exactly. The seal only means that the game is guaranteed to work on the system, not that it's any good.

[Graham Mitchell]

I don't really buy this. I've always found the seal of quality to be little more than a rubber stamp process. There were many, many games on the NES that were absolute garbage. I think it was more to enforce their contracts than anything.

I don't doubt that this had a lot to do with it as well. But don't get too caught up in my comment about the seal. I was being figurative.

However, I do feel that in some ways, their strict licensing policies averted some disasters. For every NES game that was absolute garbage, there were probably 20 Famicom games that were worse. Seriously, go through a "complete" romlist of Famicom games sometime. I'd say 40% of them are shitty-looking RPG's and they all look the same. There are also plenty of other games (from semi-respectable publishers like Taito, even) that are as bad as some of those bizarre 2600 games where you can't even tell what you're controlling on the screen. If the market in the US was flooded with that stuff, I think history would have repeated itself and the video game industry would have been in trouble again.


I personally feel that, given the state of the industry at the time, choosing not to release the "real" SMB2 in the US was probably a sharp idea. It was vetoed because of it's malignant, punitive gameplay and the fact that it was aesthetically identical to the first game.


Sony (and currently, Nintendo) get away with the shovelware these days because video games are a much bigger cultural fixture than they were 20 years ago. A moderately hot-seller these days probably moves as many units as a bona fide hit back then.

[Sonicwolf]

One thing that many have found (most likely due to the AVGN) Is the extreme difference in the two Ghostbusters games. Ghostbusters on the NES looks like a piece of crap and plays likewise. Ghostbusters on the SMS looks great and plays a little less like crap. I wonder if it was hardware issues or just really lame programming and design... If so, this creates a false image of the differences between the two systems.

[Graham Mitchell]

One thing that many have found (most likely due to the AVGN) Is the extreme difference in the two Ghostbusters games. Ghostbusters on the NES looks like a piece of crap and plays likewise. Ghostbusters on the SMS looks great and plays a little less like crap. I wonder if it was hardware issues or just really lame programming and design... If so, this creates a false image of the differences between the two systems.

The developer of the NES game was that Micronics or whatever their name was...that shit company that Ponycanyon always used. I think they ruined other stuff like Commando. The developer of the SMS version, however, was Compile. I would guess that this has more to do with the differences than hardware.

[Sonicwolf]

The developer of the NES game was that Micronics or whatever their name was...that shit company that Ponycanyon always used. I think they ruined other stuff like Commando. The developer of the SMS version, however, was Compile. That explains the difference right there.

My NES Ghostbusters cartridge says ACTIVISION on it. Im surprised they let that abortion out upon the masses. You would think the designer also had a hate-on for the NES.

[Graham Mitchell]

My NES Ghostbusters cartridge says ACTIVISION on it. Im surprised they let that abortion out upon the masses. You would think the designer also had a hate-on for the NES.

Not publisher...developer. Activision imported that game. Somebody just last week posted an interview with the guy in charge of the localization team for the NES game and he seemed to dodge the question about the Engrish in the ending. He swore that the youtube video containing the "CONGRATURATION" was some sort of beta or prototype.

[Sonicwolf]

Not publisher...developer. Activision imported that game. Somebody just last week posted an interview with the guy in charge of the localization team for the NES game and he seemed to dodge the question about the Engrish in the ending. He swore that the youtube video containing the "CONGRATURATION" was some sort of beta or prototype.

lol. Why would Activision even bother publishing it though? It was just a pile of rubbish. I guess they were hoping the name would sell (Unfortunately so) AND THE ALL SAY CONGLATURATION. haha

[Icarus Moonsight]

I enjoy them both for different reasons. The SMS was the first console I paid for myself, as in, it wasn't a gift or outright purchased for me (my 2600 and NES were). The nostalgia factor, for me, is higher for the SMS than the NES because of this. I honestly earned it and it felt good. I enjoy the NES for the awesome games it has. Obviously better overall over the SMS but, the 8-bit Sega had some games that were great that the NES didn't have. Even with the childhood fondness and the awesome games that the NES lacked, these days, if forced to choose to have only one it would be the NES.

[Graham Mitchell]

Well, this is my point right there. If you think that game as bad, at least it's got some depth. Many of those Famicom games I'm talking about were [i]worse[i/] than that, if you can believe it. And if Nintendo hadn't have said "no", some dumb fuck would have tried to import 90% of them.

Here's a taste:

http://www.rpgfan.com/reviews/bokosuka/bokosuka-2.gif

[Graham Mitchell]

Oops, double post. Sorry!

[tom]

I don't really buy this. I've always found the seal of quality to be little more than a rubber stamp process. There were many, many games on the NES that were absolute garbage. I think it was more to enforce their contracts than anything.

The 'Official Nintendo Seal', or the so-called "Original Nintendo Seal of Quality' only ever meant that the cartridge works in the hardware, nothing else (source: Edge magazine). It didn't mean that Taboo The sixth Sense or Godzilla are excellent games.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c173/thomasholzer/NESTaboothesixthSense.jpg


Sorry Sudo, just noticed, you alredy mentioned this.

[CRV]

Nothing wrong with those, but these are rare games and aren't good examples of the typical SMS box art.

Sorry, but early games like Pro Wrestling are not examples of typical SMS box art. They got better with time.


The developer of the NES game was that Micronics or whatever their name was...that shit company that Ponycanyon always used. I think they ruined other stuff like Commando. The developer of the SMS version, however, was Compile. I would guess that this has more to do with the differences than hardware.

NES Ghostbusters was developed by Workss/Bits Laboratory (http://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Workss/Bits_Laboratory) (the company was called Workss when the game came out in Japan, Bits by the time it came out in the US).


Not publisher...developer. Activision imported that game. Somebody just last week posted an interview with the guy in charge of the localization team for the NES game and he seemed to dodge the question about the Engrish in the ending. He swore that the youtube video containing the "CONGRATURATION" was some sort of beta or prototype.

You may be talking about my interview with former Activision producer Tom Sloper (http://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Interview:Tom_Sloper) that I did last summer. He said they fixed the topless Gozer and the Engrish. BTW, NES Ghostbusters is based on a computer game by Activision (David Crane, specifically).

GOOD SMS GAME LIST TIME: Buggy Run, Air Rescue, the Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse games, Choplifter, the first two Asterix games, Golden Axe Warrior, Golvellius, Batman Returns, Dragon Crystal, Impossible Mission (if you like Impossible Mission, that is), Jurassic Park, Line of Fire, Power Strike, Power Strike II, Master of Darkness, Ninja Gaiden, Tecmo World Cup '93 (for arcade-y soccer fun), Psychic World, Psycho Fox, Rambo, Rastan, Renegade, Sagaia, the Light Phaser games are mostly good, Shinobi, Sonic 1, Wonder Boy III...

[Adol]

Quality? on NES/Famicom? 2200 titles

Famicom has only like 1050 titles,and 200 on Disk.1250 total.
No way near 2200.



Super Mario 3 -
I'd compare it with Psycho Fox,which is a FANTASTIC platformer.

To me there was both fantastic artworks for SMS and NES, and crappy ones as well (don't tell me the black boxed NES games artworks like Pinball or Slalom are any better than Alex Kidd's).

I was more of a SMS fanboy in my childhood, and i loved some games that, for me, were far better than any NES game: Wonder Boy 3,Ys (it came out in Famicom only,not NES),Spellcaster,Phantasy Star,Psycho Fox,Shinobi,R-Type,Power Strike,etc..
Ultima IV was fantastic and SO DEEP..way deeper than any NES RPG.
But i admit there was MORE QUANTITY on Nes...more good games..not better ones,but more,that's for sure.
I'm just glad SMS where i live (France) was a good competitor facing NES.Both were great systems, and when 1 sells WAY over the other one,it isn't good for us gamers (look how Saturn went bad in Europe&USA facing PSOne,we missed many Saturn jewels this way).

[Icarus Moonsight]

...Penguin Land and Cloud Master

[Graham Mitchell]

Sorry, but early games like Pro Wrestling are not examples of typical SMS box art. They got better with time.



NES Ghostbusters was developed by Workss/Bits Laboratory (http://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Workss/Bits_Laboratory) (the company was called Workss when the game came out in Japan, Bits by the time it came out in the US).



You may be talking about my interview with former Activision producer Tom Sloper (http://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Interview:Tom_Sloper) that I did last summer. He said they fixed the topless Gozer and the Engrish. BTW, NES Ghostbusters is based on a computer game by Activision (David Crane, specifically).



That's exactly what I'm referring to! I was hoping you'd chime in to help with that. It was a really interesting, interview, btw.

[bangtango]

I don't really buy this. I've always found the seal of quality to be little more than a rubber stamp process. There were many, many games on the NES that were absolute garbage. I think it was more to enforce their contracts than anything.

You hit the nail right on the head, as you often do. The number of garbage games on the NES was staggering.

Unless you read a lot of gaming magazines or knew a friend who bought the same game, you didn't have any warning signs back then that an NES game was terrible (unless you applied "common sense" for movie license games and the like).

The other thing I might add is that "bad" Playstation 1 games would only set you back $10-15 most of the time. Not only that but you sort of knew what you were getting into when you started talking about the budget priced games.

A bad NES game always set you back $40-50, every single time. Plus unlike a lot of PS1 games that have been out awhile, NES games didn't fall in price all that quickly. I remember a lot of games back then were still $40-50 years after release.

[ccovell]

(Super Mario 3)

I'd compare it with Psycho Fox,which is a FANTASTIC platformer.

Psycho Fox: Average score: 7.5/10
(http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/sms/review/588123.html)
"My favorite is the ice world, where everything is icy."
"...you'll have to get running to gain momentum to anywhere. This is extremely very irritating..."
"The game does not demand too much of the Master System..."

Kid Kool: Virtually the same game as Psycho Fox, but now on the NES. Average score: 3/10
( http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/nes/review/587382.html )
"A Loathsome Exercise in Mediocrity"
"This is an average mishmash of action and a little bit of adventure."
"I really couldn't stand it enough to play it for more than five minutes."


Remember now that Psycho Fox and Kid Kool are almost identical games.
.
.
.
I guess NES gamers simply have higher standards.

[Orion Pimpdaddy]

Nothing wrong with SMS box art:
http://www.videogamecollectors.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=197858&g2_serialNumber=1
http://www.videogamecollectors.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=197860&g2_serialNumber=1
http://www.videogamecollectors.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=197870&g2_serialNumber=1

Apparently the boxes in Europe looked far better, which may explain why it sold better. These look like Genesis games.

[Adol]

Remember now that Psycho Fox and Kid Kool are almost identical games...I guess NES gamers simply have higher standards.

No,they're not. Kid Kool is a very poor copy of Psycho Fox.
Gamefaqs forumers aren't really the best opinion i'd quote anyway ^^

[eskobar]

We all agree that both systems had must-play exclusive titles and i agree that many of the NES releases were a stinky pile of silicon.

Many companies also took advantage of the ingenuity factor and the lack of massive media to review the products. I remember the first video-game magazine in Mexico : CLUB NINTENDO that debuted on 1991 and was an "official" publication, the reviews were really biased, all of the games reviewed always had good comments even if the game stunk. I had access to Nintendo Power but only when i traveled to Texas.

I bought too many games at full price that i regret buying and in Mexico we don't have the same return policies that USA has ...

My purchase decision was based on the box art ... that's why i took too long to buy Mega Man :P

[ButtonMasher123]

I had both of these systems when I was a kid and I currently collect for them now so I can try to give an unbiased opinion on both.

First I have to say is that there is no way the Master System can compete with the NES on the amount of quality games availible for each system, but that wasn't really Sega's fault. Nintendo monopolized the industry in a way that will never be seen again and as such had a deep catalogue of games from Capcom, Konami, and others that never saw the light of day on the Master System. The NES was so big that they even got some Master System games(although crappier versions) on the NES lol.

I think its only when you put the best games up from each system that the fight begins to become more fair. Games like Zillion, Wonder Boy III, Phantasy Star, Alex Kidd in Mircle World, Shinobi, Power Strike, and Fantasy Zone can easily take on anything the NES has to offer. In general Sega's first party games are just as good if not better than Nintendo's.

Having said that though, a few things I would like to add,

1) I find that the SMS is really strong in the area of RPG's, SHMUPS, arcade ports, and light gun games while the NES shines in the platformer, action/adventure, puzzle and licensed games genres.

2)I find that Master System games have better graphics and are more colorful, but NES games have better sound and often control better as well

3)The first Alex Kidd game completely destroys the first Super Mario game IMO. I'm always amazed at how deep and versatile that game is for being released way back in 1986.

Also, From reading some of the earlier replies, I have to say that Pyscho Fox is not on Super Mario 3's level at all and Sega's version of Ninja Gaiden, while still being a good action game can not come close to the glory of the NES versions because of inferior music and storyline. I will always be a huge sega fan being that I had a SMS before a NES, but its when other sega fans make comments like this that it makes us all look bad lol.

[Ruudos]

European countries did sell the NES, but marketing from Mattel was very poor, and NES games were mostly bad, and twice the price of SMS titles (Example Star Wars NES was GBP 50.99, SMS version GBP 29.99 or less).

Sega did extremely good marketing in UK selling the SMS, more European software houses developed for the SMS than for the NES, and many were of top quality.

Also, during the 80s in Europe, computers ruled, C64 in Europe, and in the UK, the awful Spectrum computer, their software titles were usually bewtween GBP 1.99 - 14.99, and later the ST and Amiga had better softs than consoles (and still cheaper).

The SMS was not popular in Netherland? Was the NES more popluar as it was in the Skandinavian countries?

Can't say that because it's pretty easy to find the system and the games, but there's more NES stuff out here. Could have been different in other areas maybe. I got friends who got Atari 2600, Videopac, NES , Mega Drive, SNES, Commodore 64 & Amiga, even CD-i.
On the other hand, a co-worker of mine used to have (and actually still has) a SMS (model 2).

You're right about Mattel, but Bandai did a far better job here.

[PresidentLeever]

I'd compare it with Psycho Fox,which is a FANTASTIC platformer.

Both were great systems, and when 1 sells WAY over the other one,it isn't good for us gamers (look how Saturn went bad in Europe&USA facing PSOne,we missed many Saturn jewels this way).

I did mention Psycho Fox, which is a nice game but I could never get used to the jumping mechanics.

I completely agree with you on your next point. As long as there is good, legitimate competition going between the companies then they are forced to keep improving their products and we all benefit from it.

[krooper13]

Wow, thanks for the detailed replies, in short I seem to have learnt;
The NES sounds better, but looks worse than teh Master System
Minimalism isn't as popular as I though in terms of game art!
Nintendo ensured victory in the US with, what seem to me to be, monopolistic practices.
I'm not the only person alive who thinks Psycho Fox and Miracle Wordl can match Mr Mario's early adventures.
Nintendo and Sega still have too many avid fans to ever get a truly balanced view! ;)

[CRV]

Remember now that Psycho Fox and Kid Kool are almost identical games.

Psycho Fox is a leap better. And Magical Hat and Decap Attack are a leap better than it (all were done at VIC Tokai (http://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/VIC_Tokai), BTW).


...and Sega's version of Ninja Gaiden, while still being a good action game can not come close to the glory of the NES versions because of inferior music and storyline.

It is impressive for being done by only four people.

[j_factor]

Though not as impressive as the NES version of Super Turrican, done by one man.

[MarioMania]

I think Nintendo was scared of the Specs of the SMS..

Sega would have got better games if Nintendo didn't bully them self in the US

[Orion Pimpdaddy]

Quality? on NES/Famicom? 2200 titles, maybe 200 quality/average titles, rest is rubbish...

Well, just play the 200 that are good then. Many companies were creating bad games. That is just what happens when a system becomes popular. The same thing would have happened if the SMS had become popular, at least in the US. I don't think the ratio would have been any different. I am glad those 200 exist.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy some games on the SMS and I plan on collecting the good ones.

[krooper13]

You should check out www.sega8bit.com then, there's a list of the 100 top games, though I don't agree with all of the choices its a good barometer.

[CastlevaniaDude]

The thing is, I love the way the SMS looks. The color pallete and graphics are gorgeous.

However, I find the controls leave so much to be desired and really kill the difficulty level for the casual gamer.

Nintendo Adventure Island, for instance... Controls were tight, didn't find yourself unable to pull off the "Jumped too far onto a platform, jump quickly and adjust yourself in mid air so that you don't fall off." trick. For Wonder Boy for the SMS, you were almost completely unable to do this most of the time.

Same goes for the controls on Alex Kidd.

I can sleep through SMB, but Alex Kidd in Miracle World? I can't get past that frog thing in the water part of the first level. The controls just arent nearly as responsive or tight.

For me, that is the only thing holding the SMS back as a superior console.

[theking21083]

Blasphemy! LOL
But the NES did give us Kirby... :D:D:D

Actually the Gameboy gave us Kirby.

I did grow up with the NES but I used to play the SMS all the time at my friends house. Now that I am older I find the SMS to be a far superior system and I play it was more then my NES.

[Kid Fenris]

The Master System, like the TurboGrafx's HuCard library, is sorely lacking in A-list titles, and that's why I think it loses to the NES in every way that matters. Wonder Boy III is perhaps the only top-caliber SMS title that holds up today. Even Phantasy Star, which is technically amazing for a 1987 game, is grinding and dated.


However, I find the controls leave so much to be desired and really kill the difficulty level for the casual gamer.

I've noticed this as well. I'm not sure if it's a result of the Master System's hardware or sloppy programming, but it shows up in a lot of SMS games. Psycho Fox, for example, has terrible controls. And unremarkable level design. In fact, it's an awful game. Why do people like it again?