Who's into the Sega Master System?

[Bottino]

The shipping will ruin any savings on the items themselves...

R-Type may be a good port, but it's a hard game and I don't find hard games very fun. Kenseiden is also quite hard, I like Castlevania better.

I understand you.When i bought my second Dreamcast, i got it on ebay.
20 hours only of use with 1 control and a game with the box and everything else.It was U$ 140,00.
I paid in the end with taxes R$ 450,00( thank you Lula).
Buying retro games is very difficult back here so i understand your point.

[Guntz]

Well, I appreciate the reference to MercadoLivre, but unfortunately some systems are easier to get into based on your location. If I was in Australia or Brazil, I'd just have to walk down to a store to get any SMS stuff I want. SMS sold extremely poorly in Canada and USA, nobody imported much either.

I might go the Master Everdrive route, but I'd need to find a lot of good reasons (games) to buy one. Shanghai and Wonder Boy 3 aren't enough.

As I said earlier, cost is only part of the problem. The other is I have too many systems to give adequate attention to.

[Zz Badnusty]

Megumi Rescue might be my favorite game for Sega 8-bit
Aicom also did a similar game on Famicom called Flying Hero, but of course without paddle controller support it isn't nearly as awesomely fun.

[Thierry Henry]

Boom, the correct setup.

Except for how weird/awkward it looks with the converter sticking out like that.

A little modding of this empty Mark III cart shell, should tidy things up nicely in that regard,

[MrSega]

The more knowledgeable Master System fans on these boards will probably fill in the majority of what you ask. : )

I'll just chip in with the following,


















You wouldn't be sacrificing anything in terms of game-play if you went the PBC route. (Personally I always prefer to have the original system all set up.)
I believe there's only one game that doesn't work with the Power Base Converter. And it's a poor game, in any case.

FYI, besides the PBC, there are other ways to play SMS games on your Genesis/MD.
This is one of them,

(not too sure whether Tototek still has stock of these)









You lose Sega Card game support, but the cart based games work great.
It even has a "pause" button as you'd find on a regular SMS.

Throw in Mark III support into the mix as well, and you have a great little converter cart.









-Fantasy Zone II
-Golden Axe Warrior
-Psycho Fox
-Castle of Illusion
-Golvellius
-Ninja Gaiden
-Alex Kidd in Miracle World
-Wonder Boy - The Dragon's Trap
-Master of Darkness

All really top games! There are many more, of course. Those are just the ones I enjoyed the most.





A Japanese Master System with that FM sound chip. And a converter to be able to play Western SMS games on it as well.

I envy people who are lucky enough to find or who have owned a PBC.

[Guntz]

Is the PBC hard to find or something? I have one, it'll be one of the last things to go if I ever exit out of SMS entirely. I plan to hang onto my Master Gear and Power Base adapters until I decide what to do... Whether to get a Everdrive or not.

[FuturePrimitive]

Except for how weird/awkward it looks with the converter sticking out like that.

A little modding of this empty Mark III cart shell, should tidy things up nicely in that regard,

The missing link! That will be some sexy plastic.

[FuturePrimitive]

Is the PBC hard to find or something? I have one, it'll be one of the last things to go if I ever exit out of SMS entirely. I plan to hang onto my Master Gear and Power Base adapters until I decide what to do... Whether to get a Everdrive or not.

Hard to find for me! Haha.

[Thierry Henry]

Is the PBC hard to find or something? I have one, it'll be one of the last things to go if I ever exit out of SMS entirely.

A little uncommon, yeah, but not in the rare category.
I believe though MrSega is trying to make a point that converters are fugly looking, and that it's almost a blessing to own a PBC, rather than some alternative.

[NeoZeedeater]

Most US SMS games are terrible.

I've played the following:

Alex Kidd in Miracle World
Alex Kidd the Lost Stars
Aztec Adventure
Vigilante
Pro Wrestling
After Burner
Cloud Master
Galaxy Force
Ghouls 'n Ghosts
Ys: The Vanished Omens
Miracle Warriors
Shinobi
Penguin Land
Black Belt
Golvellius: Valley of Doom
Hang On / Safari Hunt
Kenseiden
Double Dragon
R-Type
Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap
Shanghai
Monopoly

The only games I actually enjoyed were Shinobi, Wonder Boy III, Shanghai, Ghouls 'n Ghosts and Double Dragon. The rest ranged from average to bad. Everyone likes Alex Kidd in Miracle World, but it's one of the Master System's worst games to me. Terribly bland, awful main character, bad game design and the slippery physics make it unnecessarily hard. My overall favorite SMS game is Shanghai. It's fun, but it's not very encouraging when the action games aren't as fun.

I also had some of the lightgun games, but my Phaser was broken so I never got to play them... Not that I ever really liked lightgun games either.

If that's all you haved played, that's less than a quarter of the NA releases. I don't know if it would be fair to use the word "most" in that context.

That being said, while there are some games that are typically considered disappointing in there (like Aztec Adventure, Galaxy Force, Pro Wrestling, and Lost Stars), there are also highly praised ones (like Penguin Land and Kenseiden) so I don't know how much you would like the rest of the library.

If you don't really like hard games, that narrows down 1980s gaming a lot, especially the shooter genre. The SMS has a lot of good ones in that area. R-Type/Kenseiden-level difficulty was pretty much the norm back then for console games (Western computer games tended to be even more difficult).

I think SMS gun games tend to hold up better than anything else in that genre from the classic eras but if you don't like those kind of games, I guess that's not going to be a plus.

It might not be the system for you but I would recommend checking out some of the not-as-difficult '90s releases on emulator like the Mickey, Asterix and Sonic games, Alex Kidd in Shinobi World (it's more like Shinobi than Alex Kidd), Bubble Bobble, Ninja Gaiden, etc.. That's always the quickest (and cheapest way) to see if you want to invest money into old systems.

Anyway, I think it's cool that you like some games on the system. Most gamers your age probably wouldn't even touch it. And I think there's a lot the SMS has to offer for Genesis/Mega Drive fans given the overlap of development and franchises from Sega back when they were a top tier game maker.

[Bottino]

If that's all you haved played, that's less than a quarter of the NA releases. I don't know if it would be fair to use the word "most" in that context.

That being said, while there are some games that are typically considered disappointing in there (like Aztec Adventure, Galaxy Force, Pro Wrestling, and Lost Stars), there are also highly praised ones (like Penguin Land and Kenseiden) so I don't know how much you would like the rest of the library.

If you don't really like hard games, that narrows down 1980s gaming a lot, especially the shooter genre. The SMS has a lot of good ones in that area. R-Type/Kenseiden-level difficulty was pretty much the norm back then for console games (Western computer games tended to be even more difficult).

I think SMS gun games tend to hold up better than anything else in that genre from the classic eras but if you don't like those kind of games, I guess that's not going to be a plus.

It might not be the system for you but I would recommend checking out some of the not-as-difficult '90s releases on emulator like the Mickey, Asterix and Sonic games, Alex Kidd in Shinobi World (it's more like Shinobi than Alex Kidd), Bubble Bobble, Ninja Gaiden, etc.. That's always the quickest (and cheapest way) to see if you want to invest money into old systems.

Anyway, I think it's cool that you like some games on the system. Most gamers your age probably wouldn't even touch it. And I think there's a lot the SMS has to offer for Genesis/Mega Drive fans given the overlap of development and franchises from Sega back when they were a top tier game maker.

Now there's a perfect analysis.
Rep'd.

[Greg2600]

http://segaretro.org/FM_Sound_Unit

This is the full SMS FM Sound list, split by Japanese only games (40 including 4 3-D) and non-Japan (18 including 2 3-D) games that have it.

[sheath]

I've been wanting to get into the Sega Master System. I'm not completely familiar with it, so I'd like to find out where to start.

Will I miss anything if I get the Power Base Converter? Or should I go for an actual console? What would you guys recommend as starter Master System games? Anyone have a good condition Power Base Converter for sale?

How do you like your Master System? What's your preferred setup? What are your top games? Are there some helpful resource sites and forums for the Master System? I simply want to start a discussion about it, since I don't see any current threads.

I'm also a little sad that there isn't a Master System icon!

I prefer an early Master System with the snail game built in. Besides the fact that it was my first personally purchased console, there is just something danged solid about it. It is also easy to install the FM module built by viletim at SMSpower on this model should you choose to later. As for games, off the cuff I'd recommend both Zillions, Space Harrier, Enduro Racer, R-Type, Rampage, Paperboy, Galaxy Force, Outrun, Golvellius Valley of Doom, Shinobi, Shadow Dancer and King's Quest. Well, actually, I'd recommend a lot more games before things were done, but some of that is on the word of other gamers.

[Thierry Henry]

I've been wanting to get into the Sega Master System. I'm not completely familiar with it, so I'd like to find out where to start.

More or less you've now been told where to start.

This is how you could round things off. If you're going for the "full" SMS experience, might as well go all in.

[Azathoth]

I also had some of the lightgun games, but my Phaser was broken so I never got to play them... Not that I ever really liked lightgun games either.

I found the SMS to be the best pre-PS1 console for lightgun games. That might not be a big deal to most people, but I really enjoy them and the number of available titles (13) far outweighs the amount released on the NES, SNES, or MD and most are US releases. Gangster Town, Rescue Mission, Wanted, & Missile Defence 3D are pretty cool. Shooting Gallery and even Safari Hunt are colorful and fun if simplistic. Rambo III I never could get into, it seemed pretty tough.

I have never tried the UK released ones (Space Gun, Laser Ghost, Assault City, & Operation Wolf), but I'm looking forward to trying out Operation Wolf since I played it so much in the arcades.