Any other Master System fans?

[Senshi]

I consider the SMS the most underrated console in history (for North America anyway). There are other quality systems that are more obscure but not really one with the same combination of being completely overshadowed by its competition and having plenty of awesome games across most genres.

THIS

It has a lot of great affordable games, especially from the PAL region. Ninja Gaiden being one of my favorites.

[slobu]

I got a Master System before the NES. The SMS games just looked better. They sounded better. The boxes were bland as hell unless it was an Activision title.
Sadly, most other kids had an NES and the games kept getting better and better for Nintendo. I can't wait for the Retrode guy to finish his SMS adapter so i can dump my old games!

[Bear78]

So I have the Tototek converter and it has a port for Mark III games... my question is, are there any Mark III games worth tracking down?

[j_factor]

I've heard an excuse like that one before, for the NGPC -- those Europe-only games aren't really Europe-only, you see, because some web stores sold them!

No, in both cases, the answer is simple and the same. Yes, they are different regions, and no, European releases certainly do not count as American ones. Just because some people are importing the game, or because some store (via a magazine ore website) will sell you an import, CERTAINLY does not mean that the game was actually released in that region.

They are not different regions, with regards to the SMS. I didn't say they "count as American releases". I consider them all EU/NA releases.

Like I said, my dad bought Ultima IV in 1990 or 1991. In California. From a brick & mortar store. The store did not call it an import. He bought it because he liked role-playing games. Realistically he had no way of knowing it wasn't a "US release". So, what difference does it make?

The two things are entirely different. In both cases it's easy enough to see the difference between releases, of course. Only US NGPC games have ESRB ratings, and only EU SMS games have five languages on the back of the box.

Not true. Some US SMS games have the same languages on the box as the EU games. Even the ones that don't, though, that doesn't make them a separate region. That's just a packaging variant. No different from "Canadian versions" of games on modern systems with English and French on the packaging. Canada isn't a separate region for the Wii even if there may be differences in packaging and availability.

The same applies for, say, Shenmue 2 for the Dreamcast. Just because EB sold European versions in the game (along with the disc you'd need to play imports) in US stores doesn't mean the game had a North American release!

That's not the same. There's a different region code.

[ApolloBoy]

So I have the Tototek converter and it has a port for Mark III games... my question is, are there any Mark III games worth tracking down?

There's not much in the way of Japanese exclusives, but there are neat games like Galactic Protector and Alex Kidd BMX Trial which make use of the Paddle Controller, which was only released in Japan. Unfortunately the Genesis/MD hardware is incompatible with SG-1000 games so that rules that entire library out. It's a shame considering the SG-1000 is fairly underrated and has some neat titles. If you want to play those you'll have to get a Master Everdrive or get an actual SG-1000 or compatible system like the Mark III or DINA 2-in-1.

[Kamahl]

I got a Master System before the NES. The SMS games [...] sounded better.

Unless you spent all your time playing:
The Flash
Global Gladiators
Alien 3

[TmEE]

when I first played SMS I immediately noticed how bass free and uninteresting the music was compared to NES...
I wish for a machine with SMS GFX (and CPU) and NES sound (and some video features like uncached vertical scroll register)

[Thenewguy]

When I first played NES I thought it was broken, because the sound chip kept humming and buzzing, the moving characters kept flashing on and off, garbage kept appearing at the side of the screen, and half the time my neighbour turned the system on the game didn't load until like the 3rd attempt. I actually spent years thinking it was broken, but still "kinda'" worked LOL.

Of course that has nothing to do with the SMS, and more to do with the fact that I owned C64.

After a few years, when I'd played all three quite a bit I actually revised my thoughts on sprite flicker, and decided that the flicker was caused by cartridges degrading over time , I realised that the NES just sounded like that, and grew to love the sound (I was a big Mega Man player), but I always felt that my C64 sounded a lot better. Like everyone else I knew I felt that the SMS sound was just different, not inferior per se, though in my case It was admitedly still my least favourite of the three, I was just glad they all could make a tune, unlike my family's Atari 2600, and the Spectrum which I'd always felt sounded harsh.

[tz101]

I was just glad they all could make a tune, unlike my family's Atari 2600, and the Spectrum which I'd always felt sounded harsh.

Did you ever play Pitfall II on 2600?

[Kamahl]

Did you ever play Pitfall II on 2600?

That has an addon chip .

[Thenewguy]

Did you ever play Pitfall II on 2600?

No, 2600 had pretty much lost favour in the UK by 1984, and the Spectrum was at its height, the games I was playing on 2600 were essentially family hand-me downs from the 1982-1983 period.

[sheath]

When I first got my Master System I noticed how high pitched the music was in Wonderboy and Action Fighter, but then I got Zillion, Quartet, Golvellius Valley of Doom and Space Harrier and just figured the first two games had bad compositions.

It was actually not until the SMS versus NES soundchip thread that somebody finally pointed out to me the PSG's limitation with the lower scale (without creative use of the noise channel that is).

[NeoZeedeater]

Hardware capabilities aside, the SMS had some of the best tunes in the '80s from a composition standpoint thanks to people like Tokuhiko Uwabo, Hiroshi Miyauchi, Masatomo Miyamoto, Shinichi Sakamoto, etc.. I never really had an issue with SMS audio compared to the NES aside from select games with annoying music like Snail Maze, Action Fighter, and Safari Hunt. I only had an issue vs. the C64 as all the C64 games ported to SMS were worse for sound. In retrospect it would have been nice to have seen Sega release the FM expansion in the West or to have had special sound chips in their '90s games but, like Thenewguy said before, it wasn't a priority and people weren't really complaining about SMS sound back then.

My very favourite tunes back then were from C64 composers: Daglish/Lees/Gray's Last Ninja series stuff, Richard Joseph's Barbarian soundtrack, Neil Brennan's Fist II, etc.. Those are all British except for the last one which is Australian.

[TheSonicRetard]

what? I love the Snail Maze song, it gets stuck in my head for hours on end. It's playing in my head right now, in fact.

[Azathoth]

So I have the Tototek converter and it has a port for Mark III games... my question is, are there any Mark III games worth tracking down?

The Japanese version of Enduro Racer has twice the amount of tracks as the US version, if you cared for it. I also much prefer the original version of Hokuto no Ken over Black Belt. Although neither is a blockbuster hit, both are great games I really enjoy and the differences are so great I have no problem double dipping.