Master System must haves?

[martin8777]

Can't believe no one mentioned Choplifter, I used to love playing that on the MS back in the day.

Shinobi and Wonderboy in Monsterland are the others that stand out for me too.

[Lord Innit]

Good call on Choplifter.I prefered it over the arcade version.

[crusto]

I might be the only one, but I loved 'YS'. one of only two games I ever completed.

Youre not.

That game, along with phantasy star, zillion, black belt, kung fu kid, california games, golvellius, wonderboys 1 and 3 (especially 3) and loads more swallowed up a large chunk of my youth! And then came the engine.......

[kizzer]

Rastan - played it one year on holiday in the campsite bar, had a bag full of 10p's and loved it. The Spectrum port was atrocious, but the mastersystem was class!

[ommadawnyawn]

This should cover nearly all of the essentials:
Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap (1989)
Land of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse
Power Strike II
Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa
Bubble Bobble - 50+ new levels!
R-Type - Has a hidden extra level
Alex Kidd in Miracle World - Don't forget to check out the romhacks for it as well
Kenseiden - The CV3 of the SMS, pretty much
Ninja Gaiden - Completely different to the NES one, plays more like NG3
Zillion - The Impossible Misssion/Metroid of the SMS

Sonic the Hedgehog
Golvellius: Valley of Doom - Arguably better than Zelda, apart from the money grinding
Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse
Shinobi
Jurassic Park
Alex Kidd in Shinobi World
Asterix - Great Rescue is alright as well, albeit a very different game made by europeans
Fantasy Zone
Power Strike/Aleste - Veery tough though
Enduro Racer (JP) - More levels. More challenge. The definitive enduro experience.

Sonic Chaos - Short and easy though
Micro Machines
Legend of Illusion
Master of Darkness
Phantasy Star
Wonder Boy in Monster Land
Star Wars - Controls better than on NES
Wonder Boy - Actually better than the arcade game in several ways
Montezuma's Revenge
OutRun 3-D

[ant512]

Zillion - The Impossible Misssion/Metroid of the SMS

The Master System has a great version of Impossible Mission too.

I'd add these:

Alien 3
Marble Madness
Populous
Prince of Persia
Sagaia

[ommadawnyawn]

That's true, dunno why it slipped my mind. I prefer Zillion though.

Alien 3 has an excellent soundtrack for the SMS.

[Ryan GH]

Spell Caster!!!!!
If you only get one game, get this or Wonderboy in Monsterland, Wonderboy or Wonderboy 3.

[the_hawk]

Just acquired a Master System, was always a big fan but never owned one before. (I went straight from the Speccy to the Megadrive).

Anyway just necromancing this thread for ideas for games...so many great posters who've long gone from the forum, shame really.

But I digress, recommend me games 2019 RG folk...

[The Laird]

I just have a new Master System book out to add to the one that I wrote previously. I review over 150 games between the 2 volumes if you're interested.

Otherwise I recommend Ghost House, Choplifter, Fantasy Zone, Master of Darkness and Columns.

[the_hawk]

Good call, downloading as I type.

[icemann]

The Sega Master System was the second console I owned (after the Atari 2600).

My favs:

Alex Kid in Miracle World
Double Dragon
Golden Axe
Golden Axe Warrior - A far better Zelda than Zelda
Phantasy Star - Best in the series
Sonic 1 & 2
Wonderboy 3
Ys - The Vanished Omens

[RetroBob]

^^^^ Those are some great suggestions. I like the original Wonderboy too.

[NickThorpe]

We did a top 25 in issue 136, and these were the results:

1: Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap
2: Alex Kidd In Miracle World
3: Sonic The Hedgehog
4: Psycho Fox
5: Shinobi
6: Phantasy Star
7: Castle Of Illusion
8: Wonder Boy In Monster Land
9: Fantasy Zone
10: Out Run
11: R-Type
12: Alex Kidd In Shinobi World
13: Wonder Boy
14: The Ninja
15: Double Dragon
16: Enduro Racer
17: Ninja Gaiden
18: Asterix
19: Secret Command
20: Choplifter
21: Golvellius: Valley Of Doom
22: Master Of Darkness
23: Bubble Bobble
24: California Games
25: Operation Wolf

As a big Master System fan, I'll second icemann's suggestions of Sonic 2 and Ys. There are plenty more games that are perfectly good fun - Speedball 2, Cool Spot, Lemmings, Paperboy, etc. - but you'll probably prefer to pick them up on other systems, so my own suggestions will (mostly) be exclusives:

The Lucky Dime Caper starring Donald Duck: How this didn't make the top 25 is anyone's guess. It's a nice, challenging platformer with some great graphics.
Power Strike: Excellent vertical scrolling shoot-'em-up. The sequel is even better but don't expect to find it for a reasonable price.
Rescue Mission: If you get a Light Phaser, this lightgun game has a pretty original premise in which you're protecting a military field medic.
Robocop vs Terminator: Late era platform shooter, a decent blast elevated by great graphics and sound
Zillion: A non-linear action game that's a bit like Metroid and Impossible Mission. There's a sequel too, but it's not as good.

[Antiriad2097]

Bank Panic. I have this on cart (and the arcade board), but I'd still quite like the card version, there's something very appealing about that format.