I am from South Africa, I first saw a NES when I was about five. Then When I was about 7, our local stores had a sale on the SMS and from then on they were as common as the NES. It was always known that the SEGA games had something special about them. We loved the colours compares to the NES. Good times!
Just wanted to add, in case others didn't mention it. In the video, you mentioned that in Double Dragon, there's no way to grab your opponent reliably. There actually is a way: Opponents can't be grabbed right away. You have to weaken them first. For example. Jump kick an opponent twice. Afterwards, they should be weak enough for a headlock once you move your character on top of theirs.
Can confirm. I'm a Brazilian, and got a SMS as bday present, waaaay back in 92. It was my 1st videogame console. The funny thing? At the same time, I was given the G.I.Joe tank that I was wanting! It took me 2 days to go see what that SMS thing was all about, and my mom telling me that my dad was kinda sad, that I didn't appreciate the more expensive gift. Little did he knew, I'd wind up in programming...
I often read about how SEGA really captured the gamer crowd in South America, but in particular Brazil, where basically the Genesis (specifically) was Brazil's Super Nintendo basically. But I wouldn't be surprised that the Master System also worked well. I think SEGA simply had a lot of success in South America. But I wouldn't know why. Was it due to pricing Vs Nintendo? Or were Nintendo consoles simply not available as much?
@@lyrand6408 sure, it was due to pricing. We had a company called TecToy here, which manufactured Sega's consoles. The SMS was the cheap one, "for the masses", and the Genesis (Mega Drive as it was known here) was the "rich kids" one. That's not to say Throughout the 90's, Brazil went to a colossal inflation crisis. I'm talking about 50% increases and upwards *per month* ! I vividly remember a woman begging to a market worker, to let her buy a product before he changed the price tag, or else she wouldn't be able to afford it (it came to a point where it was changed daily). Add the stupid taxation of imported goods we had to the mix, and one can see why a console made in the country was super successful.
@@RaginKavu I see, that explains it. It must have been very hard times, sorry to hear it man. But I'm glad at least Sega stood above the crowd because they did deserve it.
@@lyrand6408 it was, but I was a child back then, so I just remember the general atmosphere, and what I saw at the news. Got my SMS when I was just 7. Too young to fully comprehend what was going on, but not totally oblivious. We still had the NES around here, but it was waaay more expensive. That's what I was going to write after "That's not to say". Sorry, was in a rush, had to stop mid sentence.
The Master System actually had lots of marketing. I couldn't go a hour without a SEGA Master System commerical with that narrator with the deep voice. While I had both the SMS and NES growing up, I was a huge Master System kid. It's still tied with the TG-16 as my favorite retro console.
I had an SMS before I had an NES. My dad bought the SMS new sometime in '85. I was almost 5 years old. Still remember playing Choplifter, Hang On, Safari Hunt, Great Football, and My Hero. "Now, there are no limits." was absolutely a slogan.
The Sega Game Gear handheld is basically a Master System in handheld form with stereo sound capabilities. I used to own a Game Gear and had an adapter cartridge for it that allowed me to plug Master System games into it.
I gotta be the only guy I know who back in the day played a Sega Master System before anybody had an NES. One of the guys had parents who bought them every game you could imagine, so the SMS was always a system I admired. It was for people who loved arcade games and computer games of the era.
@@philfrank5601 They sold more Master Systems than NES consoles here in England, though most gamers used computers(like the Commodore 64, Sinclair Spectrum, Amiga and Atari systems) here back then.
The Sega Master System and the Dreamcast were two of the best systems that were made for their times. Pity that they were so underated and under-appreciated.
@@f.k.b.16Who do you know that plays game boxes? 😄 The graphical capabilities of the system are superb. The best looking 8 bit system by a considerable distance, light years ahead of its competition.
@@markchambers3833 true that! If only SEGA had good lawyers and a better sound chip than the SMS had and I think they would have mopped the floor with Nintendo in the 80s! (Oh and better boxes lol! Joking)
Sigh, as a Brit this was a system I genuinely coveted. So many good games like Rampage. :D I mean I loved my NES too, I would have been happy to have had both. :3
Prince of Persia, Submarine Attack, Wonder Boy III, R-Type, Master of Darkness and Sonic are some of my favourite MS games. I loved this console when i was a kid, the NES was excellent too, but the MS held it's own without a doubt.
This thing was INSANELY popular in Brazil, mostly because of a company called Tec-Toy and the amazing advertising they did here. It was also insanely expansive, reason why I've never had one as a kid.
When I was a kid I was one of the lucky ones who had the Master System. Ghouls and ghosts was definitely my favorite. I remember the first time on the second level that game started lagging... me and my brother play that game forever passing the controller back and forth... Years later doing a bit of research I discovered it's a fairly difficult game, like Castlevania 3 on NES... Me and my brother love that one oh, but it turns out it was a masterpiece let alone a fairly difficult game. They put a lot of craftsmanship into building some of these games..
The Master System was a lot more popular in Europe than it was in America. One amazing thing about it was that when Sega released the Mega Drive, they didn't abandon the Master System, like console companies seem to do today! They simply repositioned it as a 'budget' console alongside their newer, more powerful console and kept producing and selling it. That meant it got supported with games for far longer than it normally would have, and ended up outliving the NES by quite a way. They even ported new games from the Mega Drive over to the Master System, so even if you had the cheaper 'budget' system, you could still play new games like Sonic, Road Rash and Altered Beast.
Nice list, I'll add Kenseiden, Black Belt (aka Hokuto No Ken/ Fist of the North Star), Streets of Rage, Sonic the Hedgehog (different from the 16 bit).
There were actually quite a few commercials for it, but only for a short window I think. They featured R-Type in one of them, which is actually what made me decide I wanted one. That was a little bit later in the product life though.
Double Dragon on Master System was my introduction to the series! And I’m in NA! My family had one before I was born so I grew up with it. And we never had an NES. But we did have both SNES and Genesis later on
'Fantasy Zone II' is probably my favorite game of all time. I played it daily as a kid, almost religiously. I could probably play through it to the end, blindfolded, on muscle memory alone. The music was also incredible, and it even had a touching, albeit simple, story. I've played scores of (technically) better games in my life, but FZII was just the right game at the right time of my life, so it may never get dethroned.
I have one from the 80s. I love the system and still play it on occasion. I recently bought a game for at a gaming convention. I only found one vendor who had any SMS games.
UK gamer here. Good to see the SMS get some love from across the pond for a change. Props also for knowing about the home computers that were here too. Colour me subscribed! 😊
I had a master system shortly after I got my nes in 1986. You stand correct, living in North America I cant recall any of my friends owning one of these or even heard of it. EVERYONE had an nes. Great console, I owned outrun along with choplifter, hang on, astro warrior, ghostbusters and california games. Matter of fact I still own my sms till this day.
There's not a lot of love for the master system, but its a very nice system indeed. I was surprised when I played James pond II on it, its a really good port and pushes the system to the max I think.
This arcade ports are not impressive compare to some other games. And the system was beloved outside of USA. More SEGA in the UK Brazil and parts of Europe. USA is not whole planet..! I live in France there were more SMS in Highschool than Nes
@@michaelromeo9567 I never said anything about the arcade ports. I said that James pond was a nice game that pushes the system to it's max. I'm from the Netherlands, I never said anything about the usa being the whole world, that's something you made up. and again I did not say the master system was not loved back in the day, but from a collectors point of view the system does not get a lot of love, even tho it's a very capable system.
Im from Australia - I grew up with both the Master System and Mega Drive (Genesis in America). My older brother owned them. Loved them - I could never work out how to play Ghost Busters though.
I live in the USA and I owned a Master System and a C64 instead of an NES. Three of my closest friends did as well. We were well aware of how much better the SMS was than the NES. Veteran of the console war here 😉
I grew up in the UK, and out of all my friends they mostly had a SMS, but there was one kid that had a NES.. The NES was not really that popular in the UK. It was very expensive to buy games for it.
@@fictionalmediabully9830 Not really, when it was between £20-30 for a SMS game, then you see a NES game starting at around £50-60 it was a no brainer really.
@@JonoHalle I found a NES UK commercial from the late '80s, and it said the prices ranged from £20 to £40. I then found one from the early '90s, and it seemed like prices began shooting up to £50, which must have annoyed parents on a budget. I've been doing some research on the UK NES Vs SMS story, and I think I might have found one of the main reasons it didn't catch on. It seemed like, early on, a lot of its game library mainly comprised games you could already get on home computers with hardly any improvements visually and sonically. Who would want to buy a cartridge of "Donkey Kong" for £20 when they could get the same game on ZX Spectrum or Commodore 64 for vastly cheaper with the added bonus of making a pirate copy for their friend or cousin? I find it fascinating, despite it all being way before my time.
I only knew one person with a nes too , same kid was one of the only ppl I knew with a snes too . He lent me his nes after he got his snes . There was an issue with the power button where the console would never power one . If you rapidly press the power button fast about 30 times it would eventually stay on
Nice trip down memory lane - thank you. I had a Sega Master System in the late 80s/early 90s before upgrading to the Megadrive around 1991. I used to love the Master System I had some great games - Alex Kidd and Wonderboy spring to mind. I still have the Megadrive all these years later and still works perfectly, but alas I no longer have the Master System - sadly.
Brother had the NES so I got the SMS. I was happy with it, The colors were much better and it reminded me of going to an arcade. My favorites for the console were Shinobi, Astro Warrior, Choplifter, Double Dragon, F-16 Fighting Falcon, Monopoly and Outrun. I guess that's essentially all the games I had for it. I remember cutting the UPC off the back of the cases for a send away item, but I can't remember what it was.
I play all of these on my Genesis using a MegaEverdrive. So i got to experience all of the games i missed. One of my friend had MS and we played a hand full of games back then.
For Double Dragon, to get the enemies in a headlock you have to lower their life first before it will work. trying to do it while the enemies are still strong will just make you pass through them.
Have to admit, when I was debating between a SMS or an NES back in day, the SMS game boxes just never caught my eye cuz they were so bland; yet I would spend hours looking at each and every NES game due to the cool box art.
I still have that system. I also have my coleco vision that I pre-ordered after working a summer job in high school. And my Sega 3d. I am thinking of setting up all my systems and having friends over for a game day.
The Sega Master System wasn't as popular as the NES in Canada but I suspect it was relatively more popular in Canada than it was in the United States considering I was able to rent Sega Master System games for a couple of years in the late 1980s into 1990 at several small town video stores near where I lived on the western outskirts of Montreal. Canadians also were able to buy some European Master System games not officially available in the United States at Compucentre, the Canadian equivalent to Babbages.
your voice is so soothing love your presentation i was a master system kid born in 1980 had the deluxe version with the 3d glasses ive always been an underdog for tech since love the atari ST as well cheers
I loved my SMS. I wish i never sold it. And even though i didn't have that many games for it, of the games played here i had Ghouls'n'ghosts, Double Dragon, Rampage and Shinobi. I loved Double Dragon on this. It was real solid version and one of the very few games you could play coop back then.
Here in Argentina it was relatively popular, as it had official distribution (unlike Nintendo) and was sold at major retail stores, just like the Coleco a few years before. It was pretty expensive though and couldn't compete with the Famiclones that flooded the market.
@@llpBR some sort of arrangement involving Tectoy from Brazil. It applied to Uruguay as well. Mind-blowing at the time to see instructions on a video game console written in spanish.
@@SpiralPegasus i didn't know that TecToy exported too. And it makes sense Daniel Dazcal to do it to his homecountry. It was nice to read manuals in portuguese indeed, but I was too young to realize that it could and probably would be different. To me the mindblowing thing was the announcements on TV.
Must have been a regional thing cuz i remember seein SO many Sega Master System commercials during after school cartoon time when the 8 bit wars began to flare up...
Coming from UK it's nice to see a video from the US talking about the first system that really brought the arcade home. Nintendo used and has always used tactical and clever marketing methods to sell a machine that was not good for arcade lovers, a home console. In Europe and Japan Sega done pretty well even down to the SNES compared to the Megadrive. I remember my friend always wanting to borrow my Sega to play titles like Golden Axe After Burner and REAL leading arcade classis at home. Nothing to date has beat Sega in the Arcades with systems like the model 3 board and Am2 tech.....and let's stop before I get into the R360 cabinate and others of the sort. To go home to have a practice run on Outrun after showing of to the chick's as a 12 year old how badass you can drive, was a great feeling. BRING BACK THE ARCADES! I wanna show the wifey I can drive at 110mph in my car without her chest being crushed by my seatbelt while playing the outrun music 😫
Here in Australia, the Master System was a big deal. All my friends and myself had one. I didnt know anyone with an NES. I loved many of its games like The Ninja, Shinobi, Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Zillion II, Captain Silver, Lord of the Sword, Wonderboy and ESWAT. I even loved Alex Kidd in High Tech World, despite the criticism it received at the time. It had so much charm. My absolute favorite game was Wonderboy in Monsterland. I spent so many hours playing that game and making sure I collected as much gold as possible, so that I could afford all the Legendary armor bits. Great times :)
I got my Sega Master System in 1989...and its still in the loft somewhere(Alex Kidd In Miracle World built in)....My Sega Mega Drive/Mega CD and Super Nintendo Entertainment System is up there as well....
I only knew 2 other people who had a master system when I was younger besides me and all three of us bonded over that thing. I don’t remember any advertising for it I just remember one Christmas I was asked to pick a game system out of the JC Penny Wish book and the side by side comparison of the SMS and the NES from the pictures in the magazine was a no brainer, the SMS looked way better and it had all the arcade games I loved playing (especially Outrun and Zaxxon). Had they not discontinued selling games for it at every store in my area I never would have gotten an NES.
The Out Run hill mid-way the hairpin is a little lower on the arcade version indeed. Interesting! While I had a Master System II I never had the original Out Run on it. :-)
My first big boy console in the early 90's here in Australia, I was supposed to get an Atari 2600 but to my surprise I got a Sega, needless to say I was a happy teenager :) Btw you forgot the not so secret "Snail" Maze game I think it's activated by both buttons and up then down on start up or something similar. Wonder Boy - Original, that music omg I still remember it, it drove my dad nuts lol that was also another epic game :) Thanks for the flash back mate, and that console is in immaculate condition to btw :) Cheers.
That's a great selection of arcade ports, and there are a few more that are quite impressive. Wonder Boy, Vigilante and R-Type are as arcade perfect as they could be on the SMS. Several others are excellent: Choplifter, Rastan, Gain Ground, Cloud Master, Dynamite Dux, Fantasy Zone and probably others I forgot right now. Shadow Dancer borders on unbelievable (even if it's only half the arcade version). Finally, I'd add Time Soldiers as a personal favorite (not an accurate port, but a great game anyway).
Not an arcade port, but you should check out the Master System port of Road Rash, incredibly impressive and you'd be forgiven in thinking it was the Genesis version from some of it!
My best friend had one growing up. We played the crap out of it at first, but once he got a NES it collected dust and was thrown into a closet. Unfortunately The Master system wasn't what I would call kid friendly at the time.
In Ghouls and Ghosts, I'm guessing the 'warp' to the boss with no backgrounds is more that the boss is actually a background and not a sprite - it's just scrolling the background image with only the small moving parts as actual sprites. Quite a few examples of that technique being used on the NES, as well.
Ah, that makes a lot more sense than my theory. I did notice that in the boss fights the backgrounds were just big empty black voids... you'd think they could have just done some kind lightning or screen flashing effect to clear the level's background tiles in a convincing way instead of using a warp but whatever!
I've just found out your channel now and honestly your definitely in need of more subs, I'm going to share your channel. Really really interesting and easy to follow, too many youtubers talk far to fast and fail to put things across easily. Brilliant stuff man, every credit to you 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Really enjoyed this! I had never played or even seen a sms, but managed to pick one up for a great price a few years ago. Games are so scarce here, locally, but mine came with wonder boy, wonder boy 3, double dragon, and altered beast.
I loved my sega!!! Everyone had Nintendo but me, and it was great. The only problem was the smaller selection of games, but the gun, card, and 3-d glasses were awesome.
Greatest console ever made!! I have the SMS and SMS2 and still regularly play it 30 odd years later. I bet PS5 users won't be saying that 30 years from now!
The Master System feels somewhere between an NES and a PC Engine. Had it been as popular as the Famicom, I think we'd have seen even more impressive originals and ports. You forgot to check out the Brazillian street fighter ii port. Seriously impressive given the hardware
More like below a NES terrible graphics very limited sprite capability. Many NES games look good and have lots of moving stuff onscreen I dont see that on MS
I bought one of these at an Electronics Boutique and also got a copy of Phantasy Star which I loved. This was around 1986 or 87 I think. It was when it was first released. I was 18 and just finished HS. I also had an Alex Kid game. Long long time ago so I do not remember how many games I had, but it wasn't many. 10 or 12 maybe. The cool thing about this console is that it used both game cards and carts.
I played one a LOOONG time ago at a summer/daycare camp. I got one a few years back for the nostalgia remembering the graphics where like WTF compared to the NES and NO ONE PLAYED IT it was free controller all day. Its a shame it never got a good foothold here.
I really enjoyed Sydney Hunter Homebrew for the Master System a lot. Golden Axe Warrior, Phantasy-Star, Double Dragon, Y's and Choplifter were favorite games as well along with the whole Wonder Boy Series. Great games.
Extremely underrated Console. My younger sister had one in the late 90s and I was floored with the colourful graphics compared with my earlier C64 and it could play Lemmings like my Amiga! Nintendo wasn’t really much of a thing in NZ so it was pretty much Sega vs Commodore untill the N64 and PlayStation at end of 90s
So I was the Sega kid. Not sure how I ended up with an SMS when Nintendo was advertising a ton. But I loved that system. Double Dragon and Space Harrier got a ton of play time. I had a friend down the street with a NES though, so I did get to play some games. And always wondered why they were so blah colored lol.
Growing up in the UK 🇬🇧 i went from the humble ZX spectrum to the Mighty Master System. (Yes the NES wasn't as popular here, but we're not comparing the two) Games you should check out include. Sonic the hedgehog (number 1). R-Type. Air Rescue. Bubble bobble. Dessert strike. Master of darkness. Robocod (yes cod). Tasmania. To name but a few
I got both my Nes and Master System in 1986. I loved them but my Master System was my favorite. Addendum- There was marketing here in the US during the Master System's lifespan. "With hot hits today and hot hits on the way, Sega will always be there!" Also "Sega's the one, the challenge will always be there!"
Huh, I have never heard those either. I really don't remember ever seeing any kind of advertising from Sega before the Genesis. Maybe it was just my area. I vividly remember seeing Master System game screenshots in the Sears catalog though.
I had one of these. I remember playing a hockey game all the time. “Slap shot” I think was the title. I had a few others but were less memorable. Like you said NES just out performed in the market. I loved this system though except for the screw in joysticks on the Dpads. I actually broke the first one off then I realized they did in fact unscrew. Lol. Great video and great memories. Thx. Edit. I wish I’d kept it.
I wish they made more use of FM synth instead of the screeching bleeps and bloops. So good for 8 bit. I really recommend asterix on the MS. Amazing platformer for the time. Also the Mickey mouse games are excellent. Also there is a sports pad for the system for games like marble madness. 👍
You left off Sagaia/Darius 2. I'm genuinely astounded at how good of a port it is. Aside from the black backgrounds at the huge battleships, it's an amazingly well done port, in some ways it might even be better than the Genesis version. Taito really knew how to get the best of the SMS.
i wanted the nes for Christmas but i ended up with the Sega master system it came with hang-on/safari hunt. that was the only game i had for it until years later i started picking the games up at thrift stores - yard sale's for under $10. but i was forced to pack up & move. so, i ended up selling my entire collation
Nice list! I'd have never thought to play the SMS version of Ghouls n Ghosts, but now I'm gonna give it a shot tonight or tomorrow after seeing how much easier it is.
I am from South Africa, I first saw a NES when I was about five. Then When I was about 7, our local stores had a sale on the SMS and from then on they were as common as the NES. It was always known that the SEGA games had something special about them. We loved the colours compares to the NES. Good times!
Just wanted to add, in case others didn't mention it. In the video, you mentioned that in Double Dragon, there's no way to grab your opponent reliably. There actually is a way: Opponents can't be grabbed right away. You have to weaken them first. For example. Jump kick an opponent twice. Afterwards, they should be weak enough for a headlock once you move your character on top of theirs.
This ^
Can confirm.
I'm a Brazilian, and got a SMS as bday present, waaaay back in 92. It was my 1st videogame console.
The funny thing? At the same time, I was given the G.I.Joe tank that I was wanting!
It took me 2 days to go see what that SMS thing was all about, and my mom telling me that my dad was kinda sad, that I didn't appreciate the more expensive gift.
Little did he knew, I'd wind up in programming...
I often read about how SEGA really captured the gamer crowd in South America, but in particular Brazil, where basically the Genesis (specifically) was Brazil's Super Nintendo basically. But I wouldn't be surprised that the Master System also worked well. I think SEGA simply had a lot of success in South America. But I wouldn't know why. Was it due to pricing Vs Nintendo? Or were Nintendo consoles simply not available as much?
@@lyrand6408 sure, it was due to pricing.
We had a company called TecToy here, which manufactured Sega's consoles.
The SMS was the cheap one, "for the masses", and the Genesis (Mega Drive as it was known here) was the "rich kids" one. That's not to say
Throughout the 90's, Brazil went to a colossal inflation crisis.
I'm talking about 50% increases and upwards *per month* ! I vividly remember a woman begging to a market worker, to let her buy a product before he changed the price tag, or else she wouldn't be able to afford it (it came to a point where it was changed daily).
Add the stupid taxation of imported goods we had to the mix, and one can see why a console made in the country was super successful.
@@RaginKavu I see, that explains it. It must have been very hard times, sorry to hear it man. But I'm glad at least Sega stood above the crowd because they did deserve it.
@@lyrand6408 it was, but I was a child back then, so I just remember the general atmosphere, and what I saw at the news.
Got my SMS when I was just 7. Too young to fully comprehend what was going on, but not totally oblivious.
We still had the NES around here, but it was waaay more expensive. That's what I was going to write after "That's not to say".
Sorry, was in a rush, had to stop mid sentence.
The Master System actually had lots of marketing. I couldn't go a hour without a SEGA Master System commerical with that narrator with the deep voice.
While I had both the SMS and NES growing up, I was a huge Master System kid. It's still tied with the TG-16 as my favorite retro console.
I had an SMS before I had an NES. My dad bought the SMS new sometime in '85. I was almost 5 years old. Still remember playing Choplifter, Hang On, Safari Hunt, Great Football, and My Hero.
"Now, there are no limits." was absolutely a slogan.
The SEGA MASTER SYSTEM was my very first console back in the mid 1980s. My father bought it for me. Played the hell out of it.
The Sega Game Gear handheld is basically a Master System in handheld form with stereo sound capabilities. I used to own a Game Gear and had an adapter cartridge for it that allowed me to plug Master System games into it.
Those things like draining batteries, mind you.
Yes. The Master Gear Converter. Had one also. It was a big plus if you had a Game Gear.
I gotta be the only guy I know who back in the day played a Sega Master System before anybody had an NES. One of the guys had parents who bought them every game you could imagine, so the SMS was always a system I admired. It was for people who loved arcade games and computer games of the era.
@@philfrank5601 They sold more Master Systems than NES consoles here in England, though most gamers used computers(like the Commodore 64, Sinclair Spectrum, Amiga and Atari systems) here back then.
The Sega Master System and the Dreamcast were two of the best systems that were made for their times. Pity that they were so underated and under-appreciated.
Still the most aesthetically pleasing console ever released in my book
With the ugliest game boxes
@@f.k.b.16Who do you know that plays game boxes? 😄
The graphical capabilities of the system are superb. The best looking 8 bit system by a considerable distance, light years ahead of its competition.
@@markchambers3833 true that! If only SEGA had good lawyers and a better sound chip than the SMS had and I think they would have mopped the floor with Nintendo in the 80s! (Oh and better boxes lol! Joking)
Sigh, as a Brit this was a system I genuinely coveted. So many good games like Rampage. :D
I mean I loved my NES too, I would have been happy to have had both. :3
Prince of Persia, Submarine Attack, Wonder Boy III, R-Type, Master of Darkness and Sonic are some of my favourite MS games.
I loved this console when i was a kid, the NES was excellent too, but the MS held it's own without a doubt.
This thing was INSANELY popular in Brazil, mostly because of a company called Tec-Toy and the amazing advertising they did here. It was also insanely expansive, reason why I've never had one as a kid.
When I was a kid I was one of the lucky ones who had the Master System. Ghouls and ghosts was definitely my favorite. I remember the first time on the second level that game started lagging... me and my brother play that game forever passing the controller back and forth... Years later doing a bit of research I discovered it's a fairly difficult game, like Castlevania 3 on NES... Me and my brother love that one oh, but it turns out it was a masterpiece let alone a fairly difficult game. They put a lot of craftsmanship into building some of these games..
The Master System was a lot more popular in Europe than it was in America. One amazing thing about it was that when Sega released the Mega Drive, they didn't abandon the Master System, like console companies seem to do today! They simply repositioned it as a 'budget' console alongside their newer, more powerful console and kept producing and selling it.
That meant it got supported with games for far longer than it normally would have, and ended up outliving the NES by quite a way. They even ported new games from the Mega Drive over to the Master System, so even if you had the cheaper 'budget' system, you could still play new games like Sonic, Road Rash and Altered Beast.
Choplifter, Wonder Boy, Fantasy Zone, Action Fighter & Alex Kidd in the Miracle World are essential plays!🙌
I have tried all of those except for Action Fighter! I'll put it on my list, thanks :)
Wonderboy in Monsterland, and Wonderboy: The Dragon's Trap, are the best sms games!
Nice list, I'll add Kenseiden, Black Belt (aka Hokuto No Ken/ Fist of the North Star), Streets of Rage, Sonic the Hedgehog (different from the 16 bit).
And Asterix, is awesome!
Michael Jacksons moonwalker was also a great game
There were actually quite a few commercials for it, but only for a short window I think. They featured R-Type in one of them, which is actually what made me decide I wanted one. That was a little bit later in the product life though.
Double Dragon on Master System was my introduction to the series!
And I’m in NA! My family had one before I was born so I grew up with it. And we never had an NES. But we did have both SNES and Genesis later on
Let's not forget the underrated classic Fantasy Zone 2
That game was a Two-Meg cartridge, and was awesome!
'Fantasy Zone II' is probably my favorite game of all time. I played it daily as a kid, almost religiously. I could probably play through it to the end, blindfolded, on muscle memory alone.
The music was also incredible, and it even had a touching, albeit simple, story. I've played scores of (technically) better games in my life, but FZII was just the right game at the right time of my life, so it may never get dethroned.
I have one from the 80s. I love the system and still play it on occasion. I recently bought a game for at a gaming convention. I only found one vendor who had any SMS games.
My brother had this bad boy growing up. Ghouls 'n' Ghosts on SMS was the very first game I ever beat as a kid.
I still have my Sega Master System I got for Christmas 1986.
Still works great.
UK gamer here. Good to see the SMS get some love from across the pond for a change. Props also for knowing about the home computers that were here too. Colour me subscribed! 😊
Thanks and welcome!
I had a master system shortly after I got my nes in 1986. You stand correct, living in North America I cant recall any of my friends owning one of these or even heard of it. EVERYONE had an nes. Great console, I owned outrun along with choplifter, hang on, astro warrior, ghostbusters and california games. Matter of fact I still own my sms till this day.
There's not a lot of love for the master system, but its a very nice system indeed. I was surprised when I played James pond II on it, its a really good port and pushes the system to the max I think.
This arcade ports are not impressive compare to some other games. And the system was beloved outside of USA. More SEGA in the UK Brazil and parts of Europe. USA is not whole planet..! I live in France there were more SMS in Highschool than Nes
@@michaelromeo9567 I never said anything about the arcade ports. I said that James pond was a nice game that pushes the system to it's max.
I'm from the Netherlands, I never said anything about the usa being the whole world, that's something you made up.
and again I did not say the master system was not loved back in the day, but from a collectors point of view the system does not get a lot of love, even tho it's a very capable system.
@@Voyager_2 I agree with you. My bad
Im from Australia - I grew up with both the Master System and Mega Drive (Genesis in America). My older brother owned them. Loved them - I could never work out how to play Ghost Busters though.
I live in the USA and I owned a Master System and a C64 instead of an NES. Three of my closest friends did as well. We were well aware of how much better the SMS was than the NES. Veteran of the console war here 😉
I grew up in the UK, and out of all my friends they mostly had a SMS, but there was one kid that had a NES.. The NES was not really that popular in the UK. It was very expensive to buy games for it.
Didn't the NES start to find an audience when it came bundled with the Hero Turtles game?
@@fictionalmediabully9830 Not really, when it was between £20-30 for a SMS game, then you see a NES game starting at around £50-60 it was a no brainer really.
@@JonoHalle
I found a NES UK commercial from the late '80s, and it said the prices ranged from £20 to £40. I then found one from the early '90s, and it seemed like prices began shooting up to £50, which must have annoyed parents on a budget.
I've been doing some research on the UK NES Vs SMS story, and I think I might have found one of the main reasons it didn't catch on. It seemed like, early on, a lot of its game library mainly comprised games you could already get on home computers with hardly any improvements visually and sonically. Who would want to buy a cartridge of "Donkey Kong" for £20 when they could get the same game on ZX Spectrum or Commodore 64 for vastly cheaper with the added bonus of making a pirate copy for their friend or cousin? I find it fascinating, despite it all being way before my time.
I only knew one person with a nes too , same kid was one of the only ppl I knew with a snes too .
He lent me his nes after he got his snes .
There was an issue with the power button where the console would never power one . If you rapidly press the power button fast about 30 times it would eventually stay on
I had no idea 8-bit could perform like that! Thanks!
Nice trip down memory lane - thank you. I had a Sega Master System in the late 80s/early 90s before upgrading to the Megadrive around 1991. I used to love the Master System I had some great games - Alex Kidd and Wonderboy spring to mind. I still have the Megadrive all these years later and still works perfectly, but alas I no longer have the Master System - sadly.
I had ONE friend, in first grade that had a SMS. Got to play a few pretty cool games for it, but we mostly played Rambo when I was over there.😊
Brother had the NES so I got the SMS. I was happy with it, The colors were much better and it reminded me of going to an arcade. My favorites for the console were Shinobi, Astro Warrior, Choplifter, Double Dragon, F-16 Fighting Falcon, Monopoly and Outrun. I guess that's essentially all the games I had for it. I remember cutting the UPC off the back of the cases for a send away item, but I can't remember what it was.
I play all of these on my Genesis using a MegaEverdrive. So i got to experience all of the games i missed. One of my friend had MS and we played a hand full of games back then.
Man I loved that thing. I went from a Atari 2600, to a NES then a sega master system .. I had hang-on and a shooting game as the internal games
Hang-On/Astro Warrior was built in to mine back in the day.
I had the 3D Space Harrier, I used to play that game for hours. My friend Brian was the only other kid at our school that a SMS.
For Double Dragon, to get the enemies in a headlock you have to lower their life first before it will work. trying to do it while the enemies are still strong will just make you pass through them.
Have to admit, when I was debating between a SMS or an NES back in day, the SMS game boxes just never caught my eye cuz they were so bland; yet I would spend hours looking at each and every NES game due to the cool box art.
I still have that system. I also have my coleco vision that I pre-ordered after working a summer job in high school. And my Sega 3d. I am thinking of setting up all my systems and having friends over for a game day.
Loved the stereoscopic feature like Xaxxon 3D! I had the MegaDrive add-on and had a good collection.
The Sega Master System wasn't as popular as the NES in Canada but I suspect it was relatively more popular in Canada than it was in the United States considering I was able to rent Sega Master System games for a couple of years in the late 1980s into 1990 at several small town video stores near where I lived on the western outskirts of Montreal. Canadians also were able to buy some European Master System games not officially available in the United States at Compucentre, the Canadian equivalent to Babbages.
Master system was my first console at age 5, sega was huge here in Australia
I got the SEGA MASTER SYSTEM on Christmas 1988. Plus, I received Double Dragon free in the mail as part of SEGA’s promotion.
i still have mine somewhere around here. space harrier was the main reason for owning the console, i even have the 3d goggles for the game
Ghouls and ghosts must've been infuriating to play with the character going backwards much faster than forward.
your voice is so soothing love your presentation i was a master system kid born in 1980 had the deluxe version with the 3d glasses ive always been an underdog for tech since love the atari ST as well cheers
Nice, I will had to look into finding the 3d glasses to try out some day. Glad you enjoyed the video!
I loved my SMS. I wish i never sold it. And even though i didn't have that many games for it, of the games played here i had Ghouls'n'ghosts, Double Dragon, Rampage and Shinobi. I loved Double Dragon on this. It was real solid version and one of the very few games you could play coop back then.
Here in Argentina it was relatively popular, as it had official distribution (unlike Nintendo) and was sold at major retail stores, just like the Coleco a few years before. It was pretty expensive though and couldn't compete with the Famiclones that flooded the market.
What company distributed Master System on Argentina? Sega themselves? I'm pretty interested now.
@@llpBR some sort of arrangement involving Tectoy from Brazil. It applied to Uruguay as well. Mind-blowing at the time to see instructions on a video game console written in spanish.
@@SpiralPegasus i didn't know that TecToy exported too. And it makes sense Daniel Dazcal to do it to his homecountry. It was nice to read manuals in portuguese indeed, but I was too young to realize that it could and probably would be different. To me the mindblowing thing was the announcements on TV.
@@llpBR as far as I can find, the local company was Gameland and imported them from Brazil's TecToy
The Master System being the Mark III means it was closer to 16-bit than previous 8-bit NES and ColecoVision.
Must have been a regional thing cuz i remember seein SO many Sega Master System commercials during after school cartoon time when the 8 bit wars began to flare up...
Coming from UK it's nice to see a video from the US talking about the first system that really brought the arcade home. Nintendo used and has always used tactical and clever marketing methods to sell a machine that was not good for arcade lovers, a home console. In Europe and Japan Sega done pretty well even down to the SNES compared to the Megadrive. I remember my friend always wanting to borrow my Sega to play titles like Golden Axe After Burner and REAL leading arcade classis at home. Nothing to date has beat Sega in the Arcades with systems like the model 3 board and Am2 tech.....and let's stop before I get into the R360 cabinate and others of the sort. To go home to have a practice run on Outrun after showing of to the chick's as a 12 year old how badass you can drive, was a great feeling. BRING BACK THE ARCADES! I wanna show the wifey I can drive at 110mph in my car without her chest being crushed by my seatbelt while playing the outrun music 😫
Sega! The Challenge will always be there. That was the slogan back in the day for the SMS.
I had one as a kid, there were a few kids in my neighborhood that had SMS, My favorite game was action fighter
Here in Australia, the Master System was a big deal. All my friends and myself had one. I didnt know anyone with an NES.
I loved many of its games like The Ninja, Shinobi, Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Zillion II, Captain Silver, Lord of the Sword, Wonderboy and ESWAT.
I even loved Alex Kidd in High Tech World, despite the criticism it received at the time. It had so much charm.
My absolute favorite game was Wonderboy in Monsterland. I spent so many hours playing that game and making sure I collected as much gold as possible, so that I could afford all the Legendary armor bits. Great times :)
I had Rambo and Rambo 3, Altered Beast, Rampage, Reggie Jackson Baseball
I got my Sega Master System in 1989...and its still in the loft somewhere(Alex Kidd In Miracle World built in)....My Sega Mega Drive/Mega CD and Super Nintendo Entertainment System is up there as well....
I only knew 2 other people who had a master system when I was younger besides me and all three of us bonded over that thing. I don’t remember any advertising for it I just remember one Christmas I was asked to pick a game system out of the JC Penny Wish book and the side by side comparison of the SMS and the NES from the pictures in the magazine was a no brainer, the SMS looked way better and it had all the arcade games I loved playing (especially Outrun and Zaxxon). Had they not discontinued selling games for it at every store in my area I never would have gotten an NES.
The Out Run hill mid-way the hairpin is a little lower on the arcade version indeed. Interesting! While I had a Master System II I never had the original Out Run on it. :-)
My first big boy console in the early 90's here in Australia, I was supposed to get an Atari 2600 but to my surprise I got a Sega, needless to say I was a happy teenager :)
Btw you forgot the not so secret "Snail" Maze game I think it's activated by both buttons and up then down on start up or something similar.
Wonder Boy - Original, that music omg I still remember it, it drove my dad nuts lol that was also another epic game :)
Thanks for the flash back mate, and that console is in immaculate condition to btw :)
Cheers.
That's a great selection of arcade ports, and there are a few more that are quite impressive. Wonder Boy, Vigilante and R-Type are as arcade perfect as they could be on the SMS. Several others are excellent: Choplifter, Rastan, Gain Ground, Cloud Master, Dynamite Dux, Fantasy Zone and probably others I forgot right now. Shadow Dancer borders on unbelievable (even if it's only half the arcade version). Finally, I'd add Time Soldiers as a personal favorite (not an accurate port, but a great game anyway).
Not an arcade port, but you should check out the Master System port of Road Rash, incredibly impressive and you'd be forgiven in thinking it was the Genesis version from some of it!
My best friend had one growing up. We played the crap out of it at first, but once he got a NES it collected dust and was thrown into a closet. Unfortunately The Master system wasn't what I would call kid friendly at the time.
In Ghouls and Ghosts, I'm guessing the 'warp' to the boss with no backgrounds is more that the boss is actually a background and not a sprite - it's just scrolling the background image with only the small moving parts as actual sprites. Quite a few examples of that technique being used on the NES, as well.
Ah, that makes a lot more sense than my theory. I did notice that in the boss fights the backgrounds were just big empty black voids... you'd think they could have just done some kind lightning or screen flashing effect to clear the level's background tiles in a convincing way instead of using a warp but whatever!
It was the first system I ever owned, before the Nintendo.
Alex Kidd, Rambo, Rocky, a greatly underappreciated system
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Thanks for your support and I appreciate the encouragement!
Really enjoyed this! I had never played or even seen a sms, but managed to pick one up for a great price a few years ago. Games are so scarce here, locally, but mine came with wonder boy, wonder boy 3, double dragon, and altered beast.
Alterd beast . Choplifter . Afterburner . Lemmings . Double dragon . Wonder boy
Love the master systems slide in logo/jingle
I loved my sega!!! Everyone had Nintendo but me, and it was great. The only problem was the smaller selection of games, but the gun, card, and 3-d glasses were awesome.
Loved my Sega Master System, especially the 3D Glasses!
Greatest console ever made!! I have the SMS and SMS2 and still regularly play it 30 odd years later. I bet PS5 users won't be saying that 30 years from now!
I still have my master system from when I was a kid and it still works great
i had one. it was really hard to convince the nes fans of its greatness, so i didnt have many friends that owned one
The Master System feels somewhere between an NES and a PC Engine. Had it been as popular as the Famicom, I think we'd have seen even more impressive originals and ports. You forgot to check out the Brazillian street fighter ii port. Seriously impressive given the hardware
Master System was actually a Colecovision on steroids! :)
More like below a NES terrible graphics very limited sprite capability. Many NES games look good and have lots of moving stuff onscreen I dont see that on MS
I bought one of these at an Electronics Boutique and also got a copy of Phantasy Star which I loved. This was around 1986 or 87 I think. It was when it was first released. I was 18 and just finished HS. I also had an Alex Kid game. Long long time ago so I do not remember how many games I had, but it wasn't many. 10 or 12 maybe. The cool thing about this console is that it used both game cards and carts.
I'm going to have to try Phantasy Star it sounds like :)
I played one a LOOONG time ago at a summer/daycare camp. I got one a few years back for the nostalgia remembering the graphics where like WTF compared to the NES and NO ONE PLAYED IT it was free controller all day. Its a shame it never got a good foothold here.
the master system was big in uk and it has alex kidd as a hidden free game within the console
This was an amazing system.
Nintendo did something dirty in 80s which prevented Sega from getting vendor support - yes Nintendo, looking at you
I really enjoyed Sydney Hunter Homebrew for the Master System a lot. Golden Axe Warrior, Phantasy-Star, Double Dragon, Y's and Choplifter were favorite games as well along with the whole Wonder Boy Series. Great games.
My first console. Got it in 1989 when I was 15.
Extremely underrated Console. My younger sister had one in the late 90s and I was floored with the colourful graphics compared with my earlier C64 and it could play Lemmings like my Amiga!
Nintendo wasn’t really much of a thing in NZ so it was pretty much Sega vs Commodore untill the N64 and PlayStation at end of 90s
Had a Master System (European version) when I was a kid. Loved it
Still have my master system with my favourite game, ninja Gaiden, prince of Persia and California games
Really quite shocked at how good this system is. Completely ignored here in the US.
I had a friend who had one and I love in Louisville KY, but that the only place I've ever seen one or ever played one and that was in the 80s.
Enjoyed the SMS growing up. Still have a working one.
There was also Sonic for the Master System version. It's much slower than the Genesis version.
I remember when I first saw one...I was blown away as a 11 year old.
My first games system!! I still love my SMS!
So I was the Sega kid. Not sure how I ended up with an SMS when Nintendo was advertising a ton. But I loved that system. Double Dragon and Space Harrier got a ton of play time. I had a friend down the street with a NES though, so I did get to play some games. And always wondered why they were so blah colored lol.
Growing up in the UK 🇬🇧 i went from the humble ZX spectrum to the Mighty Master System.
(Yes the NES wasn't as popular here, but we're not comparing the two)
Games you should check out include.
Sonic the hedgehog (number 1).
R-Type.
Air Rescue.
Bubble bobble.
Dessert strike.
Master of darkness.
Robocod (yes cod).
Tasmania.
To name but a few
I got both my Nes and Master System in 1986. I loved them but my Master System was my favorite.
Addendum- There was marketing here in the US during the Master System's lifespan. "With hot hits today and hot hits on the way, Sega will always be there!" Also "Sega's the one, the challenge will always be there!"
Huh, I have never heard those either. I really don't remember ever seeing any kind of advertising from Sega before the Genesis. Maybe it was just my area. I vividly remember seeing Master System game screenshots in the Sears catalog though.
I'm from New Zealand and the master system was very popular here probably more so than the nes
I had one as a kid and loved it.
I had one of these. I remember playing a hockey game all the time. “Slap shot” I think was the title. I had a few others but were less memorable. Like you said NES just out performed in the market. I loved this system though except for the screw in joysticks on the Dpads. I actually broke the first one off then I realized they did in fact unscrew. Lol. Great video and great memories. Thx.
Edit. I wish I’d kept it.
Best system period. I grew up playing the master system. Phantasy Star and Wonder Boy were great!
I still have my original sega master system from the 80s and ill never get rid! Shame my tv is too topline for it now tho!
I wish they made more use of FM synth instead of the screeching bleeps and bloops. So good for 8 bit. I really recommend asterix on the MS. Amazing platformer for the time. Also the Mickey mouse games are excellent. Also there is a sports pad for the system for games like marble madness. 👍
I and one other kid had a MS. I saw the games weren’t like the NES. I never played in an arcade so I didn’t know these were arcade ports.
You left off Sagaia/Darius 2. I'm genuinely astounded at how good of a port it is. Aside from the black backgrounds at the huge battleships, it's an amazingly well done port, in some ways it might even be better than the Genesis version. Taito really knew how to get the best of the SMS.
My family went the Sega and Turbo Graphx route instead of Nintendo. Love the Master System. WonderBoy III is my all-time favorite game on that system.
i wanted the nes for Christmas but i ended up with the Sega master system it came with hang-on/safari hunt. that was the only game i had for it until years later i started picking the games up at thrift stores - yard sale's for under $10. but i was forced to pack up & move. so, i ended up selling my entire collation
Nice list! I'd have never thought to play the SMS version of Ghouls n Ghosts, but now I'm gonna give it a shot tonight or tomorrow after seeing how much easier it is.