SEGA Master System

The Sega Master System or also known as the Master System is the third generation console that was developed and manufactured by Sega. Originally being released back in 1985 as the Sega Mark III in Japan was later redesigned for the North American launch in 1986.

Both the newer older versions of the console could play the cartridges and also the credit card sized “Sega Cards”. These cards retailed at lower prices than cartridges but had a drawback of having less memory then a cartridge. The Sega cards were eventually dropped because their very small memory limit. (Only 256 Kbit)

The system had superior hardware when it was compared to NES containing twice as much memory. The CPU also ran at a much faster pace but this wasn’t enough to stop the NES and its strong franchise lines from outdoing them in sales.There was a few accessories developed for the system such as 3D glasses and a light gun both being designed to work with a range of specially developed games.

The console faced strong competition from Nintendo with the Sega Master System only selling about 10-13 million units over its life time which is far less than the NES that sold over 62 million. The game library was criticised of being too small and needed to be more substantial. The Master System did feature the Sega’s flagship character at the time (The Alex Kidd franchise). Other games such as Street Fighter II and Dynamite Headdy were also released for the system.