SEGA the Master of Systems!

SEEEEEGAAAAA... Everyone knows that iconic sound from the early 90's. The Sega Genesis was a massive achievement from the console maker. The Mega-Drive or Genesis (as it was known in North America) stands as one of the greatest consoles of all time. Sega fans and retro gamers alike know though that this wasn't Sega's first run around the track. 3 years prior in 1986 Sega had unleashed the Sega Master System on consumers, challenging Nintendo during the 8-bit era. However, that isn't where Sega's console story begins either. In 1983 they hit the console market with the Sega SG-1000. At the onset of the 80's there was a slight decline in the Japanese arcade market, and Sega felt that developing a home device would be a great way to restore some of that lost revenue. However, being the same year that Nintendo unleashed the Famicom on the world, it didn't see much commercial success. That didn't stop it from receiving some of the earliest home ports of classic Sega arcade titles, and it was successful enough to warrant not just a redesigned variant (known as the Sega SG-1000 Mark II) which ditched the joystick paddle style controller for a more traditional control-pad. It also led to its formal successor the Sega Mark III, known in the west as the Sega Master System. So this month, we are taking a look at the games that started it all in the home arena for Service Games, aka SEGA!.

Doki Doki Penguin Land

Our first game on the list is also the first in a series of games from Sega. Doki Doki Penguin Land was such a hit on the SG-1000 that it was actually ported to arcades, rather than the other way around. After playing it for a few minutes, it's easy to see why. It's a charming game that sees you as the father penguin, trying to transport your unhatched egg to its mother who resides at the bottom of the levels. You're able to use your beak to break the ground beneath the egg, or other items, to both progress and to smash enemies who would crack your egg in two. This light-hearted game and its simple but fun mechanics are easy to pickup, and fun to stick with.

Flicky

The flicky are no strangers to Sega fans, most notably recognized as the birds you're tasked to rescue in Sonic 3D Blast. It all started with the arcade game Flicky though, which was released to various home consoles over the years, but landed first on the SG-1000. Unlike our last entry whose graphics matched that of the arcade version, this game suffered from a remarkable downgrade in visual quality. However, the mechanics remained the same and Flicky stands as another simple but addicting game. In it, you play as the Flicky whose goal is to collect and save the other little birdies from the roaming cats who will try to catch your ever growing trail of birds, as well as you. You need to drop the birds off at the safe-point, but the game entices you to grow your trail longer as the more birds you save at once, the higher your score; making for a great risk-reward system that you'll have trouble putting down.

Ninja Princess

Western audiences may be somewhat familiar with this title vicariously through its psuedo-sequel/remake release on the Master System titled "The Ninja" where the protagonist was changed to male. However, it all began with the arcade game Ninja Princess (sometimes referred to as Sega Ninja). This game has you assume the role of a princess/ninja running upwards through each level in typical run'n'gun fashion, eventually squaring off against a boss. The difficulty of this game is much higher than the others in that it only takes one hit to be defeated, setting you back to the onset of each area depending on how far you've progressed. Despite its difficulty, or perhaps because of it, this remains one of the most popular titles on the system.

Gulkave

Gulkave was developed for the SG-1000 but never made it to the arcades like Doki Doki Penguin Land did. However, it stands as one of the most graphically impressive games on the system. Its multi-level background scrolling, which features a different background over its 30 different levels, and enemy variety all work together to make this one of the premier games to own for the system. A horizontal shoot 'em up, or SHMUP, this game has you flying your starship across a variety of scenes taking all sorts of space-baddies down along the way. Compared to many of the games in the system's library, this has a much faster pace about it both in tone and control. It makes one wonder how such an awesome game never made its way to the Mega-Drive later in life.

While the SG-1000 never made its way outside of the Asian market, we all owe it a great debt of thanks for pulling Sega into the console market. A short lived system with a short library it may be, but its humble beginnings stand as the genesis (pun intended) of one of our favorite systems and games from Sega!