Sega Master System Popularity?

[Curt Vendel]

Is the Sega SMS a fairly popular system that people collect, play and continue to play today?

 

 

 

 

 

Curt

[+Marc Oberhäuser]

Just collecting, 308 games at the moment.

[sku_u]

The SMS sucks.

[birdie3]

The SMS sucks.

978312[/snapback]

 

No it doesn't.

[NE146]

Yes there are still SMS collectors.. usually hanging on the DP forums.

 

I still got mine.. if that counts. I had both an NES and SMS in their day and of course would give the nod to the NES. That being said, the SMS gave me some of the BEST gaming times in that time with Phantasy Star, Y's (please don't tell me the TG16 one is better... it wasn't out then ), and the only home console port of R-Type.

 

But have I bought a game for it in the past 15 or so years+? Nah.

[davepesc]

I love my SMS. Even the bad games are pretty good.

 

My brother had a NES in his bedroom and I had the SMS. I can say we spent more time playing Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Shinobi and R-Type than anything else.

 

In fact, my first all-night gaming session came when I was determined to win the tourneyment in Great Volleyball.

 

Uh-oh, getting nostalgic...

 

I remember keeping stats for Reggie Jackson Baseball in a spiral notebook. I had batting averages vs. lefties and righties, everything. (Anyone else ever get this crazy?)

 

Walter Payton Football. It was easy to crush the cpu by like 70 points, but man, 2 player games were every bit as good as any sports game BEFORE Tecmo Bowl.

 

You want lightguns? Gangster town had 2 players, so we were dual wielding before we knew what dual wielding was. Shooting gallery, with it's varied stages and destructable backgrounds, was BETTER than Duck Hunt.

 

Accessories? People love to hate the joysticks, but anyone who had an Atari should have been plenty used to moving with the right hand and hitting buttons with the left thumb. The only thing I would stay far away from is the trackball. I got one for christmas and asked my mom to return it the next day. (The only gift I've ever returned to this day.)

 

I could go on, Fantasy Zone II is an all-time SHMUP, Great conversion of Rampage, Phantasy Star.

 

It never scratched the popularity of the NES in America for reasons that are well known, but it is a very worthwhile system whose best games rival the best games on the NES.

[SteveW]

I've got a couple, and I occasionally buy a few games for it when I come across them in the wild, but I honestly haven't put any playtime into it in years. I've got a couple dozen games, played them all for about five minutes each, and then shelved the console. None of the games really seem all that enjoyable to me. They were kind of generic, I've always thought. I don't have any games that really engage me and keep me wanting to play them for any amount of time.

 

If anyone else asked a question like this, I wouldn't think too much of it. But Curt asking this...... Is there something you're thinking about doing? Do you have a new project you're about to take on?

[dalton4life]

I really liked the SMS. Still it was a classic case of how more power hardware does not necessarily win the war. NES was inferior in term of graphics and sound, but we all know how that turned out. Oddly SMS was more popular than NES in Europe.

[davepesc]

I really liked the SMS.  Still it was a classic case of how more power hardware does not necessarily win the war.  NES was inferior in term of graphics and sound, but we all know how that turned out.  Oddly SMS was more popular than NES in Europe.

978340[/snapback]

 

Hell, Nintendo forbid 3rd parties from making games for other companies. Big N wouldn't even let retailers sell other consoles. It really was "Get N or Get Out"

 

How could the SMS NOT fail?

 

Even still, I loved it.

[ApolloBoy]

The SMS sucks.

978312[/snapback]

 

[Dones]

I hear the system was very popular in Europe during its time (and had more games released over there).

[+FujiSkunk]

Still got mine. There are loads of good games for the system, including Zillion II: The Triformation, Fantasy Zone, Choplifter, and R-Type. The graphics tend to be much better than on the NES, and, if you're lucky enough to score a Sega Mark III (the Japanese version of the SMS), the games even sound better (those that support the FM synth chip, anyway).

 

The SMS does not suck.

Edited December 8, 2005 by skunkworx

[bedouin]

It's the only console I regret selling. My collection was fantastic, and if you're in the US, it has a rarity factor.

 

Alex Kidd in Shinobi World, Shinobi, Alien Syndrome, Space Harrier, Rampage, Double Dragon, R-Type, Kung-Fu, and others I can't think of right now.

[Atarifever]

I love it. It's one of my favorite systems ever (while the NES is my second last favorite) and I think it has some of the best games. In particular Shinobi is just plain great. I can't look at it without wanting to play it.

[Tempest]

I collect for the SMS (I think I have about 100+ titles). It's a fun little system, with alot of quirky titles. Unfortunately I feel that most of the early to mid games weren't programmed as well as NES games of the same period, they feel a bit unpolished. The later games for the system are very good, and easily on par with NES titles of the same period. The US library is pretty weak, but the UK got alot of good titles. The 3-D goggles alone are a good reason to own a SMS.

 

Tempest

[8th lutz]

The sms get not not suck. You never played one or played lousy games like the great sports series, alf, alex kidd 2&3, and sports pad football. The sms has better graphics then the nes. I own booth systems.

There are collectors out there. I also have over 100 nes games. The sms was hurt by nes third part restrictions. I have great sms games like R-type, Outrun, Bomber Raid, Sonic One, Y's, Fantasy Zone 1&2,Alex Kidd in Miracle World, kings Quest, Phantasy Star, Bomber Raid, Afterburner, Columns, Wonder Boy in Monster land, Wonder Boy 3: Dragons curse, Golvellious: Valley of Doom, Shanghai, Rastan, Choplifter, California Gamesand Shinobi. I have only 58 games so far. I am missing some great rare U.S games, and great import only games. I got mine in 2000. I still playmine today.

Edited December 8, 2005 by 8th lutz

[J.Max]

It's a good little system...and hey it has Phantasy Star!

[bedouin]

Alf! I always wanted to play that and totally forgot about it. Time to load up the emu.

 

I also forgot Vigilante in the last post.

[christianscott27]

there has never been a better 3-D system, yes 20 years later that is shocking but its still the best mass market 3-D. besides the US collection is fairly easy to get and if you like that then you've got this huge deep euro/australian market to dig into. you can play PAL SMS games on your NTSC system, how nice is that? i have about 200 titles, mostly though i like the american releases cause the white/black grid makes them look good on the shelf.

[Curt Vendel]

Thanks everyone, your answers helped out a lot! :-)

 

 

 

Curt

 

 

 

there has never been a better 3-D system, yes 20 years later that is shocking but its still the best mass market 3-D. besides the US collection is fairly easy to get and if you like that then you've got this huge deep euro/australian market to dig into. you can play PAL SMS games on your NTSC system, how nice is that? i have about 200 titles, mostly though i like the american releases cause the white/black grid makes them look good on the shelf.

978476[/snapback]

[sku_u]

I really liked the SMS.  Still it was a classic case of how more power hardware does not necessarily win the war.  NES was inferior in term of graphics and sound, but we all know how that turned out.  Oddly SMS was more popular than NES in Europe.

978340[/snapback]

 

Hell, Nintendo forbid 3rd parties from making games for other companies. Big N wouldn't even let retailers sell other consoles. It really was "Get N or Get Out"

 

How could the SMS NOT fail?

 

Even still, I loved it.

978353[/snapback]

 

The SMS failed because

 

--it had no good games

--horrible flicker

--choppy graphics

--poorly designed peripherals

--it was the worst system since RCA Studio II

--no advertising

--almost non-existent third party support

--terrible distribution

--the NES had a much better library and proper franchises

--after the game crash, people weren't willing to embrace a half-assed effort

 

I love Sega's other systems. Genesis and Dreamcast especially. The SMS was the biggest flop for them with the exception of maybe Sega CD. Fortunately, they more than redeemed themselves with the Genesis.

[sku_u]

The SMS sucks.

978312[/snapback]

 

978359[/snapback]

 

Why the rolley eyes? I have at least one of every system that was ever released in North America. The SMS, RCA Studio II and Channel F are by far the worst of the bunch. The only redeeming quality I can think of for the SMS are that the controllers were compatable with some Atari systems.

[nester]

I've always been a big fan of the SMS, although it is really odd. There's just nothing else like it as far as I can tell. The games seem to be much faster paced and arcade style than NES games. Really it was the system that got me into collecting and I've loved it ever since. Of course, it had plenty of lousy games, but what system hasn't?

 

Anyway, popularity seems to be waning right now. There used to be several very good websites devoted to the system. Not it seems that most of the websites have died and the community is disapearing. On the bright side, everything is dirt cheap right now. I remember back when Phantasy Star used to go for about 100 dollars on ebay. Now you can usually find it complete for around 30. It would really be a good time to start collecting.

 

No matter what, I'll always love my SMS. It's one of the most unique systems ever produced. There's simply nowhere else you can play most of the games that came out for it, that that seems kinda rare in the video game world. I can think of some worse systems, but that usually makes people around here angry so I'll skip it this time.

[Flojomojo]

If anyone else were asking, I'd say it's a dated system with some interesting add-ons, like the 3D glasses and the light gun. Many of its best games are also available in significantly improved form on the Genesis, which I feel is a vastly superior system.

 

Since it's Curt Vendel asking, my official answer is "it sucks." That's because I don't want him to make a SMS plug-and-play. Stick to Atari.

 

That said, I wouldn't mind one of these at the right price.

[Tempest]

Let's address these one by one...

 

--it had no good games

 

Not true. It had alot of good games, and it had alot of bad games. Same as the NES. Phantasy Star, Alex Kidd, Govellius, Moonwalker, Aireal Assualt, Maze Hunter 3D, and Choplifter were all good games and all released in the US. Europe had even better games.

 

--horrible flicker

 

True on some games, but then again the NES had this issue too.

 

--choppy graphics

 

See above. The NES had the same problem on games. The SMS may have had a bit more issues with the earlier games though.

 

--poorly designed peripherals

 

Well the Arcade Stick and Sports Pad did blow, but most of the other peripherals were cool (3-D Goggles anyone?). The NES had its share of dogs too (ROB, NES Advantage, Power Pad, etc.)

 

--it was the worst system since RCA Studio II

 

Nothing could be as bad as the Studio II. NOTHING!!!!

 

--no advertising

 

Less advertising than Nintendo would be more accurate. I remembered seeing several SMS adverts back in the day, but mostly in magazines. I don't recall a SMS commercial...

 

--almost non-existent third party support

 

True, but this was because of Nintendo's illegal strong arm tatics. You couldn't develop for any other system if you developed for the NES. This wasn't Sega's fault.

 

--terrible distribution

 

Yep. Tonka really did screw this one up, can't argue with that. When Sega took back the SMS in the early 90's things got better, but the damage was done. Nintendo also had something to do with this (pressuring stores to only carry NES stuff).

 

--the NES had a much better library and proper franchises

 

The NES had more 3rd party developers which helped. I'm not sure what a 'proper' frachise is, more popular perhaps?

 

--after the game crash, people weren't willing to embrace a half-assed effort

 

I'm not sure this really applies to the SMS. It seems to apply more to the 7800 than the SMS.

 

 

 

i like the american releases cause the white/black grid makes them look good on the shelf.

 

I agree with that. There's just something nice about uniformity when all those boxes are lined up on your shelf...

 

Tempest