Am I tripping? Or was the Sega Master System very elusive when it was current?

[ThatOneLum ThatOneLum]

They were pretty common around me even growing up in the 90s.

Early on in the decade the MegaDrive was the more popular system but a bunch of people still kept their older master systems because the games were way cheaper and more plentiful.

I think it highly depends on your country. SEGA had no where near the market dominance in most of the world, especially in the 80s, so they can be pretty rare in some places.

By the same token I was already basically an adult by the time I saw my first NES and almost no-one I knew had a SNES or N64 either. weird regional variations.

 

[ThunderBoy]

Here in Spain, the Master System was quite popular.
Perhaps on the same level as the NES.

As for Master System models, the one most commonly seen here was Model 2. I hardly saw Model 1.

 

[TinRattler]

I knew more people with the SMS than NES growing up.

 

[xii7]

The Master System was just as, if not more popular than the NES in Australia.

 

[Ad Infinitum]

Yea, I never saw one. But I did know a kid with an Atari Jaguar.

 

[Danieru-Emanyueru]

Yea, I never saw one. But I did know a kid with an Atari Jaguar.

Hey you have the picture that used to have here anti, are you anti? Are you back ???

 

[Dodgykebaab]

I had a discussion with my older brother the other day, and I was asking him if he remembers even anyone in our town having a sms console. I never saw one, nor knew of any local school kids/friends who had one. Our town is about 30,000 people, but never that Sega Master System. Surely we aren't the only ones who experienced this phenomenon. Just find it strange, and wonder how rare it was to see one in the wild during its hayday. Was it that rare, or were we just the anomaly?

Completely region dependent.

Here in the UK they were super popular, far more than the NES. In 1991 when I was 11, most people had a Master System and only one person in my school had a NES.

I guess in the USA it was completely the other way round.

 

[χKai]

My friend and I didn't start hearing about it until our mid-teens, and are convinced that it's actually from some Mandela-effect universe made by aliens.

 

[PhaseJump]

Completely region dependent.

Here in the UK they were supply popular, far more than the NES. In 1991 when I was 11, most people had a Master System and only one person in my school had a NES.

I guess in the USA it was completely the other way round.

Sega had toy companies selling and distributing it. Tonka was selling it in the USA. Irwin was selling it in Canada.

I do remember advertising for Sega on TV in Canada, I saw at least 2 people actually get one, and a few C64 preaching weirdos, but the NES completely dominated.

 

[Dodgykebaab]

Sega had toy companies selling and distributing it. Tonka was selling it in the USA. Irwin was selling it in Canada.

I do remember advertising for Sega on TV in Canada, I saw at least 2 people actually get one, and a few C64 preaching weirdos, but the NES completely dominated.

Well this is the difference.

In the UK Virgin was the distrubution partner. This was a fantasic move, because in 1987 Virgin bought out UK games distrubuter Mastertronic

Virgin Interactive Entertainment - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

That's an important factor because Mastertronic had a lot of experience in distrubuting ZX Spectrum games in the UK so they used this experience of the UK market when Virgin was tasked with selling the Master System to the UK.

The ZX Spectrum was by far the most popular home computer in the UK during the 80s and Mastertronic specialised in selling budget priced software in the £1.99 - £3.99 range, so they knew the right price point that software needed to be.

Virgin kept the margins on the Master System price as low as they could and it paid off. In the UK, the Master System blew the NES out the water.