i just got a mega everdrive but i’ve been more fascinated and intrigued by the master system stuff.
alex kidd in miracle world is just bizarre and feels like peeking into an alternate videogame timeline
hang on fucking rules
i turned on out run 3d without knowing what that would do and holy shit MY EYES
I love the black, cartoon-style outlines that the sprites typically have on the Master System. Hang on feels so good. The vehicles in Alex Kidd rule. I love how the copter level turns into a water level if you crash.
posting here to remind myself to play golvellius someday
I was very close to saying the same thing!
The SMS was probably my first game system although my memories of it are pretty scant. In another life it might have been the NES but it got stolen out of the back of my parents’ car in a mall parking lot. My earliest game-related memories were probably sitting on the floor in front of it, staring at the painted circuit diagram-esque design on the front pointing you to where the power and pause button (on console only, not the controller) were.
i just started playing aztec adventure, holy shit this is neat
top down action thing where you collect bags of money and throw them at anthro animal baddies to recruit them. then they appear in formation beside you and act like gradius options, throwing duplicates of whatever projectiles you use and autonomously attacking enemies (and generally getting themselves killed on stage hazards)
amazing
also the music is great
It took me awhile to figure out that you could safely float up to the spikes.
My favorite versions of Space Harrier and R-Type are the SMS versions. Maybe because of the music more than anything.
I didn’t have a Master System but my neighbor did. I generally watched him play more than play myself. He used to get pretty frustrated with Shinobi. Understandably.
Afaik the MED pro (and X7?..all these different product variations are confusing) will also let you play compatible games with the YM2413 FM sound module, though I feel from a cursory listen that these versions weren’t always better e.g. Phantasy Star sounding a bit too farty.
i’ve just got the x3 for now, it is serving me perfectly well at the moment. i’m sure i’ll eventually want to get a pro and sell/give the x3 away at an sbcon or something
anyway i’m streaming some Aztec Adventure: The Golden Road to Paradise on twitch, come join me for master system mayhem (and maybe megadrive too)
The d pad had fallen out and was missing in all the Master Systems I saw in my youth
I mean the Master System in general is kind of this when you consider how much more popular than the NES it was in Brazil, Oceania, parts of Europe etc. For me growing up the NES was a mysterious, rare oddity and I only knew one person who had one (the girl next door, whose father got a bootleg version from Malaysia and I can’t remember if it was even a standard NES / Famicom form factor)
Alex Kidd was popular enough in Australia that certain variety shows on Channel 9 here seemed to always use the death sound for comedic effect (I think they sometimes still use it occasionally?)
Also that Bitmap Bros Master System Visual Compendium book was pretty good, although weirdly the only Wonder Boy representation in it was a few screenshots of some of the Brazilian ‘Monica’ versions
honestly you should load up random games while forcing FM and get nice surprises
iirc the Cerny-coded California Games port has FM sound, despite not ever being released in Japan
no that’s how you know the FM is working
