Sega Master System
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| Sega Master System | |
|---|---|
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| Manufacturer | Sega |
| Type | Video game console |
| Generation | Third generation (8-bit era) |
| First available |  June 1986 1987 1987 |
| CPU | 8-bit Zilog Z80 |
| Media | Cartridge and card |
| Units sold | 13 million [1] |
| Top-selling game | Alex Kidd in Miracle World |
| Predecessor | SG-1000 |
| Successor | Sega Mega Drive/Genesis |
The Sega Master System (セガ・マスターシステム Sega Masutā Shisutemu?) or SMS for short, is an 8-bit cartridge-based video game console that was manufactured by Sega. Its original Japanese incarnation was the SG-1000 Mark III. In the European market, this console launched Sega onto a competitive level comparable to Nintendo, due to its wider availability, but failed to put a dent in the North American and Japanese markets. The Master System was released as a direct competitor to the NES/Famicom. The system ultimately failed to topple its Nintendo competitor, but has enjoyed over a decade of life in secondary markets, especially Brazil.
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[edit] History
[edit] Japan
The SG-1000 Mark III came after the SG-1000 Mark I and SG-1000 Mark II. It was released in Japan on October 20, 1985. Typical of the era, game consoles had a mascot character. Sega's first mascot was Opa-opa from Fantasy Zone, as referenced in the manual for Zillion. Later on, especially in Western territories where Fantasy Zone was less popular, Alex Kidd emerged as a mascot. It is unclear if his mascot status was ever official, or if it was simply perceived because of the similarity to the Mario games that represented the competing Nintendo console.
[edit] North America
The system was redesigned and sold in the United States under the name Sega Master System in June 1986, less than a year after the Nintendo Entertainment System was released. The console sold for $200. The Master System was subsequently released in other locales and markets, including a second release in Japan in 1987 under the new Master System name. The Japanese Master System included a built-in 3-D glasses adapter, rapid fire, and a Yamaha YM2413 FM sound chip, all of which were separate accessories for the Mark III.
Though the Master System was a more technically advanced piece of hardware than the NES, it did not attain the same level of popularity among consumers in the United States. Its lack of success in the U.S. has been attributed to various causes, among them the difference in game titles available for each platform and the slightly later release date of the Master System. The licensing agreement that Nintendo had with its third-party game developers had a profound impact. The agreement stated, in effect, that developers would exclusively produce games for the NES. The Master System sold 125,000 consoles in the first four months. In the same period, the NES would net 2,000,000.
Nintendo had 90% of the North American market at the time. Hayao Nakayama, then CEO of Sega, decided not to use too much effort to market the console in the NES-dominated market. In 1988, the rights to the Master System in North America were sold to Tonka, but its popularity continued to decline. The move was considered a very bad one, since Tonka had never marketed a video game system and had no idea what to do with it.
In 1990, Sega was having success with its Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and as a result took back the rights from Tonka for the SMS. They designed the Sega Master System II, a newer console which was smaller and sleeker but which, to keep production costs low, lacked the reset button and card slot of the original. In an effort to counter Nintendo's Super Mario Brothers, the new system included Alex Kidd in Miracle World, or later Sonic the Hedgehog, playable without any cartridges. Sega marketed the Master System II heavily; nevertheless, the unit sold poorly in North America.
By 1992, the Master System's sales were virtually nonexistent in North America and sales in this market ceased. Sales were poor in Japan as well, due to the dominance of the main competitor from Nintendo, the Nintendo Famicom The Master System left the Japanese market during 1989.
[edit] Europe
In Europe, Sega marketed the Master System in many countries, including several in which Nintendo did not sell its consoles. It had some success in Germany, where it was distributed by Ariolasoft beginning in winter 1987. The Europeans had garnered lots of third party support for the SMS and as a result, it was able to outsell the NES in Europe. Nintendo was forced to get licensing for some popular SMS titles in that market. The Master System was supported until 1996 in Europe. It was discontinued so that Sega could concentrate on the new Sega Saturn. Sales of the SMS in Australia were exceptional as it was far more popular than the NES there; the SMS was able to gain greater market share there than that in North America[citation needed] due to Sega distributors Ozisoft having strong ties with retailers. In New Zealand it was largely successful as well - due to NES having a weak influence - and was supported until 1997.
[edit] Brazil
Brazil was one of the SMS' most successful markets. It was marketed in that country by Tec Toy, Sega's Brazilian distributor. A Sega Master System III (and even a semi-portable SMS VI) had been released in that market and several games had been translated into Portuguese. The characters in the said games had been modified so that they appealed to Brazilian mainstream audiences (for example, Wonder Boy in Monster Land featured Mônica, the main character from a popular children's comic book in Brazil, created by Maurício de Sousa). Brazil also produced 100% national titles, like Sítio do Pica Pau Amarelo (based on Monteiro Lobato workmanship) and Castelo Ra-Tim-Bum (from the TV Cultura series).
One of the more notable Master System consoles in Brazil was the compact wireless Master System Compact developed by Tec Toy. The console transmitted the A/V signal through RF, dispensing cable connections. It was produced from 1994 to 1997 and is still a target for console collectors. A similar version, called Master System Girl, was also released in an attempt to attract female consumers. The only difference in this version was a strong pink casing and pastel buttons.
Later in its life in Brazil, Game Gear games had been ported to the Master System and several original Brazilian titles were made for the system. Tec Toy also produced a licensed version of the wildly popular fighting game Street Fighter II for the Master System. Despite the limitations of the console, the game turned out to be fairly well received.[citation needed] The console production was familiar to the Brazilians, which explains the success in that market.
The Master System is still being produced in Brazil. The latest version is the "Master System III Collection". It uses the same design as the Master System II (Master System III in Brazil), but is white and comes in three versions: one with 74 games built-in, other with 105 games and another with 112 games. However, in Brazil, it is hard to find the 3-D Glasses, the Light Phaser and even cartridges, leaving most Brazilians with only built-in games.
Overall, the SMS was mildly successful worldwide, but failed to capture the Japanese and North American markets. Sega learned from its mistakes and made the succeeding Sega Mega Drive/Genesis wildly popular in Europe, Brazil, and North America.
The Sega Master System was rereleased in a smaller handheld form factor in late 2006. This small handheld device is powered by 3 AAA batteries, has a brighter active matrix screen, and contained 20 Game Gear and Sega Master System games. It was released under several brands including Coleco and PlayPal. More details about this device are available here [2].
[edit] Media input
One of the most unique features of the Sega Master System was its dual media inputs: one cartridge slot and one card slot. The card slot accepted small cards about the size of a credit card. Most cards were games, but one card served an entirely different purpose. The 3-D glasses plugged into the console via the card slot, and allowed 3-D visual effects for specially designed cartridge games. In this fashion, both media inputs worked in tandem.
[edit] Game controllers
[edit] Standard controllers
The Master System controller was considered extremely durable. However, there were only 2 buttons, one of which additionally performed the function of the traditional "Start" button; the pause button was on the game console itself. The original controllers, like Sega's previous systems, had the cord emerging from the side; during 1987 they changed the design to the now-typical top emerging cord. These early controllers also included a screw-in thumbstick; these were later omitted and the D-pad on the controller was redesigned without a screwhole for the thumbstick. When the game Street Fighter II was released (in Brazil only), a new six-button controller similar to the Sega Mega Drive controller was also released. The current Brazilian Master System consoles comes with two of those six-button controllers.
The controller used the prevailing de facto standard Atari-style 9-pin connector and could be connected without modification to all other machines compatible with that standard, including the Atari 2600, Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum with Kempston interface or similar.
[edit] Light Phaser
The Light Phaser is a light gun modeled after the Zillion gun from the Japanese anime series of the same name. The design also mirrored the 1980s trend of actual laser tag gun appearances.
[edit] 3-D Glasses
The 3-D Glasses used a shutter system to close the left and right lens rapidly to create a 3D effect. Some NES games, like Rad Racer and 3-D World Runner, also claimed to be 3-D, but used much cheaper red-cyan 3D glasses. The true Nintendo 3-D glasses which works with those games were only released for the Famicom in Japan. The Master System glasses can only be used in the original Master System since it hooks up directly to the card port not found in the Master System II. Such a system allows 3-D graphics in full color. A disadvantage is that it halves the effective frame-rate, which some users can perceive as flicker. The same technique, has been used with similar glasses for some 3-D films in movie theaters, though have been replaced by newer methods that wouldn't work on a home TV. Only six Master System games were 3-D compatible.
[edit] Specifications
- CPU: 8-bit Zilog Z80A
- 3.54 MHz for PAL/SECAM, 3.57 MHz for NTSC
- Graphics: VDP (Video Display Processor) derived from Texas Instruments TMS9918
- Up to 32 simultaneous colors available (16 for sprites, 16 for background) from a palette of 64 (can also show 64 simultaneous colors using programming tricks)
- Screen resolutions 256×192 and 256×224. PAL/SECAM also supports 256×240
- 8×8 pixel characters, max 488 (due to VRAM space limitation)
- 8×8 or 8×16 pixel sprites, max 64
- Horizontal, diagonal, vertical, and partial screen scrolling
- Sound (PSG): Texas Instruments SN76489
- 4 channel mono sound
- 3 tone generators, 10 octaves each, 1 white noise generator
- Sound (FM): Yamaha YM2413
- 9 channel mono FM sound
- built into Japanese Master System (Sega Mark III)
- supported by certain games only
- ROM: 64 kbit (8 KiB) to 2048 kbit (256 KiB), depending on built-in game
- Main RAM: 64 kbit (8 KiB)
- Video RAM: 128 kbit (16 KiB)
- Game Card slot (not available in the Master System II)
- Game Cartridge slot
- Japanese and South Korean consoles use 44-pin cartridges, same shape as SG-1000 and Mark II
- All other consoles use 50-pin cartridges with a different shape
- The difference in cartridge style is a form of regional lockout
- Cartridge Pinout
- Expansion slot
[edit] Notable games
- Action Fighter
- After Burner
- Alex Kidd in Miracle World - Integrated into the Master System II and some later models of the Master System.
- Alex Kidd in Shinobi World
- Alien Storm
- Alien Syndrome
- Asterix *
- Astro Warrior - Along with Hang-On, integrated into one version of the console (the Sega Base System, which was slightly less expensive and lacked the Light Phaser).
- California Games
- Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse
- Choplifter
- Double Dragon
- Ecco the Dolphin *
- Ecco: The Tides of Time *
- Fantasy Zone
- Ghouls 'n Ghosts
- Ghostbusters
- Golden Axe
- Golden Axe Warrior
- Golvellius: Valley of Doom
- Hang-On - Integrated into one version of the console. Additionally, the original American release of the console came bundled with a cartridge containing both Hang On and Safari Hunt.
- The Jungle Book (video game)
- Kenseiden (剣聖伝)
- Michael Jackson's Moonwalker
- Montezuma's Revenge
- Ninja Gaiden *
- Out Run (アウトラン)
- Phantasy Star (ファンタシースター)
- Psycho Fox
- Quartet - A popular arcade port
- Rampage
- R-Type
- Safari Hunt - Integrated into one version of the console. Additionally, the original American release of the console came bundled with a cartridge containing both Safari Hunt and Hang On.
- Shinobi
- Snail Maze - A simple maze game that was included on the system BIOS. It was accessed by pressing and holding Up and buttons 1 and 2 after turning on the system without a game loaded.
- Sonic the Hedgehog - Integrated into some PAL Master System IIs. This was the last Master System title released in the US.
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2 *
- Sonic the Hedgehog Chaos *
- Space Harrier
- Streets of Rage *
- Streets of Rage II *
- Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar
- Wonder Boy in Monster Land
- Wonder Boy in Monster World *
- Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap
- World Cup Italia '90 * - First World Cup franchise.
- Ys: The Vanished Omens - credited with introducing many players to the Ys series.
- Zillion - A marketing agreement between Sega and the producers of the anime Zillion resulted in both a game based on the series and the design of the Light Phaser attachment: the protagonists of the show use a pistol which is nearly identical to the Light Phaser, including the cable.
* Not released in the U.S
See also List of Sega Master System games
[edit] Screenshots of notable games
 Alex Kidd in Miracle World |
 Hang On |
 Sonic the Hedgehog |
 Wonder Boy in Monsterland |
 OutRun |
 Psycho Fox |
 Double Dragon |
 After Burner |
[edit] Reference
Much of the data for this article was taken from the SMS Console Database site.
[edit] See also
|
|
|---|
| First generation |
| Magnavox Odyssey • PONG • Channel F |
| Early second generation |
| Atari 2600 • Interton VC 4000 • Odyssey² • Intellivision |
| Later second generation |
| Atari 5200 • ColecoVision • Emerson Arcadia 2001 • Vectrex |
| Third generation |
| NES • Master System • Atari 7800 |
| Fourth generation |
| TurboGrafx-16 • Mega Drive / Genesis • Neo Geo • SNES |
| Fifth generation |
| 3DO • Amiga CD32 • Jaguar • Saturn • PlayStation • Nintendo 64 |
| Sixth generation |
| PlayStation 2 • GameCube • Xbox • Dreamcast |
| Seventh generation |
| PlayStation 3 • Wii • Xbox 360 |
[edit] External links
- SMS Power! — A website dedicated to the Sega Master System and other 8-bit consoles from Sega
- SMS Tributes — Sega Master System games database and web community.
- Sega Master System Museum
- GameFAQs' Sega Master System - A list of all SMS games, including FAQs, cheats, game information and a forum board for every game
- SegaBase - Comprehensive history of this system
- Sega Master System I
- Sega Master System II
- FAQ
- HwB - pinout and technical specs
- Sega Master Systems and Game Gear emulator collection
