Sega Master System - What's your "One Game?"

[Razzie.P]

I started this as a status update and the suggestion was made to make it a forum thread so here we go.

 

 

 

 

You wanna impress someone with your Sega Master System and you can only choose one game -- What one game do you choose?

 

 

Alex Kidd in Miracle World would be mine. Seems to be the one that would stand out in a lot of ways thanks to its colorful graphics, easily accessible platforming, and just enough quirkiness to sell it as it's own game and not a copycat of a dozen before it.

 

 

 

 

BTW -- Inky has already created a thread of must have Master System games already, where we listed a few (sometimes more than a dozen) games, but I thought it'd be neat to narrow it down to what you think would be that one game most likely to leave a "WOW!" impression.

 

 

[DragonGrafx-16]

For me it would be Aleste (Powerstrike) but I'm way into shmups so... eh.

[Pixelboy]

Phantasy Star. The animated movement through the underground mazes look impressive. And the rest of the game is great too.

[dj_convoy]

I don't know that it's particularly technically impressive, but my knee-jerk reaction for a game you can't really play elsewhere that I like to talk up on the SMS is Govellius. Good graphics, great music, Zelda-style gameplay and more standard platformer-y style gameplay, as well, plus the vertical scrolling levels.

[+pboland]

Phantasy Star. The animated movement through the underground mazes look impressive. And the rest of the game is great too.

 

I second this. My runner up would be Space Harrier.

[MrMaddog]

To expand on my reply to your status, I'm going with arcade ports that really do look like they came from a 16-bit system. On a Mark III with FM sound I like R-Type (though I'm actually crap at playing it). For the Western Master System thouigh I pick Gauntlet which is a very good port inspite being done by Tierex...

[BassGuitari]

Mickey Mouse: Land of Illusion, Ninja Gaiden, or Master of Darkness.

 

I don't think any of those came out in North America though.

[Azathoth]

For older, launch-title simplicity I'd say either Choplifter or Black Belt. Both are graphically impressive titles that are far beyond anything on the NES at the time. Following those two would probably be Kenseiden; nice tunes, colorful visuals, solid gameplay, and a distinctly Oriental flavor.

[BigO]

I played Space Harrier more than anything and tried several others, but ultimately my one game turned out to be "Sell the SMS". The guy that played with me must have been impressed as he ended up with an SMS himself.

[zylon]

Power Strike 2

[+wongojack]

I liked the responses from the status update, so here they are (I left out maddog cause he replied here):

 

MegaManFan

Wonder Boy III

 

adam242

I always liked Penguin Land. And SMS had a good port of Out Run

 

nanochess

Castle of Illusion, Prince of Persia

 

CaptainBreakout

Power Strike.

 

Jin

OutRun 3-D, with the 3-D glasses of course. If you don't have the 3-D glasses though then Space Harrier for sure

 

save2600

Phantasy Star, R-Type, Rampage

 

Inky

Phantasy Star, Missile Defense 3-D, Psycho Fox, and Shinobi - the BEST home version of the game and IMHO the Killer App for the SMS

 

AverageSoftware

Phantasy Star. Still the finest console RPG ever made

 

NE146

Honestly, even in 1988 games like Megaman 2 & Contra made it hard to be impressed with most anything the SMS offered. Ask me because I had both and knew this inherently. That said, I'd pick Phantasy Star which really did blow away every other 8-bit game out there, and Dragon Warrior/Quest 1 seemed that much more primitive

[+wongojack]

I honestly don't think the SMS is very impressive these days. I do like Power Strike, but I haven't played it very much. Of the games I've played more, I don't know how impressive it would be bitd, but the SMS has the best version of Ghostbusters.

[Austin]

I am going to be dumb and say Gangster Town. It's super easy to pick up and enjoy, looks and plays solid. My favorite console light gun game until Virtua Cop and Time Crisis hit generations later.

[Razzie.P]

I don't know that it's particularly technically impressive, but my knee-jerk reaction for a game you can't really play elsewhere that I like to talk up on the SMS is Govellius. Good graphics, great music, Zelda-style gameplay and more standard platformer-y style gameplay, as well, plus the vertical scrolling levels.

 

 

I really need to play Govellius. As a kid, I remember seeing the screenshot in the Sears catalog and being bummed out that I didn't have a Sega. I didn't get to play Master System games until the Genesis days when I got the convertor. For some reason, I ended up getting R-Type, Miracle Warriors, Rastan, and Phantasy Star, but never picked up the one game that I wanted most.

[derFunkenstein]

For older, launch-title simplicity I'd say either Choplifter or Black Belt. Both are graphically impressive titles that are far beyond anything on the NES at the time.

 

I bought Choplifter this weekend and it's really fun. I'm a little disappointed that I'd missed out on it until this point.

 

I also got After Burner and Rocky. After Burner is pretty good. Rocky is not.

[+chicgamer]

Snail Maze!

 

Juuuuuust kidding.

 

As others have mentioned, I don't think there is a game that stands out as much as Phantasy Star. The large, detailed enemies were really impressive at the time. And though I didn't have access to it during my childhood, the FM music is really good, too (of course, the PSG music isn't bad, either).

 

Sent from my SM-J700P using Tapatalk

[Gamemoose]

I'll chime in on Phantasy Star as well. No RPG on the NES could outclass it then and even with today's homebrew, probable ever will. Only downside is that RPGs like that are an acquired taste.

 

I like a lot of the games mentioned but having been both a NES and SMS player back in the day, it'd be a hard sell to hook a person on the SMS. Alex Kidd was challenging but the controls don't seem near as refined as SMB. Kenseiden has a bit of a slow pace and a more-than-usual cheap difficulty (if memory serves). I'd say games like Space Harrier, Double Dragon (even with the flicker) or Outrun compared to similar titles like 3D World Runner, single player Double Dragon and Rad Racer would make more of an impact.

[+Black_Tiger]

I'd pick Phantasy Star for several reasons, but for accessible pick-up-and-play games with great color, detail, animation, parallax and more, there are many games to choose from.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RampantOctopus]

Zillion

[TheCoolDave]

 

I second this. My runner up would be Space Harrier.

 

I 3rd this. I have played thousands of games in my life, this game is easy in my top 5

 

I played it again about 2 months ago the re-translation version (the game was fully retranslated from Japanese, epic), on my Everdrive on my Genesis over RGB though my Framemeister. Looked amasing ! I have the orginal cart but, wanted to do the retranslated version of it..

 

More info on the retranslation version... if you are interested and a fan of this epic game.

 

http://www.smspower.org/Translations/PhantasyStar-SMS-EN

 

There were many other great games back in the day on this system. As it was a competing direcly with the NES but, it was a far better system hardware wise so the games looked a lot better for the time frame.

Edited April 9, 2019 by TheCoolDave

[Inky]

Zillion

 

D'oh! How could I forget Zillion?

[John Stamos Mullet]

Zillion

Zillion is an underrated masterpiece. It's a very well made cross between Impossible Mission, Castlevania, and Megaman.

[Tanooki]

I'd be torn between Alex Kidd in Shinobi World, Golden Axe Warrior and Phantasy Star. Each of them do something that stands out over the usual arcade ports and earlier mediocrity it had.

[Razzie.P]

Zillion is an underrated masterpiece. It's a very well made cross between Impossible Mission, Castlevania, and Megaman.

 

 

 

Well now I gotta try this with those 3 namedrops.

[Lightgungamer]

Virtua cop gets my vote. Just an awesome game!