The year is 1991, and at the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago, Nintendo are proudly showing off their latest Mario installment — a game already being talked about as one of the greatest of all time. They’re demonstrating how gorgeous it looks, how many colours they can squeeze onto the screen, and how polished their platforming formula has become.
But the real crowd‑puller is over at the Sega stand.
Sega’s blue mascot is front and centre, and this new game has blast processing. It’s everything Mario wasn’t. Mario was slower, deliberate, full of secrets and atmosphere. This thing? It was fast, loud, had a soundtrack that slapped, and — let’s be honest — it was cool.
Sega were right in Nintendo’s face, practically shouting: “Have a load of that!”
As Street Fighter once declared: Here comes a new challenger.
Fast‑forward to nineteen‑ninety‑something and my mate Steve has a new games system. A system with blast processing. For what feels like forever, Steve becomes the most popular kid down our row.
When it finally cycled round to my turn, I could just about finish Green Hill Zone. But Marble Zone? Instant kills everywhere. I longed to see what was waiting on that next level.
I could go on here about what’s widely regarded as one of the best games ever made — but it’s all been said before. What I will admit is that my brother and I pestered and pestered until we finally got ourselves a Sega.
We were successful… with a small caveat.
We opened our Sega, and yes, it had Sonic. But it wasn’t the Sega Mega Drive we thought we were getting.
It was a Sega Master System.