Master System



This page is about Sega's 8 bit heroes: the radical Master System (known in Japan as the Sega Mark-III) and its 6 AA battery-munching kid sibling, the Game Gear. While the MS was not too popular in America and Japan, it was a smash hit in Europe, Brazil, and Korea for some reason. The Game Gear was well-loved among niche audiences worldwide, but mostly in Japan. Quite a few games available elsewhere for MS and/or GG were exclusive to GG in Japan, who had given up the MS in favor of the GG's portability. Even though it was ahead of its time, its level of fame died down too, as the Game Boy took the reigns, even more so, the Game Boy Color. Recently, Game Gear has risen from the ashes and been announced for Nintendo's 3DS Virtual Console support. Although it (as of this edit) has not made it on there yet.

Notes: 1) A small Game Gear image on Master System games means either version (MS or GG) is fine. If a game is specifically listed under Game Gear, then that version is superior. 2) A note of 3DS availability for Game Gear games will be made when the service is accessible. This will be done with a small 3DS image

Master System
This is a list of good games for the Sega Master System. Mark-III games are noted as well, especially when games take advantage of the Mark-III's features, such as the FM soundchip (which your ears will learn to love!).

Game Gear
Ok let's get some things straight here: the base Game Gear model alone is just terrible. It has a horrible screen, eats enough batteries to choke a hungry hungry hippo, and it's hard to find certain games for it.

HOWEVER, if you're willing to do some modding and buy the proper accessories for your Game Gear it can be an absolutely wonderful little handheld.

1. Definitely LED mod, fixes both the screen and battery life is quadrupled.

2. Buy the rechargeable battery, not only will the also increase battery life but it's a damn rechargeable battery! No more wasting your money on those batteries.

3. You may or may not want the Wide Gear accesory, but it's pretty cool to have a screen that much larger than the GameBoy's!

4. I know it looks tempting but don't buy the Master System Converter. You won't be able to use it with the battery pack, most games look bad when converted, and most of them already have ports on the Game Gear.

Korea's Samsung Gam*Boy
A short mention on a curious study...

Like Russia and its Denby, most countries trying to catch up with others in gaming often had official re-issues of systems. More often than not, said re-issues also have unofficial and/or pirate carts of games. What's curious about this case worth mentioning then? An interesting cross-platform situation, that, despite failing to reach its highest potential, is nonetheless interesting.



Yeah. That's an MSX game on the motherfucking Master System and it plays nearly perfectly. What the hell is going on. Simple. Some software programmers noticed extreme similarities between the two hardware which allowed for the two to share software with some tweaks. But it doesn't end there...

When SMS met Korea


A number of independent and/or pirate efforts were made as well. Some of which utilize existing game aspects and elements, and others remix them or modify them.



"The Micro Xevious" being one example. It took an MSX-like Xevious concept, but added its own (then-retro/now-super-retro) look and even an option for a newly composed song instead the original's doop-a-boop loop.

Due to original carts being extremely hard to find now, even the ROM files are hard to find unless you go deep into the undernet (not saying you should!). You likely won't get to play any of these games due to their difficult-to-obtain nature. These games are also imperfect. Some require strange conveniences (like 2 controllers for Galious) and others may crash due to certain bugs. As a result, none will be listed here. Still, if you are curious after all of that...

Further Reading for the Curious:

Intro in Hardcore Gaming 101 - HG101's study on Korean gaming. In addition to bringing up the Samsung Gam*Boy and games on it, it also brings up lots of other neat info.

SMS Power! - SMS Power's list of Korean-Exclusive games. Neat to look at and find out any flaws and perks about different ones (when mentioned).

Brazil and Tec Toy
There isn't much to say about this that isn't already known, but it's a neat little tidbit. If there's one thing that Brazil is known for vidya-wise, it's a steady support of the SMS even after most of the world gave up on it. Why? Well, let's be frank. Vidya costs money, often a shitload. Add import prices plus store price-spikes and shit gets Australia-level expensive. So someone looked for a budget-friendly system, and found something enjoyable in the SMS. Supply-Demand factors worked favorably and Sega was able to at least partially profit off of older systems and games most other countries wouldn't even look at compared to the NES, MSX, C64, etc. What's best about all this is that the SMS has a pretty damn good hit-to-miss ratio, so about half of the time, you knew you were getting a decent-to-good game. But it doesn't end there...

Monica and Friends to the Rescue!


Good games are always a boon, but what really helps boost sales are properties and licensed characters. At least once, all of us wanted to play at that one game with our favorite character, series, etc. Of course, Brazil has its own stars as well. The most well-known to the world being Monica of Monica's Gang (Mônica of Turma da Mônica in original Portuguese). A feisty little girl with super strength and a child's sense of wonder. How perfect for games could you get? Here's where it gets fun. Don't just put the character/series in a half-ass original game, but instead do an OFFICIAL graphics hack to integrate them into an already good game. The most famous example of this being Turma da Mônica em: O Resgate a revision of Wonder Boy III/Monster World II: The Dragon's Trap. And it wasn't just Monica's Gang either. A number of licenses were utilized including Sapo Xulé, Pica-Pau (Woody Woodpecker), and so on, even motherfucking Bumblebee Man's inspiration. There were some unofficial/pirate graphics hacks and even some original games made as well, but the quality of those is uh... not good.

Long Story Short: If you ever want to get some actual Master System systems and carts for wallet-friendly price and don't mind unfamiliar characters and a bit of Portuguese, or are just a curious collector, hit up the bros in the BR. Odds are they'll know what you're talking about, or at least know somebody else who does.

More Info and Further Reading:

Official English-language Monica page- Learn about the Monica universe and those in it, along with a hefty comics archive

SMS Power's Brazil list- A list of some Brazilian exclusive SMS games and game variants.

Tectoy's Wikipedia's Entry- Further info about the site.

Tectoy's Main Site- A main site to browse their wares. Not much reason to check it other than curiosity.

Tectoy Mobile- barely related to this, but still a neat little site with a cute design.