The Life and Times of the Sega Master System (Part IV): Features

A look at some of the more unexpected ports to come to the Master System.

Newsletter

Be notified of site updates. Sign-up for the Newsletter sent out twice weekly.

Enter E-Mail Address Below:

The Life and Times of the Sega Master System

(Page 4)

The Well Hmmm Factor:

Most who remember the Sega Master System are well aware of the big-name franchises that Sega brought to it like Hang-On, Afterburner, Outrun, Shinobi, and Alex Kidd, as well as seeing the birth of the Phantasy Star series, and Wonderboy. As popular as those games are, though, the system did get its fair share of unexpected ports that came straight out of left field, especially later in its life when Nintendo couldn’t use heavy-handed tactics to keep third party developers in their camp. As such, we shall conclude this special feature by looking at the top five most surprising games to show up in the Master System’s library.

5. Streets of Rage (Both 1 and 2)

Considering how quickly the Genesis overshadowed the Master System when the 16-bit console came out, it’s surprising that Sega still ported over some of their newer, prettier games to the 8-bit unit. The Streets of Rage series managed to be among those titles. When the first one came out, it was obvious the thing was a cash grab considering how poorly it played. However, the second Streets of Rage played a whole lot better. At the end of the day, though, it didn’t much matter since most people with any sense would just go and get the Sega Genesis versions of the game.

Advertisement

4. Mortal Kombat (1, 2, & 3)

When Acclaim took Mortal Kombat from the arcade to the living room everyone was discussing how the SNES got the “lame, toned down, bloodless version”, while the Genesis had the good version of the game since it came with all the bloody goodness found in the arcade. What a lot of people didn’t notice was that the game also quietly slipped onto the Master System. Looking back, one would have had to been hardcore into Mortal

Advertisement

Kombat to want to get such a crippled version of the game on a horribly antiquated system. The visuals were horrid, the controls needed work, and it was just a shell of its former self. As technically inferior as the game was when it got released, it certainly has gained itself a healthy dose of novelty.

3. Golden Axe Warrior

While the Golden Axe series became well-known for its hack and slash action in the arcades and on the Genesis, for some reason most have yet to figure out Sega decided to make a Zelda clone set in the Golden Axe universe. It was a functional game that did a decent enough job of being a paint by numbers action RPG at the time, but didn’t have people kicking down the door of their local game shops trying to find a copy. Looking back at the game though, it has certainly become one of those titles that’s nice to add to the collection just so you can say you have it.

2. Street Fighter II

While most people tend to dwell on the hacked NES version of Street Fighter II that can be found lurking in bazaars in Hong Kong that specialize in those sort of wares, the Sega Master System also got its own version of the Capcom fighter, though it only ever saw a release in Brazil. As one might expect, the backgrounds were extremely simplified, and the game had to be modified to work on a controller with a directional pad and two attack buttons. The game was released in 1997, well after just about every other market had received 16-bit versions of the game. This is one such example of the games that Tec Toy was trying to bring to the Brazilian market when everyone else had long since abandoned the Master System.

1. Ninja Gaiden

Out of all the obscure games to sneak onto the Master System, by far the most surprising has to be Ninja Gaiden. In order to get the game on Sega’s console the company had to license the property from Tecmo and develop the game themselves. The finished product turned into a solid action game, but there was a distinct lack of wall climbing compared to what one could find in the original NES games. Of all the surprising games on this list, Ninja Gaiden proves to be the most fun of the bunch.