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

[ultimaweapon]

For the SMS, I spent endless hours on Teddy Boy. It took me nearly a couple decades to flip all 50 levels. I also enjoyed the first Zillion, having to write down the symbols to remember when punching them in the computer. Shanghai was a great puzzle title. Alex Kidd & Wonder boy were great series. Rambo II & III were also epic. Too many to list.

[Lady Jaye]

I didn't own a SMS, but I do have a lot of fond memories of that system from junior high, since my best friend did have it (still does, actually). Friday nights especially were our gaming-and-TGIF TV shows night, in the basement of her parents' house. I spent countless hours sitting in the rocking chair, the old couch or simply the carpet playing Wonder Boy, Wonder Boy III, Cloud Master, or Castle of Illusion (my four favorite games among the many she had).

[ifkz]

I got mine in Christmas of 1988 and put it away in a box along with 33 games in 1991 when I had saved up enough to get a Genesis. I still remember making the decision to get it based on the screenshots from the hanging box art sheets Toys'r'Us used to sell the games back then. Years later, in 1997 I still had everything; I pulled it out one day after a stressful round of college courses, and found myself playing my old favorites most every day. Eventually I started buying games, going to thrift stores and actively collecting the USA library. I was having more fun with it versus the then current 32-bit games that cost $60 each. It was a no-brainer for me.

It was quite different collecting it versus now. Ebay was small, and it was still possible to find stock at thrift stores. I had to get the last few games going through other SMS collectors online. I noticed in the mid 2000's that every thrift store started pulling their game stuff to hold in store auctions, or online auctions. Most of the game stock I saw then was Playstation, the cartridge stock had exhausted itself. But at this time ALL used thrift store games dried up, and collectors moved on to buying cheap games from Funcoland and mom & pop used game stores. This was my experience anyhow.

Owning it back in the day felt like an exclusive club. Almost no one else had one, and I always felt the graphics and games were far superior over the NES when I finally saw SMB, excitebike, etc. The only places that rented games were a local Blockbuster and a grocery store. Remember when grocery stores actually operated their own video rental departments? I think that pretty much died in the early 90's.

I think the experience must have been like owning a Neo Geo in the early 90's and having hardware that was exponentially ahead of the competition.

Without owning the SMS, I would not be a current gamer now. It had a major positive impact on my life, for sure!

[real_18aka]

i remember my dad bought me a sms 2 for my birthday when i was in elementary school got it with double dragon,shinobi, choplifter a cple other games, purchased at canadian tire of all places. one day he got mad at me and sold it to a friend of his, i had roughly 15 games by then. my dad then bought it back from that same guy a year later. paying alot less than he sold it for ,so i got my original system back i was happy i bought a few more games, then my dad sold it on me again to a different guy for 500 but this time i myself bought it back a couple months later for 150 and i have it to this day minus the original box which was lost along the way. ive never had a system sold twice and make its way back to the original owner. needless to say this system isnt being sold anytime soon lol

[Aussie2B]

I think the experience must have been like owning a Neo Geo in the early 90's and having hardware that was exponentially ahead of the competition.

Heh, that's a pretty extreme analogy. I wouldn't say the Master System was "exponentially ahead" of the NES, definitely not like the Neo Geo was to the SNES and Genesis. Although if you've only seen the early black box NES games that came out around launch, like Super Mario Bros. and Excitebike, I could see how you'd get that impression. But try comparing the average Master System game to stuff like Castlevania III, Battletoads, Super Mario Bros. 3, Kirby's Adventure, etc. etc.

[ifkz]

Heh, that's a pretty extreme analogy. I wouldn't say the Master System was "exponentially ahead" of the NES, definitely not like the Neo Geo was to the SNES and Genesis. Although if you've only seen the early black box NES games that came out around launch, like Super Mario Bros. and Excitebike, I could see how you'd get that impression. But try comparing the average Master System game to stuff like Castlevania III, Battletoads, Super Mario Bros. 3, Kirby's Adventure, etc. etc.

That's exactly right, and how my mind worked as a kid. I only saw the early NES games and whatever the Playchoice-10 machine had at the local 7-11 to compare to what I had at home. But to a ten year old kid, it seemed like a huge difference. I also see the flaw in not comparing the card games to most early NES games, to my eyes now, they look very similar despite the newer hardware.

[GizzyGames]

I still have the one I purchased back in the day in my collection. Fairly mint in box with glasses and all! Wish the guns would work on LCD screens =(

[j_factor]

Heh, that's a pretty extreme analogy. I wouldn't say the Master System was "exponentially ahead" of the NES, definitely not like the Neo Geo was to the SNES and Genesis. Although if you've only seen the early black box NES games that came out around launch, like Super Mario Bros. and Excitebike, I could see how you'd get that impression. But try comparing the average Master System game to stuff like Castlevania III, Battletoads, Super Mario Bros. 3, Kirby's Adventure, etc. etc.

When you're talking about the experience at the time, you can't include games like Kirby's Adventure, which came well after the fact. He wasn't talking about 1993. Also, I'm not sure why you'd compare the average game for one system to the top games for another.

I think if you compare contemporary releases, the SMS does come off as a lot more "advanced", but only up to a point. From 1990 on, the difference is much less pronounced, with the 16-bit era underway, the NES having more support, and more advanced mappers taking hold while the SMS has no change in hardware. Circa 1988, the SMS is decidedly "ahead" of the NES, though not necessarily in terms of having good games, of course.

[homerhomer]

Even though I had a NES, I read about the SMS and was overly excited from day one. I could hardly wait to get Outrun and After Burner at home. I can still remember I got the system from Costco after endless begging. It came with a free Double Dragon mail-in coupon that I filled out and used. I can remember thinking this is going to be the REAL arcade port of Double Dragon, I was wrong. I rented every arcade port there was, Alien Syndrome was cool, Quartet was cool, Shinobi was different and so was After Burner.

I then got Phantasy Star for Christmas and I was blown away.

And then then it was onto the Genesis, which I repeatedly rented from the video store.

[Aussie2B]

When you're talking about the experience at the time, you can't include games like Kirby's Adventure, which came well after the fact. He wasn't talking about 1993. Also, I'm not sure why you'd compare the average game for one system to the top games for another.

I think if you compare contemporary releases, the SMS does come off as a lot more "advanced", but only up to a point. From 1990 on, the difference is much less pronounced, with the 16-bit era underway, the NES having more support, and more advanced mappers taking hold while the SMS has no change in hardware. Circa 1988, the SMS is decidedly "ahead" of the NES, though not necessarily in terms of having good games, of course.

Saying "compare the average SMS game to the average NES game" would be a pretty ineffectual point, and it would be pretty tricky to come up with specific "average-looking" NES titles. I chose those games off the top of my head as good-looking NES games that look quite a bit better than the NES launch crop. I don't see how release dates matter in this context. There are plenty of late NES releases that look like garbage as well.

Either way, you're not seeing the forest for the trees here. The point is that the SMS isn't hugely different from the NES, not to the extent of the Neo Geo to its contemporaries. Even Art of Fighting, which was fairly early in the Neo Geo's run, was tremendously more impressive than what the SNES and Genesis could do, and then if you look at the later titles, they're not remotely in the same league (even the 32/64-bit machines couldn't handle its games). For something similar yet opposite, it would be like saying the Neo Geo ISN'T much beyond the SNES and Genesis based on the very early releases like Blue's Journey and Magician Lord, which weren't all that impressive on a technical level. Comparing the SMS to the NES based only on the black box titles isn't a fair assessment of the NES's capabilities.

[j_factor]

Saying "compare the average SMS game to the average NES game" would be a pretty ineffectual point, and it would be pretty tricky to come up with specific "average-looking" NES titles.

It's tricky to come up with average NES titles, but not average SMS titles?

I chose those games off the top of my head as good-looking NES games that look quite a bit better than the NES launch crop. I don't see how release dates matter in this context.

Release dates matter when we're talking about how things were at a certain time. 1993 is not part of that time, in this case. You're basically saying, you should have compared with a game that didn't exist yet.

That's like if I said, "3DO must have seemed really advanced in 1994" and you say to look at games like MDK and Disruptor. It's a non sequitur.

Either way, you're not seeing the forest for the trees here. The point is that the SMS isn't hugely different from the NES, not to the extent of the Neo Geo to its contemporaries.

It was an imperfect analogy, sure. But the difference is in degree.

Comparing the SMS to the NES based only on the black box titles isn't a fair assessment of the NES's capabilities.

I'm not assessing the NES's capabilities. I'm assessing the NES's results, compared to SMS, in a certain timeframe. And I'm not only considering the black box titles.

[fahlim003]

No, but I had a friend who did and he had a boatload of games and peripherals. I got my first SMS in the late 90s at a garage sale with Safari Hunt and Thunder Blade.

[Greg2600]

SMS had the hardware, but didn't have the developers that Nintendo did at that time. The Genesis proved this out. Moreover, SEGA itself wasn't the same company it became in 1989-1991. The arcade ports the Genesis (and SMS) got in those years were tremendous. SMS has a nice library now, but not in 1986-1987 during its initial roll-out. By that time Nintendo had release Punchout, Metroid, and Zelda, in addition to SMB. 3rd party franchises like Mega Man, Contra, Castlevania, etc. were coming out as well. SEGA didn't have the money to spend on big advertising either. Not to mention the absolutely hideous box art the games had, with no label artwork. It looked like a vastly inferior product to the consumer.

[M.Buster2184]

SMS had the hardware, but didn't have the developers that Nintendo did at that time. The Genesis proved this out. Moreover, SEGA itself wasn't the same company it became in 1989-1991. The arcade ports the Genesis (and SMS) got in those years were tremendous. SMS has a nice library now, but not in 1986-1987 during its initial roll-out. By that time Nintendo had release Punchout, Metroid, and Zelda, in addition to SMB. 3rd party franchises like Mega Man, Contra, Castlevania, etc. were coming out as well. SEGA didn't have the money to spend on big advertising either. Not to mention the absolutely hideous box art the games had, with no label artwork. It looked like a vastly inferior product to the consumer.

Correct. To a younger person back in the late 80s, the box art of the SMS games would be a turn off compared to the NES box art.(Judging a book by its cover I know.) Not sure a kid at the time would be aware of or acknowledge the better graphics unless they took time to research it, but what kid does that?

[homerhomer]

Correct. To a younger person back in the late 80s, the box art of the SMS games would be a turn off compared to the NES box art.(Judging a book by its cover I know.) Not sure a kid at the time would be aware of or acknowledge the better graphics unless they took time to research it, but what kid does that?

I did that! well sort of. While the artwork was not inspiring. I didn't care, I wanted Shinobi and After Burner II at home.

Back in the 80's I use to always go to the arcades and Sega kicked some major butt back in. So once I heard that Sega was going to have a home console, I about lost it. Even though I already had a NES, the games looked dated compared to the SEGA arcade games, I figured the SEGA arcade ports to the Master System were going to be close to the arcades.

[Flashback2012]

I did. I want to say we got it for Christmas in 1986 but my memory is fuzzy on that. I know we got a NES first, the ROB set but I cannot remember when we got it. Anyway, both the NES and SMS (as well as the 2600 before them) belonged "to the whole family" but over time, the NES ended up in my little brother's room and I ended up with the SMS in my room. As we got older, I eventually usurped the SMS as my own and in the early 90's I remember frequenting an Electronic Boutique near where I worked and buying up SMS games from them on the cheap when they tried to revitalize the line since the Genesis took off. I remember buying games like Castle of Illusion, Golden Axe Warrior, and I could SWEAR I got Sonic 1 and 2 from there. I've checked my copies but neither have the UPC stickers so I'm wondering if younger me was stupid and peeled the stickers off the cases.

There was one other kid I knew who owned a SMS. I got invited to his house and he showed me the awesomeness of Phantasy Star. He let me borrow it for a bit and my brother and I played the HELL out of that game. We ended up having a falling out later on and I never spoke to him again. I do remember just after the Genesis had come out, I was in a Children's Palace store and found a discounted Phantasy Star hanging on a peghook. I wasted no time snatching it up as well as a few other Genesis titles including The Revenge of Shinobi and this quirky looking title with a funny name called Herzog Zwei. It's so weird to think about now but back then none of the games were kept behind glass cases and you could pluck them off a shelf just as easily as you could any toy in the store. Not empty cases like how Gamestop does it but shrink wrap intact games hanging on hooks or standing up on shelves.

I have fond memories not only of Phantasy Star but also of Fantasy Zone, Space Harrier, After Burner, Castle of Illusion, and quite a few others.

[treismac]

Correct. To a younger person back in the late 80s, the box art of the SMS games would be a turn off compared to the NES box art.(Judging a book by its cover I know.) Not sure a kid at the time would be aware of or acknowledge the better graphics unless they took time to research it, but what kid does that?

I can't help but smile that you made the comment you did in light of the box art that you have for your avatar picture.

[substantial_snake]

My family had one but I don't remember when we got it, only that it just seemed to be there. They must of bought either at or near after my birth considering the time frame and the console policy we had at the time of basically striking when it got cheap enough. lol

I loved the thing though the few games we had were fun and memorable because we had so few games. The console itself seemed really futuristic to me at the time with its overall styling, color, and random diagram on top near the pause button. The whole SMS design really blew me away at the time and I remember we used to play with the light phasers outside all the time, even after we had moved onto the "nextgen" consoles of the day because they just looked so wicked. I think we also had a model with the pack-in game and that always impressed by buddies that would come over. I played plenty of my buddies NES games at the time but I was never too impressed with anything outside of SMB3 and Dunk Hunt..which is inevitably what everyone had at the time. Overall I enjoyed the thing and all the strong memories associated with seeing one nowadays.

On the games front I think we had:
Ghouls and Ghosts
Aerial Assault
Missile Command 3D (but no glasses?)
Shinobi
...maybe something else I can't think of right now

Ghouls and Ghosts scared the crap outta me when I was young. It became the default "watch your older brother play it at night" game and I still prefer it this day due to that association. I think we did make it to the end boss once but I know we never went through the whole game backwards. lol Aerial Assault was a standard if easy SHUMP back in the day, though the thing that made the biggest impression on me was the sunset stage. That feeling of WOW seeing the transition from sunset to night along with the music was just great. Those were the two I remember the best and probably played the most until we got our Genesis.

This thread kinda makes me want to go pick up another Master System simply for nostalgia..though I doubt I would play it much.

[kedawa]

My oddest SMS is memory is when my friend received a letter in response to one he wrote to Sega asking for help with certain games.
Someone at Sega actually took the time to photocopy a few pages of cheats for the games he was struggling with and send them to him.
How cool is that?
I don't remember all of the games, but one of them was R-Type, and we just about flipped when we used the info to find the hidden super stage.

[sheath]

Oh man, Sega of America's responses to customer letters back then were nothing short of awesome. Actually, Sega's customer service through the Genesis' days were nothing short of stellar in my opinion. Here are some responses I got from them back in 1989 and 1990.