Master System Compatibility

[Chris]

I'm wondering if anyone has any first hand knowledge about using foreign Master System cartridges on a North American Master System?
Do they work? are there any technical issues or glitches that occur?
I've read that most PAL cartridges [France, Australia, Europe New Zealand] will work, but what about the ones made by Tec Toy in Brazil, I can't find much info on these.


These are some games I would'nt mind getting for my Master System, and I'm just wondering what my options are

Astro Warrior
Bomber Raid
Cloud Master
Jungle Book
Legend of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse [TecToy release only]
The Lion King
Sonic The Hedgehog
Sonic The Hedgehog 2
and Teddy Boy

[Christuserloeser]

Games like e.g. Sonic the Hedgehog will have slightly more slowdown here and there but that's about it.

[Jesse813]

I'm not sure about the Tec Toy Games, but all my Pal games work fine on mine (Sonic Hedgehog 1 & 2, Sonic Chaos, Land of illusion, Lucky Dime Caper)

[Kollision]

There are 2 PAL games that glitch in my TecToy Master System 2:

- Xenon 2: graphical glitches, the game is unplayable. it seems to play fine on a Mega Drive with an adaptor.
- Super Space Invaders: sometimes the game freezes.

From what I know and always heard, Brazilian and North American Sega cartridges are practically the same, so there should be no problem when playing in either system.

[16-bit]

I've got Sonic 1 & 2 PAL for the Master System, and they work with seemingly no problems.

[Ace]

Not sure about Brazilian TecToy cartridges, but my lone European Master System import(Sonic the Hedgehog) works just fine on my US Master System/Master System II and my Genesis Models 1 and 2 and Japanese MegaDrive using a Master System>Genesis adaptor(I'm not using an official Power Base Converter, but rather a Master System converter I made myself).

[jesus.arnold]

I'm wondering if anyone has any first hand knowledge about using foreign Master System cartridges on a North American Master System?
Do they work? are there any technical issues or glitches that occur?
I've read that most PAL cartridges [France, Australia, Europe New Zealand] will work, but what about the ones made by Tec Toy in Brazil, I can't find much info on these.


These are some games I would'nt mind getting for my Master System, and I'm just wondering what my options are

Astro Warrior
Bomber Raid
Cloud Master
Jungle Book
Legend of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse [TecToy release only]
The Lion King
Sonic The Hedgehog
Sonic The Hedgehog 2
and Teddy BoyFirstly The Master System has no region protection, the only thing you have to worry about is if the game was originally designed to be played at PAL 50hz as when some of these are played at 60hz they crash or glitch, so you've only got to worry about games made in the UK for the most part.

From 1993 onwards the Game Gear took over priority from the Master System though, so many games made 93' or later that maxed out the Game Gear tend to have some issues with slowdown on NTSC Master Systems, the worst offenders being from my recollection Deep Duck Trouble, Asterix and the Great Rescue, and Sonic Chaos. PAL Master System's play everything at a slower update rate making the slowdown less prominent, and seeing as many of these games were only released in Europe (where the games worked half alright) Sega probably felt they didn't need to muck about with them to get them working more efficiently.

Out of the list you made I've got a feeling that Jungle Book and Lion King won't work properly on US consoles, everything else should be fine.

[Christuserloeser]

I've got a feeling that Jungle Book and Lion King won't work properly on US consoles, everything else should be fine.

Same here. I did test all the games except Jungle Book and Lion King via my NeoMyth 3-in-1 on a 60Hz Genesis and they all ran perfectly.

If you aren't sure if a game works, try them on an emulator set to 60Hz.

[Chris]

Thanks everybody, I really appreciate all the information.
I did manage to find a couple of websites that say The Jungle Book will work with "Occasional slight graphical glitches and the scrolling is sometimes jerky"
but I can't find anything about The Lion King.
I played all these games on an emulator called Meka 8-bit or die! on Console Classix, does anyone know if I can set Master System games on Console Classix at 60Hz and how to do it?
I also forgot to mention that although I do have a couple of original Master Systems, I will mostly be playing these games on my Model 1 HD Sega Genesis with a Power Base Converter, not sure if this will make a difference or not.

[jesus.arnold]

Thanks everybody, I really appreciate all the information.
I did manage to find a couple of websites that say The Jungle Book will work with "Occasional slight graphical glitches and the scrolling is sometimes jerky"
but I can't find anything about The Lion King.
I played all these games on an emulator called Meka 8-bit or die! on Console Classix, does anyone know if I can set Master System games on Console Classix at 60Hz and how to do it?
I also forgot to mention that although I do have a couple of original Master Systems, I will mostly be playing these games on my Model 1 HD Sega Genesis with a Power Base Converter, not sure if this will make a difference or not.I just checked Jungle Book and Lion King on 60hz on an emulator, as I thought both these games have more slowdown and are inconsistant speed wise as well as having graphical glitches.

To be specific with the glitches talk, Jungle book has maybe 15-20 squares and numbers flashing at random places over the screen at most times during gameplay, Lion King has maybe 5-10 I think, if you can ignore the glitches the games seem half playable, but certainly play inferior to usual.

Not to be presumptuous, but how many Master System games do you have? if you are only just starting out at importing, then Lion King and Jungle Book should be your lowest priorities.

Asterix, Golvelius, and Ninja Gaiden are all far better games, all play perfectly on US Master Systems, and are all exclusives.

And though they are also on Game Gear, so are Lucky Dime Caper, Castle of Illusion, Land of Illusion, Master of Darkness, Sonic the Hedgehog, and countless others. I know people on here seem to love their Game Gear versions, but to be honest these games are far worse to play on the Game Gear.

[Jesse813]

I Agree w/ Jesus all those games play a lot better on the SMS.

[Chris]

I just checked Jungle Book and Lion King on 60hz on an emulator, as I thought both these games have more slowdown and are inconsistant speed wise as well as having graphical glitches.

To be specific with the glitches talk, Jungle book has maybe 15-20 squares and numbers flashing at random places over the screen at most times during gameplay, Lion King has maybe 5-10 I think, if you can ignore the glitches the games seem half playable, but certainly play inferior to usual.

Not to be presumptuous, but how many Master System games do you have? if you are only just starting out at importing, then Lion King and Jungle Book should be your lowest priorities.

Asterix, Golvelius, and Ninja Gaiden are all far better games, all play perfectly on US Master Systems, and are all exclusives.

And though they are also on Game Gear, so are Lucky Dime Caper, Castle of Illusion, Land of Illusion, Master of Darkness, Sonic the Hedgehog, and countless others. I know people on here seem to love their Game Gear versions, but to be honest these games are far worse to play on the Game Gear.

Thanks for letting me know about about that, it's too bad because I actually like The Jungle Book and The Lion King better on Master System than on Genesis and Super Nintendo. I have the latter for both.


These are my Master System games, all were bought locally in Greater Vancouver, most around 20 years ago.
After Burner,Alex Kidd in Miracle World,Alien Syndrome,Altered Beast,Black Belt,Choplifter,Double Dragon,Enduro Racer,Galaxy Force,Golden Axe,Great Football,Kung Fu Kidd,Michael Jackson's Moonwalker,Missle Defense 3-D,Hang On,Poseidon Wars 3D,Rambo First Blood Part 2,Rambo 3,Rampage,Rastan,Rocky,Safari Hunt,Snail Maze,Spy vs Spy,Super Monaco GP,Shinobi,Tennis Ace,Thunder Blade,Time Soldiers,Vigilante,Wonder Boy,Wonder Boy in Monster Land,Wonder Boy 3 The Dragon's Trap,World Grand Prix.


and I have a Play Pal with 20 games
Kung Fu Kidd,Quartet,Bomber Raid,Columns,Assault City,Aztech Adventure,Global Defense, Fantasy Zone the Maze,Snail Maze,The Ninja,Alex Kidd in High Tech World,Alex Kidd in Miracle World,Altered Beast,Astro Warrior,Ecco Tides of Time,Fantasy Zone,Penguin Land,Super Columns,Sonic Tripple Trouble,Sonic Drift 2.


Thanks for the game sugestions I'm going to try all of them if they're on Console Classix, I know I've played some of them on there, and Master of Darkness and Sonic the Hedgehog were probably the ones I liked the best.

[Jesse813]

You have an impressive SMS collection Chris :ok:

[Chris]

You have an impressive SMS collection Chris :ok:

Thanks, just picked up Astro Warrior for 4 bucks and Cloud Master for 15 today, both complete.


"I WANT A BALOON!-"YOU ALREADY HAVE ONE!


POLK HIGH 33
BUNDY

[Chris]

I just checked Jungle Book and Lion King on 60hz on an emulator, as I thought both these games have more slowdown and are inconsistant speed wise as well as having graphical glitches.

To be specific with the glitches talk, Jungle book has maybe 15-20 squares and numbers flashing at random places over the screen at most times during gameplay, Lion King has maybe 5-10 I think, if you can ignore the glitches the games seem half playable, but certainly play inferior to usual.

Not to be presumptuous, but how many Master System games do you have? if you are only just starting out at importing, then Lion King and Jungle Book should be your lowest priorities.

Asterix, Golvelius, and Ninja Gaiden are all far better games, all play perfectly on US Master Systems, and are all exclusives.

And though they are also on Game Gear, so are Lucky Dime Caper, Castle of Illusion, Land of Illusion, Master of Darkness, Sonic the Hedgehog, and countless others. I know people on here seem to love their Game Gear versions, but to be honest these games are far worse to play on the Game Gear.
Thanks again for the list of games, they're all cool.
I missed Asterix, Ninja Gaiden and Land of Illusion because they were listed under Game Gear and somehow I missed Golvelius.
I could not find Lucky Dime Caper at all, but I'll look again, not sure if that's the full tittle.

[jesus.arnold]

I just re-checked Jungle Book on 60hz on a different emulator, this time there were far fewer glitches and problems, so emulators may not be that useful for finding the info you were looking for.

Its a shame I don't still own the real games as I could just test them on my modded Master System for you, but I didn't really see much point in keeping them in the end seeing as I own the 16-bit versions so I sold them last year, maybe I get ahold of them again if I find them cheap.
I missed Asterix, Ninja Gaiden and Land of Illusion because they were listed under Game GearJust checked that site you were talking about

Ninja Gaiden on Game Gear is a completely different game to the one on Master System which was better

By Asterix I take it you mean "Asterix and the Great Rescue"? this was the only one I could find on consoleclassix, this is not the game I was talking about, there are 3 Asterix games on the Master System

Asterix
Asterix and the Secret Mission
Asterix and the Great Rescue

Asterix and the Great Rescue is actually the worst of the three (though its not strictly a bad game when you get used to it, just doesn't hold up to the other two)

The Land of Illusion game you found was the game I was talking about, just think of it with a much bigger screen area around Mickey and that's the Master System version.


I could not find Lucky Dime Caper at all, but I'll look again, not sure if that's the full tittle.Its written under "Donald Duck Starring in the Lucky Dime Caper" and the site only has the Game Gear version, so as before when you play it just imagine more horizontal screen area and that'll be the Master System game.

[john8248]

My copy of Xenon 2 for Master System will not play on a US Genesis. I've tested it on both variations of Model 1 Genesis with 2 different Power Base Converters; no dice. Same result when I tested it on a Model 2 with a modified (read: cut some plastic off) Power Base Converter.

Deep Duck Trouble and Lucky Dime Caper play just fine on US Genesis.

[Chris]

Thanks again jesus.arnold for the additional information.
I was wondering about The Jungle book because the web page I found said the graphical glitches were slight. It said the same thing about Prince of Persia and said that Back to the Future III would not work at all.

I thought the Game Gear version of Ninja Gaiden was pretty good, obviously different from the NES version which I have.

It was Asterix and the Great rescue I was talking about, I guess I just assumed there was only one game, not 3 different games.

I also just finished playing Donald Duck in The Lucky Dime Caper. Actually right after my last post, I was wondering to myself if it was a Donald Duck game, as it sounded familiar so I serched it and found it on Wikipedia.

-Chris

[jesus.arnold]

I thought the Game Gear version of Ninja Gaiden was pretty good, obviously different from the NES version which I have.Yeah, its certainly not a bad game, but not on par with either the NES or Master System games imo

Ninja Gaiden is a weird one with all the confusing name changes and multiple different games all with the same name

first you got the Ninja Gaiden arcade game which was a beat-em-up, then they released Ninja Gaiden on NES which was a platform game, then Sega made two separate games called Ninja Gaiden for the Master System and Game Gear, the one on the Gameboy was actually a Shadow of the Ninja game re-tooled (Shadow of the Ninja was a NES game similar to Ninja Gaiden) and lastly the 3D one for XBox which was also just called "Ninja Gaiden"

Not to mention that in Europe they re-named Ninja Gaiden on arcade and NES as "Shadow Warriors" whilst the Sega games retained their names :daze:

[Chris]

Wow, that's a lot of different versions, I did'nt know that about the Game Boy version because I've never played it.
I played Shadow of the Ninja on NES a few times a couple of years ago on Console Classix and thought it was a better than average game.
I have Ninja Gaiden 1-3 on NES and Ninja Gaiden Trilogy for the SNES.

[Chris]

I got The Jungle Book yesterday and played the first level and did'nt notice any glitches or problems with game play.

[Chris]

Same thing for the Lion King. Played through the first level and did'nt notice any problems at all, now if I can only remember how to beat that first boss. I played the Genesis version right after and beat the boss right away, but could'nt beat the boss on the Master System version.