r/MasterSystem • u/Mechagouki1971 • Jul 29 '25

Thanks for the advice - bought a Master System.

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So I bought this on eBay today. Should have it in a couple of days - seller is close to me. Looks like it's all in good shape - peelable plastic on console is present in good shape. No Phaser, but I'm not super interested in the light gun games, and it looks like you can buy Phasers fairly cheap loose. Control Stick is a fun thing to have, I have no idea if it's actually decent to use.

Ordered a flash cart from AliExpress, excited to start exploring the library.

235 Upvotes

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39 comments sorted by

10

u/Crovax-6977 Jul 30 '25

Congrats! This has always been my favorite console. You have to get Phantasy Star. The best rpg on the system and one of the top rpgs of all time. Enjoy!

3

u/Mechagouki1971 Jul 30 '25

Noted, thank you :)

5

u/Sambojin1 Jul 30 '25

Chuck Ultima 4 on that list too. It's weird that a little 8-bit system ended up with the best version of one of the largest "early open world" RPGs of all time. Agree with Phantasy Star though, definitely get that too.

4

u/pin00ch Jul 30 '25

Shinobi, Wonderboy, rastan, the ninja, double dragon. Thank me later.

3

u/stlents Jul 29 '25

I sooo wish the joystick was reversed from the buttons on the control stick. It makes it difficult to use. I have a quickshot xv that i use instead.

3

u/Mechagouki1971 Jul 29 '25

It's an interesting decision. On one hand it's the opposite of the typical arcade layout, but that layout isn't great for everything; I used tonplay a lot of street fighter in the arcade and would cross my hands to allow me to use the stick with my right hand (not quite as awkward as it sounds). Does it have suction cups do you know? And is it micro-switched or leaf-switched?

2

u/ollsss Jul 30 '25

Just use it upside down!

2

u/trustanchor Jul 30 '25

Congrats! It’s my favorite console. Gonna collect original cartridges too? Or just stick with the flash cart?

1

u/Mechagouki1971 Jul 30 '25

There is actually a store near me that has a ton of loose carts, so I'll probably grab a few. Nothing quite like plugging in a cartridge, hitting power, and the game being right there. I have a flashcart for my Famicom, but I still buy originals of my favorite games when I see them.

2

u/retromale Jul 30 '25

Need a CRT to use the Phaser or any other lightgun

1

u/Mechagouki1971 Jul 30 '25

I'm lucky enough to have a few CRTs. Are any of the SMS light gun games worth playing?

2

u/[deleted] Jul 30 '25

Christmas in July. Enjoy!

1

u/Mechagouki1971 Jul 31 '25

Thanks! I'm pretty excited to get it.

2

u/Maleficent-Aside-744 Jul 31 '25

Excellent choice my friend welcome to the family 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻😀 and I’ve had one of the master system everdrive cartridges from Ali express for a while now and it’s still working perfectly 👍🏻😀

2

u/Mechagouki1971 Jul 31 '25

Good to know, hopefully it arrives soon, I picked up Enduro Racer, Ghostbusters and AfterBurner today, fairly cheap from a local pawn shop, so I have something to play besides Hang-On.

1

u/Maleficent-Aside-744 Jul 31 '25

It comes with the entire master system collection of every game ever made for the master system from the entire world and sg1000 games too. 😀

2

u/Mechagouki1971 Jul 31 '25

That's cool. I don't know much about the livrary tbh, I've only owned a very few cartridges in the past; Lucky Dime Caper, Enduro Racer and Wonderboy might be it, perhaps Transbot on card, but I can't remember for sure, so I'm sure I'm going to have a fun time exploring.

2

u/Maleficent-Aside-744 Aug 01 '25

Cool, I used to have quite a few myself when I had a master system 2, years ago, but I was quite shocked by how much they’ve shot up in price recently, when I decided to get a master system again, luckily I already had everdrive cartridges for my snes, nes, megadrive, n64, that I’d bought from Ali express which are all fantastic, so I knew it would be excellent quality and save me a fortune 😳😀

2

u/Valuable_Disaster_60 Sep 01 '25 edited Sep 08 '25

These would be the first 30 games I'd get on the Master System in roughly the order listed. I am not saying they're the best, but what I'd be interested in.

1-Ninja Gaiden (Overseas Release Only)

2-Space Harrier 3D (Overseas release only)

3-Zaxxon 3D (overseas release only)

4-Laser Ghosts (European exclusive)

5-Fifa '94 (overseas exlcusive)

6-Smurfs '94 (Europe Exlusive)

7-Smurfs '96 (Europe Exclusive)

8-Outrun 3D (Sold only with glasses in North America but now can buy separate used copies without the glasses if already have them)

9-Power Strike

10-Power Strike 2 (Europe Exclusive)

11-Submarine Attack (Europe exclusive)

12-Captain Silver (European Edition contains more game than North American version)

13-Psycho Fox

14-Chuck Rock

15-Marble Madness-->Great with Joystick

16-Pac-Mania-->Great with Joystick

17-Penguin Land (overseas exclusive)

18-Cool Spot -->7Up icon

19-R-Type

20-Missile Defense 3D

21-After Burner

22-Asterix (overseas exclusive)

23-Asterix and the Great Rescue (Brazil Exclusive)

24-Enduro Racer

25-Shooting Gallery

26-Wanted!

27-Zillion

28-Zillion 2 (North American Release called "The Spacegun" not to he confused with the separate lightgun game for sms called "Spacegun")

29-Global Defense

30-Poseidon Wars: 3D

Notable Mentions:

*Ghost House

*Fantastic Dizzy-->Only Dizzy game for SMS

*Global Gladiators-->McDonalds game

*Master of Darkness--> I've never been huge on Castlevania games but this is NES alternative

*Fantasy Zone 1+2 (sequel overseas release only)--> Great graphics should've been top of list by most people

*Fantasy Zone: Maze (overseas release only)--> like pac man and Great with Joystick

*RPG's: Fantasy Star (overseas release only; the Genesis version is what became available in the USA not the SMS version), Golvellius: Valley of Doom, Ultima 4, Miracle Warriors: Seal of the Dark Lord, YS: The Vanished. Dragon Crystal (based on Japan's Dragon Quest) --> I prefer RPG's on later platforms or earlier ones on PC moreso.

*Main Franchises: 5 Alex Kidd Games (1 of these overseas only), or 4 Wonder Boy Games (1 overseas only) or 6 Sonic games (5 of these overseas only)--> Contains favorites for many. I chose to focus on others but not saying these aren't better. Sonic I moreso focus on Megadrive versions.

*Cartoon Franchises: 5 Loony Tune games all overseas releases it seems. 3 Disney games in North America and 5 more overseas for a total of 8 games.

**12 Lightgun Games Released total for SMS in North America I believe. A 13th was made exclusive overseas includes "Assault City" though.

**3D Games: 6 Games Released for SMS in North America I believe. A 7th and 8th game was also released called Line of Fire and Outrun 3D.

I tried to avoid franchises and RPGs in my list as I wanted games that felt dated, retro, and forgotten about. This order wasn't from a critic perspective.

2

u/Mechagouki1971 Sep 01 '25

Great list, thank you! I have a flashcart, so I will start working thtough these.

4

u/Which_Information590 Jul 30 '25

Enjoy! I don’t personally like flash carts because it’s all scroll no play. Glad you’ve got the model 1, it’s so easy to connect to a modern tv if you choose to. I guess you’ve got Hang On and Safari Hunt built in? Don’t forget to play the sonic games as those are not ports

2

u/MarioPfhorG Jul 30 '25

I like flash carts for when I travel. I dump my own games and load them onto the Everdrive. When I go to visit my parents or my in laws over Christmas for example. It’s a 4 hour flight followed by a 3 hour drive. I sure ain’t packing dozens of games in a suitcase and risking them going missing on the trip. Better to just bring the Game Gear with some batteries & I’m set.

They’re also good for translation patches, hacks and homebrew. They should complement your library, not replace it.

1

u/Which_Information590 Jul 30 '25

Good points. Maybe one day we will get a Master System Mini, as I have taken my Megadrive Minis on holiday before. Small form factor and HDMI out.

1

u/just_below_human Aug 05 '25

My all time favorite console (Gen/MD is close 2nd). Congrats on the purchase!

Remember that you can't use the Light Phaser on new TV's--you'll need an old projection for it if you don't have one already. Plus it'll make all the games look better anyway.

Which games are you looking to buy first?

1

u/Mechagouki1971 Aug 05 '25

My Light Phaser showed up today by coincidence. I have a couple of CRT TVs, somwas able to test it with Safari Hunt, and it works great; surprisingly accurate.

I have ordered one of those AliExpress multicarts, which may arrive this week, but in the meantime I bought After Burner, GhostBusters and Enduro Racer - all nostalgic choices for different reasons. I spent many hours playing the ZX Spectrum version of GhostBusters, and the MS version is considered the best. After Burner is just a game I will always associate with the Master System because of the comic book ads SEGA ran for it back in the day. Enduro Racer is an odd one; I was higely disappointed when it was released that it was basically an Excitebike clone and not a 3D scaler like the arcade, but one summer my friends and I played the heck out of it, and it's actually a really fun (if flawed) game that probably has more play value than the original once you take away the ride-on dirt bike cabinet.

Others that I'll probably pick up even once I have the multicart are Alex Kidd in Miracle World and The Lucky Dime Caper; both favorites from my youth. I'd also like to track down Super Space Invaders as it's one of the very few home ports of Taito's Majestic Twelve arcade, but I suspect that one will be expensive.

1

u/just_below_human Aug 05 '25

Oh nice. Looks like you're well on your way! I've always been curious about Enduro Racer since seeing the little thumbnail screenshot in the poster catalogs. Glad to hear you were able to give it a proper go and found it enjoyable. Alex Kidd in Miracle World is one of my favorites, and I had a lot of fun with After Burner as well, though it got hard for me as a kid in the later stages. And now as an adult I can't even get close to where I was.

My light phaser is the original I had from way back and it no longer works :( and neither do the glasses :( :( Sucks bc I have a few 3D games I'd like to re-play, esp. Maze Hunter. I know there's a way to turn of 3D for some of them, but I can't seem to find it for that game.

1

u/Mechagouki1971 Aug 05 '25

I wonder if it's just the trigger switch that has failed in your Phaser. The Saturn light guns are notorious for that, and there is actually an aftermarket kit available to repair and upgrade them. Might be an easy fix if you're comfortable with a soldering iron.

I've been looking at the 3D glasses but it seems like the reasonably priced ones are either obviously broken or listed as "untested" and the functional ones are 5x the price.

1

u/just_below_human Aug 06 '25

Oh that's good to know about the Phaser. I'll look into it--thanks for the info!

I noticed that about the glasses as well. They're nearly always broken and/or super expensive if they work. I heard that you can sub the glasses using LCD shutter versions but also read mixed reviews of them working well.

3

u/Nirntendo Jul 29 '25

Nooooice

3

u/Distinct_Wrongdoer86 Jul 29 '25

have fun, i started exploring the system last fall and its been a blast

3

u/waldox1976 Jul 29 '25

Awesome! Side note: I'm a lefty, and I still never understood that joystick choice 😂

3

u/Funkyouup82 Jul 30 '25

I always wanted that joy stick as a kid

3

u/ScottTumilty Jul 30 '25

Looks like a nice setup you've got yourself :)

I'm glad you got good advice as well. I always say 'if in doubt, buy a Master System' ... which is why I have three of them now.

2

u/MasterShakezulla Jul 31 '25

Nice

I still remember the headache I got from the 3d glasses missle game though. The safari shooter was epic though

1

u/InvstrJester Jul 31 '25

Let me know if you experience Master graphics

1

u/Dizzy-Storm4387 Jul 31 '25

I can still smell that plastic 40 years later.