When I was a kid, I wanted a Nintendo Entertainment System, but my parents couldn’t afford it, so they got me a Sega Master System instead. (The introduction of any video game system whatsoever into our house was against my mother’s better judgement.) I still played Mario 3 across the street at my best friend’s house (I bought a strategy guide for the game without having an NES, and floored my friend with all the secrets I knew), but I came to enjoy my SMS anyway.
My favorite games were Rambo, Penguin Land, Shinobi, Cloud Master, Columns (even my mother got hooked on that), and Paperboy.
As far as I can see, both retailed for $200, and came out within a year of each other in North America so inflation is negligible. Are you sure your parents didn’t just hate you?
We were a Nintendo house, so I played Genesis at friends’ houses, and Master System only a few times. Cloud Master is the only one from your list that sounds familiar and wasn’t on other consoles in some form.
SEGA was seriously better. It was like the Apple of the video game world.
I’m not clear on how your list is missing Phantasy Star. 3D dungeons that you actually got lost in… it spoiled me on computer RPGs pretty much forever.
Shadowrun, also. Much better than the Nintendo Shadowrun from the year before.
Oh, and Master of Monsters, which is the main reason I have a SEGA emulator on my computer.
I just realized a couple of those are Genesis games. Hard to remember the distinctions now. Anyway, you can see my tastes skewed toward RPG and strategy.
Well, Master System Shinobi was definitely superior to NES Shinobi, in that it had a life meter, and the gunmen and Mongols wouldn’t cheat by hitting you in the middle of your platform jump.
It is entirely possible that my parents just hated me, though. Or at least didn’t know the damn difference between a Nintendo and a Sega.
The Master System was better in almost every way but one. The games. Nintendo had a gazillion games, the SMS had much fewer, and crucially didn’t have Mario, which is largely why it failed.
My friend had one. When I went over I was never disappointed.
You aren’t helping your case. Dreamcast was great though, I bought one for $20-30 after it died out.
I had no idea the first one wasn’t Genesis. I guess I never played that one?
Nonsense, the SNES one was way better. Although looking at the screenshots it’s not how I remember it.
Agreed on Mortal Kombat though, because while both were censored, Sega didn’t have Nintendo’s moralism, so you could enter a cheat code to turn it on (from memory: ABACABB).
Yeah, now that I think about I only learned of it’s existence after the Genesis came out and I saw it at someone’s house. It really was crushed by NES, while Genesis fared better against SNES.
I’m actually not sure that I ever played a Master System when I was a kid. Everyone I know had an NES.
I remember kids who had a Genesis, though. That was a great system!
For about two years, and then the SNES came out. I always preferred Mario to Sonic.
For a pretty good look at that era, check out Console Wars by Blake J. Harris. The writing can be a little overwrought in places as the author tries too hard for the “narrative history” deal, but on the whole it’s a really interesting read.
I don’t know… when I was a kid, it actually worked out well. My best friend had a Nintendo, I had SEGA, and so we had a different set of games at each house.
I did eventually buy a NES as a secondary system. By the time used ones were running $10, it was almost silly not to.
After the Genesis came out, my friend and I both went that route. I don’t know if I ever played a SNES. Genesis was the last console system I owned.
SNES Shadowrun is kind of garbage–everything looked hazy like seen through the Barbara Walters camera filter.
The Genesis one actually tried to work with all the elements of the rpg and had cleaner graphics. Cheat codes were necessary for both if memory serves.
One thing I loved about Sega were the controllers. They could move in any direction unlike the Nintendo controllers that only moved in four directions.
Or at least didn’t know the damn difference between a Nintendo and a Sega.