I live in the U.S. and got a Master System Christmas 1987. Only kid I knew who had one. Don't really remember how I ended up with it over an NES as I was 6 at the time. Guess my parents couldn't find an NES in stock, saw the Master System and said "close enough." Fell in love with it though and still holds a special place in my heart as my 1st gaming console. My cousin up the street had an NES so I had the best of both worlds and eventually got my own NES Christmas 1989.

@Noobsaibot21

5 жыл бұрын

I recall SMS being IR£49 when I got it (off Santa). The NES was IR£129. That's how I ended up with an SMS :) And happy enough with Rastan, Blackbelt, Terminator, Sonic 1, 2 & Chaos and many more games I grew up with and love

@DennisAlexioAndyHug

5 жыл бұрын

Consider yourself lucky. I wish I knew about it back then

@thehumbleone1983

5 жыл бұрын

👍👍👍👍👍

@warzardtheboredtimelord2865

5 жыл бұрын

I used my paper route money to buy one when it came out. I actually had a small contingent of SMS fans to play and barrow games with.

@psychopoison

5 жыл бұрын

From my school back in the 80´s (Brazil) 98% of the kids had a Master System, only a handful of kids had NES, First time I saw a NES was at my cousin home, He was playing Target Renegade and Ghostbuster, I thought that was so inferior (Graphic and sound).

In my childhood both SEGA and Nintendo didn't have official presence in Turkey, but there were companies which were importing consoles and selling them for infilated prices, making original consoles only for rich kids. The only reasonable way to have a console was to buy cheap Chinese NES knockoffs and pirated NES compatible cartriges. My mother wanted to buy me something special and she had no idea about consoles so she bought Sega Master System 2. I was first frustrated because that meant I couldn't trade cartriges with my friends (who all had Chinese NES knockoffs). Later I was amazed by the graphic quality of the games and I found out that there was a big playerbase revolving arounda a video casette store in a very luxury district of Istanbul. I always had 6 cartriges but I was always trading with the store and other players. This video brought up many good memories, thanks.

@jesspace4069

4 жыл бұрын

thats cool man its neat seeing how things went for people in other countries :D

@typhoonth8689

3 жыл бұрын

Same thing was in late Soviet Union. During the Perestroika since 1988 our market was flooded to the brim with unlicensed NES knock-offs, like Kenga, LIFA, SUBOR, Bitman, Dendy. In 80s Soviet-Chinese relationships got warmer. Unlicensed famiclones and Mega drive clones are selling in my home country to this day. Master System, on the other hand was very rare. It was only selling in Republics' capitals and large cities.

Master System was a great success in Europe. But in Scandinavia, Nintendo was the bestseller (both NES and SNES) thanks to Bergsala AB, the first company outside Japan and USA to sell the NES. The Scandinavian market has a very interesting history, worth checking out! All the best from Sweden

@NoraInuG

5 жыл бұрын

Weren't the famiclones like Pegasus / Dendy / Terminator more popular in former Eastern European Bloc countries like Poland, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hungary, and the Former Soviet Republics?

@hermanvonroth1555

5 жыл бұрын

@@NoraInuG That's true, although we got some Famiclones in Sweden aswell

@sampsanyman162

5 жыл бұрын

Yeah Nintendo mania was equal to America here in Finland. I was surprised when I learned that this wasn't the case in whole of Europe.

@autobotjazz1972

4 жыл бұрын

@@NoraInuG Yes as they were often all that was available to what was then called eastern Bloc or Warsaw pact nations as Nintendo and seeming Sega had no presence in them at the time. later they did , Nintendo actually gave the dendy its blessing for a time.

@Halbared

4 жыл бұрын

@@sampsanyman162 Not for the whole of Europe, but Nintendo did do well and sold more units across the continent.

The Sega Master System was my first love in video games. My friends on the next street had one and I would play Wonder Boy In Monster Land for hours when I would dog sit for them, lol. Despite all my begging, I never got one. Later I got an NES instead, which I learned to love as well. But that master system will always have a warm place in my heart.

It's funny, when I was a kid (in the 80s) I genuinely wanted a Master System, due to its better specs and 3D support. My parents went with Nintendo, presumably due to its better software library. I can't say they were wrong, exactly, but I've still always wondered how things would have gone if a few more households had gone for the technologically superior platform. (And either way, by the time the Genesis came out I could make my own purchasing choices, and so I did what Nintendon't.)

@AsukaLangleyS02

5 жыл бұрын

But a worse console, yeah nice purchasing choice...

@AsukaLangleyS02

5 жыл бұрын

@Rooflesoft Games No the SNES was better in every way hardware wise to the Genesis besides in clock speed so Sega used that as marketing for "blast processing'

@segaunited3855

5 жыл бұрын

@@AsukaLangleyS02 False. Genesis had more power. SNES had more sprites,colors and was better at handing DSP Memory. But Genesis had a hidden 32-bit Address Register and was superior at DMA Databanking. SNES only used an 8-bit Address Register.

@segaunited3855

5 жыл бұрын

Owned both consoles by 1993.

@AsukaLangleyS02

4 жыл бұрын

@@skurinski Sega failed, get over it...

Jesus... What Nintendo was doing in the U.S. in the 80's was HIGHLY illegal. How they didn't have the pants sued off of them by Sega and others is beyond me.

@Chaos89P

4 жыл бұрын

I think Nintendo was sued by Sega in 89, citing antitrust laws in the States, but I'm probably wrong.

@Halbared

4 жыл бұрын

@SakthiV That was a different reason, Atari were wrong in their lawsuit, but the lawsuit over the 'monopoly' went the other way.

@jadedheartsz

2 жыл бұрын

they DID actually get sued in court over that and lost big time, though their punishment wasn't much of one-they were forced to give customers vouchers that entitled them to free SNES or NES games.

Nintendo's tactics were so effective, I was unaware that the Master System _existed_ until the Game Gear's US release in 1991 (when magazines mentioned that it was derived from the Master System). I never saw the Master System in a single store or knew anyone who owned it. I didn't encounter its games in person until seeing a handful for sale at a flea market in the mid-2000s.

@KasumiRINA

5 жыл бұрын

I didn't know SEGA made consoles before Mega Drive until KZread.

@segaunited3855

5 жыл бұрын

@@KasumiRINA First saw Master System in 1988. It was known as the "Sega System" at the time. Didn't find out about 7800 until I was a teen. That's how much of a FAILURE it was.

@dtester

4 жыл бұрын

Where did you guys live? I was a in a major city and there was plenty of Sega, Atari, Nintendo around. Granted Nintendo was king, but you just had to open up a Toys R Us ad to see all the game systems that were out at the time and they always had a great selection of Sega games in my area.

@dtester

4 жыл бұрын

@@segaunited3855 yeah, despite what market share data says, although the 7800 might have sold more units than the SMS (perhaps because of its cheaper budget price) I seriously believe it had much less of an overall impact to the gaming scene than the SMS.

@davidlevy706

4 жыл бұрын

@@dtester I lived in central New Jersey, near the shore. I rarely visited major cities in those days, but my family received local television stations from New York and Philadelphia (on which I didn't see the Master System advertised or mentioned). My go-to store was a nearby Toys "R" Us, where I never noticed anything related to the Master System.

The power base converter in the us is how a lot of people played the mastersystem here

@hammerheadms

5 жыл бұрын

I had found one in a thrift store for $20 in 1996. My friend gave me all his old games since his Master System took a dump. Still play them to this day.

@TheJadeFist

5 жыл бұрын

Funny thing now is that power base converter costs about the same as an actual master system does now. So pick your poison, or buy both if you just want to collect it.

@mattorama

5 жыл бұрын

@@TheJadeFist I did some re-configuring of my game setup and ended up with a powerbase converter on my model 1, and my model 2 in the 32x/SCD setup. Works great.

@TheJadeFist

5 жыл бұрын

@@mattorama I'd like to get a Sega CD and a 32x, I was looking recently and the Sega CDs are like 200 dollars now (on Amazon/Ebay but those also include the Genesis/ Megadrive it connects to), I should have bought one when they were cheaper. As much as I'd like one, I really only want it for Sonic CD on original hardware, and it's on Steam and the windows 95 version is still like 5 bucks for a copy. Makes it a bit of a hard sell at this point. But it's cool that you got them in working order.

@mattorama

5 жыл бұрын

@@TheJadeFist There's no copy protection on Sega CD so if you buy the hardware, the software is free.

I got the SMS for Easter in 1986. Yes that date is correct. Sega Test marketed the Master System in the Spring of 1986 at Macy's in New York city. It was my favorite system of the generation. I had a NES as well but I much perfected Sega Master System.

@segaunited3855

5 жыл бұрын

Easter is a bit off. SEGA and Tonka Test Marketed Master System in May of 1986. Not Easter. Easter is referring to Atari 7800.

@nick13b

5 жыл бұрын

@@segaunited3855 who would have guessed!

@brandon_leeroy135

4 жыл бұрын

You lucky dog!

I have been a Sega fan since my brother got the SMS for Christmas in 86. I ended up buying the SMS2 because he didn't like to share. We've both owned every Sega console since except the CD, but he did have a cdxv

I was a kid in the US during the '80's and early '90's, and I loved the Master System. Phantasy Star blew me away. I didn't actually own one until I purchased a Master System 2 at Toys 'R Us in 1990 or so. However, my buddy Mike and I would play his Master System all the time in the late '80's.

I actually asked for a Master System over the NES. I thought the NES graphics were crap in comparison so I ended up with a Master System. I was proven right when I got my first job and someone convinced me to get a NES and ... it was crap. It felt like a downgrade in every way.

The Sega Master System came with three games...not two. The "base set" came with Astro Warrior and Hang-On cart. The upgraded or "action set" had a cart with Hang-On and Safari Hunt. There was a third set sold with the 3d glasses but I don't know what it was called. In every single model sold there was a third game called Snail Maze. If you held buttons 1+2+Up while starting the machine it would go into this hidden game with 12 separate levels.

I had a friend who had a Master System, and was teased mercylessly by Nintendo fanboys over it. Ironically none of those Nintendo fanboys had ever even seen up close a Master System, let alone played one. I used to tell my friend that the joke was on them because they all spent more time playing with the cartridge to get it to work instead of playing the game itself. Fast forward ten or so years, I had picked up a power base converter for my Genesis at a thrift store. My friend gave me all of his games since his Master System stopped working. Lucky day for me 😎.

Here in Belgium all my friends had a master system, including myself. It was great and still is. Our first console. I still play it today. There was only one kid that had a nes. After the master system everybody had a mega drive. Only that one kid, he had a snes, even on school, it was all sega here !

I had a Master System because I wanted it. The other kids had NES, but I loved my Sega.

I love SEGA! The SMS needs more of my attention soon!

@matiasd.7755

5 жыл бұрын

@@NB-1 some Master System models in Japan had an FM Yamaha builtin synthesizer. That sound is optional in consoles without it. The sound option was not avalaible outside of Japan but it is easily hacked into. And many games in whatever region do have support for the FM sound....

@jesspace4069

4 жыл бұрын

@@matiasd.7755 i never knew that wow

@Chaos89P

4 жыл бұрын

I wouldn't be surprised if a Master System Mini became a hit in the States.

1-800-USA-SEGA I remember calling that hotline many times for game play help.

@szr8

4 жыл бұрын

I remember that number too. What's interesting is that while Sega used a 1-800 (toll free) number, Nintendo used a 1-900 (high rate) number for their game help hotline.

Another fantastic video! I would like to see a video on how the Master System still thrives in Brazil to this day. 🦄🦄🦄

@TopHatGamingManChannel

5 жыл бұрын

I made that video about three years ago, it is on here somewhere!

@NewportBox100s

5 жыл бұрын

@@TopHatGamingManChannel Epicness! I will find it. Cheers from Augusta GA, U.S

@edrosa3485

5 жыл бұрын

@@TopHatGamingManChannel ....looking for it.

Nice overview, it's amazing how unknown and underrated the console is in North America. Being in the UK, it was everywhere, it was my childhood console and I love it to this day :)

My Great Aunt had a Master System and like 25 games back in the day. We'd spend all of our Christmas Eve's at her house from 1989-2004, and even after she had upgraded to a Dreamcast in 99, I'd still be glued to the old Master System. This was the only place I had ever seen one in person until retro game stores started popping up locally. Back in the early 90's, none of my friends used to believe me when I would tell them Sega had a system before the Genesis.

@Candle_Calmness

5 жыл бұрын

1989-1994 * dontcha mean?

@yesticles

5 жыл бұрын

@@Candle_Calmness No, I was saying that those were the years that I had spent going to my great aunt's house for Christmas Eve.

I was more of a SEGA fanboy, growing up. I felt like an outcast to society while all my other friends had Nintendos. Mainly because of playing OutRun, Hang-On, AfterBurner and Space Harrier in arcades and at home on the Master System.

@SnickterP

Жыл бұрын

Same here! Definitely got bummed when the supply of new games started to dwindle out. But Dad got us a Genesis around '89/'90 and boy did my Sega love take off from there.

A lot of Americans didn't even know it existed until the very beginning of the 16-bit Era, when Sega was advertising it as a low-cost alternative to the Genesis. I never even saw one first hand until I was in high school in the mid 1990s.

@Bloodbane2099

5 жыл бұрын

True it was so bad it seemed like the product was hidden from public eye,i was 17 (1997) before i knew it even existed when i ran into it in a flea market (yes im a old geezer now)

@yesticles

5 жыл бұрын

Even then, a lot of people my age were totally unaware of it. I was in elementary school in 1993 and none of my friends believed me when I told them the Genesis wasn't Sega's first console and that my Great Aunt had something called a "Master System" that was just like an NES but better. This was at the height of arguing Sega vs Nintendo at recess for me, so I had to embellish it a little bit, lol.

a friend of mine in Canada had one of these, I really like this system. nobody else I knew had one lol

@jesspace4069

4 жыл бұрын

I'm from Canada and as a kid i never knew one person who had a Master System, I always thought the Genesis was Sega's first console in North America back then and most people I know too at least in Toronto and surrounding areas where I grew up :D

Master system was my ish 😍 I played at a friends house when I got sick of spending quarters at the arcade and begged my mother for one. Got a NES instead because she didn't hear of it. Later got a genesis and when the game gear came out and I wanted it because it had SMS ports I bugged her again. But it was too expensive. That's when I got my first job.

I was lucky enough to be one of the few people in the United States to play The Master System quite a bit and I have lots of memories of it. Phantasy Star, Zillion, Fantasy Zone, ALF, Kung Fu Kid, Astro Warrior, Space Harrier, I got to play all those and more. Amazing system.

I was given a Game Gear for Christmas in 1990, so a lot of the later Master systems games that did not get released in the US ended up here on the Game Gear instead, which I guess is the next best thing, and despite all it's flaws some of my best gaming memories from my childhood where with the Game Gear.

While the base Master System was technically superior to the base model NES/Famicon in many ways (but not sound!) Nintendo did a good job of incorporating additional chips into cartridges to add additional capabilities (various MMC chips) to the NES for many years. They did the same with the SNES on many games. It was fairly rare to find an enhancement chip in most Master System or Genesis games. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_management_controller

@Halbared

4 жыл бұрын

Yes, those later games with the chip advantage were excellent.

i was one of the few Americans that grew up with a Master System in his home along with the NES i had,. my older brother had a Master System 1 (and would also later go on to buy a Turbo Graphix 16 as well) those early Master System titles like Rocky, Rambo, Alex Kidd and Phantasy Star are a big part of my childhood.

Love the streets of rage music in the background.

I love Master System 👍👍👍👍👍 Sega 4 Life

12:03 Instead of "Alex Kidd in memoria", I read "Alex Kidd in memoriaM" I was wondering if he died... LoL Crazy how one letter can change everything!

I knew people that had the power adapter for the genesis. used to play rastan, phantasy star, r-type on it.

@theodorerelic2718

5 жыл бұрын

Still have mine. Bought it around 1995 for $4.99 at a local Electronic Boutique.

The first time I saw a Master System it was at a garage sale in 1991. I was nine and I had already been playing video games for a few years. I remember asking questions about what is a Master system to the teen that was trying to sell it. My friend bought it with 5 games for $20. I enjoyed playing it but since he was unable to find any new/used games it eventually got replaced with a SNES. I think the main reason I never saw one was because I lived in a small Texas town 90 mi away from Houston.

I was only able to know about this console's existence because one of my cousins was able to own a Sega Master System when I was a kid. The version that they had included "Hang-On" and "Safari Hunt" built onto the console, and the games that my cousin had with it were "Ghostbusters", "Shooting Gallery", and "After Burner".

My experience with Master System marketing was when I was telling a friend about Phantasy Star 2 on the Genesis. He recognized the name so I asked him where the first game was. He said it was on the Master System. Me: "The what?" Him: "Master System. It's Sega's old 8-bit machine." Me: "Oh. Never heard of it." And that was my experience with their marketing. I had almost the exact same experience with the Amiga. Same friend, even.

OH and for the full releases of both systems they had multiple skus. You could get a NES Control deck with 2 controllers and SMB for $80 (which is what I bought at the time.) or the similar sku for the SMS which was AstroWarrior/Hangon and 2 controllers for $100. (They both had the more expensive SKUs with light guns.)

@segaunited3855

5 жыл бұрын

The NES Control Deck was far more widely distributed than the Deluxe Set. The Deluxe Set was limited exclusively to the Mid Atlantic Area in Mid Autumn '85. Nintendo didn't even produce that many of them. SMS came with one SKU during its Spring/Summer 1986 Test Market which had a built in Maze game. The Test Market SKUs came bundled with Hang On.

i was 4 in 1988 when i got the master system, a year later my sister got the nes which later became the main console we used. even though i was young i remember a lot of stores we went to did not carry games for it here in the U.S so we had to just rent them. Comparing the 2 the master system was the better console but the nes had the better and more memorable games.

Before I watch this vid, Id like to give my two cents on one of the main reasons the Master System failed in the US. Nintendo basically threatened both developers and distributors/stores, that if they made games or sold games for any other companies (Sega) they would no longer allow them to makes or sell Nintendo products. Which was finally declared illegal by the US Supreme Court. So by the time the Genesis came along, developers could now make games for Sega as well, without Nintendo coercing them to do otherwise.

@mybiasedopinions4793

5 жыл бұрын

There was literally one store where I lived that actually sold the Sega Master System and it's games. And no surprise, they did not sell NES products either.

Nintendo played dirty

I'm not sure the 7800 out sold the SMS in America.

@mistie710

5 жыл бұрын

I don't have the figures to hand, but I sometimes wonder what would have happened if the 7800 had been released on time.

@joeb2588

5 жыл бұрын

@@mistie710 I don't think it would have mattered, it used the 2600 sound chip so the tunes weren't catchy, but in all honesty, it had nothing in terms of a catalog. Just rehashed 2600 arcade titles. It didn't have any special action, RPG, or adventure games. Gamers of that generation of consoles only bring up RPG's, racers, adventure games, from the Master System and NES. I'm not being argumentative...just saying what I think.

@segaunited3855

4 жыл бұрын

It didn't.

@fentazen2677

3 жыл бұрын

It’s uno reverse

The debates at school in my school in the UK was what was the better console, MS or NES.

This is something that I’ve never understood since 1986... The Sega Master System was released after the NES, And Yet they decided to put the “ Pause “ & “ Reset “ buttons on the console, instead of on the controller... I remember having to play with the console close by, so I can pause the games... One time my friend was helping me, while I played Alex Kidd In A Miracle World... I said to my friend “ Pause the game , please “... And he pressed “ Reset “ by accident... Damn, and I had gotten so far in the game ! ! !

Technically, I have a Master System via the Genesis. I'm just missing a Power Base Converter or Mega SD FPGA cart.

Digitiser, Slopes AND THGM all in one half hour? Awesome Sunday!

@LyingSecret

5 жыл бұрын

Yeeeeeeeeeah!

@nikodemasskidzevicius4566

5 жыл бұрын

For grandpa!

With regards to the Master System 2 when it was released in the North America the first batch did not have Sonic the Hedgehog preinstalled instead it had Alex Kid in Miracle World due to the game not being released at the time. The batches after that did have Sonic included. I had the original model with Hang On/Safari Hunt preinstalled, and my friend fell in love with the games that I had so he went, and got the first batch of the Master System 2 when it was first released.

Well played good Sir as usual, pip pop and all that rot! Off subject, that's a very young Stephen Dorff in the commercial at 0:59

I remember seeing Master System in stores as a kid and thinking the game cards were a really great feature. But I didn't get any consoles at all until the mid-90s as I'd mostly used Commodore 64 until upgrading to a PC later on. I rented some consoles, and had been interested in trying some non-Nintendo ones (esp. Turbografx) but most places just rented Nintendo. I'm not too inclined to add a Master System to my collection, but I might get the Power Base Converter for my Genesis and try out the platform sometime.

The Master System is so good. I don't think I had one as a kid, but I think we had some leftover carts from one somehow? But I got heavily into it and a few other platforms that didn't really have much US presence, like the glorious MSX line of 8-bit computers (with one 16-bit one), via emulation when I was in my preteens and teens, so it's still nostalgic for me.

I remember, Sega Master System didn't have a big presence in advertisement back in 1987 It wasn't being sold in many stores. The only thing I remember is the advertisement for the system was the 1-800 number to order to get that system.

I remember one person who had this, but it seemed like the Genesis took off more here in Canada.

@segaunited3855

5 жыл бұрын

Master System had limited distribution in Canada. That's the only part of North America where it failed. SEGA focused far more distribution resources in South America for Master System where it was a phenomenal success.

I grew up as a Nintendo kid, but learning all of these facts, trivia, and history of it's once formal rival really gives me a great admiration of SEGA!! They were really quite the ambitious games development team with many of their classic titles(both console and Arcade games) still holding up really well and newer releases are still quite good and so stylish!! > w

5 games that works great but we're sleepers on the Sega Master System. Kenseiden, The Ninja, Choplifter, Zillion, Cyborg Hunter. I think games back then would have made Sega the #1 choice if there was fair competition between the 2 systems.

If only it had caught on in the U.S.

@brianoconnell6459

5 жыл бұрын

Technically it did, in the form of the Game Gear. The games from the MS ran on the GG with a minimum of tweaking (the debug machine they used for it with the Genesis in the US was a slightly modified Power Base adapter).

@lazarushernandez5827

5 жыл бұрын

@@brianoconnell6459 You could buy an adapter for the Game Gear that allowed you to play Master System games. I had one, it functioned like a pass through.

@Maulbert

5 жыл бұрын

@@brianoconnell6459 What are you smoking? The Game Gear sold less (10.6 million) than the Master System (13 million). It was a massive failure. Sega's only true success was the Genesis/Mega Drive. None of Sega's other hardware even cracked 15 million in sales.

One thing you missed out, Nintendo's devious licensing practices with the NES were ruled illegal in court aroundabout 1991 when the MegaDrive came out. That definitely helped.

@segaunited3855

5 жыл бұрын

You mean 1990. Nintendo of America and Minoru Arikawa were the ones pushing it. Nintendo of Europe did fairly lackluster during the 80s. NES tanked in the UK and lost handily to Master System across Europe. NES also was outsold by Master System in Australia by 4 to 1.

@GeoNeilUK

5 жыл бұрын

@@segaunited3855 "You mean 1990." 1990 is "aroundabout 1991." "Nintendo of America and Minoru Arikawa were the ones pushing it." Pushing for what? The actual court ruling in he USA that put an end to the Nintendo Seal of Monopoly? The very same Seal of Monopoly that Nintendo of America and Minoru Arikawa could have put an end to at any time? (or better still, not have put into practice in the first place) "Nintendo of Europe did fairly lackluster during the 80s." Irrelevant. This video is discussing the Sega Master System in North America. "NES tanked in the UK and lost handily to Master System across Europe." Irrelevant. This video is discussing the Sega Master System in North America. "NES also was outsold by Master System in Australia by 4 to 1." Irrelevant. This video is discussing the Sega Master System in North America.

@Halbared

4 жыл бұрын

@@segaunited3855 The NES did fine in the UK, sold 1.5 million units. And across the whole of Europe sold the most 8 bit units.

I remember my dad stomping our Sega into pieces because he kept tripping over the controllers that we left out. He was a Vietnam vet with PTSD. Sega Master System has always carried a bittersweet memory for me.

@ausetmcchristion-thomas1522

5 жыл бұрын

@Stefano Pavone thanks for the condolences

My American friend had one and loved it, and they had a big section at Toys R Us or maybe it was Lionel. That's been a good few hours playing it and while a couple of games like California games seems better on the Master System I got to say I was not persuaded to own one by the fact that he had a near complete collection and I only had a few NES games and if I had bought a Master System I could have borrowed his games... but honestly the games just didn't do it for me for the most part although of course some are quite good. I think Nostalgia is clouded my perception for other titles, I hear Double Dragon is better on the Master System and I bought a Master System converter for my CDX and bought the game and played it and maybe it's better but Nostalgia will continue to tell me the NES version is superior regardless

@lazarushernandez5827

5 жыл бұрын

Double Dragon was fun to play on both, the big thing with the SMS version was 2 player simultaneous just like the arcade original, the NES version had 2 players but you took turns.

@maxwelsh6121

5 жыл бұрын

@@lazarushernandez5827 well theres a great point i didnt consider. I like the gb version too , btw...

LOL & Happy Console Gamer just released his top 10 Sega Master System games. Perhaps you two bumped into each other at the same bookshelf at the Akashic library?

I didn’t even know of the master system here in America until many years later.

@segaunited3855

5 жыл бұрын

Plenty of people owned Master Systems in 1987-1990 and I knew plenty who did in '88. To find SMS at the time, you had to go behind Store Shelfs, NOA put all their stuff at the Front of the Store. People who wanted the "Sega System" could get it anywhere, they just had to go behind the Shelfs to get it.

Only one friend of mine had a Master System... but he also had a NES like everyone else here in the States. I was definitely curious about the SMS, but we generally ended up playing the NES most of the time.

OH, and at the time the SMS came out in the US there weren't a lot of games for the NES yet. The flood of games actually came in early 87. (But at that point there were a ton more games for the NES than for the SMS.)

@segaunited3855

5 жыл бұрын

Sega Master System was first Test Marketed in NYC and San Francisco on May 23,1986. This was exactly 7 months to the Day Nintendo first Introduced Nintendo Entertainment System to the Mid Atlantic Region on October 18,1985 and begin distributing it Cross Country to Larger Cities starting November 1,1985. Master System made its way to Chicago when it was first Introduced at the Summer CES, The West Coast finally got SMS in June, but SMS didn't fully launch Nationwide until September 18,1986. Exactly nine months to the day NES finally got a full Nationwide Rollout on February 19,1986. Also, the flood of Games for NES was Holiday 1986 into Early 1987.

thanks a lot for more history lessons!

What's the song used in the last section of the video? It brings back familiar memories for me, but I can't remember what it's from.

Meanwhile, here in France, even the SG-1000 found its niche in the form of the Sega Computer (SG-3000). And the Master System was almost a matter of national pride... The NES never even stood a chance!

@Halbared

4 жыл бұрын

It's difficult to tie Master system numbers down for France, but it's possible it might have been 1.6 million, NES was on 1.4 million.

I think the Master System didn't become properly succesful in Europe until the Megadrive starting selling well. Master System 2's are incredibly common in retro gaming shops today and the games are everywhere but I don't recall ever seeing a model 1. Overall I think the Master System slightly outsold the Megadrive in Europe. Sega only stopped making games for it because they suddenly had to concentrate on the Saturn in 1995.

@Halbared

4 жыл бұрын

I think that's likely, as the budget Master 2 was a great purchase for 50 quid in 1994.

You should clarify something. The October 85 release of the NES in the US was a limited release in the LA and NYC markets only. It didn't see full release until 6 months later in March/April 86.

As a kid, I had no Idea that the Master System even existed. I didn't even find out about it until like the mid 2000's when I was in my twenties haha!!! I don't remember sewing any ads for it back in the 80's.

It's interesting how the success of a product varies by country, and I knew almost nothing about the Sega Master System until about 15 years ago. Yes, I live in North America, so this country didn't show the Sega Master System much love.....but I love it! It's definitely an underrated system!

Good vid! I had a SEGA Master-System II! E-SWAT wasn't great, but Sonic 2 was!

Every neighborhood was 9 kids out of 10 had an nes and that one kid had a master system.

He should have mentioned the power base converter. It allowed me to play

I love SEGA and I love to collect SMS games today , back in the days I was a MEGADRIVE BOY ! SEGA IS STRONGER THAT YOU !!

I grew up in Nebraska (USA). I never saw a master system on the shelf. I honestly never heard of it until 2010 or so.

Fun fact: The Master System versions of Sonic One and Sonic Two are the exact same as the Game Gear versions. Absolutely no changes in graphics or sound were made on either of them. Sega would also go on to release all other Sonic GG games for the Master System, from Chaos to Triple Trouble and Tails' Adventure.

@ultrairrelevantnobody1862

5 жыл бұрын

They were made for the Master System first then ported to the Game Gear.

@GCJACK83

5 жыл бұрын

@@ultrairrelevantnobody1862 Yep, which for those who only played the Game Gear versions, explains the horrendous screen crunch.

@lazarushernandez5827

5 жыл бұрын

@@GCJACK83 The Game Gear was essentially a portable Master System, I had a 3rd party adapter that let you play SMS carts on the Game Gear, and you had to deal with graphics formatted for a TV screen on the GGs LCD (screen crunch, small type etc), but they worked without a hitch.

Does anyone know if the Power Base Converter would work on a Genesis mini? I mean the kind At Games is selling atm. I know the cartridge reader works fine

Back in the day, my best friend and one of his other friends had a pact: intentionally have one get the NES and the other the SMS. Then they would haggle with each other for "off system games". Both were happy with that arrangement, and both would have hated to go the other way. Ironically a third friend of ours had the 7800.

Sega, is the best!! I miss it 😭

I really wish Sega could start to make some Master System & Game Gear collections instead of constant Mega Drive re-releases. Honestly, with these last couple of years, there has been maybe a bit too much Mega Drive stuff, so much so that it feels like an broken record that goes on and on.

@lazarushernandez5827

5 жыл бұрын

This is true, the Genesis/Mega Drive was Sega's greatest console success, but that wasn't the only arena they competed in. The Master System has great games, the Saturn has great games, the Dreamcast has great games, and Sega has a long list of arcade titles that some have never had the chance to experience. The recent Dragon's Trap remake was originally a Master System game, in fact the new graphics run directly over the original game (even the original SMS save codes work on it!), the Phantasy Star franchise originated on the SMS. They (Sega) have plenty of IP that could see a return or refresh (not just Sonic).

Well I do appreciate this video Sir. This was extremely informative as usual.

It might well be due to the monopoly that nintendo had on yhe market. But i can name a fraction must have games for the master system that i can for the nes. And i dont count alex kidd as one of them considering there was the excellent psycho fox and wonderboy 2 and 3. The sms was my first console and although it was enjoyable enough the quality games on the nes was vastly greater in number. And superior

I would love to get a Master System or a converter for my Super Retro Trio+ to experience some great 8 bit Sega games. I think you touched on it before, but I feel you should have mentioned that the Master System is still, or very recently an extremely popular system in Brazil. It's probably had a longer life span than any system ever with its extreme popularity in the region. That story seems legendary to me.

They should make a Sega Master system mini

@Chaos89P

4 жыл бұрын

Might end up selling well in the States, thanks to hindsight.

What game soundtrack is he using @4:01 ?

@mikered4103

5 жыл бұрын

That's streets of rage

@itsjustSev

5 жыл бұрын

@@mikered4103 Thank you, I knew it was familiar but I couldn't place it.

@mikered4103

5 жыл бұрын

@@itsjustSev no problem, love that game was just playing it recently on the sega compilation so it was fresh on my mind when I heard it here.

Nintendo blew it in the UK nearly as bad. Mattel (who were still stinging from the failure of the Intellivision) were in charge of UK distribution for the NES - which is why that console failed hard there.

@CommodoreFan64

5 жыл бұрын

That, and region being already use to the glut of cheap 8-bit home micro computers that mostly used compact cassette tapes for their storage medium balked at the prices of NES games when budget ZX Spectrum, and Commodore 64 games where 2 - 10 GBP at the most, and even though I'm from the US it was the reason my family did not get an NES till Christmas of 88 since I already had a C64, along with an Apple II IE from an uncle a few years later, and games on floppies could be bought much cheaper, or copied.

@segaunited3855

5 жыл бұрын

Consoles in General failed in the UK and were outdone by low end underpowered PCs like ZX Spectrum and Amstrad. SEGA AND Nintendo never had a chance there. Sony came in and pretty much flexed their large Deep Pockets and took a Monopoly out there especially on consoles since by 1995, Game Consoles were finally starting to catch on.

@Halbared

4 жыл бұрын

@@segaunited3855 I think the power of Sega and NIntendo doing the hard work with the SNES/Megadrive that scared the likes of Commodore/Atari into making the mistakes they made, and it was easy pickings for Sony later on.

@Halbared

4 жыл бұрын

@@CommodoreFan64 I had a C64! ANd then I got a NES! I did love my C64 games, but I sold it to concentrate on the NES, since I felt the games were better, yes they were expensive, but they lasted. I do regret it, as I have fond memories of Bruce Lee, Forbidden Forest, Spy versus Spy etc.

It's the hat that pulled me into this video. Thank you for the good find, sir.

I honestly didn’t know the Master System existed until a few years ago, it was all about the NES in my part of Canada anyway-really speaks to the effectiveness of Nintendo’s marketing strategy (as you pointed out Top Hat!) Very informative, thanks for the video!

The only people I knew who had a master system was my best freind's family and my grandma otherwise I have never seen one or its games in the wild except game stores which is a shame.. I recently just picked up the system and im trying to get a good libray going for it pretty underrated

I still think choplifter on the master system is one of the best arcade conversions ever. Cracking game. The master system was and is a great console.

@Astrotrain99

5 жыл бұрын

Agreed. I loved Choplifter. One of my favs on the system from my childhood collection.

My neighbor borrowed her uncles Sega so I did play it like one time at her house as a kid. I'm surprised I was even exposed to it as a North American kid.

Kids had Master Systems in Brazil because Tectoy did all the grunt work for sega. Had the local company associated with nintendo, the NES would have been the number one easily. We really wanted the NES, it was a status symbol.

@thaismagalhaes5928

5 жыл бұрын

Really? In my neighborhood no kid wanted the NES, we all wanted the Master System because it was easier to rent games for it (I'd say the graphics were better too, but nobody cared about it back then)

So glad I grew up here in the UK

What's the music that starts at 10:52? It sounds like a Genesis rendition of the 8th Man After theme.

Damn Nintendo was cold bloody bastards back then.

Oh yes, WELL remember what was going on in the late 1980s with Sega and Nintendo. I would walk around a department store just between Russell and Ashland KY and would see Nintendo games and Atari games, but nothing for the Master System. I later found out about the exclusivity deals Nintendo worked out with major retailers in the US. Specifically, Nintendo would make the stores sign an agreement that the NES would have it's own dedicated game section, and that no other competitors' product would be allowed shelf space near theirs. Breaking that agreement would mean Nintendo would cease shipping to that retailer. Hell, I saw Atari 2600 re-releases on the shelves up to around 1990! But Sega interests would file a class-action lawsuit against Nintendo over these shady deals. Sadly, the court found in Sega's favor around the same time the Sega Saturn launched in the US, and as you know with class-action lawsuits, the lawyers got millions while the consumers affected got $5 coupons....off the purchase of Nintendo products. So Nintendo was "punished" by selling you Ninty products!

@segaunited3855

5 жыл бұрын

Saturn didn't launch in 1990.

@theodorerelic2718

5 жыл бұрын

@@segaunited3855 Never said it did. It launched in May of 1995 in the US. And we started getting those $5 coupons soon afterward.

@segaunited3855

5 жыл бұрын

@@theodorerelic2718 Saturn didn't launch in May of 1995 in the US. It had a BOTCHED Trial Release at Select Retailers 4 months prior to its launch. Saturn launched September 2,1995 on "Saturnday/Saturn Saturday".

@Halbared

4 жыл бұрын

THe Monoply thing was busted by he time the Megadrive hit though, otherwise there wouldn't have been games like Castlevania Bloodlines.

I had one by accident. In 91, I got my genesis. My sister's friend saw me playing and said "I have a Sega too". I asked if she has sonic yet . She said "it's not a genesis, just plain Sega". I thought she was mistaken lol. She brought it over and gave it to me to play. Every time I tried to return it they didn't want it, apparently the M.I.A. Dad bought it for them as a bribe for their love and they hated it lol. So I got that, hang on/safari hunt, and Alex kidd.

My local video rental house featured a Master System converter where you could play MS games on the Genesis. Unfortunately, the only game I ever cared to try that with was Double Dragon.

Got into the Master System a few years ago, as I only had an nes during those days. Really enjoyed it as it had alot of great games!

When were those bits with you in DC and NYC shot? As for European SMS games, I've got Flash, Smurfs and Addams Family, plus 9 North American releases. Any other non-NA games you'd recommend?

@fentazen2677

3 жыл бұрын

Klax

@fentazen2677

3 жыл бұрын

Mortal Kombatp

I didn't know about that master system 2, looks like it removed the card slot though.

My best friend had one. That's the only person I ever knew that did(the rest of us all had NES). It's was great. EXCEPT for one thing. The control pads(stock controllers) were backwards. By that I mean d-pad on the right, buttons on the left(like the control stick for the SMS). So they were backwards compared to NES controllers. Having been the only one I ever played on, I was under the impression they were all like that. But, apparently, the weren't? Somebody please tell me I'm not having a Mandela moment. I specifically remember having to cross my hands up to even be able to play the thing at all(which didn't work for shit BTW, damn near impossible with those tiny controllers). I could NOT retrain my brain to play with buttons left/d-pad right. And my friend had a similar problem trying to play on my NES. We both spent most of our time watching each other play on the system we owned.