Master System & YOU!

This is an archive of the many different submissions SegaMasterSystem.com received from 2000-2004 in a section of the site called “Your SMS Experiences”. I wanted to bring this back to the site because some of these stories and recollections from SMS fans are wonderful and should be read!

Feel free to add your own stories and memories through the comments at the bottom!

Name: Zander

I remember when i got my master system it was my 8th or 9th birthday, i had a choice a master system or a little moterbike. Most kids would want to tear up the road but i knew a friend with one and this computer game thing looked cool, so right i was iv never got of the sofa since (not exactly sure if that makes it a good thing) i sold it for a megadrive when i was about 11, when u are a kid u dont know how cool old stuff is untill your older. to make up with it i downloaded all the games i use to have for more hours of hard gaming 🙂 sega could put 100’s of sms games on 1 cd and release it for the playstation of someting i would love to get something like that.

Name: Kirk

My story for my master System goes Like thisIt was just afer Christmas or my Birthday in ’91 or ’92. I was spending my money, in Toys R Us and headed straight for the console section.. I didn’t have enough money to get the newer Consoles (Mega drive SNES even the NES) it was down to 2 The Game Boy and The Master System. as the Master system had games with it I bought that. I loved it and Got Out Run and The Ninja. But then I got a Mega Drive and my Master System was hidden from me, Years later I found it again but because I now had aPlaystation I didn’t play on it. only about another 1 or 2 years I found in a shop Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for that little console. I bought it, after that i got as many games as I can I even got Paperboy for 25p from the same shop that sold me Sonic2 for £4. I want games lots of the The SMS is 6the best console…. EVER!!!

Name: zebow

If I remember correctly I was around 9 years old when me and my parents visited a garage sale somewhere. There was a guy selling his sega ms 1 + 1 games and 1 card, shinobi and hang on. I begged my dad to buy it and strangely enough he did 🙂 . Over the years I got me some more games, cyber shinobi, global defense, f-16 fighter, wonderboy, wonderboy in monsterland. (FYI, I myself did enjoy f-16 fighter) But… I sold it when I turned 17, by that time I got me a playstation and the sms had to go. About 2 years ago I got tired of collecting arcade pcb’s, my personal collection was complete. I visited a friend of mine who still had his sms, we started playing wonderboy and kenseiden… my heart broke. I sold mine, so I went on a search for a new sms and games. Ever since then I’ve been putting ads and visiting garage sales and have quite a nice collection of sms games now. I’m glad I refound my love for the sms, although my wife isn’t that glad when a man of 23 years old is jumping around like a little kid when he buys a space harrier at a garage sale… whatever. I love the sms and the games, you’re site comes in a close second 😉

Name: Sam

My name is sam, when i was about 4 or 5 years old i remember asking my mum for a NES for christmas 1991, up until then i hadnt had anything to do with the sega master system as none of my friends owned them as it was all NES NES NES with them so i wanted one. christmas came round that year and i was really hopeing for my NES. i opened my present from my parents and there was …a sega master system 2 with alex kidd in miracle world built in, plus it has sonic the hedgehog as a cart. as i was hopeing for a NES i said to them.. whats this? they told me that all the NES’s had sold out so they got me the master system instead. so regardless of what i wanted.. my dad tuned it in for me and there i was turning on the console that would from that moment be one of my favorate things in my life…i was playing alex kidd and sonic all day and most of the night. then on boxing day…by friend bertie came round with a copy of ‘aztec adventure’ as he too had got a master system. from then on me and him would be playing master system all the time as he was the only realy other one who had one. then over the years i got more games such as donald duck, mickey mouse land of illusion, my own copy of aztec adventure, other sonic games, olympic games, lion king, jungle book and yes ShinobiMan…i did get a copy of shinobi :). by about the year 2001 i had about 30 games for my master system but then i realised that not many second hand shops have them anymore…so i came on the internet and found that they actually sell master system games on ebay!! then i came across this website devoted to the master system and saw that people collected so i thought i should start my own collection! im on a mission to collect all the UK sms games…then any brazilian, australian and american sms games that are not up for grabs over here. i currently own just over 100 master system games and im getting more all the time. i think that even when im a grown man i shall have my good old master system and games for ever. over the years i have had other consoles such as a sega mega drive, game gear, N64 and playstation and yes i have had the NES in my time as well which i originally wanted. but none of those in my book are anywhere near as great as the master system. all i can say is THANK YOU DIXONS, CURRYS, AND ALL THE OTHER ELECTRICAL STORES FOR SELLING OUT ALL STOCK OF THE NES. if that wernt happening i dunno if i would have the master system these days. ok i expect your all bored now so ill shut my mouth.

Name: Alberto Garcia

I’m Alberto Garcia and I am from Argentina. Many years ago, when I was a little kid and videogames where something new (specially in my country), I requested my parents to buy me a console. They bought me an Atari 2600. I played with its games for some years until I finally got bored. Then, I requested my parents to buy me another one. We started looking in different shops until I saw something that I liked: A Megadrive, which was very expensive at that time. I told my parents that I wanted it. However, due to the high price, they just said that they where going to Œthink about it‚. Some time later, they went to buy the new console without me. I was confident that I was going to get the megadrive, but when my parents came home, they brought something different: The Sega Master System, with Alex Kidd in M. W. built in, one controller, the Light Phaser pisto! l, the 3-D glasses and the game Missile Defense (because it used the two accessories). At first, I felt a little upset because I hadn‚t got what I wanted, but when I tried Alex Kidd I new that this ŒMaster System‚ wasn‚t bad at all! However, there was a problem the Light Phaser didn‚t work, and it was the only one in the shop. My parents went there to return the pistol, along with the 3D glasses and Missile Defense. But they didn‚t come home empty-handed: they brought back the 3D glasses, with a different game this time: Space Harrier 3D. I gave my Atari to my cousin, and, my SMS experience began. At first, it was difficult to find games, they where rare and expensive (40 dollars!). I had to rent them, and there was only 1 video store which had some. However, through the years, they started to get cheaper (but not less difficult to find) and I finally could build up a collection of 23 games. (Most of them are versions released by TEC TOY, because Argentina is just below Bra! zil, although I don‚t have any Brazilian-only games). I could also buy a new Light Phaser. My collection didn‚t grow any more because Master System games dissappeared from stores. That‚s a pity, but it doesn‚t matter. The games I already have are great, because SMS is the best game system ever made! I now have a NES, a Genesis, and a fast computer, but my SMS is still there and I play with it frequently.

Name: Dire 51

Sometime in 1988 I was visited by a friend of mine. He had just received a brand new game system for his birthday, and I was quite interested in checking it out (consider that all I had was an Atari 2600 at the time). He brought his shiny new Master System over and hooked it up – and from the moment that Sega logo came up, I was hooked. The first game he pulled out was Kenseiden, which has since become my favorite SMS game (and I was able to buy from him years later – and yes, I do still have it). Then he popped in Alex Kidd in Miracle World… then Wonder Boy… then Zillion II. Ever since then, I’ve had a soft spot for the old girl. My interest hasn’t died as the years have gone on – it’s flourished. I even found out that my favorite Game Gear game was available on the SMS, which of course I promptly imported (the game in question was Master Of Darkness, which I had for my GG before I sold it, and the SMS version was only available overseas). Now, I hope to pass on my love of the SMS to my daughter, who – even at the age of six months – has shown an interest in many of the SMS games I’ve played for her. ^_^

Name: Pastie100

The story of how i came to earn a sega master sytsem is funny in a way it was exactly 3 yrs ago my playstation was dying it only worked with one game eventually it stopped unable to afford a new console i remembered my old mega drive (genesis in america)feeling nostalgik i found my mums one and hooked it up IT DIDNT WORK.after finding this out i decided to find a megadrive 1 it took me 2 months to my horor the the ac adapter didnt work. so i went next door asking if i could borrow an ac adapter showing the mega drive one they said they hade something like it and produced an old box. they said i could have what was in the box for free i took it home and hooked my megadrive up it worked like a charm. after about 4 months i remember there was something else in the box some old console id never heard of i rummaged under my bed and found tjhe box i opened it up and there it was a master system it appeared uite futuristic to me so i plugged it in and all that found the first game i could find (throwing out ne games i didnt like) it was called out run to my own sense of regret it was a dud so in the next game went fanazy zone.It worked i then decided to find more games for this machine had found little did i know it was a popular as i would find out i found at least 15 more games . now a play it more than my megadrive and have found this website and so ends my mastersystem storyso far.

Name: lukebytes

From when I was born to the age of seven, I lived with my parents in a far distant small town with no phonelines or piped water, and going to the city was a big thing. I often used to go to my friends house who had a Sega Megadrive, and I had wanted one ever since I had been going to his house. For my mothers birthday we decided to go into the city. We were browsing in K-mart when I saw a Sega Master System and desporately wanted it. After lots of nagging and persuading of my parents i finally got it. It came in a pack with Alex the kidd in Miracle World inbuilt and also: Aliens III, Wonderboy, Lemmings II, Shooting Gallery and Back to the future. My favorite games were alex the kidd and wonderboy. I haven’t played either of these games since I was about 10 and I can still remember the music and sound effects. I can remember sitting up until all hours of the night playing the SMS trying to figure out how to get to the final level of both the games. The best thing about the SMS is the corny music and the platform graphics, it’s what makes the whole thing to fun. If you want to play a high-resolution game with no story behind it then get a PS2. If you want to play the original game with a lot of skill required and lots of fun involved, go to a garage sale and get an SMS. If anyone has Wonderboy on pc emulator or Alex the kidd in miracle world on em can you please email them to me at: lukebytes@hotmail.com

Name: David Stocker

I have been a video gamer since the tender age of 3. I guess that is why I am such a video game master today. I used to play my fathers Atari 2600, with games like Pac-Man, River Raid, Dig Dug, Space Invaders and many more. Ever since then I was addicted to video games, but my first true system was the SMS. I would run that thing from 9 in morning to 10 at night if I could. In my eyes there is no other system that represents good old fashioned game play like the SMS, or brings back more fond memories. The only NES games that I remember playing frequently were Castlevania 2, The Super Mario Bros. Series and Punch Out. I didn’t own a NES then, but I played it over many a friends house…even though NES was very popular, I still held the SMS true to my heart…and Games like Altered Beast, Ghostbusters, Teddy Boy, Double Dragon, Alien Syndrome, Kings Quest, Time Soldiers, Rambo II, Wonderboy, Alex Kidd in the Miracl! e World, After Burner, Space Harrier, and Choplifter were just a few in my collection of memoriable games. I remember that me and my father stayed up long hours playing Golvellius until we beat the game. It took us about a month but it was one of the fonder memories of my gaming experience. I beat Double Dragon without getting hit once, and I taped it on my VCR to prove it, it was satisfying to show my friends how much of a video game master I had become. I never had the chance to beat Alex Kid in the Miracle World or Kings Quest, but just recently I played the ROMs and beat those, the SMS is still a force to be reckoned with.

Over the years I have owned these systems in order…Atari 2600, SMS II, NES (a year or so after owning my SMS), SNES, Game Gear, Sega Genesis (just so I could use Sega Channel), Nintendo 64, Playstation, Sega Dreamcast, Game Boy Color, and now currently Playstation 2. Sadly to say, I sold all my systems over the years to pay for the next best thing, including my SMS, but it was a huge part of my journey to video game supremacy and will always be the greatest system of old…legendary indeed!!

Name: Keith Bradshaw

I never owned an SMS. When I was 9 We moved from texas to idaho and on the way we stopped at our cousins’ (who we had given our NES to) house. When I got there, I wanted to play the NES. But, they told me that a friend had broken it! (That guy should be commended) But, they had an SMS. So I decided to go with that. The first game I played was Outrun. THAT IS A GREAT GAME!!!!!!!!!!! I also played AKIMW and Shinobi Missile defense 3d, Gangster town, Rastan (that game is SOOOO good)! I had never seen an SMS before then, and I loved it. I haven’t been able to locate an SMS, but I have emulated games for a long time. (If you can’t find a game for your SMS EMULATE IT!!!!!!) It is the way to go if you can’t find another way. SMS ROCKS!!!!!!

Name: Ervin Acosta

My name is Ervin Jay Acosta , i live in Puerto Rico were very few people owned the S.M.S. , My father gave it to me as a xmas present when i was 10, it had hang on built in! by that time i was pretty dissapointed cause i wanted a Nintendo. It just took a few hours to make me forget Nintendo and stick to my S.M.S. After a few week’s my dad got me RAMBO II just (because the title i suppose). After that i started renting games at a local video store some of these games were shinobi, fantasy zone, ghost busters, wonder boy and after burner. We didnt have much of a choice here since very few video stores sold S.M.S. games. Later on my dad got me Alex kidd the lost stars, global defense and aztec adventure. in 92 i got a copy of miracle wariors and my t.v. set was broken so i tried to do a “homemade” A/V adapter to hook up the power base to my monitor but i ended up with a non working SEGA 😦 . I gave away all my games (ignorant) and forgot about SEGA. One day i rememberd Phantasy Star (my first RPG) and started thinking of getting another SEGA and all the games that i always wanted!! You know the ones in the catalog!!! But i didnt know how so i just forgot about it. Now in SEP 2001 i started looking for the SEGA and i saw that it was very popular in Brazil, with games like mortal kombat 1, 2 & 3 and street fighter 2 .I was pretty surprised i never thought it had games like that for an 8-bit system. So i discoverd E-bay in JAN 2002 and got a S.M.S. II system and 7 games :PHANTASY STAR, CYBORG HUNTER, TIME SOLDIERS, CASINO GAMES, MIRACLE WARRIORS, CLOUD MASTER, SPELLCASTER & ALEX KIDD MW built in. Pretty good deal i didnt expect to get P.S. so fast. Today i have 4 S.M.S. and like 80 games, 3D glasses , light phaser, A/V CABLES!!!! (the ones i tried to make!!!) Got my own copy of mortal kombat I and ill be getting 2 & 3 this week!! Today im 23 , work as a software engineer for a small company here in P.R. and feel great cause i achieved my goal as a S.M.S. collector!!!

Name: Omnedon

In the Christmas of 1986 my Father bought “The Family” a Sega Master System. I’d always wanted a game system, but never had one. I’d spent my earlier years schlepping my way to various friends houses to play Atari, or Intellivision, or Colecovision. So, for some reason, my Dad finally coughed up the cash for a game system in 1986. He told me he picked the SMS over the NES because of the cooler gun and gun game. =)

I was 16, and was kinda finding other interests, like the opposite sex. Nevertheless I was a hardcore enough gamer to play a lot. We had Action Fighter, and Choplifter, in addition to the pack in Hang On/ Safari Hunt. I played it a lot, and bought more games for it as time went by. I sold it when I was 18, to buy tires for my car. =( I bought another one cheap when I was 20, and enjoyed it quite a bit then too. Eventually I got a Genesis, and a (very expensive and disappointing!) SegaCD, as my interests turned to computer games (DOOM owned me) I sold all my console stuff, and I sold that SMS too.

Now it’s 2002, and I am an avid collector of old consoles. I was lacking a SMS, then in a junky pawn shop, buried under a buch of broken stuff, was a Hang On/Safari Hunt cart. I started digging… found the Power base (original SMS), and the AC adapter. No Controllers or gun. Sigh. Bought it on the cheap, lamenting it’s incompleteness to the shopkeep. However, when I got it home, I was able to test it because my collection already had a Sega Genesis in it.. and the controllers are of course compatible! (i vaguely remembered this). IT WORKED!! A quick E-bay trip, and some luck, and I got 2 SMS controllers with gun. Some TLC with some damp towels and a Toothbrush, and my 3rd SMS looks like new again. I’m so pleased, as I’m sure I saved this unit from an eventual date with a dumpster. It was literally buried in junk..REAL junk.

I have a real soft spot for the SMS, because it’s the only old console I really owned when I was still a kid (barely!). Everything else has been memories from a friends house, but the Sega Master System is my favourite. It’s not a hardware thing, it’s a sentimental thing.

Name: Dangolden7

When I was in grade school, Nintendo Entertainment System was the ultimate “thing to get” amongst myself and all of my friends. I wanted one myself mostly because of the game I had played and enjoyed at the local 7-11…that game being Super Mario Brothers. That Christmas, I was surpassed (and perplexed) when instead of opening a brand new NES, I received something called SEGA Master System. To say I was a bit suprised would be an understatement. I grinned and hooked it up, all the while thinking it was going to be something not nearly as enjoyable as what my friends were surely getting that year. Boy was I shocked. The two pack-in games were a really fun cycle racer that blew away any arcade racer that I had tried up to that point, and a shooting game that was much deeper and exciting then the big N’s dopey shooter where all you have to aim for was repetitive ducks. I became an instant ! SEGAphile. A few days later, I took my Christmas money to the mall in search of a new game that I could enjoy on my new game system. I took a gamble at a game titled Alex Kidd in Miracle World. The back of it’s box showed screens that reminded me of the side-scrolling format I had previously enjoyed while downing a slurpee and plugging quarters into SMB. I brought it home and had a blast when I found out how deep Alex Kidd was. The original AKIMW is still my favorite game of all time to this day.

The years went by and I collected over a dozen more SMS cartridges that I played to death. I noticed that SEGA had a much smaller line-up then the big N, but I did not care. SEGA’s games were always more desirable. Then I heard about a new, 16-bit system called Genesis. Since it was made by SEGA, I knew I wanted it. After getting the Genesis for another Christmas, I sold my SEGA Master System to buy games for the Genesis but I kept the SMS games (just in case). About a year later I was delighted to find a power base converter to play those great games again.

Years went by. I grew up. I had a SEGA CD (and was disappointed in many ways) but I never got a Saturn…yet. I ended up graduating from high school still playing my Genesis and Master System games. A house fire unfortunately caused me to lose all of my games. That was about 7 years ago. I recently found a SMS at a second hand store and purchased it. I am happy to say that I can now go on a quest to find all of those great SMS games I enjoyed so many years ago as a kid.

Name: SMS Fan

I bought a SMS II System recently (6/6/2002) from a garage sale for $15 together with 9 games (7 cartridges): Castle of Illusion, Asterix, Wanted, The Ninja, Dick Tracy, SMS II Master Games, and Wimbledon Tennis, and for hardware it included two Control Pads, one Sega SS-55 (what the heck does that thing do anyway?) and one Light Phaser. When I first set it up, i put the Master Games in, and up came Alex Kidd in Miracle World (wich was built-in), and i went playing with it, together with my brother. Then, i put in another game. And again, i saw Alex the Kidd on the screen. So i tried another game. Alex!. Then i turned it on without a game cartridge in, and still Alex the Kidd booted up. I did not know that Alex was built-in, so i thaught it was broken. The mistery was solved when my brother sneezed in the cartrigde slot. Apperantly, it was dusty and could not read the games. Now, i like the SMS more than the N64. I like it even more than the GameCube (although i did not experience this myself, only with emulators). The only thing I want to add to this is: SMS FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Name: Kris Asick (Gemini)

I grew up as an NES and Genesis kid, split between which system to beg my parents to get games for as time passed. Of course, now that I’m 19 I have to buy my own games, and systems. The Master System is actually the newest game system in my growing collection of over 100 console games, and I already have 12 games for it, though my rarest one so far is only Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap, which is still a very cool game. (Heh. I love run-on sentences.) Unfortunately my light zapper aims about yards off and because the screws are stripped I can’t open the blasted thing to fix it. Ahh well. Right now the games I really want for the system, (but will more than likely NOT be able to get in the near future), are Phantasy Star, Golden Axe Warrior, Impossible Mission, Ghostbusters, and Action Fighter and all three Fantasy Zone games.

Name: sum15yearold

I have had my master system since i was 6. I got it from one of my realitives who didn’t want it anymore. I’ve always favored my SMS over my Nintendo that I completley hated! So far i got 30 cartridges and 4 game cards, 12 have the oringinal boxes. My SMS is been a little beaten since i got it in 1993, but it still humms. Any one know where i can find Sonic for SMS? Thank you. P.S. Here’s a few titles i have: Paperboy, Galaxy Force, Rampage, Transbot, Shinobi, Space Harrier, and much more.

Name: Toplay

I was 10 years old when I owned a SMS, it came with Alex Kidd in Miracle World built into console’s ROM memory.
My favorite RPG’s were Ys and PS, however I owned an Ultima IV cartrigde due to the remarkably difficulty of Ultima game series – ULTIMA IV IS PROBABLY THE MOST CHALLENGING CONSOLE GAME EVER MADE – I’ve writing notes during plays, with such things as potions, secret passages, item locations, etc.
I also played a lot Golden Axe Warrior, believe me this game kicks Zelda’s booty!
One of the best games is the SMS conversion of Street Fighter 2, oh…that’s 8-bit heaven!!

Name: Lucas

I’m one of those dudes whose first system was an SMS. I have played almost every game available over the 10 years. I now have a SMD and SNES with a vast collection, but … # nothing compares #nothing compares, to you # … Unfortunately I have had to sell all but my CORE collection of games to feed my very expensive SNES rpg addiction, but the core still remains: Action Fighter Phantasy star Black Belt Sonic 1 Bomber Raid Sonic 2 California Games Wonderboy 1 Castle of Illusion Wonderboy 2 Olympic Gold Wonderboy 3 Outrun World Cup Italia 90’ All these games have a special place in my heart. My favourites are Outrun, AlexKidd (built in!), Sonic1 and Castle of Illusion. I remember playing AlexKidd with my brother and my dad. We’d take turns on different stages and of course I was the best. We reached the end and were confronted with crazy tiles. The ghosts came up and we were stuffed. Later after reading a FAQ I realised that I had forgotten to get a rosetta stone… d’oh! I remember the funkiness of Outrun and the amazement of the very immersive (for those days!) Sonic1, and Castle of Illusion. In September 2001 (this year) I walked into an old video shop and saw which games he was selling today. The usual… ex rental Bank Panic, Space Harrier, no SNES games, sport games for SMD, a few Saturn games… phantasy star 1? I’d never seen that before. Wonder what its like. It was only AU$5 (some US$2.50) so there wasn’t any real risk. I took it home, played it for a while and kept it. ‘Good find’, I said to myself. So the next day I do a search on the Internet and read about the GREATNESS of the game. The MANY pages that applaud it. Accolades such as the BEST rpg for a long time. Well, that’s the good luck story of my life, I think. I thought I’d share it with all of you pawn shop lovers to see that dreams can come true and miracles do happen.

Name: Chris Ockman

I have lots of ultra rare games that were never relesed in the US. Unfortuneatly their not for sale because i live in australia. Well i got a sega master system in 1993 brand new. Here SMS games were selling in toys r us until 1997. Also an australian company made a set of games that were only released in Australia. I’ll take some pictures of some of the screen shots. I do have “my hero” but I bought it from a market with no case/box. And it’s quite scruffy. I have 22 SMS games and continuing my collection. If SMS was killed in the US in 1992, It was killed in Oz in 1997. Thus we got a sega master system game ©1993. Thanks for such a good site for the SMS. Sega… The King Of All Consoles!!

Name: Bob

I never bought a SMS, I was too young to appreciated games back then. My first SEGA console was the Mega Drive, Oh boy how i played and played. One day I went to the video store and borrowed an adapter to play SMS games; i grabbed Asterix for it (A comic book characters’ game) and i played like there was no tomorrow. That game alone, was better than any Mega Drive, PC, or PSX game that I have ever played since. I loved it then and still love it now.

Name: Bruce “aka” Zektor

I have been with the SMS since it’s release. I used to play My hero, Action Fighter, Space Harrier, and many many more right after school (I believe I was in 6th grade or so then) and the games kicked ass! I am continuing my devotion to the good ol’ SMS by making a hugh attempt to get EVERY single game here and broadside. I’m at about 175 boxed games right now! Give me 2 or so years! 🙂

Name: Anton

The SMS was one of the all time systems, it did a much better job than replicating the NES for conversions, and some original games (WB3, Alex Kidd, Sonic) among others, My first SMS experience was quite a funny one, I had an Atari 2600 with it’s grotty repeditive games (retro and cool but b.o.r.i.n.g.) I was bought a NES from HongKong however it did not work with the “mattel” games here, (I have since installed a hack switch) so I was bought a Sega SMS., the graphics and sound left the NES in the dirt (NES DID have some great games, just the muddy colors and Atari-like sounds were nothing compared). I had built up quite a collection of games, and systems (including SC-3000) however some were lost, what I still have are the sonic games, and a little bit of history.
I recently recieved a box of the original replacement chips from the SMS1 2 and MegaDrive (Genesys) which had come from the SEGA service center here (New Zealand) along with other development stuff from a junk store down this way. Many fond memories (and hacking) of the SMS.

Name: Bryan
My most fond memory of the Sega Master System was actually my last one. Me and my brother found out that we’d be getting a Nintendo set for Christmas ’89. So on Christmas Eve, we played a bunch of games on the Sega Master System and unwittingly stumbled upon the hidden game with the snail in it, without even knowing what we were doing. As much as I looked forward to getting the Nintendo, I actually felt really bad about discarding my old friend, the Sega Master System.

Name: Mark from Texas

I remember wanting an NES back in the late eighties. Everyone on my street was going to get one for Christmas but me, so naturally, I had to have one. When my mom and grandmother took me to the store to point out what I wanted, they were out! All they had left was Sega Master Systems…yech! Well, being a kid, and a stubborn, impatient one at that I chose that over waiting a few more weeks for more NES’s to come in. Christmas morning was a pleasant surprise to say the least! I loved Hang On and Safari Hunt, despite my friends inability to see what was so cool about them. Actually, I soon got bored with those games, but over the next few years I managed to build a solid collection! My favorite games to this day are Miracle Warriors (I have 3 copies of that…don’t ask), Phantasy Star, and Golvelius. I have about 40 master system games all together and I still manage to play them every once in a while. It’s sad how Sega has always struggled with their system!
ms, (goodbye dreamcast) it’s just that Nintendo had a better marketing approach and cornered it by targeting kids with Mario. Sega knew there was a broad audience of gamers out there, but when they tried to accommodate all tastes, they hurt themselves. On a final note, one of my favorite sega experiences was going to a pawn shop one day just a few years ago and finding several Sega Master System games SEALED in the box! I felt like a kid again! Later!

Name: Tony from Down Under

My dad, my sister and I went to a games shop in in early 90’s, i was only little, and my sister bought a sms2. For the next few years we worked up quite a collectio of games. My sister was going to sell her beloved sega so I bought it from her and the games for 100 australian dollers. The sega just sat in the cupbord as I got older and i bought a cough,cough snes and a N64. But when I stumbled over your site in my drunken travles not that long ago my passion for the sms was renewed. I now own 24 sega master system games and are looking to collect them all.

Name: Tom Quirk

I was one of the lucky few who recieved an SMS for Christmas in ’86. I saw the commercials and did a comparison with the NES. I knew the SMS was better, period, and I had to have one. I was 13 at the time, and only one other guy I knew had an SMS. We became best friends. I got a Genesis in ’89 (spoiled, I guess) and shortly retired my SMS. I kept the games through many moves and life changes. I came very close to selling them or pawning them, but I don’t know why I didn’t. Now my interest is renewed because I realize the Sega legacy is the one to follow. They really worked hard on their games to give people an entertaining and satisfying product. I remember calling the Sega Hotline and my mom yelling at me for all the phone bills while I was trying to get hints for Fantasy Zone II! I used to study my Sega Visions magazines until they were dog-eared (alas! I threw them away). I’m lucky to have kept about 20 games and am trying to build up my collection o!
nce again (now I have 30+). The Sega Master System – there is no substitute!!!!

Name: Thomas Rye Eriksen

I am from Norway, in a small town named Horten. Christmas 90′ I got one Sega Master System, the original. I loved it, and my first game was Alex the Kid in miracle world. one of the best games ever!!I got many games, but unfortunately I have lost some of the best during the years…

Name: Ro

I got a Sega Master System back in the summer of 1988. It had good graphics and sound quality better than the NES. The credit card-sized games were cool. My favorite SMS game was Space Harrier. I’ve always played it in the arcades when I was 8. I loved every racing game ever made for that system. I even liked Afterburner. I felt like Tom Cruise when playing Afterburner in the arcades. In 1994, my SMS died. I still have the SMS games intact. I gotta get myself the original SMS. I played Penguin Land in 1995 at my cousin’s house and Psycho Fox as well. That penguin was so cute, but I think Sonic is cuter.

Name: Jon Romero

In 1987 I had a sega master system, I thing it had the best 3d effects I had ever seen. Even today’s Playstation can’t come near the excellence of the master sysytem. unfortunately my master system broke in 1993 beyond all possible repair. I am trying with all my might to track it down again. bu for now I have a SMS page of my own at http://rp_gamer.tripod.com/SMS/1.html

Name: John Van En

I remember a girl I knew way back when I was 6, I remember her big brother having an SMS, and boy did I suck at the games they had. I recently found a complete SMS 3-D set in a not so mint box (riped lid)console in a no so local vintage gamestore several miles down the road, My god parents bought it for me as a B-day gift. And s9ince then I have had good times with it. My games include Phantasy Star, Zillion, Alex Kidd MW, Missle defense (of course), Shinobi, Choplifter, Hangon/Safari Hunt, and Kenseiden. I still need to collect more stuff, and to do that, all I need is a job. even then it will be hard seeing as I own 10 consoles.

Name: James

My story is pretty much like everyone elses I guess, I got my SMS on x-mas of ’88, I only knew of two other people that owned the system, I felt like an outcast not owning a Nintendo, but now I know that I was really in an exclusive club that got to play the best games with the best graphics.The SMS will never die.

Name: Mike Snickles

In 1997 I had found a Sega Master System hanging out of someones trash can and it worked but it had no controlers so since than i have ben useing my genesis ones. this unit has hang on and safri built in I now have 10 games for it. I have 7 other video game systems genesis ver. 1+3, 32x dreamcast, gamegear, nes pokemon yellow gameboy, dk n64. Where can I get controlers for sms And why is the box for power strike in blue and white with a little gray. The sms is awsome and better than nintendo.

Name: Michael Ramos

I bought my SMS from a friend down the street in 1986. I had grown up on Atari and then Coleco and so SMS was a revelation, a religous experience. But I was the only one. Yes, they all conformed and recieved Nintendo. I became outcast. In ’89 I packed it away in a box and forgot about it. Now in 2001, my father calls and asks me to take some things I left years ago. There it was, the SMS! Being self-employed as an investor leaves plenty of time for my old SMS at odd hours & through strange circumstances. The SMS is…necessary. (along with some of the other finer things in life.)

Name: Josh

To me and my friends and I think most people in Australia we find it strange that it did not do well in America becuase in Australia it did better then the anything. Everyone I have talked to have at least owned one or have played a friends. I remeber get my first sega Master System 2 in 1993 at me my brother and my sister thought it was great we sat playing Alex Kid for hours that night I remeber. I just wanted to thank you for making such a great web site to the greatest video game console. I might also say I am a fellow Sega collector and have every Sega ever made and I try to get all the accesories if possible.

Name: Jake

I have a long history with the Sega Master System. My brother and I got one for Christmas in the late 80s, I was in love from the beginning. I started collecting games, buying them from store clearances as the SMS was being phased out. After it was discontinued I ran ads in the local paper, and bought games from people for really cheap. I have 89 games currently.