Sega wowed arcade gamers with SDI, a trackball-based shooter that had them defending the planet from enemy attack. The game was soon ported to the Master System, and while several compromises had to be made for it to work on the less-powerful hardware (and with a controller), the conversion turned out surprisingly well. It’s one that’s worth checking out.
Author: Hasen Hull
Space Harrier (Master System)
Sega’s classic shooter Space Harrier has graced virtually every hardware platform the company made, starting with a port on the Master System. While it isn’t as good as some of the later versions because of hardware limitations, it’s still worth spending some time with. Welcome to the Fantasy Zone!
OutRun (Master System)
Sega’s classic racer zoomed onto the Master System in 1987 in a port that managed to capture the magic of the arcade original, despite the downgrade in hardware. Though outclassed by its Genesis and Saturn siblings, the 8-bit version of the game is still well worth playing, and it shows how well Sega’s arcade titles could transfer to the Master System.
Chuck Rock (Master System)
Chuck Rock was fun on the Genesis and Sega CD, but the Master System port left a good deal of that charm back in the stone age. Poor visuals and uninspired gameplay make this the low entry on the franchise’s evolutionary scale, and it plays like a real fossil compared to other platformers. Move on to something else before we run out of puns.
Jurassic Park (Master System)
Jurassic Park roared onto just about every piece of hardware that was out in 1993, including the Master System, which was still around in Europe. It may have been scaled down for the machine, but it offered an excellent adventure.