Sega Collect

Segacollect.com Forum

2009-04-16T09:54:00.000-07:00

I have created a forum to accompany the segacollect.com site. My hope is that this may build a community of like minded collectors who can contribute and share ideas, knowledge, findings, etc.. beyond the limitations of the this standard 'blog' template. The forum is currently in it's infancy so please do not be put off by current colour schemes and lack of content.

There are sections to talk about collecting games, consoles, accessories and merchandise and also sections to trade and post relevant auction links. So if you like Sega collecting and want to discuss it more please feel free to register and start posting!

segacollect.com forum

Master System Prototypes (New releases)

2009-04-14T10:58:00.000-07:00

As most collectors will know prototypes and samples of unreleased or unfinished games are one of the holy grails of the hobby. It is one area of Master System collecting that has always eluded me. I know fellow collectors lucky enough to have many prototypes, either by tracking down people who worked in the trade back in the 80's/ early 90's or by battling it out on ebay (or other auction sites). In some rare and lucky instances people have happened upon very poorly listed online auctions from sellers who don't really understand the importance of what they are selling.. and this (in a round about way) is how I have come to own my first 3 prototypes.

(click to enlrge)

A fellow on an Atari forum bid on an ebay auction listed as just samples and demo's. He took a chance that paid off as it turned out to be a huge bundle of prototype cartridges originating from a programmer formally at Sega of America (see pictures above). Luckily a sega8bit forum member spotted the thread on the Atari forum and pointed the buyer in the right direction, within a few days all the deals were done and lots of collectors were very happy. All of the cartridges were sold untested which added to the excitement as you didn't quite know what they were going to contain. It wasn't long before reports started to come back to the forum of unfinished early versions and demonstration screens.

Moonwalker (Unfinished/ pre release sample?)

Castle Of illusion - 'Coming Soon' rolling demo

Blade Eagle 3D - early version

I had hoped to get my hands on quite a few of the cartridges but due to work and my social life I couldn't compete with the frantic bartering which these types of events command. However I am very happy with the 3 I received (above) and pleased that the other owners are, in the most part, people who will share their findings. I have dumped and released the above 3 prototypes for anyone who would like to try them. please download the Roms by clicking the below links. You may also need to download Meka (Master System emulation software) if you have not all ready done so.

Castle Of Illusion rolling demo rom download. - Short but interesting. Quite a few of the newly discovered prototypes were similar to this.

Moonwalker pre-release? prototype rom download. - I'm not sure how different this is, I have only played the first level though at to me it seemed that the end of level section with the static screen and lots of enemies was much easyer than the final release, maybe you can spot things I can't?

Blade Eagle 3D early version prototype rom download. - This is clearly much different to the final version from the title screen and music to the actual game itself.

I hope you enjoy these roms and please post comments on any findings. should I be lucky enough to come across any more prototypes I'll update this page.

Lucky Dime Caper Limited Edition Boxed Set

2008-09-13T04:35:00.000-07:00

The Lucky Dime Caper Limited Edition Boxed Set is one of those items every Master System collector wants, or if they are lucky enough to own it then it is likely to be one of their favourite items. This is the only set of it's kind for the Master System (a very similar set was released for the Mega Drive for Ecco The Dolphin, that will be featured in a later article). The first thing that strikes you when you come into contact with this set is the size of the thing! The outer box measures 330mm x 250mm x 70mm. The next thing you notice is that it's a really high quality item, made from thick textured card, that feels expensive (unlike most of today's thin glossy cardboard video game sets).

I seem to remember seeing the set in the shops priced at £49.99 but I cannot find any evidence to back this up (Can anyone else remember or does anyone have an advert or news piece showing it's release?). I have a magazine listing it for sale for £14.99 in one of the many game shop adverts of the time.

The imprinted Sega logo at the top of the box is a really nice touch

The Lucky Dime Caper set contains the Master System video game, an audio cassette featuring an assortment of Disney songs and a Lucky Dime Caper T-shirt. The box opens out into two halves with the aid of a small black cotton tab at the top. The hinge is at the bottom end of the box (It's wise to take great caution when handling one of these as I can imagine a careless hand could damage the joins or inner sections).

Within the main box there are 3 removable card sections that hold the contents (see below). The two smaller sections which hold the game and cassette are both constructed from the same thick card as the outer box. The larger section which holds the T-shirt is made from a much thinner card (which is quite easy to damage).

The Audio cassette, titled 'Donald Duck's Disney Selection', has 4 popular Disney tracks on each side. See the full cassette insert here and here.

Side A)
I Wan'na Be Like You
When I See An Elephant Fly
Best Of Friends
He's A Tramp

Side B)
The Bare Neccessities
Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah
Everybody Wants To Be A Cat
Cruella De Vil

This cassette was produces by Pickwick and the spine says 'Sega 1', which suggests there are more.. I know for sure there is a Jungle Book Sega cassette, as it is advertised as coming free with the game in magazines from the time.

The 100% cotton T-shirt included in the set comes in a sealed plastic bag (sealed with two pieces of red tape, see below). The label shows it is made by 'Mickey Magic' but does not show sizes (If anybody has an opened Lucky Dime Caper T-shirt please can you let me know the size and provide a good folded out photo of it).

Let me know if you have an open one as this one will remain sealed forever.

The game itself is almost identical to the very common usual release, except for a simple sticker covering the bar code advising 'Not To Be Sold Separately'.

One more item which comes with this set, and as far as I am aware it is the only place it can be found, is a Land Of Illusion double sided poster/ games catalogue. Much like the outer sticker of the box set the poster also states 'Master System II'. One side is simply an advert for Land of Illusion (priced at £29.99) and the other side is a games catalogue featuring games priced £9.99 and £14.99. The poster is twice the size of the usual Master System game pack in posters.

Click here to see a close up of the reverse

The Lucky Dime Caper Limited Edition Boxed Set doesn't show up very often on ebay, so when it does it will fetch between £60 and £100 (Unless it is poorly listed, incomplete or damaged). It is worth picking up any of the component parts if you see them separate as you may be able to piece together a full set if you're lucky. I purchased my set for £70 from another collector, he had bought it off ebay for £20 (He caught it when it was first listed and offered the seller £20 buy it now).

The price sticker says £9.99 (I wish)

A few years back a company called Telegames had brand new sealed LDC boxed sets for sale in their online shop. I believe they had about 20 originally and sold them for between £50 and £80 each (Please let me know if you have more accurate information). The Telegames sets were shrink wrapped and also had plastic strapping around the box (see above). I'm unsure if this strapping is original from Sega as I have bought a Mega Drive game from Telegames with the same plastic strapping. This doesn't stop me wanting it though!!

Look out for my future articles on the Mega Drive Limited Edition boxed set and other Sega sets. If you have information or pictures of other Sega box sets then please let me know.

Portuguese Purple Releases

2008-09-06T02:22:00.000-07:00

One of my favourite set of games to collect for the Master System is the Portuguese Purple releases (or 'Portuguese Purples' as they have become known). They are a later release much like the usual 'Classic' re-releases found in the rest of Europe. The games seem to be a complete mish mash of older and newer games including a couple of Tec Toy exclusives (at least a Hack and a multi cart, see below). The cover art, manual art and cartridge stickers seem random at first but there is some pattern to it as you will see later.

The games are very easy to spot due to there striking purple covers and in some cases very different box art. The cases, cartridges and Manuals are from Tec Toy (Brazilian) this must be because both countries speak Portuguese. Perhaps Tec Toy had some surplus stock? even so it's still strange that Portugal should produce these purple covers exclusively.

Note that the each spine has the proper logo of the game
title (and a picture) unlike most other releases of the same
game. (Road Rash and Jurassic Park are missing from
the picture as I don't have them yet.)

There were a total of 15 confirmed Portuguese Purples released (listed below) and a Purple boxed Master System III (Tec Toy's name for a Master System II). If you have any of these then please post your list on this link (This is to try and track if any are more or less common).

Asterix and the Great Rescue
Bart Vs The Space Mutants
Cheese Catastrophe
Desert Speedtrap
Game Box Serie Esportes (Great Volley, Super Futebol II and Wimbledon)
Indiana Jones e a Ultima Cruzada
Jurassic Park
The Jungle Book
The Lion king
My Hero
Road Rash
Sapo Xule: S.O.S. Lagoa Poluida (Tec Toy hack of Astro Warrior)
Sonic Spinball
Spiderman: Return of the Sinister Six
Taz in Escape From Mars*
Transbot

*The back of the Purple console box reveals a 16th game, Taz in Escape for Mars, that has not yet been discovered (as far as i know) . Taz in Escape from Mars was only released in Brazil in 1996, which is a full year after Cheese Catastrophe so perhaps it simply just missed the boat for when these games came out. Below are the best pictures I can find of the Portuguese Master System III (please let me know if you have better ones).

Taz in Escape from Mars circled on the back
of the Portuguese Master System III box.

Most of the Portuguese Purples share the same main cover art as the Tec Toy versions. In some cases this actually differs quite a lot from the European art work as can be seen below with The Lion King and Bart Vs The Space Mutants. Note that the Portuguese's Bart logo has been (almost) copied from the European version.

Euro, Tec Toy and Portuguese.

Portuguese Bart Vs the Space Mutants has a standard Tec Toy manual and cartridge (in fact all but 2 of the Portuguese games have standard Tec Toy cartridge stickers). The Lion Kings manual is quite different, the cover is copied from the European box art and the inside has been edited (For example all mention of the Master System Super Compact has been removed). Interestingly the manuals are actually manufactured by Tec Toy as they all have the usual Tec Toy numbered sticker on the inside back cover.

Euro, Tec Toy and Portuguese.

Nearly all of the Portuguese games have exclusive manuals, Most interesting of which is the manual for Spiderman: Return of the sinister Six which has the art work from Spiderman Vs. The Kingpin, see below.

Below are some more examples of Purple games and there European cover art style manuals. Note that the Indiana Jones manual uses the alternative (U.S. Gold at the top) Euro cover.

My two favourite Portuguese Purples are My Hero and Transbot. They don't seem to fit into this set of much newer games and the cover designers obviously noticed this. So the cover art is totally redesigned, to the point where My Hero is unrecognisable. The titles/ logos have also been updated from the standard older text to bright colourful modern looking fonts. The games look that good that you could almost say its false advertising, at least the old Sega art didn't get your hopes up.

Euro, Tec Toy (Nuclear Creature and Gang's Fighter)

and Portuguese

As you can see, for these 2 games, they went with the Euro titles. This also meant different cartridge stickers, these are the only 2 Portuguese games not to have standard Tec Toy cartridge stickers.

Euro, Tec Toy and Portuguese

The manuals have retained the old style Euro/ US Sega box art. Both Portuguese and Tec Toy manuals appear to be exact copies of box covers.

Euro, Tec Toy and Portuguese

Portuguese Purples sold in Spain?

It appears that some of the Purple releases were sent over the boarder to Spain. Did they over produce the Purples? Or was it just one shop that had branches in both countries? So far I have found 2 Portuguese Purples in Spain. Each has had translated text stuck to the back of the box, see below.

This is actually stuck on the outer plastic in both cases.

They also each contain a 4 page Spanish translated manual along with the standard Portuguese manual. I also have a loose Spanish Sonic manual which came inside the Portuguese Jungle Book. If you have any Spanish manuals or even translations stuck to your game boxes let me know!

Most of the Portuguese Purples can be picked up for under £15, some can even be found for as little as £5 (usually Transbot and My Hero). Games like Sonic Spinball, Cheese Catastrophe and Spiderman: Return of The Sinister Six you may need to pay a bit more but anything over £25 is too much. Taz in Escape From Mars has still yet to show itself so when (If) it does it may fetch a much higher amount. The boxed Portuguese Purple SMS III is also likely to be worth more than usual as I only know of one in collectors hands so far. If anyone has any magazines that reference these releases or anything else they feel relevant then please let me know.

Collector's Treasure - Alex's Collection

2008-08-27T12:33:00.000-07:00

The reason I created this site is to provide help and information to Sega collectors so it's only right to show off some of the amazing Sega collections out there. Segacollect.com's first featured collector is 28 year old Alex from Germany. We discuss how he started out, what he enjoys about collecting and a few tips for new collectors. The photo's can be enlarged by clicking them..

Alex's shelving packed full of Sega treasure..

SegaCollect: How long have you been collecting for the Master System?

Alex: In 2006 I discovered my old master system again. Then I started playing my old games a bit and I really enjoyed it. Then in march 2007 when I finished playing all my master system games I looked on ebay for more games. After that, I discovered konsolenfan.de and I read about some rare sms games and I looked for them. I bought more games and read about cool accessories and then started collecting.

More treasure!

Alex's Sega Mega-Tech Cab

SC: Wow, that's an amazing collection to have after just 18 months! What do you like most about the Master System and what is good about collecting for it?

A: The things I like the most are that there is always new Master System stuff being discovered by collectors. For example a photo of an SMS II version of Home alone, A Moonwalker Blister Pack including a VHS tape, Weinachtsset SMSII Pack, Italian lion king, Argentinean Master System stuff. Also I like collecting for the SMS because there is a great collector scene with friendly collectors.

Some nice boxed hardware and a selection of German
Master System marketing booklets and stickers.

SC: Where do you buy or find your Master System items (Online, shops or fairs)?

A: I live in a rural part of Germany so It is very difficult to find anything at all for the Master System in this area. Apart from my first System and games I have only found about 2 games in my area the rest has had to be online.

A complete German Master System rental suitcase.

SC: What has been your most expensive purchase and do you regret paying so much?

A: When I started collecting I noticed that there is actually a 'Brazil only' Sonic game - Sonic Blast. Since I am a really big Sonic fan I decided that I must have that game, but I couldn't’t find it anywhere. So, when I finally saw it for £60 I just bought it! Later I noticed that it can be easily found for £20, therefore I still regret buying it for £60.

Brazilian TecToy items including that slightly expensive
Sonic Blast (Iv'e seen it sell for higher Alex)

SC: What has been your best bargain or best find?

A: I guess that is my Korean 'Aladdin Boy' and 'Gam*Boy II' which I got each with a Korean game for £30 shipped.

Alex's Korean Samsung consoles. Top: Gam*Boy,
bottom left: Gam*Boy II and bottom right: Aladdin Boy

SC: Those are some great bargains! (I would hate to reveal how much I paid for a Gam*Boy). What is your favourite item in your collection so far?

A: That would be my boxed complete SG Commander control pad, I nearly needed one year to find it.

Left: Alex's fave - a European boxed SG Commander.
Right: Japanese 'Hori' SG Commander.

SC: What are your favourite areas of collecting? (i.e. Complete Euro or US sets, Strange variations, Boxed hardware...)

A: My favourite area of collecting is the Korean market, but I also like collecting Tec Toy variations, boxed hardware and other rare games and stuff. I don’t aim to have a complete set.

A great selection of very hard to find Korean
games (and even harder to find Taiwanese)

SC: What 3 items do you need/ want most in your collection (Your holy Grails)?

A: My holy grails are a red F-16 Fighter pre-release card, a Portuguese purple Taz in Escape From Mars and any boxed Korean SMS console.

Some Portuguese purple games
(one of my own favorite sets of games to collect).

SC: Do you play Master System games much or mainly collect?

A: I do both, although I haven't played all the Master System games I own so far. Also there are some crappy games that I don’t like and which I will never play again, but on the Master System, there are enough good games so I have enough to play. I play about 3 hours per week.

SC: That sounds like me also, I wish I had more time for playing. Which is your favourite Master System game?

A: Wonder Boy III

A full and complete set of the known early German releases
including Light Phaser and console.

SC: Do you have any advice for people looking to start a games collection?

A: When you start collecting you shouldn't’t rush into it and buy everything for daft prices,
You should be patient. You can find nearly everything at a good price if you watch ebay and other places constantly.

Complete German, French and English versions of Ultima IV, very impressive.

Many thanks to Alex for showing and speaking about his Master System collection. If you have a Sega collection you would like to show and discuss then please let me know.

The Sega Collect News - August 2008

2008-08-16T08:22:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the first edition of 'The Sega Collect News'. This is going to be a monthly feature which rounds up the Sega collecting news of the month. Actually just Master System related news, perhaps in the future other Sega platforms can be included if somebody with a keen interest in that area would like to help out. Please feel free to contact me with any Sega collecting news you feel will be relevant and interesting.

New Master System for 2008

Tec Toy are releasing yet another new Master System in Brazil this year, this time with a newly designed top half. The last few Tec Toy Master System's have had dummy cartridge slots and built in games only but based on the old Master System II style shell (as the rest of the world know it). Now they totally removed the slot area so there is no confusion at all with this model that there isn't a cartridge slot. As with the 2007 model 131 games are going to be built in, although not exactly the same line up, click this link for a full list of the games. The suggested price is R$239.00 (about US $150.00 or £75.00).

Another game cover variation.

Sega8bit forum member Motopaolo has posted this picture of his Italian version of The Lion King (Il Re Leone) which up until now has not been noted before on either sega8bit or SMSPower. It was this time last year that the Italian version of The Jungle Book was tracked down by a Swedish collector which I later bought from him, this is also the only one I know of so far. Unlike The Jungle Book this variation shown above is different in more than just the translation. As you can see it is missing the usual 'Action' flash in the top left corner, also the bottom section of the front is black on all other versions. The other main difference to note is the logo on the spine section, all other versions have the logo in a red box.

Nice Spanish SMS II 'slip covers'.

This month has brought quite a few Master System items to my attention that I have not previously seen, above is one of the nicer ones. Sega8bit forum member Martinlaw has posted some pictures of the above Master System II slip cover on this thread. The one in the pictures is owned by a Spanish collector. Also note that there is another similar slip cover shown on that thread, this time showing Alex Kidd as the built in game instead of Sonic. Martinlaw is now putting together a complete list of Master System boxes, so if you have one that isn't listed please add it to his list here.

A complete Master System collection for sale.

Well known, long time collector Anagrama is selling off his amazing Sega collection on ebay. Currently his Master System games are up for grabs, these are being listed individually and alphabetically. See here for G to R. Still to come among his Master System games are Smurfs 2 and all the Tec Toy exclusives, so keep your eyes open for those..

Another Smurfs 2.

To finish off this months news its the type of ebay auction all collectors hope to find. Krooper13 from sega8bit forum had his smurfs 2 radar turned up to 11 it seems as he spotted the one in the above auction. It is cartridge only but he managed to talk the seller into parting with it for 10 euros!

German variations. Part 1 - Software.

2008-08-05T12:09:00.000-07:00

Early German releases.

When the Master System was born Sega products were distributed in the UK by Mastertronic, In the US it was Tonka and Germany had Ariolasoft. Ariolasoft was a developer, publisher and distributor of video games. As well as the Master System they also released games for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amiga.

There are no exclusive German releases for the Master System (Although the card version of Great Soccer is extremely rare outside of Germany). The early Ariolasoft releases are interesting to collect as the packaging, manual and cartridge or card are all exclusive to Germany. See below for the German cartridge and card stickers.

Most German releases have identical looking front covers to other Euro and US releases, but a few actually have the translation 'Die Mega Cartridge' or 'Die Sega Card', This makes them easier to spot in an online auction. As well as German translated text, Ariolasoft even had it's own product code on the box spine, all known German specific spine numbers are shown in the picture and list below. Also noted is the instances in which 'Die' instead of 'The' is used on the cover.

????? Marksman Shooting/ Trap Shooting/ Safari Hunt ('Der Sega Light Phaser' pack in only?)
41001 Choplifter
41002 Fantasy Zone
41003 TransBot (card)
41004 My hero (card)
41005 F-16 Fighter (card)
41006 World Grand Prix
41007 Black Belt
41008 Action Fighter
41009 Pro Wrestling
41010 Super Tennis (card) - 'Die Sega Card'
41011 Astro Warrior/Pit-Pot
41012 The Ninja - 'Die Mega Cartridge'
41013 Alex Kidd in Miracle World - 'Die Mega Cartridge'
41018 Great Soccer (card)
41021 Spy vs. Spy (card) - 'Die Sega Card'
41022 Bank Panic (card) - 'Die Sega Card'

(click to enlarge)

As you can see some numbers are missing and a few games you would expect to see are not present. This doesn't mean they do not exist, just that none of our online collecting community have found any of them yet. Possible German releases include Wonder Boy, Secret Command, Enduro Racer and any other 1986 0r 87 releases. Ghost House and Teddy Boy are both surprisingly missing from the list but these two are exceptions as they were released in Germany packaged in US boxes with poor quality German manuals, shown below along with F16-Fighter which is another common one to find in a US box with poor German manual (despite an actual German version existing).

As well as the part numbers mentioned above a couple more games have been found in Germany with standard Euro (multi language) packaging but with an Ariolasoft sticker (see below) containing a German part number, 41023 - Quartet and 41027 - Great Volleyball, please contact me if you know of any others.

There are some other details to note about the early German packaged games; Unlike all the other German versions Spy Vs Spy and Bank Panic have German only translated titles on the manual cover (Spion Gegen Spion and Bank-Raub). Another minor difference maybe worth mentioning is that The Ninja has an incorrect font on the box spine, see below for comparison.

Correct top/ Incorrect bottom

Perhaps the strangest difference is with the cover of Pro Wrestling. The German version has a re-drawn picture - Or perhaps this was the original and everyone else got a re-drawn version? Was Ariolasoft sent the wrong image? or an early prototype cover which they copied? Was the usual version too life-like?! (Germans are very sensitive about violence in games). One can only speculate, see below and make your own mind up..

Left Euro and US/ Right German

Below is my complete collection of the known early German packaged releases. This set took me around 12 months to complete at a cost of between £5 and £12 per game including postage. There may be more out there, I would be very pleased to here about them.

please note that Hang On does not have a German specific box as it was a pack in with 'Das Sega Master System'. An early Ariolasoft booklet does actually depict an unusual box for Hang On, see below.

This actual fully boxed version was bought in 2006 in a bulk German ebay auction (which also contained the booklet above, a fully boxed German system and 12 other games for under £100) by a collector from Manchester, England. He later sold it on its own in 2007 to another collector in Australia for £300. This is perhaps one of the most sought after Master System collectibles. As can be seen from the pictures below it is not actually German.

The rear box text differs from all other known
versions and reads more like a pre-production
or sample version (click to enlarge)

The manual and card itself are also different.

Later German releases.

After the Ariolasoft years there were still some semi translated variations released in Germany. 1988 was the year of the RPG: Phantasy Star, Miracle Warriors, Lord of the Sword, Golvellius and Y's were all released. Each of these came with an extra translated manual in Germany but retained the all English packaging. Slightly later released RPG's such as Spellcaster (1989) and Golden Axe Warrior (1990) also received translated German manuals. See below for some of the ones I have collected.

I would say that the German RPG manuals are slightly harder/ more expensive to collect than other German Master System games, perhaps mainly due to RPG generally commanding a higher price than other genres. One thing to bare in mind if you try to collect these is that it is only the manual that is different.

Another notable RPG with a German variation is Ultima IV, quite different in that there is no (that I know of?) German instruction manual. Instead this time there were two additional books, The History of Britannia and The Book of Mystic Wisdom. English versions of these books are blue, French are pink and below are the German yellow ones.

These books are very difficult to find in any of the 3 languages, the main reason for this is that the books do not actually fit inside the case and were originally shrink wrapped to the back of the box (One of the books has the games bar code stuck on it). Not only this but it is also thought that not all copies of Ultima IV came with the books (perhaps just the first production run?).

Other European language variations to track down are not exclusive to Germany but I will add them onto this article anyway. Olympic Gold released in 1992 as a Barcelona '92 Olympics tie in was available as a 'limited edition' in some countries (I can confirm Spain, France, Britain and Germany). The limited edition versions had a different cover with a yellow circle on the front and the back of the cover advising (in the particular language) that it was limited and that it also contained a 'souvenir booklet'. The game description on the back cover is translated and the spine has a specific part number 27030 - xx (Germany being 27030 - 18). The full cover souvenir booklet is also in the specific language, see below. Please note that the manual is standard multi language for all Euro releases.

Winter Olympics (Lillehammer '94) was also released in translated European limited editions. As with Olympic Gold these came with souvenir booklets, specific covers and part numbers (Germany had 29015 - 18). Once again the manual is multi language. This game included the flag of the country in the top right which I think is a nice touch (and makes finding them easier on ebay if the photo isn't clear).

Lastly came World Cup USA 94. Once again with the limited edition releases the box is translated (German part number 29028 - 18) and the country flags were included in the top right. This time though it is the manual that has been translated and the souvenir 'wall chart' (in this case) that is generic (I do not yet have the German specific manual for this game). In my opinion this is harder to track down than the other two limited edition sports games.

To finish off this article here are perhaps the two easiest to find German variations, 'Das Dschungelbuch' (27069 - 18) and Der Konig Der Lowen (27081 - 18). With these two it is only the covers that are specific to the country and there are no additional extras other than the standard multi language manual. Any collector looking to branch out into variations should be able to find at least the German and French versions of The Jungle Book and The Lion King quite easily on ebay and for roughly the same price as the multi language versions (apart from higher postage if you are not local to the country).

Please feel free to contact me if you have or know of any other German specific versions of Master System games I have missed. Part 2 of this article will feature German Sega Master System hardware and accessories.

Les Schtroumpfs & Les Schtroumpfs Autour Du Monde

2008-08-02T04:21:00.000-07:00

When discussing collecting for the Master System there is always one topic that keeps coming back, Smurfs, or to be more exact Smurfs 2 (Les Schtroumpfs Autour Du Monde). The online collecting community didn't even know it existed until March 2000 and to date still comparatively few copies have been discovered. My aim with this article is to put together all the information I know about Smurfs 1 and 2.

Les Schtroumpfs aka The Smurfs aka Smurfs 1.

Smurfs 1 is a fairly generic but decent platformer, Sega Power gave it 71%. The game is very linear, just go from the beginning of each level to end in order to progress. Attack by jumping on enemy's and run by pressing button 1. You get the option of three levels of difficulty and the option of turning the music off. You can collect stars, 5 per level, doing so will give you a bonus level.You also need to locate keys in order to free the Smurf prisoners. It is well worth trying if you enjoy 8 bit platform games but don't be expecting Miracle World or Castle of Illusion quality.

Euro version on the left and Tec Toy (Brazilian) version on the right.

Smurfs 1 was released in Europe in 1994 (1995 in Brazil) which is quite late in the Master System's life, as with most late releases on the system it is uncommon.

There are actually 2 variations of Smurfs 1 in Europe, they are only minor variations though (just on the back cover as shown in the picture below). A recent online poll shows the bottom one to be slightly harder to find.

Both European versions of Smurfs 1 came with a poster (see below) which advertised Walibi Schtroumpf Theme Park and included a voucher entitling one free entry when accompanied by one full paying person. I may have been unlucky but I bought 7 copies of Smurfs 1 before getting a poster.

Front

Back

For the hardcore collectors who like everything 100% complete there is also a Smurfs registration card included with the European versions as well..

You should be able to buy the European Smurfs 1 on ebay for between about £5 to £15+ depending on condition and completeness. The Brazilian Tec Toy version maybe slightly more if that appears on ebay (around £20 complete).

There are also 'blister packs' of the European Smurfs 1 but so far I have only known 2 Master System versions to have been seen (one was badly damaged). The blister packaging also contains a Smurfs figure, and not all packs have the same figure. Below is a picture of the more common Mega Drive Smurfs blister with figure (A Master System smurfs blister picture will be included shortly).

(Mega Drive Smurfs blister pack)

Les Schtroumpfs Autour Du Monde aka The smurfs Travel the World aka Smurfs 2.

For many Master System collectors Smurfs 2 represents their holy grail, the pinnacle of the collection. This was the very last Master System game released in Europe (1996), well I say released, there does not seem to be any official mention of it magazines and it certainly wasn't on the shelves in most local video game shops of the day. It is the only Euro game that I do not yet own despite bidding on many Smurfs 2 ebay auctions.

The very first time the Master System version of Smurfs 2 came to the attention of the online collecting community was when Mikko Heinonen from Finland posted a message on a News Group on the 26th March 2000. His message described how he had noticed an unusual game for the Master System whilst on holiday in the Czech Republic, the release date of 1996 had caught his eye. He purchased 2, one to keep and one to trade for EUR 0.50 each. On returning home he could not find any information online about the game he had bought.

Mikko received a lot of interest from collectors and so asked his fiancee, whom was currently working in Prague, to buy anymore she could find. She found 5 - 8 more copies of Smurfs 2 which were promptly sold/ traded onto collectors.

The interest online continued and when Mikko's brother went on holiday to the Czech Republic at the end of the year (2000/01) he asked him to look out for more Smurfs 2's and buy them. Mikko's brother found a further 20 copies of Smurfs 2 but only bought half, stating that the other 10 were in 'really poor physical condition'.

The last time Mikko looked for Smurfs 2 in Prague (early 2002) he could not find anymore. Mikko posted his full story on SMSPower forums on September 29 2004 in response to speculation about how many were actually found in Prague orignally.

Since these initial finds, Smurfs 2 has started to appear on ebay, but only very occasionally. Perhaps only 2 or 3 previously unknown copies go up for auction annually, mainly from sellers in the Czech Republic. There have been some appear in Germany, France and Italy as well. Psychofox, A member of sega8bit forum managed to find one 'in the wild' for just under £2 whilst on holiday in Prague in September 2006 (see pic below).

A proud looking Psychofox

The members of sega8bit forum have attempted to maintain a tracking list of most of the known Smurfs 2 to have appeared on the Internet.

Due to its apparent scarcity Smurfs 2 regularly commands a high price with most copies selling for between £150 and £300 (again depending on condition). The poster that comes with Smurfs 2 is actually a Game Gear poster (shown below) and is blank on the reverse.

It is also worth noting that there wasn't a Tec Toy release of Smurfs 2. It is quite surprising as the Master System was still going strong in Brazil at that point and in fact the last Tec Toy game to be released on cartridge was in 1998. Below is a mock up I made (for April fools day on the forum) of what a Tec Toy Smurfs 2 may have looked like had it been released.

This year, in fact just last month, another great discovery in the Master System community was made, a prototype of Smurfs 2. Uncovered by Bock of SMSPower and originally owned by the developer of the game. For more information on that find and the data differences from the retail version click here.

'Take a rare game and make it rarer'

Telstar Double Packs

2008-07-27T14:03:00.000-07:00

To the best of my knowledge the Telstar we are talking about here is not the same as the Telstar music distributor which started in the 60's as suggested in the magazine scan below, although please let me know if you have better information. Telstar is a UK company which began life in 1993. They started out by selling discounted video games in 'double packs'. As far as I am aware it was only games for the Mega Drive, Master System and Game Gear then later they also released packs for the PC. Telstar went on to get the UK publishing right to 7th Guest.. it all went down hill from there until they were bought out by 'Take 2' in 1999.

Scan from issue 27 of Sega Pro - Christmas Special - November 1993 (click to enlarge)

The packs were advertised in the Sega magazines of the day (Sega Pro) and also sold through popular high street shops such as WH Smiths and HMV. Below is an advertisement feature from issue 31 of Sega Pro (Easter 94).

(click to enlarge)

As you can see from the above advert most of the Double Packs released were for the Mega Drive, in fact there are 20 mega Drive Telstar Double Packs in all, as can be seen listed on Guardiana (A French Mega Drive site). I do not collect for the Mega Drive but I have been told that these are very difficult to find and perhaps only pop up on ebay once maybe twice per year. Below is my Mega Drive collector friends set of 6 Double Packs.

The main reason for the rarity of these packs, other than the fact that comparatively few would have been sold, is the packaging. The outer casing is just thin clear plastic with a paper insert to cover the two original game boxes.

The games sit back to back so that the hangers fit through a gap in the outer casing. The only actual difference with the game boxes inside is the Telstar stickers over the original barcodes and smaller T F&G (Telstar Fun & Games) stickers on the front covers.

As you can see from the picture below Telstar and Sega Pro had a bit of a relationship going..

The Master System double pack I've shown here is the only one I have ever seen, I found it in June of 2007 on ebay. I ended up paying just over £30 for it which I was surprised at as the auction was quite poorly done. I would say that you shouldn't really have to pay more than this but it's one of those difficult to value items. The Mega Drive ones are more common (if you can call them that) as there was such a large range avaialble but apparently just 3 each for the Master System and Game Gear.

As with any of my articles if anyone has any more information or even just pictures they can provide then please let me know in the comments link below.

The Sega Light Phaser

2008-07-26T00:55:00.000-07:00

The Sega Light Phaser is one of the most popular accessories for the Master System. It started life in Japan but was never actually released as a console peripheral there. Its first outing was as a toy laser tag game called Zillion. The Zillion toy was released in Japan by Sega, Europe by Matchbox and Brazil by Tec Toy. Interestingly this was Tec Toy’s first product from Sega and marked the beginning of a great partnership.

The Zillion guns proved very popular In Japan and an anime series of the same name was created. This was around the same time as the Master system was released. A Zillion Master System game featuring the same characters and the gun was also released followed by the sequel Zillion 2 The Tri Formation, neither of which were light phaser compatible games.

The Light Phaser was unveiled at the start of the Master System life in 1986. It was originally bundled with Marksman Shooting, Trap Shooting and Safari Hunt for £44.95 (In the UK). And was later made available with no game included. Meanwhile the US had two separate cartridges in the form of Marksman Shooting & Trap Shooting and Hang On/ Safari Hunt.

Shooting Gallery, Gangster Town and Missile Defence 3D came out in 1987. 1988 saw the release of Rescue Mission and Rambo III. Now with 6 Light Phaser games available Sega introduced the Master System Plus and Super System, The Master System Plus package included a Light Phaser and two games built into the system, Hang On and Safari Hunt. The Super System came with 3D Glasses, a Light Phaser and Missile Defence 3D built in (the only game to cater for both those accessories).

Wanted came out in 1989 followed by Operation Wolf and Assault City in 1990. 1990 was a good year for the Master System, The Master System 2 was unveiled, and with that the Master System II Plus package which would once again include the Light Phaser but this time Operation Wolf was included (Alex kidd in Miracle World was built into the system). Loose versions of the Light Phaser were also re-released in slightly different packaging, one with Operation Wolf included and one on its own.

The last games to be released for use with the Light Phaser were Laser Ghost in 1991 and finally Space Gun in 1992. In total there are 13 Light Phaser games available. The picture below contains all the common variations of Light Phaser games, this also provides a good timeline of box cover design.

There are some interesting hardware variations to look out for including the Blue Tec Toy version, apparently to reduce the Light Phasers similarities to that of a real gun (Shown below). The US also took steps to change the light phasers appearance by painting the tip neon orange although these are few and far between.

Some interesting Light Phaser box variations can also be found, perhaps the easiest (actually not easy at all!) to track down would be the Tec Toy Pistola Light Phaser.

The one below in a black and white box discovered last year on eBay (I only know of 2 reported sightings of this version, both in Europe).

Also more recently it has come to light that there is a German packaged light phaser, again only two have been uncovered so far.

Also perhaps the rarest of all so far, as I only know of one, is this Argentinan example, looks similar to the Tec Toy version with the orange and yellow squares. The packaging is in Spanish not Portuguese. This and the German one above are owned by the same collector.

In the main for a nice boxed Light Phaser, unless it's in mint condition, you shouldn't really have to pay over £10. If you are lucky enough to spot one of the rarer examples shown above then you may expect to pay more (a lot more!).

Terebi Oekaki

2008-07-26T00:31:00.000-07:00

The Sega Graphic Board.

This article discusses one of the more interesting and obscure early Sega accessories. It is both hardware and software in one. The Sega Graphic board was only released in Japan and came out 1 year before the Master System. As it’s colour suggests the graphic board was designed for use with the Sega Mark III console. It was also backwards compatible with the SC-3000 and SG-1000. The Japanese retail price was 8800 yen.

The board itself is a rather compact 23cm x 14cm and just 1.2cm thick. At 10.8cm x 8cm the transparent drawing area is, to be honest, disappointingly small (almost exactly the same size as a game cartridge). There is just one button on the board itself, located in the top left corner, which acts as a start/ select button. You can also use a control pad for selecting from the tool and colour menu’s.

The cable that links the board to the cartridge is also a bit of a negative point; it is a rather restrictive 55cm in length, meaning you have to be positioned quite close to the console to use it. Which would be more suited to a PC accessory than a console.

The Sega embossed stylus (pen) that comes with the set does the job as expected. Its rather blunt tip is accurate enough to use with this limited standard of software.

When first using the Graphic Board it is easy to assume the system is faulty as you have to press on to the, quite fragile looking, drawing area with a fair amount of force. Otherwise you get rather erratic/ random results.

Once you get used to using the required amount of pressure and remembering to lift of the button when moving the stylus to another area the enjoyment factor takes over!

As this is intended to be for entertainment use only, having fun with it is obviously a key factor. It’s important to remember this isn’t a tool for creating advanced projects like you would on a PC. So whilst the options available are limited you have everything you need to make fun pictures.

There are options for 3 different line widths and an erase tool. There are 15 colours to choose from, these can also be used to fill the whole background. Lastly there is a mirror option that doubles everything you draw into a mirror image. Have a look at my 3 attempts using the Graphic Board below. The first picture was my first proper go, as you can see it looks rather pathetic!

In this next picture I attempted to use the tracing feature of the board by copying a G-Loc game box. The vertical misplaced lines near the top of the image are where I forgot to lift off the button when moving the stylus to another area.

My third picture was much more successful as I had got use to the functionality of the board. I traced a DVD box cover but had some difficulty with Rupert’s face, I’m not sure whether this was my board being a bit faulty or it just got confused with a lot going on in a small area.

I really like this accessory and feel it’s a shame the Graphic board never made it outside Japan. Although this early Ariolasoft brochure from Germany suggests it nearly did.

To strengthen the theory that it had a planned western release the Graphic Board in this picture differs slightly from the Japanese release. It has a ‘key’ showing the meanings of the abbreviated two letter menu commands. Presumably our inferior western intellect required this. Had the picture included the attached cartridge this would have shown how far this prototype (?) had got.

Perhaps one reason it never happened was how the Board connects to the to the cartridge and not the controller port, which effectively kills the units potential for more software releases.

This really is a must for any collector with a Japanese Master System (or earlier compatible system). Expect to pay around £30 - £45 but no more (unless you happen to find the European version!!). Great fun to use and a relatively rare item to own.

Tec Toy Exclusives and Hacks

2008-07-25T11:25:00.000-07:00

Exclusives

Tec Toy is the official Sega distributor for Brazil and one of my favorite areas of Master System collecting. During the life of the Master System Tec Toy actually released some Brazilian exclusive games. These are now much sort after by collectors and can command fairly high prices on ebay. There were 22 released in total, the last being Mickey's Ultimate Challenge released in December 1998. (There are also later exclusive Master System games released by Tec Toy on their multi built in game consoles but that's another story altogether).

It took me around 2 years to complete my exclusives set (shown above). The average price was around £20 each (some being less and some being much more). It is easy for bidding wars to start with these games as they don't appear too often on ebay and this tends to over inflate the prices. To be fair it's quite difficult to give each one a value, all I can suggest is don't get too carried away. Please note that 20 em 1 was never released in a box as it was a pack in game with the system, this makes the manual tough to find.

As for the actually quality of the games, well that ranges a lot also. My favorites are Baku Baku, Dynamite Headdy and Ren and Stimpy. Some of the worst are Sitio do Picapau Amarelo, Castelo Ra-Tim-Bum and 20 em 1.

Hacks

As well as these 'exclusives' Tec Toy also released 8 'hacks' of existing Master System games (shown above), where the characters and title screens etc have been swapped for well known Brazilian characters. These hacks are also popular with collectors.

These hacks include the following:
Turma da Monica em: O Resgate (Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap)
Monica no Castelo do Dragao (Wonder Boy in Monster Land)
Geraldinho (Teddy Boy)
Chapolim x Dracula - Um Duelo Assustador (Ghost House)
Sapo Xule O Mestre do Kung Fu (Kung Fu Kid)
Sapo Xule S.O.S. Lagoa Poluida (Astro Warrior)
Sapo Xule vs Os Invasores do Brejo (Psycho Fox)
As Aventuras da TV Colosso (Astérix)

Some collecting notes

Collecting Tec Toy games is not an easy task (unless you live in Brazil). Even Tec Toy branded common Master System games are fairly hard to come by on ebay. The main reason for this is that Brazil have their own version of ebay called Mercado Livre, anyone is able to register to this site and try their luck at finding a seller who is willing to ship overseas or accept paypal. I have tried myself and have never actually bought anything. Having said that some collectors I know have successfully bought Tec Toy items from Mercado Livre for a great price so it can be done. There are the odd few Brazilian sellers on ebay, but not enough to bring the prices down much.

Other things to note with Tec Toy games is that they are often in very poor condition. This is probably because the manufacturing standards are not as high, for example the glue and paper used on the cartridge stickers is very poor and you often find the labels are peeling off even on new sealed games. Also the box plastic is thin and glossy which shows up evey little scratch and wrinkle. Some of the first released Tec Toy games actually came in cardboard packets and these are particularly difficult to find in a non-destroyed state, even shrink wrapped ones often have evidence of the glue failing.

My best advice if you want to start collecting Tec toy Master System games is to be prepared that it's going to be a slow and comparatively expensive process. It's best not to jump right in and pay over the odds, maybe asking for advice on a forum first. Just enjoy it and don't try to get too bogged down with condition (as it will drive you insane!). Have a dabble with Mercado if you have the time and Patience or just wait for another collector to spill his load on ebay.

Welcome to Sega Collect

2008-07-25T09:05:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my first ever blog. I have been a fan of Sega since I first got a Master System about 18 years ago. I left it behind for newer machines a few years later but it always stayed in my mind as my favorite console. After leaving University about 4 years ago, and getting my first proper job, I found myself with lots of spare time to fill. I didn't really have a hobby other than the usual socialising etc. Then one day my dad turns up with a bag full of my old Sega games and my Master System which he was going to throw out. I was shocked he still had it all!

I spent the next few days playing through all my old games, so many great memories. I noticed that Gamestation was selling retro games including some for the SMS, most were around £1.99 BOGOF (Buy One Get One Free). So I started to buy some of the ones I didn't have back in the day but always wanted, and some I just chose because they looked okay. I started to visit other Gamestation shops in the area and very quickly, and for not much money, I had a bit of a collection going of around 40 titles.

I began to get really interested in just how many games were made for the system and found a helpful website called smspower.org. They had something called a forum which up until then I had never used before. It was like an information overload! I was amazed to find loads of like minded people avidly collecting for the system and discussing it daily. I got totally sucked in and actually started to 'collect' for the system.

I started visiting all the Gamestations, Cash Converters and Car Boot Sales I could find in search of Master System games I didn't have. I recall it took no time at all to get to over 150 games. I found myself constantly reading the old forum posts and gaining knowledge on all the game variations from across the world, so it wasn't long be for ebay became my main source for Master System collecting.

At one point I was receiving up to 3 or 4 parcels per day, every day. Most of my wage seemed to be going on my new hobby and my collection grew out of my office and took over the dining room.

I found another forum, Sega8bit.com, which seemed even more active than SMSPower. I met loads more like minded people and even found some older posts their which had mentioned my ebay user name, that seemed really strange to me at first. I quickly got friends with quite a few collectors and bought items from them instead of constantly using ebay. I posted some pictures of my collection and got a really positive response. I found it quite rewarding to track down rare or unusual items from other collectors or on ebay then post about them on the forum.

Which brings me to the purpose of this blog. I wanted my own space to be able to report my (and other collectors) finds. Also to perhaps showcase some Sega only collections and other interesting Sega related information. Anyway, we will see how it goes...