Sega Master System

[Ferneu]

Then you have both Beavis & Butthead and Mortal Kombat both which were better versions than the Snes.

No they weren't. Good ports, and did not remove blood nor censored Fatalities

(in MK case), but still, you cannot even compare them.

It is indeed hard to tell why have Nintendo chosen to remove the blood and

change some finishing moves. Were they thinking that doing that would save

them from a lawsuit?

- "John, have you just punched a man 100 meters down into a pit where he was

impalled by a spear at the bottom?"

- "Yes mummy. But look there is not blood. He must be alright."

- "Oh yes, no blood at all. Thank God. Here I was thinking that this new game

I've just bought you called MORTAL KOMBAT could contain violent scenes. That

is a relief. Now put on your Sunday clothes and lets go to the church"

I think the only thing that saved Nintendo at that time was that people who

were dumb enough to buy a game called Grand Theft Auto with a mature

ESRB rating and give it to their 7 year old grandsons and people sneaky

enough to try to make a living of frivoulous lawsuits were not born yet.

And yes, SMS is kind of underrated almost anywhere. Except here in Brazil,

where it was one of the ony consoles ever to be officially released. In the matter

of fact, it was easier to find someone with a Master System than with a NES.

In the matter of fact, I was the only one I knew that owned a real NES. All my

friends eighter had a Master System or one of those NES clones, like Phantom

System, Dynavision, Turbo Game, etc

It had some great classics? Yes

It was better than the NES? Not really

Its joystick had a good directional? No

Its PAUSE button was on the console? Ow God what were they thinking YES

[Siouxsie]

I had a Nes and my friend had a SMS.. So I liked both.. And besides the king of bad games was on the Nes.. Total Recall!

[Thor]

I had a Nes and my friend had a SMS.. So I liked both.. And besides the king of bad games was on the Nes.. Total Recall!

Well... I'd have to say the King was ET for the VCS but yeah Total Retard was horrid.

[Gnash]

Too bad the SMS didn't take off. It's always the same problem for SEGA, no good third party games. But the system was great. Just like the Dreamcast :(

[triverse]

Too bad the SMS didn't take off. It's always the same problem for SEGA, no good third party games. But the system was great. Just like the Dreamcast :(

Wasn't part of the problem with the SMS the fact that Sega felt they had to publish every game for it, therefore giving the illusion that there was no 3rd party support?

[E-Day]

Wasn't part of the problem with the SMS the fact that Sega felt they had to publish every game for it, therefore giving the illusion that there was no 3rd party support?

No, the problem was Nintendo, and their restrictions on third party publishers that said that if they publish games for the NES, they cannot publish for any other system. That is why apart from Activision and Parker Bros., every SMS game in North America was published by Sega. Of course, Nintendo's tactics were eventually found to be illegal, which is why the Genesis had fantastic 3rd party support.

None of this applied in Europe, however, where Sega had full third party support, and easily trounced the NES over there.

[triverse]

Thanks for clearing that up E-Day. Another interesting fact is that the Amiga and Atari ST computers were extremely big in Europe while only flopping around like fish out of water in the US.

[meppi]

Wasn't part of the problem with the SMS the fact that Sega felt they had to publish every game for it, therefore giving the illusion that there was no 3rd party support?

Well, actually Sega had to publish and even develop most game by themselves, even 3rd party ones, since Nintendo had put a stipulation in their contracts with 3rd parties that any game put on the NES couldn't be released on a competing system.

And even going as far as making sure 3rd parties didn't make anything for the Master System.

That's why so many rights to games were sold to Sega and they made all kinds of arcade conversions of 3rd party games in the early years.

[triverse]

I knew it had something to do with the contracts that Nintendo had the licensees sign (I read Game Over many times and it just kept getting more interesting). Very interesting indeed. Maybe someone could set up an article about this or something and pick out any points in early magazines talking about it (I remember EGM mentioning it here and there, or it may have bee in interviews).

[Gnash]

I wonder why no one fought Nintendo back then.

[triverse]

There were a few like Tengen, Namco even and a few unlicensed companies like Color Dreams and Wisdom Tree.

[gothioso]

ah the sega master system, could not get any better than alex kidd in miracle world or sonic 1 ah good memories

[Mister Zero]

I love SMS! Only started playing it a few years ago but I was impressed with some of the games.