Sega-16 Expands Coverage to 8-bit Machines!

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Originally Posted by Gentlegamer

And those are home video game consoles?

I'm speaking of USA, and specifically of the home video game console market. And while you may have had magazine articles talking about "bits," we had giant marketing campaigns in print and TV during the Genesis generation hyping "bits" with all the madness I recounted above. It was only in light of this marketing that game press used "8-bit" to refer to things like NES and SMS, in contrast to the more powerful (then) current "16-bit" generation.
[...] The "8-bit" label in USA was a "retcon" based on the "bits" marketing in the Genesis generation.

Unfortunately, there's really not a better way to label the pre-Genesis systems and derivatives, so the whole discussion is academic.

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Look, all I'm saying is, that the term 8bit was already referring to the concurrent computers and consoles during that era. Could be that the term 8bit only entered mainstream consciousness due to later marketing campaigns. At least in Germany, when the Master System was introduced in 1986 around here, the gaming press already said things like "The technical stats are convincing. The Master System doesn't need to hide from 8bit home computers (C64, CPC, Atari XL/XE, Spectrum) - on the contrary". It's CPU, the Zilog Z80, was generally described as an 8bit processor, even back then. Hence, I'd say it's totally legit to call these early Sega consoles 8bit consoles, and I'd also say they were considered 8bit machines even before the Genesis hit the scene.

If you think all this is just circumstancial and should be discounted... so be it. I don't want to argue.

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Originally Posted by Gentlegamer

The Master System wasn't even called the Master System at first, it was just the Sega System. After the advent of the Genesis, Sega chose to adopt the name of a particular bundle for the Sega System to refer to the previous system for the sake of clarity.

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Well, I read that a lot recently but it's wrong. If you check the old TV ads they call it the Master System even before the Genesis was released.

The Master System got its name for its US release. It was Bob Harris who named it. It was called the Master System from the very beginning.

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Originally Posted by Phantar

Even better, check out this Macintosh ad already talking about their 32-bit processor "far more powerful than the 16bit 8088 found in current generation computers"... in 1984!

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Well, if we're going to be pedantic, the 68000 was among the last 16-bit processors to arrive on the scene and it was designed to be forward compatible with upcoming 32-bit processors. All of its internal registers were 32-bits wide and it did have a 24-bit hardware address bus (though it supported 32-bit addresses). However, its data bus was only 16-bits wide. Still, it was fully capable of running 32-bit code.

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Originally Posted by Melf

The Master System got its name for its US release. It was Bob Harris who named it. It was called the Master System from the very beginning

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Sega/Tonka obscured the Master System name in its early packaging and marketing.

http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/y...egaMaster1.jpg

http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/y...0/fe8c3b1b.jpg

http://alexkidd.com/images/segascope_box_front.jpg

Shows Master System labeled box, but voice over refers to "The Sega System" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6x3iNB0ddo

"The Sega System" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxZosRO7nO8

Compilation of TV ads, several of which refer only to "The Sega System" (and also Aussie ads mispronouncing Sega as See-ga :D ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcOZpDCKK3w

AWESOME can't wait to read more SMS stuff.

Yeah, they were all over the place with how they referred to it in their advertising, but the name "Master System" had already been chosen (along with the white grid design and clamshell cases) before the console was even released in the U.S.

I posted this elsewhere but it really belongs here:

An interesting question for the site will be how we handle reviews of SMS games that support the FM add-on (which was eventually stock on the Japanese SMS). Do we grade the music/SFX based on the stock sound, or on the FM sound?

There are 20+ games that weren't released in Japan that support FM sound, so literally no one at home could've heard the FM soundtracks BITD. Now we have that option, but outside of emulation only a handful of enthusiasts have installed the aftermarket FM (I still haven't installed my chip :o).

This all might seem like a minor issue, but presentation can sway a game's score by 1-2 points (sometimes more -- plenty of shallow games get high marks for being slick). At least for me, the music is a big part of many games.

The FM is often (not always) a big upgrade, yet it also seems strange to reward a game for content we couldn't have experienced when the game was on the market.

Well, IMO, the reviewer should at least try it with FM on an emulator and give us a line or two about how much it does/does not improve the sound effects and music.

I remember when Melf said that the reviews also serve as a guide for people on collecting, so I think we must cover that option since now you do have a couple options to play it with FM support on real hardware: import a Japanese SMS or a Mark III with FM from ebay (it's expensive but still much easier than in the past), NEO Myth MD 3in1 flash cart, SMSFM 2.0 board from Viletim or the New Power Base Converter with FM chip YM2413 built-in.

About the score, IDK. I keep defending the idea that we should drop the score system entirely for all reviews and not having to worry about what you said would be just one more of its positive effects.

I think we should use the stock sound, since that's what the overwhelming majority of people will have. I agree with Barone that those games that do have the FM enhancement should have it mentioned in their reviews, though.

I've been flipping the FM on and off in Fusion to test the difference in some games, and while the music often sounds great, the FM sound effects have that "robot fart" sound that a lot of people don't care for. I plan on getting the Power Base FM, but I think there will be several games where I'll prefer the stock sound.

Fusion's emulation of the YM2413 isn't exactly the best; Regen does it better and MEKA used to be the best Master System emulator around ( don't if it's been updated though ).

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Originally Posted by Barone

About the score, IDK. I keep defending the idea that we should drop the score system entirely for all reviews and not having to worry about what you said would be just one more of its positive effects.

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I disagree. The idea of backing up the score you'd give a game is an asset to the review, not a hindrance to it. That's part of why I keep defending the idea of retaining the scores, as it helps keep the reviewer focused on backing up their personal opinions of the game, while pushing them to look at it more critically. Give it a 4? Why? Give it an 8? Why?

That, and I still think there's a good-sized group of people who come here and only read the summation paragraph and the number, as that's all they care about. No sense losing that site traffic.

I'm just glad we finally got Scotty Pipin's ugly mug off the front page.

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Originally Posted by old man

I'm just glad we finally got Scotty Pipin's ugly mug off the front page.

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Hey, be nice to Scottie. He was in The Beatles, after all.

(More seriously: whoa, what a trip that the 32X doesn't need to be on the front page anymore, because it's been 100% reviewed. Well, except for Surgical Strike 32X, but...)