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What was your first experience with a Sega Master System?
Post Posted: Sat May 14, 2016 2:47 pm
Hi forum, When I was a kid I've got a friend (one you play 2 or 3 times and never play anymore) that time I was only aware of 3 consoles Sega Genesis, Atari 5200 and the unmentionable one (please don't say its name in this thread), he had a console we played I think 2 times 2 games Wonderboy ( I did't know the name that time) and a colourful game I don't remember maybe Fantasy Zone, the thing is that I thought the console was an Atari or the unmentionable one .

One time I was playing those cartridges 100-1 with one friend, I selected Adventure Island and told him was not him blonde? and I thought maybe I was wrong and he was not blonde.

I wasnt until '99 that I found a games store and I finally was aware of the existence of the SMS for the first time, in that store there was only one game left "Kenseiden" and figure out that the game wasnt a Genesis game and It coulnt fit my Genesis and I've got surprised no picture in the cartridge.

I envy you in Europe playing those games when they were the latest in technology, if I had played Outrun, Shinobi, Zillion, Zillion II, Space Harrier, Golden Axe Warrior, Wonderboy 3 or anothers I will be amazed for sure, the thing is the past is behind and there are no 8-bit consoles in the world that I like more than the SMS & GG as today.
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Post Posted: Sat May 14, 2016 9:56 pm
Mmm... ok. I wasn't a kid anymore in 1992, and my parents bought my (much) younger brother his first videogame console, a SEGA Master System II, because he wanted it so badly.
I remember at the time we especially enjoied "Operation Wolf", we would hide behind the sofa, pretending we were hiding from enemies, and taking turn shooting at our TV. Lots of fun, I remember it fondly.
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Post Posted: Sat May 14, 2016 10:58 pm
I had enjoyed playing Atari 2600 at my friends house, and then got an Acorn Electron (British computer ... cheap version of the BBC), then I got a Spectrum 48K ... which many of my friends had. It was great, because you could just tape the games off to each other if you had a dual tape recorder.

Then, for Christmas 1989 my parents got an SMS for my sister ... Hang On / Safari Hunt built in, but best of all, they also got another game ... Wonderboy III ... the guy in the shop had recommended it ... he knew his stuff :)

I still remember that Christmas day, whilst we played Wonder Boy III, and getting mocked for not being able to work out how to enter the doors (push up ... but that wasn't immediately obvious to a Spectrum player). My sister soon got bored with it, so I essentially commandeered it. But it was still hers. I had several paper rounds at the time, and a decent amount of money in my pocket ... so for her birthday the following year I bought her Alex Kidd in Shinobi World. The first console game I bought with my own money. It wasn't really for her, it was really for me to play! I sneaked a play on it before giving it to her on her birthday. I must admit, as much as I enjoyed it, I remember thinking that it was way too short and way to easy, nothing like Wonder Boy III!

Edit: I should really also emphasize how amazing Wonder Boy III was in 1989 compared to 8-bit computers ... it was an amazing game which had me hooked for ages, I could never look back to 8-bit computers after that.
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Post Posted: Sun May 15, 2016 7:12 am
It was in 1987 when my mom and dad bought me a Master System as a Christmas present instead of the Atari 2600 that was actually on my wishlist. To this day I can't thank them enough for that.

The pack-in game was Hang-On and me and my friends were blown away by the quality of the graphics, especially since they only had the likes of Super Cycle to play on their C64s, and while that's actually quite a good game it looked downright poor in comparison.

The downside was that my friends had access to a huge number of (pirated) games, while I had to save my pocket money for quite some time before I could get any new stuff.
I had some good luck picking my next purchases, though. I bought Astro Warrior / Pit Pot next, then Alex Kidd in Miracle World and after that Wonderboy in Monsterland.

Now, almost 30 years later, my Master System is still the very same console from back then, even though it has been modded to run at 60Hz and an FM expansion has been built in in the meantime.
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Post Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 3:12 pm
Last edited by FeRcHuLeS on Mon May 16, 2016 7:04 pm; edited 1 time in total
Nice stories guys!! all of them, It's sad the advertising campaign of sega in Southamerica (EDIT: I meant whole America but Brazil) so find a Master System was very rare but my fidelty to sega began in the arcades.

I remember my first experience with a Sega arcade game was Altered Beast my older friends brought me to the arcades I was 4 years old I think, besides there were Shinobi, Golden Axe, Out run, Rad Mobile, World cup Italia '90 and those none sega the original Combat School, TMNT, POW, and one game that I'll never forget in the begining of this game the kings were turned into stone or metal maybe, It had overhead perspective and was multiplayer I played lots of games in Mame but I never find it, If anyone knows the name of this game please tell me :(
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Post Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 5:37 pm
FeRcHuLeS how did the game play?was it a shooter,rpg.
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Post Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 7:08 pm
That game was kind of medieval vertical side scrolling with elements of shot'em ups and action-rpg.
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Post Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 1:16 pm
I've never played a Master System in my life (I can hear all the gasps from the members here) but since the Game Gear's hardware is almost identical, I guess I'll tell about my experience with that instead. Besides, then we don't have to start a thread like this just for the Game Gear. In one of the old Sonic comics, there was an ad for MooTown snacks with Sonic 3D Blast. There were giveaways for stuff like A sonic watch, Sonic CD, And Sonic Blast. It showed a picture of a Genesis, Game gear, and Saturn. At the time, I thought the Saturn was the handheld and the Game Gear was the 32-bit home console. Eventually, I learned what they really were. Anyways, I found a flea market that had TONS OF OLD STUFF. One guy there had 3 Game Gears. I was almost 13 at the time, and having played some Sonic Game Gear games on Sonic Adventure DX, I knew I had to buy it. I went back a week later and got it for $45. The screen has minor scratches, but otherwise is fine. It included the Power Back (doesn't work right) and a case and Sonic 2. I never played it much though, and lost interest once I started testing Operating Systems on this computer (over 50 installed on physical hardware). My real experience started when I found Sonic Chaos at the same flea market a month ago. I played the game almost all the way through (died on the last level because I didn't know there were hidden rings) and loved it! It was really fun although quite easy. I already had 6 Game Gear games before this one. I started buying all the Sonic games for the Game Gear since then. As the thread "Suggestions for Game Gear games" says, I'm looking to find other games as well. My other goal is to buy the Master System converter, and by the end of the year, buy a real Master System!
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Post Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 1:54 pm
My parents hired one from video store. I loved Wonderboy in Monsterland at arcades so got that plus Wonderboy III and was hooked.

Wonderboy III in particular blew me away, was far beyond any NES game I had played. I ended up getting the system for Christmas with Wonderboy III and Phantasy Star. Best Christmas ever!
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Post Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 2:22 pm
I lived in the former GDR, so there were no "real" consoles until Germany was reunited. So my journey starts in 1991, I think.
My parents also used to hire the system first (SMS1) and some months later bought a SMS2 for us, because renting got too expensive, since we had one for every other weekend :D
Later our video store went bankrupt, so we could buy some of their games (definitely Astérix was among them).
The SMS was my our only console for many years and especially the platforming games grew on me. Even today I think, the Master System has the best platformers and Astérix might be one of the best games of all time. Might be the reason why I want to build a platformer for SMS, because for me those two belong together.
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Post Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 2:49 pm
As a kid"I'm 40 now so it was a long time ago"I played shinobi in the arcade and loved the game.Seen the master system and shinobi at sears Canada and drooled over it,got a master system and shinobi that year for Christmas.I still want to reverse engineer shinobi for master system when time permits.
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Post Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 4:51 pm
As a young kid, I loved the 2600 and going to arcades, so I was already familiar with Sega arcade games. In the years following the U.S. game industry crash, I mostly played games on my older brother's Apple IIe. So I was amazed by the next wave of consoles circa '86-87. Without having played any of the three on the market in '87 (SMS, Atari 7800 and that other one), I spent weeks gazing intently at the pages featuring each of them in the Sears and J.C. Penny catalogs, trying to decide which to ask for for Christmas. These typically consisted of a half-page or full-page spread showing a single screenshot and a terse description of each game.

Although I still loved Atari, I remember a deciding factor for me was the fact that SMS games featured the identical font seen in many real arcade games. This was amazing to me. For some reason (purely an art direction decision, I assume), 7800 developers opted not to use this font. Go figure, I was a weird geeky kid who was already tuned into typography. That, plus the fact that 7800 games clearly didn't have as nice graphics as the other two consoles, eliminated the 7800 from contention for me.

What tipped me over to the SMS side rather than that other 8-bit console was my love of the current crop of Sega arcade games... Out Run, Shinobi, After Burner, Alien Syndrome... these games weren't yet available on the Master System in my neck of the woods in '87, but I was savvy enough to reckon that they'd be on their way soon. Hang-On was available, and I was a big fan of that arcade game, too. I was also fascinated with the Light Phaser... it baffled me that it could somehow "see" what was on screen. So that Christmas, thanks to Santa and my indulgent parents, I ended up getting the Master System with Hang-On/Safari Hunt, plus The Ninja and Ghostbusters. My brother and I also got two kittens that Christmas, so yeah... best Christmas of all time. As I recall I took a couple of blurry photo portraits of our kittens with my Master System games.
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Post Posted: Wed May 18, 2016 3:06 am
Game Gear wrote
My other goal is to buy the Master System converter, and by the end of the year, buy a real Master System!


Me too, I wonder if there are still brand new SMS2s in Brazil since my sister can get me one.

@psidum I like Wonderboy III, Phantasy Star a lot too, actually the latter is the game that linked me to the Sega Master System forever :).

badsector wrote
the Master System has the best platformers and Astérix might be one of the best games of all time. Might be the reason why I want to build a platformer for SMS, because for me those two belong together.


You conviced me to play Asterix I'll give it a try.!!

OmegaPrime wrote
got a master system and shinobi that year for Christmas.I still want to reverse engineer shinobi for master system when time permits.


If you someday made a Shinobi hack I would love one that mask him you know a ninja can't walk around without a mask, and do you have any clue on the arcade game I'm looking for??

Centrale wrote
What tipped me over to the SMS side rather than that other 8-bit console was my love of the current crop of Sega arcade games... Out Run, Shinobi, After Burner, Alien Syndrome... these games weren't yet available on the Master System in my neck of the woods in '87, but I was savvy enough to reckon that they'd be on their way soon. Hang-On was available, and I was a big fan of that arcade game, too. I was also fascinated with the Light Phaser... it baffled me that it could somehow "see" what was on screen. So that Christmas, thanks to Santa and my indulgent parents, I ended up getting the Master System with Hang-On/Safari Hunt, plus The Ninja and Ghostbusters. My brother and I also got two kittens that Christmas, so yeah... best Christmas of all time. As I recall I took a couple of blurry photo portraits of our kittens with my Master System games.


You made the right decision choosing the Master System and were the wise enough to descifrate the future releases, talking about cats I like cats too, I think these beloved pets don't have a proper game character in the game industry, I hope people making homebrew games use a cool cat to be the main character. I have to add to the cats topic Aren't Sonic's eyes a combination of a cat and a hawk eyes? Have anyone figure it out like this before?
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Post Posted: Wed May 18, 2016 2:15 pm
I had an Atari2600 (me and my brother loved playing it)
Then we saw Double Dragon in the arcades, and as kids who loved 80's actions movies, that was the best game ever for us, and two players at once, even better.

Fast forward some time, and my brother came home from school telling the tale of this new machine, this magic box that could play Double Dragon at home. We started to bug our parents like hell. And about a week or two later, my father came home from work with a big white box, it was a SMS with Blade Eagle 3D and Double Dragon.

So, Double Dragon was the very first game i played on the SMS. And it's still one of my favorites to this day.
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Post Posted: Thu May 19, 2016 12:37 am
I'm not sure what game that is FeRcHuLeS,if you remember anything else about it do mention it.
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Post Posted: Sat May 21, 2016 4:41 am
tibone wrote
Double Dragon was the very first game i played on the SMS. And it's still one of my favorites to this day.


Double Dragon is one of my favourite games of all times too, I played it in Sega Genesis several years after its release and thanks to hackers the enemies speed is now fixed (they were too fast just look in romhacking.net for it) =)

OmegaPrime wrote
I'm not sure what game that is FeRcHuLeS,if you remember anything else about it do mention it.


-I remember at the begining of the game people were turned into stone/metal (the king and his family maybe)

-It had overhead perspective vertical-side scrolling and was multiplayer up to 2 players or maybe 3

-It was kind of medieval with swords and spells with elements of action-rpg.

The game was quite popular I never played it but enjoyed watching people playing, the game has to be the same years as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Shinobi, Combat School, Golden Axe, Turbo Outrun, POW.That's all, I dont remember anymore.
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Post Posted: Sat May 21, 2016 7:10 am
Could the game be Dark Seal? I don't remember anything about royals turning into stone, but I also mostly watched other people play it...
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Post Posted: Mon May 23, 2016 3:48 pm
I think Dark Seal/ Gate of Doom is the game I was talking about, finally I found it after 16 years looking for it on the web, thanks hang-on!!!! :) :)
Just look at these pictures:
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Post Posted: Mon May 23, 2016 8:20 pm
:) You are welcome! Up until last year, me and a friend had been searching for that same game from the arcades of our childhood. We did not remember the name, but we both remembered something about a bard-like character with a trident, spells, rpg-elements and an overhead perspective. Then one day I sudddenly visualized the title screen (it was almost a kind of nerdy, retro gaming/spiritual vision :) and I saw the word 'Seal', and then I remembered how I used to think that Dark Seal was a very bad name for an action-rpg (I thought it was 'Seal' as in the maritime creature, similar to a sea lion, haha..)

Anyway, my first experience with the Sega Master System: I think I got it the summer it first launched in Denmark. To this day, it is still a mystery exactly how I got interested in the SMS. My friends had mostly C64's. I bought the SMS for my humble savings, and I think my parents somehow helped me out by contributing some funding. My dad, who was scared that I would drag myself into an unhealthy computer-geek lifestyle, thought that a console was better for me than a home computer. "He can't program that machine, so soon he will get bored with it" - was his reasoning. It turned out he was double wrong: NO - I did not get bored with the SMS, and YES - I can actually program it :)

Hang-on was my first game. It was built into the console - and so was the hidden maze game starring a snail that I, decades later, would come to know as Swabby. I never had another console. I loved my SMS for years and years, and when I got my first PC, I carefully tucked away my SMS. My parents kept it until I found it some years ago, and then I discovered SMS-Power...
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Post Posted: Tue May 24, 2016 7:35 am
I will never forget the first time when i played with my Master SYstem 2. It was a present for my first communion in 1991 and was my first videogame console. So many hours playing Alex Kidd in Miracle World and i was the first person of my friends to understand how to complete it. With the console also i had Vigilante and a control stick. Today , i still have the console with box in perfect condition.
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Post Posted: Tue May 24, 2016 8:57 pm
hang-on wrote
Hang-on was my first game. It was built into the console - and so was the hidden maze game starring a snail that I, decades later, would come to know as Swabby. I never had another console. I loved my SMS for years and years, and when I got my first PC, I carefully tucked away my SMS. My parents kept it until I found it some years ago, and then I discovered SMS-Power...


Hang-on my favourite motorbike game until Road Rash arrived, I remember the arcade a very impresive machine at that time, most of my memories are related to the Sega Genesis one day I borrowed 6 pak -1 from my friend and finally could play the whole game freely my pocket thanked to me :D

law81 wrote
So many hours playing Alex Kidd in Miracle World and i was the first person of my friends to understand how to complete it. With the console also i had Vigilante and a control stick. Today , i still have the console with box in perfect condition.


I havent the pleasure to play Alex Kidd in Miracle World that time and I was not aware of its existence until I discovered MEKA a fan emulator like no other in the whole world, about the console Wooww!! you impress me to have an older system with its box in perfect condition when It is hard to find old systems to work at least nowadays. ;)
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My experience with SMS.
Post Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2021 6:32 pm
I got an actual SMS early during the recent summer vacation.
It's Master System II, and it has Sonic 1 built in.

I bought it online, I got SMS II, because it's quite common here in Europe so I saw lots of people selling it online, and even saw someone having 4 of these.

My tv lacks an antenna output so I have to use the tv in the living room to play it.

Soon, I plan getting more games for it.
I always wanted to collect retro consoles before.

To be honest, I wish I experienced this console much earlier, it's awesome.
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Post Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2021 1:45 am
It was Christmas of 1989 and the SMS was just released here in Brasil (yep, we were late)! I got it with the Light Phaser and the 3D glasses from my grandfather. At the same time, my mom gave me Missile Defense 3D and Rambo III, while my dad gave me R-Type and Outrun. I was completely amazed! ^^
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Post Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2021 11:37 am
I never had a Master System, but my parents gave me a Game Gear for my 8th birthday, in April 1992.

That day, a certain blue hedgehog became one of my best friends, and he still is to this day.

Now please excuse me while I'm definitely not crying, I only have a green hill in my eyes. Maybe I didn't realise it at that time, but now I see I was happy, how could my life go this downhill since then? 😭
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Post Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2021 12:59 pm
Don’t grow up, it’s a trap.
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Post Posted: Sat Sep 04, 2021 3:41 pm
After asking for it, I got a Master System II for Christmas. It included Alex Kidd and Moonwalker. Not sure why i didn't ask for a Megadrive which was also available when i got the SMS (probably due to stupidity).
Later i bought Castle of Illusion, Ghouls n Ghosts and Sonic. I remember renting games like Outrun, Chase HQ, California Games and Danan Jungle Fighter.

Later i sold my SMS to buy a SNES which i still have.

And recently (like 10 years ago) i bought an SMS with the same games again.
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My country got it even later.
Post Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2021 8:15 pm
Last edited by NoveltyMan on Fri Feb 04, 2022 8:13 pm; edited 1 time in total
tsp wrote
It was Christmas of 1989 and the SMS was just released here in Brasil (yep, we were late)! I got it with the Light Phaser and the 3D glasses from my grandfather. At the same time, my mom gave me Missile Defense 3D and Rambo III, while my dad gave me R-Type and Outrun. I was completely amazed! ^^


Here in Poland we were even later (1992), so don't feel bad that your country got it in 1989.
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Post Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2021 7:08 am
In spain it was released around 1987, but it really took of in 1991-1992
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Post Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2021 2:41 pm
Hi all from myself as a new member!

Loved the Sega Master System back in the day when it was a legend of the school playground for games like Golden Axe, After Burner, GLOC and Shinobi (probably still one of the best bonus levels of any game!).

I remember the decision to go with the Master System over the NES on a close run consideration based on the pack in game of the time that my parents kindly bought one for me. The Michael Jackson Moonwalker bundle just edged out the NES Turtles offering and sent me on route to being a Sega kid through primary and secondary school.

All the best,
Matt
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Post Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2021 9:47 pm
So, I´m in the middle of 34 now. Don´t feel like that, still feel like 21 :D

I was born in 1987 and since I can remember anything, my family was always in the possession of a Master System.

The first games I can remember I´ve ever seen in my life are Fantasy Zone and Alex Kidd in Miracle World. But we never owned Fantasy Zone back in the day. My uncle, who was in the middle of his youth, got another games we had > Spy vs. Spy (which is pretty nice as a childhood game), Rampage, California Games, World Cup Italia ´90, Sonic of course, the legendary R.C. Grand Prix (which was our main family game) and some others. I remember he borrowed games from school friends, so we also played Sonic 2, E-Swat, Enduro Racer and Wonder Boy in Monster Land. So maybe Fantasy Zone was borrowed too.

My grandpa Werner always had a Master System as well and after he sadly passed away in 1999, I´m the owner of the same MSII he had since. Thanks to Badsector, it´s modded now and my grandpa would´ve loved it in the day =)

So my memories are full of colorful games and gaming sessions with my family members; things that are long over by now. But the memories will never die and I have a giant SMS collection today to honor these times.
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Post Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2021 11:28 am
I don't remember actually getting my SMS (1988? I was around 4), but I do have tons of memories of playing Hang On and Safari Hunt, getting lost in Lord of the Sword, and my dad getting a kick out of Neff's giant head laughing at me in Altered Beast. Alex Kidd in Shinobi World was the first game I beat, which is why I really hope to see the Shinobi Kidd prototype get found one day.
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Post Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2021 4:57 pm
Oxwah wrote
Alex Kidd in Shinobi World was the first game I beat


Congrats Oxwah, I haven't beaten the final boss yet :)

My dad bought me the Tectoy SMS1 with Hang On/Safari Hunt BIOS and the Light Phaser in 1989 (I was 11). I recall the emotion of playing Hang On on a 14" CRT for the first time. The PSG tune was really catchy! (still is), and the SFX of moto acceleration, how nice. The Safari Hunt was great too, how could we hit targets in such a smaller output device right!

Later then I got Alex kidd in Miracle World and Fantasy Zone II, finished both in some months. I recall my mother commenting how beautiful AK graphics were.

Here in Brazil it was a frenzy time to move on from Atari console, Tectoy was pumping and there even was a phone hotline which you could dial to ask for game hints (never user it though). The TV ads were wonderful, I recall being with a school friend at my granny's and then the ad showed gameplay of The Lost Stars, we went nuts!
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Post Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2021 9:49 pm
I went to my friend's house in 1987; he had four games: Hang On/Safari Hunt, Space Harrier, and Out Run. Hang On paled in comparison to Out Run so it didn't get much play. Safari Hunt was fun, even if we felt like it was cheating to be right up against the screen.

His family was frustrated because they thought Space Harrier used the Light Phaser; I plugged in a controller and went to town :)

Coming from home computers and the Atari 2600 where joysticks were the norm, the control pad felt very alien to me. They had bought the Control Stick--for some reason I think they said it was bundled with Out Run?--and this was a much more natural control experience for me. Unlike many people I didn't mind that it had the stick on the right and put the buttons on the left. I still don't mind this.
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Post Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2021 7:28 am
Hello,

As many of you it was at a neighbor's that I saw & played for the first time the Master System.
He wanted a NES for Christmas but his parents couldn't find one, and then he had a Master System...
The one with Hang On built-in and he had the cartridge of Alex Kidd in Miracle World too.
So we played a bit Hang-On, but we spent our times on Alex Kidd.
Finally I bought a SMS a few month later :) And that's it, Sega fan from there :D
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Post Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2021 8:45 am
Niloct wrote
Congrats Oxwah, I haven't beaten the final boss yet :)


The first phase is the trickiest, you need to get the timing right when he's open. For phase 2, let him bounce to the edge of the screen so he transforms, then rush him. Phase 3, just rush him, don't let him jump and make clones. Hope this helps!
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Post Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2021 3:43 am
My first experience with the SMS was buying the console bundled with the Light Phaser along with Choplifter and World Grand Prix in 1986 after having bought the NES with the light gun and ROB in 1985. While I enjoyed the early NES games like Mario Bros, Donkey Kong, and Excitebike, there was something different about the SMS that I ended up selling my NES and games with no regrets. At that time, I could not afford to keep both consoles so I made the decision to keep the SMS. Best decision ever!!
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Post Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2021 7:03 am
Hello, I got the SEGA Master System II for the first time in 1995 I was 14 years old then I was happy when I got it it was really great I could finally play on something other than on a computer I still have it today but unfortunately I don't have it broke
 
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Post Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2021 11:29 pm
Back in the Christmas season of 1987, I was 11 years old and went to Target with my mom to show her what I wanted for Christmas, which was going to be a NES, like the kid across the street had. However, when we got there, they had an SMS on display running choplifter! It looked so much cooler than the NES, and Choplifter would go on to be one of my favorite games for the system.

A couple of years later I was lucky enough to have a kid at school swap games with me and I ended up with Phantasy Star. The only other game I had played that was anything like it was Dragon Warrior, and PS is so much better, I was in love! :-)
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Post Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2021 7:39 pm
I can't remember exactly when but I suppose it might have been around the 1988 probably here in EU when people still had mostly C64; my older brother received the SMS version with Hang On / Safari Hunt built in the bios and a boxed "Wanted" game. A huge and expensive (for those times) console bundle. So it was his first game console, I could play those videogames when he attached the console to our old 70's TV. Also it still was a 'new console' and I was afraid to turn it on alone risking to break it; at the end we usually carefully put the console and cables back into the box every time.
It was impressive to see its graphic/sound; I heard so much about how superior it was compared to the other consoles. The next game was Zillion and that remained forever in my memory for the difficulty but mostly for the soundtrack. Later Afterburner and Shadow Dancer, impressive graphic indeed.
After some years I got my first game console, the Game Gear. Very expensive but the next one I had has been the GBA to say how much back in those times we were used to not even ask for a new game console knowing their cost; probably the summer of 1993 with Columns, next Ax Battler then the expensive just released Halley Wars, second hand Alien 3, Master of Darkness and Wimbledon. I also remember great summer memories with friend's Ecco the Dolphin (with its emotional soundtrack), Sonic and Mortal Kombat games (I couldn't believe its graphic he had an imported game before anyone else). It took me years to finish some of those like Ax Battler and Halley Wars. Alien 3 never got to pass the final boss, Columns I never knew if had an ending (there was a myth talking about its ending), Space Harrier (I almost forgot it) too it was too difficult.
Technically the GG was impressive console in its time and could even overcome the huge batteries problem basically never used cause always with the AC/DC adapter. At the end I didn't care about the Mega Drive cause the Arcade videogames were still a thing and the only time I did see the Mega Drive graphic was with the game Toki on a friend console; too bad I was used to play that game on the Arcade version those summers and the graphic difference was like night and day. That probably make the console not interesting to me.
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Post Posted: Fri Dec 24, 2021 4:58 pm
2-player Double Dragon at a friend's house party in 1989. There was more than one NES setup with TV's, but he also had the SMS, and it was my brother and my first time to play it. Two of my brothers and I pooled our money and bought the set with Hang On and Safari Hunt built in at Best Buy for $50 not more than a few weeks later.

We were familiar with the NES Double Dragon, and loved 2-player games that let you play a long time, so the SMS version left a good impression. We went on to rent games for the system and trade with another friend in the neighborhood who had one. That's how we eventually discovered Wonder Boy 3, which was the experience that equaled the best the NES had to offer.
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Post Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2021 7:34 am
In the U.S., no one in my small town had a Sega. The 1992 EGM Buyers Guide really piqued my interest. What was this mysterious, maligned, little system that was technically superior to its competitor and had a number of affordable Genesis ports?

The SMS2 was the coolest looking console I had ever seen and it was only $50 at the nearest big box! My parents refused to buy us consoles, so I was limited to what I could afford with my paper route.

So I bought the SMS2 in August of '92 and played Alex Kidd for four weeks. The following month I bought Ys (loved it!) and Golden Axe (sorely disappointed by the lack of two-player, but learned to love it).

That winter I was heartbroken to learn it was discontinued. I frantically snagged Time Soldiers and Kenseiden on clearance and that was the end... the stores in my area sold out.

I played my tiny library to death for a couple years until I saw an ad for a used game store that carried SMS. It was 80 miles away and my parents refused to drive, but the store did mail order! I gave my parents a wish list that spanned half the U.S. library, they called, and the carts were so cheap ($3-10) they just bought everything on my list that the store had, resulting in the best Christmas ever for a fourteen-year-old weirdo who loved the SMS more than 16-bit systems in 1994. I got Lost Stars, Reggie Jackson, Double Dragon, Enduro Racer, Lord of the Sword, Miracle Warriors, Outrun, R-Type, World Grand Prix, Penguin Land, and Carmen Sandiego.

I was fortunate to get most of the games I wanted well before the retro craze and now have a couple hundred.
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Post Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2022 11:26 pm
I used to travel to my uncle's house with grandma for the holidays when I was young. I had heard and read some words and pics about a cool thing called a video game, but never seen one in action (small town in the Brazilian countryside, sorry if it sounds unbelievable). Then, it was 1990, or maybe 1991, I was 4~5 years old and went again to uncle's with grandma. And there it was, that shining black and red machine of wonders, a Tec Toy Master System II with Alex Kidd in Miracle World in its BIOS. The game was too difficult for me, though. Luckily, he had also bought some carts. Ghost House was way easier, at least for kid version of me, who didn't care about scores. World Grand Prix was cool besides I felt I was traveling the world, and we tried to guess what countries we were racing at. Did I mention I only drove 1st gear? Yeah, cars' gears are an alien concept for a kiddo. And there was After Burner, my favorite, because I could put the plane on that unreachable corner and see almost the whole game. On the years that followed, I felt in love with Sonic, Gauntlet and the Illusion series. Finally, in 1995, grandma decided to buy me a Master System III Compact with Sonic pre-installed. Than came the rentals (many, many weekends of Great Soccer) and the first carts bought by/to myself and my brother. The Master System has never stopped since them. I have lots of other consoles, but the only which sees constant action is the SMS.
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Post Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2022 2:54 pm
I was another that didn’t own a master system in my childhood. My first sort-of experience was in the late 80s- I think? The leisure centre where my mum worked had an out run arcade machine which I remember playing on. A few years later I got a mega drive and that was me firmly in team Sega.

Then fast forward to 2013, I found a local second hand store selling a master system 2 for £20, games were £3 each. I bought loads and still have some of them. Most are in storage as I moved house and need to sort out a proper games room in my new house but everything will happen eventually
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Post Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2022 6:14 pm
In 1990, a friend from school had a Master System 1 so I nagged my dad until he relented and we ended up getting a Master System 2.

I had never played a video game before so it was like a new world was opening up before me.

I loved Alex Kidd and played it for hours (but never could beat it).

Also got Cyborg Hunter on a cartridge but couldn't figure out how to progress to the next levels. It would be literal years later that we'd find out that you needed to use THE SECOND controller's button to access the inventory (why on earth they didn't use the pause button is beyond me).

A little while later the Mega Drive came out but "You already have a Sega, what do you need another one for?" :(
As a kid I never did get a Mega Drive (it was in 2021 that I decided to buy one from ebay...) but in truth I really REALLY loved playing the Master System and later the Game Gear (AKA Master System Portable) that I was still plenty happy.

I don't know if it was the time, the age I was in or if I was extremely lucky but I loved each game that I got with very few exceptions.
Alex Kidd in Shinobi World was a game I genuinely enjoyed, completely unaware of the tong-in-cheek nature of the game (hadn't heard of the actual Shinobi game) while Asterix (the original) was perhaps one of my all-time-favorite platformers plus, the console simply didn't seem to want to go away.
It would be YEARS into the Mega Drive era that I would get my last Master System game, Robocop vs Terminator, that I would marvel at what that console could do.

To put it into perspective, my only other console was the ill-fated Saturn and then I switched to PC gaming.
I don't know how to describe it but I simply couldn't find another platform to capture the magic that the little console that could, did...
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Post Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2023 7:48 pm
Hello! My first console ever was a Sega Master System, bought in 1991 by my parents. I also have the original box and the original receipt (it seems printed yesterday!)...all of this are in near mint state because the original box was in the parent's basement without humidity for +30 years, but the console followed me into another house (I don't remember when).
I used to play a lot with Hang-On and Great Soccer, and every year my parents bought me a new game (Shadow Dancer, R-Type, Rc Grand Prix...etc.) I have them since that period, all of them in excellent conditions. 10 years ago I bought an Eeprom programmer and created a swappable Eeprom cart for my Sms, studing also how the Mask roms were able to allow a greater rom, so I re-routed a lot of wires and I was capable of "burn" every rom onto my Sms! I was very happy!!

Max
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Post Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2023 7:48 pm
While I have played a Game Gear for the first time when I was 12 (about 11 years ago as of this post), and had a Power Base Converter for my SEGA Genesis at 14, my first experience with an ACTUAL Master System was at a friend's house.

He found one at GameXChange, and I played Wonder Boy in Monster Land on it with him. I was unable to play it on my Genesis with Power Base Convertor due to me lacking a Master System controller, since said game does not like working with a Genesis controller, whether 3-button or 6-button. It felt good to be able to play it on real, OG Master System hardware, instead of my Game Gear with the Master Gear Convertor.

I already had a ton of SMS games at this time I played via Power Base Converter and Master Gear Converter, but this hit different. I felt a sort of connection that I didn't feel when playing it on converters, as if to say "so this is what my Uncle Danny experienced."

Nowadays I play SMS via an Analogue Mega SG with its little converter, with that fancy FM sound, but damn, something about that OG hardware feels good.
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Post Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2023 9:15 am
I posted my master system story earlier, but he are my other sega memories.

Back in the days i had a friend living nearby who had a mega drive and a game gear. On the mega drive he had altered beast, caliber 60 and later a "borrowed" sonic 1. We also rented krusy's super funhouse and quackshot. I took my master system controller and played altered beast 2 player. On the game gear he had sonic 1 and sonic chaos.

His brother had an Amiga 500 hooked up to a huge stereo set :D. They also had an entertainment system starting with an "N".

To complete my sega story. My brother had a saturn and dreamcast. With lots of race and sonic games.


Nowadays i play retro games on a raspberry with rgb dual on a small crt tv (i recently measured. it has 2 frames of lag)
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Post Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2023 12:59 pm
It would've been sometime mid-to-late 1994, when I was still between 2 and 3 years old.

My parents had recently gotten a Master System for themselves, and had decided to see what would happen if their child tried to use it.
Now, the thing is, I wasn't actually sure what the TV show I was watching was. It wasn't like any regular live action show, any cartoon. And I took quite a while of time to figure out me pressing the buttons did cause things to react on the TV.
The game was the first Sonic the Hedgehog.

Either way, eventually they decided it wasn't worth bamboozling me and ended up ushering me away from the controller.


Fastforward about 5-6 years, after being properly reintroduced to video games through the PC and the Mega Drive, and my Dad reveals the Master System was being kept in a chest inside the shed. We end up dragging it out - and its RF modulator was dead.
So my Dad wound up ringing up Mum (whom was out and about outside of the home) over the mobile - not the most common circumstance to be realistic in that era - asking her to pick up a cheap $5 Master System from a Trading Post listing, and it got taken back home. We ended up booting it up, its RF modulator worked, and wound up playing Alex Kidd in Miracle World and Sonic the Hedgehog on it.

I'm showing my youth with this story here.
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Post Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2023 1:59 pm
I moved to the village where I spent most of my childhood when I was 6 years old, and made a new friend called Joe who lived at the end of my road. Joe and his older brother Nathan had a Master System 1, and whenever I went to their house Joe and I would invariably be playing the Master System in Nathan's room. It had Safari Hunt and Hang On if I recall correctly, and they had the light gun and two controllers.

My other friend Pete, who lived in the next village, had an NES which I also enjoyed playing on, so got to experience both of the most popular 8 bit consoles of the day, albeit not in the comfort of my own home.
I did have a hand-me-down and much modified ZX Spectrum 48K which didn't really impress my friends much, although at least I could occasionally afford to buy a game on cassette, since they were readily available in Woolworths at the time, and usually cost a flat £2.99 (about £8/€9/USD11 in today's money, so still fairly cheap).

Later, when I was maybe 9 or 10, I had saved up enough years of cumulative Christmas and Birthday money to afford my own Mega Drive, for £129, which was really expensive (about £350/€400/USD440 today). It came with two controllers, a thirdparty carry case and Sonic the Hedgehog. Once I'd bought it I couldn't really afford games of my own on a regular basis (they typically retailed at around £40 new, which is around £100/€115/125USD – i.e. totally unaffordable for a child) and so I usually ended up borrowing games from another friend at school whose parents could apparently afford to keep him and his brothers in plentiful supply.

My brother and I were also given at first one, and then a second original Game Boy second hand from family friends who apparently didn't want them any more, and that kept us reasonably quiet on long car journeys until the batteries ran out and we resumed fighting.

At some point when I was an adult the Mega Drive got given away and I've never been able to track it down again. I'd love to have it back. I also managed to pick up a Game Gear at a boot sale at some point although I can't remember when (I think in my early 20s) and that is also now missing. I don't remember getting rid of it, but I can't find it anywhere.

Finally, to bring us up to date, Maxim of this forum recently convinced me (although I didn't take much convincing) that I should probably acquire a Master System to use to test my proposed HDMI out adapter on real hardware, so I now find myself the proud owner of a Master System 1, just like Joe & Nathan's, which I feel brings me wonderfully full circle!
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Post Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2023 7:42 pm
My cousin's received a first generation Master System for Christmas. Our grandparents used to look after us after school and they would leave their Master System there. I developed a great affection for the system although they only had hang on and safari hunt. I don't think they ever bought any other games for it.

Years later when my parents helped me buy a Sega Genesis, I invested in a power base converter and went about finding some Master System games. Double Dragon was the first game I bought. I had a crush on my best friend's cousin and she enjoyed playing the game with us at the mall on our lunch hour. haha I never did get to date her sadly.

Years later, early 2000's, a friend gave me a bag of Master System and Super Ni****do games.

The adventure continued in 2015 when I managed to find a fully functional original Master System for 70 dollars Canadian. I've picked up a few more games over the years and have introduced the system to my kids who also appreciate it.

Bit of a rambling story but am at work but wanted to get it out before I forgot.
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