Fun Sega Master System trivia - Part 1

I love the Sega Master System. A lot of just has to with childhood attachment and all of that, but there's just so much weird history behind a lot of the games, the kind that people tend to gloss over because...well, not many people really care about the poor thing. And so, for part 1 in a series (??) of fun facts about the system...a lot of this is covered already in various HG101 articles, but if you haven't combed through the entirety of the library, hopefully you'll find something interesting here.

-There were numerous Sega Master System games that originated on Japanese PCs. Sega had a pretty good working relationship with Compile, who ported their MSX shooter Aleste (known as Power Strike outside of Japan) as well as Golvellius. Other games include Miracle WarriorsAKA Haja no Fuuin (Sega's version of the game is substantially better than the original PC version, which also showed up on the Famicom) and Psychic World (which was originally called Psycho World - the SMS version was only released in PAL territories, but it came out in the US for the Game Gear)



Super Cooks


Super Cooks


-There are three versions of Golvellius - for the MSX, MSX2 and Sega Master System - and all have different world and stage layouts. The game promised a sequel, which never technically came to pass, but Compile did create a tribute on one of their MSX DiskStation releases under the name Super Cooks. It looks and controls exactly like Golvellius, with brand new stages, except everything is food themed.




Kid Kool


Psycho Fox


-Psycho Fox bears a suspicious resemblance to an NES game called Kid Kool, known in Japan as Kakefu Kimi no Jump Tengoku: Speed Jigoku. It looks and plays extremely similarly, although Psycho Fox definitely looks much better. What's even more bizarre is that the game concept was expanded upon and received a "sort of" sequel in the form of Magical Hat no Buttobi Turbo! Daibouken for the Sega Mega Drive. This game, based off of an anime license, got a complete makeover and became Decap Attack in America. The levels in these games are mostly the same, with some minor differences, despite the graphical changes. Why are these games all so similar? They were all developed by Vic Tokai.


Kenseiden (Japanese)


Kenseiden (USA/Europe)


Kenseiden (Korea)

-In the Japanese version of the samurai action-platformer Kenseiden, the main character has blonde hair, which is even shown on the game's cover. Perhaps this was deemed too manga-esque, because all of the other versions give him more typical black hair.


Kenseiden (Japanese/USA/Europe)


Kenseiden (Korea)

-Korea, not having the best relations with Japan, tends to remove any reference to samurai or medieval Japan. Most of Kenseiden is the same, but the old Japanese map between levels is replaced with a map of Korea. The sprite was also changed again slightly, though I can't quite say why - maybe the outfit is more "Korean"? (Other examples of this include Mitsurugi being replaced with "Arthur" in the Soul Calibur games, the renaming of SNK's The Last Blade to "The Last Soldier", and Samurai Shodown renamed as "Fighters Swords".


Heavyweight Champion


Buster Douglas Knockout Boxing

-Heavyweight Champion is a standard boxing game, similar to Rocky but a bit better. When Sega acquired the rights to Buster Douglas, it was re-released as James 'Buster' Douglas Knockout Boxing. The title screen is different and the main character's name is changed from "S. Davis" to "Buster", but otherwise the games are exactly the same. Strangely, it's one of the most valuable SMS titles released in the West.


Chouon Senshi Borgman


Cyborg Hunter

-Several SMS games were originally based on various anime/manga properties, which had to be changed in the West. These include Hokuto no Ken, which became Black Belt (and its Genesis sequel became Last Battle), Kujaku-Oh (The Peacock King) became Spellcaster (and its Genesis sequel became Mystic Defender), Anmitsu Hime became Alex Kidd in High Tech World, and Chouon Senshi Borgman became Cyborg Hunter. In Black Belt's case, all of the graphics were completely redone. Alex Kidd had some graphical changes, but was otherwise mostly the same. Spellcaster and Cyborg Hunter had some minor changes but mostly just switches names. The only anime license that made it to America unscathed were the two Zillion games. A few others that didn't make it out of Japan include Sukeban Deka II (which combines adventure segments with action beat-em-up segments, similar to Spellcaster) and Tensai Bakabon.


Chouon Senshi Borgman


Chouon Senshi Borgman

-The ending of Cyborg Hunter mentions Paladin, the name of the main character, as well as two other characters named Trevor and Catherine, who aren't mentioned anywhere else at all. In the Japanese version, these were two other characters from the anime - Anis Farm and Chuck Sweager. The main character is Ryo Hibiki instead of Paladin. One of the guns is also called the Zillion in the Japanese version, but was changed to a more boring "Ray Gun" for the other releases. Chouon Senshi Borgman, along with Bomber Raid, were two of the last Mark III games released in Japan, and thus, are fairly pricey. One of the anime series was localized by ADV and released on DVD under the title Sonic Soldier Borgman, back when they were indiscriminately licensing stuff. It's more or less a standard Bubble Gum Crisis ripoff.


Transbot (SMS)


Astro Flash (Arcade)


Astro Flash (Arcade)


Astro Flash (Arcade)


Astro Flash (Arcade)

-Transbot (also known as Astro Flash) was an early Sega Master System shooter that came on one of those cards. There was actually an arcade version of the title that came out for the System E arcade board, which was essentially a slightly enhanced Master System. While it was also called Astro Flash, it was called Transformer in other regions. Anyway, while it shares the same theme, it's a completely different game. The Master System version contained a few stages over some moon-like planet that repeated over and over, along with an alternate underground tunnel stage. By destroying a specific truck, you can transform into different shapes, each with different weapons. The Arcade version actually has a definite end - there are four stages total, each with an above and below ground section. You can transform between ship and robot form at any time, each of which has a different weapon. You gain power by destroying enemies, which in turn strengthens your weapons. The graphics are completely different, although it shares the same affection for multi-plane backgrounds - this and Black Belt were incredibly impressive back in 1986.


The Dinosaur Dooley


-It's relatively well known that the Sega Master System was fairly popular in Brazil, but it also got some additional support in Korea. One of these games was The Dinosaur Dooley, which was based off a popular cartoon character. It's a fairly lousy side-scrolling shooter, but it's weirdly notable because the soundtrack consists of lousy chiptunes renditions of American rock music, like Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", Soup Dragons' "Divine Thing" and "Pleasure", Spin Doctors' "Two Princes", and Ugly Kid Joe's "Everything About You".