Console Review: Sega Master System

Console: Master System
By: Sega
Release Date: September 1987 (Europe)

With just one game to go before I've reviewed every Master System game I own, I thought it was time to take a look at the console on which I've been playing. Introduced 9 months after the NES it was technically superior but failed to gain a significant market share in Japan or North America. With 318 games released for the system (the NES had 709) there was a fairly wide range of choice with both game cards and cartridges available for some games.

The NES sold more than five times more units than the Master System despite its technical edge. Part of the reason for this was the NES reaching Japanese, North American and European markets first but also the game lineup for the NES was strong and due to legal agreements third party titles were exclusive to Nintendo for at least 2 years. Using Alex Kidd as the main mascot for Sega at the time, it was difficult to compete against Mario and although Sonic games were released for the Master System once the Mega Drive game was out, they were technically inferior to the earlier versions on Sega's new console.

Alex Kidd in Miracle World, for Master System

Sega published a lot of games for the Master System, including arcade ports and later on in the console's lifespan backports of games, or versions of games which were on Mega Drive. Among the games released for the console were Yu Suzuki's arcade hits; Space Harrier, Outrun, Afterburner and Hang-On. Some of them were better replications than others but being able to have the experience of the arcade games in your home was a somewhat new thing at the time. 

A fair few ports from less graphically able consoles also came to Master System; things that had been on the Commodore 64 or the ZX Spectrum that were being ported. Although popular in the times before, these sort of games seem like nothing when compared to Metroid, Super Mario Bros. and other titles released for the NES. Although the NES also had its fair share of bad games, the good games it did have were licensed to be exclusively for their system.

Just like the NES, there's a lot of great games to be found for the Master System if you can be bothered to wade through some of the worse games. A lot of the ports from other systems and backports to the Master System failed because they didn't take advantage of its processing or graphical power in the correct ways, and we inferior versions of other titles. Games that were produced specifically for Master System, however seem to be the best kind. 

From the games I've reviewed for the console so far, this is my top 10.

1	Sonic the Hedgehog
2	Fantasy Zone
3	Sonic the Hedgehog 2
4	Shinobi
5	Space Harrier
5	Fantasy Zone II
7	After Burner
8	G-LOC
9	Outrun
10	Strider II

These are the games that I'd say take best advantage of the Master System's abilities and are the most fun to play. Interestingly, save for one game they were all a product of Sega's development teams. Somewhat unsurprising that they were the company who knew best how to develop for their console though. 

Graphically and in terms of processing, the Master System was ahead of the NES and it shows more in some games than others. Comparing the SMS version of Sonic the Hedgehog to Super Mario Bros will give some indication of the difference, but playing games like Ms. Pac Man and Super Tennis, you may as well have been on an Atari 2600 really. Soundwise, a lot of the games seem to perform poorly and this is one area where I'd say the NES did slightly better. 

The Master System controller itself features 2 buttons and an 8 way directional pad. The d-pad feels nice and is easy to use, and the 2 button setup is similar to the NES, but without a start or select button there's no way to pause games without getting up and hitting a button on the console itself. Also in some games you're asked to press both buttons at once to function like a 3rd button, due to the lack of buttons. Its only a small complaint, but sometimes it'd have been nice to have more than just the 2 buttons on the controller. 

Unlike the NES, Master System games came in cases which could hold the game and so there's many more boxed games around nowadays whereas a lot of NES games have long since had their cardboard packaging thrown away. This is a trend that continued with the Mega Drive and Saturn when compared to the SNES and N64 and as a result I have many boxed Sega games compared to my one Nintendo game from those systems.

Master System Games I'd like to aquire;

Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Alien Syndrome, Golden Axe Warrior, Populous, R-Type, Sonic Chaos, and Wonderboy.

Overall the Master System was a console with strong potential, some of which was realised. With a fair lineup of games worth playing and some solid arcade conversions it held promise, and competed with the NES for a sign of things to come with its successor. I wouldn't reccomend buying one today, purely based on the fact that the worst games are least expensive for the system, and their relative rarity puts them at a high-ish price point. Worth a play if you can get a go on someone else's they hark back to a simpler time of gaming but also point to the future.