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Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Sega Master System

Another console bites the dust.

Sega-Master-System-Set.jpg

History
I've never owned a Master System. The only memory I have of this console is at my friends house where he/she only have one game for it (Alex Kidd). Other than that there is no memory about this console. I was quite excited in trying this new system. Boy.. I was wrong

The Games 
Like the NES, the Master System has the same array of games but this system does not age well

The Good 
The Master System is good for one type of game. And those games are platformers. There are some notable ones. Anything Disney made looks surprisingly top notch. With hand drawn pixel art animation for each frame which makes the game looks amazing. The Master System also has a higher clock speed for an 8-bit console. This means that games like Ninja Gaiden performs fluidly and the colors are also bright.

The Bad
Almost everything else. Since most of these games are ported from either a Game Gear or a Genesis. A lot of their port conversion will lose something in the process. As a result, games that run on 16-bit hardware looks choppy on the 8-bit system and does not play well. Other hardware limitation as well as button limitations makes controlling any characters cumbersome and difficult. One button is usually for jump and another button is for attack. Which makes me wonder, some games like RPG requires more than a 2 button input doesn't play that well.

The Ugly 
One hit kills. Bullet swarms at random. Sluggish game controls. Gaps that are longer than the jump mechanic. A very boring library. These games does not age well.

NES vs Master System
The NES has the better library while the Master System lacks a decent one = 1 point NES
Same games for both system runs faster on the Master system, looks better on the Master System but plays like crap on the Master System. The NES games are built with the hardware limitation and the gameplay was design around it. = 1 point NES
Mario, Donkey Kong, Zelda, Gi Joe for NES... and the Master System has Alex Kid, Sonic and Streets of Rage (these games doesn't stand the test of time) = 1 point NES

Overall the NES is a better 8-bit console

Conclusion
Tried 280 games but only a handful of them stand the test of time. This system is not missed by any and 95% of the games sucks. Now I am moving on to the longest handheld every built.. The Gameboy


NES (30/787 games) 3.81% replayability
Master System (5/280 games) 1.79% replayability 
Gameboy ( 555 games)
Genesis
Neo Geo
Game Gear
SNES

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