Doctor Octagon

Add me to the list of people who never knew this existed. I was 13 when I first played the NES in 1986 and my first experience with Sega came with the Genesis in 1991.

I didn't know of the Master System's existence BITD. I found one at Goodwill a few years ago so I picked it up. Didn't like the games for it. I really only liked Hang On.

NSG makes a good point. Never underestimate the influence of Super Mario Bros. Biggest killer app of all time.

Let's not forget the Sega SG-1000, which was also pretty darned awesome.

I bought a Master System for one reason and one reason only:  Phantasy Star.

I was the ONLY kid I knew who had one, and I never picked up any other games for it.  I could only get them at Toys R' Us, and they were too expensive to risk bad titles.

As it stands, I paid 74.99 for Phantasy Star, and I think the system was 129.99 when I got it.

That's a great point.     

Here's an interesting little system that gained some popularity in Japan in the void left by Atari's delay in entering the market, and prior to Nintendo entering with the Famicom. It's graphical capabilities were comparable to Atari 2600 and Intellivision, and it was out in Japan around the same time.
 
This is a Japanese console from Epoch called the Cassette Vision:
 
 
 

 
 
 
That model was actually the Epoch Super Cassette Vision JR, a lower-cost "mark II" model of Epoch's earlier Cassette Vision console.
 
Epoch followed up next with another console around the time if the Nintendo Famicom's release. This console was called the Epoch Super Cassette Vision an was comparable in gameplay and graphics to the Atari 5200 and ColecoVision:
 
 
 

 
 
 

Love my SMS. Truly I don't give it the love and attention it deserves, par for the course with my collection these days. I DO recall seeing in the department store back in the day on display and thinking it seemed cooler than the NES and from what I could tell graphically more powerful. Of course same old story, everyone I knew already had a NES and I was not exactly in a position to make different choices back then as cool as I thought it was. So I never owned the console or had much to do with it back during the original run. Fortunately I picked up a pretty sweet package back in the day including the original model, some games and even the 3D goggles, I later supplemented the goggles with a third party yet compatible pair off Ebay. Here is the package I got, I posted a video about 3 years ago about it. 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X-IXFelZyQ

I don't think a lot of people even know what it is. Sega Master System probably had the smallest impact on the culture of any system from that time. Comparatively even more people knew about ColecoVision in 1983 than MasterSystem in 1988. Nintendo was everywhere. Movies, TV shows, it's presence was huge! The same could be said about Atari during the 2600 years, and I think some of that cache carried over in minds of the public when they saw the 7800 and recognized it as an Atari. Before the Genesis I don't think most people knew what Sega was. Maybe they would recognize it from Frogger? The Master System wasn't really on the cover of magazines, cereal boxes, or cartoons. I don't think the general public really had much of an awareness of Sega until the Genesis showed up, and it's hard to reminisce about something that you never knew of or cared about in the first place.
 
But get a group of gamers together in a room who've actually spent time playing the Sega Master system, and I think a lot of them would have some pretty positive things to say.

Plus Mortal Kombat looked better on Master System than I think it ever could on NES
 

I think Pat was a mainstream kid and is a fairly mainstream guy even now, and to anyone mainstream the outsider always appears strange and confusing. "Oh it doesn't play Mario? Why would anybody want this?" Because Phantasy Star and Space Harrier. And Ian hates talking or thinking about anything outside of his comfort zone, he'd rather lean back in his chair and noodle at this thumbs.
 
I think there is a lot of love for the Sega Master System today, buts it's proportional to Nintendo and the amount of love they received in 1987ish. You have to admit the SMS looked like the control panel off of a Stealth fighter! It took game cards and the graphics were pretty great for the time.

Pat & Ian asked a good question on The Completely Unnecessary Podcast this week: Why isn't there more love for the Sega Master System? Their question is a good one but I think their answers are lacking something.
 
There's always more nostalgic love for what was most popular at the time. Look at the nostalgic movies that get all the love now, most of them were what was popular when we were younger. The same is true in video gaming. The NES dominated that generation, and even the Atari 7800 was outselling the Sega Master System based on price.
 
The Master System was a GREAT console, I think it had the best graphics of the era and some of the best games. You can't go wrong with Phantasy Star, and I disagree with Pat & Ian that people wouldn't have been interested in playing OutRun or Shinobi on the Master System. If you were back in 1986, and the Genesis was a good 3-4 years away before it really got going, those were great titles on a really cool game system. It's growth was stunted because it didn't take off the way the NES did with Mario, etc. but that didn't mean there weren't great reasons to own a Sega Master System, or of course an Atari 7800.
 
I do agree with Pat & Ian that "only 2 kids at every school had a Sega Master System" that sounds about right, and that Sega lost interest in supporting the Master System in America when they were close to releasing the Sega Genesis and knew it would blow the doors off of everything else around.
 
What do you think?

Pat & Ian asked a good question on The Completely Unnecessary Podcast this week: Why isn't there more love for the Sega Master System? Their question is a good one but I think their answers are lacking something.
 
There's always more nostalgic love for what was most popular at the time. Look at the nostalgic movies that get all the love now, most of them were what was popular when we were younger. The same is true in video gaming. The NES dominated that generation, and even the Atari 7800 was outselling the Sega Master System based on price.
 
The Master System was a GREAT console, I think it had the best graphics of the era and some of the best games. You can't go wrong with Phantasy Star, and I disagree with Pat & Ian that people wouldn't have been interested in playing OutRun or Shinobi on the Master System. If you were back in 1986, and the Genesis was a good 3-4 years away before it really got going, those were great titles on a really cool game system. It's growth was stunted because it didn't take off the way the NES did with Mario, etc. but that didn't mean there weren't great reasons to own a Sega Master System, or of course an Atari 7800.
 
I do agree with Pat & Ian that "only 2 kids at every school had a Sega Master System" that sounds about right, and that Sega lost interest in supporting the Master System in America when they were close to releasing the Sega Genesis and knew it would blow the doors off of everything else around.
 
What do you think?

Pat & Ian asked a good question on The Completely Unnecessary Podcast this week: Why isn't there more love for the Sega Master System? Their question is a good one but I think their answers are lacking something.
 
There's always more nostalgic love for what was most popular at the time. Look at the nostalgic movies that get all the love now, most of them were what was popular when we were younger. The same is true in video gaming. The NES dominated that generation, and even the Atari 7800 was outselling the Sega Master System based on price.
 
The Master System was a GREAT console, I think it had the best graphics of the era and some of the best games. You can't go wrong with Phantasy Star, and I disagree with Pat & Ian that people wouldn't have been interested in playing OutRun or Shinobi on the Master System. If you were back in 1986, and the Genesis was a good 3-4 years away before it really got going, those were great titles on a really cool game system. It's growth was stunted because it didn't take off the way the NES did with Mario, etc. but that didn't mean there weren't great reasons to own a Sega Master System, or of course an Atari 7800.
 
I do agree with Pat & Ian that "only 2 kids at every school had a Sega Master System" that sounds about right, and that Sega lost interest in supporting the Master System in America when they were close to releasing the Sega Genesis and knew it would blow the doors off of everything else around.
 
What do you think?

I personally never even knew it existed until after I started collecting for Genesis.  Back in the day, NES was the only console I saw in stores. 

It is a good system, and the Master System attachment for Genesis makes it really easy to enjoy the great games.

Pat & Ian asked a good question on The Completely Unnecessary Podcast this week: Why isn't there more love for the Sega Master System? Their question is a good one but I think their answers are lacking something.
 
There's always more nostalgic love for what was most popular at the time. Look at the nostalgic movies that get all the love now, most of them were what was popular when we were younger. The same is true in video gaming. The NES dominated that generation, and even the Atari 7800 was outselling the Sega Master System based on price.
 
The Master System was a GREAT console, I think it had the best graphics of the era and some of the best games. You can't go wrong with Phantasy Star, and I disagree with Pat & Ian that people wouldn't have been interested in playing OutRun or Shinobi on the Master System. If you were back in 1986, and the Genesis was a good 3-4 years away before it really got going, those were great titles on a really cool game system. It's growth was stunted because it didn't take off the way the NES did with Mario, etc. but that didn't mean there weren't great reasons to own a Sega Master System, or of course an Atari 7800.
 
I do agree with Pat & Ian that "only 2 kids at every school had a Sega Master System" that sounds about right, and that Sega lost interest in supporting the Master System in America when they were close to releasing the Sega Genesis and knew it would blow the doors off of everything else around.
 
What do you think?

Still rebuilding my collection after my move into a smaller place:
 
 
ATARI
Atari 2600 (4 Switch)
Atari 2600 (New In Box Jr.)
Atari 5200 (4 Port)
Atari 7800
Atari Lynx (Mk.II)
Atari Jaguar
Atari Jaguar CD

NINTENDO
Nintendo NES
Super Nintendo
Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64 DD
Game Boy Advance SP NES Edition
 
SEGA
Sega Master System
Sega Genesis
Sega Game Gear
Sega Dreamcast
 
SONY
PlayStation 4
 
MICROSOFT
Xbox One

CLASSIC GAMING GENERAL
Retron 5
Odyssey 2
 
ARCADE
Ms. Pac-Man / Galaga Namco Class of '81

One of the questions I'm wondering about is if the original Atari Jaguar moulds have already been modified/damaged beyond repair to make the Retro VGS shells. It seems like a lot of initial interest came to them from Jaguar owners buying clear shells. I like all of the different VGS shell colors but would LOVE for them to be available for the Jag. It would be a shame if those moulds were ruined.

Still rebuilding my collection after my move into a smaller place:
 
 
ATARI
Atari 2600 (4 Switch)
Atari 2600 (New In Box Jr.)
Atari 5200 (4 Port)
Atari 7800
Atari Lynx (Mk.II)
Atari Jaguar
Atari Jaguar CD

NINTENDO
Nintendo NES
Super Nintendo
Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64 DD
Game Boy Advance SP NES Edition
 
SEGA
Sega Master System
Sega Genesis
Sega Game Gear
Sega Dreamcast
 
SONY
PlayStation 4
 
MICROSOFT
Xbox One

CLASSIC GAMING GENERAL
Retron 5
Odyssey 2
 
ARCADE
Ms. Pac-Man / Galaga Namco Class of '81

Still rebuilding my collection after my move into a smaller place:
 
 
ATARI
Atari 2600 (4 Switch)
Atari 2600 (New In Box Jr.)
Atari 5200 (4 Port)
Atari 7800
Atari Lynx (Mk.II)
Atari Jaguar
Atari Jaguar CD

NINTENDO
Nintendo NES
Super Nintendo
Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64 DD
Game Boy Advance SP NES Edition
 
SEGA
Sega Master System
Sega Genesis
Sega Game Gear
Sega Dreamcast
 
SONY
PlayStation 4
 
MICROSOFT
Xbox One

CLASSIC GAMING GENERAL
Retron 5
Odyssey 2
 
ARCADE
Ms. Pac-Man / Galaga Namco Class of '81

Still rebuilding my collection after my move into a smaller place:
 
 
ATARI
Atari 2600 (4 Switch)
Atari 2600 (New In Box Jr.)
Atari 5200 (4 Port)
Atari 7800
Atari Lynx (Mk.II)
Atari Jaguar
Atari Jaguar CD

NINTENDO
Nintendo NES
Super Nintendo
Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64 DD
Game Boy Advance SP NES Edition
 
SEGA
Sega Master System
Sega Genesis
Sega Game Gear
Sega Dreamcast
 
SONY
PlayStation 4
 
MICROSOFT
Xbox One

CLASSIC GAMING GENERAL
Retron 5
Odyssey 2
 
ARCADE
Ms. Pac-Man / Galaga Namco Class of '81

What's in your collection? Here's what's in mine:
 
 
ATARI
Atari 2600 (light sixer)
Atari 2600 (JR)
Atari 5200 (4 Port glossy)
Atari 7800 (ProSystem)
Atari XE
Atari Jaguar
 
NINTENDO
Nintendo AV Famicom
Nintendo Emtertainment System
Nintendo Game Boy Advance
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Nintendo 64
Nintendo Wii U
 
SEGA
Sega Master System
Sega Genesis (mark 1)
 
CLASSIC GAMING GENERAL
Intellivision
ColecoVision
Telegames Dyna
TurboGrafx-16
PC Engine
Retron 5
 
MODERN GAMING
PlayStation
PlayStation 3 (dead)
PlayStation 4
Xbox 360 (dead)
 
LARGEST COLLECTION: Nintendo NES (85 games)

In my defense, it took a LOOOOOOOONG time to collect all this. 
 
Atari
2600 4 switch woody
2600 4 switch Vader
2600 Sunnyvale light sixer
2600 Jr (two of them)
5200
7800
400
800
800XL (two of them)
Lynx
 
Mattel
Intellivision (Sears Telegames version)
 
Coleco
Colecovision
 
Magnavox
Odyssey 2
 
Nintendo
NES
Gameboy Advance SP
DS
Virtual Boy
Wii
 
Sega
Genesis Model 2
Game Gear
Dreamcast
 
Milton Bradley
Vectrex
 
Commodore
VIC 20
C64 (C64C)
 
Sony
PS1
PS2
 
Microsoft
XBOX
 
Systems my kids have
PS3
PS4
XBox 360
WiiU
SNES
Sega CD/32X
 
Largest collection:  2600, 246 carts

Atari

2600 light 4 switch (found near Lambeau Field - pretty much rusty - prob will not work)

2600 4 switch Vader

2600 Jr (w/ box)

 

Mattel

Intellivision (1 working - 1 rusty/untested)

HyperScan (x2)

 

Nintendo

NES

SNES (untested - no wires)

N64 (2 black)

Gamecube (Platinum w/ Gameboy Adapter)

Gameboy Advance SP

Wii

 

GCE

Vectrex

 

Radio Shack/Tandy

COCO2 (64K Extended Color Basic) w/ box, matching cassette deck w/box, disk drive

 

Sony

PS1 (x3)

PS2 (1 slim working - 1 fat broken drive)

 

Microsoft

XBOX (Halo Limited Edition) w/ Microsoft Xbox carry case

XBOX (black - broken drive)

Xbox 360 (broken drive)

 

AT Games

Intellivision Flashback (w/ Supplemental Overlay Pack)

 

Cart collection:

152 - Atari 2600

109 - XBOX

106 - PS2

31 - INTV

18 - COCO

14 - Vectrex

24 - NES

11 - N64

5 - Gamecube

7 - PS1

4 - Wii

3 - Atari home computer carts & Microvision carts

2 - 7800 & PSP & PS3 & X360 & SNES & Colecovision

1- HyperScan & Saturn

1 - Jaguar (prototype)

box full of untested C64/Atari home computer floppy disks

 

Handhelds: Microvision w/box, Electronic Football (by Sears) w/box, Tiger Electronics Space Fight w/box, Tiger Electronics Caesar's Palace Roulette, Tandy Cosmic 3000 w/box, Tomy Blip!-The Digital Game w/box, Milton-Bradley Pocket Simon w/box, Invicta Electronic MasterMind w/box, Telco BassMate Fishing Computer, Radica Lunker Bass Fishin', Casio Astro Chicken w/box, Tomytronic Pac-Man w/ box, Entex PacMan2, Coleco Donkey Kong tabletop w/box (w/ Coleco "Perma Power" Adapter), Tiger TV Mission: Paintball, & V-Tech Mini Wizard handheld. Along with all MGA Classic Arcade's and several Jakk's Pacific/TV Games Plug-n-Play w/boxes.

My personal collection is pretty small:

Intellivision II with Intellivoice and System Changer
Retro-bit Retro-Trio
Gameboy (original)
And my Sega Gopher handheld.
 
This is by design because of my business, of course.
If you wanted my current stock on that, it would be a bit more impressive.