Master System Let's talk about Sega Master System games

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

Yes, I have played games like Space Harrier 3-D and OutRun 3-D for example but through emulation obviously.

I wonder if the effect would work using a VR headset on emulation?

Kinda like how we have awesome Virtual Boy emulation that use VR headsets!

 

[Nelson2001 Nelson2001]

I wonder if the effect would work using a VR headset on emulation?

Kinda like how we have awesome Virtual Boy emulation that use VR headsets!

The concept sounds interesting.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

Probably the best looking Master System compact model. I love the logo and the Sonic decal. Very nice looking guy.

Here are some other runner up designs for the compact model:

All of these are from Tec Toy.

 

[ThatOneLum ThatOneLum]

View attachment 107729
Probably the best looking Master System compact model. I love the logo and the Sonic decal. Very nice looking guy.

Here are some other runner up designs for the compact model:

View attachment 107731View attachment 107732
All of these are from Tec Toy.

I don't mind some of these model 2 designs, even though I'm a model 1 die hard from a purely aesthetic sense.

 

[ThunderBoy]

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

Will say: Choplifter did blow me away!


And out of the sky. A lot. The challenge was always there!

 

[bcdusk]

Has anybody played the 3D titles? Is it a worthy accessory, or just a shelf piece?

The 3D works but is like the 3D of those cardboard 3D glasses that worked with some movies. It looks cool for a while and then you end playing in 2D anyway.

 

[FrootyLoopsSamurai]

I've ignored the Master System for most of my life, but the other day I decided to get one. I've never experience a D-pad quite as special as the stock controller. Nintendo's stranglehold on D-pads was real. I've been having fun going through the library though. Today I played through Master of Darkness.

It's pretty blatantly inspired by Castlevania. Some might call it a ripoff. I think it plays much better than the NES Castlevania games since you have free control over your jumps. It also seems like the developers actually wanted you to finish the game. It's overall a pretty breezy action adventure title by the standards of the time. If it seems like you have to take damage to get through a section, they will usually throw a health pickup at you not long after. There are multiple opportunities for extra lives that you can reobtain if you die. It does kind of suck when you die, as there are no mid-level checkpoints. Game over is even worse, as it will take you to the first level of that set of stages. There are three stages per set, so if you game over at the last stage of the set, it can set you back pretty far. This only happened to me one time though. It only took me about 2 and a half hours or so to finish the game, and this is using the stock control pad.

Being on the Master System, the graphics are also improved over NES Castlevania, but I feel the enemy designs and aesthetics aren't quite as well realized. There are also cutscenes that detail a fairly simplistic story. They're a nice bit of fluff. The music, while decent, is also not as good as Castlevania. If you feel like taking a short romp through an action platformer it's definitely worth the time. This might have made NES owners slightly envious at the time if anyone knew it existed.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

This might have made NES owners slightly envious at the time if anyone knew it existed.

I’ll pop in to say: the game was a European exclusive at the time. Never came to Japan, never came to North America. That’s part of the problem with the library, being that so many of its games came out in two regions who weren’t the big money spinners of video games at the time.
I’m frustrated this game came out so late, because it’s the kind of game I think the SMS should have gotten in 1988, rather than 92.

 

[PhaseJump]

A homebrew port of Pacman evolved into an awesome collection over on smspower forums. Latest release was in November.

https://www.smspower.org/Homebrew/Pac-ManMasterMuseum-SMS

This is now one of the best games on the platform.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

A homebrew port of Pacman evolved into an awesome collection over on smspower forums. Latest release was in November.

https://www.smspower.org/Homebrew/Pac-ManMasterMuseum-SMS

This is now one of the best games on the platform.

You are a real one for posting this. Genuinely looks awesome. I’ll have to put this on GenPlusGX when I get back home.

And, if all else fails, I used PicoDrive on my PS3 to play SMS Brawl previously, so I know that’s got my back.

 

[ThatOneLum ThatOneLum]

yeah I'm deffo gonna have to check this out on my FlashCart next time I have my SMS hooked up.

 

[bcdusk]

The Big Video of Sega Master System Games - Nearly 100 Titles! by Sega Lord X

I remember when my dad asked what was the better console to buy and they told him it was the Sega Master System. I also remember entering a local videogame store and they had Bart vs The Space Mutants to show off the Sega Master System.

While a whole lot of Sega Master System games sucked, even those advertised on the Sega Master System box, like Ghostbusters, the games did look better in general.

 

[PhaseJump]

Homebrew port of Phantasy Star II is being worked on. Huge amount of work. Hopefully it comes together.

 

[bcdusk]

Homebrew port of Phantasy Star II is being worked on. Huge amount of work. Hopefully it comes together.

Hopefully they tone down the random encounters.

 

[Ikagura]

Homebrew port of Phantasy Star II is being worked on. Huge amount of work. Hopefully it comes together.

It's wild that it's not just a fanmade recreation using a modern engine or a photoshop for a remix video but an actually working homebrew.

That feels like an alternative timeline where the Master System still had some very last games like how SoR 1&2 had SMS ports.

My small nitpick is that it kinda looks closer to PSIV in some parts (like the enemy and background when PSII had a blue grid) but it's a very good looking SMS game.

 

[PhaseJump]

Hopefully they tone down the random encounters.

Hopefully they finish the game at all.

The guy doing it has been working on TMNT and Castlevania, a lot of it looks like assets being converted over to SMS moving around too fast in a basic demo.

It's wild that it's not just a fanmade recreation using a modern engine or a photoshop for a remix video but an actually working homebrew.

That feels like an alternative timeline where the Master System still had some very last games like how SoR 1&2 had SMS ports.

My small nitpick is that it kinda looks closer to PSIV in some parts (like the enemy and background when PSII had a blue grid) but it's a very good looking SMS game.

The dev said there will be a toggle for original grid backgrounds or the new ones.

 

[bcdusk]

Master System VS Genesis - 20 Games Compared by Sega Lord X

Personally I think Zool is better in the Master System that the Sega Genesis.

Mostly cause the Sega Genesis version can get way too fast.

 

[PhaseJump]

I have the whole library ready to go on a Mega Everdrive Pro in a MegaSG, and I have gotten too used to the Genesis 6 buttons for every day use. So I just pulled out an SMS II, plugged in some OG controllers, and now I am going to psych myself up to embrace the true OG experience.

SMS was doomed in North America for many reasons. The pad gives you shit control, which arguably matters a lot more when you're running at 60hz compared to the slowdown ridden hellscape mode you Europeans suffered through. Maybe that's why SMS was more popular over there? You were all riding 50hz and cheating with slowdown to make the dog-shit tier gameplay more forgiving.

I am going to go catatonic in front of R-Type all week. Game is overrated, the contoller sucks, but I need to break reality and cause the New Year to roll over and warp me back to 1989 where I truly belong.

 

[bcdusk]

SMS was doomed in North America for many reasons.

Well...

Here is some of the real reasons

*The Video game crash.

*The pause button being in the console... next to reset button!

*A lot of early English games for the SMS were shit, included those advertised in the box.

* Nintendo invested heavily in advertising in the USA, including cartoons and TV shows.

* Lack of a console exclusive people would buy the console for, Nintendo had Super Mario Bros, Sega Alex Kidd wasn't bad but it had problems and requires the use of the pause button that again IS NEXT TO THE RESET BUTTON IN THE SEGA MASTER SYSTEM, so you have to play the game next to the console.

*Nintendo got to the USA first.

Honesty, fck the pause button being in the console and not the controller, is the main reason I don't play Master System games in real hardware anymore.

 

[PhaseJump]

Well...

Here is some of the real reasons

*The Video game crash.

*The pause button being in the console... next to reset button!

*A lot of early English games for the SMS were shit, included those advertised in the box.

* Nintendo invested heavily in advertising in the USA, including cartoons and TV shows.

* Lack of a console exclusive people would buy the console for, Nintendo had Super Mario Bros, Sega Alex Kidd wasn't bad but it had problems and requires the use of the pause button that again IS NEXT TO THE RESET BUTTON IN THE SEGA MASTER SYSTEM, so you have to play the game next to the console.

*Nintendo got to the USA first.

Honesty, fck the pause button being in the console and not the controller, is the main reason I don't play Master System games in real hardware anymore.

The video game crash is overblown by revisionists trying to give Nintendo extra credit for saving the universe.

They brought in quality control, toy store marketing, and provided better looking games in a market flooded by cheap Atari crap.

If NES didn't show up, 7800 would have probably beaten SMS to market anyway, it sat in warehouses from 84-86 and could have launched without NES hype driving their decisions. It would have found an audience waiting for it and who knows whether or not the cx78 would have been brought over to compete with Sega's 2 button monster.

 

[bcdusk]

If NES didn't show up

Comodore 64 would have been in most homes.

Atari was NOT making good business choices, in fact they are an example of things not to do.

Without Nintendo heavy investment in trying to sell the Nes, parents would have gone for "keyboard computers" even if they cost more.

Atari had no quality control and literary couldn't do simple math, to expect them to do well requires more that "The Nes suddenly never existed".

Even Sega had better quality control that Atari and I say that as someone who bought and played Alex Kidd In High Tech World. At least the game has no.mayor bugs and can be beaten even if you need a guide to do so.

 

[PhaseJump]

Comodore 64 would have been in most homes.

Atari was NOT making good business choices, in fact they are an example of things not to do.

Without Nintendo heavy investment in trying to sell the Nes, parents would have gone for "keyboard computers" even if they cost more.

Atari had no quality control and literary couldn't do simple math, to expect them to do well requires more that "The Nes suddenly never existed".

Even Sega had better quality control that Atari and I say that as someone who bought and played Alex Kidd In High Tech World. At least the game has no.mayor bugs and can be beaten even if you need a guide to do so.

The kicker in your assessment of the 80s in North America is that if more parents did have the extra money to buy computers back then (they didn't), especially for gaming, then they would have been buying the Atari lineup more often because it was the flagship gaming brand, and it had competitive pricing.

The 7800 could have been successful if they launched in mid-84 and threw a POKEY onboard for sound. It had games worth playing, and it had an arcade company backing it up.

 

[TinRattler]

Golden axe warrior was a great game no one ever talked about back in the day

 

[petran79]

Jurassic Park was one of the best looking 8bit games I played