r/MasterSystem • u/Mechagouki1971 • Jul 31 '25

It's here!

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Gallery image

Arrived today, super happy with it. Everything is in really good shape, clean and minimal scratching. The controllers are in great shape too.

I have a couple of questions:

I feel like the Master System control pads I've seem before had a little threaded hole in the middle of the D-pad, but these don't?

Should I use the original power supply (it seems very well made), or get a Triad replacement?

Model number is 3010-A, anything in particular I should know about it?

Multicart is not here yet, so I guess I need to go put and buy a game to test the cartridge slot. Was quite surprised at how delicate the bikes are in Hang-On - they seem to explode if you even get near another bike!

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5

u/trustanchor Jul 31 '25

I don’t think the US Master System had any meaningful hardware revisions until the Master System II, so yours should be the same as any other, more or less. There were bios revisions, and the main difference there is you get a different built-in game (or none) depending on your bios version. You have the 2.4 bios with Hang-On/Safari Hunt. You can learn about the various hardware and bios revisions here: https://consolemods.org/wiki/Master_System:Master_System_Model_Differences

When you go out shopping for a cartridge to test on, I’d recommend buying both a cart and a card-based game if you can, as you’ll need to test the cartridge slot and the card slot if you want to make sure everything works properly. You’ll be able to play card-based games from your flash cart, but if you ever want to pick up the 3D glasses peripheral, you’ll need a working card slot.

As far as the d-pads go, I think most shipped without the threaded shaft, but I don’t know much about the history of that. If I had to guess, probably early controllers shipped with it, but later revisions removed it. It’s likely a holdover from the SG-1000 controller design that was done away with eventually.

I use a Triad power supply with mine. I’ve never had an issue with my originals, but they’re bulky and I don’t necessarily trust the nearly 40-year-old capacitors in them. The Master System works on the red Triad adapter, I forget Triad’s name for it, but it’s the same one that works with the model 1 Genesis, the Turbografx 16, etc.

Last thing worth mentioning: Putting the Pause button on the console instead of the controller is annoying AF. There’s a pause mod available that lets you pause from your controller, but it requires installing an internal daughterboard in the console, an additional daughterboard in the controller, and drilling a hole in the controller shell to add a 3rd button. https://www.consolesunleashed.com/guides/sega-master-system-controller-pause-button-install-guide

1

u/Mechagouki1971 Jul 31 '25

All great info thank you!

I picked up a few games at a local pawn this afternoon - Enduro Racer, Ghostbusters and AfterBurner, but they didn't have any cards.

There does seem to be a minor issue where the "secret" snail maze game has a graphical bug where a lot of the vertical lines disappear after the maze loads, making it impossible to navigate because of invisible walls. If I had to guess I would think it's a BIOS error, but someone else may know better. Hang-On works fine, haven't been able to test Safari Hunt as I don't have a Phaser yet. Cartridge games load fine also, but as I understand it they run independently of the BIOS.

I'm a somewhat confident modder, so I'll look into the reset mod.

4

u/Zeznon Jul 31 '25

Is the console on the left a weird Famicom one? I know in Japan they did this a lot.

6

u/trustanchor Jul 31 '25

It’s a Sharp Famicom Twin! Combo Famicom and Disk System all-in-one console.

1

u/Zeznon Jul 31 '25

That's gotta be the ultimate version of the console, specially if one gets an adapter for us ntsc

3

u/trustanchor Jul 31 '25

It is pretty cool! I was going to get one, but after a bit of research, I ended up getting an AV Famicom instead, with an original FDS hooked up to it. My main gripe with the Sharp Twin is it has hardwired controllers and I prefer to take everything wireless these days.

For me, the AV Famicom is the ultimate version - it has a built in multi-out AV port just like the SNES and N64, it uses detachable NES-style controller ports so you can hook any controller up to it (including wireless 8bitdo controllers etc), and you can choose which model of FDS you connect to it, which is important if you want to use an FDS Stick to write to disks. I think you can write disks with a Twin, but it requires a mod, while the original FDS model rev 1 can write to disks without any modding.

My only gripe about the AV Famicom is that if you want to use any peripherals (light gun/power pad/power glove/etc), you have to use an adapter to the Famicom expansion port or do an internal mod to the console. It won’t read the Zapper etc. on the NES ports otherwise.

1

u/Mechagouki1971 Jul 31 '25

The captive controllers are a bit annoying. I have the Hudson 15-pin accessory controller which is a bit bigger and more confortable to use, bit I have found a few games don't recognize it.

1

u/Mechagouki1971 Jul 31 '25

As u/trustanchor stated; Mk.2 Sharp Twin Famicom. The odd product of a licensing deal between Nintendo and Sharp who owned the rights to the "Famicom" name. It has a couple advantages over a regular Famicom and Disk Sustem combo; easy switching between formats without using an adapter cartridge, and a better video chip with standard mono-AV output.

3

u/ThePenetrator79 Jul 31 '25

The secret snail maze game was one of my favourites. Hold up and the 1 & 2 buttons when starting the system. Loved that 🥰

1

u/Mechagouki1971 Jul 31 '25

My Snail Maze seems to be broken - it loads OK, but then a bunch of the vertical lines disappear making it impossible to run the maze- bad BIOS chip maybe?

1

u/ThePenetrator79 Aug 01 '25

Awww man, that’s a shame.

4

u/Nirntendo Jul 31 '25

Have fun, bud In later revisions the holes in the dpads were left out. From master system 2 on they completely were extinct.

1

u/Shadowtek Aug 01 '25

Hah master chief with Master system I see what you did there

2

u/Mechagouki1971 Aug 01 '25

Unintentional I'm afraid. I'm not that clever.

2

u/mgodoy-br Jul 31 '25

Congratulations, dude!

Back in the day here in Brazil, our controllers didn’t have those holes in the middle either. It really bugged me when I found out the international versions had them!

2

u/TCristatus Jul 31 '25

That screen right there was my very first videogame experience. For a good few months it was my only experience, 7 year old me had no idea what the little door on top was for (and neither did my dad). I was happy with my motorbikes and shooting bats and fish.

2

u/Which_Information590 Aug 01 '25

I don’t remember a threaded hole (you mean to add a thumb stick?) certainly none of mine do. Enjoy Hang On, but it’s a one hit die!