Phantasy Star was a bona fide masterpiece. Wonder Boy in Monster Land was also a really good game - up until the Dragon's Castle where you have to do that frustrating jumping section (makes me rage quit 9 out of 10 times).
There were plenty of arcade ports like Space Harrier, Afterburner, Alien Syndrome, Shinobi, Thunderblade, Altered Beast, R-Type, Outrun, Ghouls 'n Ghosts, etc, but they really weren't very good on the Master System, IMO.
And by the time Castle of Illusion, Golden Axe and Sonic came around I had already upgraded to the Genesis where they were vastly superior.
I never liked the Alex Kidd games and the console lacked the magic that the NES had with games like SMB 1-3, Zelda, Metroid and Punch Out, but I'll reiterate that Phantasy Star was indeed something truly special. I much preferred it over Final Fantasy on NES.
