Hello VGChartz!

Here I come to provide some love over Sega's first major console, and nope, it's not the Mega Drive (Genesis), it's the Master System.

The Master System, called Mark III in Japan, was Sega's first big attempt at competing with Nintendo.
Actually Sega had the Mark I launched at the very same day as Nintendo's Entretainment System, and an updated Mark II a year later, but was only with the better Mark III in 1985 that Sega finally showed it was there to stay (for a while xP).

Left: Master System (WW). Right: Mark III (JP). Bottom: Master System Compact (II on EU, III on BR)

Some of you guys might have heard about the Master System/Mark III but I'm sure most of you guys are not very familiar with it, that's because the Master System was actually nowhere near to be an actual competitor in sales with the Nintedo Entretainment System. While that's true and the numbers show it very clear, this doesn't mean the Sega Master System was dead on action, as it found some market on Europe and specially here, in Brazil.

In the land of HUE, the Master System was actually the absolute winner that generation, yes you are reading it right, the NES actually lost to it around here, what's more, the Master System still find it's place in brazilians homes, it's still being produced and sold new around here, making it by far the longest runner console ever, with over 30 years of uninterrupted production and sales, thanks to TECTOY.

"The HUE never ends" - Random Internet Troll

As a good HUE BR, BraLoD was one of those guys that owned a Master System, even as the thing is almost a decade older than myself.
The Sega Master System was my first console ever, Sega was a big part of my childhood, and I want to share some of it with you guys.

First I want to introduce you guys to my personal top 10 games on the system, pay in my that's exclusively coming from my taste, so if by any chance you did have a Master System, fell free to post your list, I'll also be expanding that top 10 list into more games in the second part, with some other games from those franchises there in my list and some more. That second part will be coming (soon I hope), so the next post will be left reserved under construction.

The Sega Master System belong to the 3rd generation of consoles, the NES generation, look up at the games paying that in mind, it's a 8-BIT console.

*This list is based on an one game per franchise rule*

10. Super Monaco GP II

The 10th game on my list is Ayrton Senna's Super Monaco GP II. A racing game where you objective is to beat Senna himself.

Let's begin with what you can see in this image.
On the top left we can see the TIME and LAPS counter, this does what it sounds like it does, it accounts the total race time and which lap you are into.
Above it there is your picture and a speech bubble, you react to things happening which some text there sometimes, like if you suddenly go out of the track you'll say "WHAT?" and then "FIGHT!" after you get back.
On the top right we have the map, the red dot is you and the yellow is Senna, you two are not the only racers there obvious, it serves both to you be prepared to what is to come and how much you have to catch up to Senna or how much are you beating him by. This is only displayed in the beginners difficult, if you pick professional there is no map to help you.
On the top center we can see our actual position in the race, in this image being 12th (last place).
The we have all the visual part of the game itself, your car, the track, the background, etc.
In the bottom left we have the current lap time, so you can know laps time and not only the total race time.
In the bottom center we have the gear you are currently in, before the races you can actually manage your car in some aspects, including tires, wings, gear type and transmission, you can drive using a manual gear which let you exploit the whole potential of your car, but demand manual gear changes, or automatic gear, that you can just hold the 2 button pressed (Master System control buttons are 1 and 2, not A, B, etc) and the car will advance and reduce gears based on your speed, but that way your car get a limited maximum speed, it's not that much less, but there is it.

You have a full set of tracks in several countries to try to beat, it's pretty simple and straight foward, but I had a lot of fun with it.
This game is personally very nostalgic to me as it's actually the only game my father used to play together with me sometimes. On top on being about Senna, and he was and still is a very popular name around here.

The game was released in 1992, developed by Sega, and was also available at the Mega Drive and the Game Gear.
 

BraLoD score: 8.5

9. After Burner

The 9th game is After Burner. A Combat Flight Simulator.

From what we can tell based on this image, we pilot a fight airplane and duke other planes with with either a machine gun or missiles. This in the image is a boss. We have or aim and the mini map on the top left to make things happens, the map just tell you your orientation towards the horizon, which can really come in help as you can do loop manaveurs and get a bit messed while trying to avoid harm, and the enemies as the red dots.
You are extremely vulnerable to harm, one hit and you are down, also, from time to time and specific stages you need to refill your plane fuel otherwise you'll eventually run out and fall in the ground or sea (depending on the stage you are), the thing is, you don't stop to refill your plane, you do it mid air, the mother plane comes and you have to get together with it in perfect harmony with the fuel hose and get the fuel filled, otherwise it'll go away after some time and you are screwed.

It's another really simple but fun game, it's actually hard until you get to practice a lot with it, even the fuel part can easy be screwed if you don't know how to do it properly.

The game was released in 1987, developed by Sega, was first an Arcade exclusive, ported to the Master System and some other platformers later, as the Mega Drive.

BraLoD score: 8.5

8. Alex Kidd in Miracle World

The 8th game on this list is Alex Kidd in Miracle World. Master System's mascot platformer game.

Alex Kidd was Master System's mascot for most of people, it came in and after other two sega mascots, which will also be later in this list, and it turned to be the "face" of the system.

In this game you have your tradicional platforming adventure... but not so tradicional.
Alex attacks with punches, which have a really low reach and dies in contact with enimies, no jumping on heads here, do that and you'll be sorry.
You have some items to help you as the ring that allows you to use shockwaves and kill enemies from far away for example, which can be both gotten during the stages from some blocks or bought with money. There is also vehicles like a bike and a helicopter to help in some stages.
And the weirdest thing is, you fight bosses with Janken (at least in the beginning) and the bosses themselves are guys with Janken hands as their heads!
You can beat them up later, but boy that was a strange thing to choose xD

In the end Alex Kidd is also a simple game and not so much of a tradiocional platforming game, it's quite an unique experience and does it's job as putting the system at a difference from others.

The game was released in 1986, developed by Sega, being an exclusive to the Master System.

BraLoD score: 8.5

7. Phantasy Star

The 7th game is Phantasy Star. A RPG game with some dungeon crawling.

Phantasy Star was hot news back in the day, not only did it looked nice but it also had a 3D approach in the dungeon crawling, remember that was 3rd generation, and also with a female main character, which if it wasn't a first into a console RPG was one of the very rare first ones. Was also probably the first RPG officially translated and released in Brazilian Portuguese, which was a big deal around here at the time (Nintendo still rarely if anytime do it in the current days, for example). The game also featured a playable cat character, which automatically makes it get some BraLoD points.
As you can see, Phantasy Star was a pioneer kind of game, which got people really into it, but I just got into contact with it much more recently, so maybe that's why it's not higher on my list.

Phantasy Star plays as you expect from a RPG, you pick commands, as you can see in the top lef of the image, you can attack, use magic, items and talk to the monsters as well as run from them and-... wait, what!? Yup, you can talk to some monsters. You can navigate through towns and talk to pick, you have yours quests and characters to be getting during your journey, and all that.

All in all Phantasy Star is quite an unique game while still being a tradicional RPG on it's core.

The game was released in 1987, developed by Sega, being an exclusive to the Master System.

BraLoD score: 8.5

6. Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap

The 6th game is Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap (Monster World II). An action platformer game.

If you got into a recent thread of mine called "A Lenda do Heroi" you saw a game that is about to release this month that I called very similar to this series, Wonder Boy games were quite popular games back in the day, even as the original game is very different from the latter games, as most of them have to do with the Monster World series, Wonder Boy was always a nice series.

Dragon's Trap is another quite unique game, you start as your ordinary hero going to slain a mecha dragon, nothing new there (wait, mecha?), but then you get transformed into a Dragon/Lizard and through the game you get other different animal transformations makes the gameplay be always expanding and keeping you interested. You can kill monsters and gather money through them or chests so you can get better armor and weapons like in an RPG, you have to go looking for items and ways to access different section fe and advance in the story, while the main gameplay style of the game is the platformer as a good 2D scroller platformer it is.

The game was released at 1989, developed by Westone and published by Sega, firstly as an exclusive to the Master System but later ported to the PC Engine and Game Gear.

BraLoD score: 9

5. Castle of Illusion

The 5th game in this list is Castle of Illusion (Starring Mickey Mouse). A platform game originally made for the 16-bit Sega console.

Castle of Illusion is a pretty well known game, through it's fame comes from the original Mega Drive version. It recently even got a remake.

The game goes around Mickey trying to rescue Minnie from the witch Mizrabel by collecting all the gems scattered through the castle.
While this game was the first from a trilogy to hit the Maste System, and the other games make better use of this actual system, being bigger and a little better looking games, Castle was still the one that got me into it like it did with people in the Mega Drive.
I remember when I first tried it, it was a friend's cartdrige and the first I ever saw with a blue label instead of the usual red label on the Master System cartdriges, so it was already eye catching even before I tried it, and I really, really loved playing that game, it's definitely the one that I got into the most.

Even being the inferior version even back then, and specially now with the remake, Castle of Illusion is still one of Master System most charming games, I highly recommend anyone who likes the system on trying it (try them all xP)

The game was released in 1991 for the Master System, developed by Sega, but was originally released for the Mega Drive one year before it.

BraLoD Score: 9

4. Golden Axe Warrior

The 4th game is Golden Axe Warrior. A Zelda clone but made by Sega. Take that Nintendo!

That's the newest entry in my list, I just beat this game some days ago, and it's already placed so high!
Golden Axe Warrior is a huge, beautiful, fun and damn hard game. It's kinda stiff at some edges, but boy this thing is awesome!
You start with a small sword, a weak armor and shield and you get getting several upgrades through the game, 2 for your armor, 3 for your shield, 4 kinds of magic (with 1 upgrade for 3 of them) and 5 for your weapon. Several items to help on your journey, to allow you to reach other places and continue your exploration, several kinds of enemies with different power tiers between them (color change means it's badass, that's a general rule!) and 10 main dungeons, wasn't the map already big enough there is 10 dungeons to explore each with a new item to get, which growing size, and very convenient numbers on their entrace hall, you step inside one and see if you are progressing right in the game right away xD (dunno if there is a way to miss the actual order, haven't tried).

That's definitely a Zelda clone you'll want to check in the 3rd generation, just do it. Dunno why Sega stopped after just this one.

The game was released in 1991, developed by Sega, being an exclusive to the Master System.

BraLoD Score: 9

3. Dragon Crystal

The 3rd game is Dragon Crystal. An RPG half action half turn based, roguelike game.
(that's really a typo the game has, shown in the image, in case you are asking yourself)

That's probably a game most of you don't know about, which is a shame as it's great to kill some time.
In this game you start as a weakling warrior and have to wander through it's random generated levels uncovering the maps in look for better armor, weapons, accessories, spells and potions and food so you won't starve or be killed by the monsters. You can also level up, but levels as counted as titles instead of numbers in this game. You also start with an egg that keeps following you all over the place, once you go getting better titles (leveling up) it'll eventually give birth to a dragon, that'll grow and get badass with later titles. So cool! You can have a badass dragon!... but it does nothing. Yeah, nothing. The only thing it does is prevent the enemies from ganging up on you from all four sides, but it does that even as an egg, so it's just cosmetic upgrades from there so you feel more badass with your new titles.

Not only are the levels random generated, but the items also are, and with that I mean something that was good in a playthrough can be bad latter.
With weapons and armors, your only concerned is getting a cursed piece, aside from that they'll always be what you expect from them, but staffs, scrolls, potions and accessories will always have a random generated name, which you need to test to know what they actually are, and they'll be different every time you start a new game. For example, a Red Potion can turn into a small health potion in a playthrough when you first use it, then all Red Potions from there on will be turning into that small health potion (called min.heal in the game), the ones you already have and the ones you'll eventually find, but if you start a new game and get a Red Potion and try it, it'll most likely be something else, something that can screw you up, by the way.

That's one of the nicest aspects of the game, though, you might be having a lucky run and get royally screwed up or a bad one and get an awesome item that'll make up for it. Through the chances of you getting screwed are bigger by my experience, you have to learn when test your items or if it's actually worth to test it or not.

Aside of that, the game is also brutal by itself. It starts ok, you can engage and run from enemies if you are smart using the layout of the map and your egg/dragon position, but later on, you'll be living on a nightmare, be it really strong enemies, getting ganged up by mistake, or the enemies that'll start having effects on you later, they can steal your food and make you starve (which takes your HP), they can rot your weapons and armor, they can cause status on you like poison and dizzy, they can even steal your ATK and DEF points permanently, and even your levels! You can actually get completely destroying in an blink of an eye.

You can also find money in this game, and what does it do? There is no stores or merchants... you use it to revive. Once you die, if you have money enough you can go pay to get revived and start that level again, but depending on how the monsters screwed you it's not even worth getting revived.

The game has some kinds of weapons all of them are stacked up into, which you know they type by their color or name, and certain weapons have different effects on certain enemies, so you'll always want to bring at least one kind of weapon with you if you can.

The game was released at 1991 for the Master System, developed by Sega, but was originally released for the Game Gear one year before it.

BraLoD score: 9.5

2. Fantasy Zone II

The 2nd game is Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa. The king of the cute'em up!

Remember when I told I was going to talk about other Sega mascots during Alex Kidd? Here we go, then.
Fantasy Zone II just looks like love. It's filled with strong beautiful colors, it makes 3rd generation actually doesn't look as old as it is, that thing is just beautiful all over it, it's also filled with frenetic, fast paced gameplay and an awesome OST, it's the whole package.
Before Sega had Alex Kidd, there was Opa-Opa, though Alex Kidd was taken as Master System mascot, because Opa-Opa and it's Fantasy Zone made their name on Arcades before it.

This franchise seems criminally forgotten, some people don't even know Sega had a mascot before the Mega Drive, and a part of those who know remember about Alex Kidd, but it actually had two, Opa-Opa was the first. Just look at that cute winged spaceship! It's even has foots when it's close to the ground, how can you say no to that, that you don't know it, that you forgot about it? You just can't!

Fantasy Zone II is definitely the best into the Master System, even though the first is also extremely good, so if you are looking for some Master System games, go with Fantasy Zone, go with Opa-Opa!

That game holds such good chunks of my childhood... and you know what? It's actually hard! It seduces you and then it throws reality back at you and make you git gud to keep playing it!

The game was released in 1987, developed by Sega, originally as an exclusive to the Master System, but later ported to basically everything starting at 1988.

1. Sonic the Hedgehog

The 1st game is Sonic the Hedgehog. The fastest thing alive 8-BIT first game.

So, how cool is to look at a list, a good list, and see Sonic being 1st? Oh yeah, that were the days...
You may know Sanic, and even Sonic from the Mega Drive, but did you knew 8-BIT Sonic? Yeah, that was a thing.
After the huge success of Sonic on the Mega Drive, Sega decided to also make Sonic games for their later system, the Master System.
Sonic actually got 3 games there, but my pick is the very first one.

If we had Alex Kidd being Master System mascot, and Opa-Opa being an Arcade mascot prior to it, the final mascot Sonic, from the later still made its way back to the Master System. The Master System just had'em all AND with good games from all of them! Such greatness!

This game is also a beautiful one as you can see, strong colors as you expected from good ol' Sonic games, but it's not a fast game... whaaaaat?
This is actually a more tradicional platformer game.
Common sense tell us only the Mega Drive had all the blast processing necessary to deliver Sonic, but then even Sega later system wasn't blast enough to deal with it, so they made it on a more tradicional platforming style, and the result? It's great!
Don't fool yourself, the game is not slow, Sonic is still Sonic, he can go so fast in the very first stage you can also break through the limit of the screen scrolling speed on the Master System and skip the whole stage beating that one in like 20 seconds, Sonic is still Sonic here!

The game consists on 6 zone with 3 acts each, 2 stage acts and 1 boss act, just like in the first game, and the bonus stages are reached by collecting between 50 and 99 rings each zone and reaching the end, you cross a sign to end the stage and it'll give you an exclamation showing you are advancing to the bonus, but the bonus are focused on you getting extra lives, through life screens or 100 rings stacks like in the original, and continues, there in an continue screen on this games bonuses, you get into and complete the bonus and you get an extra continue in case you get to a game over. But what about the chaos emeralds? Well, they are in the actual acts, always hidden in the Act 2 from each Zone. Getting them all don't make you Super Sonic, but you get an extra animation during the ending of the game.

The game released in 1991, developed by Sega and Ancient (within Sonic Team supervision), was an exclusive for a brief time to the Master System until it got ported to the Game Gear as well.

BraLoD Score: 9.5

So this is it for the first part guys, took me a freaking lot of time to do it, actually xP

Hope it can get some of you interested on the system or bring back some memories for who have had contact with the system.
We could really use a Sega dedicated forum here, by the way, hurts to put it into Gaming Discussion.

Thank you for reading.

Yeah, the Master System shared a good bunch of games both with the Mega Drive and also with the Game Gear, so I can understand that xP

Which were your favorites from those?

Dragon's Trap is a sequel to Monster Land (Monster World 2 and 1 in Japan, on that order).