RickR

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

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

Marketing. The SMS was HUGE in Europe due to marketing. But Sega allowed Tonka, the truck people, to market it and it failed.
The early box art looked so bland compared to other systems.
Nintendo kept many third party companies from making games on other system, like the SMS.
The limited library. Again, places like Europe and Brazil enjoyed a much greater library (For instance MK never came to the US). And sadly, some of the best titles in America didn't show up until the final years of the system.
It didn't play Super Mario.  Super Mario basically revived the video game market alone and put NES systems in homes. Yes, other games like Zelda and Punch Out would later cement the dominance of the NES, but Super Mario was the foundation.

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.

http://cdn3.sbnation.com/assets/3784153/Regular_Show-_Mordecai___Rigby_in_8-Bit_Land_03.jpg

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.

Not a bad little system! Man I LOVE systems from other parts of the world. Funny how different the popularity of different consoles were worldwide. Here are some games on this system that looked pretty cool. 
 
https://youtu.be/8mU5SvIRdhc

Wow, hats off to these guys. That actually looks quite a bit better than Atari 2600, or even ColecoVision. I love that the Space Invaders clone at the beginning of the video replaces the     invaders with little Gundam looking robots. That's so Japanese  

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:
 
 
 

 
 
 

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.

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.

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

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.

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?

See attached pictures

I wonder if the dark circles at the top edge of the handhelds would have been IR emitters for 2-player action

Yeah I think they were working on a Missile Command one that would have looked like one of these:
 

 
Tod Frye discussed these handhelds in the article uncle Arenafoot linked to the other day: http://forums.atari.io/index.php/topic/915-what-are-the-real-facts-behind-pac-man’s-2600-development/

I love this.  Especially the hand written page.  Thanks for posting it!

Here's what I got in trade from Rowsdower70.  It's a long story.
 
My PS2 died.  So I contacted Rowsdower, who nicely arranged this trade.  And then while the fat PS2 was on the way to me, I found the slim at a thrift store for $15!  So now I have two.  Father and son. 
 
Rowsdower is a lifesaver, and he brings good luck!  And Magic cards. 

Here's what I got in trade from Rowsdower70.  It's a long story.
 
My PS2 died.  So I contacted Rowsdower, who nicely arranged this trade.  And then while the fat PS2 was on the way to me, I found the slim at a thrift store for $15!  So now I have two.  Father and son. 
 
Rowsdower is a lifesaver, and he brings good luck!  And Magic cards. 

I love this.  Especially the hand written page.  Thanks for posting it!

Great question Lee and great insightful answer Yo-Yo.
 
I've always been disappointed that Atari never released the Cosmos.

LOOK what I found!  I got this in a bundle of broken handheld games.  It just needed some serious cleaning, and a new battery connector soldered in.  Now it works perfectly and looks great. 
 
What an uncomfortable name they chose though.  "Touch Me".  Things were quite a bit different in the 70's I guess.  I suppose you'd put on your polyester leisure suit, head on down to the Regal Beagle, and ask attractive people if they'd like to play "Touch Me".  Then whip this thing out of your breast pocket, and everyone gets a good laugh.  Yes, that's exactly how it was in the 70's I'm sure. 
 




 

Here's a short blog post concerning Jim Henson's interaction with Atari. I wish there was more info, but I found it interesting nonetheless.
 
http://www.henson.com/jimsredbook/2013/05/55-61983/
 
There's at least one factual error. It's stated that neither Pigs in Space or Miss Piggy's Wedding's were produced, but of course the former was.