Why it FAILED! (Or did it?) the Master System. Segas 8 bit games machine.

[@BenRattigan]

I worked in Argos at 16/17 years old and I remember a lot of Master Systems going out the door in Xmas ‘94 and even 95 but it was at a really low price by then.

[@81632bit]

According to the Autumn/Winter 1994 Argos catalogue, the Master System 2 was selling for £44.50 at the time. Not surprised it sold a few units.

[@Public_Relations_Dept]

@@81632bit That's when I got mine. Had sonic built in. Good times.

[@thegaybear]

The Saga master system was epic , my 10 year old self loved it.

[@ByrneMJames]

I heard that its still big in Brazil today, and some company is still making new ones. They love a bit of retro.

[@BrunoidGames]

That's so true.. Probably the most important console here.

[@ByrneMJames]

@@BrunoidGames what are your favorite games? I set up emulation on an xbox series s it upscales old games so they look great. But I dont know what Master system games to try

[@BrunoidGames]

@@ByrneMJames Phantasy Star is the best 8 bit RPG by far, I have a beautiful tattoo of the opening screen, you can check on my channel's community. Kenseiden is amazing, looks like 16 bit game. Castle of Illusion (Mickey) is a nice one to start! Sonic games are really good and there is an amazing version of R-Type. I hope you have a nice time exploring this amazing console!

[@81632bit]

It's a company called Tec Toy. They officially licensed the MS from Sega way back in the late 80s/early 90s and have been producing variants ever since. Most of the more recent models don't have cartridge slots, but feature literally hundreds of built in games. They converted a bunch of late era Game Gear titles to the MS, as well as coding some originals... Including an official version of Street Fighter 2!

[@ByrneMJames]

@@81632bit oh nice. Do you know the names of any of the originals?

[@CasperEgas]

I think it probably surpassed expectations. I would not say it failed. But yeah, it didn't do wel in North America. Japan is a bit of a strange one, as it was the Mark III at first. But at The Master System, it seemed like a half-hearted release there.

[@81632bit]

As I said, it depends on your location. In Europe it was an undoubted success. In North America it was seen by Sega as a failure. Japan is a whole different kettle of fish. The Mark III was reasonably popular, but the rebrand to the Master System seemed to kill it.

[@retropolis1]

The Master System wasn't popular in all of Europe. In Germany and most skandinavian states the NES still ruled supreme (just as the SNES did over the Mega Drive).

[@81632bit]

True. But the European market at the time (late 80s to early 90s) was the only one of the 3 major ones (Europe, America, Japan) where the SMS was a success in real terms.

[@JamieJoseph88]

The pause button being on the system itself instead of the controller and the terrible box art (I'm looking at you Alex Kidd, no wonder no-one cared about you) are definitely factors towards its failure, the NES did catch up in PAL regions eventually in sales too and surpassed it towards the end

[@hwgavin]

Alex Kidd popped off in New Zealand, everyone in Mosgiel had a master system 1 with Alex packed in. Marketing for Christmas 92 round these parts must have been great (also at the right price point for struggling single parent homes that couldn't afford 16 bit for their kids, who didn't really care about gfx yet anyhow)

[@JamieJoseph88]

@@hwgavin Alex Kidd being an epic fail is the reason why Sega created Sonic to try and have anything close to competing with Mario

[@duhmez]

My last comment bnased on the USA region of course. Now with internet I know it did wat beter elsewhere and in UK I heard of alot more good games.

[@BrunoidGames]

Master System didn't fail, some places failed to get it. Phantasy Star was translated to portuguese. Thanks Sega and Tec Toy!

[@81632bit]

Depends on how you look at it. Yes, in most of Europe and Brazil, it was an undoubted success. But when stacked up against the NES/Famicom on a global scale (IE Japan and the US... The 2 biggest markets), it was a failure. 10m units Vs 62m units. I love the MS. I had one as a kid, and still own one today. But it did fail overall.

[@SeñorDossierOficial]

It was an awesome machine, we failed it as gamers :'V

[@duhmez]

eASY WHY IT FAILED. cRAP GAMES MSOTLY. cRAP CONTROLLER. bOTH THE WORST D PAD EVER MADE AND NOT ENOUGH BBUTTONS.

[@PlasticCogLiquid]

Agree, most of the games were pretty garbage. Like they were made by nOObz