Sega Power's Top 211 Sega Master System Games of All Time (Part 1: #211 - #176)

#211: George Foreman's K.O. Boxing

12% “Of all the things you can do with 30 quid, spending it on this shambling travesty isn't one of them. Get drunk or buy your girlie some flowers instead.”

#210: Ace of Aces

15% “No wonder Sega didn't make too much noise when they released Ace of Aces. They can't be proud of it. Bang a couple of seriously naff arcade sequences together and pretend it's a game. Don't waste your money. It doesn't even offer 20 minutes' worth of fun.”

#209: Transbot

17% “Anyone expecting Transformer-type fun from this cart can forget it right away. Without doubt, the most tedious Sega game ever. Don't touch it. ‘Nuff said.”

#208: WWF Steel Cage

18% “You need to be told? This is an atrocious game that'll probably sell far more copies than it deserves. Avoid WWF Steel Cage like the proverbial plague – even if someone pays you to play.”

#207: Laser Ghost

19% “A waste of time really. Laser Ghost is a sad, shambling mockery of a game that should be avoided like the Ed after he's eaten a particularly strong curry. If you really love the Light Phaser and you're very desperate for a new game, then give it a try. But everyone else – save your cash.”

#206: The Incredible Crash Dummies

21% “I can't believe that Acclaim have taken so long to produce such a half-baked effort. The sub-games are ancient and the gameplay's mind-numbingly simplistic. Look elsewhere, okay?”

#205: The Flintstones

21% “This month, we review two very different cartoon licenses on the Master System. One is utterly superb, the other is utterly awful – this one! Okay, so The Flintstones might look pretty, but it's still lousy to play and appalling value for money. Don't touch it with a bargepole.”

#204: Running Battle

23% “How can Sega justify a game like Running Battle when last month we were playing classics like Sonic and Super Space Invaders – on the same machine? There's little in this game to recommend – certainly not the in gameplay anyway. Make sure this one stays in the shops, okay?”

#203: Champions of Europe

27% “What an incredibly awful game! Anyone who even contemplates paying 35 pounds for this pile of nob should put themselves in for a frontal lobotomy NOW! Steer well clear.”

#202: Renegade

28% “A conversation of a game that's well past its sell-by date, with disappointing graphics and poor atmosphere. It's too easy as well. Save your pennies for anything but this.”

#201: Back to the Future Part II

29% “Back to the Future 2 is a load of old garbage. Its only redeeming feature is that you do get four games for the price of one. Sadly, none of them are worth the effort. The programming is lazy, the gameplay is monumentally frustrating and the entire thing is largely unplayable. Avoid!”

#200: Dick Tracy

30% “Not the worst game to ever appear in Sega Power, but it's getting close. This game generates no excitement, it's not fun to play and there's little in it to keep you coming back for more. If you're a big fan of the character or the movie, you'd be much better off spending your money on a few movie magazines – you'll get much more enjoyment out of them and you might not have to spend so much money.”

#199: Tecmo World Cup Soccer

32% “A singularly boring game – I'd rather dangle my bits in a bucket of freezing water than play this. Small and fiddly graphics, irritating gameplay – and just foul. Yuck, yuck, yuck!”

#198: Back to the Future Part III

35% “The gameplay in Back to the Future 3 is severely lacking. There are too few stages and it's basically very unsatisfying. Games like this died out on micros years ago, and there was a good reason for that. They just weren't any fun.”

#197: Andre Agassi Tennis

38% “I find it hard to believe that a tennis ace like Andre Agassi would put his name to a game like this. When stacked against Wimbledon 2, this just doesn't stand a chance.”

#196: Action Fighter

42% “Nice idea, but just too repetitive to make it a worthwhile purchase. With a frustrating pause between goes and yawn-worthy play, Action Fighter doesn't really get the S-vote here.”

#195: Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story

42% “Another film license turned 8-bit platformer that is utterly tiresome. Dragon? Drag on, more like!”

#194: Terminator 2: Judgment Day

80% “A game that flatters to deceive. It's a great license with impressive 8-bit graphics, but all this is delivered at the expense of balanced and challenging gameplay.”

#193: California Games 2

43% “Not enough events and the whole game is plagued by a lack of variety and quality. Crumbly ‘80s gameplay bangs the final nail in the coffin. Nostalgia freaks may love it.”

#192: Lord of the Sword

44% “This arcade adventure tries both elements and does neither. The repetitive form of the gameplay is too shallow for puzzlers, and too joysticky for thinkers. Pretty though.”

#191: The Simpsons: Bart vs. the World

44% “It's not just that the levels aren't imaginatively designed or that the puzzle games are uninteresting, everything in the Master System version of Bart vs. the World is just too slow.”

#190: World Cup Italia '90

44% “Disappointing stuff here from Virgin – especially as everyone has been waiting for a decent footy game to come out for a long, long time. It's competently programmed but the gameplay is poor which is a shame as that's the most important feature of any game, from football simulations to shoot ‘em ups.”

#189: Time Soldiers

45% “A good idea that's been poorly implemented. Time Soldiers just goes to show you that just because it's a coin-op conversion, it doesn't mean you should grab your wallet and rush out and buy it. This isn't a fault of the actual conversion (which is very good), but a fault of the original game, which is not one of the best to have appeared in arcades over recent years.”

#188: Cheese Cat-Astrophe Starring Speedy Gonzales

46% “Very boring and tiresome. Look, if you want something decent, buy Mega Man or Micro Machines 2.”

#187: Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars

47% “Colourful and jolly, Alex's second adventure makes great fun for younger players but has little to recommend it for real hard gamers.”

#186: Pit-Fighter

47% “The arcade hit comes to the Master System at long last, but has it got the pectorals Julian would be proud of? By the way, a big Sega Power hello goes to Julian and John's Ruth.”

#185: World Games

48% “Oh dear. We'd like to say that World Games is a fitting successor to California Games and a great sports sim in its own right. But it isn't. Twenty-five quid for a couple of day's play? No way, kiddo: don't touch this one with a caber.”

#184: Double Hawk

49% “If you like Cabal, then you'll like this. Maybe. Quite fun for two-players, otherwise the graphics are a big letdown, limiting what could have been an OK game.”

#183: Rescue Mission

49% “Neat but dull shoot ‘em up. It's not really THAT horrendous, and if you're utterly desperate to get a hold of a new Phaser game this should just about fit the bill. Just don't expect too much.”

#182: Missile Defense 3D

50% “The 3D works well, but the game's simple fare becomes boring very quickly. Let's hope they continue the range, but improve the games.”

#181: After Burner

51% “Although After Burner has its origins way back in the early days of the Sega Master System, it still holds up remarkably well. Fans of the original arcade coin-op will love it because it's a real blast from the past.”

#180: E-SWAT: City Under Siege

51% “It had everything going for it – good coin-op, good conversion, but somehow the gameplay got missed out which leaves very little left to recommend it.”

#179: Bonanza Bros.

52% “Once again, Bonanza Brothers (or in this case, brother) falls to come up with the goods. The original coin-op game was fairly limited anyway, but with the two-player option removed, the Master System version now has very little to offer. This cart is one for mega fans of the original only.”

#178: Superman: The Man of Steel

52% “Even Lois Lane wouldn't want to be seen in public with these two Superman games. Both titles are average platform beat ‘em ups which offer very little that's either new or original.”

#177: Altered Beast

53% “A brave attempt at a very tricky (and not terribly brilliant) coin-op. There are better games like Golden Axe on sale for about the same price, so unless you are a BIG fan of the original arcade machine, you'd probably be better off giving this one a miss.”

#176: Basketball Nightmare

53% “An unusual and attractive sport sim spoiled by simple-gameplay and a league which is too easy. Reasonable fun as a two-player game and for the part-time dribbler!”