The Game with No Name

I recently discovered something interesting about Sega's first entry in the US home console market. The machine originally called the Mark III wasn't supposed to be known as the "Master System" at all here in America... that only applied to a specific package that included the light gun and two controllers. The machine was also sold as "The Sega Base System" (the entry level model) and "The Sega Video Game System" (the super deluxe model with the surprisingly effective 3D glasses). This marketing mirrored how Nintendo sold the NES... you could buy either the Control Deck, the Action Set, or the Deluxe Set, which included historical footnote R.O.B. the Video Robot.

Sega Retro claims the system's official name, at least in the early days, was simply "The Sega System." It makes peculiar sense... in the 1980s, people generally didn't refer to game systems by their official titles, but by their manufacturers. "Hey, what happened to your Atari?" "That's old news... I got a Nintendo now. Wanna try it?" It seems Sega was eager to cut to the chase and call their machine what they thought everyone else would. (No, not "that black trapezoid your parents got you by mistake.")

Here's a picture of the console, supplied by Sega Retro. The first model always had "Master System/Power Base" printed on the top, regardless of the box it came inside. However, it officially earned its "Master" status after the Genesis was released in America, in an effort to limit confusion between the two machines. It's a lot like how Atari rechristened the Video Computer System the 2600 after its own successor was launched.

Special thanks to Sega Retro for this revelation. By the way, I was never a fan of the Master System, but it gets credit for being the first and possibly only game console with a flowchart on the case.