Why Sega Master System Got COMPLETELY DESTROYED ! 

I'm American and I grew up with a Sega Master System in America. In my elementary school classes, almost everyone had a NES (Nintendo Entertainment System). Only two kids had a Sega Master System: me and this other kid named Brian. LOL. And then there was this ONE other kid named Nick who had an Atari 7800. The three of us were in our own little gaming niche while everyone else had the NES. The thing is, I LOVED the Sega Master System. I had a chance to play the NES at friends houses (a lot of Punch Out, Mario games, Ninja Gaiden and strangely enough Friday the 13th). Meanwhile, my friends played Sega Master System at my house and I took full advantage of the Master System version of Double Dragon (which had multiplayer on the Master System, unlike the one player experience on the NES). We played A LOT of two player Double Dragon on the Sega Master System together. The other game I played with friends a lot was Great Baseball (unlike the other "Great" sports games on Master System which were horrible, Great Baseball on Master System was a lot of fun and was fun as a one player game and especially fun as a two player game). Also, The # 1 thing I noticed is that a lot of stores carried NES games only... NO Sega or Atari games. For example, this old store named Ames (which was kind of like Walmart / K-Mart / Target) refused to carry Sega and Atari and were NES exclusive during the 80's and early 90's. According to my Aunt who worked there, Ames had an agreement with Nintendo to carry their games only during that time period (they didn't start to sell games from other companies till late 1991). I had to get my parents to bring me to Toys 'R Us since they were one of the few that sold Sega Master System games. Another really excellent store which sold Sega Master System games and the console was CRAZY EDDIE (and their slogan in their high energy commercials was accurate when they said "our prices are INSANE!!!". Very cheap prices for brand new tech. However, Crazy Eddie would get shutdown a few years later when it was learned they were running a CRIMINAL OPERATION behind the scenes... which explains why all their prices for new tech was really cheap. As it turned out, Crazy Eddie really was CRAZY. LMAO). Anyway... To conclude my essay: I loved the Sega Master System and it's the main reason why I still play video games today (currently playing on my Playstation 5). I loved it much more than the NES and Atari 7800 (the games on Sega Master System that I got were awesome. I especially loved the Master System RPGs like Phantasy Star, Spellcaster, YS, etc). It caused me to convince my parents to get a Sega Genesis when that released later and things spiraled from there (I currently own 31 different consoles and thousands of games).

As an American I think it had something to do with marketing. I didn't even know the Master System existed until the Genesis came out and that is the only because the Genesis came with a funky adapter to play games from an old system I had never even heard of. At the time I thought it was a system that came out only in Japan, I had no idea it was ever released in the US.

Sega MS is criminally underrated! SO many great games! I'm quite addicted to that system!

I knew ONE person who had one here in America. Luckily for me he was one street over from me. I got to experience it while it was still commercially relevant here. Have fond memories of playing games like Rambo and Double Dragon. I also remember watching (we were not allowed to even touch the game let alone play it) my friend's dad play Phantasy Star which was mind bending at the time. I eventually got one for myself (and the power base converter for Genesis as a back up) and it's still one of my favorite consoles to this day.

I remember the first time I'd learn of the SMS in 1992. I went to a local video rental store and asked if he had any cheap gaming consoles for sale, and he brought one out. I bought the system after he explained what it was an how much he wanted for it. $20... And $5 or less for games.

Here in Australia Sega Master System, Nintendo NES and the Commodore 64 were all pretty popular. By the late 80s the Amiga also pretty popular, and to some degree, the Atari ST.

As a kid in the US, I always remembered Nintendo. I honestly don't even remember seeing Sega commercials for the MS, it only picked up after the Genesis release. So I don't think they marketed it well.

Sega Genesis fanboy to the max, but even if MS had the third party support, the NES soundchip is just so classic. MS music never had the same classic charm to me.

Master System was my first ever console as a kid 😊

I appreciate these looks back. Because you focus on facts and not laughs, these sorts of vids will stand the test of time as historical documentation of gaming history

I kinda envy brazil that they kept it alive for so long and got some pretty kick ass ports.

Nintendo had a lot of games that were considered cool and a lot of them were only on NES. Some of these games weren't the best but they were still wildly popular. It's hard to compete with a system that has Mario, Donkey Kong, Zelda, Metroid, Castlevania, etc

Sega was not on my radar...until I got a 3D master system for Christmas one year. So, I was one of the minority Americans who had an SMS, and one of only THREE kids total in my whole school who owned one! I loved it, wished more folks knew about it back then, glad it's getting more attention these days. Thanks for the video! More SMS, please!

I’m actually about to buy a used Master System. I realized it was Game Gear games without being cropped / zoomed it and it makes some so much easier. Like Sonic 2.

Loved my master system

Great video. I was (at first) an involuntary Sega guy starting with when my folks got me a Master System for Christmas one year instead of a NES. Quickly grew to love it and stuck with Sega all the way through to the Dreamcast. It's sad their console business wasn't handled better.

It was my first gaming console here in Germany and I still love it. Here it was quite popular and all electronic markets and bigger supermarkets seemed to sell it.

Congratulations on your 100k subscribers, Lady Decade! I'm a big fan of your channel since the very beginning! You really produce such high quality content!

At least here in the UK it destroyed the NES. Literally no one owned a NES back then.

I’m American. While all of my friends had an NES, I had an SMS. Everyone wanted to come to my house to play Alex Kidd in Miracle World and Zillion.

Big Sega fan here, I will admit that the NES did crush the Master System however I do enjoy both! Today I love collecting for both, but I get more excited seeing Master System games because they're more uncommon to find than NES games are!

Very thorough & brilliant review! I didn't grow up with the SMS here in the states, but it's gotten to be one of my favorite retro consoles. Since you touched upon it in this review, any chance that an Atari 7800 review is in the works for your list of "necessities for gracious living" in the future?

You and your husband are two of the most important voices in gaming historical documentation.

I can't speak for the United States but Sega Master System seemed to hold its own against the NES a little better here in Canada, at least considering that most video rental stores that also rented games would have a decent selection of Master System games up to about 1990-91 when those stores ditched the Master System for the Genesis. Also, the Master System was initially distributed in Canada by Irwin, a Canadian toy manufacturer, so they might've been a little more successful at getting it in more stores in Canada per capita compared to the States.

Sega master System ❤

I know the master system was popular in the UK. It wasn't marketed well but has some great games like Phantasy Star, Alex Kidd, Altered Beast, Golden Axe, and others. I feel the problem in that era was that Sega master system didn't launch with a system mascot. Perhaps if it had launched with Sonic, maybe it would have been different. But like the video stated, they didn't have much experience or marketing this product

Master system was quite popular in parts of continental Europe. Mega drive even more so, it was more popular than the snes in my country.

I'm glad I grew up in the UK where there was a genuinely equal battle between the Master System and the NES both in terms of kids owning each and in terms of the quality of game library. I had the Master System, my friend had the NES, so we both got the best of both worlds!

Fun fact, sonic the hedgehog was a demake for the master system. It was released on genesis/mega drive first.

The Sega Master System, a gaming console that unfortunately fell short of its intended success. Despite its impressive capabilities and a valiant effort to compete with its rivals, it struggled to capture the market's attention. Factors such as fierce competition, limited game library, and marketing missteps contributed to its eventual downfall. However, its legacy lies in paving the way for Sega's future triumphs and serving as a reminder that even the most ambitious ventures can face challenges.

Can we all acknowledge that in RU-vid Land, the term "completely destroyed" can mean absolutely anything? Thanks.

The Sega Master System won in Brazil. Lol

Here in Brazil It was a major success. We all love this console

Thanks for the Kick Master music in the background!

Weird, I grew up in Australia and I always felt that the NES trumped the Master system here or maybe that since I was "a Nintendo kid" I probably was in my own bubble.

I had a NES myself but I remember the advert for this it was a face on the screen with lots of colours and it talks about graphics. My friend had the console and I can remember playing double dragon on it with him.

I've always been a Nintendo and Sega fanboy. The NES has a special place in my heart, but that doesn't mean I dislike the Sega Master System. I remember my high school teacher had one hooked up on the television, and students who had high enough grades were allowed to play during breaks. (Games like Shinobi, Hang On/Astro Warrior, Double Dragon, and Football were up for play at the time.) However, that ended when one of the students did something dubious while his wife was in labor and had to bail. (I can't remember for the life of me, this was 30 years ago, mind you.) When he returned, the Sega Master System was removed, never to be seen again. However, I did buy one of my own on eBay for about 43 bucks USD and bought a few games for it. (Shinobi, R-Type, Rastan, Hang-On/Astro Warrior, Double Dragon... and the system's blood diamond, Phantasy Star") That reminds me, I oughta look up other game for the system I can add to my collection...

Dutchie here, and imo the Master System is the superior 8-bit console. Loved mine, sold it, and regretted it ever since. Never was I drawn to the Nes, had friends who had one, but I was much more interested in the 16 bit consoles by then. Not long ago I found a Famiclone with some games, and find it way more interesting and fun than the original Nes. Can't find any info on it though. Has Virtual City on the front instead of Family Computer.

It was only completely destroyed in America though. It did reasonably well elsewhere, it was still being made in Mexico in 2005 or something.

I'm from Brazil and EVERYONE had an SMS here on the late 80's/early 90's (I had one too). I was ignorant about franchises and developers because video game media was non existant, so whenever I compared it to the NES, all I could see was "graphics on the SMS are better".

Personally, if I were a 20 or 30 something living in the US when the NES was taking off, I would’ve responded to Nintendo’s anti-competition policy and forcing of stores to sell games at high prices by making my own 30 in 1 game cartridge! I wouldn’t do any of that shady stuff Vince Perry later did with Action 52, I would take my time, employ a good few people to make the 30 games, give them 6 months and I would release the cartridge on both the NES and Sega Master System! The NES version, because Nintendo didn’t allow their stockists to sell unlicensed games, I’d sell via magazine ads, an infomercial and I’d look into doing deals with convenience stores and small independent toy stores as a way of having it sold in brick and mortar stores! The Master System version I’d sell in the same way but I’d also be able to sell that version anywhere Master System games are sold! Once the Genesis arrives, I’d promote the Master System version of my cart as being playable on the Genesis via the Power Base Converter!

Pretty much the same story with the Atari 7800. Nintendo had the 3rd parties on lockdown. Atari barely had the money to make games in house, sadly.

So glad you tackled this topic!

Love that you put the music from Little Nemo

Here in Italy we all had Master Systems. Someone had an Amiga computer... We did all have Nintendo Game Boys but I don't recall knowing anybody with a NES.

In The 1980s I Had Atari Colecovision Intelevision NES Master System And Turbo Grafx Great Times Been Blessed To See All Of Gaming From 1980-Now

Let's look at something I have never heard discussed about the Master System verses Nintendo Entertainment System: Console physical form factor and overall appearance. NES looked sleek and modern. Master System was a weird pyramidal form with some strange heiroglyphs on the top. What was it aiming for, an Egyptian audience?

I don't care how many great, great, great, grand kids I will have in the future. There will always be someone telling the story of what Sega did wrong? How about a story showing and telling what they did right, or how they were the first ones to do or try something before it's time. The good things that Sega has accomplished and achieved won't be largely recognized until the day they ( in Altered Beast Voice) RISE FROM THEIR GRAVE! Sega used to be in Sony 's seat. Sega had their version of the top rated and popular games in every category at home and in the arcades. Their games have always been more graphicly impressive than their competition.

Got my NES in 1988…a bit later I had a neighbour who had a Master System that I would go and play sometimes. I feel like the graphics on the Master System are superior to the NES but the sound is inferior, with no way for the sound chip to change the duty cycle of the pulse waves, leaving it with very bland square waves playing all of the sounds.

I would say, here are the main reasons: -Super Mario Bros. 1 -Excitebike -Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! -The Legend of Zelda -Metroid -Super Mario Bros. 2 -Super Mario Bros. 3 Even if the Master System had better third party support, the NES would still have had a way better library.

It's such a shame. I liked my Master System MORE than my NES in a lot ways (I was lucky - my dad was a video game fanatic - I literally grew up with a Colecovision controller in my hands) so we had BOTH. Ys, Phantasy Star, Golvellius: Valley of Doom, Miracle Warriors: Seal of the Dark Lord, SpellCaster, Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap, Zillion, and far superior ports of Double Dragon and Rampage... I have so many fond memories of going over to my dad's on the weekends and playing almost nothing but Master System (and later, Genesis) games.

One thing to note, the US Master System's base sound chip wasn't anywhere near as good as the NES. It's just three channels (square wave) + 1 channel for noise generation which is just really basic in terms of capabilities for the time (there's not any real variance in terms of instruments for music). Japan got an add on that gave the Mark III a Yamaha FM chip (later baked into the Japanese rebranding of the Mark III into the Master System), but that never made it outside of Japan AFAIK. It's a real shame too. See ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DebzF2xX4sg.html for a comparison of the "native" sound vs the Yamaha chip.

Sega Master System was a successful console also here in Greece. NES was released late, in 1991. I remember many kids having MS instead of the NES. The local distributor had also very good relationships with Tec Toy from Brazil. So MS3 was released in Greece and some TecToy games.

That master system was a weird one. I never knew anyone who had one and the only thing I've seen is a few games in a used game store. Needless to say it flopped bad in CA

Another strong reason, to have nes games for free via emulation. Their greediness, monopoly, and annoying policies is the main reason still to have their games pirated. F... ventendo. 👎

One more thing - Big N marketed their consoles as toys. Their sales reps went out and targeted shops selling toys which guaranteed a whole different level of market coverage.

The Master System was like the ugly caterpillar who went into his cocoon and became a beautiful butterfly Genesis.

I owned the Master system 2 here in Spain. I always found the master system superior to Nes, except on the sound chip. Here in Europe the war between Nes and Master System was really tough.

I worked for Funcoland back in the 90s (used game retailer like GameStop used to be), and we never did any business with Sega Master systems. No one ever brought in any Master system games or a console. No Turbografx either. We had tons of old Nintendo games though, and lots of Genesis stuff.

I loved the SMS. I was stoked when I found out about the hidden maze game and Wonderboy games were the best of all time.

@ladydecade will you play the built in snail maze game for us?

I really love the classic music in the background

I feel the master system was crushed because 1.they didn’t pack in Alex Kidd 2. Didn’t have enough promotion that included Saturday morning cartoons for at least 3 of it’s ip’s & not enough tv commercials. Nintendo did - A lot of marketing and advertising 3.too many consolse, too many revision, 4.release too late couples in with 1-3

0:16 Co-Console _Ma-Ma-Max Headroom_

I'm so glad this video mentioned Oceania, because it always just says Europe and South America usually as the Sega strongholds 😆 Basically, we didn't have a big gaming population in Oceania, sure acrades were popular and a few rich kids had Commodore's and Amiga's, but consoles were kinda non existant until about 1990 (except a few Atari's which were very dated) when Sega saw an oppurtunity to seize a market and released the more budget Master System II with Alex Kidd in Miracle World built in. Suddenly there was an affordable console, and the stores ended up flooded with games. I knew like 4 or 5 people ever with an NES, their rental shelves in the video store even were a sad dozen games or so, whilst the Master System had 2 whole massive shelves stacked with games. The stores were the same. So growing up, I and others, we didn't know that outside our part of the world Sega was 2nd fiddle. We thought Sega was the big player and NES was the dated one that's older and sorta faded. The graphics LOOKED far better than NES as well. Its a thing, that in retrospect you go back and see now, how... yes the Master System was definitely the better console, but Nintendo had the better games! And a wider selection (due to their stringent marketing practices)

Here in the Netherlands, everyone had the Sega Mastersystem (II).

I was too young to play these consoles when my sister got them. I remember Jurassic Park and some chess wizard pretty clearly. Not sure what console that was but it was something that I always wanted to watch my sister play. Only until the play station came out did I become old enough to play games. lol then i was hooked.

The master system was more popular than the NES in the UK (I had one) but consoles ran a distant second to 8 bit microcomputers in the 80s.

Sega: becomes a 3rd party and drops console development Sega does what nintendon't

I played Choplifter backwards for years due to a busted controller.

My first console and one of the most underrated systems ever, even nowadays when the Saturn has finally received the spotlight it deserves ....this little Sega 8 bit beauty still an overshadow gem of a console, what a 8 Bit power house, probably the most pure Sega system of all, because 90% of its better titles were made by Sega themselves. The Master System; the TRUE Master Race

I got the master system on christmas the year after the nes came out. I got the nes the following year. So glad my mother got me the master system. I loved it. Even though i put way more time into my nes, the master system was such better hardware. Loved both, glad i was lucky enough to have both being that I grew up less than fortunate financially.

Miami was one of the markets that saw an early release of the 7800. I remember getting it a few years before the NES or the Master System showed up. By the time Nintendo and Sega brought over their consoles, you really didn't see the 7800 on store shelves here. The Master System was in a lot of stores during its time; Toys R Us, Babbage's and Electronic Boutique carried the platform around here. Of Course the NES was also on the same stores, with more shelf space dedicated to it.

Your Awesome Lady Decade. Keep those videos coming. God Bless and take care.

I grew up in Laos, we were lucky to have electricity once in a while. So our top video games

I feel like I sincerely never get tired of hearing the same Sega history over and over and over on Lady Decade

80s sega kids represent! my video gaming childhood in australia ❤

It gets me every time i see Lady Decade posing with one of the consoles. Like a confused presenter on The Price is Right.

Master System could never take me away from my Contra, Mario, Zelda, Mega Man, and Castlevania.

I know that phrases like 'COMPLETELY DESTROYED' make for good titles, but at ~ 14 Million worldwide sales it was actually only a minor commertion faliure. Especially with an extremely high software tie ratio. Those who actually owned a Master Sytem generally loved it.

My younger brothers friend had the master system. We would swap on occasion. Gosh I’m old.

I swear to Mandela, that Sonic was never out on the Master System.

It all came down to games. Nintendo had iconic franchises, like Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Kid Icarus, and Punch-Out. Sega had nothing on the same level, at that time.

Everyone I knew back then had a NES , the only place I saw a master system was in toys r us … (in Scotland btw )

I had a master system when I was a kid. It had some really fun games

with nowadays games quality, i won't be surprised if gaming industry should get another financial crash soon or later.

Great work.

I got the Game Gear then, which is a portable SMS really. I loved it and the games along with the TV Tuner was awesome!

En España por suerte fue un éxito la Sega Master System y podíamos disfrutar de sus grandes juegos... Ninja gaiden, land of ilusión, Donald duck, master of darknes, Sonic, Golden Axe Warriors, Renegade ect

super mario back then is like the hulk hogan of the video game world & years after they came with sonic i owned a MS but everybody back then mostly had a NES , i think they didnt know Master System after they had a NES firstly

The Master System is a cool system 😎

People in my area still don't know what a Master System is so I can find them at swap meets (flea markets) dirt cheap.

1st and only time i saw a master system was when I was a young teen, we went to some kids house, I was like what the heck is that thing? he turned it on and i said o NES like graphics but its sega, then i realized that gamegear is just a portable master system

My neighbor had one and I was able to play it when they babysat. They had one game I loved playing but can’t remember the name of

I had both of these consoles, but the NES won out in the living room

The first Phantasy Star was a masterpiece

If you're forced to only have 1 or a few games, mostly for budget reasons, NES was the console. Super Mario bros, Zelda.

In Italy Sega Master System was more popular than NES

Didn’t get destroyed during my Childhood in the U.K. Only knew a couple of people with the NES. Wasn’t arsed about what Americans were playing.

If not for Nintendo's shady business practices, the 80's would have probably been the first console war between Sega and Nintendo, and it probably would have went down similarly to SNES vs Sega Genesis/Mega Drive too. The Master System would have no doubt gotten most 3rd party heavy hitters like Mega Man, Castlevania, Contra, Blaster Master, Dragon Warrior, Final Fantasy, Bionic Commando, some of those Capcom Disney titles etc.