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109-475: The "bubble dragons" of the first game, Bubblun and Bobblun (known as "Bub and Bob" in the western releases) appear in Rainbow Islands in their human forms as "Bubby" and "Bobby". Also unlike the first game, players must now "alternate" (i.e., take turns), with player one as Bubby (green shirt), and player 2 as Bobby (blue shirt). Following the events of Bubble Bobble , Bubby and Bobby set out to defeat

218-599: A level editor for games such as Atari's Gauntlet ), while Program Power also included games. Program Pitstop also featured contributions from well known programmers, such as the Rainbow Processor by Dominic Robinson , which allowed the Spectrum to display more than two colours per character. Spec Tec (Adam Waring) and its descendant Spec Tec Jr (Simon Cooke) were home to readers' technical queries. The introduction to these columns were typically written in

327-601: A light gun and 3D glasses that work with specially designed games. The later Master System II redesign removed the card slot, turning it into a strictly cartridge-only system, and is incompatible with the 3D glasses. The Master System was released in competition with the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Its library is smaller and with fewer well-reviewed games than the NES, due in part to Nintendo licensing policies requiring platform exclusivity. Though

436-557: A stereoscopic effect. The glasses need to be connected to the Sega Card slot, and thus do not function with the Master System II due to lack of the card slot. A total of eight games, including Zaxxon 3-D and Out Run 3-D , are compatible with the glasses. The Mark III has an optional RF transmitter accessory, allowing wireless play that broadcasts the game being played on a UHF television signal. Developed under

545-636: A Sega video games national championship, with the winner competing against Japanese and American champions on the British television show Motormouth . Players competed in a variety of games, including Astro Warrior , platform games, and sports games. During the late 1980s, the Master System was outselling the NES in the United Kingdom. The Master System was successful in Europe. By 1990,

654-530: A Spectrum to the Internet . Before the magazine's relaunch as Your Sinclair in 1986, Your Spectrum contained a plethora of technical articles, including guides on programming in machine code and Forth , and information on how to upgrade the basic Spectrum set-up to incorporate better sound and more memory. From the magazine's inception, letters were answered mainly by the magazine's editor. The letters page contained several subsections, which varied through

763-581: A bug that crashes the game after Level 7, sending the player back to the title screen. If the level select code is used to access Level 8, the same glitch occurs at the end of that level completely preventing the player from seeing the ending. The Brazilian version has fixed this glitch. The European version of the NES port, developed by Ocean, is more faithful to the arcade version, whereas the Japanese and North American versions have original level designs and story intermissions. Rainbow Islands Extra Version

872-541: A feature on the change in publishers, which jokingly suggested that Future had intended to buy a Sinclair C5 and had ended up buying the magazine by mistake. Publishing of the magazine ended in September 1993, after the commercial life of the Spectrum ended and the magazine had shrunk to fewer than forty pages per issue. A 94th issue, a retrospective on the magazine, was published in 2004 and given away free with Retro Gamer magazine. It featured interviews with some of

981-668: A freelance basis. YS's content varied widely, occasionally ignoring the subject of computers entirely. As the Spectrum scene diminished and there was less software to review, this happened more frequently. The tone of the magazine was inspired by teenage magazines such as Smash Hits and Just Seventeen . In 1992, under the editorship of Andy Hutchinson, several 'lifestyle' type sections were introduced. These included Haylp! , an agony aunt column, and The World (later retitled Flip! ), which contained reviews of films and books. This section included The Killer Kolumn From Outer Space , dedicated to science fiction news, rumours and reviews. It

1090-468: A higher CPU clock rate . Sega produced several iterations of the Master System. The Master System II, released in 1990, removed a number of components to reduce cost: the Sega Card slot, reset button, power light, expansion port, and startup music and logo. In most regions, the Master System II's A/V port was omitted, leaving only RF output available; this was reversed in France, where the local version of

1199-646: A minority interest to the Virgin Group to enter the console business, and sold the remainder to avoid bankruptcy. The newly rebranded Virgin Mastertronic took over all European distribution in 1988. Virgin Mastertronic focused marketing the Master System on ports of Sega's arcade games and positioning it as a superior video game alternative to the Commodore 64 and the ZX Spectrum computers. As

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1308-505: A number of magazines. By October 1988, the magazine had committed itself to including a cover tape every month. Content typically included an older full game, and a specially-made single-level demo of a new, high-profile game such as Cybernoid II or Power Drift . Other content included game soundtracks and user-submitted demos . In December 1988, the magazine became the first to include two tapes. Between October 1991 and January 1992, contributor Stuart Campbell compiled his list of

1417-560: A package with the "Power Base" console, a light gun, two controllers, and a pack-in multicart . The console was launched in September 1986 at a price of $ 200 (equivalent to $ 560 in 2023), including the games Hang-On and Safari Hunt . Nintendo was exporting the Famicom to the US as the NES, and both companies planned to spend $ 15 million in late 1986 to market their consoles; Sega hoped to sell 400,000 to 750,000 consoles in 1986. By

1526-456: A panel. In 1988, Joystick Jury was superseded by Joystick Jugglers, and the familiar cartoons of reviewers were introduced. Screen Shots was removed as a self-contained section in 1989, and reviews began to appear throughout the magazine, generally with the bigger games being reviewed towards the front. Budget games had their own section, Bargain Basement (later replaced with Replay when it

1635-637: A pricing agreement with Sega, Mastertronic signed a deal in 1987 to take control of UK distribution, and announced the deal at the 1987 Summer CES. The company announced the release of 12 titles by autumn. Mastertronic advertised the Master System as "an arcade in the home" and launched it at £99 (equivalent to £350 in 2023). Advance orders from retailers were high, but Sega proved unable to deliver inventory until Boxing Day on December 26, causing many retailers to cancel their orders; Mastertronic and Master Games entered financial crises and Ariolasoft vowed never to work with Sega again. Mastertronic had already sold

1744-483: A result of this marketing and of Nintendo's less effective early approaches in Europe, the Master System began to attract European developers. The Master System held a significant part of the video game console market in Europe through the release of Sega's succeeding console, the Mega Drive. In 1989, Virgin Mastertronic began offering rentals of the Master System console and 20 games. The United Kingdom also hosted

1853-575: A sense of community with its readers through the letters page, and many readers wrote in regularly, becoming almost part of the team themselves. Indeed, several letter writers went on to write for YS in a freelance capacity, including Leigh Loveday and Rich Pelley. Along with Jonathan Davies, Pelley had formerly written for the fanzine Spectacular , and both became regular contributors for the magazine between 1988 and 1993. After YS closed, Davies went on to become editor of Sega Zone , Amiga Power and PC Gamer , while Pelley regularly wrote articles for

1962-543: A serious challenge to Nintendo in Japan, and, according to Sato, Sega was only able to attain 10% of the Japanese console market. The Master System was launched in Europe in 1987. It was distributed by Mastertronic in the United Kingdom, Master Games in France, and Ariolasoft in West Germany, though Ariolasoft initially purchased the distribution rights for the United Kingdom. Because Ariolasoft could not agree to

2071-493: A shortage. They also became less willing to invest in video games after taking massive loans in purchasing Kenner Toys in 1987, followed by poor holiday season sales and financial losses. Though the distributor of the console had changed, the Master System continued to perform poorly in the market. The Mark III was rereleased as the Master System in Japan in October 1987 for ¥16,800, but still sold poorly. Neither model posed

2180-455: A traveling program set up in recreational centers where kids were tested on non-verbal skills such as concentration and the ability to learn new skills. Out Run and Shooting Gallery were two games included in the challenge. In 1987, amid struggling sales in the US, Sega sold the US distribution rights for the Master System to the toy company Tonka , which had no experience with electronic entertainment systems. The thinking at Sega behind

2289-407: Is a modified version of Rainbow Islands ; the layouts of the islands remain exactly the same except the stages' enemies and bosses appear in a different order (much like Bubble Bobble' s Super Mode). In addition, the bosses were made more difficult by adding more variety to their behavior. Rainbow Islands Extra was released in limited quantities in the arcade. The game was also included as a mode in

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2398-747: Is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console manufactured and developed by Sega . It was originally a remodeled export version of the Sega Mark III , the third iteration of the SG-1000 series of consoles, which was released in Japan in 1985 with graphical capabilities improved over its predecessors. The Master System launched in North America in 1986, followed by Europe in 1987, and then in Brazil and Korea in 1989. A Japanese version of

2507-581: Is provided through an RF switch (though Model 1s with an AV port can also output composite and even RGB video) and displays at a resolution of 256 × 192 pixels and up to 32 colors at one time from a total palette of 64 colors; the Video Display Processor (VDP) graphics chip was designed by Sega for the Mark III. The Master System measures 365 by 170 by 70 millimetres (14.4 in × 6.7 in × 2.8 in), while

2616-544: The Atari 7800 (17th) and the NES (1st). IGN cited the Master System's small and uneven NTSC library as the major problems: "Months could go by between major releases and that made a dud on the Master System feel even more painful." Your Sinclair Your Sinclair , or YS as it was commonly abbreviated, was a commercially published and printed British computer magazine for the Sinclair range of computers, mainly

2725-654: The Game Boy , which Nintendo had released in 1989. There are similarities between the Game Gear and the Master System hardware, but the games are not directly compatible; Master System games are only playable on Game Gear using the Master Gear Converter accessory. A large part of the Game Gear's game library consists of Master System ports. Because of hardware similarities, including the landscape screen orientation, Master System games are easily portable to

2834-606: The GameTap online service. Due to the continued release of new variants in Brazil, the Master System is considered by many video gaming publications to be the longest lived gaming console in video games history, a title it took from the Atari 2600 . Sales of the Master System have been estimated between 10 million and 13 million units, not including later Brazil sales. It saw much more continued success in Europe and Brazil than it did in Japan and North America. In 1989,

2943-608: The Mega Drive version of Rainbow Islands . The game was also included in the Japanese compilation Taito Memories II Jōkan for the PlayStation 2 and the PlayStation Portable collection Taito Memories Pocket . Amiga: 96% C64: 96% In Japan, Game Machine listed Rainbow Island: The Story of Bubble Bobble 2 on their December 1, 1987 issue as being the second most-successful table arcade unit of

3052-571: The QL into the main magazine (previously, QL User had been a pull-out section within the magazine), and any future computers produced by Sinclair. However, the magazine remained focused almost entirely on the ZX Spectrum games scene. In 1990, the magazine was sold to Bath -based Future plc , and the April 1990 issue was the first to be published by the new company. That issue's news section contained

3161-477: The SAM Coupé . It was named after and originally written by Teresa Maughan, but the column remained after she left the magazine, as it was felt 'T'zers' was an appropriate title since it contained 'teasers' for future games. Rock Around The Clock , which first appeared in 1991, was a small column dedicated to looking at a particular back issue, as well as news and current affairs from the same time. Perhaps one of

3270-466: The Spectrum Soft section, later called Joystick Jury . Games were reviewed by a panel of reviewers and given a mark out of 10. In practice this was a score out of 9, since no game ever received a perfect 10, on the rationale that a better game could come along at a later date. After the name change to Joystick Jury, games were judged by each individual reviewer to be either a 'hit' or a 'miss' (in

3379-613: The YM2413 FM chip, an optional feature on the Mark III. With few exceptions, Master System hardware is identical to the hardware in the Mark III. Games for the console are playable on the Sega Genesis using the Power Base Converter accessory, and on the Game Gear using the Master Gear Converter. Compared to the base NES, the Master System has four times as much system memory, eight times as much video memory, and

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3488-550: The YS Tipshop Tiptionary . Dr. Berkmann's Clinic (renamed The YS Clinic With Dr. Hugo Z Hackenbush after Marcus Berkmann left to go freelance), originally set up to provide help for the game Head Over Heels , allowed readers to provide solutions to each other's gaming problems, more often than not solved by Richard Swann. Practical Pokes , hosted mainly by Jon North, was the successor to Hacking Away, and contained both type-in and Multiface POKEs. The Tipshop

3597-536: The ZX Spectrum . It was in circulation between 1984 and 1993. The magazine was launched in January 1984 as Your Spectrum by Sportscene Specialist Press. (Sportscene would later be renamed to Dennis Publishing in April 1987.) Initially, it was published bimonthly, changing to monthly in June 1984. With the January 1986 issue, the title was relaunched as Your Sinclair , with the intention of expanding coverage of

3706-490: The anime Zillion gave Sega the confidence to allow Tectoy to distribute the Master System. By the end of 1990, the installed base in Brazil was about 280,000 units. Tectoy introduced a telephone service with game tips, created a Master System club, and presented the program Master Tips during commercial breaks of the television show Sessão Aventura of Rede Globo . Nintendo did not arrive in Brazil until 1993, and were unable to officially compete, given that clones of

3815-473: The covertape . YS reviewers were often 'interviewed' in a column at first called Joystick Jury (the same as the reviews section in Your Spectrum ), then Joystick Jugglers , and finally (when there were fewer games to review and they wanted to introduce the team as a whole, including design staff) The Shed Crew , a reference to the recurring joke that after the move to Future Publishing, their office

3924-623: The "Dark Shadow" and rescue the Rainbow Islands. The Dark Shadow is the entity responsible for the events in Bubble Bobble . The game is set on a chain of ten islands, each one with a different theme. Each island provides four rounds of game-play, and once these are complete the player moves to the next island in the chain. In each round the player must get to the top before the sea level rises and kills them. The islands get progressively more difficult, with enemies moving much faster on

4033-547: The "Master". The console's futuristic final design was intended to appeal to Western tastes. The North American packaging was white to differentiate it from the black NES packaging, with a white grid design inspired by Apple computer products. The Master System was first revealed in North America at the Summer Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Chicago in June 1986. It was initially sold in

4142-492: The "superb" PAL library of "interesting ports and excellent exclusives", which was richer than the North American library and provided a "drip-feed of quality titles". After the Master System was discontinued in other markets, additional games were released in Brazil by Tectoy, including ports of Street Fighter II: Champion Edition and Dynamite Headdy . Tectoy created Portuguese translations of games exclusive to

4251-645: The #1 game of all time in December 1991. MegaTech magazine said it was "virtually arcade perfect, with only flickery sprites letting the side down". Edge wrote in 1994 that "Taito's Rainbow Islands has all the ingredients for a superb videogame – incentives, copious rewards and bonuses, and intelligent bosses". Despite these accomplishments, in his review of the Bubble Bobble Featuring Rainbow Islands pack, Rich Leadbetter of Sega Saturn Magazine said Rainbow Islands

4360-628: The 1990s in Europe, including Mercs , Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (both 1992), and Streets of Rage 2 (1994). The Master System has had continued success in Brazil, where dedicated "plug and play" consoles emulating the original hardware continue to be sold by Tectoy, including portable versions. These systems include the Master System Compact and the Master System III , and Tectoy has also received requests to remake

4469-775: The Card Catcher peripheral. However, educational and programming cartridges for the SC-3000 require the SK-1100 keyboard peripheral, which is compatible with the Mark III but not the Japanese Master System. Mark III-specific games were initially available in card format (labelled My Card Mark III to distinguish themselves from games designed for the SC-3000/SG-1000), starting with Teddy Boy Blues and Hang-On , both released on October 20, 1985. Of

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4578-565: The Famicom into the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The name was chosen by Sega of America employees throwing darts against a whiteboard of suggested names. Plans to release a cheaper console, the Base System, also influenced the decision. Okawa approved of the name after being told it was a reference to the competitive nature of both the video game industry and martial arts, in which only one competitor can be

4687-644: The Hedgehog . Battery-backup save game support was included in eight cartridges, including Penguin Land , Phantasy Star , Ys , and Miracle Warriors . The more extensive PAL region library includes 8-bit entries in Genesis franchises such as Streets of Rage , a number of additional Sonic the Hedgehog games, and dozens of PAL exclusives such as The Lucky Dime Caper Starring Donald Duck , Asterix , Ninja Gaiden , Master of Darkness , and Power Strike II . Retro Gamer 's Damien McFerran praised

4796-534: The Mark III measures 318 by 145 by 52 millimetres (12.5 in × 5.7 in × 2.0 in). Both consoles use two slots for game input: one for Mega Cartridges and one for Sega Cards , along with an expansion slot and two controller ports. Sound is provided by the SN76489 PSG built into the VDP, which can provide three square wave channels and one noise channel. The Japanese version also integrates

4905-602: The Master System II had only A/V video output available and omitted the RF hardware. In Brazil, Tectoy released several licensed variations; the Master System Super Compact functions wirelessly with an RF transmitter, and the Master System Girl, molded in bright pink plastic, was targeted at girls. The Master System 3 Collection, released in 2006, contains 120 built-in games. Handheld versions of

5014-487: The Master System had newer, improved hardware, it failed to overturn Nintendo's significant market share advantage in Japan and North America. However, it attained significantly greater success in other markets, including Europe, Brazil, South Korea and Australia. The Master System is estimated to have sold between 10-13 million units worldwide. In addition, Tectoy has sold 8 million licensed Master System variants in Brazil. Retrospective criticism has recognized its role in

5123-573: The Master System praises its support toward development of the Sega Genesis, but has been critical of its small game library. Writing for AllGame , Dave Beuscher noted that the Master System "was doomed by the lack of third-party software support and all but disappeared from the American market by 1992." Retro Gamer writer Adam Buchanan praised the larger PAL library as a "superb library of interesting ports and excellent exclusives". Damien McFerran, also of Retro Gamer, recognized its importance to

5232-852: The Master System took advantage of more advanced hardware compared to the NES; Alex Kidd in Miracle World , for example, showcases "blistering colors and more detailed sprites" than NES games. The Master System version of R-Type was praised for its visuals, comparable to those of the TurboGrafx-16 port. In 2005, Sega reached a deal with the company AtGames to release emulated Master System software in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China. Several Master System games were released for download on Nintendo's Wii Virtual Console , beginning with Hokuto no Ken in 2008 in Japan and Wonder Boy in North America. Master System games were also released via

5341-512: The Master System was also launched in 1987, which features a few enhancements over the export models (and by proxy the original Mark III): a built-in FM audio chip , a rapid-fire switch, and a dedicated port for the 3D glasses. The Master System II , a cheaper model, was released in 1990 in North America, Australasia and Europe. The original Master System models use both cartridges and a credit card-sized format known as Sega Cards . Accessories include

5450-675: The Master System was listed in the top 20 products of NPD Group 's Toy Retail Sales Tracking Service. However, the Electronic Gaming Monthly 1992 Buyer's Guide indicated a souring interest in the console. Four reviewers scored it 5, 4, 5, and 5 out of a possible 10 points each, focusing on the better value of the Genesis and lack of quality games for the Master System. In 1993, reviewers scored it 2, 2, 3, and 3 out of 10, noting its abandonment by Sega in North America and lack of new releases. By contrast, over 34 million NES units were sold in North America alone, outselling

5559-488: The Master System was the best-selling console in Europe, though the NES was beginning to have a fast-growing user base in the UK. For the year 1990, Virgin Mastertronic sold 150,000 Master Systems in the United Kingdom, greater than the 60,000 Mega Drives and Nintendo's 80,000 consoles sold in the same period. In the whole of Europe that year, Sega sold a combined 918,000 consoles, greater than Nintendo's 655,000. The Master System

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5668-407: The Master System was the first console "where the graphics on the box are actually matched by the graphics of the game", and pushed the "arcade experience" in adverts. Its marketing department was run by only two people, giving Sega a disadvantage in advertising. As one method of promoting the console, at the end of 1987 Sega partnered with astronaut Scott Carpenter to start the "Sega Challenge",

5777-467: The Master System were released under several brands, such as Coleco in 2006. A number of cross-compatible accessories were created for the Mark III and Master System. The controller consists of a rectangle with a D-pad and two buttons. Sega also introduced additional Mark III controllers, such as a paddle controller . A combination steering wheel and flight stick, the Handle Controller,

5886-489: The Master System's estimated active installed user base in Europe was 6.25 million units, larger than that of the Mega Drive's 5.73 million that year but less than the NES's 7.26 million. Combined with the Mega Drive, Sega represented the majority of the European console market that year. The Master System II was also successful and helped Sega to sustain their significant market share. Releases continued into

5995-443: The Master System's life time units globally nearly three times over. According to Bill Pearse of Playthings , the NES gained an advantage through better software and more recognizable characters. Sega closed the gap with Nintendo in the next generation with the release of the Genesis, which sold 30.75 million consoles compared with the 49 million Super Nintendo Entertainment System consoles. Retrospective feedback of

6104-402: The Master System. According to Sato, Sega was focused on porting its arcade games instead of building relationships with third parties. According to Sega designer Mark Cerny , most of Sega's early Master System games were developed within a strict three-month deadline, which affected their quality. Computer Gaming World compared new Sega games to "drops of water in the desert". Games for

6213-638: The NES dominated the Brazilian market. Tectoy claimed 80% of the Brazilian video game market. In South Korea, the Sega Mark III was released by Samsung under the name "Gam*Boy" in April 1989 and then the Master System II was released under the name "Aladdin Boy" in 1992. It sold 720,000 units in South Korea up until 1993, outselling the NES (released by Hyundai Group as the "Comboy") and becoming

6322-545: The PC Engine ( TurboGrafx-16 in North America) amid great publicity. Sega released its next console, the 16-bit Mega Drive, in Japan on October 29, 1988. The final licensed release for the Master System in Japan was Bomber Raid in 1989. In the same year, Sega was preparing to release the new Mega Drive, rebranded Genesis, in North America. Displeased with Tonka's handling of the Master System, Sega reacquired

6431-511: The ST version a score of 93%, praising the graphics and calling the game addictive and "tremendous fun". It was awarded 94% in the April 1990 issue of Your Sinclair and was placed at number 8 in the "Your Sinclair official top 100". In issue 93 of the same magazine, the readers voted it the 2nd best game of all time. It was also awarded 94% score in Crash . The readers of Crash voted Rainbow Islands

6540-461: The Top 100 ZX Spectrum games of all time. In the months leading up to the final issue, readers were invited to vote on their ten favourite games, which was then compiled into a 'readers choice' top 100, which was published in the final issue alongside Stuart Campbell's list. As reduced advertising and lack of material to review caused YS 's page numbers to drop, the magazine introduced YS2 , which

6649-501: The best-selling console in South Korea up until 1993. The Master System was also popular in Australia, where 250,000 units were sold in 1990 alone, and where it was more successful than the NES. 650,000 Master System consoles had been sold in Australia by November 1994. Although the Master System was a success in Europe, and later in Brazil, it failed to ignite significant interest in the Japanese or North American markets, which, by

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6758-415: The cartridges, included Spy vs. Spy and Super Tennis , but were eventually dropped due to their small memory size. The size of the release library varies based on region; North America received just over 100 games, with Japan receiving less. Europe, by contrast, received over 300 licensed games, including 8-bit ports of Genesis games and PAL -exclusive releases. The first Mark III-specific cartridge

6867-540: The company developed Férias Frustradas do Pica-Pau after finding out that Woody Woodpecker (named Pica-Pau in Portuguese) was the most popular cartoon on Brazilian television, along with at least twenty additional exclusives. These titles were developed in-house by Tectoy in Brazil. Due in part to Nintendo's licensing practices, which stipulated that third-party NES developers could not release games on other platforms, few third-party developers released games for

6976-627: The console and the controller. A light gun peripheral, the Light Phaser, was based on the weapon of the same name from the Japanese anime Zillion . It is compatible with 13 games and released exclusively in the West. A pair of 3D glasses, the SegaScope 3-D, were created for games such as Space Harrier 3-D , although Mark III users need an additional converter to use them. The SegaScope 3-D works via an active shutter 3D system , creating

7085-537: The deal was to leverage Tonka's knowledge of the American toy market, since Nintendo had marketed the NES as a toy to great success in the region. The announcement was made shortly after the 1987 Summer CES. During this time, much of Sega of America's infrastructure shifted from marketing and distribution to focus on customer service, and Lowry departed the company. Tonka blocked localization of several popular Japanese games, and during 1988 were less willing to purchase EPROMs needed for game cartridge manufacture during

7194-540: The development of the Sega Genesis , and a number of well-received games, particularly in PAL (including PAL-M) regions, but is critical of its limited library in the NTSC regions, which were dominated by the NES. On July 15, 1983, Sega released its first video game console , the SG-1000 , in Japan. The launch coincided with the same day its competitor Nintendo launched the Famicom . In 1984, parent company Gulf and Western Industries divested its non-core businesses including Sega, and Sega president Hayao Nakayama

7303-543: The end of 1986, at least 125,000 Master System consoles had been sold, more than the Atari 7800 's 100,000 but less than Nintendo's 1.1 million. Other sources indicate that more than 250,000 Master System consoles were sold by Christmas 1986. As in Japan, the Master System in North America had a limited game library. Limited by Nintendo's licensing practices, Sega only had two third-party American publishers, Activision and Parker Brothers . Agreements with both of those companies came to an end in 1989. Sega claimed that

7412-542: The end of the magazine's life, and particularly under the editorship of Jonathan Nash, the style was further influenced by magazines YS had itself inspired, in particular Amiga Power and fanzine The Thing Monthly . The original 1986 Your Sinclair team included Kevin Cox (editor), Teresa "T'zer" Maughan (deputy editor), Sara Biggs (production editor), Pete Shaw (editorial assistant), and Phil "Snouty" South (writer). Marcus Berkmann joined as staff writer in early 1987 when Maughan took over as editor. Freelance writers of

7521-422: The game completely lack the secret islands because of budget constraints). These islands are not visible until all 7 big diamonds are collected. To get a big diamond, the player must collect seven different-colored small diamonds on the island and finish the round. The small diamonds are found by destroying enemies by dropping a rainbow on them from above or destroying them with various special items. After collecting

7630-520: The games released for the Master System, Phantasy Star is considered a benchmark role-playing game (RPG), and became a successful franchise . Sega's flagship character at the time, Alex Kidd , featured in games including Alex Kidd in Miracle World . Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap was influential for its blend of platform gameplay with RPG elements. Different Master System consoles included built-in games, including Snail Maze , Hang-On / Safari Hunt , Alex Kidd in Miracle World and Sonic

7739-492: The handheld. In particular, many Master System ports of Game Gear games were done by Tectoy for the Brazilian market, as the Master System was more popular than the Game Gear in the region. Master System games came in two formats: ROM cartridges held up to 4 Mbit (512 KB) of code and data, while Sega Cards held up to 256 Kbit (32 KB). Cartridges were marketed by their storage size: One Mega (1 Mbit), Two Mega (2 Mbit), and Four Mega (4 Mbit). Cards, cheaper to manufacture than

7848-581: The last columns of its kind, a remnant of an era when computer magazines would dedicate entire sections to BASIC program listings. Most of the programs were in Sinclair BASIC, although some were in hexadecimal machine code , for which a special interpreter, the Hex Loader, was written. It replaced the pull-out section Program Power ; the main difference was that Program Pitstop mainly included listings for utility programs and demos (for example,

7957-416: The later ones. These are depicted on a map screen before the start of each island. Players can release rainbows that act as weapons, makeshift platforms, and item collectors. Slinging rainbows damages any enemies and acquires any items that the rainbows come in contact with. When jumped upon, they fall down, beating any enemies below them, and releasing a damage field above them. Collecting power-ups increases

8066-482: The magazines' lifetime, but included: The Star Letter was awarded three full-price Spectrum games. When asked what qualities a star letter possessed, editor Linda Barker answered "A star letter is one that makes the entire Shed crew rock with mirth, or touches their hearts", although other editors had their own criteria for the type of letter they awarded Star Letter status to. Like many later computer magazines (such as Zero and Amiga Power ) Your Sinclair created

8175-438: The manner of television show Juke Box Jury , after which it was named). The hit and miss system was abandoned with Issue 19, and with the transition to Your Sinclair , the review section was renamed Screen Shots . In Screen Shots, games were still rated out of ten, but they were also given separate ratings for graphics, playability, value for money and addictiveness. They were also now reviewed by individual writers, rather than

8284-492: The market respectively. The last licensed Master System release in North America was Sonic the Hedgehog (1991). In Europe, where the Master System was the best-selling console up until 1990, the NES caught up with and narrowly overtook the Master System in Western Europe during the early 1990s, though the Master System maintained its lead in several markets such as the United Kingdom, Belgium and Spain. In 1993,

8393-526: The marketing and distribution rights to the Master System for the United States. In 1990, Sega released the remodeled Master System II, designed as a lower-cost version without the Sega Card slot. Sega promoted the new model, but it sold poorly. By early 1992, Master System production had ceased in North America, having sold between 1.5 million and 2 million units, behind both Nintendo and Atari , which controlled 80 percent and 12 percent of

8502-445: The mid-to-late 1980s, were both dominated by Nintendo. By 1988, Nintendo held 83 percent of the North American video game market. With Sega continuing to have difficulty penetrating the home market, Sega's console R&D team, led by Ishikawa and supervised by Sato, began work on a successor to the Master System almost immediately after its launch. Another competitor arose in Japan in 1987 when Japanese computer giant NEC released

8611-454: The month. It went on to become one of the top ten highest-grossing arcade games of 1988 in Japan. The Spectrum version of the game was number-one on the UK sales chart from May to June 1990 at the time of release. It was re-released at a budget price, and was number 1 again from October 1992 to March 1993. It was also the top-selling Amiga budget title in March 1992. UK magazine C&VG gave

8720-407: The name "Project Mercury" and designed based on the Master System's hardware, the Game Gear is a handheld game console . It was first released in Japan on October 6, 1990, in North America and Europe in 1991, and in Australia and New Zealand in 1992. Originally retailing at JP¥19,800 in Japan, $ 149.99 in North America, and GB£99.99 in the United Kingdom, the Game Gear was designed to compete with

8829-499: The odder sections of Pssst was the Peculiar Pets Corner . Editor Matt Bielby originally intended this to be a showcase for YS readers' exotic pets such as snakes , pigs , monkeys or spiders , but these "pets" also included such things as a purple fruit gum and a tuba . When an editor or member of the writing staff left, the magazine would often concoct fanciful stories surrounding their leaving. Matt Bielby

8938-515: The original Master System. A 2012 article on UOL wrote that Tectoy re-releases of the Master System and Mega Drive combined sold around 150,000 units per year in Brazil. By 2016, Tectoy said they had sold 8 million units of Master System branded systems in Brazil. The Master System's main CPU is a Zilog Z80 A, an 8-bit processor rated for 4 MHz, but runs at 3.58 MHz. It has 8 KB of ROM , 8 KB of RAM and 16 KB of video RAM. Video

9047-424: The player's speed, the speed of the rainbows and how many are spawned. If players take too long in a level, water will start to rise up from the bottom of the stage, and will kill the player character if it rises above his head. Like Bubble Bobble before it, the game has multiple endings. To get the "True and Happy" ending the player must find and complete the three secret islands (although most consumer versions of

9156-562: The region. Some of these would tie in to popular Brazilian entertainment franchises; for example, Teddy Boy became Geraldinho , certain Wonder Boy titles became Monica's Gang games, and Ghost House became Chapolim vs. Dracula: Um Duelo Assutador , based on the Mexican TV series El Chapulín Colorado . Tectoy also ported games to the Master System, including various games from the Genesis and Game Gear. Aside from porting,

9265-473: The review scale, giving Count Duckula 2 a mere 9˚ and Mercenary 99˚. The final change in review style came in late 1992 when the various ratings for addictiveness, graphics, and so forth were replaced by a summary of the game's good and bad points, with an overall mark (now as a percentage) below that. Games which were scored at more than 90˚/90%, or 9/10 before the degree scale was introduced, were awarded YS 's coveted "Megagame" status, though this

9374-518: The rights to port games from other developers, but they did not sell well. Though the SG-1000 had not been released in the United States, Sega hoped that their video game console business would fare better in North America than it had in Japan. To accomplish this, Sega of America was established in 1986 to manage the company's consumer products in North America. Rosen and Nakayama hired Bruce Lowry, Nintendo of America's vice president of sales. Lowry

9483-489: The small diamonds, a word "NICE" appears. If the small diamonds are collected in the correct order, the player will get to a secret room at the end of each island, which contains a permanent power up. The color of the small diamonds depends on where the fallen enemies land, so the player can somewhat determine which diamond colors will drop. The scoring system also has secrets, which allow vastly higher scores to be achieved than normal. The European Master System port contains

9592-400: The style of a Philip Marlowe monologue, occasionally including ongoing plots. Other technical columns included Rage Hard , an occasional page which brought news of peripherals and other enhancements for the Spectrum; Steve's Programming Laundrette , in which Steve Anderson took the reader step-by-step through producing a BASIC game; and Simon Hindle's Dial Hard , which helped you connect

9701-411: The success of the Genesis, stating, "Without this criminally undervalued machine, Sega would not have enjoyed the considerable success it had with the Mega Drive. The Master System allowed Sega to experiment with arcade conversions, original IP and even create a mascot in the form of the lovable monkey-boy Alex Kidd." In 2009, the Master System was named the 20th best console of all time by IGN , behind

9810-418: The time included John Minson (writing under various pseudonyms, including Sue Denham, Gwyn Hughes and Rachael Smith), Mike Gerrard, Max Phillips, Tony Worrall and David McCandless . The final 1993 team consisted of just two permanent staff members: Jonathan Nash (editor) and Andy Ounsted (art editor). Steve Anderson, Rich Pelley , Tim Kemp, Simon Cooke, Dave Golder and Simon Forrester were among those working on

9919-533: The tips section of the magazine was called Hack Free Zone , to distinguish it from Hacking Away , which was dedicated to type-in POKEs . Hacking away was written by Chris Wood and "ZZKJ", while Hex Loader was written by Phil South under the pseudonym of Hex Loader. The sections were merged in 1987 to become the Tipshop . It contained all tips, cheats and complete solutions sent in by readers, and spawned its own book,

10028-403: The title for the rest of the magazine's run. The Mega Drive version was the 9th best game of all time, according to Mega magazine's "Mega Top 100 Carts" in 1992. In 1993, Commodore Force ranked the game at number five on its list of the top 100 Commodore 64 games. In 1996, GamesMaster ranked the game 79th on their "Top 100 Games of All Time". Master System The Master System

10137-441: The writers and reviewers from across the magazine's history, a four-page memoir written by former staff writer Phil South , and several new reviews and tips, keeping the style of the original magazine throughout. The magazine introduced a unique writing style, inspired by launch editor Roger Munford and expanded upon by subsequent editors and writers. Influences can be found in titles ranging from Private Eye to Viz . Towards

10246-455: Was Fantasy Zone , released on June 15, 1986, and Bomber Raid was the final release on February 4, 1989, a few months after the launch of the Mega Drive. The final North American release was Sonic the Hedgehog in October 1991. Games for PAL regions continued to be released until the mid-1990s. The Sega Mark III and the Japanese Master System are backwards-compatible with SC-3000/SG-1000 cartridges, and can play Sega Card games without

10355-421: Was "vastly underrated and over-looked". He added that the gameplay still felt fresh and unique despite the passage of years, and was good enough to make the collection a must-have by itself. The Amiga version of Rainbow Islands was the first game to make #1 on Amiga Power 's annual All Time Top 100 list in 1991, and again in 1992. It held the spot for years until losing to Sensible Soccer , which retained

10464-571: Was a redesigned version of the SG-1000. It was engineered by the same team, including Hideki Sato and Masami Ishikawa, who had worked on the II and later led development of the Sega Genesis . According to Sato, the console was redesigned because of the limitations of the TMS9918 graphics chip in the SG-1000, which did not have the power for the kinds of games Sega wanted to make. The Mark III's chip

10573-414: Was also successful in Brazil, where it was distributed by Tectoy and launched in September 1989. Tectoy, a Brazilian toy company startup focused on electronic toys, reached out to Sega about distributing their products. Despite hesitation given the situation with Tonka in the US, Tectoy was eventually given liberty to manage Sega products in Brazil. Their success distributing Sega's laser tag gun based on

10682-432: Was carted off to the funny farm after declaring himself to be God , Andy Ide became a Green Party ambassador, and Andy Hutchinson left to design a skate park at Alton Towers . In actuality, the majority of ex- YS staff went on to work for other magazines, such as Amiga Power . Your Sinclair ' s reviewing system varied throughout the magazine's life. During the Your Spectrum era, game reviews were confined to

10791-530: Was designed in-house, based around the unit in Sega's System 2 arcade system board . The Sega Mark III was released in Japan in October 1985 at a price of ¥15,000. Though its hardware was more powerful than the Famicom, the Mark III was not successful on launch. Problems arose from Nintendo's licensing practices with third-party developers, whereby Nintendo required that games for the Famicom not be published on other consoles. Sega developed its own games and obtained

10900-406: Was felt that original budget games should be reviewed alongside full price games). The magazine also began using a rating out of 100, rather than ten, when reviewing games. However, this was referred to as a 'degree scale' rather than a percentage scale, with a graphic of a thermometer representing the rating; the higher the rating, the "hotter" the game. Reviewer Jon Pillar embraced both extremes of

11009-405: Was hosted variously by Phil South, David McCandless, Jonathan Davies and Linda Barker. While YS is often thought of as primarily a games magazine, throughout its life it hosted a variety of technical columns, mainly dedicated to programming technique. Program Pitstop , first hosted by David McCandless, then Jonathan Davies and finally Craig Broadbent, contained type-in programs and was one of

11118-528: Was incorporated on the cover tape, and contained a teletext -like viewer program and a collection of around fifty extra pages of content largely written by then editor Jonathan Nash and regular contributor Steve Anderson. It contained, amongst other things, short stories , surrealist and absurdist humour, and Private Eye -style news satire . The code for YS2 had been taken (supposedly without permission) from adventure game company Delta 4 's similar Sceptical program. The writers often jokingly referred to

11227-498: Was installed as CEO. Sega released another console, the SG-1000 II, featuring several hardware alterations, including detachable controllers. Nakayama and Sega co-founder David Rosen arranged a management buyout with financial backing from CSK Corporation and installed CSK CEO Isao Okawa as chairman. Hoping to better compete with Nintendo, Sega released another console, the Sega Mark III, in Japan in 1985. The Mark III

11336-502: Was now a garden shed . The Jugglers were depicted with caricatures mostly drawn by Nick Davies, although some writers (such as Jon Pillar/Jonathan Nash) drew their own and art editor Andy Ounsted drew most of the latter reviewers. The Juggler caricatures took on something of a life of their own, and in 1990, a game, YS Capers , was given away with the magazine in which you had to shoot the YS crew, depicted in their cartoon forms. Originally,

11445-405: Was originally called Frontlines and dealt with Sinclair news and rumours. It also regularly contained mock celebrity interviews (such as the "At The Bus Stop With..." series) and trivial charts, as well as features about the writers themselves. Subsections of Pssst and Frontlines included T'zers , a column which contained rumours about possible forthcoming releases for the Spectrum and, later on,

11554-491: Was persuaded to change companies because Sega would allow him to start his new office in San Francisco . He chose the name "Sega of America" for his division because he had worked for Nintendo of America and liked the combination of words. Initially, Sega of America was tasked with repackaging the Mark III for a Western release. Sega of America rebranded the Mark III as the Master System, similar to Nintendo's reworking of

11663-530: Was released in 1989. The Sega Control Stick is an arcade-style joystick with the buttons on the opposite side as the standard controller. Unreleased in Europe, the Sega Sports Pad utilizes a trackball and is compatible with three games. Sega also created an expansion for its controller, the Rapid Fire Unit, that allows for auto-fire by holding down one of two buttons. This unit connects between

11772-439: Was undermined slightly when Duncan MacDonald gave it to his own deliberately bad Sinclair BASIC creation, Advanced Lawnmower Simulator , in a moment of surreal humour . The logo was used in advertisements for games, big and small. Reader games were also reviewed for a while in the "Crap Games Corner", many being inspired by Advanced Lawnmower Simulator or being just as deliberately bad. Good reader games sometimes ended up on

11881-558: Was written by Dave Golder, who went on to be the second editor of the successful SFX . Writing in the 100th issue of that publication, Golder cited his earlier work on YS and described SFX as "like hundreds of Killer Kolumns stapled together". Flip! was discontinued, but the Killer Kolumn was kept on until the penultimate issue in 1993. A similar page to Flip!/The World had existed in 1987–88 called Street Life , but this had also contained Spectrum game charts. The news section

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