[HN Gopher] The Sega Master System
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       The Sega Master System
        
       Author : ibobev
       Score  : 37 points
       Date   : 2025-11-09 19:15 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (bumbershootsoft.wordpress.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (bumbershootsoft.wordpress.com)
        
       | aledalgrande wrote:
       | Was just a few days ago in a shop in Den Den town in Osaka, where
       | they still sell original Master System, NES and PS1 games, so
       | many memories!
        
       | djmips wrote:
       | This is a bit of history that has always fascinated me ever since
       | I found out in the nineties while employed at Accolade, where we
       | were reverse engineering the Sega Genesis, that the VDP in the
       | Genesis was a variant / descendent of the humble 70's TI TMS9918
       | (mentioned at the heart of the SG-1000 / Colecovision / MSX and
       | more) - we made a lot of hay in our clean room reverse
       | engineering effort using Texas Instruments data sheets for the
       | 9918!
       | 
       | It is also casually mentioned that the TMS9918 inspired the VDP
       | in the Famicom/NES but I haven't seen any direct proof because it
       | also seems possible that the 2A03 was derived from
       | Nintendo/Ikegami Tsushinki 'Namco Galaxian' inspired arcade board
       | design notably used in Donkey Kong. It's an interesting thread
       | and perhaps studying Galaxian arcade hardware and Donkey Kong
       | hardware and contrasting it with the TMS9918 and 2A03 can
       | establish some geneology for home and arcade VDP design in the
       | early 80's
       | 
       | But it is clear that there was a pretty 'open source' attitude
       | towards hardware IP at SEGA and Nintendo and elswhere in the
       | early 80s.
        
       | kawsper wrote:
       | Maybe it is nostalgia speaking, but the SMS had a great sound
       | chip, and some amazing composers.
       | 
       | My absolute favourite song is from Ninja Gaiden "Escape in a
       | forest" (starts at 03:36) here:
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFoA0OICiB4&t=207s
       | 
       | Someone played that song with real instruments, and it's also
       | amazing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arun9KuXImk
        
         | epcoa wrote:
         | Probably a little nostalgia. The SMS sound chip is one of the
         | cheapest and most primitive jellybean sound chip of the era
         | (only 3 square waves, noise and no envelope generator either).
         | That isn't to say appreciating the art of doing more with less
         | isn't valid. It's sort of like a MS Paint type of thing though.
        
           | allenu wrote:
           | I agree. I had an SMS growing up and always noticed the music
           | sounded "cheaper" than the NES, almost childish. I think it
           | really was just the square waves making everything sound the
           | same. The NES had more interesting output with its triangle
           | and sawtooth wave output and it gave it more edge and
           | character.
        
             | mr_johnson22 wrote:
             | The NES' own sound chip didn't have a sawtooth channel, but
             | some games had an onboard sound chip that added one, like
             | Konami's VRC6: https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/VRC6_audio
        
         | airstrike wrote:
         | It was cheap AF but that ends up giving it a specific
         | aesthetic...
         | 
         | My all time favorite is the opening to Alex Kidd in Shinobi
         | World: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dx9AAKm6dI
        
         | makeitdouble wrote:
         | > great sound chip, and some amazing composers.
         | 
         | I understand it as more of the latter than the former.
         | 
         | Hardware might not have been great, but they were dedicated to
         | push it to the extreme limits of what it could do, and all of
         | it was punching way above its weight in all respects.
         | 
         | Japanese companies saw an opening, and extremely brilliant
         | people went in head first, sleeping under their desk to leave
         | their mark in the field.
        
       | brabel wrote:
       | It was my second console after the Atari. It was a huge upgrade
       | and we loved playing on it. The Mega Drive a few years later was
       | my next one. In low income countries like Brazil they apparently
       | still sell them new but licensed by a local manufacturer with
       | another name I believe. It was so popular it still sells 30 years
       | later.
        
         | pipes wrote:
         | Tectoy. They also kept releasing games way after the ms was
         | dead else where. Oh and they did their own ms port of street
         | fighter 2! https://segaretro.org/Street_Fighter_II%27
        
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       (page generated 2025-11-09 23:00 UTC)