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Post by strydg on Jul 19, 2015 7:19:26 GMT
I find back in the day I could play almost anything, wasn't as picky as I am now lol.
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lorf
Alis
Enduro Racer is the best game ever made for the SMS.
Posts: 384
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Post by lorf on Jul 19, 2015 11:18:23 GMT
Mean Machines Sega is still worth reading to this day, great mag! link
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Post by evo4123 on Aug 11, 2015 12:04:56 GMT
i remember buying e-swat, purely for the box art lol i didnt know a thing about the game but it looked great on the shalf in the game shop. turns out.... i absoulety loved it over than that though it was mainly word of mouth, i got into gamesmaster mag when i got my medagrive so it was mainly reviews in there then
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lorf
Alis
Enduro Racer is the best game ever made for the SMS.
Posts: 384
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Post by lorf on Aug 11, 2015 13:06:55 GMT
Gamesmaster was great! I had a letter appear in an issue of that
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Post by evo4123 on Aug 11, 2015 13:46:01 GMT
Gamesmaster was great! I had a letter appear in an issue of that i go back and watch them regularly aswel on youtube, always wanted a golden joystick lol
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lorf
Alis
Enduro Racer is the best game ever made for the SMS.
Posts: 384
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Post by lorf on Aug 11, 2015 15:49:03 GMT
You could probably make one. They were just old Quickshot sticks sprayed gold!
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Post by mrsmith89 on Feb 13, 2021 14:30:13 GMT
Rewind the clock to the late 80s-mid 90s. You are in a games shop and in your sweaty teenage pocket is enough to buy a game or two, how did you know what games were worth the small fortune they cost? Did you read magazines? Rent them? Just guess? Looking at the artwork and the screenshots on the back. But nowadays I watch YouTube vids!
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Post by meu2 on Feb 13, 2021 15:49:27 GMT
I pretty much based my choices based on the title and screenshots. However, the biggest deciding factor was actually the choice of games available to me locally. There wasn't a huge selection in my town so I was rather fortunate that the majority of available games for the Master System was pretty good.
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Post by Sinistral on Feb 15, 2021 18:19:44 GMT
I remember back when I first got the system, I don't even remember being aware of Games magazines, I do remember staring at those little catalogues that came with the games for hours on end. I even wrote to Sega of America at one point and asked them for a new catalogue, and of course being around 7, I included some of my very own gaming artwork and ideas for SMS games, maybe it gave them a laugh. I remember they sent me a letter and a catalogue which I've never seen around again. This must have been 1988.
I do remember how I chose my first SMS game. It was Alien Syndrome, and it was chosen on the basis of the single screenshot in the back of the "Getting in touch with Sega Software" catalogue. Ironically, the screenshot shown in that catalogue shows a level that never made it into the end game. I always remember going to "Our Price" - a forgotten WHSmith owned chain which later merged with Virgin Megastore to buy the game. I was blown away by the selection of games. Soon after I went in, I decided I didn't want Alien Syndrome, but instead wanted Wonderboy in Monsterland. But my parents wouldn't let me change my mind (no idea why in hindsight!) so I ended up getting it anyway. Looking back, Wonderboy In Monsterland would have been a much better game to get a Seven year old!
I remember holding the game in the car while we drove home, it seemed the 10 minute journey took forever, I couldn't wait to play that game. And that's the feeling and kind of memories I have for a lot of SMS games. It was a time when there wasn't anywhere near as much choice as there is now, getting a new game was a special occasion that was reserved for a Birthday or Christmas time. I don't think it would have mattered of the games I bought were bad, or good. They would have still been played to death.
These days, I worry that the sense of excitement with getting a new game is lost to my children! The are submerged in world of "Free to play" games, like Roblox or Fortnite. The delivery is near instant, so there is no journey in the car to get excited about!
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Post by segamasterdude on Feb 15, 2021 18:23:51 GMT
I remember back when I first got the system, I don't even remember being aware of Games magazines, I do remember staring at those little catalogues that came with the games for hours on end. I even wrote to Sega of America at one point and asked them for a new catalogue, and of course being around 7, I included some of my very own gaming artwork and ideas for SMS games, maybe it gave them a laugh. I remember they sent me one a letter and a catalogue which I've never seen around again. This must have been 1988. I do remember how I chose my first SMS game. It was Alien Syndrome, and it was chosen on the basis of the single screenshot in the back of the "Getting in touch with Sega Software" catalogue. Ironically, the screenshot shown in that catalogue shows a level that never made it into the end game. I always remember going to "Our Price" - a forgotten WHSmith owned chain which later merged with Virgin Megastore to buy the game. I was blown away by the selection of games. Soon after I went in, I decided I didn't want Alien Syndrome, but instead wanted Wonderboy in Monsterland. But my parents wouldn't let me change my mind (no idea why in hindsight!) so I ended up getting it anyway. Looking back, Wonderboy In Monsterland would have been a much better game to get a Seven year old! I remember holding the game in the car while we drove home, it seemed the 10 minute journey took forever, I couldn't wait to play that game. And that's the feeling and kind of memories I have for a lot of SMS games. It was a time when there wasn't anywhere near as much choice as there is now, getting a new game was a special occasion that was reserved for a Birthday or Christmas time. I don't think it would have mattered of the games I bought were bad, or good. They would have still been played to death. These days, I worry that the sense of excitement with getting a new game is lost to my children! The are submerged in world of "Free to play" games, like Roblox or Fortnite. The delivery is near instant, so there is no journey in the car to get excited about! If you look at my avatar you will see why I think your parents made a massive mistake not getting you w'boy in monsterland 😉
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Post by mrsmith89 on Feb 15, 2021 18:55:49 GMT
I remember back when I first got the system, I don't even remember being aware of Games magazines, I do remember staring at those little catalogues that came with the games for hours on end. I even wrote to Sega of America at one point and asked them for a new catalogue, and of course being around 7, I included some of my very own gaming artwork and ideas for SMS games, maybe it gave them a laugh. I remember they sent me a letter and a catalogue which I've never seen around again. This must have been 1988. I do remember how I chose my first SMS game. It was Alien Syndrome, and it was chosen on the basis of the single screenshot in the back of the "Getting in touch with Sega Software" catalogue. Ironically, the screenshot shown in that catalogue shows a level that never made it into the end game. I always remember going to "Our Price" - a forgotten WHSmith owned chain which later merged with Virgin Megastore to buy the game. I was blown away by the selection of games. Soon after I went in, I decided I didn't want Alien Syndrome, but instead wanted Wonderboy in Monsterland. But my parents wouldn't let me change my mind (no idea why in hindsight!) so I ended up getting it anyway. Looking back, Wonderboy In Monsterland would have been a much better game to get a Seven year old! I remember holding the game in the car while we drove home, it seemed the 10 minute journey took forever, I couldn't wait to play that game. And that's the feeling and kind of memories I have for a lot of SMS games. It was a time when there wasn't anywhere near as much choice as there is now, getting a new game was a special occasion that was reserved for a Birthday or Christmas time. I don't think it would have mattered of the games I bought were bad, or good. They would have still been played to death. These days, I worry that the sense of excitement with getting a new game is lost to my children! The are submerged in world of "Free to play" games, like Roblox or Fortnite. The delivery is near instant, so there is no journey in the car to get excited about! Totally agree with regards to the excitement of new games being lost on children these days, mine don't seem to acknowledge the latest pre-orders (which is probably good for my bank balance since they £50+). Infact they have quite a few sealed games, which would of never happened in my house as a kid!
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Post by asterix on Feb 16, 2021 8:44:05 GMT
I didn't know! Had no access to any Sega Master System related magazines either, so I had to take a good look at the screenshots on the back of games and the description, or browse through the Sega catalogue beforehand and make up my mind. Usually though I ended up with some great games, I only remember one or two titles where I received something that was not as expected, and ended up returning. Exactly the same for me, but I never returned any of my games. Off cause it was a big disappointment when the games didn’t was as expected . Luckily it wasn’t so many games that was too bad to play just a little 😉
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Post by meu2 on Feb 17, 2021 16:56:56 GMT
These days, I worry that the sense of excitement with getting a new game is lost to my children! The are submerged in world of "Free to play" games, like Roblox or Fortnite. The delivery is near instant, so there is no journey in the car to get excited about! I often wonder what it must be like for kids growing up today when gaming is pretty ubiquitous. Does that mean they miss out on the excitement of a rare new game or do they just have the opportunity to experience more and better gaming experiences? I know my personal preferences have been shaped by the limits I had growing up. I can't imagine I would have such fond memories for something like Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego on the SMS if I had almost limitless options at the touch of a button. Chances are I would have tried it for a few minutes and moved on. For me every game was an investment so I was sure going to get as much out of them as possible (except Klax). As I age my gaming memories have focused more on the few that provides the biggest burst of excitement, i.e. Alex Kidd in Miracle World and Sonic 1 with my SMS2, Super Mario 64, etc. I guess we will find out in 30 years or so what kids today look back on and if they have the same nostalgic feelings towards the hobby. Mind you good luck getting Fruit Ninja, Fortnite or whatever else working.
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Post by Sinistral on Feb 18, 2021 0:14:11 GMT
I often wonder what it must be like for kids growing up today when gaming is pretty ubiquitous. Does that mean they miss out on the excitement of a rare new game or do they just have the opportunity to experience more and better gaming experiences? I know my personal preferences have been shaped by the limits I had growing up. I can't imagine I would have such fond memories for something like Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego on the SMS if I had almost limitless options at the touch of a button. Chances are I would have tried it for a few minutes and moved on. For me every game was an investment so I was sure going to get as much out of them as possible (except Klax). As I age my gaming memories have focused more on the few that provides the biggest burst of excitement, i.e. Alex Kidd in Miracle World and Sonic 1 with my SMS2, Super Mario 64, etc. I guess we will find out in 30 years or so what kids today look back on and if they have the same nostalgic feelings towards the hobby. Mind you good luck getting Fruit Ninja, Fortnite or whatever else working. I think to be honest there is so much coming out these days that kids don't even have enough time to play everything. We have gamepass for the Xbox now and lucky if we play 5% of what's available on it. With all the extra choice, kids have become increasingly fickle when it comes to games, hopping from one to the next, but never really taking the time to complete any single game fully. The only exceptions to this are games like Roblox and Fortnite that are popular exactly because they are always changing, there's always something new to do, so the kids don't get bored. I don't worry about them missing out on gaming experiences to be honest, what I worry about is them missing out on real life stuff, as much as we used to play SMS constantly, we still went outside and built dens, kicked a ball in the mud, played chap-door-runaway etc. Kids these days don't do that sort of stuff, seem to have lost the ability to play by themselves. My kids complain about being bored all the time, when they've been off the computers for more than 10 minutes. We're living in this strange time where kids seem to think they should be constantly entertained! I keep saying, go and do something then, play with those thousands of toys you have upstairs. But they don't know how to. My Son loves Star Wars, pretty much like I do, but when I got him loads of ships / figures he's barely touched them since. At age 9 he prefers to look at them rather than play with them and still has a brand-new x wing fighter in its box since Christmas. I just can't imagine that when I was younger, it would have been opened on Xmas day. He has games from two Xmas ago that are sitting sealed! Amazing games like Kingdom Hearts etc. Just far too spoiled for choice it seems!
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Post by meu2 on Feb 18, 2021 12:03:03 GMT
I suppose I don't see it entirely as gaming experiences, but rather life experiences on the whole. This whole topic is about how did you know a game would be good and that really speaks to the amount of information available and how we fundamentally had choices to make since we typically only had a limited set of games (the same would be true for other toys though).
When you have to save up money for what can seem an eternity as a child you build a degree of appreciation that will be missing in the world of free to play instant downloads. This fundamentally starts to teach a child the value of things, but the waiting period is also important as it drives imagination. When all you have to go on is a Sega Catalog or looking at the game box in a store for weeks or months on end it can't help but fire your imagination. I certainly remember looking at those tiny screenshots and thinking what would this game be like, what are the character like, what is the world they live in like, etc.
Really I suppose what this boils down to is how an activity can stimulate the imagination of a child? Taking a somewhat blasphemous example, but the original Super Mario Bros. is a great example of how gam design can foster imagination. Obviously the abstract nature of the world leads to intrigue as is the desire to see the next level and complete the story. The real genius was the way secrets were handled though. The player is pretty likely to accidentally find a hidden block and in doing so start to question what other secrets could be out there. The best example of this is being able to get on top of the level in world 1-2, which not only teaches the player that they should think outside the box it also rewards them should they stay on this path with the discovery of the first warp zone.
I would say that the best toy for stimulating creative play is Lego. The one caveat is that you should start with a generic brick collection instead of a pre-defined model as the temptation can be to leave the model built once complete. The whole point of Lego is that it can be anything you want it to be so you shouldn't get too hung up on instructions. I think this is actually something that comes more naturally to children than it does to adults. I know my younger self could run rings around me know in terms of that sort of imagination. I built and re-built towns, ships, etc. and built stories around the creations. I had no problem mixing pirates, space men, etc. all together as logic and order weren't always that important. I sometimes wonder if well defined themes like Lego Star Wars can in some ways inhibit this as the rules of the worlds are already built and require less thought.
So I guess what I'm ultimately saying is that limitations tend to provide the inspiration for imagination. Having everything you want at a young age may seem great at first, but less full filling in the long term. Christmas is really only magical due to the heightened anticipation. I certainly can't imagine getting a game for my SMS back in the day and not wanting to play it Christmas morning (and I usually had to wait until the 26th to play with everything else going on).
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