I love the Sega Master System . . . I love it dearly . . if it were a relatively attractive female, I'd marry it . . . if it were a religion, I'd believe . . if it were an itch, I would scratch with an industrial strength sander . . . why the obsession, you ask? The SMS was the first videogame system that was MINE . . sure, the family had a colecovision, and a good ole 2.6k, but the SMS was mine, baby, and it was prized most highly among my coveted adolescent possessions.

Sega's 8-bit competitor to the NES didn't fare so well in the US, did a little better in the UK, but never posed a serious threat to the Big N's microsoft-esque domination . . . but man, it had some great games. Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Zillion, Phantasy Star, Outrun, Space Harrier, Fantasy Zone, Shinobi, and Wonder Boy all bring back the memories . . . What really gets me about the SMS is that the games have a certain feel . . impossible to describe, but there nonetheless . . .

The NES had way more good games, but I still remember the SMS more fondly . . . Sega later released the Game Gear handheld system, which was essentially a portable Master System, as well as the "Power Base Converter" - a peripheral that let you play SMS games on your genesis . . there was also a badass light gun, weird 3d glasses, and a system redesign that took the older look and made it stupid . . .

Meka is the weapon of choice for SMS/GG emulation, it's DOS, has one of the best GUI's out there, and has great compatibility and many other features . . . before Meka, Massage was a favorite, and brSMS is also quite decent . . .