The 8-bit Shootout

[LynxVGL]

Back in the true 8-bit console days, I was transitioning to computers (Atari 800!) and missed out on that gen of systems. I have an NES now, but don't ever recall seeing a SMS in the wild or anyone actually owning one in the late 80's, pre-16 bit days.

 

As an Atari fan, I was aware of the 7800, but never bit.

 

So folks, what are the impressions of these systems tag-teaming it? Over at Classicgameroom.com Mark just did a system review on the SMS, and I'm intrigued by it.

 

The 7800 was supposed to be real competition for the NES, but technically, was it really? How does a SMS stand up to a NES?

[godslabrat]

BITD, the NES was everywhere. Every kid had one. Sega would be owned by that one kid in class who just had to be different. Atari 7800 was for kids whose parents didn't know any better, or who had older siblings who were Atari fans from years earlier.

 

Sega was the real competition for the NES, in as much as Nintendo had any completion.

[R.Bear]

The Master System is my personal favourite, and here in the UK at least it's actually more popular than the NES was.

 

Lots of european only game releases for the SMS as well because it was so popular here when compared to how it did in the USA.

[+madman]

I was a NES kid back in the 80's, I played the heck out of every game I had, even the ones that were terrible. In retrospect, there were a lot of crap games for the system. A buddy had an SMS, we had some good times on it but always went back to the NES. The 7800 had some good one screen arcade games, but I don't remember much beyond that.