SAAAAY - GAAAAH

I Was thinking about what to write on this thing now that my SNES game buying on eBay has mellowed down, thats when I started remembering the Sega Master System that I had back in the day and figured I could squeeze a couple of entries out of it.

If I had to pick one system that got me through my formative years it has to be SNES but the Sega was there too, sure it was in the background, relegated to TurboGrafx 16 status but it was there and it had some crazy games, or at least i did.

Take Space Harrier for example: all I remember is that it was about a blonde kid who somehow flew forward on the screen with what appeared to be a bagpipe or a vaccuum cleaner which he used to shoot monsters and whatnot. It was epic! all we had seen until then were sidescrollers but Space Harried fuckin moved forward! in 3-D! (ok it wasnt 3d), it was like Megaman but much more advanced.

The main character flew forward in a variety of stages each more green and nondescript than the last in order to defeat some monsters and, probably, rescue some sort of princess or girlfriend which you would reach (according to the picture above) at the end. Whats not to like?

And look at that menu page! just by looking at it we have to assume that somebody was high. Remember: if you get beat on Space Harrier (and it happened often) quickly input up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right and you'll be good.

The brilliant thing about the Sega was that it could take two distinct forms of software: game cartridges or cards. I'm sure there was a reason for this, as one probably had more memory or was cheaper. I dont know and I dont care to find out. Its better this way. Space Harrier, by the way, came in cartridge form (also check out that amazing minimalist box design).

Next time I'll talk about a game that came in card form, a card that, in fact, I still have.