The Sega Master System wasn’t popular in the U.S. but it was HUGE overseas and in South America. However, now game collectors are starting to see the appeal of the console and many of it’s fun games. This Buying Guide will help you with the different Master System models, accessories and games.

Buy Sega Master System here: http://goo.gl/U8kxRI (Affiliate Link)

Games Shown:
Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap
Psycho Fox
Choplifter
Shinobi
Rastan
Power Strike
Phantasy Star
Montezuma’s Revenge
R-Type
Golden Axe Warrior

Video Transcription and Subtitle:

Metal Jesus here, and I am back again with the immortal John Hancock. How is it going, dude? – [John Hancock] Always a pleasure to be on your channel. – Dude, thanks so much for inviting me into your game room. – Of doom. – Room of doom. Because you are one of the few people I know that has so many box games, specifically of the Sega Master System. – I love the System. You know in North America it wasn’t really successful there’s only 114 released games, but I love Sega. You know grew up playing the Master System, and I love collecting for it. – Yeah. And I think this is going to be a really cool video because a lot of you are like me where maybe you did not own one as a kid, but you’re curious about it. So this is going to be a buying guide. We are going to talk about the hardware, the accessories, and he also has 10 games that you’re going to recommend to people? – 10 games – Dude this is going to be awesome. Let’s take a look. ♪ [music] ♪ – So the history for me with Master System is that I grew up with a rental store that actually carried Master System games for rent with Nintendo. And I always was like, “Oh what’s that? Oh, that’s Sega’s console.” Later on played them at a friend’s house and I was like, “Oh, that’s okay. Because he didn’t have any Master System games. When I got older and was in high school there was an outlet store that was selling clearance Master System stuff and that is when I bought it. So I bought my first Master System in high school. – Wow, that’s really cool. So in front of us you have four boxed systems right? – Yeah. I have more, but we’ll sell these four. – This is crazy and just so you guys know that I was making him pull these out of you know this room of doom in here. And some of these, he’s like, “This isn’t just rare” – It’s pretty rare – “It’s pretty rare.” – Using other figurative language yes. – Yeah. I was like, “Please don’t drop this.” So this is really cool because I again, well you see Master Systems occasionally but never boxed. – It’s you know like anything cardboard goes the way of the dodo. And it’s just hard to find anything boxed anymore at a reasonable price especially. – All right well which one do you want to show first? – All right, well let’s just start off with the original. I do believe this is one of the first versions released in North America.and it’s got a weird name, it’s called The Sega Base System. And it wasn’t even called the Master System. Which if I saw this on the shelves it would just be weird. – They had really bizarre marketing at this time with all the lines something like that. Because it looks very almost like something that maybe an accountant would use, like a computer almost. – Yeah. This doesn’t jump out to me. And I mean I like the art styling. – It doesn’t scream fun. – No. It doesn’t it’s like what is this, is this a computer, is this a game system? And obviously they were trying to go after something that looked like Nintendo, but I scored this about five years ago, on a Craigslist score. And I did some research on it, but this is pretty hard to get. And it may not show up on the camera, but this box is gray, not white like everything else Master System, which makes it stand out. And if you ever find a box game system and its gray, it’s more rare. – Interesting. Now, couple things about the Master System I want to mention here is that one, I love its design. The Master System looks like nothing else I have ever seen. Like I love how its angles, its colors, also it has a really interesting feature where it has cartridges and it also has those cards. – Yep, it’s got some cards in some of the games, definitely. And it’s just a really unique design. I thought it was a great looking system, and it’s too bad it just didn’t do better. – I know, yeah. – All right, next one, this is kind of more your run of the mill Master System box. – It says Master System on it. – Yes. And there’s different variations, it’s important to know that there are several other variations of the console. Some came with one game. Some came with other games. Some have the game built into the system on the outlet store version. There’s like a snail game that was built into the system. – Which people mention that it has a built in game, mine doesn’t. Which I was like, “What? I feel like I got gypped” but that’s just… – Yours must have an earlier version which actually came with a cartridge with a game on it. – Oh, okay. – That’s why yours doesn’t have a game built in. – That makes sense. – So this is your standard run of the mill. It came with two controllers and the phaser. The Sega Light Phaser is what it was called. – Right. Light guns were all the rage at this time. – Yeah. And it’s important to know that there was an accident with a young child. And the phaser, there’s two versions of the phaser. They have ones with the orange tip and one without. It’s just kind of your standard box system. It came with Hang On, Safari Hunt, Astro Warrior, one of those games or a combination of both. – And you see those games a lot around? – Yes. – So they must have sold, at least for Master System, it was a lot of copies. – Yeah. The Astro Warrior, Hang On, I think combo is harder to get, but anyways that’s your normal run of the mill. – And then you have an even bigger box here. This is the one that you had to dig a bit to find. – This was donated to me. It’s just the box, I would love to have a complete system, but this is getting pretty pricey now. And this came with the 3-D glasses as well. And so you know what was cool back in the day? Is two controllers came with the system. That was awesome. – You were going to play games with your friends. – Because you had an extra controller. And so this is like kind of probably when the system when they were just clearing stock and combining everything together and selling it, and this is pretty hard to get. Especially in decent shape. You know the box was a little beat up, but it was free so definitely. – Okay. And so this is this model, but they also came out with another one. – Yes, they did. Now, later on almost any console has like I call a mini-version and Sega Master System had it. Since they called it the Master System II, and so what this was, this was a re-packaging when the Genesis became successful there was a Master System II and they had a whole line of games made, that were Master System games to kind of market the system all over again. As kind of like a cheap, inexpensive console, an entry market. – I don’t like it as much. It doesn’t have any flair, does it? – No. It kind of looks like if you had a pole attached to it, it would look like a vacuum cleaner. – That’s absolutely right. – Yeah. It’s like, you know like an inexpensive vacuum cleaner. – Now, this is saying that it actually has Alex Kidd built in, though. That’s Cool. – Yeah. It’s very cool. The downside is unlike the other Master System consoles which you can use a standard like AV cord, this one is only RF. Which means… – Oh, I hate when they do that. – Yeah. Wha-Wha, so yeah, that’s that. This is an upgrade to my box. This is a pretty hard to find box. – Yeah. – Yeah. – Now in addition to these, there were a lot of…this console was really popular around the world right? – Absolutely. – So there are other variations. – A million, Australia, Brazil, U.K, I mean it was huge overseas. I love this system. I would love to collect more, but some of those games…and again we are going to talk about the North American games today, but there are hundreds of other games for the console that were released worldwide. – Excellent. – Cool, so this is the system itself. Let’s take a look at the accessories. – All right, first up we got is the power base converter and this accessory is not for the Master System, but the Genesis, Sega Genesis. What’s important is that many of you out there probably own a Genesis versus a Master System, so this is for you. This device allows you to play all the Master System games on your Sega Genesis, but it also works with the Retron 5, which had, I think, like a hardware revision so that this would work with it so it could play additional games. – Which you had a hand in making it happen right? – Yeah. We had a general discussion. I mean I’m not the only one, but I definitely was part of that conversation. – Yeah. These are really cool and it used to be that you would find these for maybe $5 or $10 bucks. That hasn’t been my experience lately, if you see one out in the wild definitely snag it, because people are looking for it. Although I have never seen one in the box. – It’s a great way to play your Master System games through the Retron 5 I know that the system isn’t perfect, but man it looks super nice on the screen. – And what’s cool about this is that it supports the cartridge and the cards. – Yep. Yep plays both. – That’s awesome. – Thumbs up. Next up something a lot more common and something you’re probably not going to use a lot. Is the Sega Light Phaser. Now, as I mentioned before there’s two versions. There’s one gun with like an orange tip and that was a safety feature they added because I do believe a child was shot holding a toy gun. And so it was just a safety feature that they had to add. And so, the Sega Light Phaser shouldn’t cost too much. You’re not going to use it for many things. – Because it doesn’t work with HD television. – Yeah. And it’s just you know. – Back in the day though every system had to have a light gun and this was no exception. – Yep, It was kind of gimmicky and now it’s like, I don’t miss it. All right, next up, very, very cool accessory kind of gimmicky but very- – So I have a Master System as well. And when I heard that they were 3-D glasses for it I could not buy them fast enough. I was like, Oh my God, this sounds amazing. – Yeah. And it is amazing. It’s great technology. You know one thing that’s important to know about the glasses is they always break at the hinges, or you always find them broken. So pick them up, because it’s really hard, there’s an additional accessory that’s always missing, that you’re actually plugging into your system that’s always missing too, so this is hard to get. I recommend anytime you see one of these at a reasonable price pick it up. – And the 3-D when you have it all set up, with all the right components, I mean it’s legit like it’s actual 3-D you know it’s got a flickering thing going on, but I was blown away. – Kind of reminds me of kind of what the 3ds does a little bit. I’m sure it’s different technology, but that’s what I compare it to. – Yeah. It feels like its showing one eye and then the other. – Yeah. All right, this next thing is bizarre and again this is a combo… – Now, when you say bizarre that means something. Because you collect bizarre stuff. – Yes. So they actually came out with a Rapid Fire accessory which they sold separately. With, I feel, the most ridiculous and terribly designed control stick. – Okay. So Rapid Fire, being for like shooters and things like that, so you don’t have to sit there and hammer the button. – Yeah. So this is a combination box that’s both of them together. And so it’s a Rapid Fire control stick and then it comes with both. And pretty bizarre, pretty uncommon, I won this actually through Video Game Wizards they won a lot of games at an auction and this is the one thing I wanted to buy and they graciously sold it to me. – Complete in the box – Complete in the box, yes in really good shape. – That is awesome. Any other accessories out there that people need to know about? – There is, there’s I do believe a Sega Sports Pad it’s like a roller controller. I don’t have that box, I’d love too. But I don’t have it. You know, it’s one accessory that I’m actually missing. – That’s cool. – Yeah. Wha-Wha. – Wha-Wha. All right, next the games right? Tell us about the games, let’s take a look. Okay, so 10 games that I need to have in my collection, what are they? – Yes. And I’m going to start off with one that doesn’t cost too much. – Okay. I like that. – Choplifter. – I have this game. – Yeah. Choplifter is, I feel, a must-own if you’re a fan of the series or if even the arcade, or even going back to the Apple II days. – Yeah. I think I played it on the computer first. – And so Choplifter was port of the many systems. I think the Master System version is the best. – Yeah. And it’s fun, it doesn’t take a lot of thought. It’s just good arcade classic fun. Check it out. – Thumbs up. – Okay. – Next game is a platformer that a lot of people compare to like the Mario series, but it was specific for the Master System called Psycho Fox. – This is a fun game, I played this too. – It is a fun game. The jump mechanics for me, took a little bit to get used to. – They’re a little slippery. – It’s a little slippery you know if you’re used to playing a lot of Mario, it’s just going to feel weird, but if you really can give it some time, it’s solid and again, only on the Master System. Next one, I think it’s one of the best, Wonder Boy, it’s Wonder Boy III- The Dragon’s Trap. – With password save. – Yeah. And so this is just excellent graphics and gameplay. I think this is really showcasing the power, the actual graphics power of the Master System. You know, a lot of people know this, but the Master System, graphically, was superior to the Nintendo. It just when it came to sound and some other things, Nintendo with its mappers and additional chips in the cartridges, it really just started to tear away from the Master System. – Well, I would say these games, I mean they all play great. And I think that was a surprise when I first got my Master System. I was surprised, I was like why was this not a success here? – Yeah. A lot of it I think was marketing. I mean, you just look at these white covers, they don’t catch your eye. – That looks like that right there, I mean other than a sword you would say that’s like an educational type you know? – Yes. Looks like binder paper, no thanks. All right, next up, classic SHINOBI. Yep, and again, you know a great faithful port of the arcade game, plays well. It’s one of the first games I played on the Master System. And it plays a lot better than the Nintendo version would. – I notice here it says, “Arcade” did they do that where they would put the genre on some of these? – Yeah. So definitely it’s a nice way they identified the games and what they were and so. – If you’re not familiar with it that’s a quick way to tell people you might be interested or not. – Yeah. And the game doesn’t cost too much either. I mean it’s pretty calm. All right the next one, The Definitive RPG for the system. And a must own for any RPG fans to play and beat Phantasy Star. Yeah, and some vote this the best 8-bit RPG of all time. – I’ve heard that. I haven’t played it, but I heard people love it. – It’s amazing. It’s long, it’s fantastic If you haven’t given it time I recommend it. It’s long, it’s challenging, there’s dungeons. You know I remember the good old days of the graph paper mapping it out. You have to do that in this game. You’re going to get lost, and it will remind you when you’re somewhere you’re not supposed to be, and you will die. So, yes, one of those games fantastic, I can’t recommend it enough. Yeah, it’s gorgeous. All right. – We need a shooter. – Need a shooter and R-TYPE, the Master System its advantage was excellent graphics and this is a very faithful port of the arcade game and it’s done well. And you know I enjoy playing this version of the game to this day. – You know Sega has always done arcade ports really well. – That’s their strength. That’s always been their strength. Excellent game. – Speaking of arcade port, I remember playing this next game quite a bit in the arcades. – Oh yeah, RASTAN. Yeah, and you know again, at first I was like, “No that can’t be any good.” you know it’s going to- again, graphically from the arcade it’s downscaled. Fantastic game. – It’s all about gameplay. I mean with these arcade games. And so if they nail that, I can forgive you know, lesser graphics. – And one thing to note especially this with SHINOBI as well is there’s a special converter with the FM sound chip and some of these games had additional sound options that you could play with enhanced sound. – So like in the options or something? – They did make Stone Age Gamer sells like an adapter that will play on a Genesis or something. – So, It’s a third party thing? – Yeah. But yeah, it’s definitely pretty sweet. But RASTAN one of the games that has a distant sound. All right, we can’t talk about shooters unless we talk about Power Strike. – Now, look at that cover. I mean is that a legit copy? – Yeah. This is I do believe like a mail order. It was kind of offered I think through mail or something. That’s why it has a weird cover. This game is amazing. It’s part of the Aleste Day Series. And it is fantastic, it’s the best shooter on the system. It’s a must play, super fast, great gameplay. Love it, it’s great. – Very cool. This next one, I was like we got to add this one. Montezuma’s Revenge so, the reason why I was like- because first of all I don’t have a copy of this because it is kind of hard to find, but Montezuma’s Revenge is one of those games on the Atari 2600 that would kick my butt, it’s a tough game. It’s a cool game because essentially it’s one pyramid that is all one level. And so it’s a bit of a maze, you kind of have to memorize where you’re going, but the reason why I want to talk about on this. Because this is the definitive version of it. And it came out on the Master System, I was like, “What?” I mean it’s cool. – Yeah. And you know the thing is the longest time, it bugged me because my copy had a ripped manual, for years and it bugged me. And finally I found it at a thrift store for like seven bucks with a manual and I’m like, AAH. So I finally have a complete copy. All right this next one, I actually got asked recently, “Hey, I can’t find this anywhere did this come out in the U. S.?” Why yes it did. And the reason why I’m showing you the manual- – What game is it? – Golden Axe Warrior. The manuals overseas were sideways. And so, this is the U.S. version with the UPC label sticker and this is really hard to get. And again, it’s an overhead view kind of has a perspective of Zelda. It’s well done. – Oh really? – And yeah. – Is it a beat ’em up? – No. It’s more like a Zelda-style action RPG. And fantastic and a must-own, and it’s a little hard to get. – Did it only come out on the Master System? – I do believe so. I want to say was there a game gear port, I’m not totally sure on that, but I know that not many systems had it. – So I’m happy that we finally got to do a Sega Master System buying guide for my channel. I’ll be honest with you. I get this request like it’s up there. Like a lot of people wanted me to cover this. And I was excited to do it because again, I didn’t really know much about it. And I was so impressed when I finally got one. It’s a fun system. – It is a fun system. I recommend checking it out, and I think it’s important to know that you don’t have to own hardware to enjoy this. And there’s a lot of emulators that play this perfectly. I mean I’ve even played this on the OUYA and it plays great. – Yeah. – There’s other ways of playing it as well. I’ve even played it on Dreamcast. Which is one of the best emulators I played in? There’s a Dreamcast emulator disc floating around there somewhere, and it plays them great. – Now, it’s also possible to play on the portable game gear right? – That’s right. There’s an adapter for your game gear and it plays most of the games with like a cartridge adapter and you can play the portable. – The other thing too, is that often you can find Master System games everywhere and they’re usually way cheaper than like say Genesis games or NES games by far. So it’s a fun system to collect for. – Yeah. And a lot of games store owners are like, “Cut you a deal” especially for the common stuff. – Absolutely. All right dude well where can people find you on the internet? – Well, you can search for The Immortal John Hancock and you know I have my own YouTube channel. I have my own fan Facebook page and Twitter. – Awesome. All right guys, thanks very much for watching my channel. Thank you for subscribing, and take care. John Hancock the man, the myth, the legend. He has 25 complete U.S. collections. Its crazy. It’s crazy being over in his room of doom. Man, it’s so awesome. I mean, he’s got every Sega game, but he’s also got rare stuff like the N-Gage and Vectrex and Turbo Graphics collections. It’s amazing, but my favorite part is his wall of of Atari 2600 games. You never see that many boxed in one place, such a cool guy. I love having on my channel.