Master System
The Master System, originally released in Japan as the マークIII [Maku III], Mark III, is a video game console developed by Sega and first released in Japan on 1985-10-20, and, after a slight redesign, sold in the USA in September of 1986. Although the system didn't do well in Japan or the USA, it sold very well in Europe and Brazil.
I never owned a Master System, and I only played it once around 1988, after going over to a friend's house after school. My family owned an NES, but he had a Master System. The only game I remember playing was Wonder Boy. Later, a different friend who owned a Genesis had a collection of Master System games, but didn't have the adapter to play them, so I only got to look at the box and cartridge art. I didn't play a game on the console again until about 15 years later when Master System emulation became popular.
Games
- See all Master System Games.
I didn't play the Master System enough to develop strong feelings for any of the games.
Review
Good
- This was the first platform to release games for the Phantasy Star and Alex Kidd series.
- The console was backward-compatible with the SG-1000. Although, this wasn't much, as the console had few games, and even fewer good games.
Bad
- Sega couldn't attract very many third party developers, so the platform never really developed a large catalog of games. This was primarily due to Nintendo's anti-competition policy at the time.
- Despite being released two years after the NES, and being technically superior, NES games released around the game time looked better on the NES.
- Pause is not on the controller, but on the console itself, which is really annoying, especially if you're playing a game that requires fast reflexes.
Ugly
- Nothing.
Media
Documentation
- Master System - Europe - Service Manual.pdf
European service manual.
Toys "R" Us ad with an NES.