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Sega Master System

Fantasy Zone on Virtual Console

By Shaun Hatton - April 14th, 2008

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Shooters do not get much stranger than Fantasy Zone. You pilot a craft that has flapping wings and that can use its feet to run along the ground of stages, all the while blasting brightly-coloured enemies that explode into showers of coins. You then use these coins to purchase upgrades to your… um… ship.

The game also allows you to control the speed of your ship and the direction in which you fly, making it someone unique among other titles in the genre (as if the off-putting neon greens and pinks didn’t already set it apart).

In any case, Fantasy Zone is a Sega Master System classic title, and one that is now available on the Wii Virtual Console for 500 Wii Points. It was a must-purchase for me despite my having the original cartridge somewhere in this maze of boxes that is now my living room. That’s right! I’m moving, which somewhat explains the recent posting lull here.

Posted in Download Updates, Retro Reviews, Sega Master System, Virtual Console, Wii | No Comments »


Virtual Console Update: Wonder Boy

By Shaun Hatton - March 30th, 2008

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Sega Master System games had some awful and amazing box art.

Wonder Boy, the Sega Master System classic title, will be available on the Wii Virtual Console Monday. While we already have Adventure Island available now (which is very much the same game), this release marks the first Sega Master System title available for download over the service.

It’s no secret that I have a huge crush on the Master System. In fact, I just packed mine away this weekend in preparation for an upcoming move (yes, the Toronto Thumbs head office/Thumbscast recording studio will be relocating soon) and it saddened me a little. So tomorrow I may very well download Wonder Boy and relive some of those glory days. The hammers and skateboard were a winning combination.

The game is not to be confused with this “Wonderboy,” featuring Steven McDonald from Redd Kross on bass:

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Posted in Download Updates, News, Sega Master System | No Comments »


Ghostbusters VS Ghostbusters

By Shaun Hatton - January 29th, 2008

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We blew our graphics budget on this illustration.

Ghostbusters. It’s a great movie with crappy games. Sure, there’s the upcoming Ghostbusters game for all platforms. But can it top its 8-bit counterparts on Sega Master System and Nintendo Entertainment System? Only time will tell. In the interim, let’s compare the two 8-bit versions. In all cases where screenshots are shown, we’ve depicted the NES screenshot on the left with the SMS screenshot on the right. Most of these screenshots are from Moby Games, which is an excellent video game resource for older material.

Ghostbusters was one of my favourite movies when I was a child. I always daydreamed about getting my own proton pack and I even had a jacket that I taped a Ghostbusters logo to the shoulder of. I’d wear it around the house bustin’ imaginary ghosts from time to time. When I saw that there was a Ghostbusters game for Sega Master System, I was thrilled. I finally got it and played it repeatedly but realized it was not at all like the movie. It was a few years later that I learned there was a Ghostbusters game for the NES, and that it, too, was nothing like the movie.

The main thing that makes the movie so enjoyable is the humour. And this is sorely lacking in both the SMS and NES versions of the game. In fact, there is really nothing funny about the game unless you count the fact that someone probably made a lot of money making it.

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Posted in Famicom, Features, Nintendo, Retro Reviews, Sega Master System | 5 Comments »


RETRO REVIEW: Phantasy Star

By Shaun Hatton - December 21st, 2007

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Phantasy Star is perhaps the greatest 8-bit game of all time.

2007_12_21_phantasystarscor.gifThe year was 1988. The game, Phantasy Star. I had seen a commercial for it on TV. Usually video game commercials came in one flavour: Nintendo. On the rare occasion that there was a commercial for a Sega Master System game, my ears would perk up and it would have all my attention.

A little back story for you: it was a time when there were no in-store game kiosks – only the locked glass cabinet at Toys ‘R’ Us. Behind the glass were TVs with the latest video game systems hooked up to them. And the Sega display always had HANG-ON/Safari Hunt in it. Because this was a game I already had, it wasn’t nearly as captivating as seeing another game in action. The only other way I’d see a new game would be in the Sears catalogue, the Sega game brochures that would come with games, or on the even rarer occasion that one of my friends got a new game. Mostly everyone I knew had a Nintendo Entertainment System, however. And so getting to see a new Sega game was always an exciting event even though, in retrospect, not all of them were that great.

Phantasy Star, on the other hand, was absolutely amazing, and still is. One of the first images I’d seen of the game was of a mid-air fight with an enemy that seemingly filled the whole screen: GOLD DRAGON. Its colours were bright, its linework was bold, and was that a giant fireball it was spitting out, right at the screen? Yes, yes it was. On the strength of that screenshot alone, I knew I had to have the game.

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Posted in Retro Reviews, Sega Genesis, Sega Master System | 2 Comments »


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