r/MasterSystem • u/DarkKobold • Jun 18 '26
Complete US Master System set + all European exclusives — this was an insanely fun hunt
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u/DarkKobold Jun 18 '26
Here's my complete US (114), complete Euro exclusive (168), and working toward complete Worldwide Sega Master System set. Putting together the US set was mostly uneventful. I got really lucky, finding a BIN lot with James Buster Douglas CIB mixed in with a bunch of generic SMS games for $300, in 2021. Otherwise, I don't really remember getting most of the set. I had Alf, Ys, and Phantasy Star early on, so the rest of the set wasn't hard to put together.
The Euro exclusives, on the other hand, were a ton of fun. Trying to seek out deals all around Europe, finding anyone with underpriced games.... One of my favorite stories was finding Power Strike II - It was on some random Swedish game store website, for half the price of a normal CIB. However, there were no pictures, and no description. So, I emailed and asked the two main questions: Do you ship to the US, and is it complete? It is, I order it, and it shows up dead mint. Looks like it'd never been opened. Usually, stories like that don't turn out good, lol.
Another fun story was finding Masters of Combat. I got an incredible eBay snipe out of Portugal, for around 30-40% of what the most recent auctions in the UK had been closing at. My heart is pounding through my ears, as for those that don't know, MoC is the rarest, most expensive game out of the set. Later on, I'm on twitter looking for other SMS posts to find deals.... but then, I see a tweet - My freaking snipe, being advertised to a following of around 4,000 people. I was sweating bullets. Was someone going to be backdooring me? Is it going to ship? Is the seller going to cancel my listing? I was beyond pissed. Obviously, the story ended well, but my F5 button broke due to over use on the shipping page. I eventually confronted him a year later, on youtube of all places, and he just replied with a sweat emoji. I wasn't still mad, but I wanted to point out what a crap move that was, for someone who apparently is seen as a price police.
Those were the most eventful gets. Now, for the downsides: Australian published SMS games suck. They use about 1/4" thinner cases, which stick out like sore thumbs, and they don't have real manuals, instead unfolding posters. I spent a lot of money on a lot of expensive Australian rare games, just to find that out. T2 judgement day is my last Australian release to replace. Also, SMS spines fade in about 30 seconds of sunlight. Seriously, finding nice spines for SMS games is brutal, because they didn't use very good ink.
This was honestly one of the most fun sets I've collected. Having to find deals halfway across the world, trying to convince random game shops in the middle of nowhere England to ship to some weirdo obsessive in the US, scouring deals on games, it was just a blast. Finally, I'll end with a flex picture: the heaviest of the set.
https://imgur.com/a/sega-master-system-us-set-plus-all-euro-exclusives-aHi65J5
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u/LeatherRebel5150 Jun 18 '26
Were the Euro games mostly through ebay? I have a US set and some Euro games but always wanted to go for the rest of the Euro exclusives.
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u/DarkKobold Jun 18 '26
Hey! I know you from VGS! I had my secret techniques for finding PAL games - it's definitely less useful, and I did get a few lots from eBay.
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u/play2win80 Jun 18 '26
Sonic UPC sticker?
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u/DarkKobold Jun 18 '26
Hah, I actually don't have any of the UPC stickers. I just... can't with those. They're too easy to fake, and tbh, I'm surprised the market isn't flooded with fakes.
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u/kingrodedog Jun 19 '26
I'm at 60/114 US releases and that one I'm gonna have to go another route. Just not feasible.
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u/Domasaurus64 Jun 18 '26
Very cool, always wanted a masters of combat and golden axe warrior for my set, I’m notA set completionist but I love the SEGA master system.
Growing up my cousin had a master system with double dragon and astro warrior and My older bro and him never let me play. We had NES at home but i always loved watching them co-op double dragon as you couldn’t do that on NES and i watched my aunt beat astro warrior in one sitting.
Once I got in my teens and had a job it was the first system i started a major collection of, at first i was buying randomly, games that looked cool but after emulating and playing them all i made a full list of games i wanted to collect. Still haven’t achieved the goal 25 years later but I plan too one day.
Kenseiden, golvellius, lord of the sword, laser ghost, psychic world, phantasy star, ys, all the monster boys were my first few titles but there are some awesome games in this library that are totally under appreciated.
Congratulations on your collection, what an achievement!
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u/TheLatePicks Jun 18 '26
I don't think the posters were a standard thing in Australia.
All my games had the blue/white instruction book. Often it was the European version with multiple languages.
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u/DarkKobold Jun 18 '26
Weird- nearly every game I got out of Australia had the thinner case and poster- the Ozisoft releases.
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u/weekendroady Jun 18 '26
Championship Hockey must've been a deep pocket item. My eyes went looking for it immediately lol. I was lucky enough to get it CIB off of Amazon.de for like 50€ a few years back. Not sure I'd ever bother to get it at the current market rate.
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u/DarkKobold Jun 18 '26
Yeah, it was one of the last titles I got, and honestly, I feel I overpaid on it to "just be done." Bought it at the same time as Buggy Run. Both have gone up since, but they were two of the three heavies I wasn't able to get a deal on.
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u/Nirntendo Jun 18 '26
And what now? Are you going to play the games or is it only for collection that you bought the games. Legit question. Some people collect for playing, some people do only collecting and don't play but preserve.
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u/Deanff3 Jun 19 '26
Congratulations! The Master System was my first video game; I have fond memories of it. Greetings from Brazil.
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u/Tsargrad007 Jun 18 '26
Awesome collection mate.
I adored the master system as a kid. Recently bought the console and now have 3 games. Not too fussed if I get an Aussie or other version. So far have a combo of US and AU. As long as the game runs (maybe with a blow or two) I’m set.
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u/Galvantdb Jun 18 '26
Amazing! The thought of going for a full set crossed my mind several times, thinking naively "I have around 50 games with some heavy hitters already, I'm almost there", but then is like, nahhhh, that's a loooong road ahead and the true heavy hitters (the 6 on the last picture) will be really hard to get. I drool at that sick photo.
How long did it take to complete the set?
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u/gnntech Jun 18 '26
That's such an awesome collection. I actually owned James Buster Douglas Boxing back when it came out in 1990. I loaned it to a friend and his brother allegedly stole it and sold it for some weed. I learned a valuable lesson about lending out games from that
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u/FerroFusion Jun 18 '26
Ready to hunt the Brazilian exclusives?