SEGA MASTER SYSTEM

Oh, I remember the ads: "To be this good takes AGES!" Rarely have marketing slogans been so apt, because it took forever for Sega's 8-bit console to find its feet.

- Words Craig Grannell

On paper, things looked great: the Japan-only SG-1000 Mark III was a would-be Nintendo Famicom smasher. But Ninty locked down devs into exclusivity contracts; a US relaunch in 1986 gave the console its familiar name, and a swankier shell, only for Nintendo to lock the doors again. So Sega turned to Europe... and nearly face-planted even harder.