Kobun Heat

Hi! I was thinking about what my first post here should be, and I noticed there was no Sega Master System list, so I figured, why not? Here's the list of U.S. game releases for the Sega Master System. 114 games in all. I'll do the master list first and break down the various subsets and other errata afterwards: I. The List II. United States versus Everywhere Else III. Third-Party Games IV. UPC Stickers V. Variants Hopefully this should all be in order, but let me know if I missed anything! I. The List All 114 officially licensed games released in the United States for the Sega Master System. *Card format: This game was released as a Sega Card, not a cartridge. ** Third-party: This game was released by a third-party software maker, not Sega. *** UPC Sticker: This game is identical to the European version, but with a U.S. UPC sticker on the case. Action Fighter Aerial Assault After Burner Alex Kidd: High Tech World Alex Kidd: Miracle World Alex Kidd: Shinobi World Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars Alf Alien Syndrome Altered Beast Astro Warrior Aztec Adventure Black Belt Blade Eagle 3-D Bomber Raid** California Games Captain Silver Casino Games Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse Choplifter Cloud Master Columns Cyborg Hunter** Dead Angle Dick Tracy Double Dragon Enduro Racer E-Swat F-16 Fighting Falcon* Fantasy Zone Fantasy Zone II Fantasy Zone: The Maze Galaxy Force** Gangster Town Ghost House* Ghostbusters Ghouls 'n Ghosts Global Defense Golden Axe Golden Axe Warrior*** Golvellius: Valley of Doom Great Baseball Great Basketball Great Football Great Golf Great Ice Hockey Great Soccer Great Volleyball Hang-On / Astro Warrior Hang-On / Safari Hunt James "Buster" Douglas Knockout Boxing Joe Montana Football Kenseiden King's Quest** Kung-Fu Kid Lord of the Sword Marksman Shooting / Trap Shooting Maze Hunter 3-D Michael Jackson's Moonwalker Miracle Warriors Missile Defense 3-D Monopoly Montezuma's Revenge** My Hero* OutRun Paperboy Parlour Games Penguin Land Phantasy Star Poseidon Wars 3-D Power Strike Pro Wrestling Psycho Fox Quartet R. C. Grand Prix** Rambo: First Blood Part II Rambo III Rampage** Rastan Reggie Jackson Baseball Rescue Mission Rocky R-Type Shanghai Shinobi Shooting Gallery Slap Shot Sonic the Hedgehog*** Space Harrier Space Harrier 3-D Spellcaster Spider-Man*** Sports Pad Football Spy vs. Spy Strider*** Super Monaco G.P. Super Tennis* Teddy Boy* The Ninja Thunder Blade Time Soldiers Transbot* Vigilante Walter Payton Football Wanted Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?** Wonder Boy Wonder Boy in Monster Land Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap World Grand Prix Ys: The Vanished Omens Zaxxon 3-D Zillion Zillion 2: Tri-Formation II. United States versus Everywhere Else The Sega Master System is, generally speaking, region-free, meaning that most games can be played on most models of the hardware. Because the European versions of Sega Master System games were released with similar box art and often identical cartridges, and were sold so frequently in U.S. stores, many European games were already mixed in to the population of these games within the U.S. even before eBay and the global marketplace began to spread games around the globe. With few exceptions -- those being the "UPC sticker" versions of Spider-Man, Sonic, and Strider discussed below -- official U.S. releases will only have English text on their back covers and manuals, and specifically note that they are manufactured by "Sega of America" on the manuals and boxes. While U.S. and European game cartridges are often identical, there are some cases where they are not. Alex Kidd In Shinobi World and Slap Shot were only released with blue cartridge labels in the U.S., so if you have a version of either of these with a red label, it's not the U.S. release. Additionally, some Sega Card games were also released on standard cartridges in Europe, but not the U.S. III. Third-Party Games The vast majority of Sega Master System games were produced by Sega. Of the 114 in the list, 8 of them were produced by three different third parties. Note that many of these games were produced by Sega in other territories, and the only official U.S. releases of these were by third parties. Activision: Bomber Raid Cyborg Hunter Galaxy Force Rampage Parker Bros.: King's Quest Montezuma's Revenge Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego? Seismic: R.C. Grand Prix IV. UPC Stickers Towards the end of the Master System's life, Sega of America cheaped out a bit with the final releases. Instead of manufacturing unique boxes and manuals for four of its final releases, it simply took a batch of the previously-existing PAL releases of the games, put a sticker with a UPC code over the EAN code, and sold those copies in the U.S. These games were Golden Axe Warrior, Strider, Spider-Man, and Sonic the Hedgehog. Since these games were indeed officially released in the U.S., they are necessary for a full set. Collectors tend to be of two minds on these releases: 1) Since the products are identical but for a single sticker on the back, they're happy to have any copy of the game in their collection. 2) Since the sticker is what denotes the U.S. version, they want the sticker. Only you can decide what makes you happy! Whether you personally want to collect copies with stickers or not, you should know that the sticker is a major variant that can increase the value of the game significantly, sometimes tenfold. The UPC codes for each game are: Golden Axe Warrior: 0 10086 07505 2 Sonic The Hedgehog: 0 10086 07076 7 Spider-Man: 0 10086 07065 1 Strider: 0 10086 09005 5 (Note that Spider-Man's sticker contains not just the new UPC code, but the U.S.-specific trademark and copyright notices that also had to be added to the product for it to be released in the U.S.) V. Variants There are two major groups of variant versions of Master System games in the U.S. As the 1990s dawned, Sega decided to revitalize its products for the new decade by putting tiny stickers that read "Sega For The 90's: The New Generation" on the box, manual, and cartridge of many of its Sega Master System games. Many games can be found with these stickers. I don't have a complete list, and I'm not quite sure a complete list exists. The other variant has been better documented (see this video). Again, in 1990, Sega re-released several early Master System games with significantly redesigned box art featuring a bold typeface, manuals printed on cheaper paper with a 1990 copyright date, and, most noticeably, a blue label on the cartridge instead of the standard red: Alex Kidd In Miracle World Black Belt California Games Choplifter Double Dragon Enduro Racer Fantasy Zone Ghostbusters Out Run Rambo: First Blood Part II Reggie Jackson Baseball (Additionally, two games -- Alex Kidd in Shinobi World and Slap Shot -- were ONLY released in this format, with a blue cart label, in the U.S.) Another well-known error variant is that many cartridges for the game Monopoly spell its title "Mono Poly." These are not especially valuable.