Sega Master System

Two days after the NES was released in America the Sega Master System was released. Though in Japan the NES had been out for over 2 years already. The Master System is technically superior to the NES but due to some weird design choices and the mistake of allowing Tonka to market the console it eventually fell into obscurity. Mine is a little beat up as you can see the lettering is coming off. However I only paid $5 for it after the man running the estate sale pulled it out of a pile of junk in his basement; a testament to the durability of this system. I wish he still had the controllers though as they run about double the cost of an NES controller. Thankfully Genesis controllers will work just fine in it.

The system itself is a high tech looking (at least for the 80’s) block of angular plastic. It seems that in order to be “cool” in the 80’s your product had to be red and black. Also note the diagram on top that is reminiscent of a wiring schematic. I’ve seen something similar on JVC and a few other brands of home audio receivers of the same era. On those a light would glow behind whatever input you were using (tape, cd, etc…) however on the master system the only light is behind the “Power On” triangle. Basically the diagram makes no sense and is useless, but it looks cool!

Above and below the diagram are two design choices that made the Master System unusual. First off, the pause button is on the console instead of the controller. Great placement for that don’t you think? By the time you stand up to reach the console you’re dead.

Below the diagram is the Card Input. The Master System can accept both cartridge and Sega Card games. The card games were cheaper to make but offered less storage space and thus were intended for “budget” games that would cost less. Ironically though the cartridges can now be had for less than the cards. The cartridges were known as “Mega Cartridges” to differ them from the cards. The name is a reference to their storage space of 1 megabit.

Another unique feature is that the Master System itself had a game built into it. Mine has the motorcycle racing game Hang On but depending on your model of Master System the game would be different. There was even an 8-bit Sonic the Hedgehog released on carts and programmed into some of the later Master Systems.

Master System controllers are quite nice from what I remember. Unfortunately I used to have two but in my ignorance I traded them in for Genesis controllers not knowing that they were worth quite a bit more. The image above is courtesy of Evan-Amos. The buttons had a nice positive feel to them with more travel than the NES buttons. Some would argue that this makes for a slower “response time” however I prefer to know if I’ve pressed the button or not. Besides, it’s not like you’re trying to get top spot on Xbox Live or something. The d-pad is OK; seen worse, seen better. It’s one piece so you can rock your thumb around on it easy enough. Some controllers had a screw in thumb stick which seems completely pointless to me as it is too short to be of use.

The carts are not the best designed either. It seems they were more worried about matching the aesthetics of the console when a cart was plugged in than what the game was about. The box was the only thing with artwork on it and the carts simply had the name. Now, I know that when they were new you could just look at the box but surely even back then there were used carts for sale that were missing the box? So pretend you know nothing about games, you walk into a store and see the cart for Out Run. Is it a track and field game? A racing game? Or something even weirder that only has a little bit to do with the title?

All of these factors could have been overcome if the console was marketed properly. Unfortunately it was not. Sega contracted Tonka (yes, the toy dump truck people) to market the Master System here in America. Unfortunately being a toy company Tonka had no idea how to properly sell the system. Combine that with Nintendo preventing 3^rd party game developers from creating games for systems other than Nintendo (a practice that was later ruled illegal) and we have the final nail in the Master System’s coffin.

Which is a shame too as there is nothing fatally wrong with the Master System. Most of the games were of high quality, the graphics were better than the NES, and it was a standard top loading console without the reliability problems inherent with the NES.

Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)

Well I was going to continue with the 2nd Generation consoles but I told chronological order to take a long walk on a short pier and skip straight into the 3rd Generation as I have more experience with them. Now I wasn’t born until 1991 so these are technically before my time but hey, older games were cheaper so we all still knew what a NES was and drooled over my neighbor’s Genesis. But speaking of the NES lets have a closer look at Nintendo’s most known console.

The picture above shows both the NES, on the right, and the Famicom (a portmanteau of Family Computer) as it was known in Japan. I used another image from Evan-Amos since my NES was traded in after repeatedly breaking and changing the pins. At the time a busted NES could get you $10 worth of trade in and you kept your games and accessories.

The Famicom was a top-loader like the previous consoles and had hard wired controllers. The NES however opted for a more subdued color scheme, altered cartridge shape, and a unique front loading cartridge port. The supposed reasoning behind this is that after the Video Game Crash designers at Nintendo thought that top loading carts would be a reminder of the slew of poor quality games and consoles that came before. So slide that cart in the front and push it down.

Trouble is it flipping sucks. The pins bend and if you live in a humid climate (thank you southern weather) it gets oxidation on them faster than I can think of a good joke and simply doesn’t work anymore. If you’ve seen pictures of people sticking toast or random objects in it, that is why. Which is also why mine got traded in but let’s introduce Nintendo’s belated solution: the NES 101 aka the “Top Loader”.

Oooh, do people like these. You can easily get $100 for one on the ol’ eBay. The NES 101 eliminated the weird front loading mechanism and replaced it with a standard cart port. Also, as part of the redesign, the need for the 10NES lockout chip was eliminated. The chip was in every official NES cart and if it didn’t receive a good connection would continually reset the console, which was why the original NES was prone to failure.  The chip also prevented you from playing overseas games on an American console (I have a few myself; yet another reason to have traded my old NES in).

The original NES controllers were not great either. They were a rectangular brick that didn’t fit well in the hands but were generally pretty reliable. I’ve only seen one that didn’t work after all these years. Below is a picture of the standard NES controller with my hand for size reference. The Zapper was pretty nice though. It fit well in the hand and the trigger had a nice clicky feel to it. Unfortunately light gun games don’t work on flat screen TV’s so better snag yourself a tube if you want to play.

The official NES cartridges were all grey (with exception of some gold carts like Zelda) whereas 3rd party games were anywhere in color from black to baby blue. Originally they were in boxes with the manuals but most were lost or thrown away leaving just the cartridge and black plastic sleeve, which was lost a lot too. Also there were accessories abound for the NES due to its incredible popularity. On the right is a storage container that holds carts in the bottom and two controllers plus the Zapper on top.

While the console itself may be finicky and unreliable in its old age, compared to other consoles of equal or older ages, it is still a pretty good system but what really made it shine was the games. Many great vintage games are on the NES but finding them amongst the many many crap ones may be a quest in and of itself. Original NES consoles, games, and accessories can still be found out there relatively easily. Especially if an older person just dumps one to Goodwill since it stopped working. I’ve found two NES systems with controllers and such for less than $10 each, but they needed to be repaired.

Since not everyone can throw down a Benjamin on a 20+ year old “Top Loader” or have the skill to repair the original NES, third party suppliers have come to the rescue. I present for your eyeballs, the Retron FC Loader. For $20-ish bucks you get a NES console with the reliability of the Top Loader. I’ll go over this, and some capabilities of the NES hardware, in the video next week!

Video Games on Your Computer or The Lowdown on Emulation

I know I said that this week would be a video comparison of the Intellivision and Atari 2600 but due to technical difficulties (MS Movie Maker acting like the hell-spawn that it is) I’ve come up with a last minute posting on a topic that I think most people are interested in but don’t really know the details of, emulation.

Please note that I’m not a legal expert. This is just what I have learned about emulation, so don’t expect this to hold up in court or anything.

Emulation started in the 90’s when home computers not only were growing in popularity but also in power. Today almost everyone has a computer and most of them should be able to play games designed for older systems.

So what is “Emulation” exactly? It’s basically the playing of games that were designed for one system on another system (usually a PC). The computer “emulates” or mimics the console in order to run the game.

“This is great!” you shout. “I have a computer and now I can play old games without paying a lot for the system.” Well, no. Technically you can’t. Emulation is a legal mess and several steps must be taken by the user in order to avoid copyright infringement. Emulating games without owning them it is illegal, naughty, and you shouldn’t be doing it. People put their time and effort into creating something that you’ll enjoy. Don’t they deserve something for that?

In order to emulate a game you must first own the game in which you are emulating. This is to avoid copyright infringement as you are allowed to make copies of media (games, movies, music) that you own but only for your own personal use. So let’s say you have the Super Mario cartridge but how do you get the game to your computer? Well, it involves creating a circle of M&M’s around the cart while wrapping it with a USB cable and then chanting “ooga booga” whilst dancing.

In all seriousness though, you are required to make a copy of the cartridge that you actually own. This means that downloading the ROM from online is technically illegal. The unfortunate part of this is it requires special hardware that can be difficult or even illegal in some cases, to own. Taking the NES for example, a ROM “dumper” as it is known can be built if you are electronically inclined or purchased online. The ROM itself is stored on the chips inside a NES cart as seen below.

Once you have your ROM it is time to pick an emulator. An emulator is a program that allows you to play your ROMS. There are several different ones to choose from and while I recommend that you stick to the more popular emulators as there will be more people to help you. Older consoles are the easiest to emulate. They take little power, minimal set up, and there are loads of people using them. When you get to newer consoles however things get more difficult.

CD based consoles are some of the most difficult to emulate in my opinion. This is because the console itself has a program that loads first when you turn it on in order to read the disc. A good example is the Playstation. Remove the disc, turn it on, and you’ll get an option screen for memory cards whereas the N64 will do nothing without a cartridge.

The trouble is these “programs” are actually BIOS images that are hardwired in the console. Now, technically you are allowed to copy the BIOS just like you are able to copy the games, however there is a catch. You cannot download the BIOS legally; you must pull it directly from the console that you own. There are instructions for doing so online but similar to copying the ROM it will require additional hardware. There are emulators for some consoles that can actually mimic the BIOS itself however it depends on the system.

Most emulators let you use the keyboard or a USB controller like a corded PS3 one. There are also adapters that let you connect various vintage controllers to your computer. The GameOn USB converter, below, is the one I use. It can connect GameCube, original Xbox, and Playstation controllers. Emulators also let you use save states which takes a “capture” of the exact point in the game that you are at. This way you don’t have to beat Sonic 2 in one sitting or leave your Genesis running constantly.

I still feel that playing the game on the actual console is the best way to play. There are no compatibility issues, you’re using the controller that is intended for the game, and it is a nostalgic trip to the sure. Plus you don’t have to worry about legal issues and the additional hardware for creating ROMs as it is sometimes just as expensive (if you don’t build it yourself) as an actual console.

However if you are interested in emulation but don’t want to go through all the legal hassles, there are websites that allow you to play vintage games directly. VirtualNES.com is a great example. They have numerous games available and seem to run well. It requires that you have Java installed however and I did notice that you couldn’t press three buttons at once, so getting the top of the pole in Super Mario Bros. is going to be a problem. Despite that I think it’s a great way to try out a game before buying the real thing.