Sega is a name we all know, to some its a religion, others couldn't care less.
Believe it or not Sega was founded in 1940, the company provided coin operated amusements for American soldiers! SErvice GAmes was registered to accommodate this increase in business and after some time (1965) American business man David Rosen moved to Japan and merged his company together with SErvice GAmes to create SEGA.




One year after the merge SEGA released a submarine-simulator game called Periscope. It was a massive hit worldwide! (1966)

THE SG1000



Released in 1983 This was the first console for SEGA, it came out about the same time as the Nintendo family computer. There were three different variants to this console the original SG1000 then they had a SG1000 II which was pretty much the same thing just with a shell change and finally the SC3000 which was the same thing as the SCG1000 only with a keyboard attachment.




These systems due to other company's ripping off their hardware were mild sellers at best.

The great video game crash

Sega among many other companies was a victim of the video game crash in 1983. It was suffering badly and was struggling to keep afloat. In 1984, the multi-billion dollar Japanese conglomerate CSK bought Sega, renamed it to Sega Enterprises Ltd.

By 1986 Sega saw a rise in the video game market in the US and decided to take advantage of it. This is where the fun begins!


SEGA MARK III (Sega master system)



The Sega mark III was released in 1985 in Japan and went to change its name to Sega Master System the following year. The Master System was released as the direct competitor to the NES and although it was technically more superior it didn't catch on in the united states due to the aggressive advertising from Nintendo. It did however catch on in other parts of the world and in some parts it was actually much more popular then the NES.

Some of the master systems most successful games would be:



Alex the Kidd in miracle world

Did you know: This game was later built into the sega master system II which was a budget stripped down version of the original with a different shell.

The Memories: Having to remember every bosses hand/scissors/paper combination was the biggest headache ever! This game was actually hard!

Wonder Boy

Did you know: Wonder boy was later converted for the NES titled "Adventure Island"

The Memories:

If I was to tell you the story of most action video games back in the 80's and 90's it would go something like this : Bad guy captures your girlfriend... you have to fight his minions to get her back ;- The End.
I think this had to do a lot with the influence of movies such as bloodsport and kickboxer back in the 80's.

Hot summer days and nights in Australia forces you indoors if not the beach, at 12 years old beach is only an options if your parents feel like going, in my case hardly ever. Playing this game for hours at end with my brother was one of the most satisfying experiences!
Once you are one with the music of this game and you get the rythym going you can pretty much clock the game without ever stopping or slowing down!!



The most memorable part was the skateboard, damn that thing was fast!
Every level has its own theme to it with a change in colours and weapon pickups which was kinda cool considering how many levels there were!

Wonderboy II

AKA wonderboy in monster land.

Did you know: Wonder boy in monster land was completely different from the first, with weapons/armour/items you could buy and the tempo of the game was completely slowed down too.



Wonderboy III : The Dragons Trap

Did you know: Turbografx ported this game to their platform named Dragon's Curse. And now it has been ported for the WII virtual console.

GAMESPOT WROTE for the WII port: "Dragon's Curse is a rudimentary but surprisingly enjoyable action adventure game. It won't take but a few hours to finish if you know what you're doing, but the game does put up a respectable challenge at times. This is one of the better TurboGrafx-16 games available for the Virtual Console, so if you're in need of a retro gaming fix, Dragon's Curse will do the trick."


Arguably the best rpg game of its era this game had no equal. It stood on its own with the original Zelda.

The Memories:

I tell ya what, this is the game that got me into RPG games at the same time setting a standard for me when it came to the SNES. The concept of morphing into different creatures was just awesome, each creature had a unique ability, and the only way to advance in the game is to pass each creatures quest, fight a sub boss and then transform to your next form.
The thing that made this game intriguing was the fact you can enter a few of the zones that were made for the other morphs, but you couldnt proceed, for example; theres a level made out of lava, you can access the door to this level, but you couldnt enter the lava until you were the lizardman.
There were locked doors also, this also added to the mystery as a kid.
It also had a password system that lets you save the game as you go.
How cool was that in 91.

The sega master system games were very distinguished by their grid layout on the front cover of every game.




Thats it from me dudes until next time when I do an article on the gensis/mega drive !!! Thanks for reading!

PS: RETROJERK THIS IS YOUR CUE TO FLAME :o)