Master System VS Genesis - 20 Games Compared

[Music] usually when you think of the sega master system in the sega genesis you think of two very different systems with two very different levels of success or at least those of us that grew up in north america do the master system didn't do so well here and despite an attempt by sega to resurrect the ailing brand it quickly slipped into obscurity once the sega genesis showed up in some parts of the world this didn't happen and the master system would go on to co-exist beside the mega drive for damn near its entire life receiving many many more games than north america and japan ever did because of this extended run and increased third party support we saw game development evolve on a very different scale and that's what this episode is all about we will be taking a look at some of the games that appeared on both platforms many of which were never released in the us or japan and compare them graphically did the 16-bit genesis absolutely destroy its 8-bit predecessor or did the master system hold its own with some surprisingly good-looking games let's take a look and find out [Music] a latin here isn't the same game between the two platforms there are a lot of design differences in gameplay and stage layouts but i think we can still compare the two visually while the genesis release has some killer animation and large sprites you cannot easily look past the master system assets there are some great layering effects in the backgrounds and the line scrolling on some of the buildings is downright impressive i think the genesis version is clearly superior but enough was done to the master system to really hold its own if you've never given the 8-bit version a chance fire it up it's a heck of a good challenge it was never released for the us master system [Music] [Applause] so [Music] seeing alien 3 side by side was definitely a shocker for me i mean it's amazing how well the older hardware keeps pace with the visuals of the 16-bit version color use is similar the environments are faithful and it even plays much the same the development team definitely stayed true to the original vision and i think it comes off just about as good as you could have hoped this was released around the same time for both platforms but never came to the us on the master system it's definitely worth checking out [Music] oh man poor chuck rock here suffers mightily on the old master system smaller sprites and drastically cut back or missing backgrounds really hammer the original genesis presentation it still plays okay but is overall an unimpressive showing visually it even lacks music chuck rock isn't on my list of favorites anyway so the drop in visual quality makes me want to play it even less no us release again on the master system leaving this one a clear winner on the genesis [Music] one [Music] dick tracy was an interesting movie license on the genesis combining foreground and background shooting that made it a bit different from the stuff you usually saw at the time the master system release tried to copy it nearly stage for stage and with similar gameplay while there are some differences in detail and sprite size it even copied the visuals rather closely it would have been a good game too if it hadn't been for the gameplay requiring you to tap the attack button to shoot side to side and holding the button to shoot into the background it made things awkward and imprecise making it a much more frustrating experience since sega of america was responsible for this the master system actually saw a release in the united states [Music] gauntlet was a well-loved dungeon crawler originally released in the arcade both home versions here ended up extremely pleasing visually they stay true to the arcade and both have a ton of enemies on screen at once the genesis version is four player while the master system supports only two but i still really love the outcome here both are fast and immensely playable and the only area the genesis game really does a lot better in is the music which is completely missing in the master system version if you can believe it tiertex was responsible for the 8-bit version and yet it's still good stuff all around and worth checking out on both platforms it's yet another release that didn't see a us version [Music] [Music] the lion king was a tough but beloved game on the genesis it had great animation and some catchy tunes the master system port was released around the same time and didn't stray far in terms of stage design and gameplay it is slower but the music is still catchy and the gameplay overall quite fun some levels see radical redesigns but still have some nice background layering to offset that they're both colorful and charming games and while the genesis edition is clearly superior i think they did quite a decent job overall on the master system and yep you guessed it there's no us version for the master system [Music] just take a moment and take in what you're seeing here paperboy on the master system looks damn near as good as the genesis game no joke look at that color that really is impressive that the older hardware did such a good job recreating this while i wouldn't say paperboy was ever a graphical showpiece you still gotta admire the excellent presentation here again the usually dreadful tier text was at the helm of the master system release and despite their best efforts it's still quite nice it might even be better depending on your point of view this one did come to the u.s master system thanks to u.s gold [Music] [Music] i'm a fan of baseball games and enjoyed both reggie jackson and tommy lasorda for the two systems they are not exactly the same games but similar enough to compare visually and boy do i mean similar outside of a few differences you could almost mistake one for the other the field looks similar the batter's perspective looks similar hell even some of the special effects are similar i really enjoyed the gameplay in them both which is again quite similar the master system could display half the color of the genesis on screen at once and when it was done right it made for a hell of a difference reggie jackson was of course released in the u.s for the master system but it was known in europe as american baseball tommy lasorda was known as super league outside of the united states [Music] safe [Music] right fielder [Music] altered beast is one of the most interesting comparisons in this video while the genesis release didn't have much trouble staying close to the arcade in terms of sprites and backgrounds the master system version had to do a few tricks to do the same in order to keep the large main character the master system uses background tiles for him instead while this does allow for a huge hero you'll notice that there are immediate ramifications for this technique first you lose most of the color and background detail of the arcade you will also notice that the enemies who are traditional sprites are much smaller than you and absolutely load it with flicker your next side effect of this way of doing things is the slow and choppy gameplay and the hit detection which is nowhere near as accurate as the genesis version i applaud the developers for trying something like this to keep it in line with the source material but not so sure it was worth the trade-offs to accomplish it this one does indeed have a u.s master system release [Music] sega's own bonanza brother saw ports to just about everything including the genesis and master system again the master system does a fine job even when compared directly to the more capable 16-bit version there are some changes to the way things are displayed and some of the design elements like enemies and difficulty but overall i'm really impressed here particularly with the animation it's a lot easier too because it's full screen all the time and that's thanks to the genesis retaining the two player co-op from the arcade while the master system is only single player i think it was a good trade-off to keep the visuals faithful so i can definitely deal with it as you might expect there was no u.s master system version which is kind of a shocker considering sega developed it internally themselves [Music] wow wow [Music] wow man what a difference chuck rock 2 son of chuck was whereas the first field to impress me in any way on the master system its sequel here manages to blow me away completely killer animation detailed stages and it actually has some music i've always felt this was the better game in the franchise in just about every way and the master system game is every bit as playable and graphically pleasing as the genesis edition the stink of the bare bones presentation in the original is completely remedied here and shows what can be done when a developer actually tries to give you a good game it's a bit slower on the master system and the genesis does have superior special effects but still well worth a play as you probably have guessed this never was released in the us for the master system [Music] so [Music] cool spot continues the fine tradition of virgin games being pretty respectable on the master system here you have very similar levels of animation stage graphics and enemy variety the genesis version has the better backgrounds and the color of course is more robust than its usage but you still gotta respect how things turned out on the older hardware seriously it plays just as well if not a tad better and even the music is still catchy it was amazing sometimes just how well the master system could capture the same game so well despite being much weaker on paper if you like this on the 16-bit systems the master system release should be very satisfying again there's no us version for the master system [Music] many of these games have gameplay that differs in speed and performance on the master system sometimes it makes a big difference but in games like desert strike you could argue it plays better it's faster still scrolls smoothly and just nails the feel of what you want in these kinds of games it even manages to look similar enough to its 16-bit cousin to impress you i was always a fan of this game back then and playing the master system version really impressed me few compromises were made outside of the limitations of the control pad and it easily is just as fun to play i love the fact that it has a title screen with the layered scrolling and it has the story cut scenes as well definitely a winner in a game very much worth owning on the master system and again no us release for the 8-bit version um [Applause] [Music] dynamite duke is an auto-scrolling third-person shooter that was ported from the arcade game of the same name honestly i didn't think much of either version of this game visually the master system version has some nice color and you get loads of stuff happening on the screen for the genesis but the repetitive nature of the gameplay graphics and music here is just the type of stuff you grow weary of after 10 minutes or so for what it's worth the genesis version is much more varied in stage design and scenery it also has some really nice software sprite scaling on the enemy weapon fire for those of you that enjoy these kinds of games i think you will find the 8-bit version to be quite a step back from the genesis release but still palatable thanks to its color and smooth scrolling it's hard though so be prepared for an ass whooping until you get the feel for it and yep no us release again for the master system [Music] i didn't know echo was released on the master system until years later i was quite curious to see how it handled it and boy was it a downgrade visually the lush underwater kingdom of echo has been compromised heavily here particularly when it comes to color it doesn't play nearly as well either especially having to press both buttons to do your dash attack it makes for a lot of missed strikes and damage taken if it was the only way you had to play echo back then i can see you adjusting but coming from the genesis version first this one didn't impress me at all on the master system because the master system ports didn't show up until 1994 there of course is no u.s release to be found [Music] wow [Music] i was really impressed by forgotten worlds on the master system it's not quite as pretty as the genesis release but still comes through with great color and detail moves along at a fair clip and scrolls smoothly it definitely does the hardware proud you even get some of the massive boss fights mostly intact i was actually surprised to see this one never received the us release since it was an older game but again it was only released in europe brazil and korea shoot em ups were often scaled back heavily for 8-bit machines but this one remains quite impressive for what it is especially since it was only half the cart size of the genesis version [Music] [Music] sometimes you just have to accept that the power difference between the master system and the genesis was just too much and that some games just simply couldn't be done at the same level i think that applies to ghouls and ghosts here the genesis version is heads and tails above the master system release in every area and it's not even close color detail backgrounds foreground sprites hell it's all orders of magnitude superior in the 16-bit version but what really makes up the biggest difference is the gameplay the master system version is slow imprecise and just feels janky as hell this makes an already challenging game even harder and for all the wrong reasons part of me wants to be impressed with it because it exists at all but the more i play it the less i actually enjoy it this one actually has a us release for the master system [Music] we looked at altered beast earlier and it was a much less impressive game than a genesis version take everything i said about that game and apply it to golden axe here half the time you move too fast and attack too slow and sometimes it's the other way around it's just a wholly inconsistent experience on the master system that doesn't do the genesis or arcade versions justice to make matters worse you lose the multiplayer and two of the three playable characters it's a product of compromises that ends up being lesser for it if you were stuck with this as a kid you have my condolences you really missed out on a much better version elsewhere but we again did get a us master system release for this one [Music] i was never very good at old marble madness here but i've played enough of it to know that the master system did a fine job recreating it it was never a graphical showpiece even in the arcade but the color and animation here is faithful and easily close enough to the genesis version to be comparable heck i'd even say it sounds better than the us genesis version it doesn't play so bad either as you'd expect there's no us release for the master system which at this point should come as no surprise at all [Music] do [Music] our last entry into this episode is the king of pop himself michael jackson moonwalker was a genesis game i came to enjoy quite a bit despite his simple mechanics and somewhat silly story i was ready to hate the master system version full force because i just knew it would be a terrible version but you know what i was very much wrong the old master system did an admirable job with this right down to the animation and many of the stages being faithful and look and feel perhaps even more importantly they got much of the music correct as well there are some gameplay differences here and some of the later stages have been altered quite heavily but you still have to respect the closeness of the end product sega took its relationship with the singer seriously and it shows in the amount of work that went into this to capture the same quality of the genesis release i still prefer the latter but i have a ton of respect for sega's 8-bit showing this does indeed have a u.s master system release if you're interested [Music] so there we are guys 20 sega master system games and how they feared against their genesis counterparts we had some surprises and disappointments but i think overall you really have to respect what the master system was able to do with hardware that was quite a bit weaker while we often saw some compromises in speed and accuracy these games still looked and played well enough in 8-bit form to entertain millions of gamers across the globe for those of you that missed many of these in north america a great many of them did see game gear releases around the same time while much of the design is the same in these versions the zoomed in display often impacted how things looked and felt making the master system version the preferred 8-bit choice still many of them were more than playable on the game gear and definitely worth checking out if you ever run across them in a retro shop or yard sale for you master system collectors out there i hope this gives you a few more games to add to your library and maybe even a few games you've never played before if i've said it once i've said it a thousand times the sega master system has a wealth of gaming most people didn't even know existed and with a little exploration you might find a surprising number of games worth your time in part 2 we will explore another 20 games for the master system and how well they compare to their genesis counterparts so be sure to tune into that one as well i'm single lord x thank you guys for watching and i will catch you next time [Music] you

Channel: Sega Lord X

Views: 116,457

Keywords: master system, genesis, sega mega drive, sega master system, segalordx, sega lord x, sega saturn, sega genesis, sega dreamcast, mega drive, megadrive, game gear, 32x, mega cd, saturn, sega, sega cd, gameplay, review, movies, retro games, retro gaming, video games, ps4, xbox, wii, nintendo, gamecube, n64, ps1, ps2, ps3, psp, vita, switch, atari, master system games

Id: obGSsUs-tlQ

Length: 27min 47sec (1667 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 27 2021