A port of the successful NES game, Star Wars essentially plays like Mega Man (tricky platform jumping, shooting, and selectable weapons), but with a non-linear overworld joining the stages. At first Star Wars on SMS feels like a harder version of the (already too difficult) game, mainly due to its controls, but this is misleading, as there's been numerous changes made to the game which actually offset this, and make it a much more forgiving, and playable experience than its NES parent (its still quite challenging though). Apart from the gameplay improvements (and addition of difficulty levels), Star Wars has also had a graphical overhaul for the SMS, and the game now looks far, far better than before.

Master of Darkness is a clone of the Castlevania series, pure and simple, now that I've gotten that out of the way lets get to the actual game. Everything that makes Castlevania great is here (level designs, atmosphere, boss battles), and on top of that there's also some new elements including a more in-depth weapon system, and well presented Ninja Gaiden style story sections. The atmosphere centred around Victorian London is also brilliant and feels equally good, though very different to the gothic themes found in Castlevania games. If I were to forget that it's a clone and just compare the games on merits I would rate this higher than the original Castlevania (no frustrating medusa heads here) but definitely lower than III.

This is an excellent version of the Simpsons puzzle game, it basically entails leading mice to a crushing machine, and is in some ways like a reverse Lemmings, but also incorporates much more of a hands-on, platforming element. The SMS version of the game is actually very well made, and is, in fact one of the best versions of the game available, it may not be as detailed as the 16-bit versions, but the colour here is vibrant and bright, and for some reason the puzzles are actually more complex too.

A fantastic Batman platformer which is completely exclusive to the Master System (even the similar Game Gear version has different gameplay mechanics and level layouts). The first thing which is instantly noticeable about this game is its inclusion of a grappling hook to swing across hazards, which conjures up visions of Bionic Commando in most people, but is actually implemented very differently here. Batman Returns is definitely more reminiscent of Sega's methodical, challenging arcade games Eswat, and Shinobi than Capcom's popular series, like the two Sega efforts its more about careful movements, precision timing, and getting into the right position to deal with the enemy emplacements. The grappling hook here is mainly used to explore the levels, and whilst tricky to use at first, with practice is a very cool mechanic which allows you to pull off some impressive manoeuvre's and reach far off areas. The game is a good length, is challenging, and even includes branching pathways to add to the longevity.

Very classy, and playable port of the 16-bit Amiga platform game. The gameplay here is surprisingly close to the original game, virtually all of the levels have been faithfully re-created, the game is very fast and responsive, and even some of the graphical effects such as the original's snow and parallax have been retained. To be honest, if anything, this actually makes the 16-bit console ports of the game look a little bit lazy, as they're only slightly better looking than this, and the SNES version actually manages to slow down more!

Another port to the Master System that many people would never have believed possible. Magazine reviewers of the time were astounded at what had been achieved when they first saw this and delivered much praise. The game still stands as a really commendable effort, and credit where credit is due is definitely one of the best beat-em-up style games on the SMS, but sadly, to be honest outside of technical achievement, and novelty it should probably be played elsewhere as there are definitely better versions easily available.

One of the most enduring and true classics of the 80s lightgun games, Operation Wolf set the benchmark for its day in the arcades, and was a phenomenal port (often credited as being the best home port of the game from the time). Unfortunately this happens to be a Europe only release, and won't work properly on US systems.

Taito strike again with yet another excellent game which further cements their reputation as second only to Sega as best Japanese developer supporting the SMS. Rainbow Islands is a fairly difficult game to explain, but basically is a vertically scrolling platformer where you can create rainbows to both attack enemies, and use as platforms. The Master System version is an good all around port, even having some extras such as between level story scenes, but don't spend time trying to achieve the secret ending here as it doesn't work.

Dr Robotnic's Mean Bean Machine is a port of the Japanese game known as Puyo Puyo on other machines. Quite possibly the best of the Tetris variants that ever appeared Puyo Puyo has you stacking coloured beans, but has an elegant combo based design which is both fun, and rewarding to Master. This version is a little on the minimalist side graphically, but the gameplay is still very much intact, and there's a few interesting additions unique to it for the time such as the mission mode.

Ys is an influential RPG that started on computers which spawned many successful sequels across different formats. It has the usual RPG structure, containing a large overworld to see, with many villages to explore and dungeons to fight through, but uses a unique battle system where you run into enemies off center and the outcome is automatically decided based on your stats. The game was an important release, and the SMS version has very nice graphics (especially the excellent portraits) but its a fairly old RPG, so expect a lot of grinding.