Master System Round-Up #6

As long-term visitors here (if there are any) might have noticed, I'm a bit of a Sega fan. It was their arcade games, specifically some of their Super Scaler titles, that got me into gaming to begin with, and their wonderful Master System console that so captivated me for years at home. With that in mind, and since I have now reviewed a sufficient number of the arcade versions of those Super Scaler gamers for a Round-Up, here is a look at their MS versions to see how they measure up:

Hang-On (1985)

I actually played this one before I'd even encountered it in an arcade since it came built into my MS, and I spent a lot of time with it. In fact, I got rather good and thought that would translate over to the arcade version when I did finally get to try it, only to fail miserably! It isn't a bad conversion though, all things considered (it was mainly the giant red bike that caused me problems in the arcades). There are four stages rather than the five in the original (happily, the cool night stage keeps its place) which repeat over and over so you basically keep going for as long as you can, and I used to be able to loop through the game several times. I can't now of course, as my powers have waned over the years, but it's still an enjoyable little racing game. It does get a little repetitive after a while - something a few more stages/backgrounds would've helped with, and some in-game music would've been nice too, but for most of us this was a freebie, and to me at least it was a very welcome one... 8/10 (arcade version reviewed here)

Space Harrier (1986)

I seem to recall my old friend Luke having this game and I also seem to recall that we had a lot of fun playing it. This was again before I'd ever seen it in an arcade - I believe I've still only seen it once in fact, but I know it's a very decent conversion. You could even say it's better in some ways. The graphics are more colourful at least, and with a game like this, that's a good thing. A basic story has also been tacked on, there is a new end boss, and even a proper ending sequence too. There is the inevitable loss of graphical detail though, including missing backgrounds, but it's less noticeable here than in some other Super Scaler conversions. The music is excellent too, and all 18 stages have been included. Not only that but all the enemies and even their attack patterns have been translated faithfully. The only thing that irritates me a little about this version of the game is that the sprites were actually background tiles and weren't transparent around the edges when over the scrolling floors and/or ceilings. It was either that or far fewer enemies/bullets on screen at once though, and it's a compromise I'll tolerate for a great version of this classic shooter... 8/10 (arcade version reviewed here)

OutRun (1987)

As documented elsewhere, I grew up playing OutRun 3D - I think it was my first ever console game in fact - but my friend Luke had this 'normal' version of Sega's arcade classic, and I seem to remember being a little jealous. I may have had the fancy 3D effect, yes, but I remember this version being much faster. Playing it now, however, and it's not so impressive. It is quite fast but also somewhat flickery and there is a considerable amount of scenery detail missing. The latter is understandable, I know, but some of the stages are barely recognisable. The iconic Coconut Beach Boulevard is now devoid of water, for example, while Devil's Canyon (right turn at the fork) is not a canyon any more. Aside from these rather noticeable omissions though, this is a pretty decent version of the ultra-awesome arcade original. The sound effects are weedy but there are good renditions of the three famous musical pieces and the fast action is enjoyable and reasonably challenging. It's certainly not the best 8-bit version of the game (the excellent PC Engine version takes that award) but it was good in its day and decent fun for the odd quick session now... 7/10 (arcade version reviewed here)

After Burner (1987)

Of the games here, this is the one I spent the most time playing, or the MS version of it at least, owing to the fact that it was one of the first games I received for my treasured console. I had played the game in its mighty rotating, twirling cabinet form before but that version was a bit overwhelming for a pipsqueak like me so I relished the chance to take a more measured approach. As it turned out, I had more help than that owing to what I can only assume was an intentional cheat/bug that allowed you to avoid all enemy fire up to the twelfth stage simply by flying sideways! Of course, any real player wouldn't use this cheap trick (guffaw!). It's a good version of the game though. It was arguably the hardest of the lot to pull off, and while there's a major drop in speed and landscape detail, including the absence of the canyon run, it's still an admirable attempt and an enjoyable game. Much like the original there are 18 stages here, although it actually takes nearly twice as long to get through this version of the game so they must be longer. Even the impressive barrel-roll manoeuvre is here! Less interesting to look at then, but still exciting to play... 8/10 (arcade version reviewed here)

Thunder Blade (1988)

This is the only game here that I'd never played on the MS until very recently. A majority of my Thunder Blading was done on my Speccy, for which I had the fancy +3 disk version, or in the arcades where I was fortunate enough to find the juddery full-sized version which I recall not being particularly good at. Since reviewing the latter here recently, however, I was curious about how spiffing the MS version may or may not be. Having spent the last few days messing with it, I am now able to confirm that it's pretty good! The overhead sections are bereft of the scaley 3D effect but an attempt has been made to duplicate all sections of the game accurately, and it has been done pretty well with the exception of the rather eye-watering cavern section (stage 2-2). One thing I noticed quite quickly though, is that this version of the game is even harder than the arcade version! This is especially true of the into-the-screen sections which see the enemies unleashing an overwhelming barrage of shots at you. I can't imagine I'd have ever been able to complete this one if I did have it back in its day. A largely-faithful conversion then, but too tough for me... 7/10 (arcade version reviewed here)

Final Thought:

The Master System was Sega's own console, admittedly, so it makes sense that they handled the conversions of their first few Super Scaler games themselves (to my knowledge) rather than handing them off to third-party developers like most of the other versions, but they were still pretty great generally, considering the system's technical limitations. Well, that's with the exception of Enduro Racer of course, which I reviewed separately many moons ago, but as inaccurate a conversion as it was, it's still a cool game! I was certainly happy to have some of these more accurate conversions back then anyway, and loved playing them, so well done Sega! Next up I'll take a look at some MS conversions of some non-scaley Sega arcade games...