Monday, April 28, 2025

Mastered System

The Sega Master System is to date the only
major game console that comes with its
own flowchart.
(image from GameTrog)

Here's some megaton-caliber news for fans of the Sega Master System... after years of going without, the 8-bit console finally has its own BASIC compiler. And here's a surprise... it's the same compiler people have already been using to make ColecoVision games for nearly a year! Oscar Toledo Gutierrez (more popularly known by his online handle Nanochess) has brought Master System support to CVBasic, making it the fourteenth machine supported by the compiler and arguably the most significant of the bunch.

Here's why this is a big deal. Previous consoles supported by CVBasic used the TMS9918 chip, a video processor which was a step up from the prehistoric Atari 2600 but started showing its age the moment Nintendo released the Famicom (our NES) in Japan in 1983. Its limitations are numerous and aggravating, with single colored sprites, a lack of hardware scrolling, and a fixed color palette with some of the most repellent hues this side of a gas station bathroom.

Colors on the ColecoVision include yuck,
ew, nasty, eww with two w's, and what
the hell were they thinking?
(image from Lo Spec dot com)
 

Those limitations were tolerable on the education-focused TI-99/4A, but are glaringly apparent on the ColecoVision, a supposed arcade-quality game console with games that fell distressingly short of arcade perfection. (Have you seen the original ColecoVision version of Time Pilot? Yeech.) Nintendo actively sought to address these shortcomings with the NES, and its long lifespan speaks for itself. While the death of the ColecoVision is largely due to the video game crash and Coleco's mismanagement, it's highly unlikely that its anemic hardware could have kept pace with the game design trends of the late 1980s and beyond. If a dated arcade game like Time Pilot is beyond your system's reach, you can forget about Crystalis, or Bionic Commando, or River City Ransom, or Final Fantasy.

That brings us to the Sega Master System. This console was designed as a successor to the SG-1000 (effectively a Japanese ColecoVision), and demonstrates massive improvements over both that system and the Famicom. It's as much a Super ColecoVision as Nintendo's 16-bit system was a Super NES, with an expanded color palette, hardware scrolling, and sprites with not one, not three, but fifteen possible colors. As a result, the very best games on the Master System approach a 16-bit level of color and detail, leaving past game consoles and even the NES in the dust.

Rampage on the Master System (left), versus
the same game on the NES (right). The only
thing more palpable than the difference in
visual quality is the disappointment I felt
when I bought the NES version.

Back in the late 1980s, it was the dream of every nerdy Gen-X teenager in America to make their own NES game. You might call CVBasic's recent inclusion of Master System support a nifty consolation prize for those hopeful game designers, but considering the advantages the Master System has over the NES, this might actually be better. It would certainly be preferred in Europe, where the Master System was the 8-bit console of choice of kids weaning themselves off the ZX Spectrum.

The best part is that games already written in CVBasic for other formats can be converted to the Master System. The graphics have to be redrawn to take advantage of the system's expanded color palette, but the original game logic remains compatible. Heck, you can even expand on what you've already written, since the Master System has a lot more RAM and solid state storage than the old SG-1000. Extra stages? New intermissions? A high score table? Sure, why not?

The juiced up graphics alone may be enough motivation for a Master System port. Check out how my mascot Byron looked in his ColecoVision game, compared to how he COULD look on the Master System. Now you're playing with power!

The colors, Duke! There actually ARE some now!