Sega Master System Popularity?

[+FujiSkunk]

The SMS failed because

 

--it had no good games

 

Fantasy Zone, R-Type, Shinobi, Phantasy Star, the list goes on and on.

 

--horrible flicker

 

And the NES didn't?

 

--choppy graphics

 

And the NES didn't?

 

--poorly designed peripherals

 

ROB, anyone? Or hey, how about a Power Glove?

 

--it was the worst system since RCA Studio II

 

Now you're just repeating yourself.

 

--no advertising

 

That I can't argue with, although it's only true for the U.S.

 

--almost non-existent third party support

--terrible distribution

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

 

Nintendo is as much to blame as Sega for that.

 

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

 

The SMS was anything but half-assed. It only seems that way because of it's American track record. Remember, Sega was still in the process of reestablishing their American identity at this time. Combine that with how Nintendo made an effective pre-emptive strike against the competition, and it's easy to see why the SMS was a disappointment, but only in one part of the world.

Edited December 8, 2005 by skunkworx

[reesclissold]

Huh? The SMS was the shit... Case closed!

 

If you want to get picky, the games were probably better than the 7800. Technically it was rubbish, but then again so is the PS2 and people buy more of those than xboxes...

[joeybastard]

I like my SMS but mostly because it has lots of lightgun games. The NES is the well deserved king of that era but the SMS doesn't suck in the way the RCA or O2 sucks.

[Cybergoth]

Hi there!

 

--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.

 

Dunno... the SMS good / crap game ratio is IMO worse than on the O2 (Though, nothing beats the GBA there ) . I'd be surprised if more than 1 out of 20 SMS games is enjoyable... And I'm from Europe...

 

Greetings,

Manuel

[nester]

Well at least it didn't have a bunch of lousy Acclaim titles!

[Classic Pac]

I love my SMS and I have a lot of systems. Sure you could point out that this game or that game was bad. But can you name 1 system that hasn't had at least one bad title? My guess is that you can't, hey even PS 2 games have flicker, but it's normally called slow down. But the SMS did have some really GREAT games Double Dragon is a personal favorite along with Rampage and Wonderboy in Monsterland.

 

When you have a chance check out sega8bit.com

[8th lutz]

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.

978497[/snapback]

 

How are Phantasy star, Wonder Boy in Monster Land, Wonderboy:Dragon's Trap, Zillion, Golvellius:Vallley of Doom,Fantasy Zone 1&2,Y's,Alex Kidd in miracle World,Psycho Fox,Power Strike,Gauntlet Are bad games? They are not on the Genesis. When is Phantasy Star considered a bad Game? The Genesis games that were on the sms have different levels in some cases like Sonic one.

 

You talked are the sms having bad flicker, the nes flickers too. And example of the is Ultima:Exodus, Parts of megaman 3 and others I didn't mention do too.

 

The Sms graphic's aren't graphics aren't choppy in their best games and beat the nes graphics when compare the same game head to head.

 

As for as poorly designed peripherals the sms is a bad as the nes.

 

It is not the worst system since the RCA Studio II. The Atari 7800 was for that time period not the sms.

 

Sms does have poor advertising in the states, not in europe.

 

The almost non-existent third party support for the sms was most caused by nintnedo's "third parties can't produce games for other system" policy.

 

The terrible distribution and the NES had a much better library and proper franchises was was caused by nintendo's monoply with third parties. The distrubution partialy blames on Sega having Tonka doing the distrubution

and deciding what games to release in the U.S., along with nintendo.

 

The sms was not a halfed assed effert. The Atari 7800 was. Sega at that time was trying to reestablishing itself after the crash. Nintendo didn't help matters. The later systems for Sega were half ass such as the 32x,Sega CD, saturn to an extent, and the nomad.

Edited December 8, 2005 by 8th lutz

[davepesc]

Wow, there was a time when Nintendo was the one with all the 3rd party support!

Imagine the developers' response if they tried that now.

 

 

Anyway, regardless of the reasons why, let's judge the system on it's merits, not by what it doesn't have.

 

Games:

The list has grown and grown in this thread, Role players, shooters, racing, light gun, they're all here.

 

Accessories:

I don't get the hate. The sports pad bit ass, but every other peripheral was great, including the joystick. The lightgun was the best available until the GunCon.

 

Graphics:

As good as NES, often better when comparing games from the same timeframe. It flickered when there was a lot happening, sure. But so did the 2600, NES, SNES and Genesis.

[video game addict]

I liked the SMS, but really don't think it was as good as the NES.

 

I think there were alot of crap games. Not enough good games.

 

I had around 100 games myself before I sold it all, and really it got very little play from me. Of course with tons of games around it's often hard to fit in everything. Still every time I tried to enjoy it I'd swap out cartridges looking for something entertaining, and rarely spent much time at all with it. Usually it just sat on the shelf. Nintendo really held the market back in those days, and even though there are many crappy NES games, I think the number of fun NES games far exceed that of the SMS, Euro PAL included.

[thegamezmaster]

I've had mine since it came out and still love and play it.

[8th lutz]

I like the nes and sms, booth are good systems. I feel the nes a little better because of the total amount of games, meaning more good hames as a result. I like the games sms has that the nes doesn't have or do a better job with a few games along with straying true to the arcade.

Edited December 9, 2005 by 8th lutz

[20eyes]

Honestly, who really cares which was "better", if you like it you like if you dont you don't.

Is it possible to have a SMS post without bringing up the which system was better debate?

 

Anyway, I like the Master System I'm 20 away from the US set.

[Atarifever]

 

Accessories:

I don't get the hate. The sports pad bit ass, but every other peripheral was great, including the joystick. The lightgun was the best available until the GunCon.

 

 

978824[/snapback]

I can't play AfterBurner or ThunderBlade without the joystick. Also, I love Safari Hunt and a few other lightgun games on the SMS and haven't ever liked any lightgun game I've played on the NES.

 

As for the list of games, has anyone mentioned Blackbelt yet? I think it's great; simple, but great.

[bedouin]

I meant to mention Blackbelt when I said Kung-Fu . . . got confused there.

[Flojomojo]

[Atarifever]

979378[/snapback]

The cases had poor graphics, no doubt. However, I prefer them in general to the more colourful yet vastly inferior NES box and black sleeve setup. Also:

[bedouin]

Not to mention you could actually store your cartridges safely in the Sega cases.

 

The Sega design was likely in response to the video game crash; they wanted something that looked more mature and serious, as opposed to many other standard designs that were obviously marketed to kids or teenagers.

 

By the time this thread is over you guys are going to send me on a quest to recapture all the SMS games I owned as a kid.

[Tempest]

979378[/snapback]

 

Pro Wrestling is about as bad as the SMS box artwork gets. However there are lots of neat looking artwork too:

 

 

Tempest

[Dones]

--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.)

I think this is an area where the Sega outdid Nintendo. The 3D glasses performed way better than the flimsy anaglyphic paper glasses used by the NES. Sega actually supported the peripheral with a nice set of games (including 3D versions of arcade hits like Space Harrier and Outrun). Nintendo only bothered to make two.

 

SMS's phaser gun looks way cooler than the zapper (and performed better too).

[sku_u]

--horrible flicker

 

And the NES didn't?

 

--choppy graphics

 

And the NES didn't?

 

 

 

Sorry if I gave off the impresion that I was choosing the NES over the SMS. I also think the NES sucks. My favorite system from that era is the 7800 when referring to graphics.

[sega saturn x]

It's a neat system with some cool games but oen thing I despise is the fact the pause button is on the console. What the hell was sega thinking? I also can't figure out for the life of my why sega used the same design as nintento regarding the controller. The nes has one of the worst controllers of any system ever, I love the dog bone but the brick sucks plain and simple. Shame sega never released a second controller like nintendo did. (Can you use the genesis controller on the master system?)

 

And I have noticed how small the libraray of games is, well the good ones any way. Lots of bad sports games. I know a lot of people have been saying "It's nintendos fault" and it probably is, but that doesn't change the fact the master system still doesn't have a lot of good games. Don't get me wrong it does have good games, I just wish there were more of them.

[davepesc]

It's a neat system with some cool games but oen thing I despise is the fact the pause button is on the console.  What the hell was sega thinking?  I also can't figure out for the life of my why sega used the same design as nintento regarding the controller.  The nes has one of the worst controllers of any system ever, I love the dog bone but the brick sucks plain and simple.  Shame sega never released a second controller like nintendo did.  (Can you use the genesis controller on the master system?)

 

And I have noticed how small the libraray of games is, well the good ones any way.  Lots of bad sports games.  I know a lot of people have been saying "It's nintendos fault" and it probably is, but that doesn't change the fact the master system still doesn't have a lot of good games.  Don't get me wrong it does have good games, I just wish there were more of them.

979560[/snapback]

 

Yeah, the pause thing sucks, but you can use Genny controllers. IIRC, you use buttons B and C.

 

And the system has decent sports games, just stay away from Great Football and anything "Sports Pad" related and you'll be OK.

[8th lutz]

Yeah, the pause thing sucks, but you can use Genny controllers. IIRC, you use buttons B and C.

 

979564[/snapback]

 

Most Games the Genesis controller works. I had problems with one of the Wonder boy games with it.

[davepesc]

Yeah, the pause thing sucks, but you can use Genny controllers. IIRC, you use buttons B and C.

 

979564[/snapback]

 

Most Games the Genesis controller works. I had problems with one of the Wonder boy games with it.

979570[/snapback]

 

There are a few that don't work, can't remember which, offhand.

[sega saturn x]

I will need to try with a genesis controller next time I get a new game. And really I don't know how good the sports games are since I would pretty much never buy sports game. Just not in to sports.