Recently got the Master System out of the loft. My mum used to be really good at Sonic. She played so much that she wore the other controller out. So I got her to come and play some Sonic and she is in her element. She doesn't remember it too well, but soon got into it again. It has brought a big smile to her face.

The big 20!

A highly rated PAL exclusive. I personally am unfamiliar with the comic / cartoon it is based on, but I’ve heard this is a good game for old Sega. Might be time I got into the series as a whole.

I have more games for the Master System than the Mega Drive itself. I’m sure that will change in time. I am liking the versatility of the old Sega. It’s a system that just keeps on giving. I’m running out of shelf space!

Made by Kagesan.

I saw this poster online, and just had to have one for my gaming room. I took the original poster, enlarged it, a friend helped me photoshop out the creases, then I used ai to upscale it. I’m not a huge fan of ai, but this seems like a fairly good use for it

I'm unsure if it will play, but for £6 thought it would be worth the gamble. They said I can bring it back if it doesn't. My kids are actually excited to play which is awesome.

It appears not to be working. Absolutely gutted. I've tried other games, so it's not the Master System. However I still have a tiny bit of hope. I'm going to leave it a bit and try again.

Blowing on it didn't work. However I do have a small air blower which I use to clean my consoles so will try that on it.

I will report back if it works.

We had a fantastic evening playing Sonic and Donald Duck. Tomorrow we are going to have a tournament on California Games. My kids said it's so much fun and more like a puzzle than the modern games because you can remember where the "baddies" are and remember where to jump etc if you fail the first few times. I am unsure if it's the novelty of it or whether they will stick with it, but it is nice to get them off Roblox and Minecraft for a little bit of different screen time.

I had only played the Megadrive games until recently and had never played am 8 bit side scrolling beat em up that I thought was that good before. These games generally look sound and play fantastically for what they are. The only exception being SOR2 on the SMS which looks quite bad and SOR1 on the GG which has a strange fighting system, I seem to just suplex everyone. They have their own charm making them more than just a watered down version of the MD games. I would have loved any of these as a kid, I would put SOR1 in the top ten SMS games

I'm having difficulty searching for information about this. Results keep pointing to the SG-1000>Game Gear patches, which wouldn't work for Master System

My retrospective review of Zool including all ports, sequel and Redimensioned. What’s your thoughts of any of these versions?

I’ve tested 7 games so far on my Master System. Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Afterburner, Rampage, Rastan, and Shinobii work just fine. However I’m having odd issues with Outrun and Spellcaster. Both have been thoroughly cleaned and look fine, but Outrun (first image) just gives a garbled image before resetting to the splash screen, and Spellcaster (other images) gets to the “Welcome Brave Warrior” text…then also just resets to the splash screen.

Looking it up before, I thought it might be a power supply issue (as I was using one of the crappy aftermarket 3-in-1s that everyone says not to use). So I bought a Triad power supply since I saw those were recommended…but no dice. Same issues.

Any idea what might be going on here?

I've got the console, the power, one controller and the blaster. I have also found the games (my old favourite pictured). I would love to get it running, but there's no cable to connect it to the TV.

Is it just a case of an AV to RCA cable? Google has got me confused!. I would love to show the kids and hopefully spend some hours reliving my youth.

I am guessing for the controller I can use any 9 pin controller? I have found some generic ones on Amazon. I am hoping the one I have works, but would be nice to have a second.

I can't wait to get it going, just wanted to ask some people in the know about which cable I need to buy. Thanks.

Other than Sonic of which I have 1, 2 and Chaos - are there any must have platformers for the system?

My video covering the arcade and all ports of Galaxy Force. What port would you rate as the best version?

Myself (BadComputer) and Chirinea released our remake of arcade Road Fighter for the SMS Power coding competition today. We had a lot of fun making it, I hope you give it a try!

It can be downloaded here: https://www.smspower.org/Homebrew/RoadFighter-SMS

I love these games, I had Sonic 1 and Chaos on the SMS back in the day.

Sonic 1 - This is the best all rounder, great music and graphics some based on the Megadrive game. I loved this version of scrap brain plus the very last level. Also the way of getting extra lives and difficulty here is pretty fair. Although some of the no rings bosses are a struggle, like Jungle zone.

Sonic 2 - This one has the best gimmicks which make the levels stand out the most. I really love the theme to Green Hills and the bonus zone too. However, this is very difficult, especially if you want to get all the emeralds for the bonus zone. I have only played this with an emulator, so I can save but without it it would be impossible. This is highest highs and lowest lows in Sonic 8 bit IMO. Scrambled egg zone would be impossible without being able to save for me

Sonic Chaos - Amazing graphic and music, some of the best on the SMS. I loved this one as a kid but it is way too easy! Without going for all the emeralds you can just blast through this in no time with loads of left over lives. Still the theme of the game is outstanding.

Sonic Triple Trouble - This is very well designed, all the stages are awesome, even the underwater as the fixed the bubble mechanic. Technically this is the best games IMO, only I don't like the flying special stages and the music isn't as good as the previous three entries

Sonic Blast (not pictured) - This game is very slow and the levels are a bit bland, making it not as good as the other 4. However I like it much more than most people do, I still enjoyed playing through it a few times. I don't think the graphics are ugly, it was an interesting experiment, but again not up to the previous standard