Did you own a Sega Master System back in the day?

[treismac]

I'm wondering how many people out here in Digital Press (other than Sunnyvalle, who doesn't come around these parts much these days) owned a Sega Master System back in the glory days of the NES. I never had one. The closest thing to it was a neighborhood kid I knew for about 6 months before he moved away had one. I saw Master System games at Toys R' Us, but other than that, it was pretty easy to forget it even existed.

What were your childhood memories or lack thereof for the Sega Master System?

[Dr. BaconStein]

I missed the third generation completely so I guess it doesn't really count for me either way, but the only SEGA systems I ever owned were Pico and Genesis. My cousins on the other hand had Genesis, Game Gear, Saturn, and Dreamcast. Now that I remember, I think they did have an NES as well at one point, but no Master System.

[samspade]

I missed the boat on the sms. I started out with the nes. I didn't get anything sega until the genesis came out with Altered Beast and I saw the light.

[Drixxel]

Only one of my friends during my elementary school years had a Master System, and this was well past the prime (if you want to call it that) of the SMS in North America. I was aware of the console's existence before then from the scant coverage it had received in mags like GamePro but, prior to that point in the early-to-mid-'90s, I'd never played this mysterious counterpart to the NES. I remember thinking the console had a really appealing design (in this case, a model 1), and, while the games my friend owned didn't leave much of an impression, my curiosity was ongoing. Not too long after, my brother and I found a model 1 SMS with a bunch of games (commons and junk), priced cheaply as a lot, at a dilapidated small town pawn shop on a family road trip and we couldn't resist. Admittedly, I was rather late to the SMS party, and while that surely contributes to the console never having impressed me, I can appreciate the SMS for its interesting library and place in the history of video gaming.

[StealthLurker]

I had a SMS, NES and famicom back in the day. Got a NES for my birthday, SMS for christmas and a famicom the following birthday. It was fantastic not being limited to sega or nintendo. Also a bonus to play nintendo games way ahead of US releases... even more for titles that never made it to the states.

There was only one other kid in the neighborhood that had a SMS. So it kinda sucked in terms of borrowing games from other people.

Ah the memories playing Black Belt, Zillion II, Golvellius, WonderBoy in Monsterland, Choplifter, Vigilante, Shinobi, Double Dragon.... it was a magical time.

.

[madman77]

Likewise I was a NES guy, a friend of mine had gotten an SMS, but I only remember playing 1 or 2 games on it. We mainly spent time on his NES (or mine). A few years later a neighbor moved in who had an SMS and a Vectrex, which I had never heard of. We mostly spent time playing Minestorm, even though his parents bought him a pretty nice SMS library. I never really lusted after that system, but I did spend hours gazing at Genesis ads and reviews in EGM back in the day.

[YoshiM]

Yes, though I almost didn't have it.

I had borrowed it from a friend with the intent on acquiring it from him and I think it was a trade of some sort, it's been so long. The deal was done but then he tried to back out of it and was a real prick. I told him we made a deal and that he said it was all on the up and up. Then, as many did when young, pulled the "I'll get my Dad [to get you to give it back]" card. Ok...so I explained to my father was had gone on, which he was aware of and then he DID talk to my friend's dad and I think the other father agreed for me to keep the SMS. Needless to say that "friend" never came around anymore.

Didn't have much for it at the time: the built in snail game, Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Kenseiden and I think Shinobi. Picked up Phantasy Star for $25 not long after it came out from some kid. It was a nice switch from the NES and was my gateway to a Genesis, which was the first NEW console I purchased with my own money.

[The 1 2 P]

Like 99.9% of every other kid back then I had an Nes and I'm so glad I did. But one time I went to my cousins neighbors house and he had an Sms(his parents must have not liked him) and I got to play it then. I remember playing Rocky and although it was fun it didn't compare to what I had on my Nes. Last year I finally purchased my very first Sms in a lot but I actually sold it before I ever got to play it.

[Aussie2B]

I don't think I had even heard of the Master System until the late 90s, so, yeah, definitely didn't own one. :P I'm happy to have one now, but I'm glad that I grew up with the NES.

[j_factor]

SMS was kind of my first console, though it wasn't really mine, it belonged to my dad. But, I'm a little too young to remember its "glory days", and in any case, we also had a Commodore 64 and it wasn't long before I got another console that was officially mine. I certainly remember playing SMS games; fond memories of Wonder Boy, Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Psycho Fox, Shinobi, and Phantasy Star. I don't remember actually getting any new games, we just had the one set of games and that was it; I played the ones that we had, but when it came to getting new games, my mind was elsewhere. This would've been when the SMS was pretty much dead anyway.

[Tanooki]

Didn't you post this at Nintendo Age too? :P

I never had one. I got one around 5 years ago and annoyingly had to let it go. A couple months ago I got another in the similar barely used condition of the first but cost me triple but at least came with cib barely touched 3d glasses so that was awesome. My earliest experience was with a friend around age 12-13 who had nice Sega arcade ports for his and we played it a few times but that was it. To me it's my favorite of the cart based Sega systems while the DC stands for disc based.

[Az]

I bought one at launch (85? 86?) and owned it a while before purchasing a NES.

In the town I lived in the only place that sold video games other than the 2600 was a local Radio Shack, and they only stocked SMS stuff and no NES until the first year or two after they both launched. Several of my friends also owned a SMS, and it wasn't until the local department store opened and carried NES games that anyone owned a NES. I didn't realize I lived in bizzaro world until later on in life when I noticed hardly anyone even knew what a SMS was.

[theMot]

Here in Austrlia the sms out numbered the nes big time. I had a sms as did most the other kids who were gamers. I have only ever played a nes a handfull of times. When the snes came out though most people i knew had that as did i.

[M.Buster2184]

Not sure why, but the master system wasn't very popular in my area growing up. Everyone I knew had a Nintendo. To be honest I wasn't even aware of the Master Systems existence until like 6 years ago.

[buzz_n64]

I played on the SMS in the 80's before I even owned an NES. Glad I got my NES, but SMS was always fun.

[Tanooki]

Not sure why, but the master system wasn't very popular in my area growing up. Everyone I knew had a Nintendo. To be honest I wasn't even aware of the Master Systems existence until like 6 years ago.

It wasn't popular anywhere in the US, it's not you. Nintendo was forcing a monopoly on the market and for like every 10 NES systems maybe 1 SMS or TG16 was sold at the same time. They used ingenius yet disgusting contracts that would cut off a third party cold from future releases if they dared release games on non-Nintendo hardware consoles. That's why it never was popular, it didn't have a chance.

Sad thing is the SMS is a fantastic piece of hardware and more or less beats down the NES as far as capability goes, audio aside, and expansion memory mappers that did amazing stuff later in the game. Sega had it out from like I think late 1986 through early 1991, but by 1990 they gave up as the later stuff was all re-packaged stuff mostly and even a few of those were UK releases like Sonic 1, Strider, Spiderman and Golden Axe Warrior. Sonic being the worst to find, and even now if you can find an american release, the only tell is a UPC sticker on the box itself. I got one free recently on sheer stupid accident and even with like 10% of it gone, and 'dead' mold damage to it, I sold it for $225 up on ebay. I could have held out for more but I got to talking to a buyer all day long and he was so cool I just let him have it as it was all he needed towards a complete US-NTSC set. A non-damaged one of those boxes in amazing shape with the game and inserts that way too can push anywhere from $500(UK overseas buyer) to over $950USD domestically sold on ebay this summer.

I've got around 55 games for mine and a few of mine are PAL. I have Land of Illusion, Streets of Rage, Lucky Dime Caper, Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic Chaos, and Master of Darkness are all PAL stuff, rest of my items like Golden Axe Warrior and the others are US. An interesting thing with some of the 1990+ release PAL games they're Game Gear converts.

[Orion Pimpdaddy]

I knew of one person in my neighborhood who had one, and went over and played it once. I thought the graphics were colorful, but nothing about it made me want to go out and buy one. My attitude has changed since then.

[Bloodreign]

My cousin owned one back in the day, she may still have it. Another cousin of mine had one as well, but he got rid of it for a Genesis.

As for myself, I have one these days, great system to collect for even if finding stuff locally has dried up after an initial batch proved fruitful. It's a system I'd never give up, got Bubble Bobble complete for the thing, it absolutely murders the already popular NES version (I possess better versions of the game these days, but the SMS version stands tall as being a quality port).

[Greg2600]

I grew up in densely populated suburbia, and hardly anyone had a SMS, and nobody had the 7800 or admitted they did. I remember SMS in stores, and in fliers in the newspaper. I was slightly enamored with the 3D concept. I was not impressed by the box art, and I rarely would look at the displays in toy stores as a result. When the Genesis came out, I was intrigued to play it's versions of those titles I'd vaguely remembered. Shinobi, Alex Kidd, etc. I finally bought a SMS couple years ago with the coming of the Master Everdrive. It's a nice system, but I am 100% happy I had an NES then and now. Back then, at that age, we were all so into the NES, and didn't care about ANY other system. It was a few years before we actually paid attention to the Genesis after it was released. Giving up on the NES felt like giving up on your sports team.

[Atarileaf]

I had the NES too but did have a family friend who owned the SMS. I really liked the system and games but at that point, as a teenager with little disposable income, I wasn't about to buy a whole new console and I liked the NES too much to sell it to buy a master system.