1993 Revisited

[kungfukid]

With the end of 2013 fast approaching, shockingly (to me), we are now passing the 20 year mark since the Master System really began to slow down to the eventual end of commercial production (in Europe) a few short years later. 1993 was the last year in which there were frequent releases for our system (with a dramatic reduction in 1994). I've previously said before in threads asking for which year people think was the best for the system that in my eyes it was 1993, with examples of games released that year really unlocking the potential that the system had, sadly long after the USA gave up prematurely on it. Examples that deserve to be mentioned here are:

Asterix and the Secret Mission / Great Rescue
Cool Spot
Dracula
Deep Duck Trouble
Ecco the Dolphin
The Jungle Book
Micro Machines
Mortal Kombat
Rainbow Islands
Robocop Vs the Terminator
Sensible Soccer
Streets of Rage
Wonder Boy in Monster World
Zool

It's quite sad to think that it was now 20 years since the beginning of the end of the commercial life of the system, though I'm obviously delighted that so many keep the system alive to this day through forums such as this!

Anyway, any memories of gaming in that year (1993) from any of you? What about the games noted above? Were you still with the Master System? Had you moved on to something else? Any other memories of that time in your life? I just thought given the time frame it would be important to mark it with a thread!

[rupert]

The Master System was still my main console in 93. I remember getting Micro Machines , Mortal Kombat and Cool Spot, as well as Cosmic Spacehead, Fantastic Dizzy and Sonic Chaos.

I got a Philips CD-i either that year or the year after and that sort of took over until 1998 when I got a Playstation.

[strydg]

I had my SMS all the way till PSX lol, still played it almost every day upto then aswell.

Remember borrowing Mortal Kombat from a friend. Loved Streets of Rage (why don't they make these kind of games anymore?) and everyone loves Wonder Boy!

[Deleted]

In 1993, I was 7 years old and we got a Super Nintendo at that time (I know, but read on). But we only played Super Mario Kart and Mario World on it. It was the SNES of my uncle (today, it´s mine ). After I got that SNES in the late 90´s, I began to buy games for it with my pocket money or my mother bought a game sometimes. So my SNES library began to grew up from 1996-97.

So, the Master System was my/our main console all the time (even in 93), because we had about 15 to 20 games and still used it (more than the SNES). Now, I have 5 consoles, but the Master System is STILL the number one. I absolutely can´t without it. After playing a ´modern´ game, I miss the old ´cheepsy´ SMS sounds. The result: I take a look at my big SMS shelf, pick out a game and play it

By the way: The SMS version of Zool is the best version of the game, better than Commodore or SNES

[ian]

Dec 28, 2013 22:52:34 GMT kungfukid said:

Anyway, any memories of gaming in that year (1993) from any of you? What about the games noted above? Were you still with the Master System? Had you moved on to something else? Any other memories of that time in your life? I just thought given the time frame it would be important to mark it with a thread!

I was still playing the SMS up until around '96 until I traded it all in for a SNES.

I have some good memories of playing some great games that were released later on in the system's life. I remember getting Cool Spot, Mortal Kombat (from the ASDA I still shop at!), Lion King, Asterix and the Secret Mission, Masters of Combat and T2: Arcade Game.

Considering the system was first released in '86, I think it had a good run. Although I think it should have been a lot popular around the world considering the quality of the games. Ah well, their loss I'm glad to have grown up with the system and it's obviously left a lasting impression on me.

[michaelaskew]

All throughout childhood I swapped n traded consoles n games n had all of em nes snes megadrive Saturn etc but throughout all of them consoles I kept my SMS 1 (couldn't bear to part with it lol) up until I had a psx n ended up trading all old gaming stuff for psx games if only we had the benefit of hindsight lol

[Transatlantic Foe]

In '93 games were still prominent in shops. Later in '94 I got a SNES because Master System games became increasingly hard to find. I was mostly picking up older games for knockdown prices, although towards the end I got Robocop vs. The Terminator for £10 in Future Zone (or was it EB by then?). It'd only been out a few months but they were clearly shifting their stock.

Some fantastic games were made in '92 and '93, really pushing what an 8 bit console is capable of. But the 16 bit consoles could do more and with 32 bit on the horizon, people started to be sucked in to polygons instead of sprites.

[playgeneration]

I got both Mortal Kombat and Star Wars for Xmas that year and adored both games. I bought Jungle Book with xmas money too and it also became a firm favorite. I bought other games released in 93, but those three remained my favorites, and were probably the last games that were bought full RRP, most other games were bought at £9.99 from that point. I had an Amiga 1200 shortly after, but it didn't stop me occasionally buying SMS games and I still frequently played them. The last SMS game I bought new in a shop when they still stocked them was Wolfchild, I clearly remember walking past the Saturn games to see what SMS games were there

[Batman666]

As I kind of grew up collecting consoles rather than games (thanks to my father's fascination with new technology and that we didn't celebrate christmas nor birthdays), my gaming year in '93 was getting the SNES and the Mega Drive. Though I never had many games on the SNES as they were to expensive and I always bought the cheapest ones available (Nintendo were even worse back then than now with maintaining the prices of their games). I got Super Mario World and Super Mario All-Stars with the console though. Looking back, that was probably gaming wise the highlight of the year but I do remember playing more Mega Drive as I could get more games for the system.

I would think my sports interest has it's roots back to that as well. Mostly again because the sports titles were the cheapest available, remember having NHL '93, RBI Baseball 3, Madden '92, Super Wrestlemania and then probably the next year getting FIFA International Soccer which was a huge freaking deal for me. I loved (still do) the sports titles on the Mega Drive!

When it comes to the Master System, I don't remember which games we bought specifically that year but I'm sure if I found any games cheap that I didn't own my father bought them for me.



Edit: just did a quick search for Super Mario All-Stars, was released in December '93 in Europe, no chance I got it that year then. I probably got the SNES in '94. Disregard my comments about the SNES

[sidney]

1993 has different Master System memories for me, in 1988 I finally got the Master System I had been dreaming about for over a year, I had (and still have) a Sinclair Spectrum and really enjoyed (still enjoy) using it but there were certain games that software companies (we called them software houses then) couldn't get right on Sir Clive's computer, and some of them were the cream of Sega's crop, things like Out Run, Thunderblade, Afterburner , Shinobi that I loved in the arcades just weren't any good on my beloved machine.

Before anyone thinks that it was down to the Speccy I would say no, there were more than enough superb arcade conversions on the machine to disprove that theory but as for the Sega games I loved in the arcades.....only Space Harrier was any good, the conversion was a wonderful attempt to squeeze this fantastic game into 48 kilobytes of memory, but as for those US Gold conversions.............actually I do Activision a disservice, Enduro Racer was bloody good too... as for the rest though.............I digress.

So when my Mum ordered a Master System for me I thought I would never leave the house again, at the start I only had Hang on and Out Run but I played those for months!!! So I was officially in love with the SMS, I lived breathed slept and ate it! I added Wonderboy, Transbot and Zillion to the collection and played those for hours, I wasn't able to buy a game a week like I had done for my Spectrum- £30 was a lot for a small lad then but I thought- quality over quantity, I had a Sega and I was happy.

This arrangement continued happily until 1991 adding a Master System game here and there as other interests filled my time, Nintendo, Atari St's etc but then Sega gave me another dilemma--- The Megadrive, nowadays I collect machines but back then if I wanted something new the old one had to go, (or so Mum said!) so I sold the Master System and about 50% of my games and bought the new all singing all dancing Megadrive but I had a cunning plan.....if I could persuade my parents that I could play all my surviving SMS games on my new machine it would add value to the whole scheme... so I added a Power Base Converter and I played my SMS games in between various Megadrive titles.

Something was missing though and I could not put my finger on it, the ST came and went, I went all 'retro' and bought a C64 in its latter years, I bought an Amiga but still, give or take the odd title the Sega classics I loved were still on the SMS. I know that Out Run, Afterburner and Space Harrier were not exactly "arcade perfect" far from it actually---but somehow they still contained the essential spark that made me fall in love with the originals, don't get me wrong I love the Commodore Amiga and played many a good racer on it....could I play a good Out Run?? No....it was that awful US Gold effort, I didn't even like the Megadrive version much because much like "Super" Thunderblade it was just not as good as the SMS version. Truth be told I was tiring of playing my SMS classics on the bolt on toilet seat that was the "Power Base Converter", it was ugly and cumbersome and lacked the charm of my dear departed friend. I wanted a Master System again!!!!!


So.....fast forward to 1993>>>>> (thanks for persevering this far) I was walking home from some long forgotten girlfriends house whose name I can't begin to recall when I saw a Sega Master System in the window of an Oxfam shop, on closer inspection I saw that it had been given the silly price tag of £5!!!! I couldn't get through the door quick enough and like an old lady on pension day I rushed in purposefully to the counter and asked for it.."it has no wires" the person behind the counter said "but it has been tested and it does work" they added. For £5 I really did feel it was worth the gamble (obviously) and parted with my cash. I bought a cheap universal adaptor and used my Megadrive scart lead and I fired it up...............it worked a treat, had Safari Hunt and Hang On built in and I was away again..... £5 Flipping pounds, I was in heaven!!! 21 years later I still have this great machine, I even added a cheap SMS2 just because it was so cheap on E-Bay and I am a happy old soul! Moral of the story....don't sell your Master System........ever!! That is my 1993 Sega Master System memory.

[ShinobiMan]

At this point I was 7 years old and just rediscovering the Master System. My Dad had been looking to get one for me but in the States they were hard to find, especially without the internet. We actually owned a few games with the intent on playing them on the console once we discovered it in a pawn shop or a yard sale or the back warehouse of an old walmart (true story).

I was DEEP into the Genesis at this point. What a huge year for Sega. Sonic CD, Sonic Spinball, Gunstar Heroes, Toejam and Earl 2, Shinobi III... the list goes on! This year was marks the very beginning of my Sega obsession.

[Deleted]

Awesome story sidney!

[Batman666]

Love the moral of the story!

[sidney]

Kind words, thanks guys.

[lambrettadave]

1993 the Magazines were busting the page barriers to get all the reviews in.

Some great games released too but by this time I had sold my SmS and was loving my Megadrive.