10 Underrated SEGA Master Systems Games for Nintendo Fanboys 

SpellCaster and Kenseiden are amazing.

Two Words, One Title. Phantasy Star. The best JRPG of the 80's, Hands down

Props for mentioning Golden Axe Warrior. Tip: Sonic's Genesis Collection on both the 360 and ps3 system has this game! You shouldn't have to pay more than 10 bucks for a copy. You have to play Golden Axe up to level 2 or 3 to unlock it.

The fast pace of this video felt like those ‘90s GamePro videos with JD Roth. 🤣 Loved it! And my #1 Master System game has to be Ghostbusters! It’s not for everyone, but I keep coming back to it time & time again...

1:12 “Goll-Vell-ius” is how I’ve heard that one pronounced ✌️

Zillion is VERY similar to Impossible Mission on the NES, actually.

Good selection here! I just picked up a copy of Quartet and can't wait to try it out.

Got alot of love for the SMS too. I'm a fan of cereal too. What to do.....play SMS and eating cereal at the same time.

I thought I knew the master system library fairly well, but I’ve never heard of half these games. Well done sir.

The port of Space Harrier for the Sega Master System II is not only one of my favorite games of all time; but I think it is also the best version of the game. Definitely a HUGE nostalgia game for me.

Zillion was my game! I remember I came up with a system to recall the codes by associating the symbols with something it looks like. Zillion and Phantasy Star were my all-time favorite on the Master System.

Master of Darkness is great! Good suggestions :)

As a fan of compliations, I'm VERY surprised you didn't mention Golden Axe Warrior is an unlockable on Sonic 's Ultimate Genesis Collection for the PS3 and Xbox360. Cheers, John Riggs. You are one of my favorite people to see on hidden gems videos w/ MJR, so I'm glad to see you do stuff of your own like this.

Zillion reminds me of Impossible Mission for C64. Precious memories of not knowing what the fudge I was supposed to do...

You can do a second video with the following games: Wonder Boy 1-3 Kenseiden The Ninja Alex Kidd in Shinobi World Shinobi Time Soldiers Astro Warrior Hang On Rescue Mission Ninja Gaiden

Glad you shared this John! I have the Mega Sg with the Master System adapter, so I bought one Master System game: Double Dragon. I also have an Everdrive with all the games, but this video helps me decide on which ones to play.

Thanks for sharing and showing the SMS some love! Also, Golvelius is pronounced "gohl-vell-ee-us".

It's actually really nice to see you talk about the master system because it is one of those systems that I have very little experience with. I remember in my childhood that one of my cousins had a sega master system and the one game I remember playing at his house was choplifter, but I really need to dedicate some time to roperly playing this system and all the great games it has.

Great video John, I love the Master System! Also great suggestion of games! Some on here I was not aware of. Very cool!

Wow you actually showed me a coupla MS games I haven't seen before! Cool!

A few that come to my mind: -Time Soldiers: While not as good as the arcade version, this is very comparable to Commando and Ikari Warriors. -A few really solid arcade ports in Zaxxon 3D, Chopflifter, Double Dragon. -

Great list! 👍😁 I've played some of the SMS games and really enjoyed them. I'd love to see a lot more new/home brew games for SMS.

Phantasy Star is a great rpg and Ghostbusters is very fun on the SMS. Great video.

When I was a kid I only knew one person with the Sega Master System and his Mom never let us play it .

I remember my first experience with games.1989, Sega Master System, and Zillion, best days.

Forgot to add my suggestions: Alex Kidd in Shinobi World, R-Type and Ghoul's N Ghosts!

This title is an excellent idea, do more videos like this. I fall right into this category & now I know where to start.

I am diggin' the Master System Love! I have been going for the Full US set in 2020 and have been using RU-vid to track the progress/unboxing as I have been going for it. The ones from the US Set I am missing from your list is Alex Kidd in Miracle world, Kings Quest, Dead Angle - the rest were PAL games but I will probably need to snag a few of those at some point Thanks for the awesome video!

Aladdin on the Master System is great. It's totally different to the SNES/Mega Drive version. It follows the movie more closely.

Sega does what Nintendon't.

Some others I recommend are Rampage, Road Rash, Rtype, Ninja Gaiden, and RC Grand Prix

Up until a few years ago, I didn't even know the sega master system existed! My friends and I all have original NES and I don't know anyone who had the Master System! Ive been looking for one for years at a good price because I love Sega.

Very cool, i was into sega before nintendo back in 87', Black Belt was my fav game as a kid. I remember finding the infinite lives glitch back then, wrote to sega telling how i did it, and they sent me sega magazines and papers full of cheat codes for sms games :) I always believed i was the founder of that glitch haha, finding it in 1987/88, most likely not, but it was super cool they sent me stuff after that.

Definitely love the looks of Alex Kidd in Shinobi World as well as Ninja Gaiden

My mom brought me home a Sega for Christmas... I cried... she said “the man at the store said it was the same thing as Nintendo”. I was just so stunned I didn’t have a tantrum, I didn’t wail and cry I just sat there with tears running down my face. It was hard to explain, it wasn’t just some toy it was a social aspect. Trading games with friends and talking about those games... exactly zero of the other kids had Sega,

Riggs! Thank you for putting this video out! There aren't many guides out there for the Master System. This was very helpful. Have you by chance heard of a submarine game? I don't remember the name but it was pretty dope.

Dead Angle is the sequel to Empire City 1931, actually.

Ah that was my first console back in the day. Good times.

Master System was huge in Australia. I knew more people with sega than Nintendo.

I still have my master system. I like the master system more than my nes

Always loved Action Fighter, people who enjoy bullet hell type games will get a lot from it. It takes a lot of practice to get good at it but it's very rewarding if you do. Not a long game but it took me years to clear it without the cheat that makes you invulnerable to bullets with full upgrades.

The Black Belt box art is exquisite!

I spent hours of my childhood failing at Zillion and Aztec Adventure, and straight up not understanding Golvellius. Paladin's Quest, though, is legit the second video game I ever beat (after Ghouls 'n' Ghosts for SMS, which is *not* on this list for a very good reason). You forgot to add Wonder Boy III (or Wonder Boy in Monster Land), tho.

I had a master system 2 back in the day but only very few games so I’ll definitely use this list 👍

Mr. Riggs, you forgot Kenseiden. A shining oriental jewel of a game. Castlevania with samurais!

Other people have already mentioned most of these; the Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck games, Choplifter, Rastan (quite different from the arcade game), Alex Kidd in Shinobi World, Teddy Boy (nice to see this game getting some appreciation - it is great, simple fun), Asterix, the Wonder Boy games, Power Strike 1 & 2, Chuck Rock 1 & 2, superb ports of Paperboy, Bubble Bobble, Rampage, the NewZealand Story... I could go on... But nobody has mentioned the Fantasy Zone series yet? Fantasy Zone II in particular is superb; one of my absolute favourites that one.

I used to spend a lot of time playing the pool section of Parlor Games on my system. I also liked Kung Fu Kid.

love the master system but had 2nd version and had Alex Kidd built it

I wish I still had my old master system. Glad it's getting some attention here!

i love that system endless days playing alex kid in miracle world , double dragon , rocky , alien syndrome, quartet , chop lifter , shinobi, kung fu kid , reggie jackson baseball , aztec adventure, rambo , safari hunt , rambo 3 , thunder blade , hang on , space harrier,

Thanks for the recommendations! I just bought a SMS on ebay with no games, so this is a great reference point!

Where did you get that cover for your master system?

I know this is old (still great!) and I already posted. However, I wanted to add something that I think is important. One of the coolest games on this list is Golden Axe Warrior. It really is the closest Sega came to emulating the Zelda experience... Unfortunately, as Riggs stated, the game is not an easy find. That is unless you know where to look. Thankfully, one does not need to track down a Sega Master System and the game to play it. It can be enjoyed on the Sonic The Hedgehog's Ultimate Sega Genesis Collection on the Xbox 360/PS3.

0:35 my PS3 Slim has a weird place where the plastic kind of just bubbler and cracked. It’s small and doesn’t effect anything, but I definitely get that feel of “yeah it has a crack but hey it still works”

I've always been curious about the Master System. Never had one but I would love to pick one up, one day.

I remembered after burner, alien syndrome, outrun, duck hunt,rampage, ninja turtle and space harriet.

Some games I would also recommend: Rastan, Shinobi, Wonderboy series, Phantasy Star, Time Soldiers, Captain Silver, Pit Pot, Astro Warriors, Alien Syndrome, etc.

Great stuff. Id never seen quartet before. Looks a great!

Every great game released for the Master System could be considered underrated here since so few people know about it. Games you didn't mention: Ninja Gaiden, Sonic the Hedgehog, Land of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck's Lucky Dime Caper, Alex Kidd in Shinobi World, Wonder Boy 3, Out Run, Double Dragon, Gangster Town, freaking PHANTASY STAR.

Metal Jesus will help you with King’s Quest. I’m sure he has memorized every element of it

Oh man the memories!!! Thanks what a great video!

The graphics are brighter and more colorful, but I think the nes had better sound. The Master System is really missing the triangle wave.

love your vids, Riggs. grew up on mastersystem and genesis as well. you mention many of my favorites!

I used to play Dynamite Düx on my Amiga 500 when I was a kid.

Zillion is segas answer to impossible mission on the c64 or spectrum 👍 , love the master system and mega drive , nice video dude

Dead angle!!!! That's it!!! Couldn't remember name but had it one year for birthday as kid loved it

Dynamite Dux was released in Japan around Christmas of 1988 so maybe the Colonel was there to be a reference to that?

The hours I spent playing Zillion 😂....loved the SMS. Black Belt, Quartet, haven’t seen these in years. As the only kid who owned one growing up, seeing these games again pressed the nostalgia button pretty good. What a great console.

Quartet is some of the most fun you can have with coop on the sms.

I loved Dead Angle, I played it non stop back in the day.

Aw, you missed to mention Ninja Gaiden (the MS version!) :)

In Quartet at the load screen If you press the pause 14 times and start you will get a different fire power. You have to do it before it plays the game demo

In the UK, back in the day the Mighty Master System took the place of what the nes did for you guys in the US. I would highly recommend that you hunt down the following games for your SMS. R-Type Robocod Desert strike Fantasy Zone Air Rescue Sonic (obviously) The lucky dime caper (Donald duck) Tazmania. Happy hunting for those, it is such a good 8bit console.

Running Battle and Double Dragon are great on the Master System. Unlike on NES, you can play 2 player on Double Dragon.

Help!! I don't have picture or sound when I turn on my sms and I tried more than one cable and the power works fine it powers on but there must be a loose connection idk!!!

Zillions codes are the same number twice, but reflexive over each other. 00, 11, 22, 33, and so on. Its like reflexive imaginary or Frieze imaginary taught in Abstract Algebra.

Quartet was awesome in the arcades! I hope it makes it on to a compilation one day.

Good stuff, John. Solid recommendations!

Cyborg Hunter was an awesome game and I played it repeatedly. Was weird that you had to have a pad in 2nd control port and press 1 to get you inventory up.

Zillion is still a tie with rampage for my fave sms games I had as a kid. Great video

I had the sega master system and I still have it and all my games. I have one brand new unused in its original box. My brother had the NES so I got the best of both worlds.

There are so many amazing games but the 2 most underrated for me are THE NINJA and CLOUD MASTER. Both have a lovely Asian feel and influence, and are SOOOOOO DIFFICULT TO BEAT.

Fire and Forget II was good as well, it's kind of like Outrun but your car can fly as well.

Enduro Racer. Best isometric racer out there!

Zillion was freaking AWESOME

The Master System Marble Madness was a really good port.

For some reason I like the Master System more than the NES.

Loved alex kidd as a child, and still play it these days on my switch

Im currently collecting for the SMS.

The character from dead angle must be a ghost, a levitating ghost

Great video John I actually like Black Belt

I suppose they aren’t underrated, but you gotta do Outrun, Hang On, Space Harrier, and Rocky. Those were the games that we’d see on the shelf as NES owners and get jealous of. Mostly, the Master System couldn’t compete with the NES selection and we knew it, but it had some impressive for its time arcade ports that everyone liked

Sega Master does...what Nintendo NES/ FamiComdon't!

Do.master system ranking videos!

Cool, I didn't know some of them. One of the Asterix games was excellent too, from what I remember.

I remember playing Dynamite Dux on the Amiga and to my young eyes it was indistinguishable from the arcade. It came out for all the other usual popular euro computers too.

Sonic the Hedgehog, Wonder Boy III The Dragon's Trap, Phychic World, Alex Kidd in Shinobi World, Castle of Illusion, Land of Illusion and Pit Pot. Vigilante is more like Kung Fu than Black Belt is... Kung Fu Kid is also kind of similair.

Zillion looks like Impossible Mission from Epyx.

Here in the UK the machine soo popular i like your dust cover for the master system :-)

There’s a Master System action/RPG game where you had a bow and a sword, and for the life of me, I can’t remember what it’s called. I owned it back in ‘86 too...