Media

This page was constructed entirely on Amiga

Master System Games can be found in three forms, on cartridge, on Sega Card and on ROM inside the machine.

Sega Cartridges are by far the most common media for Master System Games to be on. Nearly every game released has been available on cartridge at some point, with the exception of Snail Race. Cartridges will work fine on any PowerBase, PowerBase convertor and MasterGear convertor. Cartridge sizes are:

• 32K - early games and card rereleases
• 128K - Known as a "Mega Cartridge"
• 256K - Known as a "2--Mega Cartridge"
• 512K - Known as a "4-Mega Cartridge"

In addition, some games such as RPG's include battery backed up RAM to save positions etc.

Sega cards are small game cards, approximatly the size of a credit card, which were released very early on in the systems life. Presumably they were intended to be cheaper than carts, but thier limited 32K capacity restricted the format, and carts became cheaper due to mass production. Only 8 games were released on card:

• F16 Fighting Falcon
• Ghost House
• Hang On
• My Hero
• Spy vs Spy
• Super Tennis
• Transbot
• Teddy Boy

The Sega Master System 2 had it's card slot removed due to lack of support for the format.

Later versions of the Master System and all Master System 2's came with one or more games stored in a ROM chip internally. When the machine is switched on with no card / cart inserted, then the game will load automatically. Games on ROM are:

• Alex Kidd in Miracle World
• Hang On / Safari Hunt
• Maze Hunter 3D
• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Snail Race (hidden game)
• The Lion King