Sega Master System

The Sega Master System also known as simply the SMS was released in America in June of 1986, and was first available in Japan in October of 1985 as the Sega Mark III. It was created to be a direct competitor of the Nintendo Entertainment System. In the US the NES outsold the Mega Drive but in Europe, the Mega Drive sold around 10 million consoles.

The Master System was very successful because of the great games that were available for it like Afterburner, Mortal Kombat 2, Outrun, Predator 2, Alien 3, Rampage, Phantasy Star and Alex Kidd in a Miracle World. These game were all very popular and successful and it was this quality of games that helped the games industry get back its original heights.

Technical Specifications:

CPU: NEC 780C

Clock Rate: 3.579545 MHz (NTSC), 3.54689493 MHz (PAL/SECAM)

GPU: Sega VDP

Sound Chip: Sega PSG (SN76496) at 3.579545 MHz

Memory: 24kb RAM

This video highlights 20 games the defined the Master System.