Is it worth it to get a Sega Master System?
I've been throwing the idea around of getting a SMS. I'm a huge fan of Ninja Gaiden so when I saw the Master System has an installment it peaked my interest.
My main concern is the depth of good games. I'm mainly into Rpg's and platformers like Ninja Gaiden.
Would anyone mind shedding some light on some SMS gems?
The SMS has a far better good games bad games ratio than NES, problem is, most of the best games are from the UK/Europe
Is there a NES Toploader equivalent to where you can play NTSC and Pal on one system for the SMS?
There really aren't many RPGs for the SMS. The only ones I could think of are Phantasy Star, Miracle Warriors, Y's, Dragon Crystal and Ultima IV. There's also Golvellius and Golden Axe Warrior, which are more Zelda-like games.
Just a warning, the SMS Ninja Gaiden is no where near as difficult as the NES ones. If you like the Ninja Gaiden games for the challenge, you'll be disappointed with this one.
Any American SMS will play most European games.Originally Posted by shane7951
The Sega Master System is region free, so you can play most games for almost all the regions it was released in. Infact most Master System games came from Europe, so if you have a NTSC Master System, and a PAL European game it will work perfectly only sped up slighty since we are at 60hz.
Now there a few obscure games that have problems being played in a different region, but most are not popular and you'll probably never find one anyway.
The only region you can't play is the Japanese region since they have an entirely different cart size.
Ask for games, the Sonic games are pretty fun on the Master System, Alex Kidd of course the flag ship of the system. Hang-On is a great game, I mean there's people on here more into the system that will suggest more games for it.
It's a very good system when it comes to it and does deserve some love.
Last edited by alec006; 09-12-2012 at 10:44 AM.
"...leave love bleeding, in my hands, in my hands again..."
If you don't want to take up more space near your TV, just buy a Sega Power Base Converter, it goes on top of your Model 1 Genesis and lets you play SMS games.
And with "sped up" a gamer from the USA will not notice anything weird about the speed. We are used to running all games at this speed so it seems normal to us. Gamers who grew up with PAL systems would be used to playing all games from this time period at slower speeds. I'm not sure if that makes games less challenging for them or if it makes them harder to play because I never tried running anything in PAL mode itself. I did watch some PAL Youtube gaming videos though and it was paifully slow for me to watch.
[quote name='Shidou Mariya' date='Nov 17 2010, 10:05 PM' post='4889940']
I'm a collector, but only to a certain extent.
Not as extreme as Rickstilwell though.[/quote]
Some SMS games we aren't 100% sure of their intended speed. Who knows how many had US plans fade off during production.
Others will play noticeably too fast, or have graphical issues.
As for Japanese... SMS games can be dual language. Genesis inherited the feature to use dramatically more often. While still retaining it for SMS backwards compatible mode. (Cloud Master, Power Strike, etc, would change if Power Base Converter is on a JPN set Genesis)
Unfortunately Japan cart adapters are not available pre-made. You must arrange custom work.
Even then, while believed possible, no one has come forward with a finalized construction attempt. Successful or otherwise.
That should change very soon if my concept goes well! I've acquired then shipped out the necessary base parts.
Last edited by theclaw; 09-12-2012 at 11:12 AM.
Lum fan.
The Sega Master Systerm is great, but you really have to import some games from Europe to see the best of what it has to offer. I think it would be still be worth it either way though considering it is was of the cheapest systems around to collect for.
As for the platformers/rpgs question, I can't speak for rpgs as I am not a fan of the genre, but it does ok in the plaformer genre. I don't think the best platformers on Sega Master can compete with best NES plaformers, but it probably doesn't have as many crappy ones as the NES either.
For me the real strength of the system lies in all of the pick up and play style arcade style games. Arcade ports, light gun games and the 3d glasses are where it really shines especilly the light gun games. The sega light gun seems a lot more precise than the NES one and the games are way more interesting too.
Yeah another future step of mine is working out an SG1000 keyboard adapter. I'm hopeful about it, BASIC programming on real SMS hardware might become reality (the JP SMS had no keyboard port either).
Lum fan.
SMS Power was selling an adapter for the Japanese Master System's expansion port so it would accept Western cartridges as well. This also allows for the Western games to be heard with the YM2413 FM chip instead of PSG.
To the original poster, yes it is worth it to own a Master System. As has already been mentioned it has a very high quality ratio for what games were released. Just don't expect every game to be a "Mario killer" or some such thing.
I would go this route if I had to buy a system to play these games. I have actual SMS consoles but they basically worked out free, and I have a Power Base Converter too.
Just a warning, I find actual SMS controllers to be horrible. I barely can stand the D-pads which I found almost unusable for games requiring precision. I'm not sure if all controllers are like this, I have the earliest controllers where the cord comes out the side instead of the top(this is also stupid).
I'm not sure the earliest controllers had the cords coming out the side. By 1988 at least they were all top wires. Either way, I always used the Control Stick back in the day. Lately though I have found the D-Pad of the control pads to be very effective in all exclusive Master System games, more so than Genesis game pads.
Thanks for the information!
I may end up getting the adapter for the Genesis but the SMS system looks so cool to me. I've really only heard of NG, Alex Kidd, and the Sonic port so I've got quite a bit to catch up on.
There was an ebay vendor selling Power Base Converters for 21 bucks with free shipping just a week or two ago. I've never seen stock SMS consoles going for that low outside of flea markets or thrift stores that just didn't know what they had
There's also a hidden game in the BIOS menus on the Master System. I do agree thou, the Master System does look cool and fits well in a room with classic consoles.
If you do decide on the Power Base Convertor or another type of adapter, it can't be used with the 32x, so you would have to unplug it every time you would want to play a Master System game thus creating more wear on the 32x contacts.
Really? I got my Sega Master System for $12 on ebay around 2005. It was complete too with two controllers, a power adapter, an a AV cable.
But then again that was 7 years ago and people love to drive the prices up on older systems now days.
Last edited by alec006; 09-12-2012 at 10:31 PM.
"...leave love bleeding, in my hands, in my hands again..."
They were the early ones, they came with my system that had Snail Maze built in. That was the first version. They changed the locations of the cords when they realized how horrible the first location was. It's right where you want to put your hand to hold it.
I remember regular Sega Master Systems used to be worth about $30 with all hookups, only recently it seems to be increasing in value. I'm still surprised whenever I see one for sale with a higher asking price than that.
The Master System I bought in 1988 came with snail maze and top wired controllers. Interesting that the earlier models did not.
I remember in 1990-91, there was a big department store(like JC Pennies) that sold new SMS system with 15 games for $199. Later the store lowered it to $99. They had tons of them. I can't remember the name of the department store, it wasnt a store that we had out on the west coast. I bought one and had a blast playing it. I loved the two player game Shanghai. Fun times. If third party game companies would have supported it like the NES, the system really could have been pushed much further.
If you like Genesis, the SMS is definately a system you will enjoy.
Yet another youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkT...tyNJnjPw-2co7g
Could have.
You haven't heard of the Nintendo monopoly?
Nintendo didn't let third-parties release games on both consoles for at least two years, if at all.
Atari took them to court to force them to drop that limitation.
(and why Tengen took matters into their own hands and cracked the NES' lockout chip)
Last edited by SparTonberry; 09-13-2012 at 10:00 AM.
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