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20 |
Road Rash |  |
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| Probe did another impressive job of squeezing the most out of the Master System with this stellar port of Road Rash. The gameplay is as deep and exhilarating as ever, and the game has to stand as the most graphically impressive racer on the system. Road Rash is a racer with a decidedly violent bent, on top of the well implemented racing and shop elements the game allows you to punch and kick the other riders off their bikes, and fight with cops, which, whilst maybe not the most moral of gameplay elements was nonetheless an exciting, dynamic addition. | |||||
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19 |
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 |  |
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| The second Sonic game on Master System heralded a change in development team and a new take on how to best miniaturise Sonic's 16-bit gameplay. Whilst the original Sonic game took pains to adapt and change the series for the weaker hardware, Sonic 2 goes for a speedier, more 16-bit authentic style, whilst also attempting to add some of its own unique elements to the series. Overall the game is definitely a success, but can be a little bit too ambitious for its own good at times, and definitely lacks some of the accessibility of the other games from the series. Sonic 2 was also ported to the Game Gear, but that version is best avoided as the game wasn't really designed to be played on such a confined screen, leading to gameplay with repeated unfair deaths due to the limited visibility. | |||||
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18 |
Fantasy Zone II |  |
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| Brilliant sequel to the addictive, fast paced, and under-appreciated cutesy blast-a-phon original. The main game hasn't changed that much (apart from the addition of another coat of polish in the gameplay and graphics departments) but there is some notable new additions, biggest of which is the change to the stage structure. Unlike the original game, Fantasy Zone II's levels are built up from multiple interconnecting stages joined by warp points, you can freely explore and travel between stages and are required to completely clear out every spawn point in each set of areas before moving onto the boss fight and next set of stages. Generally its just the classic gameplay in a newer deluxe form, but the new structure gives the game a very mild exploration and adventure feel. | |||||
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17 |
Golden Axe Warrior |  |
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| Simply put, Golden Axe Warrior is a very well realised Zelda clone for the Master System, one which carefully recreates pretty much all of the famous NES game's main gameplay elements. There's no radical additions to the formula, but there are a number of fairly notable improvements. The overworld is much larger (nearly twice the size), there's more variation in the terrain, marginal graphical improvements, and the world is a little more fleshed out, with distinct landmarks such as villages and graveyards, and people who have more than a sentence of dialogue to say. Its obviously very lacking when it comes to originality, and was a little bit late in coming, but when the source material is as good as it was its hard not to be grateful for the existence of any pseudo sequels. | |||||
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16 |
Psycho Fox |  |
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| Here we have an excellent platformer with stacks of charm, for those who don't know its the precursor to the MD game Decap attack (or rather the game which became Decap Attack) and could be considered the spiritual sequel to Kid Kool on the NES. The artwork style is fantastic, the bosses never fail to be interesting and imaginative, and the gameplay feels quite unique too. The unique feel is mainly due to the inertia based controls (the faster you run the further you jump) these controls can be tricky to get used to so if you have little patience for tricky games then this classic is probably not for you, but anyone who wants something challenging and full of charm should definitely check it out. | |||||
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15 |
Castle of Illusion |  |
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| In case anyone doesn't realise this game is not a port of the popular Mega Drive platformer, it's a completely original version for the Master System which has totally different level layouts to the original and is much more puzzle orientated. The game is a lot of fun, is well designed, and very polished, the max health power-ups were also a notable addition, lending the game a slight adventuring and exploration aspect. | |||||
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14 |
California Games |  |
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| California Games is a sports game where you take turns playing through a variety of different events, such as surfing or skateboarding. It's become an bit of an enduring classic for the sports genre really, mainly due to it's uniqueness, and fun multi-player mode which hasn't really dated at all. The SMS version was easily the best of the original console ports (the Mega Drive version didn't arrive until two years later), and manages to still hold up excellently. | |||||
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13 |
Golvellius |  |
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| I spent a good amount of time thinking about whether to go with this or Golden Axe Warrior as the defining action adventure game for the SMS. Eventually with great difficulty I decided that whilst Golden Axe was the longer, and more involving game, it just doesn't have the charm, or personality of Golvellius, it lacks a little in identity by comparison. Golvellius is clearly inspired by Zelda, but unlike GAW it is in no way an exact clone, it deviates from Zelda in many areas (the game is generally more action based, no puzzle-filled dungeons here), and has a very different style, with more offbeat humour (that old lady really needs to work on her sales pitch), elements which help to make the game likeable, and memorable. Definitely one of the all time best Japanese adventure games of the late 80s. | |||||
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12 |
Lemmings |  |
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| Puzzle classic where you have to guide a whole load of Lemmings to an exit without too many of them dying. It's on pretty much every system out there (which stands to it's pedigree) and the MS version is great. | |||||
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11 |
Ultima IV |  |
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| Very admirable port of possibly the greatest western made RPG of the period. The graphics and artwork have been overhauled over the original computer versions, and the interface is now much simpler to use than before, without losing too many features (unlike the NES version). Its a very genuine, and idealistic game, and is a good example of the differences between the early western and Japanese RPGs, with its much less linear style, and greater freedom of choice. | |||||
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