Some Questions for Any SMS-perts

[CRV]

I've had an infatuation with the Sega Master System for a while now and I'd like to think I've absorbed a lot of information about it like a sponge. Still, there remains some unanswered questions...

1) Why did Sega of America for a number of years call the SMS the Sega System instead of the Sega Master System?

2) What is the stage structure of Global Defense? It doesn't seem to match up with the instructions.

3) Why didn't they put the FM sound chip in the overseas SMS? They did mere months later with the Japanese SMS. Boneheaded move or was cost really that big of an issue?

[Graham Mitchell]

1) As far as I know it was always called the Sega Master System. Perhaps they called it the "Sega System" in television ads just for brevity. I could be wrong, however.

2) I believe Global defense works by having 2 stages per level. One is offensive (side-scrolling where you attack in enemy territory) and the other is defensive (where you stand in Earth's orbit and shoot down missiles aimed for Earth, much like Missile Command). I don't remember if there's a bonus round.

3) I'm guessing that the FM-chip would have driven up the price of the machine, or required people to buy an apparatus. Since SMS was getting seriously thwamped by Nintendo due to the big N's shady marketing tactics, Sega probably didn't want to do anything to the machine that would make it seem like the NES was a better deal. Besides, the NES was selling like crazy with it's little 4-channel synthesizer, so it was probably clear that sound wasn't selling games in the US. Just my guess.

[CRV]

1) As far as I know it was always called the Sega Master System. Perhaps they called it the "Sega System" in television ads just for brevity. I could be wrong, however.

One TV ad online calls it the "Sega System." The bottom of the Model 1 SMS says "Sega System Power Base." The game instructions refer to it as the "SEGA SYSTEM."