Master03
Image: Damien McFerran / Time Extension

To celebrate the Sega Master System's 35th anniversary in the UK, happening this month, the Sega Shop Europe Twitter account put out a tweet in memory of the retro console.

The Master System launched in the region back in August 1987, and while it is frequently viewed as a bit of a failure in the US and Japan due to the overwhelming dominance of Nintendo in those areas, it was the de-facto home console for many in the UK during the 8-bit period.

This had a lot to do with Nintendo's unwillingness to take the UK market seriously, which left the door open for the Master System to become the go-to console. But it was also in part due to the Master System's graphical superiority over the NES, which gave it the ability to faithfully reproduce Sega arcade games from Sega like Space Harrier, OutRun, and After Burner.

As the Sega Shop Europe tweet mentions, the original Master System console came with the ability to play cards as well as cartridges. However, in 1990, this feature was removed with the arrival of a newer, cheaper version called the Master System II. If you want to read a full recap on the ins and outs of the consoles, we recommend checking out Damien McFerran's Hardware Classics column available from Nintendo Life.

Do you still have your Master System? Better yet, do you still have any games on card? Let us know!


[source twitter.com]