Sega Master System

[Jizaboz]

How many of you actually played a Master System when they were around? Did you see a store demo displays or know anyone that had one?

[RealNC]

I played one regularly that was set up in a big mall store. It had an Alex Kidd cartridge on it. I remember the dpad on the controller was weird and never liked it.

The system was already outdated though, and was sitting next to a Sega Mega Drive ("Sega Genesis" over there in Murrica.) Guess which one I played most :P

[Jizaboz]

Cool! Probably Alex Kidd and the Lost Stars at that time.

The dpad is definitely the worst! Even Famicom controllers were not as crappy. I ended up using my Genesis controller more.

While I had seen a store Demo in maybe 1987 or 88, I didn’t really want one until AFTER I got a Genesis. After beating Phantasy Star II I really wanted to play the first one and couldn’t seem to buy a power base converter.

Eventually I traded my Gameboy for one with a couple games and ordered Phantasy Star via a Sears catalog at a huge discount.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

I must learn more

[Jizaboz]

As I mentioned on Twitter mine was found in the attic when I recently helped with HVAC stuff. I thought I had thrown it away when I was 14 because it was broken. Bought a new AC adapter and AV cable for it, fired it up, and the built in games (Hang on and Safari Hunt) menu booted right up. Later I go out and buy Space Harrier in the box for 18$ from a local store and discover it's the cartridge slot that's broken. Reflowed all the solder from the slot to the main PCB and it's fixed :)

A few days later I got a Chinese rip off of the "Everdrive" cart and have really enjoyed having this system back. I did finally break down and get a real controller for 20$ so I can play the games that don't work with a Genesis controller such as Alien Syndrome. Now I just need to get my light phaser working..

[Jizaboz]

About a week after this, I decided to try to fix my Light Phaser. I basically went with the "shotgun" (throw everything at a repair without any further testing attempts) approach. First, I reflowed all the solder on the small PCB inside the gun. Then I expected to replace capacitors. Instead, after the reflow I held the guts up to the screen while Operation Wolf was playing.. and it fired! I've been really enjoying the light gun games on this system. As a a friend that didn't own one back in the day but did play Duck Hunt for NES commented when they tried it: "Woah, the games are harder but the gun is way more accurate!"

The latest "literal English" enhanced Phantasy Star patch is still playing well. I've actually neglecting finally finishing Refantazio because wanting to play this ancient SEGA RPG again the "proper" way.

[Jizaboz]

https://x.com/jizaboz/status/1918059276804800573?s=46

Some pictures of Phantasy Star running on my little CRT tv. Man, what a masterpiece of a RPG. Yup, that’s a big yellow cat in my party!

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

I am learning more

THANK YOU for posting that.

[Jizaboz]

https://x.com/jizaboz/status/1918672418 ... 64oU_CO8mQ

The Master System light gun games are really cool because the actual gun works differently from the NES light gun, which allows for mad more accurate shots and mad more difficult games.

Above I’ve mentioned Gangster Town. Wanted is also a really good one. Rambo III is fun but seems way hard so far. Operation Wolf port is solid, and a few other gun games I’m just now scratching the surface on.

[Jizaboz]

Realized I had not even shown what my Power Base even looks like. Way cooler looking than the NES Control Deck.

Was just enjoying a Light Phaser game called “Laser Ghost” tonight.