10 Games Better on the Master System
*Screen flashing warning during Operation Wolf segment.
Here are 10 games I genuinely feel are better played on a Sega Master System. Most of these are NES comparisons since the two machines went head to head in the mid to late 80’s.
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Opening 3D Logo By:
Jan Neves
YouTube Page – https://www.youtube.com/user/Jan3d
Episode Notes:
1. SMS games captured via the Mega SG. NES games via the NES Classic. I had to use emulation on my PC for SMS version of Operation Wolf. It wouldn’t work on my Mega SG properly. I had to use emulation on my PC for NES Shinobi as well.
2. If you haven’t played Robocop vs. Terminator on the NES, it’s not a bad game. Just kinda tame compared to the other versions out there.
3. I could have easily filled this with the Tengen Sega ports, but felt that would be sort of cheap. I wanted to branch it out to other games I felt fit better.
4. Capturing California Games was painful. I am really bad at it. It was nearly an hours worth of fails.
5. Sound was a big reason I chose some of these. While the SMS gets a bad rep for sound, when an NES game sounded bad, it was pretty awful itself. SOme of the FM music in these games were top notch.
6. I cannot capture lightgun gameplay with my current setup. That’s why you see aiming cross-hairs in gun games on my channel.
source
Aladdin on Master System and Game Gear beats Genesis version?.
Nope they both are Awesome.
Also NES doesnt beat Master System in terms of power and colors.
That kinda was a no-brainer that Master System was superior to the NES
aka "the torture machine". But i never showed any interest in either. To me
they looked very much like pong machines, only with color. Especially, when
you walk into the arcades, it's 1992, and you control picture-perfect tough
guys like Cody and Guy; with just the walking animation of these two
overshadowing all that measly home-gaming-micro-world by a lethal eclipse.
And then Hawk, Blood, Boomer and Sledge – would prove time and again,
that no Streets of Rage (either part) can stand against the mighty arcade fists.
The turning point would fall on the timeless wonders of the Mega CD…
No one speak about sms like u did bro thanks big up
Nes couldn’t hold a candle to master system games great memories
This Paperboy looks even better than Paperboy 2 on SNES in fact…that's crazy.
You're not counting PC, right? lemmings on PC was much better
So which was more popular in North America…………the Master System or the PC Engine/??? Here in the UK I don't think the TurboGrafx was even sold and if it was it was certainly not of any importance…….the Master System was the console of my generation.
Sega absolutely slayed with Robocop Vs The Terminator. The MegaDrive port is one of my favourite games of all time.
Great video! All great games and well worth playing! I owned or rented them all besides Operation Wolf and Rampage. California Games – amazing!!! How many hours did I spend playing frisbee and hacky sack? Thanks for the flashback 🙂
So good to see someone appreciate the SMS double dragon, thanks.. Also, very cool making sure you included version comparison footage. Big thumbs up.
I remember playing adventure island 3, operation wolf, and rampage on nes. Those were the days in the earlier 2000 lmao
Lord of Sega rocks Master System
I completely agree with you concerning Castle of Illusion! I didn’t play the SMS version until a couple years ago, but the Game Gear version that I played in my youth was exactly the same and still better than the Genesis.
It would be great if you put a label in the gameplay between the two systems, sometimes i forgot which is the master system or nes
I like rampage on the Nintendo 64 better honestly I don’t have the very first one till I watch ur video I guess you learn something new every day
Brit here, NES didn't get much attention over here compared to the Master System (and ZX Speccy of course) so it's nice to see you Americans enjoying it. I think the NES Classic helped a bunch of us appreciate NES games here and I'd love to see SEGA release a Master System Mini for you guys.
Didn't even know it excited when younger.
It is quite interesting that the NES port of California Games was done by Rare.
I totally agree with your video, but it's very incomplete. Here is a complete list of multiplatform games with
comparison of
88 games, including some homonymous and similar games: https://segaclassics.blogspot.com/2017/04/console-wars-sega-master-system-vs-nes.html. The Master System wins 82% of the time (72 games), the NES wins 2% of the time and 16% of the time it is a tie. Then your video might be called: "72 Games Better on the Master System".
The lion king on sms is my favorite over the 16-bits versions
My parents bought me a Sega Master System as a child and not a Nintendo. The only games I have found much better on the NES back then was their Sports games. The Sega Master systems sports games just weren't as good graphically or as fun overall. Especially with basketball, football and hockey. This to me was my only real disappointment with the Sega Master System vs the Nes back then. Most of Sega's action games were better in my opinion. Even title only available on the Sega such as Zillion 1 and 2, Black Belt I loved amoung many others. I even recall the game Kung Fu Kid on the Sega system that was very fun. Double Dragon on the Sega system was definitely better to me vs NES.
I had so much fun playing Castle of Illusion and Robocop vs Terminator back in the day on the SMS. Great times. I also prefer SMS Sonic to the Mega Drive one. SMS is so underappreciated in some parts of the world. Great work Sega Lord X.
Loved 2-player Double Dragon!
I wonder if, when you say the NES versions of some of these play better, it’s because NES was more dev-friendly or the devs took a bit more time with that version since it had the much larger installed base?
Geeze even the C64 version of paperboy looked better than the NES version.
I'm seeing California Games in colour for the first time.
Castle of illusions was awesome those graphics back then were amazing.
The system.
I grew up with Game Gear in the early 90s, so I honestly feel this strong sense of identification with the Master System even though I never owned a SMS compatible system or had the ability to play SMS carts until the Mega SG by Analouge. Really something to see some SMS coverage on YouTube with a non-European voice delivering the copy.
I think the master system had the best programmers that took enough time to make better games than nes. The same happened with Genesis to Snes. The first one a little much better.
You know what they say "Love is blind."
The Mega Drive version of Castle of Illusion is much easier to complete, than the Master System version. On Normal Mode, that is. The Master System version has a time limit that decreases, giving you hell if you can't complete certain levels before the timer reaches zero. The Mega Drive version lacks the timer, and so it's better to get to the end and bosses of each world. The Master System bosses are harder to defeat than the Mega Drive ones. Also, the lair level of Master System has a Dragon Boss to defeat as well as Mizrabel. Mega Drive lair level only contains Mizrabel. Master System version music isn't as nice as Mega Drive version, which is more mellow and nicely conducted. So the Mega Drive version of Castle of Illusion is way better than the Master System version any day.
I had the Megadrive Mickey game (and the horrible Fantasia) but the 8 bit version looks beautiful.
Funny how different games would be better on different machines. All down to the programmer. C64 has the best Ghostbusters, Spy versus Spy and Ghosts’n’Goblins.
The Master system was ok, not as good as the NES but good. It had a level playing field and ultimately it lost. It did have a good run in the UK, it was a solid second.
Shinobi on the NES has a very odd jumping sound…
I can confirm that Castle of Illusion on the Master System is superior to the Megadrive/Genesis version. Anyone who disagrees with this statement is wrong.
California Games SMS is better than Genesis
WHAO so much color amazing. It is even better than playstation 1 !.
Choplifter on SMS destroyed the NES version.
I’m just now learning that the nes has the largest library of games. But a huge amount of them were total crap. I only got certain games like the marios and mega mans which were fantastic. No crap sports games or really bad ports.🤪
I loved my Master System! My dad did not know what he bought for Christmas '86 an regret it instantly seeing me sitting the whole day on the screen 🤣🤣🤣
I’m from the UK and when I was little in the early 90s everyone I knew had a Master System. I only knew one person with an NES. Wildcard choice here, the SMS Sonic games were better. The slower pace made for a better platformer *edit: I just remembered how terrible the SMS controller was with the rubber d-pad that always broke. I have a vague recollection of using a megadrive controller instead because they had the same port?
The Master system hardware is a powerhouse compared to NES specifications. The only hardware that pounded on the SMS was the PC Engine, back in the day. Heck, the PC Engine could often keep up with the 16 bit Snes and Genesis. Simply look at Street Fighter 2.
I remember playing Castle of Illusion for the Sega Mater System. I played that game excessively . I also liked James Buster Douglas knock out Boxing for the Master System which I was surprised didn't make the list in this video.
Ahhhhh SEGAAA!
The Master System was in every way superior in my opinion.
My friend had the nes back in the days. ..
And he always was blown away from the graphics on my system
Most notable ommision for me. The addictive and faithful Master System version of 'Gauntlet' was faaar faaar far superior to the NES port (or any of the other ports i'm aware of)
Makes you wonder what if? More 3rd party games?
Ninja Gaiden on NES was an experience and challenge the SMS could not give me.