The Sega Master System (SMS) was Sega's entry into the fourth generation of home video games. Sega had been active earlier in producing cartridge games for the popular home consoles but this was their first new platform. It closely followed the release of the NES and had its own gimmicks to attract audiences, like 3-D glasses and a sports trackball to support its large library of sports games.
Suffering from the third-party oppression caused by Nintendo, the SMS never got many popular games outside of those by Sega themselves. In Europe, the SMS was supported well enough to spur the release of the SMS II in 1990. As of 1993, the SMS II was selling for $19.99 in U.S. toy stores, which accurately depicts the life of the SMS II in the U.S. However, the SMS technology lives on in Sega's Game Gear which is essentially a portable SMS with a few enhancements.
Dennis Brown, dgbrown (at) pixesthesia (dot) com, creator and maintainer. E-Mail me with corrections and additions. All contents copyright 2006, Dennis Brown. All trademarks are properties of their respective companies.