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).

Coming Soon: A brief mention of Brazil and Tec Toy
But not for a few days.