Sega Master System games coming to Virtual Console
by Justin McElroy 
{ Jan 25th 2008 at 9:20AM }
The Sega Master System never really got the appreciation it deserved here in the U.S. In fact, research shows that only .8 kids in America owned one, and who ever wanted to hang out with eight-tenths of a kid? Gross, we had reps to protect. Now though, it seems the system will finally get the respect it deserves with releases from the system headed to the Wii's Virtual Console.The beauty part is that, since it used the same hardware as the Master System, Game Gear games will also have a shot at VC fame. The first entries will be Fist of the North Star for 600 points and Fantasy Zone for 500 points. They'll only be rolling out to Japan at first in February, but look for other territories to follow close behind.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
playwhutyalike @ Jan 25th 2008 9:24AM
F Yeah Bitches
michas_pi @ Jan 25th 2008 9:31AM
I hope Rambo and Ghostbusters both come out on VC now.
FOXHOUND @ Jan 25th 2008 9:48AM
To be honest, I'm surprised there was no talk of a RAMBO game for the seventh gen consoles, since the movie was released today here in the USA.
CreepyD @ Jan 25th 2008 9:34AM
Paper covers rock, bitch.
dan stabbingworth @ Jan 25th 2008 10:41AM
And scissors cuts paper!
We have a conundrum.
Bring me a rock.
playwhutyalike @ Jan 25th 2008 10:58AM
I'm sure my mom has some rocks in her pocket, assuming she hasn't smoked them all. That's right, I said MY mom.
Co @ Jan 25th 2008 9:38AM
Fist of the North Star and a cup of cocoa is all you need in life.
Obie @ Jan 25th 2008 9:50AM
Cool! But seriously "WII NEED MOAR STORAGE"!
I am down to 100 blocks now. :(
mike_p @ Jan 25th 2008 5:42PM
So go buy yourself more storage! You can grab a 2GB SD Card to save your games on for less than $10 on NewEgg. You've only got 512MB of "blocks" built-in. Sega Master System games probably won't take up few blocks if that.
Sega Master System was awesome!
RoboJoel @ Jan 25th 2008 9:56AM
I'll take 1 of Penguin Land please.
JodyAnthony (death by snoo-snoo) @ Jan 25th 2008 10:00AM
YES TO FANTASY ZONE!!!
Also needs some Alex Kidd. I wish light gun games worked, because GangsterTown is a game everyone should play. I have it sitting in my SMS right now.
man i love the sega master system. it's no NES for sure, but still. some great games for that thing.
ZombieX @ Jan 25th 2008 10:01AM
Yes I love the Fantasy Zone series. Opa-Opa lives! Hopefully Sega will release Super Fantasy Zone (MegaDrive) onto the VC as well...
pituch @ Jan 25th 2008 10:08AM
I had a master system! Still do in fact. That system was underrated. Hang-on/Safari Hunt combo cartridge FTW!
Mike @ Jan 25th 2008 10:17AM
Wait... I had one two..... I believe if the statistics in this article are correct that makes each of us .4 of a kid. I'm less than half of a person.... I'm going to go cry in the corner now.
squeevi @ Jan 25th 2008 12:29PM
I had one as well. In fact, I started hanging out with one of my best friends in grade school because we found out we both had Master Systems, lol!!! He was the only other person I've known to this day that dad one. Had the Game Gear too, boy I was a real SEGA fanboy back in the day, lol!
Zootittles @ Jan 25th 2008 10:11AM
Fantasy Zone! Awesome.
Bring out Zillion, Phantasy Star, and Govellius please!
brian @ Jan 25th 2008 3:59PM
I'm waiting for sega cd and saturn games on the vc
samfish @ Jan 25th 2008 10:20AM
Well, it's a Sega system.
...but yet, it is not the Saturn.
Crap.
StarFoxA @ Jan 25th 2008 11:12AM
Aren't the Saturn games too big for a 512MB HDD?
Mr Khan @ Jan 25th 2008 5:05PM
With modern compression, only multi-disc games like Zwei would be too big. Something like NiGHTS, Virtua Fighter 2, or Bug! could be compressed down to N64 size easily
The only problem is a Saturn emulator. Emulating that multi-core clusterfuck could prove problematic even for the 360 or PS3, i doubt Wii is up to that unless Sega knows a few emulation secrets
The Fuzz 53 @ Jan 25th 2008 10:22AM
I still have my Game Gear with about 15 or so games floating around. Would it be worth anything on ebay these days, or has it not quite hit collector status yet?
Keeko_ca @ Jan 25th 2008 10:23AM
8 tenths of a kid? Clearly you mean 4 fifths of a kid! ;)
Clearly you guys are bloggers and not super math savy! Jus' playin', it had to be said right?
KilgoreTrout XL @ Jan 25th 2008 10:30AM
I beat Wonder Boy in Monsterland III on my SMS, something none of the kids on my block managed to do. So IN YOUR FACE, bitches!
(Hey, sorry, I remember the game being pretty hard. Was it easy? Am I proud of a pathetic accomplishment? Could be.)
The Alex Kidd games were a lot of fun too (but the rock-paper shit was kinda cheap.)
Greyseal @ Jan 25th 2008 10:48AM
Rock-paper-shit... huh. What beats shit?
KilgoreTrout XL @ Jan 25th 2008 10:51AM
Nothing beat shit, dude. The guy would just fling it at you.
Hence the "cheapness."
jonpants @ Jan 25th 2008 10:36AM
Oh man does this mean I will finally get to play ALF again?
cuso26 @ Jan 25th 2008 10:36AM
Zillion II Zillion II!
This is great news, but all my friends can't seem to understand why, because they never owned one. I think I was the only kid in my REGION that had one, I swear.
Anyone remember the hidden built in maze game on the SMS? I'd like to give that a go too...
pituch @ Jan 25th 2008 10:46AM
That maze was good times. I had Zillion 2 as well. I thought that was one of the hardest games back in the day. Something about driving the bike, shooting air and ground enemies and jumping the pits all at the same time was just too hard when I was less than 10 years old.
Phi Nguyen @ Jan 25th 2008 10:38AM
LOL. I remember having the USA Sega Genesis version of FotNS, renamed "Last Battle". Sega censored it so much. Instead of heads exploding when I punched the bad guys in the face (ala the anime), they just flew comically off the screen. What a horrible game.
Terry @ Jan 25th 2008 10:52AM
Sweet. I just bought my SMS two years ago, and I've quite enjoyed it. The control pads were unresponsive mush with no tactile "snap" like the NES pads of the day, but it has some impressive graphics. The SMS Afterburner, Double Dragon, Action Fighter... all are pretty darn fun. And nothing quite as post-modern as playing Rambo III for the SMS and helping the good-guy Taliban fight the Russians.
XDragon @ Jan 25th 2008 11:25AM
Phantasy Star 1 is the most important SMS game to me bar none.
Lord Foortwenti @ Mar 25th 2008 4:51PM
Oh hells yeah.
The original Phantasy Star is still my favorite game of time, and one of the games I am proudest of beating (keep in mind that I beat it when I was only 8 years old and had bought the game for the outrageous price of $70). I really, really enjoyed that game back in the day.
Lutz? No no no. His name is NOAH bitches. And Noah, Alis, Myau, and Odin (who was really a big pussy despite being a big muscle man decked out w/ a big ass Laconian Axe and some bad ass Laconian Armor) wooped Dark Falz ass
Richard Mitchell @ Jan 25th 2008 11:30AM
Fantasy Zone? How 'bout Phantasy Star? Yes, please.
Bob @ Jan 25th 2008 11:35AM
Amen to the Phantasy Star.
While we're at it... how about the LCD-shutter based 3D glasses? There's no more entertaining way to get a headache. Not a legal way, anyway.
hegemonyhog @ Jan 25th 2008 12:16PM
Is there a fix to the VC over component issue yet? I've stopped downloading VC games because I can't play them on my TV.
Mr Khan @ Jan 25th 2008 5:08PM
That's odd. The only ones i have a problem with are Neo Geo games, and then all i have to do is go to the Instruction Manual page on the home menu and press 2 + A + Z
Don't try to run 'em over Component, in 480p mode, but in 4:3 mode, though, that always blacks my screen out
Zootittles @ Jan 25th 2008 5:10PM
That's odd. I have component cables for my system and VC games work fine. What happens on yours?
mykie @ Jan 25th 2008 12:17PM
I'm not sure if I'm happy about SMS coming to Virtual Console or not...
Certainly, this could slow down the rate of Genesis games coming to VC...And why not give us some Sega CD games, with compressed audio a la TurboCD games?
Not that it should matter, who's Wii can hold any more games with its scant onboard flash storage?
On the other hand, I'd love to play through Zillion, Phantasy Star, Thunderforce, and Galaxy Force again.
squeevi @ Jan 25th 2008 12:33PM
That built in maze Was great!
Edguy @ Jan 25th 2008 1:17PM
Fist of the North Star definitely won't hit the American VC since it's based on an anime. So what are the chances of the Master System showing up on our virtual console with only one game?
ronald.raygun @ Jan 25th 2008 1:55PM
man i loved my neighbors sms. there was one game in particular that i thought was oh so awesome, it was some kind of ninja game sorta kinda similar to legend of kage but 100 times better, anyone know the title?
Mr Khan @ Jan 25th 2008 5:08PM
Phantasy Star, Shinobi, Alex Kidd in Miracle World
hellz yeah?
hellz yeah.
VC. Hellz Yeah.
Zootittles @ Jan 25th 2008 5:14PM
DID SOMEBODY SAY MIRACLE BALL? CUZ I THOUGHT I HEARD SOMEBODY SAY MIRACLE BALL.
http://miracleball.ytmnd.com/
Number Six @ Jan 25th 2008 7:45PM
How about Alex Kidd in Shinobi World?
Myself, I'm looking forward to not only Fantasy Star, but The Ninja and Pro Wrestling as well. God I miss my SMS.
disowned @ Jan 25th 2008 5:14PM
How about The Ninja and Kasieden (sp?). We had a sms too, and like the comment above we were huge fanboys, alot of our friends had the sms too. Although we were outnumbered as most of our buddies had the nintendo. By the way to the person above I think your the only person I know that did finish wonderboy III the dragons curse, what an great game.