Sega Mark III \ Master System Type Console Developer Sega Release Date 1985-Oct-20 Region(s) Japan, North America, Europe, South America Initial Price $199 USD Games Released 318 History & Reviews Models & Clones Games & Emulation Specs & Manuals Other Media Web Resources DW FACTS

by Dark Watcher To compete with the Nintendo Famicom in Japan, Sega released the successor to the Mark I/II and called it Sega Mark III in 1985.



The Mark III could produce great 8 bit graphics with specs superior to the Famicom. The console had two game formats which were cartridges and a Sega "Game Card" format. The cards held only 256K of data (cartridges held over 4 times that amount), but the advantage to both Sega and the consumer was the fact that the cards were cheaper to manufacture and sold for less than the carts did. Sega also introduced 3D glasses that could be used in some of their games. The Mark III was also backwards compatible with SG-1000 / Mark I & II software.



When Nintendo released the Famicom (NES) to America in 1986, Sega had no intentions of letting their rival get all the market share. They redesigned the Mark III and changed the name to the Sega Master System (SMS). They approached Tonka Toy Distribution to market the SMS, with the console being released three months after the NES in 1986.



Although the SMS was an impressive machine, it did not reach the level of success that the NES gained in America. The two reasons for this were poor marketing by Tonka Toys and software restrictions implemented by Nintendo to third party developers. Third party developers were contractually prohibited from making games for any rival company. This meant that once a company had made a game for the obviously popular NES, they weren’t allowed to make any games at all for the SMS. As a result, the only outside developers for the SMS were Activision and Parker Brothers (though Sega did receive permission to "reprogram" numerous games developed by other companies). Sega did the rest of the games themselves. Some of Sega's best games started this way. The Popular RPG series "Phantasy Star" made its first appearance on the Sega Master System. The SMS may not have been as successful as the NES in America, but overseas was another story. The SMS was extremely popular in the UK and Brazil where games were released into the the late 1990s. The SMS succeeded overseas because it was much cheaper than the pricey NES.



The SMS was re-released as the Sega Master System II in 1990 with a reduction in features to save money. The card port was cut, as was the power light and Sega logo and music upon starting the machine. Tectoy, the licensed distributor in Brazil, is still selling this popular machine to this very day.



FACT: The Sega Master System featured a built in secret game. Turn the system on without a cartridge inserted, when the instructions pop up hold the D-pad up and push buttons 1 and 2. In the game your goal is to guide a small snail through a series of different maze levels. Not much play value, but it's a nice extra to have. The Sega Master System II was another story - it included a built-in freebie called Alex Kidd in Miracle World.

MODELS

Officially licensed releases Sega Mark III

Sega Master System

Sega Master System II

Sega Game Box 9

Tec Toy Master System

Tec Toy Master System II

Tec Toy Master System III Compact

Tec Toy Master System Super Compact

Tec Toy Master System Girl

Samsung Gam*Boy

Samsung Gam*Boy II

Samsung Aladdin Boy

Images of the Samsung models courtesy of Scanlines16.com CLONES

Non-licensed hardware releases Though Sega granted licenses to a great many companies, there are probably some clones of this popular system floating around out there in the wild.

FORMAT, PACKAGING & GENERAL INFO

Interesting facts on software for this system Software for the Sega Mark III / Master System was distributed on two different types of the ROM format: standard game cartridges and Sega Game Card.



Resembling a credit card, Sega Game Cards were significantly smaller than their standard sized brethren in both dimension and data capacity. This format was introduced as a cost savings measure for developers, but was quickly phased out due to the inability to house the more advanced games of the system.



The release of this system also introduced the public to the popular plastic 'clam shell' game box. These nearly indestructible cases set a new standard for game packaging, providing excellent protection for its contents as well as a large canvas for marketing gurus to advertize the respective title.

applemctom's Games that Defined Compiliation Sega Master System Game Boxes (North America)





SCREENSHOTS

Captured in-game images Air Rescue

Aladdin

American Baseball

Andre Agassi Tennis

Assault City

Back to the Future 3

Batman Returns

Castle of Illusion

Championship Hockey

Danan: The Jungle Fighter

Dynamite Duke

Fantasy Zone 2

Forgotten Worlds

George Foreman's KO Boxing

G-Loc Air Battle

Golden Axe

Golf Mania

GP Rider

Great Basketball

Hook

Impossible Mission

Joe Montana Football

Marble Madness

Masters of Combat

Michael Jackson's Moonwalker

Missile Defense 3D

Ninja Gaiden

Olympic Gold

Outrun Europe

Paper Boy

Phantasy Star

Prince of Persia

Rambo 3

Shinobi

Sonic the Hedgehog

Space Harrier 3D

Streets of Rage 2

Tecmo World Cup 93

Vampire: Master of Darkness

Wonderboy in Monsterland

Y's

Zillion 2



EMULATION

First and third party system emulators MEKA



A great emulator for this console. This emulator is

Windows based,but there is a DOS version also available.

SPECS & MANUALS

For the hardware enthusiasts out there - all the detail you\we love. Processor Type Processor Speed Other Processor Information RAM \ Video RAM Zilog Z80 (8-bit) 3.58 MHz (NTSC) \ 3.54 MHz (PAL) Texas Instruments TMS9928A VDP 8 KB \ 16 KB Screen Resolution Color Palette Polygons \ Sprites Audio 256x224 (NTSC) \ 256x240 (PAL) 64 colors (32 on screen) 16 sprites max Texas Instruments SN76489 PSG (4 channel mono), Media Format Media Capacity Games Released Other Supported Formats Cartridge \ Sega Game Card 256 KB \ 32 KB 318 Internal Storage External \ Removable Storage Game Controllers Other Game \ Peripheral Devices None None D-Pad (8-way), Two Action Buttons Light Gun, 3D Glasses, Telecon Pack (Mark III), FM Sound Unit (Mark III) Controller Ports Network Ports Other Ports Audio \ Video Two (2) None Expansion Port RF, Composite Power Supply - External Other Outputs Other Details \ Notes Input: AC 120V, 60Hz

Output: DC 9V, 1A None Channel Switch, Pause button on console Manuals Sega Master System Owners Manual - NTSC (PDF) - 1.33 MB

Sega Master System 2 Owners Manual - PAL (PDF) - 1.74 MB

OTHER MEDIA

Peripherals, Promotions, Commercials, Brochures, Etc. Sega Mark III \ Master System Television Commercials Sega Mark III \ Master System Advertisements

