It's... I mean, it's impressive that they got a version of Street Fighter running on the Master System, but it was a way late, redundant release that came out well after the far superior SNES, Mega Drive, and PC Engine releases. Virtua Fighter 2 is on Master System as well, but neither is a reasonable facsimilie of the original; they're fun curiousities that really only exist due to the unique economic conditions to Brazil in the time. Not trashing the game; just don't go into it expecting to play a real game of Street Fighter II.
When we look back in time, it was really unthinkable such a thing. Nobody waited find something like the original version. It sound like those miniature cars: they aren't expected to work like the real ones. But it's amazing imagine how far they went to reproduce it. It's a work of love. The same to MK. That happened that time due the Company which represented Sega here in Brazil. They started translating Phantasy Star for portuguese and little by little gained experience to developed. And SMS had a huge marketing campaign for here.
@@edcarlosworld7777 sou mais jovem porém lembro de meu pai importar um PSone pra mim em 2007, com 6 anos. Saudades da infância, era tudo tão simples. Comprar os 3 por 10 nas bancas e me divertir por meses com os jogos. Jogar no CD de emulador de NES que eu tinha pra PSone, jogar no Mega Drive do meu primo e no SNES do meu pai... Sou jovem, mas sinto a saudade. Agora é depressão, ansiedade, remédios e falta de emprego. Pelo menos o Retroarch tá aí por nós.
Great video, dude. I'm brazilian and Master System here were a huge deal! It is, even today, fabricated and sell by TECTOY. Although, not the same hardware. It is my most beloved videogame and the main focus of my collection's effort.
The SEGA Master system was actually my first console to ever own. I played Cloud Master, and Phantasy Star (the game that helped me develop a passion for turn based RPGs) as well as Captain Silver and Zillon!
Cloud Master was LIFE!!! The arcade version is on PS4 and Switch and feels much harder. At least the sort-of sequel on Wii (The Monkey King The Legend Begins) was easy
The Master Systerm was my first console too... dad got the set with two controllers so that my bro and I could play at the same time. It came with the light gun too but that was gimmicky. Dad also picked Double Dragon for us. I didn't like the look of the game but the gameplay quickly changed my mind. My bro and I would end up with almost all of the co-op games on the Master System during the time we owned it. I think Quartet was the only 2 player game we didn't have.
Living in Europe I never knew till the rise of the internet that those games were never released in the US. I always found hilarious the animation of Taz eating the bomb in Tasmania
The NES Monopoly of the US has completely brainwashed them into thinking Nintendo "Saved the industry" And they missed out on 6 years of Master System games after its 1990 cancellation in the US.
Due to Nintendo's strict 3rd party rules in the NA market, they completely crushed the SMS that I believed the Genesis/Mega Drive was Sega's first console until I discovered the SMS after wanting to know what happened to the original Phantasy Star game. I only recently played a Master System for the first time (Shinobi) at a video game museum display.
@@alexojideagu this most TH-camrs including some UK ones are guilty of this Nintendo revisionist "saves gaming" history despite sega dominating in Europe and the UK and early gaming on the spectrum and commodore 64
Only a few Millennials on TH-cam under 30 in the UK have perpetuated this nonsense myth. But the faux NES Mini and NES Nostalgia from some British TH-camrs is really irritating. The NES was available to buy back in 1990 but not many bought it. I knew one in my class.
I really appreciate how even-handedly you discuss these games. There's this odd contingent of people who try to re-envision history as having had an 8-bit console war that never really happened. The NES was a non-factor in Brazil, and the Master System had no traction in the US. Brazil had such unique economics with the cost of technology and the massive gap between the upper and lower classes, coupled with stringent import tariffs and domestic manufacturing laws. It created this unique environment for Tec Toy to keep the system alive for a solid decade after it was dead in the rest of the world. So many of those curiousity games like Virtua Fighter 2, Street Fighter II, Earthworm Jim, etc. were games that came out after the 16-bit wars were over, and weren't secret killer apps that Nintendo squashed to keep the NES on top. I don't mean that as a knock on the Master System itself... I love it, and have been an owner for decades. There are a lot of fun, unique games to play on it, and it deserves love; just not strange power fantasies about the "what ifs." If folks would just let it be what it is without trying to force it into a box of expectations, they may just find out that Zillion is a really good Impossible Mission clone and not a Metroid clone (and that Zillion II is actually better), Ghostbusters is more fun to play than the other versions, and Gangster Town, Rescue Mission, Rambo III, Safari Hunt, etc. are the best light gun games on any 8-bit, period.
@@iwanttocomplain Not really they're both international. The master outsold in South America ( a lot) and Australasia (marginally) IN europe it's different for each country, mostly close a few yuge margins like Sweden (nes).
Another great vid! Very unpopular opinion: I'm American but grew up in England before moving back to the States, and I personally prefer Sonic 1, Sonic 2, and Castle of Illusion on the Master System to the Genesis versions. It may be some hardcore nostalgia swaying my feelings here, but it's true.
It's not an unpopular opinion. The Master System versions of Sonic and Castle of Illusion are widely considered to be better designed & playing games than their nicer looking and sounding 16-bit siblings.
@@Fattydeposit "Widely" is a strong word. And not a total accurate one at that. Yes, there are those who consider them to be the superior versions and, while actually far from an unpopular opinion, it wasn't really by that margin. People seem to be heavily drown in nostalgia while rating those games, for either platform. I only got to play the 8-bit versions after a while, so I'd probably be biased towards the 16-bit ones. Guess it's very much the case for those who had an opposite experience.
The SMS library is quite shocking. It seems to be a neverending discovery of games you cant believe were made for it. SOR for example. I have that, need part 2. It's crazy how much there is in stage graphics and combat. A bit rough with collision detection but the NES couldn't have dreamed of that SOR port functioning on it. Thankfully the 8bitdo wireless controller pauses the SMS for the special. Personally I enjoy having the SMS versions of many of the Genesis titles. Its like playing a familiar experience in a different way.
When I was a kid the only way I knew about the existence of the Master System was the Sears Christmas catalog - the concept of a Alf game was enough to make me want whatever a Master System was. I don't ever remember seeing Master System anything in any of the stores around me as a kid. A girl in elementary school claimed her brother had one but she was a total liar - I also remember her lying about having Super Mario World before it came out and she said it involved "Yoshi Surfing". It wasn't until like 93-94 that Genesis really had a retail/rental presence where I lived (great plains USA) even though everybody loved SEGA arcade games like Shinobi and Outrun
I love the sms, and particularly loved ebay when it was relatively a new thing. I picked up tons of european and brazillian sms games that I had no idea existed. We were absolutely robbed in North America with sms releases. The nintendo monopoly on game companies crushed any chances of sega gaining any ground here, too bad I think the overall landscape of gaming here could have been vastly different had this not existed.
I Just found your channel not to long ago been watching alot of your old video and really enjoying them as a Sega fan its really nice to see so much great content on it
Loved my Master System specially on arcade game ports (hence the reason I got the system) and as someone from Europe able to have many of those games even in Genesis era. I had quiet some of the titles you mentioned here.
It is always nice to see more Master System attention. Good list of games. The SG-1000, Mark III, and Master System are underrated/unknown, especially in the states. I didn't know anyone who had one growing up and got my first one a couple years ago. Lots of great games and memories to be had. In the current collection climate, you can get a nice size library without spending a ton.
Where the SMS was popular, it also tended to be quite affordable and readily available. You couldn't say that back then with every platform in every region. The 8-bit versions were the ones to own to a lot of folks.
@@SegaLordX True. When the Megadrive was released in the UK the master was packaged as a bargain bucket machine, and it's price was slashed. It was less than a third the cost of a Megadrive so sales stayed strong. There were still adverts for it into the mid 90s!
@@latexpain5760 This. As time goes on programmers learn to squeeze more out of the hardware, you can find elsewhere on TH-cam where someone has a programmed a reasonable level of F-Zero on the Genesis/Megadrive hardware. th-cam.com/video/Tl3gKAobaTE/w-d-xo.html This is years(decades?) after the game originally showed up on the SNES.
Some reasons might be that they were pushing the graphics harder and most of these games were 2 to 4 Mbits standard while many earlier SMS games tried to stay around 1 Mbit. Also, many of these games have western developers...I find that you can usually feel the difference although it's hard to pin point.
Australian here, although the platform did very well here you are right, the 8 bit Sonic games were no where near the 16bit versions on the megadrive. I remember playing them at friends houses and in places like target at kiosks and thinking how terrible they where :p I think I preferred Alex kid on the 8 bit system !!
It's amazing that the SMS had such a long life in Brazil. It makes sense, because for a long time, gaming had(/has?) been unobtainable for a large part of the population due to costs. I remember reading that year-old consoles could be two months of an average worker's salary (though I could be remembering this incorrectly). So the SMS stayed popular because it was introduced to the market and supported for a long time. There were probably SMS fans in Brazil in the early 2000's that didn't think of it as "retro gaming".
The thing with some of those games is,like you said, that we didn't played them in SMS because they were good or groundbreaking, it's because sometimes they were the only ones available to us when we couldn't afford a 16 bit and didn't had an arcade nearby or couldn't go to one for any reason (for example: Mortal Kombat). Nevertheless we have found memories from them and some are true masterpieces.
I owned 3 Master System games together with my Mega Drive and the Power Base: Golden Axe Warrior, Psycho Fox and Wonder Boy III Dragon's Curse. Sadly someone stole the Psycho Fox cartridge so I've only got the box, still a good thing it wasn't Golden Axe Warrior as that is a lot harder to get, and a heck of a lot better game in my opinion. Great video as always!
Fun fact: the master system and mega drive (genesis) were released in Brazil very close to each other in the very beginning of 90 's , at the time because the lack of information and the fact that the master was in the market for about 1 year before the Genesis, a lot of kids went to the stores to buy their consoles completely ignored the Genesis, and the other hand, the master already had games pre installed, which caused parents to pick the 8 bit instead of the 16 brother
I saw the master system for the first time in 1993 with games such as fantansy zone,alex kid,mj moon walker and road fighter, these were hard games and they still are.
I remember seeing those games, but having had to sell my MS to get a MD, overlooked them. I did play a bit of New Zealand Story at the supermarket, I was just annoyed by its music and forgot about it. Now put side by side with other games, it does look pretty advanced. Thanks for this video.
One that I REALLY loved was Monster Boy in Monster World on Master System (1993). In fact I played this version before the Genesis one. The graphics were less complex but still had a very strong style and the music was amazing. As for fighters on low powered hardware, Killer Instinct on Game Boy was actually pretty cool. Very smooth compared to the super choppy Street Fighter II, and the music tracks from the SNES magically survived and are awesome.
I never had a Master System, but I had a Game Gear and a Master System Converter. I found a ton of Master System games cheap in pawn shops. I really liked Master System Sonic 1.
I first played Mortal Kombat on the MS2 and it was glorious, keeping in mind I was a kid with no money and poor parents it was this version or nothing, not that I had ever tried the Genisis version so I didn't feel I was missing out anyway, was very enjoyable, NES owner missed out on sooo many ports
Forgotton Worlds is my favourite port, got it for Chirstmas 1995 or 1996 at first I felt not dissaponted but due to its difficulty felt I wouldn't play it much, then I spent time learning it and it became a game I came back to every year for about 4 or 5 years multiple times when I eventually played the arcade and Mega Drive versions via emulation I couldn't get into them due to the control differences and level layouts
The weird thing about Taz-Mania is that it was a completely different game on just about every single platform it was released on. The SNES one is also completely different for example. I have no clue how that happened, but negotiations must've been fun.
Funny when you think about it. Over 3 consoles Sega nailed a different territory each time: Europe - MS, US - Genesis, Japan - Saturn. But missed big chunks of one or both of the other regions each time.
Lol, I talked my little sister into getting a Game Gear one Xmas. Sonic 2 came with it and that was the only game we ever got for it. I played the hell out of that game. Don't think I ever beat it though, it was hard!
It’s a shame you guys across the pond missed out on a lot of the later Master System games, there were some truly great titles later on. Tecmagik did some fantastic ports like New Zealand Story, Pacmania and Populous. Even US Gold managed to have a rare moment of quality with the likes of Gauntlet, Paperboy and Impossible Mission.
Love this vid, thanks man. Where as many I knew had the NES, I was a Sega boy and had the master system (Australia) with blaster and 3D glasses..Just in me early teens at the time.. Besides the weak sound chip of the western consoles, I loved that thing.
I also grew up in Virginia and I never saw a master system irl until it was retro. I learned about it in a magazine and i had a game gear which was pretty cool I saw more turbograffx systems and games than I ever did master system I saw master system and funcoland in Gaithersburg visiting my grandma in the late 90s that was it
Just another testament to how good Sega was they could make an actual fighting game that looked and played like a fighting game not too far removed from the 16-bit version that actually worked if Nintendo tried that on the NES it would be the worst thing you ever seen you would break it. But this version actually looks playable yes not as good as the other ones but if you're in another country with no other release u play the hell out of this
I love seeing these. They're all so freakin' interesting. It's crazy to see what could be accomplished with this tech in good hands, from good artists, musicians and programmers who actually cared about the SMS and had the time to work their magic. Seeing all these heroic attempts to get as close to other versions of more powerful games as possible - it's incredible that so many enjoyable experience could be crunched down successfully... even if adapting those more ambitious designs were just a bit too much for the SMS at times. And man, that MK port is _ROUGH._ Even watching with the footage sped-up, it's still so damn choppy and slow. 8-bit fighters can be quite good in the right hands. Just had to build with the weaker hardware in mind.... but that's the thing, ain't it? Until Street Fighter 2, fighting games weren't even a genre that was cemented down yet, so of course the 8-bit systems largely missed out. Still, ya just gotta look at releases on the Game Boy and GBC to see games that show how they could've been done well on the SMS or the NES. Many of Takara's SD Game Boy fighters (Toshinden GB, for instance), Crawfish's port of Street Fighter Alpha for the GBC is a really good 8-bit fighter too, plus a few original games like Power Quest or Super Chinese Fighter EX (aka Kung-Fu Heroes or Ninja Boy). It would've been amazing to see any games of that caliber come out on the SMS back in its heyday. There's an unlicensed Korean SMS game called Jang Pung 3 that is actually super good - MUCH BETTER than that attempt at Mortal Kombat. It just makes me wish the genre had more attempts back in the day from these great studios that were working on games officially with actual development kits. Would've been nice if the genre was represented _well_ on Sega's 8-bit machine. Oh well :/
I have to say I am very happy with my Master system. it is not a bad system, it just did not have the advertisement power behind it like Nintendo put behind the NES.
Honestly, I think the SMS Sonic games are great. IMO they’re some of the best 8 bit games... it’s just the 16 bit versions that make them seem not as good
I understand what Tectoy did when porting Mortal Kombat to Master System, but it was one of my worst deceptions as a kid. I didn't care when they told me that there was no Santa Claus. But the MK made me mad hahaha. I still live TecToy for what they did and all the efforts they put for us to have a very nice experience at this country. They deserve to be praised
Leandro Lopes Pereira Tectoy didn't port Mortal Kombat to the Master System it was ported by Probe software. Tectoy were just the publishers for the south American release. ;-)
Only MK3 was ported by TecToy (and the only one exclusive to Brazil), based on the Game Gear version. (and I believe you're mistaking _deception_ for _disappointment,_ it's a common false friend)
Try The Lucky Dime Caper starring Donald Duck and Astérix. OK, I'm an Astérix and even more an Obélix fanboy, for me Astérix is the best platformer on the machine.
Europe and Oz were similar in that it was close, Nes sold more in Europe than Master and Master sold more in Australasia. In south america is was different and master had dominance.
8-bit fighting games - If you're talking about arcade ports, I'd agree with you that the 8-bit versions weren't much good. However there were some pretty good original 8-bit fighting games. Like Way of the Exploding Fist, International Karate, IK+ and Barbarian/Death Sword. All quite enjoyable on 8-bit computers.
Here in Brazil we have a lot of good game to play on Master System thanks to TecToy the company that bring Sega to Brazil !! I still have my copy of Street Figther 2 on MS . But even so that a lot of games that we miss . A company called Warpzone are going to release a complet guild about all SM games and GG games that exist in the world .next year !!
Growing up in europe it was a much fairer competition between the NES and the Master System probably in part to the price of the NES games and compared to the rest of the world a really poor selection of games. Although the Master System also had continued support much longer which probably helped, although some of the ports of 16-bit whie functional weren't worth playing. I do still have the copies of both Sonic Chaos and Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine I got from really late in the life and was always impressed about how much extra animated the characters were in Sonic Chaos over the first two Sonic games it was remarkably close to the 16-bit games in that respect.
Best comment, first one I've read from someone who actually must have been there. I remember being irked that nes games were on average 5-10 pounds more expensive! And yeah, the master was being sold for 45 quid well into the 90s! I have to say though, by 1990 the uk had some amazing nes games
@@Halbared I think a lot of people seem to have a lot of false memories about how things were in Europe at that time because most people had either a micro computer like the C64 or ZX Spectrum and as far as consoles went due to pricing the Master System although I will admit as I got older I thought the NES had the superior software it was just priced too high and at the time used games weren't a huge thing unless it was at a car boot sale. I only ended up owning one in about 1993 when the games were being sold used for next to nothing and my parents didn't mind the price.
@@freddiejohnson6137 wow, that would have been the time to scoop them up. By that time I'd moved onto the snes. I still own all my nes games, but I did miss out on those later amazing titles, Battletoads, Return of Joker etc.
The way you feel about the Sonic games on the MS is my general attitude towards 16-bit software being downgraded to 8-bit. But I recognize that some 8-bit versions can be unique on their own to make them worthwhile which is interesting.
Hurrah for Taz, I do not own a master system game but a Mega drive one which has been one of the very few games of my own that has been in my Collection and not in my brother's- Taz Mania has been there from day one so to speak. but I do not have a Master system so... It was not evident to me what the game was like having only seen the box art. Taz Mania is not only the one game I have had on my own the whole time, even Before I bought the machine from my brother as he wanted to buy a Playstation, no not just the longest standing game in my Collection I have also completed the game several times, I do not know if I could be as much in focus and Control due to the somewhat flimsy nature in Controls in 8-bit game- I my family we Always thought that SEGA Machine meant 16 bit while Nintendo was the 8 bit unit all the way, we also had an atari 2600 but in more recent time only controller 2 works so we have been called upon waiting for player one to loose but this was in 4th-6th grade or so...nice video
Taz Mania was the First game i ever finish by myself. I only played the Mega Drive version much later on, and i still think the SMS version is superior, in great part thanks tô its simplicity.
This video is my childhood man, new Zealand story, tazmania, forgotten worlds, streets of rage were all games i played a lot of tazmania was the first game i finished on my own. I thought the port of cool spot was pretty good for a 8 bit port not sure if you have had the chance to play it
I have always been interested in that cancelled Phantasy Star II SEGA were going to make before they switched to the Mega Drive. What I find a damn shame for the Master System is the reliance on ports instead of creating new IPs for the system. Nintendo and others created original content on the NES whereas Third Parties entirely relied on porting their games on the Master System. SEGA has shown what can be done when you release original content on the system, which as Phantasy Star, Alex Kidd and Kenseiden. The potential of the Master System feels a little wasted in this case, which is why original games such as Power Strike 1 and 2 are rarer than the more common games that were ported. :( (at least Renegade, New Zealand Story and Bubble Bobble are great ports!)
Been looking into it some and the ability the map sprites to background tiles while causing no flicker does come with a lag aspect, basically it's constantly taking two bitmaps and combining them for every frame rendered over and over again plus it's locked to the grid that is the tilemap. So SMS fighting games can make sprites of decent size but they can't move fast enough or in fine enough increments to replicate the gameplay well. You can make better 8-bit fighting games but you got to reduce everything way down like Crawfish Interactive did in Street Fighter Alpha on GBC. It may be tiny but the animation is smoother and you can actual pull off special moves unlike SF2 or MK on SMS. Really a case where you have to prioritize the gameplay above all other matters.
When i was a kid, one of my friends had a NES, when i got my SMS and he came over to play with me, he immediately said my games looked better, especially arcade ports were a ton better looking.. So eventually he got rid of his NES and he converted to sega... we both have gotten every sega console they releases (except for the 'addon-consoles like 32x)... i also had the first playstation and he also got an N64, but then came dreamcast which just blew our minds :) Still can't believe that they crashed while they had the best console on the market in their hands..
i've had the gamegear, but since it ate batteries for breakfast I didn't play on it that much, also cuz the megadrive had waay better gfx than the gg (a portable mastersystem)
Have you covered the Asterix games? The first and third games released on the SMS were developed by Sega of Japan and are still very good, easily comparable to Castle of Illusion or Taz-Mania. Sadly they're pretty unknown here in the U.S.
All of these(except eswat) look great for an 8bit system. Streets of rage looks the best although think you were a bit harsh to it when compared to the Genesis. Anyways great stuff man!
So the Master System was essentially the Sega NES? That's probably an obvious answer to a lot of people, but I didn't know the Master System even existed until a few years ago.
Yes, you could say that. It was Sega's direct competition for the NES from about 1986-1989. It was called the Mark III in Japan, and was an upgraded version of the SG-1000, Sega's first real console that was released in 1983.
I actually liked 8bit Sonic 1 more. That's because i preferred the emeralds being hidden in the levels instead of being rewards of some of the most annoying bonus levels ever.
Sega Lord X, your videos are way better than mine. But i am just as you a Sega fan for life. Here in Belgium, the Sega Master System was very popular. It was my first console, and i still have it and play it to this day. And here it was just a console next the Mega Drive, that you could chose from. It had alot off the same games as the mega drive, somethimes not as good but it had them. Sonic 1&2, Robocop vs Terminator, T2 the arcade game, MortalKombat 1&2 , castle of illusion. Streets of rage. In my opinion Sonic 1, was better than the mega drive version. But that's just taste of a gaming. And you should check Robocop vs the Terminator, and T2 The arcade game, both great games, i even try to say that T2 the arcade game of the master system is the better version. Also Alex Kidd in miracle world is a much better game than the mega drive Alex Kidd, Batman returns, and so on. The Master System has a special place in my hart. Keep up the great Sega videos and game on.
I'm brazilian and lived that time. SMS had a lot of exclusive and official releases here. Did you see Street Fighter 2 on it? It's very impressive!
I didn't know that was a thing!
It's... I mean, it's impressive that they got a version of Street Fighter running on the Master System, but it was a way late, redundant release that came out well after the far superior SNES, Mega Drive, and PC Engine releases. Virtua Fighter 2 is on Master System as well, but neither is a reasonable facsimilie of the original; they're fun curiousities that really only exist due to the unique economic conditions to Brazil in the time.
Not trashing the game; just don't go into it expecting to play a real game of Street Fighter II.
When we look back in time, it was really unthinkable such a thing. Nobody waited find something like the original version. It sound like those miniature cars: they aren't expected to work like the real ones. But it's amazing imagine how far they went to reproduce it. It's a work of love. The same to MK.
That happened that time due the Company which represented Sega here in Brazil. They started translating Phantasy Star for portuguese and little by little gained experience to developed. And SMS had a huge marketing campaign for here.
Foi a unica coisa boa de morrar no Brasil naquela época , poder jogar boms games !!
@@edcarlosworld7777 sou mais jovem porém lembro de meu pai importar um PSone pra mim em 2007, com 6 anos. Saudades da infância, era tudo tão simples. Comprar os 3 por 10 nas bancas e me divertir por meses com os jogos.
Jogar no CD de emulador de NES que eu tinha pra PSone, jogar no Mega Drive do meu primo e no SNES do meu pai... Sou jovem, mas sinto a saudade.
Agora é depressão, ansiedade, remédios e falta de emprego.
Pelo menos o Retroarch tá aí por nós.
Great video, dude. I'm brazilian and Master System here were a huge deal! It is, even today, fabricated and sell by TECTOY. Although, not the same hardware.
It is my most beloved videogame and the main focus of my collection's effort.
The SEGA Master system was actually my first console to ever own.
I played Cloud Master, and Phantasy Star (the game that helped me develop a passion for turn based RPGs) as well as Captain Silver and Zillon!
Cloud Master was LIFE!!! The arcade version is on PS4 and Switch and feels much harder. At least the sort-of sequel on Wii (The Monkey King The Legend Begins) was easy
The Master Systerm was my first console too... dad got the set with two controllers so that my bro and I could play at the same time. It came with the light gun too but that was gimmicky. Dad also picked Double Dragon for us. I didn't like the look of the game but the gameplay quickly changed my mind. My bro and I would end up with almost all of the co-op games on the Master System during the time we owned it. I think Quartet was the only 2 player game we didn't have.
me too.
Same! I still have it today!
Living in Europe I never knew till the rise of the internet that those games were never released in the US. I always found hilarious the animation of Taz eating the bomb in Tasmania
👍👍👍👍👍
The NES Monopoly of the US has completely brainwashed them into thinking Nintendo "Saved the industry" And they missed out on 6 years of Master System games after its 1990 cancellation in the US.
Due to Nintendo's strict 3rd party rules in the NA market, they completely crushed the SMS that I believed the Genesis/Mega Drive was Sega's first console until I discovered the SMS after wanting to know what happened to the original Phantasy Star game. I only recently played a Master System for the first time (Shinobi) at a video game museum display.
@@alexojideagu this most TH-camrs including some UK ones are guilty of this Nintendo revisionist "saves gaming" history despite sega dominating in Europe and the UK and early gaming on the spectrum and commodore 64
Only a few Millennials on TH-cam under 30 in the UK have perpetuated this nonsense myth. But the faux NES Mini and NES Nostalgia from some British TH-camrs is really irritating. The NES was available to buy back in 1990 but not many bought it. I knew one in my class.
I really appreciate how even-handedly you discuss these games. There's this odd contingent of people who try to re-envision history as having had an 8-bit console war that never really happened. The NES was a non-factor in Brazil, and the Master System had no traction in the US. Brazil had such unique economics with the cost of technology and the massive gap between the upper and lower classes, coupled with stringent import tariffs and domestic manufacturing laws. It created this unique environment for Tec Toy to keep the system alive for a solid decade after it was dead in the rest of the world. So many of those curiousity games like Virtua Fighter 2, Street Fighter II, Earthworm Jim, etc. were games that came out after the 16-bit wars were over, and weren't secret killer apps that Nintendo squashed to keep the NES on top.
I don't mean that as a knock on the Master System itself... I love it, and have been an owner for decades. There are a lot of fun, unique games to play on it, and it deserves love; just not strange power fantasies about the "what ifs." If folks would just let it be what it is without trying to force it into a box of expectations, they may just find out that Zillion is a really good Impossible Mission clone and not a Metroid clone (and that Zillion II is actually better), Ghostbusters is more fun to play than the other versions, and Gangster Town, Rescue Mission, Rambo III, Safari Hunt, etc. are the best light gun games on any 8-bit, period.
@@iwanttocomplain Not really they're both international. The master outsold in South America ( a lot) and Australasia (marginally) IN europe it's different for each country, mostly close a few yuge margins like Sweden (nes).
You've peaked my interest on Zillion, as I love Impossible Mission.
I know it’s a simple arcade game, but the SMS version of Ms PacMan deserves to be on one of these lists. Smooth gameplay with a ton of options.
Thank u 4 helping me remember my childhood. If we could only go back. Love your channel
Another great vid! Very unpopular opinion: I'm American but grew up in England before moving back to the States, and I personally prefer Sonic 1, Sonic 2, and Castle of Illusion on the Master System to the Genesis versions. It may be some hardcore nostalgia swaying my feelings here, but it's true.
It's not an unpopular opinion. The Master System versions of Sonic and Castle of Illusion are widely considered to be better designed & playing games than their nicer looking and sounding 16-bit siblings.
@@Fattydeposit "Widely" is a strong word. And not a total accurate one at that. Yes, there are those who consider them to be the superior versions and, while actually far from an unpopular opinion, it wasn't really by that margin. People seem to be heavily drown in nostalgia while rating those games, for either platform. I only got to play the 8-bit versions after a while, so I'd probably be biased towards the 16-bit ones. Guess it's very much the case for those who had an opposite experience.
Wow! I gotta say, Taz-Mania has gotta be the big surprise of this video.
It looks like a ton of fun
Master System ha some impressive games and ports!
The SMS library is quite shocking. It seems to be a neverending discovery of games you cant believe were made for it. SOR for example. I have that, need part 2. It's crazy how much there is in stage graphics and combat. A bit rough with collision detection but the NES couldn't have dreamed of that SOR port functioning on it. Thankfully the 8bitdo wireless controller pauses the SMS for the special. Personally I enjoy having the SMS versions of many of the Genesis titles. Its like playing a familiar experience in a different way.
When I was a kid the only way I knew about the existence of the Master System was the Sears Christmas catalog - the concept of a Alf game was enough to make me want whatever a Master System was. I don't ever remember seeing Master System anything in any of the stores around me as a kid. A girl in elementary school claimed her brother had one but she was a total liar - I also remember her lying about having Super Mario World before it came out and she said it involved "Yoshi Surfing". It wasn't until like 93-94 that Genesis really had a retail/rental presence where I lived (great plains USA) even though everybody loved SEGA arcade games like Shinobi and Outrun
The dolphins do look like Yoshi, tho
Aleste and the R-Type port are my favorite games on SMS
The Master System was my first video game console in 87. I wanted a Sega system because I was a fan of their arcade games!
Confession: I have nostalgia for MK1 on Game Gear. I was thrilled to be able to (stealthily) play it at school.
I love the sms, and particularly loved ebay when it was relatively a new thing. I picked up tons of european and brazillian sms games that I had no idea existed. We were absolutely robbed in North America with sms releases. The nintendo monopoly on game companies crushed any chances of sega gaining any ground here, too bad I think the overall landscape of gaming here could have been vastly different had this not existed.
I Just found your channel not to long ago been watching alot of your old video and really enjoying them as a Sega fan its really nice to see so much great content on it
Thanks for the message Julio. :)
Loved my Master System specially on arcade game ports (hence the reason I got the system) and as someone from Europe able to have many of those games even in Genesis era. I had quiet some of the titles you mentioned here.
It is always nice to see more Master System attention. Good list of games.
The SG-1000, Mark III, and Master System are underrated/unknown, especially in the states. I didn't know anyone who had one growing up and got my first one a couple years ago.
Lots of great games and memories to be had. In the current collection climate, you can get a nice size library without spending a ton.
Some of these ports are surprising. It's hard to imagine now how youd be in such straits to need the 8 bit alternatives.
Where the SMS was popular, it also tended to be quite affordable and readily available. You couldn't say that back then with every platform in every region. The 8-bit versions were the ones to own to a lot of folks.
@@SegaLordX True. When the Megadrive was released in the UK the master was packaged as a bargain bucket machine, and it's price was slashed. It was less than a third the cost of a Megadrive so sales stayed strong. There were still adverts for it into the mid 90s!
These late Master System games almost feel like they're on a different console compared to earlier games, but I for the life of me can't explain it.
Mostly quick 16-bit to 8-bit ports without much optimization
Look at Commodore 64 games from 82 to 93 :)
@@latexpain5760 This. As time goes on programmers learn to squeeze more out of the hardware, you can find elsewhere on TH-cam where someone has a programmed a reasonable level of F-Zero on the Genesis/Megadrive hardware.
th-cam.com/video/Tl3gKAobaTE/w-d-xo.html
This is years(decades?) after the game originally showed up on the SNES.
Just a different era of game design.
Some reasons might be that they were pushing the graphics harder and most of these games were 2 to 4 Mbits standard while many earlier SMS games tried to stay around 1 Mbit. Also, many of these games have western developers...I find that you can usually feel the difference although it's hard to pin point.
Australian here, although the platform did very well here you are right, the 8 bit Sonic games were no where near the 16bit versions on the megadrive. I remember playing them at friends houses and in places like target at kiosks and thinking how terrible they where :p I think I preferred Alex kid on the 8 bit system !!
One of my favorite channels. I grew as a saga kid. My 1st system was the master system.
It's amazing that the SMS had such a long life in Brazil. It makes sense, because for a long time, gaming had(/has?) been unobtainable for a large part of the population due to costs. I remember reading that year-old consoles could be two months of an average worker's salary (though I could be remembering this incorrectly). So the SMS stayed popular because it was introduced to the market and supported for a long time. There were probably SMS fans in Brazil in the early 2000's that didn't think of it as "retro gaming".
The thing with some of those games is,like you said, that we didn't played them in SMS because they were good or groundbreaking, it's because sometimes they were the only ones available to us when we couldn't afford a 16 bit and didn't had an arcade nearby or couldn't go to one for any reason (for example: Mortal Kombat). Nevertheless we have found memories from them and some are true masterpieces.
I owned 3 Master System games together with my Mega Drive and the Power Base: Golden Axe Warrior, Psycho Fox and Wonder Boy III Dragon's Curse. Sadly someone stole the Psycho Fox cartridge so I've only got the box, still a good thing it wasn't Golden Axe Warrior as that is a lot harder to get, and a heck of a lot better game in my opinion.
Great video as always!
Forgotten Worlds for the SMS is probably one of the best looking 8-bit games ever made
O crap. I thought New Zealand Story was a 16 bit game! SMS is such a powerful system for an 8bit home system
I never knew the SMS even existed until 2001 when someone mentioned it to me. I eventually downloaded an emulator and played "Phantasy Star."
I started off with a master system and still collect for it. One of my favourite consoles of all time. Wonderboy 3 best game ever
Honestly, I think the 8-bit Sonic games are all the better for not being ports of the original games.
I have never even held a master system controller in my hands before. Didn't know a single kid growing up with one.
Fun fact: the master system and mega drive (genesis) were released in Brazil very close to each other in the very beginning of 90 's , at the time because the lack of information and the fact that the master was in the market for about 1 year before the Genesis, a lot of kids went to the stores to buy their consoles completely ignored the Genesis, and the other hand, the master already had games pre installed, which caused parents to pick the 8 bit instead of the 16 brother
I saw the master system for the first time in 1993 with games such as fantansy zone,alex kid,mj moon walker and road fighter, these were hard games and they still are.
I remember seeing those games, but having had to sell my MS to get a MD, overlooked them. I did play a bit of New Zealand Story at the supermarket, I was just annoyed by its music and forgot about it. Now put side by side with other games, it does look pretty advanced. Thanks for this video.
One that I REALLY loved was Monster Boy in Monster World on Master System (1993). In fact I played this version before the Genesis one. The graphics were less complex but still had a very strong style and the music was amazing. As for fighters on low powered hardware, Killer Instinct on Game Boy was actually pretty cool. Very smooth compared to the super choppy Street Fighter II, and the music tracks from the SNES magically survived and are awesome.
Thanks for another awesome content Sega Lord X!
I never had a Master System, but I had a Game Gear and a Master System Converter. I found a ton of Master System games cheap in pawn shops. I really liked Master System Sonic 1.
Thanks for this awesome vid! So much nostalgia here.
Streets of Rage looks frickin nuts, you cross your eyes a bit and it looks just like the Genesis version
I first played Mortal Kombat on the MS2 and it was glorious, keeping in mind I was a kid with no money and poor parents it was this version or nothing, not that I had ever tried the Genisis version so I didn't feel I was missing out anyway, was very enjoyable, NES owner missed out on sooo many ports
Forgotton Worlds is my favourite port, got it for Chirstmas 1995 or 1996 at first I felt not dissaponted but due to its difficulty felt I wouldn't play it much, then I spent time learning it and it became a game I came back to every year for about 4 or 5 years multiple times when I eventually played the arcade and Mega Drive versions via emulation I couldn't get into them due to the control differences and level layouts
The weird thing about Taz-Mania is that it was a completely different game on just about every single platform it was released on. The SNES one is also completely different for example. I have no clue how that happened, but negotiations must've been fun.
Funny when you think about it. Over 3 consoles Sega nailed a different territory each time: Europe - MS, US - Genesis, Japan - Saturn. But missed big chunks of one or both of the other regions each time.
Love your vids man.. also takes me right back.
Glad I found your channel. Subscribed!!! Keep up the good work.
Lol, I talked my little sister into getting a Game Gear one Xmas. Sonic 2 came with it and that was the only game we ever got for it. I played the hell out of that game. Don't think I ever beat it though, it was hard!
Jurassic Park on Master System. JUST - PLAY - IT - !
IMHO an hidden gem.
I just learned mortal kombat was on the master system, now you blow my mind that earthworm Jim was too? 🤯
Something kinda funny just hearing about a Master System game coming out in 97. I know the system had a long life in Brazil, still seems strange.
It’s a shame you guys across the pond missed out on a lot of the later Master System games, there were some truly great titles later on. Tecmagik did some fantastic ports like New Zealand Story, Pacmania and Populous. Even US Gold managed to have a rare moment of quality with the likes of Gauntlet, Paperboy and Impossible Mission.
I always found this an interesting move on sega. Esp what Brazil did.
Sonic 2 on Game Gear is one of the hardest games I've ever played.
Right on! Thanks for posting this!
The Master System kicks so much ass.
Love this vid, thanks man. Where as many I knew had the NES, I was a Sega boy and had the master system (Australia) with blaster and 3D glasses..Just in me early teens at the time.. Besides the weak sound chip of the western consoles, I loved that thing.
love you work my friend. big fan.
seriously you should get into streaming on twitch. not many out there like you.
I also grew up in Virginia and I never saw a master system irl until it was retro. I learned about it in a magazine and i had a game gear which was pretty cool
I saw more turbograffx systems and games than I ever did master system
I saw master system and funcoland in Gaithersburg visiting my grandma in the late 90s that was it
Yeah, in the 80's it was non-existent in my world. Retail presence was literally zero, and I didn't see games at KB Toys until like 89/90.
Just another testament to how good Sega was they could make an actual fighting game that looked and played like a fighting game not too far removed from the 16-bit version that actually worked if Nintendo tried that on the NES it would be the worst thing you ever seen you would break it. But this version actually looks playable yes not as good as the other ones but if you're in another country with no other release u play the hell out of this
I love seeing these. They're all so freakin' interesting. It's crazy to see what could be accomplished with this tech in good hands, from good artists, musicians and programmers who actually cared about the SMS and had the time to work their magic. Seeing all these heroic attempts to get as close to other versions of more powerful games as possible - it's incredible that so many enjoyable experience could be crunched down successfully... even if adapting those more ambitious designs were just a bit too much for the SMS at times.
And man, that MK port is _ROUGH._ Even watching with the footage sped-up, it's still so damn choppy and slow. 8-bit fighters can be quite good in the right hands. Just had to build with the weaker hardware in mind.... but that's the thing, ain't it? Until Street Fighter 2, fighting games weren't even a genre that was cemented down yet, so of course the 8-bit systems largely missed out. Still, ya just gotta look at releases on the Game Boy and GBC to see games that show how they could've been done well on the SMS or the NES. Many of Takara's SD Game Boy fighters (Toshinden GB, for instance), Crawfish's port of Street Fighter Alpha for the GBC is a really good 8-bit fighter too, plus a few original games like Power Quest or Super Chinese Fighter EX (aka Kung-Fu Heroes or Ninja Boy). It would've been amazing to see any games of that caliber come out on the SMS back in its heyday. There's an unlicensed Korean SMS game called Jang Pung 3 that is actually super good - MUCH BETTER than that attempt at Mortal Kombat. It just makes me wish the genre had more attempts back in the day from these great studios that were working on games officially with actual development kits. Would've been nice if the genre was represented _well_ on Sega's 8-bit machine. Oh well :/
I have to say I am very happy with my Master system. it is not a bad system, it just did not have the advertisement power behind it like Nintendo put behind the NES.
We had a Sega household growing up. We had an SMS before we had an NES
I had a friend when I was younger who was the same. Sega first, always. It's how I got to play the SMS back in 86/87.
Honestly, I think the SMS Sonic games are great. IMO they’re some of the best 8 bit games... it’s just the 16 bit versions that make them seem not as good
I prefer the way the SMS ones treat the gems collecting in the stage, because the bonus stages in the Genesis/ Mega Drive give me motion sickness.
Fighting games on 8-bit hardware are a tough sell indeed, but "Masters of Combat" and "Jang Pung 3" appear to be somewhat decent.
I understand what Tectoy did when porting Mortal Kombat to Master System, but it was one of my worst deceptions as a kid. I didn't care when they told me that there was no Santa Claus. But the MK made me mad hahaha. I still live TecToy for what they did and all the efforts they put for us to have a very nice experience at this country. They deserve to be praised
Leandro Lopes Pereira
Tectoy didn't port Mortal Kombat to the Master System it was ported by Probe software. Tectoy were just the publishers for the south American release. ;-)
Only MK3 was ported by TecToy (and the only one exclusive to Brazil), based on the Game Gear version.
(and I believe you're mistaking _deception_ for _disappointment,_ it's a common false friend)
Yuzo Koshiro was involved in Namco X Capcom for the PS2 in Japan as a composer.
I honestly wonder why they bothered including a 2nd controller port on the SMS, considering how many of these ports were single player only
Try The Lucky Dime Caper starring Donald Duck and Astérix. OK, I'm an Astérix and even more an Obélix fanboy, for me Astérix is the best platformer on the machine.
Australia was like Europe and Brazil in that the Master System was far more popular than the NES. It was a glorious time to grow up
Europe and Oz were similar in that it was close, Nes sold more in Europe than Master and Master sold more in Australasia. In south america is was different and master had dominance.
8-bit fighting games - If you're talking about arcade ports, I'd agree with you that the 8-bit versions weren't much good. However there were some pretty good original 8-bit fighting games. Like Way of the Exploding Fist, International Karate, IK+ and Barbarian/Death Sword. All quite enjoyable on 8-bit computers.
Here in Brazil we have a lot of good game to play on Master System thanks to TecToy the company that bring Sega to Brazil !!
I still have my copy of Street Figther 2 on MS .
But even so that a lot of games that we miss .
A company called Warpzone are going to release a complet guild about all SM games and GG games that exist in the world .next year !!
Sonic 8 bit games were my childhood.
Great video. I really loved the Segal master system.
Look how big that building is compared to the characters on screen 4:40 lol
Ha I've been waiting for this video! x)
Growing up in europe it was a much fairer competition between the NES and the Master System probably in part to the price of the NES games and compared to the rest of the world a really poor selection of games. Although the Master System also had continued support much longer which probably helped, although some of the ports of 16-bit whie functional weren't worth playing. I do still have the copies of both Sonic Chaos and Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine I got from really late in the life and was always impressed about how much extra animated the characters were in Sonic Chaos over the first two Sonic games it was remarkably close to the 16-bit games in that respect.
Best comment, first one I've read from someone who actually must have been there. I remember being irked that nes games were on average 5-10 pounds more expensive! And yeah, the master was being sold for 45 quid well into the 90s! I have to say though, by 1990 the uk had some amazing nes games
@@Halbared I think a lot of people seem to have a lot of false memories about how things were in Europe at that time because most people had either a micro computer like the C64 or ZX Spectrum and as far as consoles went due to pricing the Master System although I will admit as I got older I thought the NES had the superior software it was just priced too high and at the time used games weren't a huge thing unless it was at a car boot sale. I only ended up owning one in about 1993 when the games were being sold used for next to nothing and my parents didn't mind the price.
@@freddiejohnson6137 wow, that would have been the time to scoop them up. By that time I'd moved onto the snes. I still own all my nes games, but I did miss out on those later amazing titles, Battletoads, Return of Joker etc.
Do a part 3, there is more :-D
brilliantly done thanks
The way you feel about the Sonic games on the MS is my general attitude towards 16-bit software being downgraded to 8-bit. But I recognize that some 8-bit versions can be unique on their own to make them worthwhile which is interesting.
Great video of interesting obscurities
Hurrah for Taz, I do not own a master system game but a Mega drive one which has been one of the very few games of my own that has been in my Collection and not in my brother's- Taz Mania has been there from day one so to speak. but I do not have a Master system so... It was not evident to me what the game was like having only seen the box art. Taz Mania is not only the one game I have had on my own the whole time, even Before I bought the machine from my brother as he wanted to buy a Playstation, no not just the longest standing game in my Collection I have also completed the game several times, I do not know if I could be as much in focus and Control due to the somewhat flimsy nature in Controls in 8-bit game- I my family we Always thought that SEGA Machine meant 16 bit while Nintendo was the 8 bit unit all the way, we also had an atari 2600 but in more recent time only controller 2 works so we have been called upon waiting for player one to loose but this was in 4th-6th grade or so...nice video
Taz Mania was the First game i ever finish by myself. I only played the Mega Drive version much later on, and i still think the SMS version is superior, in great part thanks tô its simplicity.
This video is my childhood man, new Zealand story, tazmania, forgotten worlds, streets of rage were all games i played a lot of tazmania was the first game i finished on my own. I thought the port of cool spot was pretty good for a 8 bit port not sure if you have had the chance to play it
I have always been interested in that cancelled Phantasy Star II SEGA were going to make before they switched to the Mega Drive. What I find a damn shame for the Master System is the reliance on ports instead of creating new IPs for the system. Nintendo and others created original content on the NES whereas Third Parties entirely relied on porting their games on the Master System. SEGA has shown what can be done when you release original content on the system, which as Phantasy Star, Alex Kidd and Kenseiden. The potential of the Master System feels a little wasted in this case, which is why original games such as Power Strike 1 and 2 are rarer than the more common games that were ported. :( (at least Renegade, New Zealand Story and Bubble Bobble are great ports!)
Love the Master System!
Been looking into it some and the ability the map sprites to background tiles while causing no flicker does come with a lag aspect, basically it's constantly taking two bitmaps and combining them for every frame rendered over and over again plus it's locked to the grid that is the tilemap. So SMS fighting games can make sprites of decent size but they can't move fast enough or in fine enough increments to replicate the gameplay well.
You can make better 8-bit fighting games but you got to reduce everything way down like Crawfish Interactive did in Street Fighter Alpha on GBC. It may be tiny but the animation is smoother and you can actual pull off special moves unlike SF2 or MK on SMS. Really a case where you have to prioritize the gameplay above all other matters.
Snazzy new ident!
When i was a kid, one of my friends had a NES, when i got my SMS and he came over to play with me, he immediately said my games looked better, especially arcade ports were a ton better looking.. So eventually he got rid of his NES and he converted to sega... we both have gotten every sega console they releases (except for the 'addon-consoles like 32x)... i also had the first playstation and he also got an N64, but then came dreamcast which just blew our minds :) Still can't believe that they crashed while they had the best console on the market in their hands..
did you get any of the handheld game consoles or did you prefer to avoid them?
i've had the gamegear, but since it ate batteries for breakfast I didn't play on it that much, also cuz the megadrive had waay better gfx than the gg (a portable mastersystem)
Why do you think the dreamcast was the best?
Taz Mania looks great, I'll have to check it out
Awesomeness please do more thanks
You need to do a part 3 and compare both versions of Robocop vs The Terminator. A comparison of Bonanza Brothers would be good too.
There's definitely more to cover like this.
Have you covered the Asterix games? The first and third games released on the SMS were developed by Sega of Japan and are still very good, easily comparable to Castle of Illusion or Taz-Mania. Sadly they're pretty unknown here in the U.S.
I did a video a while back that had some of the Asterix games in it. I agree, some are quite good.
All of these(except eswat) look great for an 8bit system. Streets of rage looks the best although think you were a bit harsh to it when compared to the Genesis. Anyways great stuff man!
I had to be harsh man, the gameplay is definitely a step down. Doesn't mean it bad, just different.
So the Master System was essentially the Sega NES? That's probably an obvious answer to a lot of people, but I didn't know the Master System even existed until a few years ago.
Yes, you could say that. It was Sega's direct competition for the NES from about 1986-1989. It was called the Mark III in Japan, and was an upgraded version of the SG-1000, Sega's first real console that was released in 1983.
@@SegaLordX Thank you for the clarification.
@@SegaLordX Sega were wise to make the mark 3, but then when you realise they had a hankering to release new hardware every few years, mad.
I actually liked 8bit Sonic 1 more. That's because i preferred the emeralds being hidden in the levels instead of being rewards of some of the most annoying bonus levels ever.
I still have my master system mkII with Alex the kid built in
Sega Lord X, your videos are way better than mine. But i am just as you a Sega fan for life. Here in Belgium, the Sega Master System was very popular. It was my first console, and i still have it and play it to this day. And here it was just a console next the Mega Drive, that you could chose from. It had alot off the same games as the mega drive, somethimes not as good but it had them. Sonic 1&2, Robocop vs Terminator, T2 the arcade game, MortalKombat 1&2 , castle of illusion. Streets of rage. In my opinion Sonic 1, was better than the mega drive version. But that's just taste of a gaming. And you should check Robocop vs the Terminator, and T2 The arcade game, both great games, i even try to say that T2 the arcade game of the master system is the better version. Also Alex Kidd in miracle world is a much better game than the mega drive Alex Kidd, Batman returns, and so on. The Master System has a special place in my hart. Keep up the great Sega videos and game on.
I wat to find a copy of The New Zealand Story for Genesis. This looks fun as all hell.
Nice intro!
youre channel is FUCKING AWESOME m8!! thanks.
How did Forgotten Worlds work with two buttons? All of these look great considering the hardware.
Dr. Gamelove the buttons rotated each direction. The weapons auto fired on their own.
Sega Lord X that actually sounds preferable to the separate fire button on Genesis.