Video: We Spread Some Love For The Sega Master System As Alex Shares His Childhood Games

For me it was Black Belt and Rambo. Black Belt, also known as Fist of the North Star in other territories. Nuff said. And Rambo was a good Ikari Warriors clone.

I love the master system. as a child mostly played it at my friends house. a lot of good memories. even just watching his step dad play miracle warriors or something was cool. watching him making a map etc. haha well for me it is wonder boy in monster land. its so nostalgic for me. seeing the dungeon view in phantasy star for the first time. other great games are govellius, psycho fox, rastan, shinobi, spellcaster, wonder boy 3, maze hunter etc. a lot of great games. and also the first time we had card based games like ghost house. that was cool back then haha

I really wish i did grew up with playing the Sega Master System. Sonic, Phantasy Star, & few others aside, i did like that one particular Castlevania-style game, Master of Darkness, made by Sega themselves.

I didn't get very far due to me not having to play it before. Plus, I want to play Ys: Vanished Omens at some point. The Master System may not have had alot of RPGs, but I thought many of them were far more interesting than the NES rpgs.

My cousin had the master system 2 which had Alex Kid built in. You would turn the console on with no cartridge and it booted up the game. I think he had a copy of Castle of Illusion as well.

@Magician That Fist of the North Star game (Last Battle in the US) was so odd when I first ran into it before I knew about the series. After learning more about the series and then game again I'm shocked it actually made it to the west. That had to have been some deft dog 'n pony show presentation to get it approved. It had little chance to sell well since the West wasn't familiar with the IP. Didn't help that it wasn't really a great game either. But, I still had some fun with it.

While not as popular here in the states, the Sega Master System does had some hidden gems that many need to check out especially Maze Hunter 3D, Lord of the Sword, Ninja Gaiden, Golden Axe Warriors, Wonder Boy 3, and Aladdin. The SMS version of Aladdin is not a waterdown port of the Sega Game Gear, Sega Genesis, or Super NES version. Instead it tell its own unique version of the animated movie and like the Game Gear version was not included in the Disney's Lion King / Aladdin / Jungle Book HD collection for modern consoles.

Many of the classic MS games are also on the Game Gear. I think it has severel of the best plattform games from the 8 bit generation and almost all of them come late in its lifespan.
My favorites are Asterix, Castle of illusion, (betterr then the 16 bit version) Land of Illusion, Sonic 1. All those are pure classics. Other great games in the same genre is Deep Duck trouble, lucky dime ceaper and The Smurfs.

@DanijoEX
I played Ys: Vanished Omens recently, on actual console.
And it's by far the worst version of Ys 1 I tried.

...
I wrote about the various different versions of Ys I & II couple of months ago. I then copy+pasted my writings into this blog site if anyone cares

https://benjysgames.blogspot.com/2023/04/various-different-version-of-ys-i-ii.html

The Master System was before my time, by the time I was old enough to play video games the Genesis and SNES were the hot items, and my parents got me a Genesis with Sega Channel.

Master System is one of my least favourite consoles ever. The scrolling was jarring, the sound was awful and the sprite flicker was often obtrusive. Used to infuraiate me that SEGA was so popular in UK homes. Granted, they were God tier in the arcades.

Sorry Alex, I have absolutely no time for the Master System, not a fan.

The only Sega systems that I don't have is Sega Master System and Sega Saturn. But there's always the future...

Sonic 1, 2 and Chaos on Master System, just nice.

Sega Master System was my second (ColecoVision was first). Personally had a good bit of enjoyable games including Ghostbusters, Rambo, Pro Wrestling, F-16 Fighting Falcon (Sega Card game). Also was able to borrow many others from friends including Phantasy Star, Great Baseball, Fantasy Zone, Space Harrier, Alex Kidd.

Simpler times, and in many ways, much more enjoyable even considering the abilities of today’s consoles.

I've got two Sega Master Systems (no idea why) but I've not even looked at them for about 10 years. Playing Double Dragon, Batman, Psycho Fox was my childhood.

Not a master system fan but loved this video. Alex is so funny.

I've never owned a Master System, but it might just possibly have been the first console (as opposed to a computer) that I ever played on. But I can't remember what I played on it, it was just at a friend's house. Shadow of The Beast comes to mind, which I think we already had at home on the Amiga, so I was probably not too impressed by that (and never got much out of playing Shadow of The Beast anyway), but for whatever reason I seem to remember the Master System fondly despite the very little time spent with it, so there must have been some game I enjoyed on it.

Master System/Game Gear NSO when???

I was a Game Gear kid growing up. I'm happy the Game Gear versions were added instead of the Master System versions.

The games are essentially identical with a few differences. Happy someone else has to deal with it instead of me for once.

I have only seen a real SMS when it was already packed in the box at the end of the day in a local con's gaming section - but I had ironically knew of at least one game for it courtesy of an extensive guide for Defenders of Oasis... in a guidebook otherwise fully dedicated to Mega Drive games.😅

Discovering the romset years later introduced me to a remarkable library overall, including Brazilian games (the console was reportedly quite popular in the country) like a whole title based on Yellow Woodpecker Ranch - incidentally one of my fave childhood books! But to this day, when I think of Master System, I most readily think about the cradle of Phantasy Star series. The peer of Final Fantasy and Megami Tensei, the first game boasted names like Yuji Naka and Rieko Kodama; it offered a sci-fantasy setting and a female protagonist (both apparently uncommon back then) and even the ability to talk to encountered monsters akin to the aforementioned Megami Tensei! 1987 sure was one heck of a formative year for JRPGs.

As for my first console, it wasn't a Nintendo one either. IIRC our household only got a Famicom clone (and even a genuine but ultimately defunct SNES shortly prior) around 1998 or so; my father and I had spent more than a year before that with a likewise knockoff but fairly game-packed take on Atari 2600.😄

Going from the C64 to Alex Kidd and Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap was certainly something graphics wise (the sound was a step down though, little did I know FM sound was a thing). The carts were so expensive, but no loading seemed amazing at the time. I liked the MS a lot, then the Mega Drive came along. I still own my console and added quite a few games to the collection as the years went on.

No shame in loving a good system. Especially when it brings back good memories.

Of all the things and facts demonstrated in this video, this got me misty-eyed nostalgic over Lemmings. My gosh, I haven't touched a Lemmings game in a very long time, but that launched me back to computer rooms in schools! Also, I'm now curious about that The Flash game... but curious enough to pay the general price I see on eBay. Good warning!

I remember seeing one being available to play back in the day but never have seen one in a while since.

All I know about the Master System is that the Underground Zone boss fight in Sonic 2 is way easier with a bigger screen than on the Game Gear.

I was an indecisive young gamer and actually sold my NES to get a Sega Master System, I played a ton of R-Type on that thing! Also I have fond memories of Ghostbusters, Space Harrier, and Alex Kidd.

I had a lot of fun with my Master System for a year or two, but ultimately traded the console and games to get an NES again! I missed the variety and quality of its game library.

I’ll take a look at Alex’s video this weekend and see what memories it stirs. 😁

I would love to see Sega release a Master System / Mark III Mini, either before or after a Saturn Mini!

I was that odd American kid that had a Master System in the late '80s. I had a lot of good times with it. There were also plenty of games that were frustratingly 8-bit hard. I wasn't sure how the Master System would be to revisit, with those tough games and its sound not being the best, and since I'm not really a nostalgia guy in the purest sense. But I did go back some years ago, and it held up better than I expected in a lot of ways. Of course, game selection matters. Some of my old favorites include Shinobi, Double Dragon, Rambo(for me, perhaps the best overhead run-and-gun of the early batch before MERCS), California Games, Ghostbusters(finally got to beat that one after all these years...hadn't forgotten a thing either), and Rastan. I really like that port of Rastan. There were other games I played a good bit, but those where the main ones for me.

The Master System was better than the NES.

I will die on that hill.

I actually preferred Sonic on the Master System because it’s more of a platformer. I also have fond memories of the Master System, my dad got a new job and treated me and brother to a Master System II with Alex Kidd built in, I remember it was on offer for £59.99 and I remember the trip to Toys R Us to pick it up! And as some of the games were so cheap £7.99-£9.99 we were allowed one of those also, so we had a great week playing Alex Kidd, Endurance Racer and My Hero (bit like a double dragon clone). Over the time we had it we got some classics for birthdays and Xmas, fond memories of Micky Mouse Castle of Illusion, Sonic Choas, Sonic 1 and a game I think was just called Ninja, but in total we had maybe 8 games as that’s how it was then. I wish we got the Fifa Soccer game they had in Brazil!

I only had the GameGear and two games for it, that one Sonic game that Alex played on the other version (the memories with that. xD) and The Lion King. I don't remember the screen being terrible, I do remember the batteries being crap, though...to the point where I had to keep the thing plugged into a wall outlet the entire time because batteries no longer worked, like, at all. lol

@DuckHunter do you happen to remember what year you got your Master System? Interested as I have no idea how much it would have cost when my parents bought ours.

I think I was around 4-5, so 1990-91 kind of time. We also got the Master system 2 with Alex Kidd, and I became a gamer very quickly! There were some other great games over the years, Asterix, Mickey Mouse, New Zealand Story. I was never as into Sonic although I remember the graphics blowing me away at the time!

If you're talking best library of games, then you are being silly.

But technically? As a machine? I won't argue.

@BowsersBuddy I believe it was sometime around the Easter holidays in either 91 or 92

Edit - a quick search for UK toys r us master system II adverts makes me think it must have been 91, as looking like Xmas 91 advert they were selling for £57!

@BowsersBuddy always remember looking at Asterix in Toys R Us and thinking it looked good, but never being able to get it

A while ago I googled for lists of the best Sega Master System games. The lists had to be at least 10 games long and they had to be ranked. I ended up finding 14 qualifying lists, assigned a points system and added it all up. I was left with 69 unique games and 209 total entries.

Here are the Top 8 Sega Master System Games:
1.) Phantasy Star
2.) Alex Kidd in Miracle World
3.) Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap
4.) Land of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse
5.) Sonic the Hedgehog
6.) Outrun
7.) Wonder Boy in Monster Land
7.) Ys: The Vanished Omens

I was a Nintendo kid, my friend had a Master System, and the one game that I really coveted of his was Phantasy Star.

@DuckHunter that’s around the time we got ours, really interesting to hear that was the price they were going for!

I can also clearly remember going into the shops and looking longingly at the games ha! And the games always came with those leaflets that listed loads of games that I literally never saw anywhere. I always wanted that Alex Kidd in Shinobi world, but no such luck! I’m guessing you could go into shops and order those games, but at 4 years old I didn’t realise that, and also didn’t have the money to do it anyway

Great times, I do have a lot of nostalgia for going into games shops and digging through them. Digital games/online shopping are definitely much more convenient as an adult, but don’t quite capture the magic we experienced as kids.

I'm late to comment, but I will never stop arguing that if you take value propostion of new stock retail prices into account, Master System 2 in Europe circa 93-95 was the best console deal of all time.

In America of course, the system stopped existing in 1991 with Sonic 1 being the last game ever released. But in Europe, they kept the system going and instead marketing it as a budget friendly alternative to the Megadrive. They kept making brand new games, many of which are the absolute peak of 8bit gaming and push the limits of the hardware in incredible ways.

I've recently been going back through multiple UK catalogues for retailers. In 93-94, a Megadrive cost £130-150 with 1 game, and brand new titles cost £50-70. At the same time, the Master System 2 cost £35-50 for the console with 1 game, and brand new titles cost £25-30, with those titles often dropping to £15 or less very quickly. Sometimes, brand new high quality titles even launched at £14.99 - Codemasters' Fantastic Dizzy, Micro Machines and Cosmic Spacehead spring to mind, all of which are great titles with loads of content and hours of playtime, far from "budget" releases.

This wasn't because they were clearing old stock, or no new games were coming out. Many of the most famous and popular 16bit games got very impressive 8bit conversions, and companies were actively developing new titles for the system as a parallel budget friendly market.

Here's some games people think of as 16bit titles that got surprisingly accurate & playable Master System ports:
Road Rash, Desert Strike, Streets of Rage, Ecco the Dolphin, Mortal Kombat 1&2, Micro Machines, Robocop Vs Terminator, Sensible Soccer, Cool Spot, Lion King, Lemmings, PGA Tour Golf, James Pond 2 Robocod, Speedball II, Zool, Xenon II, Mean Bean Machine, Sonic Spinball, Krusty's Fun House, Wonderboy 5 (Monster World), Shadow of the Beast, Fire and Ice, Global Gladiators, Poplous, Speedy Gonzales... if you include Brazilian imports there were even semi passable versions of FIFA, Street Fighter 2, Earthworm Jim, Ecco Tides of Time, Baku Baku Animal...

Sure, nowadays you could argue "why not just play the Megadrive/Amiga versions" but at the time, the games were at least £20 cheaper, and after 6 months or so would be £10 on clearance. For people who couldn't afford a 16bit console but wanted to play the latest games, this was a lifesaver!

There are even some games where the Master System version was different but arguably better than the Megadrive:
Sonic 1, Castle of Illusion, Jurassic Park, Batman Returns, Asterix, Fantastic Dizzy, Cosmic Spacehead, Taz-Mania, Ghostbusters, Ghouls & Ghosts, Tom & Jerry, Road Runner...

There were some exclusive games released in this time period that rival the quality of 16bit titles:
Land of Illusion, Lucky Dime Caper, Deep Duck Trouble, Sonic Chaos, Powerstrike II spring to mind. Probably more if I think about it or go through a list. Obviously if you include older exclusive games there are timeless gems too - Phantasy Star, Wonder Boy 3... not to mention the best versions of some 8bit titles & arcade ports that people think of as NES games - Star Wars, Ghostbusters, Marble Madness, Paperboy, New Zealand Story, PacMania, Rainbow Islands, Prince of Persia, Sagaia (Darius 2), R-Type, Simpsons 1&2...

Even when I eventually owned a SNES and 2nd hand Megadrive, multiple times I saved up £50-60 and went to Toys R Us intending to buy a new 16bit game to show off my new hardware... I would end up walking away with 4-5 Master System games instead because it just felt so much better value, and I had incredible fun with them. I just couldn't bring myself to consider the massive price increase to be worth it for slightly fancier graphics and sound when the quality of later Master System games felt 75% of the way there.

To give some incredible context - even if you were a Megadrive owner & didn't own a Master System - if you wanted to buy Mickey & Donald World of Illusion, it would cost £59.99. In '94, you could buy a Master System 2 for £35, Land of Illusion (Mickey 2) for £15 and Donald Lucky Dime Caper for £10... not to mention the Master System would have Sonic built in. Those 3 games are all excellent and arguably you'd get far more enjoyment out of them than the beautiful, fun but quickly over World of Illusion just by itself.

People who only remember the weaker 80s Master System games, and the early 16bit ports that were obviously poor (Golden Axe, Altered Beast & Strider spring to mind) are really missing out on some of the best retro gaming has to offer when they rule out the system as underpowered or having a poor library.

@JohnnyMind There are 3 Asterix games on the Master System, all of which are good, but the first one (simply called "Asterix") is one of the best 8bit platformers of all time, in my humble opinion

The "Master System II" is simply a redesign of the Master System that was released as a budget priced console once the Megadrive was being sold. Its by far the most common model and what most people (Alex included in his video and the picture for this article) are refering to when they say "Master System", most don't bother to specify "Master System 2" as they play the same games.

It was designed to look a bit sleeker and more "modern" for the 90s, however infact is slightly inferior due to having only RF out, and not supporting the 3D Glasses or games on card (last point is very minor, very few games were released on card and they were very basic due to the near non-existent memory capacity of them compared to cartridges).

Master System 2 always had a game built in, for if you turned it on without a cart inserted. The earliest models had Alex Kidd in Miracle World built in, later models Circa 93 had Sonic 1 built in.

To be clear, the Master System 2 isn't a follow up and isn't upgraded in any way, it just plays Master System cartridges. Its just a hardware refresh that plays exactly the same games, like the C64c, Amiga600, PSOne, DS Lite, or GBA SP.

Master System

Master System II

There's also Master System 3 and various other redesigns but these only came out in Brazil and are made by TecToy not Sega. All are the same internal specs and play the same games.

Sega did the same with the Megadrive/Genesis and Mega CD/Sega CD where they released a new design, slightly cheapened the components but kept the compatibility exactly the same, and branded them "Megadrive 2" and "Mega CD 2". Again, these were just hardware refreshes, and played exactly the same games. Some later bundles of Megadrive 2 included the 6 button pad as standard, but it isn't exclusive to the MD2 and was widely and cheaply available for MD1 owners who needed it for Street Fighter 2 and 32X titles.

Megadrive / Genesis

Megadrive 2 / Genesis 2

free picture posting

Mega CD / Sega CD

Mega CD 2 / Sega CD 2

Again, there's a Megadrive / Genesis 3 but this is even more cut down and isn't compatible with the Mega CD or 32X. Build quality is bad as it was made by Majesco not Sega.

This is confusing to newcomers to retro Sega because they assume the "2" or "3" in the names means they are sequels or upgrades somehow, but in reality they are actually less desirable models with no real benefits unless you prefer the design to look at or have nostalgia for it.

For my personal taste, the Master System 2 is one of the nicest looking consoles ever designed, but you really have to work hard to mod it to get a nice picture on a modern television - whereas the original Master System supports RGB out so is more desirable to collectors. On the other hand, I much prefer the look of the Megadrive and Mega CD 1... especially once you add a 32X and make the "Tower of Power" ! However, the mechanised drive tray of the Mega CD 1 tends to go wrong, so some collectors like to mix and match the Megadrive 1 with the Mega CD 2... it looks weird, but it works!

@samuelvictor Great post. I personally love the sleek design of the Genesis model 2 and Sega CD model 2 together. I actually have a difficult time finding a design I prefer over it.

@Uncharted2007 Thanks! Even though nowadays I personally prefer the design of the model 1 Genesis and Sega CD (perhaps only for my nostalgia as these were the models I first lusted after in the shops and magazines, and eventually owned), I definitely remember when the Model 2 versions first came out, seeing them in magazines and thinking they looked so sleek and futuristic, and being amazed how much more compact they were.

I'm a big fan of the 32X (probably the only one!) and I really like the look of the Model 2 Genesis with the 32X attached... but not so much with the CD2 attached as well, as it looks off balance with all 3. Pretty much all Sega consoles and packaging look great though, they had an excellent design team as far as aesthetics go!

I grew up with a Game Gear, and yes, while there are some fantastic games for GG/SMS... there really aren't that many that are still worth playing today. Having gone back and played a large number of GG games, as well as their SMS versions, the GG versions are generally superior, but suffer from screen crunch. What I mean is the stage designs on GG will feel a little more thoughtfully designed, as if the designers got in a touch more polish before shipping the GG version, but it's still hard to recommend anyone play that version over the SMS version where you can see far more of the stage at a time.
At any rate, I do still go back to some of these from time to time; mostly the Sonic games, Dynamite Headdy, Land of Illusion, and Deep Duck Trouble.
Also for anyone curious, that emerald in Sonic 2's Sky High Zone can be gotten without the hang glider. There are sections of clouds that you can walk on, as well as small diamondish-shaped clouds that act as springs, and with some trial and error, you can jump and bounce your way to the emerald.

@JohnnyMind No worries, I'm always glad when some people read and enjoy my "TL:DR" posts. I find it nearly impossibe to write short snappy comments and I know most will skip them but its nice when some people like them!

Yeah being in Italy its extremely likely you had the MS 2, they sold around 10x more units and were significantly cheaper and (at least in UK, France and Spain where I went in the early 90s) they sold in far more retailers - even weird places you wouldn't expect to sell videogames like supermarkets, newsagents and pharmacists! The Sonic craze really did mean that for a while, everyone wanted a peice of the action, and because the MS 2 and its legacy games were "pocket money prices" they appeared in the most unlikely of places to get easy extra cash from impulse purchases.

For me, Sonic 1 is the better of the "built in" games by quite some margin, but many have nostalgia for Alex Kidd in Miracle World. It was meant as Sega's equivalent to Super Mario Bros 1, and its far more technically impressive, has more variety of playstyles and moves... but for me, it doesn't play as well as Nintendo's game. 8 bit Sonic holds up a lot better.

Interestingly, (to me at least) the built in version of Sonic 1, which is what I had as a kid and completed hundreds of times, isn't exactly the same as the cartridge version - it has the end credits, last song and Sonic "singing" on the microphone removed. I assume it was to cut a few kb of memory to fit the system boot rom for the console. I never knew the proper end sequence existed until years later playing the game on an emulator, and being shocked! Other than that, I think its identical.

I would hazard a guess that the Asterix game you had was the first one, because its one of the best known games, and also often sold as one of the cheapest legacy titles, so everyone had it. I remember in 93-94 when I was regularly buying games it was always available in shops, and the standard price was £7.99 - absolute bargain, I still replay that game to this day.

Not to take things too far off topic, but are the Asterix comic novels and/or films well known in Italy? I ask because we of course knew about them in the UK, but they weren't more popular than any other random children's franchise of the 80s I could think of. But in France, they are HUGE. Even to this day, whenever a new book is released, its practically a national holiday. The last one there was literally people queing up overnight near my appartment outside the shopping mall to pick up their pre-orders, and McDonalds did an incredible promotion with about 100 different happy meals toys to collect! I didn't even ralise there were that many characters. And of course not far from Disneyland there's an entire Asterix based theme park. I know its obviously a French series but I wondered if its anywhere near that popular in other European countries.

@flighty Yeah I've always collected the Emerald that way! I never fully got the hang (pun not intended!) of the hang glider.

I know what you mean about *some" of the Game Gear games having slightly more polish because they were released later, but this really is hit and miss, there are just as many (if not more?) titles where the Master System versions are noticably better and weird cutbacks were made to the GG versions for seemingly no reason, or even completely new, often inferior games were made from scratch, again, no idea why.

I'm glad to read that you, and others here, are so fond of Land of Illusion. For me, its the best of the Illusion series on all formats (which is saying something as they are all good), and actually one of my favourite games ever. Its one of the games that inspires me when making my own games, the presentation, the slow rollout of new moves, light puzzle elemebnts and new gimmicks/techniques per area, the fact you can go back to earlier levels and discover new stuff once you have certain items etc, its all designed so nicely, I find it very satisfying to go back to and play from start to finish regularly. Its the perfect length to play in one sitting and have a fun time.

@JohnnyMind Interesting to hear, thank you!

That arcade beatemup is by Konami - same company that made the Turtles, Simpsons and XMen beat em ups at the time. They were on fire back then! All of them are excellent.

I'm sure you are aware but the arcade game, and the Master System game are very easy to emulate these days, you can even play both of them in your browser if you want. I won't post links here as I don't think its allowed but if you want to revist them, its easy, just google the name of the game, the system and "play online"

I agree that it would be wonderful if we could get a proper official re-release, maybe a compilation - that would be difficult as all the (many!) Asterix games were all by different dev teams, but I think there could be a high enough demand. When I moved to France I was truly shocked just how much of a huge brand it still is to this day. It reminded me of the old days when people would dress up and queue outside bookshops waiting for the latest Harry Potter title.

@samuelvictor I'm sure that's true, though I suppose I'm focused on the games I've played most, and remember the most fondly. Of those, I tend to always prefer the GG stage differences in every way other than screen size. Things like the first boss in sonic 2 having variety in the cannon ball bounces, or the shortcut in the toy level in Castle of Illusion being hidden by a fake wall- just a couple differences off the top of my head.

Land of Illusion was an absolute gem. I probably wouldn't even want to know how many times I played through it as a kid.
That, Sonic Triple Trouble, and Dynamite Headdy, got far too many playthroughs from me. I know Dynamite Headdy has a far more elaborate Genesis version, but the short stages of the GG version were an absolute joy to blaze through, and each stage was so different and weird that it was sort of like the closest thing to a WarioWare game that I had back then. I also played a lot of Earthworm Jim, but the GG version of that was... oof... it was such a pale imitation of the Genesis version, and there's absolutely no reason to touch either over the Special Edition today.

@flighty Yeah the Dynamte Headdy port is great, by the same team that did the Baku Baku Animal port (which was good too) and Sonic Labyrinth... I'll forgive them for that one.

Triple Trouble is a great game and arguably the best of the Sonic Game Gear games because it was designed specifically for Game Gear only so the screen crunch is less of a factor and the levels are designed to not be affected by it as much. I was very salty that they never made an official Master system port, but fans have now wronged that history! lol.

I had a Game Gear in 94 and loved it but to me it was primarily for playing my Master System games when on holiday with the Master Gear adapter, I always was annoyed when there wasn't a "home version".

Funny thing is, when playing the Master System versions on the GG with the adapter, there was no screen crunch, so I was confused when I first got a GG version of Sonic and everything was more zoomed in than when playing the MS versions on the Gaem Gear. I've not actually tried that since the 90s though I'm sure nowadays I'd be horrified at how fuzzy it probably looks squished down to fit the lower res of that original screen. My Game Gear I use nowadays has a nice modded IPS screen in it, As does my Lynx, Gameboy and GBA. I've been spoiled by modern portables and mobile phones.

@samuelvictor Yes! Triple Trouble was so good- it actually hadn't occurred to me that there wasn't a SMS version of it at all?
I only played the SMS versions years later, as I never had one, but yes I can more than just imagine the blurry mess that those games must have been on a GG, because Castle of Illusion (despite its GG-specific changes) did not cut down the screen size to fit the smaller screen! When I was little I just assumed it was supposed to look fuzzy and squished! 🤣

@flighty Yeah in my memories, the Master System versions played perfectly on that screen and it was so incredible to me that I could take my favourite games with me on holiday!

But nowadays I find the original Game Gear screen practically unusable at its native resolution, I can't imagine how much worse it would look. Funny how our expectations and standards change, I've been spoiled to need perfect clarity, whereas back then it was just a miracle to have a small portable colour screen, regardless. They games are still great though, so modding and puttign a more modern screen on them, longer battery life, everdrive so you can have the entire library on one cart? They are still super playable and so many amazing titles on the Sega 8bits, I adore them.

Yeah I was super hyped for Sonic Chaos when it first came out, as I was excited to have an "eclusive" Sonic game that wasn't coming out on Megadrive, and also excited that I'd be able to control Tails and fly. I loved that game so much. I was very annoyed when Triple Trouble skipped the Master System for some reason, even though they were still releasing other first party games. Like I said, thankfully the fan community has made a rom hack so it now can be played on Master System with the bigger field of view... but its definitely the most playable of the GG titles with the screencrunch, as its the only one made with the Game Gear as the primary platform.

I didn't know Castle of Illusion for Game Gear ran using the Master System res even though its an unpadted version. In that case it may be the definitive version, I'll have to give it a try! The only Game Gear games I ever owned that just played in "Master System" mode were the Codemasters titles, I loved them so much on the Master System, was annoyed that they didn't work on the Master Gear converter (because they were unlicenced) but bought the Game Gear versions as well so I could take them with me! They are literally the exact same rom but on a GG cart, it was only the shape of the cart that meant the Master system versions didn't work on GG. Again, I'm sure they would look really fuzzy if I played them on an original screen nowadays, but back then I just enjoyed the fact I could play them portably.

@samuelvictor Oh? I'm not remembering any Codemasters titles on GG- I guess I didn't have any unlicensed games!
I didn't know of any games that kept SMS resolution other than Castle of Illusion, so that's definitely interesting.

As for the clarity thing... that's a whole other issue.
I remember discovering emulation many years ago and being amazed at how sharp old games looked on a computer monitor, but now? Now I tend to want them to look the way they were intended to look. This frustrates me because developers don't seem to care about this, and at best their rereleases will have a very lazy and ugly CRT filter option that looks nothing like any CRT I've ever had. A quality CRT shader is absolutely required, in my opinion, to enjoy PSX or N64 games these days, because the games look horrendous without all the blur and fuzz that they were designed to be viewed through. Many older games too, look so much better when the dithering and such is blended as intended.

@flighty Codemasters released 3 games for Master System, all of which are excellent - Micro Machines, Cosmic Spacehead, and Fantastic Dizzy - the latter being the definitive version of that game as its the only version which contains every mini game and also has proper inventory controls & management which the 16bit versions don't have.

On Game Gear they released all 3 games again (as I say they are identical roms) and also Excellent Dizzy Collection, MicroMachines 2, CJ Elephant, Man Overboard / Sink or Swim, Archer Maclean's Dropzone, and I think some sports games that I can't remember. Most of those games were developed in 93 primarily for Master System but then released on Game Gear unchanged as they obviously decided SMS games were too risky to manufacture by 1994 - they also made a really nice port of Bignose Dinobasher which was never been released but has since been leaked. (this was around the same time when a load of 100% complete NES and Aladdin games were sadly shelved too, including multiple Dizzy titles which have since got limited releases for NES in recent years, and are on the Evercade collection)

I'm a sucker for Codemasters' console games. The cool thing about the Master System titles was they used clever overscan techniques to optimise them for 50hz PAL systems and actually made them run full screen rather than being squished and bordered like all the official games - but this means some emulators and NTSC consoles have problems playing them. Both the Master System and Game Gear carts come in a unique cart shape design with a bigger label and they look really cool! They also had full colour manuals and posters included like 16bit titles, and overall felt more "premium" than the official Sega games - but actually all launched at £14.99

@flighty Its very interesting that you feel that way about perfectly crisp pixels vs a good quality crt filter, as this is something I take very seriously and have spent countless hours (certainly weeks, maybe months?) trying to perfect for my own games.

Basically I'm currently developing 4 retro-style indie games for all consoles including Switch, and PC/Mac/Linux, and also a couple of Sonic fangames. All of them run on my own custom engine which was designed from the ground up to give a "modern retro" style, inspired by Sonic Mania in the way that game aligns to a perfect 240p grid in widescreen and integer scales to pixel perfect 720 for Switch and 4k for PC & consoles. Its a real bugbare of mine when "retro style" indie games just use pixelated graphics but don't properly conform to the grid like an old television would do, or use assets for menus, HUD etc that are higher resolution, to me it ruins the appeal as its not authentic how an original console or arcade cabinet would have run.

I specifically copied the exact same native resolution of Mania and made sure it integer scales 100% perfectly to whatever screen size its used on, so the pixels are as crisp and clean as possible. In the rare cases of resolutions where its not possible to have an integer scale, you can choose to either have a small black border and keep the closest integer scale, or stretch the screen, where you'll fully fill the screen but have slightly soft pixel edges.

My own personal preference both with emulation and with playing retro consoles on new flatscreen tvs is to have the cleanest possible picture - I specifically mod my consoles and spend a fortune on devices and cables to get everything as crispy as possible. But because I'm aware that other people feel like you and like a good CRT shader, I spent a crazy amount of time programing and perfecting my own proprietary pixel CRT shader with a tonne of presets to emulate different types of screens, but also the ability to completely fine-tune the look, adjusting the scanlines, rgb separation, screen curvature, rounded corners, simulated light rolloff, gamma compensation, and even RF interferance, all of which are completely adjustable.

As someone who is super passionate about all this with emulators, I wanted my own modern retro-style games to have as many "emulator style" graphics options as possible so people can dial in the exact retro feel that they prefer. Its something I obsessed over getting exactly right before I started developing actual games in my engine. I know many (most?) don't seem to care, as evidenced by how many games just randomly throw pixel art into a grid that it doesn't conform to and have them shimering all over the place, uneven pixel size, soft edges etc (even Sonic Origins messed it up by rendering RetroEngine stretched onto a polygon, so frustrating after Mania had it perfect!) but I feel that for those retro enthusiasts that do care about these things, they'll really appreciate and know that the developer (me) is "one of us" and understands why this stuff is important!

@samuelvictor Wow that's pretty incredible! glad to hear someone going the extra mile to try to appeal to everyone. Honestly, most modern games don't bother me with how they handle their pixel art, although I do find certain things unappealing (like when pixel art is animated in a sort of paper doll style or just moved around independent of any sort of grid... I've seen this recently in ANNO: Mutationem, which is such a weird mix of styles, but mostly looks beautiful outside cutscenes). Generally if a new game is given a retro style, it looks the way the developers want it to look, and that's fine by me. What I'm specifically talking about are the older games where the art was designed with how it looks on a CRT in mind, meaning there's color banding, dithering, and all sorts of interesting techniques used that look awful when viewed without the lens of the many "imperfections" of old TVs. Those imperfections also mask the low quality of cutscenes that are not rendered in-engine. That stuff is especially easy to show off to make a case for a quality CRT shader- especially scenes that are supposed to seamlessly blend back into the gameplay when they end. Or... have you seen how good those trees look in the downhill sequence at the beginning of Sonic Adventure 2 on a CRT (or a very good shader) vs a modern display? Whoever did those wasn't paid enough. At any rate, I don't feel like every old game needs some sort of crt/lcd/dot matrix or whatever shader, because not every game did something that used the limitations of the display to its advantage... and I don't need to put up with the ghosting and other issues that portable screens often had either. Good riddance to all that!

@flighty Thank you! Yeah the problem with pixel art moving independently of a grid is really annoying to me and causes all kinds of problems - shimmering, uneven scroll speeds, partial pixels being visible behind others, and worst of all (to my eyes at least) when teh sprites rotate, you get "pixels" at different angles to each other. It just all throws off any kind of artistic cohesion, to my eyes at least, and certainly ruins any feeling of it being a genuine retro game.

I agree that some older games where the art was designed for CRTs can look "too" clean on modern screens, with hings like dithering and other line effects that were used to simulate transparency or a wider number of colours having the effect somewhat ruined. Of course for my own modern games I avoid that kind of art, its not necessary nowadays where you have millions of colours and effects and shaders at your disposal Personally I still prefer the cleanest look possible and just ignore teh dithering (or see it as a style in its own right) but I certainly understand those who prefer using a CRT or a good quality filter to reproduce the original look.

Its also definitely an issue when the cutscenes are lower quality than the main visuals, the same can apply to pre-rendered backgrounds in something like FFVII or Resident Evil - when emulating these games, I can't abide having the polygons being rendered at a higher resolution than the original hardware, because suddenly they look completely separate from the backgrounds and FMV parts, rather than blendign seemlessly like they used to on original hardware.

With original Gameboy games, I love a good quality dot matrix filter and the correct colour greens (the analogue pocket does it perfectly!) as the games are such low resolution it helps when putting them on a bigger screen to keep that old look - however I agree things like ghosting is going too far, thats not something I'd ever want to return to.

i realy wanted this console for 1 game.
i was an arcade player and i saw wonderboy in monster in demo mode in some shop, this is what made me decide not to go for nes.

Master System II was my first console I owned, still have it of course, but mine came with Sonic built in.
Damn, I played that a lot even noting down my scores in the back of the manual (remember when the end of it has a little notes section)
Also a reason I still havent jumped on the Sonic Origins band wagon as they have ported the Game Gear versions of Sonic 1 and 2, when they should have done the Master System versions.

@PALversusNTSC Master System has (in my opinion at least) the "best" versions of both Monster Land and Monster World. World is especially impressive, I can see how that would have impressed you in a demo unit in a shop. Dragon's Trap is great as well obviously.

@Bunkerneath Origins is brilliant and I can't recomend it enough... but I 100% agree it should have had the Master System roms as well as the GG ones. I can think of no logical technical reason why they couldn't, its just madness. Similarly Mean Bean Machine, Spinball, 3D Blast and Chaotix shoudl have been there, none are difficult to emulate.

I’ll never forget the first time I saw Fantasy Zone on the Master System and how it blew me away!! I was a huge Sega fan didn’t have an NES and was perfectly happy with my Master System, Amiga and Atari 7800. But damn the Sega Master System was impressive at the time! It would be awesome to see Sega do a Master System mini!! Day 1.