Overview
- Known As
- Master System • SMS • SEGA Master System
- Company
- SEGA
- Launched
- 20th Oct 1985
- Type
- Console
- Wikipedia
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_System
Latest Reviews of Master System Games
Review Alex Kidd in Shinobi World (Virtual Console / Master System)
Does Sega's original mascot go out with a bang or a whimper?
Poor Alex Kidd. The pint-sized, big-eared wonder never really caught on as a mascot, although it was not through lack of trying on Sega's part. Alex appeared in a number of games featuring vastly different forms of gameplay and, with this last throw of the dice, Sega tried to pair the...
Review Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap (Virtual Console / Master System)
It's a trap!
Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap marks the end of the Master System trilogy. It’s a direct sequel to the wonderful Wonder Boy in Monster Land with the action starting out in the final lair of the last game. Unlike the original Wonder Boy, though, there are no loincloths in sight. Most Master System fans will consider this game to...
Review R-Type (Virtual Console / Master System)
Blast off and attack the evil Bydo Empire once again in 8-bit!
While we applaud Sega for bringing some of its most fondly remembered Master System games to the Virtual Console, we can’t help feeling that on this occasion it is a little bit pointless. After all, we’ve had a near arcade perfect port of R-Type on the TurboGrafx-16 since 2006, which...
Review Phantasy Star (Virtual Console / Master System)
The starting point for a venerable roleplaying legend
Pity the poor Master System. South America and Europe aside, it just could not compete with the unstoppable NES despite superior technology and some cracking games. Among those titles is what could be considered the machine's killer app - a huge game with a matching price tag, which not only...
Review Fantasy Zone II (Virtual Console / Master System)
Does Opa-Opa's second adventure feature the same unique charm of the original?
The original Fantasy Zone release kicked off a series of shooters that's still quite popular to this day. When the game was released on the Sega Master System, it immediately became one of the more beloved titles for the console so it was pretty much a given that a sequel...
Review Secret Command (Virtual Console / Master System)
Secret Command takes you back to an era when run 'n gun titles ruled arcades.
With overhead run 'n gun titles like Ikari Warriors and Commando snatching up large numbers of tokens in arcades, it comes as no real surprise that Sega would have to create one of their own for their Sega Master System. The game was originally released under the name...
Popular Master System Games
Latest Master System News
Video We Spread Some Love For The Sega Master System As Alex Shares His Childhood Games
From super good to Superman
Just last month, Sonic Origins Plus launched and threw us back into a speed storm of retro hedgehog mayhem. While we enjoyed playing through a lot of these titles again, we were a little confused about why the Game Gear versions of certain games had been included instead of their Master System counterpart. Will there be a...
Reminder Lego’s Sonic The Hedgehog - Green Hill Zone Set Is Now Available
Gotta build fast
Update: The Lego Ideas Sonic set is now available to order from Lego’s website — you know, just in case you haven’t spent enough money already over the holidays! Orders are limited to two per person at the time of writing. Original story: Last week a Sonic the Hedgehog Lego set was
Anniversary Alex Kidd, Mario's First Real Rival, Is 35 Years Old Today
He still looks so young!
Before Sonic came along and really gave Super Mario a run for his money, Sega relied on the talents of Alex Kidd, the company mascot during the Master System era. Alex starred in a series of titles during the late '80s, including Alex Kidd in Miracle World,
Video Learn More About Sonic The Hedgehog's 8-Bit History
It's not all about the Mega Drive / Genesis classics
It's been a notable anniversary year for Sonic the Hedgehog, giving plenty of opportunities to look back nostalgically at the classic - and not-so-classic - games in the series. Yet an aspect of Sonic that gets little attention is the 8-bit era, which funnily enough happened alongside the 16-bit...
News The Mega Drive Mini Is Getting Another Accessory Which Does Absolutely Nothing
Well, apart from look nice, that is
Update: Well, our Mega Drive Tower Mini Zero unit has arrived from Japan, and guess what? Yup, it does nothing. But gosh darn it, it sure looks gorgeous at the same time. The Mega Drive Tower Mini Zero comes with a bunch of plastic cartridges (that do nothing) as well as a Sega Card (that does nothing, too). It...
Random Remember That Time Sega Almost Put Mario In One Of Its Games?
We're talking pre-Olympic Games here, too
Sega and Nintendo may be firm friends these days, but once upon a time they were the bitterest of enemies, fighting tooth and nail for dominance of the burgeoning home console market. In the 8-bit era it was the NES which achieved the most success globally, but Sega's rival Master System - with its...
News Kickstarter For The Sega Master System Visual Compendium Is Now Live
And it's got Sega's blessing, too
Our pals over at Bitmap Books are at it again, this time focusing their attention on the Sega Master System, the 8-bit console that took on the NES and failed (unless you were in Brazil or Europe, in which case it emerged victorious). The latest entry in the popular Visual Compendium series - which has already...
News After The NES And SNES, Bitmap Books' Next Tome Tackles The Sega Master System
To be this good takes ages
UK publisher Bitmap Books has confirmed that its next "Visual Compendium" will switch focus to Nintendo's rival, Sega. Bitmap's last two compendiums focused on the NES and SNES, and showcased loads of lovely screenshots, artwork, features and exclusive interviews. The next book will highlight the talents of th
News You Can Toggle Between HD And 8-bit Versions Of Wonder Boy: Dragon's Trap At Will
Your old passwords will work, too!
Lizardcube and DotEmu have revealed that it will be possible to toggle between the original 8-bit version of Wonder Boy: Dragon's Trap and the new HD remake at the push of a button. That's not all; it will be possible to play the HD version with the original Master System music and sound effects, and vice versa...
Video How Piracy And Clone Consoles Kickstarted Brazil's Love Affair With Gaming
"We'll talk to you guys about representing Nintendo in Brazil"
Brazil has been in the gaming news lately thanks to the fact that Tectoy is planning on releasing a new version of Sega's Mega Drive next year, but the country's fixation with gaming goes way back to the birth of the industry, and a excellent series of video features by Red Bull...
Video Shurikens Go Flying In This Series Recap of Shinobi
The complete history of Sega's nimble ninja
Sega's classic arcade game Shinobi wowed ninja fans back in 1987; with its addictive fast-paced action and great atmosphere it was only a matter of time before it got ported to pretty much every home format under the sun - including the NES and the Master System. The Revenge of Shinobi was released early...
News Ryuichi Nishizawa Seems Pretty Pleased With Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap Remake
"It would be a good idea to add more doors in the remake!"
In July BitSummit 4th took place in Japan, and Lizardcube's Omar Cornut and Ben Fiquet were in attendance showing off Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap, a HD remake of the Master System classic. During the show the team recorded a development diary which not only shows off the public reaction...
Video Remembering Alex Kidd, Sega's Forgotten Answer To Super Mario
Hey, hey, he's a monkey
Before Sonic arrived on the scene, Sega's mascot was a monkey boy in a jumpsuit who liked playing Rock, Paper, Scissors. Alex Kidd may have been dumped as soon as the Blue Blur appeared on the Mega Drive and turned Sega into the coolest brand on the planet, but for truly dedicated fans he holds a special place in gaming...
News It Looks Like Sega Classic Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap Is Getting A Timely Remake
DotEmu puts teaser site live
Sega's Wonder Boy series is one of its strongest 8 and 16-bit franchises, but it has been dormant for many years - a situation no doubt related to the fact that original developer Westone sadly no longer exists. While a "spiritual successor" is in development in the form of Monster Boy - complete with inp
News The Studio Behind Sega's Wonder Boy Series Might Be Going Bankrupt
Not so wonderful
Japanese veteran Westone Bit Entertainment is apparently on the verge of going bankrupt, according to Game Watch Impress. Westone is best know for producing Wonder Boy, a title which would spawn the Monster World series and would be re-tooled to create Hudson's Adventure Island franchise. The Tokyo District Court is currently...
Video Which 8-bit Version Of Ghostbusters Are You Gonna Call?
Sega or Nintendo? There's only one way to find out...
Back in the mid to late '80s, North American gamers were hooked on Nintendo, and prior to the launch of the Genesis / Mega Drive, Sega was very much locked out when it came to getting all of the juicy third-party titles. However, there were a handful of games which made it over to Sega's 8-bit...
Video Nintendo's Wild Gunman And Sega's Bank Panic Face Off In A Deadly Shootout
Which one is the quickest on the draw?
Back in the '80s, it wasn't uncommon to see Sega and Nintendo launch games with similar themes in order to compete with one another, and a good example of this rivalry is the similarity between the NES light gun title Wild Gunman and the Sega Master System outing Bank Panic. Both had their origins in the...
Hardware Review AtGames Arcade Gamer Portable
Sega's Master System and Game Gear hardware gets cloned
Nintendo may be fiercely protective of its vintage games and retro hardware, but former rival Sega isn't quite so precious about where its former classics end up these days. We've already seen the likes of Sonic, Golden Axe and Streets of Rage migrate to practically every modern format under...
Hardware Classics Sega Master System
Everyone's favourite underdog
If you're reading this outside of Europe, then there's a very good chance that your perception of the Sega Master System is one of complete and utter failure. The 8-bit system wasn't even close to contesting the might of the NES in North America or the Famicom in Japan; although Sega at that point was a well-known...
Video Prepare To Pour One Out For Sega's Fallen Child Stars
Spare a moment for your past heroes
Back in the '80s and '90s mascots were powerful system sellers. Kids would flock to console with the most recognisable and coolest lead character, and companies like Nintendo and Sega invested countless amounts of cash in creating and refining new heroes to appeal to the masses. These days though, they're sadly a...
Related Hardware
List of hardware items (add-ons?)
Where To Buy
List of places to buy this system
About
After testing the waters with a range of consoles, including the SG-1000 and the Sega Mark III, Sega decided to launch the Master System in order to compete with Nintendo's NES. The machine was indentical to the Japanese MkIII hardware (although it now included the FM sound module as standard).
The system failed to gain a foothold in both the US and Japan, but in Europe it was a massive success. Nintendo had failed to gain a significant share of the European gaming market and Sega therefore was in a prime position. Distributed by Mastertronic (which would later be purchased by Richard Branson and become Virgin Mastertronic), the SMS sold by the bucketload in key European territories like the UK.
A redesigned Master System II was launched after the Genesis/Mega Drive arrived on the scene and allowed the console to keep on selling in Europe, but by this point it had died completely in the US and Japan, with Sonic being the final US release for the system.
Sega took the Master System hardware and shrunk it down to produce the Game Gear portable console. Boasting a full colour screen, it was far superior to Nintendo's Gameboy in terms of raw power but sadly ate batteries like there was no tomorrow. The machine still sold in decent enough numbers and outlived the other great Gameboy rival of the time, the Atari Lynx.
The Master System was a stunning success in Brazil, where the machine was supported until the late '90s and saw some excellent conversions, including Street Fighter II.
Read our Master System hardware focus