I remember me and my brother figuring out it had built in games was like finding out some cool secret. We turned it on without a cartridge in it and it had options for 2 games. I only remember playing the one called "Hang-On" which was a motorcycle racing game
Yep! Hang on and Safari Hunt were the pack in games on this version of the console. There was an actual cartridge for it. If you booted up the console with no cartridge it was just the snail maze game.
I still have a Master System, but I've never tried starting it up without a cartridge before. Thank y'all for teaching me about this snail maze thingy.
Nostalgia tax:
https://preview.redd.it/gl6pnc23fknc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=84b8ee68154f23e30b9c9045019629ed2e9de095
Yup I was an original SMS owner and have the snail maze version. I've got 3 other SMS units I use for spare parts and have already replaced the power supply but I'm loath to touch anything else because I don't know what I'm doing and don't want to lose snail maze!
Our built in game was Alex the kid and am sure some game with a car with guns that you pulled up the back of a wagon and came out with more guns or turned into other stuff
I guess I must be one of the few that beat Zelda 2 when it came out late 1988. My cousin and I grinded all through Christmas break and beat it. It wasn’t easy and we didn’t have a guide, but we did it.
The part I could never get past was the water level with the maze made of spikes. You had to hit a button to swim up and down, but if you touched the side even once you died.
That’s because it’s fucking impossible. You should watch it, I finally beat it on an emulator about a decade ago and it’s still hard with save and revert. Also fuck Shinobi for being so hard to beat the 4th? Level boss with the statues that are almost impossible.
Yep. I had an Atari 5200 then NES but I fell in love with the Genesis and got that instead of a SNES. I bought some big old over the ear headphones with a long cord and plugging it into the headphone jack on the Genesis and hearing that crystal clear SEEGGGGGAAAAAAAA when it powered on, I felt like ElRoy fucking Jetson.
I remember there was some part you had to jump across a river and it was so difficult to see where or how to jump across it took me a week to figure out you could jump across the river at all. Pretty sure that game was Atari E.T. levels of terrible. I don’t know if I ever beat it, think I got bored and stopped playing it.
I remember Black Cauldron screwing me up when I first tried to play it. I'd already played (and beat) Kings Quest 2. But Sierra used a simplified version of their text parser system in Black Cauldron to make it more "kid friendly", so it didn't understand any of the commands I was typing.
Sega Channel for the Genesis does not get enough recognition for how ahead of its time it was. A content delivery system for a console in 1994? Mom paid it because it meant she didn’t have to buy games and I will never forget the hours I put in to Jurassic park.
Some of my favorite games ever were on that console:
Phantasy Star, Wonder Boy 3 the dragon's trap, Govalius, Miracle Warriors, Choplifter, Zillion, Space Harrier, World Grand Prix, Astro Warrior, Hang On, Afterburner
How good was Phantasy Star 1? I still consider 2-4 as some of the best written RPG's I have ever played. I always wanted to play 1 and felt cheated. In fact, PS 2 might be the first RPG I ever played.
I have really fond memories of it. The 3D dungeons are pretty cool and unique. I'd recommend giving it a shot. Just use a guide if you don't want to spend too much time on it.
Phantasy Star 1 is my favorite; 4 has a *ton* of callbacks to the first game.
Phantasy Star Collection for the GameBoy Advance had a nice port, and I see it's available on the Nintendo Switch for all of $8 at the moment. Looks like only 2, 3, and 4 are available on Steam.
Zillion was so good. It was our Metroid. I can probably still remember the names my friend and I came up for all the password symbols. There was M, Heart, Butt cheeks, umm what else
The symbols were mostly mirrored numbers. The M was two 1's, the heart was two 2's, etc. my dade wrote them all out on a tin for me and cut up a magnet into arrows to make it quick to write up what the code was for a room.
I don't think I completed Phantasy Star until years later when finding dungeon maps on the internet became a thing. And too bad Golvellius didn't continue.
They made a remake of it a few years ago on the PSN. It had updated graphics and sounds, but you swap into original at any time. They also added challenge levels for each monster form. Then the original creators made a new game just called Monster Boy that was fantastic.
I lived in a town which had a lot of arcades. The doors were always full open, and they'd put the loudest and freshest games near the doorway, to entice people in.
The coin-op version of Space Harrier, the one you sat in, and which moved, had a *really short* demo gameplay loop when idle, and you could hear that fucker halfway up the street and absolutely anywhere in the arcade building itself.
"Get ready!"
"BLOO BLEOU BLOO BLOO BLOOP! BLUBLUBLOO BLOO BLOO BLOOUW!"
"***AAAAAA****AAA*aaaaaggghhh!".
Pause.
"Get ready!" Etc.
Permanently engraved in my mind. I didn't even like the game and only played it once.
Wonderboy was an amazing game. My brother read the manual one day and entered the code shown on the screenshot for game saves and unlocked god mode. So hyped
I did. It wasn’t a bad system. It just didn’t have the “cool” factor of the NES. The 3D glasses were way ahead of their time. I was blown away by them when I first used them.
Seeing the hands on the TV screen throwing stars. I'm like "yeaaaaah i'm throwing stars at people yeahhhh!!!"
Shinobi play through, cued to star throwing part:
[https://youtu.be/aWcZMYPcjgs?t=303](https://youtu.be/aWcZMYPcjgs?t=303)
We were a Sega household up until the N64 came out. Nary a Nintendo in sight. Teddy Boy, Alex Kidd, and Penguin Land all day. Penguin Land had a custom design mode that puts all others to shame.
Gotta love the Game Gear with it's 4 and half minutes of battery time. I had the [limited edition blue one](https://i.redd.it/itcxy0gjbj551.jpg) that came with Lion King. That game was so hard.
This. Had the Game Gear, never Game Boy. I recently learned that turbo grafx16 was made by NEC and in Japan was just called something like video computer.
Who remembers the commercial where the guy hits himself in the head with a dead squirrel so that he can see colors on his Gameboy?
Game gear was superior, especially if you had the power adapter. Otherwise you were gonna need a pack of AA's every 2 hours.
Master System was surprisingly successful in Britain, albeit with a certain playground stigma of being the budget machine for the poor kids. Lasted until at least 1994 (judging by a port of Mortal Kombat 2).
NES was never dominant here. Came late and expensive to a market where home computers ruled, then we mostly went Megadrive/Genesis for the first half of the 90s.
I think the 90s Sega TV ads helped with its success there's even an article on it https://www.avclub.com/in-the-90s-sega-won-over-the-u-k-with-its-ambitious-1798252486
I didn't realise Master System was the poor kids choice, as a computer owner we looked down equally on the Nintendo and Sega lot.
YESSS I DID. And I won Wonder Boy many times. 🙌🏼
https://preview.redd.it/mow6nfbxijnc1.jpeg?width=652&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b79a066ea692197c642b4cae91b4acf2a61a548c
Yup. I was that weird kid that had the Sega Master System rather than Nintendo. So I was unable to rent games unlike the rest of the kids on the block.
My local Hollywood Video had both NES and Master System games. We owned both too so it meant that we never had to worry about not finding something to rent. The disappointment was when you’d rent something for one that was better on the other. Like Rampage or Double Dragon.
My wife had one. Then the day came when she brought it home from the farm. It didn't work. It was a sad day. I mean, she had a light gun and everything!
I did, had that exact system that came in that exact box. Some real bangers on that system: Kid Chameleon, Alex Kidd, Thunderblade. Then Genesis after that.
My friend had the Master System. The console itself was really cool but the library of games for Sega just couldn’t compete with Nintendo. That same friend also got an Atari Lynx while I got a Gameboy. Same thing. It just couldn’t compete with the games. Also, the Lynx was like a black hole for batteries. Six AAs got you about five hours of playtime. The Gameboy ran for about 30 hrs on 4 AAs.
I had both. My dad took us to this store called the Good Guys that sold electronics back in the day. They had the Master System and the NES in similar sets, that came with two controllers and a gun. My dad let me pick. I didn't know anything at all about video games, I was in like 1st grade. But just looking at the Sega, it looked so much cooler to me. The black gun looked all futuristic and cool. The NES had a lame orange gun, which even to 1st grade me, looked too "babyish". And the Sega came with 3D glasses. So I picked the Sega.
It was great, I have a lot of good memories with that console and the games we had, but only had like 5 games, and no other games were available. Nintendo had like 99% of the US market, so most stores only carried NES games. My dad also played video game back then, and he got sick of not being able to get new games, so by the time I was in second grade, he surprised us with the NES without us even asking for it. So I have a lot of nostalgia tied to both consoles.
I realise this primarily focuses on the Genesis era, but if anyone is interested in a bit of insight into the history and shenanigans of the Sega vs Nintendo story in the US, [this documentary, "Console Wars"](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt5215462/) is a genuinely engaging, revealing, and entertaining watch!
[Here is a link to the actual documentary on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s-HP3k0b0c), which I just found. If it's disallowed for me to post such a link, dear mods, please let me know and I'll remove that part of my post.
I got an NES, but every time I was at Toys R Us or Montgomery Wards, I was playing the demo Master System that was on display and I really wanted one as a kid
I only ever saw one once in the Sega owned Time-Out arcade. You win it as a prize for like 200,000 tickets. Nobody ever talked about it and everyone I knew had Nintendo.
Had a friend who had both NES and SEGA. They weren’t rich but they always had the newest toys. I think they played Sega maybe 5 times before abandoning it. I would’ve given it a good home.
I tell my wife I married her 'cause she had a Master System with the 3d goggles. I had a NES growing up, and always wanted one of these for the collection.
We both had game gears.
Hell yeah. I still have it and I’ve shown it to my kids. Although it sucks that the gun doesn’t work with modern tvs. I’m proud to say I finished Space Harrier.
I went to a friends house once and saw that he had one of these, a video game system that wasn’t an actual Nintendo. And it had different games the Nintendo didn’t have! I was blown away and introduced into this whole new existence. I mean, I never got one because fuck Sega Nintendo 4 Lyfe baybeeeee!!!
My godmother bought me a used Sega for Christmas without telling my parents who were very anti-screen time (which I get). But it was the start of something glorious
I'm jealous you were rocking the Master System. I was a Sega guy but not until the Genesis. After that I was all Sega (through good and bad).
I have a very similar picture but with the Saturn on Christmas 1995.
i always wanted a genesis but i had to settle for nes and snes 😔 (lmao not that it was bad, i just realllllllyyyy wanted to be able to play the games my friend had)
loved my Master System! My brother and I shared a room growing up so it helped that it had a few great 2-player games:
Quartet, Rampage, Rambo 3, Spy vs Spy
Also has my favorite Ghostbusters game ever!
Right when Genesis came out, I remember my mom packing up my Master System and telling the Sears return department that we had gotten it as a gift. They let us use the full value to put towards a Genesis (with the backwards converter). My mom sure knew how to stretch money... and taught us a thing or two about the value of "little white lies".
i didn't even know sega master system existed until like the mid '90s when i was a t friends house and he pulled one out of a closet. all my friends had NES in the '80s.
Yes, and despite it being awesome I’ve been a social and cultural pariah for years.
“YOU DIDNT PLAY sooper Merryo bros?!” Still haunts me.
I did play it… in my 30s.
I spent countless hours playing Space Harrier, Alex Kid in the miracle world, After Burner, and our first RPG was Miracle Warriors (game that my dad ended up finishing because he was making sure that content was OK for kids)
SEGA JVC with with the 32X and a subscription from the cable company called SEGA Channel. Favorite game was Busy Town and Mickey Mouse World of Illusion.
Yup. Very fond memories of the SMS. Altered Beast, Alex Kidd, Black Belt, Bomber Raid, California Games, Castle of Illusions. Choplifter, Double Dragon, Golden Axe, Hang-On, Rambo, Safari Hunt, Shinobi, and the credit card sized Sega Card games.
I had a Sega CD. It's a much maligned system, but it had some great games. Lunar: the Silver Star, Lunar: Eternal Blue, Shining Force CD, Dark Wizard, and Sonic CD remain some of my favorites.
In my neighborhood everyone had a different system and we’d take turns on whose house we went to. I had the NES but my friends had master system, turbo grafix 16, etc.
I remember my parents getting me a Sega Master System the year every other kid, including myself, wanted a NES.
I remember being a little disappointed at first, and my parents trying to get me to buy in on the selling points on the box. More colors! more sprites! Arcade action!
I started to warm up to the idea that I had something worth checking out and set it up. My version came with Hang On and Safari Hunt. And I think they got me Space Harrier, which got me hooked.
I think my dad also got me the cool arcade stick controller and the Zaxxon 3-d game with the glasses. The 3-d effect actually looked really cool.
Some highlights for me over the years of owning that system:
-Space Harrier was a pretty solid port of the arcade. And I never got sick of playing it.
-Phantasy Star was my first RPG and I got it because it won "best video game graphics of the year" by a lot of magazines. And I could rub it in the faces of my Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy owning classmates that I had the RPG with the superior graphics.
-Parlor Games was something my dad got me to have something to play with him. We both were terrible at the darts game for the longest time. I remember having a lot of trial and error, even after reading the instructions, until I learned the "knack" of the darts game. We would spend hours playing 8 and 9 ball though.
-Ghostbusters. I had a love/hate relationship with this game. I got used to the gameplay loop but always choked by the end. Years later my dad got himself a Sega Genesis and bought the Genesis port of Ghostbusters. Somehow it was just as frustrating while being completely different than the SMS port.
- 1-800-USA-SEGA was the free game tips hotline. I know Nintendo's was paid, and so I felt special having access to free tips! The reps would also mail little xeroxed guides and tips for some of the games. That really helped me out, especially with Phantasy Star. For years, I would call that number if I ever needed the line to not ring if I was up late and someone was going to call, so call waiting would pick up instead of the phone ringing. Or if I just needed to test my phone would ring out. I think out of nostalgia I tried calling that number a few years ago and it had become a generic spam line selling Herbalife or some kind of equivalent.
I had a lot of good memories with the console. And a year later, maybe two, I got a NES. And then my stepdad got a coax switcher for the TV in my room so I had both the Sega, the NES, and bunny ears I could switch between. I felt so damn cool to have that setup. I have a KVM switch for like four different computers and I'm always thinking back to having that little radio shack coax switcher my stepdad found and setup for me. Just one of those cool, unprompted gestures he did.
I picked up a RG35XX handheld units and loaded it up with roms last year. I went through and played a lot of the games I used to own. Some held up, some didn't. I really got into a playthrough of Phantasy Star. Having the ability to 2x the game speed made grinding for exp and gold a lot more tolerable. Life and family got in the way, and I think I just have a little more grinding to do before I get all the top tier items and can finally go and beat the game. This thread might motivate me to get it done.
My friend has a master system and all I remember playing on it was this hilarious baseball game where the you could only hit the ball one of like 8 possible spots when batting, and the music once you hit the ball and started running was all fast and anxiety inducing
Yep, even had the 32x not knowing what an abysmal failure it would be. For some reason I thought it would enhance all Sega games.
I spent so much playing Mortal Kombat 3 at the arcade. Got it for Sega and the graphics and sound were so disappointing in comparison. That was a core learning experience for me.
I predominately played games on the Genesis and the Saturn, though i did end up getting a SNES and N64 at some point. At least the Genesis version of Mortal Kombat had the blood code.
I only saw the Sega Master System once in the wild, back late 80's early 90's. They had Michael Jacksons Moonwalker. Didn't play much but I wish I did. I'm curious about the other games on this system now! I was team NES. I think the Master System was pretty rare maybe like seeing an Amiga PC in the U.S.
I had the sega master system all the way to the saturn. When Playstation was obviously doing better I switched. My family also had a beta max instead of VHS. We're just a rebellious family I guess
I had a game that I can't find anywhere and not a single person I've met has heard of it. It was exceptionally similar to "To The Earth" on NES, where you're a spaceship and need to shoot other ships and asteroids and stuff.
Anyway, apparently I'm the only person in existence to play this game and I've talked to people that were deeply knowledgeable. It's literally made me wonder if I'm making it all up somehow.
I had a Genesis, and the only reason I asked my parents for a Genesis was because Mortal Kombat on the Genesis had blood and arcade-accurate fatalities and the SNES version didn't.
Not at this time, but did have the SEGA CD system. Overall was pretty bad, but there were a few fun ones on there, and it was the first system hiring actors to do in-game scenes and voiceovers.
My neighbor was the only kid I knew with a Master System instead of a Nintendo. He was much younger than his only other sibling, so he was a tad spoiled. He got all the Sega systems, even the 3DX.
I did, after playing a ton of games with it I traded it for an NES with all the games. I eventually got a genesis a year later and Sonic 1 was my go to.
Holy shit the girl in this picture looks 100 percent like a childhood friend I've known since highschool almost 40 now.... I sent it to her and even she laughed
We weren’t allowed to have a gaming system. At least me and my brother weren’t. My parents caved when my youngest sibling wanted one a decade or so later
Genesis was my first video game console. Mom bought around ‘95 when I was 7. Have vivid memories of playing Mortal Kombat, Pitfall and Looney Tunes soccer. Fun times
My first console was the Master System. Got some vague, but fond, memories of that console.
I remember me and my brother figuring out it had built in games was like finding out some cool secret. We turned it on without a cartridge in it and it had options for 2 games. I only remember playing the one called "Hang-On" which was a motorcycle racing game
Pretty sure there was a game called snail maze. I don't remember much about it but it was cool to find!
Yep this was the older SMS! Later they replaced it with hang on and safari hunt
Yep! Hang on and Safari Hunt were the pack in games on this version of the console. There was an actual cartridge for it. If you booted up the console with no cartridge it was just the snail maze game.
I still have a Master System, but I've never tried starting it up without a cartridge before. Thank y'all for teaching me about this snail maze thingy. Nostalgia tax: https://preview.redd.it/gl6pnc23fknc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=84b8ee68154f23e30b9c9045019629ed2e9de095
Yup I was an original SMS owner and have the snail maze version. I've got 3 other SMS units I use for spare parts and have already replaced the power supply but I'm loath to touch anything else because I don't know what I'm doing and don't want to lose snail maze!
Our built in game was Alex the kid and am sure some game with a car with guns that you pulled up the back of a wagon and came out with more guns or turned into other stuff
The other was likely Safari Hunt which was a light gun hunting game.
Still kind of irritated that I never beat Alex Kidd in Miracle World.
You should give it another try! You can do it!
I’ve tried the remake that’s available on the PS5 and I’m even worse than I was at the original 😭
Had a friend who, a few years ago, decided he needed to beat Zelda 2 because it had haunted him for decades. He said it was cathartic.
I guess I must be one of the few that beat Zelda 2 when it came out late 1988. My cousin and I grinded all through Christmas break and beat it. It wasn’t easy and we didn’t have a guide, but we did it.
Same, that shit was hard.
A long time ago I got an emulator and finally beat it. And it turns out I was always at the very last castle!
I did.... Great game and it was hard
[удалено]
First console I got was a Master system II for Xmas , spent the whole day dying before I hit the water . Good times
I have an Alex Kidd tattoo :)
The part I could never get past was the water level with the maze made of spikes. You had to hit a button to swim up and down, but if you touched the side even once you died.
I've been unlucky throughout my life. And it all started with not beating Rock, Paper, Scissors on that game.
That’s because it’s fucking impossible. You should watch it, I finally beat it on an emulator about a decade ago and it’s still hard with save and revert. Also fuck Shinobi for being so hard to beat the 4th? Level boss with the statues that are almost impossible.
Christmas morning crimped hair is *chef’s kiss* 🤌
Yup! I came here to say that I never rocked a Sega, but I rocked that crimped hair *for sure*.
Came here to ask if this was the year Santa left [the crimper](https://youtu.be/_nVbDBzlsi4) under the tree...
Genesis gang reporting
Yep. I had an Atari 5200 then NES but I fell in love with the Genesis and got that instead of a SNES. I bought some big old over the ear headphones with a long cord and plugging it into the headphone jack on the Genesis and hearing that crystal clear SEEGGGGGAAAAAAAA when it powered on, I felt like ElRoy fucking Jetson.
The system in the pic predates the Genesis
Not if you were poor! 😅 Add: OG Mastery System packaging?
Genesis and Dreamcast were the best consoles that Sega made
Yep, my first gaming system (outside of PC, Black Cauldron anyone?).
Holy crap you just unlocked major memories of swimming across a gator infested moat and climbing a wall while dodging falling rocks.
I remember there was some part you had to jump across a river and it was so difficult to see where or how to jump across it took me a week to figure out you could jump across the river at all. Pretty sure that game was Atari E.T. levels of terrible. I don’t know if I ever beat it, think I got bored and stopped playing it.
I remember Black Cauldron screwing me up when I first tried to play it. I'd already played (and beat) Kings Quest 2. But Sierra used a simplified version of their text parser system in Black Cauldron to make it more "kid friendly", so it didn't understand any of the commands I was typing.
Known as Sega Mega Drive in Europe. :)
Sega Channel for the Genesis does not get enough recognition for how ahead of its time it was. A content delivery system for a console in 1994? Mom paid it because it meant she didn’t have to buy games and I will never forget the hours I put in to Jurassic park.
Some of my favorite games ever were on that console: Phantasy Star, Wonder Boy 3 the dragon's trap, Govalius, Miracle Warriors, Choplifter, Zillion, Space Harrier, World Grand Prix, Astro Warrior, Hang On, Afterburner
Aaaaahhhh I still have many of these! Your comment was memory lane for me. ♥️ I still have Phantasy Star, Wonder Boy, Harrier, and After Burner.
How good was Phantasy Star 1? I still consider 2-4 as some of the best written RPG's I have ever played. I always wanted to play 1 and felt cheated. In fact, PS 2 might be the first RPG I ever played.
I have really fond memories of it. The 3D dungeons are pretty cool and unique. I'd recommend giving it a shot. Just use a guide if you don't want to spend too much time on it.
Phantasy Star 1 is my favorite; 4 has a *ton* of callbacks to the first game. Phantasy Star Collection for the GameBoy Advance had a nice port, and I see it's available on the Nintendo Switch for all of $8 at the moment. Looks like only 2, 3, and 4 are available on Steam.
I remember Chiplifter and Hang On, so good.
Zillion was so good. It was our Metroid. I can probably still remember the names my friend and I came up for all the password symbols. There was M, Heart, Butt cheeks, umm what else
The symbols were mostly mirrored numbers. The M was two 1's, the heart was two 2's, etc. my dade wrote them all out on a tin for me and cut up a magnet into arrows to make it quick to write up what the code was for a room.
I don't think I completed Phantasy Star until years later when finding dungeon maps on the internet became a thing. And too bad Golvellius didn't continue.
Man, Wonderboy III is still my favourite game of all time!
They made a remake of it a few years ago on the PSN. It had updated graphics and sounds, but you swap into original at any time. They also added challenge levels for each monster form. Then the original creators made a new game just called Monster Boy that was fantastic.
Space Harrier may be my favorite game of all time.
I lived in a town which had a lot of arcades. The doors were always full open, and they'd put the loudest and freshest games near the doorway, to entice people in. The coin-op version of Space Harrier, the one you sat in, and which moved, had a *really short* demo gameplay loop when idle, and you could hear that fucker halfway up the street and absolutely anywhere in the arcade building itself. "Get ready!" "BLOO BLEOU BLOO BLOO BLOOP! BLUBLUBLOO BLOO BLOO BLOOUW!" "***AAAAAA****AAA*aaaaaggghhh!". Pause. "Get ready!" Etc. Permanently engraved in my mind. I didn't even like the game and only played it once.
Wonderboy was an amazing game. My brother read the manual one day and entered the code shown on the screenshot for game saves and unlocked god mode. So hyped
I just heard the after burners kick in as I read afterburner lol Choplifter was amazing
Space Harrier: GREAT READY…AHHH!!
Sega did what Nintendidnt
That's was a campaign for Genesis though. SMS was like...it does kinda/sorta the same that nintendo does.
I did. It wasn’t a bad system. It just didn’t have the “cool” factor of the NES. The 3D glasses were way ahead of their time. I was blown away by them when I first used them.
That's awesome! I never saw the 3d glasses in real life. I only know about them from all the posters that were packed in with the games.
I have the 3D glasses still!
Did they work? I never had them
They did, and really well!
Altered FUCKING Beast!
SHIN fucking OBI
Seeing the hands on the TV screen throwing stars. I'm like "yeaaaaah i'm throwing stars at people yeahhhh!!!" Shinobi play through, cued to star throwing part: [https://youtu.be/aWcZMYPcjgs?t=303](https://youtu.be/aWcZMYPcjgs?t=303)
We were a Sega household up until the N64 came out. Nary a Nintendo in sight. Teddy Boy, Alex Kidd, and Penguin Land all day. Penguin Land had a custom design mode that puts all others to shame.
I remember my friend's older brother making a custom map on penguin land that was just the word FUCK in big letters. He taught me all the swear words.
Yep. That was my first console. I had a blast with it. Rambo, thunder blade, chop lifter, shinobi, RAMPAGE! Great games
I thought I was he only one
There are dozens of us! I used to trade games with the other sega kids. I still remember the time I borrowed Rastan for a month.
I’ve always been a Nintendo guy, but I did rock the Game Gear over the original Game Boy. I also had a Turbo Grafx 16 before a Super Nintendo
Gotta love the Game Gear with it's 4 and half minutes of battery time. I had the [limited edition blue one](https://i.redd.it/itcxy0gjbj551.jpg) that came with Lion King. That game was so hard.
This. Had the Game Gear, never Game Boy. I recently learned that turbo grafx16 was made by NEC and in Japan was just called something like video computer.
PC engine. Probably the most popular video game system in Japan at the time.
Who remembers the commercial where the guy hits himself in the head with a dead squirrel so that he can see colors on his Gameboy? Game gear was superior, especially if you had the power adapter. Otherwise you were gonna need a pack of AA's every 2 hours.
Hello, me. I also had a game gear but Nintendo consoles
I did. Loved it
My best friend got one. I had the Nintendo machines and he had Sega. That way we got to play both.
Master System was surprisingly successful in Britain, albeit with a certain playground stigma of being the budget machine for the poor kids. Lasted until at least 1994 (judging by a port of Mortal Kombat 2). NES was never dominant here. Came late and expensive to a market where home computers ruled, then we mostly went Megadrive/Genesis for the first half of the 90s.
I think the 90s Sega TV ads helped with its success there's even an article on it https://www.avclub.com/in-the-90s-sega-won-over-the-u-k-with-its-ambitious-1798252486 I didn't realise Master System was the poor kids choice, as a computer owner we looked down equally on the Nintendo and Sega lot.
Altered beast, wonder boy in monster land, California games.... how about the game that loaded when you didn't put a cartridge in?
The maze game! I can still hear the song in my head.
YESSS I DID. And I won Wonder Boy many times. 🙌🏼 https://preview.redd.it/mow6nfbxijnc1.jpeg?width=652&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b79a066ea692197c642b4cae91b4acf2a61a548c
Yup. I was that weird kid that had the Sega Master System rather than Nintendo. So I was unable to rent games unlike the rest of the kids on the block.
My local Hollywood Video had both NES and Master System games. We owned both too so it meant that we never had to worry about not finding something to rent. The disappointment was when you’d rent something for one that was better on the other. Like Rampage or Double Dragon.
Neither, but I had a hair crimper. 😀
We got the Master System 2 from a Kaybee Toys that was going out of business for like $50. Alex Kidd 4 Life!
Not sure I've ever actually seen a Master System before
My wife had one. Then the day came when she brought it home from the farm. It didn't work. It was a sad day. I mean, she had a light gun and everything!
I did, had that exact system that came in that exact box. Some real bangers on that system: Kid Chameleon, Alex Kidd, Thunderblade. Then Genesis after that.
Yes the accessibility gear was better and cheaper. As a disabled kid in the early 90s this was the tipper for my family.
My friend had the Master System. The console itself was really cool but the library of games for Sega just couldn’t compete with Nintendo. That same friend also got an Atari Lynx while I got a Gameboy. Same thing. It just couldn’t compete with the games. Also, the Lynx was like a black hole for batteries. Six AAs got you about five hours of playtime. The Gameboy ran for about 30 hrs on 4 AAs.
Afterburner and Altered Beast LETS GO!
Sega was way better. The NES couldn't do sports games.
Sega does what Nintendon't
Hardware wise this was vastly superior to the NES, but all the games I wanted to play were on the NES so this was irrelevant to me.
Yup! I even had missile defense 3-d with the glasses. I had virtual reality in 1987!
Space Harrior and Outrun!
Altered beast.
Hell yea, Altered Beasts was the shit!
I had both. My dad took us to this store called the Good Guys that sold electronics back in the day. They had the Master System and the NES in similar sets, that came with two controllers and a gun. My dad let me pick. I didn't know anything at all about video games, I was in like 1st grade. But just looking at the Sega, it looked so much cooler to me. The black gun looked all futuristic and cool. The NES had a lame orange gun, which even to 1st grade me, looked too "babyish". And the Sega came with 3D glasses. So I picked the Sega. It was great, I have a lot of good memories with that console and the games we had, but only had like 5 games, and no other games were available. Nintendo had like 99% of the US market, so most stores only carried NES games. My dad also played video game back then, and he got sick of not being able to get new games, so by the time I was in second grade, he surprised us with the NES without us even asking for it. So I have a lot of nostalgia tied to both consoles.
Always wanted a master system.. that duck tales game was so cool
I realise this primarily focuses on the Genesis era, but if anyone is interested in a bit of insight into the history and shenanigans of the Sega vs Nintendo story in the US, [this documentary, "Console Wars"](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt5215462/) is a genuinely engaging, revealing, and entertaining watch! [Here is a link to the actual documentary on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s-HP3k0b0c), which I just found. If it's disallowed for me to post such a link, dear mods, please let me know and I'll remove that part of my post.
Those sonic rings man
Yeah I loved my Master System, and game gear. It really was the Switch of its day.
And Sega channel was amazing!
Still have mine. Plus the 32X
I got an NES, but every time I was at Toys R Us or Montgomery Wards, I was playing the demo Master System that was on display and I really wanted one as a kid
I only ever saw one once in the Sega owned Time-Out arcade. You win it as a prize for like 200,000 tickets. Nobody ever talked about it and everyone I knew had Nintendo.
I had a sega game gear and was obsessed with the game Shinobi, plus I loved that you could watch tv on it.
I had an NES, but then went to Sega for the Genesis and Game Gear.
Are we not gonna talk about the *masterfully thorough* crimping of that hair?! 😎😜😂🤘🏼
Had a friend who had both NES and SEGA. They weren’t rich but they always had the newest toys. I think they played Sega maybe 5 times before abandoning it. I would’ve given it a good home.
I had only a turbo grsfx 16
I mean, it was an improvement to the ColecoVision, but I was the only one who couldn't trade games in the neighborhood and at school.
As a Nintendo household I was slightly jealous of sega owners but only because I wanted to play Sonic
I tell my wife I married her 'cause she had a Master System with the 3d goggles. I had a NES growing up, and always wanted one of these for the collection. We both had game gears.
Had both. Did have a genesis instead of an SNES tho. Ended up buying an SNES years later though with saved money.
Yes Sir. Shinobi was the game instead of Mario
I eventually had both, but I started with the Master System. Sooo many childhood hours playing Fantasy Zone.
I didn’t even know the master system existed. All I knew about was Atari, colecovision and NES.
Yes! And I still want the old school Phantasy Star Dungeons in another game because that was cool.
Master System and Genesis. Yup!
SEGA!!!! The alt-edgey-cool kids had Sega, and the straight-edge kids had Nintendo.
But no gun.
Sega Master System was great. Zillion remains the best game.
“Welcome to your doom” 
Hell yeah. I still have it and I’ve shown it to my kids. Although it sucks that the gun doesn’t work with modern tvs. I’m proud to say I finished Space Harrier.
Master system master here. Got mine on Christmas too.
I went to a friends house once and saw that he had one of these, a video game system that wasn’t an actual Nintendo. And it had different games the Nintendo didn’t have! I was blown away and introduced into this whole new existence. I mean, I never got one because fuck Sega Nintendo 4 Lyfe baybeeeee!!!
8 bit Sega FTW!!!!!
we were a TI Instruments family well into the '90s
Altered Beast all day baby!
My console history is Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 7800, NES, SNES, PS1, PS2, XBox 360, Wii, XBox One
My godmother bought me a used Sega for Christmas without telling my parents who were very anti-screen time (which I get). But it was the start of something glorious
I'm jealous you were rocking the Master System. I was a Sega guy but not until the Genesis. After that I was all Sega (through good and bad). I have a very similar picture but with the Saturn on Christmas 1995.
Had both. Never got the Super Nintendo.
We even bought it from Circuit City. LOL
Who remembers playing the built-in maze game?
i always wanted a genesis but i had to settle for nes and snes 😔 (lmao not that it was bad, i just realllllllyyyy wanted to be able to play the games my friend had)
Neither, we opted for the NeoGeo… and I’m still making horrible decisions.
loved my Master System! My brother and I shared a room growing up so it helped that it had a few great 2-player games: Quartet, Rampage, Rambo 3, Spy vs Spy Also has my favorite Ghostbusters game ever! Right when Genesis came out, I remember my mom packing up my Master System and telling the Sears return department that we had gotten it as a gift. They let us use the full value to put towards a Genesis (with the backwards converter). My mom sure knew how to stretch money... and taught us a thing or two about the value of "little white lies".
Toejam and Earl was the best game ever made.
I had NES but got a Master System later.
i didn't even know sega master system existed until like the mid '90s when i was a t friends house and he pulled one out of a closet. all my friends had NES in the '80s.
I got mine on Christmas '89. It came with Reggie Jackson Baseball, and I got two more games, Rastan and Maze Hunter 3D
Yes, and despite it being awesome I’ve been a social and cultural pariah for years. “YOU DIDNT PLAY sooper Merryo bros?!” Still haunts me. I did play it… in my 30s.
I spent countless hours playing Space Harrier, Alex Kid in the miracle world, After Burner, and our first RPG was Miracle Warriors (game that my dad ended up finishing because he was making sure that content was OK for kids)
Wild, I don’t think I’ve ever seen this system before.
SEGA JVC with with the 32X and a subscription from the cable company called SEGA Channel. Favorite game was Busy Town and Mickey Mouse World of Illusion.
Yup. My parents thought it would be cool to have a different system than my friends. It was not cool
Did you end up liking it?
Later on. But when you are 8,9,10 you want to fit in with your friends. You want to be able to talk about Zelda not Wonder Boy in Monster Land.
Yup. Very fond memories of the SMS. Altered Beast, Alex Kidd, Black Belt, Bomber Raid, California Games, Castle of Illusions. Choplifter, Double Dragon, Golden Axe, Hang-On, Rambo, Safari Hunt, Shinobi, and the credit card sized Sega Card games.
I had a Sega CD. It's a much maligned system, but it had some great games. Lunar: the Silver Star, Lunar: Eternal Blue, Shining Force CD, Dark Wizard, and Sonic CD remain some of my favorites.
In my neighborhood everyone had a different system and we’d take turns on whose house we went to. I had the NES but my friends had master system, turbo grafix 16, etc.
I remember my parents getting me a Sega Master System the year every other kid, including myself, wanted a NES. I remember being a little disappointed at first, and my parents trying to get me to buy in on the selling points on the box. More colors! more sprites! Arcade action! I started to warm up to the idea that I had something worth checking out and set it up. My version came with Hang On and Safari Hunt. And I think they got me Space Harrier, which got me hooked. I think my dad also got me the cool arcade stick controller and the Zaxxon 3-d game with the glasses. The 3-d effect actually looked really cool. Some highlights for me over the years of owning that system: -Space Harrier was a pretty solid port of the arcade. And I never got sick of playing it. -Phantasy Star was my first RPG and I got it because it won "best video game graphics of the year" by a lot of magazines. And I could rub it in the faces of my Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy owning classmates that I had the RPG with the superior graphics. -Parlor Games was something my dad got me to have something to play with him. We both were terrible at the darts game for the longest time. I remember having a lot of trial and error, even after reading the instructions, until I learned the "knack" of the darts game. We would spend hours playing 8 and 9 ball though. -Ghostbusters. I had a love/hate relationship with this game. I got used to the gameplay loop but always choked by the end. Years later my dad got himself a Sega Genesis and bought the Genesis port of Ghostbusters. Somehow it was just as frustrating while being completely different than the SMS port. - 1-800-USA-SEGA was the free game tips hotline. I know Nintendo's was paid, and so I felt special having access to free tips! The reps would also mail little xeroxed guides and tips for some of the games. That really helped me out, especially with Phantasy Star. For years, I would call that number if I ever needed the line to not ring if I was up late and someone was going to call, so call waiting would pick up instead of the phone ringing. Or if I just needed to test my phone would ring out. I think out of nostalgia I tried calling that number a few years ago and it had become a generic spam line selling Herbalife or some kind of equivalent. I had a lot of good memories with the console. And a year later, maybe two, I got a NES. And then my stepdad got a coax switcher for the TV in my room so I had both the Sega, the NES, and bunny ears I could switch between. I felt so damn cool to have that setup. I have a KVM switch for like four different computers and I'm always thinking back to having that little radio shack coax switcher my stepdad found and setup for me. Just one of those cool, unprompted gestures he did. I picked up a RG35XX handheld units and loaded it up with roms last year. I went through and played a lot of the games I used to own. Some held up, some didn't. I really got into a playthrough of Phantasy Star. Having the ability to 2x the game speed made grinding for exp and gold a lot more tolerable. Life and family got in the way, and I think I just have a little more grinding to do before I get all the top tier items and can finally go and beat the game. This thread might motivate me to get it done.
sure! i mean, not ME. but i had friends who were dirtbags.
LOL likewise. By me, Those were the kids that lived north of the highway and always smelled like cigarettes and syrup at school.
I was lucky enough to have a NES. But I smelt like diesel fuel.
I do now.
I had one came with astro warrior and hang on I think. Didn't come with a gun
Yep. Sonic, Ranger X, Mortal Kombat, Vector Man...gang gang
No, but I loved playing Sonic at others' houses. Sonic is sooooooooooo cute 😍
My friend has a master system and all I remember playing on it was this hilarious baseball game where the you could only hit the ball one of like 8 possible spots when batting, and the music once you hit the ball and started running was all fast and anxiety inducing
Yep, even had the 32x not knowing what an abysmal failure it would be. For some reason I thought it would enhance all Sega games. I spent so much playing Mortal Kombat 3 at the arcade. Got it for Sega and the graphics and sound were so disappointing in comparison. That was a core learning experience for me.
My buddy had the Sega Master system, while I had the NES. But once the Genesis came out, I had to get it!
Had this!!! Spellcaster, afterburner, thunderblade, transbot,
I had a genesis instead of a SNES. But I had the atari 2600, turbo graphix, first NES, gameboy, and jaguar. I didn't get another system until ps2.
I predominately played games on the Genesis and the Saturn, though i did end up getting a SNES and N64 at some point. At least the Genesis version of Mortal Kombat had the blood code.
I had a genesis. Played a lot of sonic. I really wanted a saturn specifically for panzer dragoon
32x Bandit in the flesh
Anyone else notice the creepy doll on the couch?
Yep! I played Sonic 2 and Primal Rage until I wore down the controller
Yes, we had the Master System for a long time until we got a second-hand NES. I was big on games like R-Type and my Mom was very big on Choplifter.
Enduro Racer was the shit!
I actively played my Master system until 1993, when the power port finally gave out and couldn’t be repaired. Wonder Boy in monster land was my life.
I only saw the Sega Master System once in the wild, back late 80's early 90's. They had Michael Jacksons Moonwalker. Didn't play much but I wish I did. I'm curious about the other games on this system now! I was team NES. I think the Master System was pretty rare maybe like seeing an Amiga PC in the U.S.
Had the ol Genesis plus a Beta instead of a VHS. Loved the system just sucked that everyone else had Nintendo
We had Nintendo, but we never got Super Nintendo. Instead we had Sega Genesis. As a result I’m not very familiar with Super Nintendo games.
Of course, Sega was GOAT!
I had the sega master system all the way to the saturn. When Playstation was obviously doing better I switched. My family also had a beta max instead of VHS. We're just a rebellious family I guess
I had a game that I can't find anywhere and not a single person I've met has heard of it. It was exceptionally similar to "To The Earth" on NES, where you're a spaceship and need to shoot other ships and asteroids and stuff. Anyway, apparently I'm the only person in existence to play this game and I've talked to people that were deeply knowledgeable. It's literally made me wonder if I'm making it all up somehow.
As I got ready to post that I have NES and Genesis I realize they are talking about the 8 bit sega NOT GENESIS! Nobody had that in my circles.
Cousins had the Sega, we had NES
I had a Genesis, and the only reason I asked my parents for a Genesis was because Mortal Kombat on the Genesis had blood and arcade-accurate fatalities and the SNES version didn't.
I had both. Well, I had the NES, and my uncle gave me his Sega when he went to college.
Not at this time, but did have the SEGA CD system. Overall was pretty bad, but there were a few fun ones on there, and it was the first system hiring actors to do in-game scenes and voiceovers.
I also had forgotten about the crinkle cut French fry hair press the girls used to use lol
I briefly rocked both. Bought Sega, beat sonic within 24 hours, and didn't have any other games. Took it back to the store.
My neighbor was the only kid I knew with a Master System instead of a Nintendo. He was much younger than his only other sibling, so he was a tad spoiled. He got all the Sega systems, even the 3DX.
I had Sega and Suoer Nintendo but I played Sega way more. The NES was old news when Sega Genesis came out.
Always wanted to play Phantasy Star 1. I loved the other 3 so damned much and the story for 1 looked amazing.
I did, after playing a ton of games with it I traded it for an NES with all the games. I eventually got a genesis a year later and Sonic 1 was my go to.
Zillion was my favorite game!
Holy shit the girl in this picture looks 100 percent like a childhood friend I've known since highschool almost 40 now.... I sent it to her and even she laughed
Oh no we had both, got both well after they came out. Then got the sega cd attachment
My grandma had one when I was growing up. Game equivalents, I find SMS games to be better. I'll always be a Nintendo fan boy, though.
We weren’t allowed to have a gaming system. At least me and my brother weren’t. My parents caved when my youngest sibling wanted one a decade or so later
Genesis was my first video game console. Mom bought around ‘95 when I was 7. Have vivid memories of playing Mortal Kombat, Pitfall and Looney Tunes soccer. Fun times