Sega Master System/Hardware comparison

For technical details on the Sega Master System, see Sega Master System/Technical specifications.

This article presents a hardware comparison between the Sega Master System and other rival systems in its time, most notably the NES. It compares the technical specifications and hardware advantages/disadvantages between the systems.

Vs. Game Gear

As was tradition with Sega consoles at the time, the handheld Sega Game Gear is backwards compatible with the Master System and can run Master System carts through an adapter. The only hardware difference known between the two on a chip level is that the Game Gear can define 4096 possible colors, while the Master System can only define 64 colors. As the GG has more colors, it has a different method of setting each of the color registers than the SMS did; the SMS color can be determined by one byte and hence only needed one register, whereas a number from 0 to 4095 needs two bytes, and so the GG VDP has two color registers. Game Gear games which use the expanded graphics mode will run on an Master System, but with scrambled colors.

Another hardware difference is resolution. The Game Gear has a lower resolution compared to the Master System.

The lack of a "Start" button on a Master System also prevents many Game Gear games from being played without minor changes, however in many cases Game Gear titles are identical to their Master System counterparts, resolution included, meaning it was very common to see both Master System and Game Gear releases of games in regions such as Europe.

Vs. NES

Its main rival, the NES, is an entirely 8-bit console, with an 8-bit Ricoh 2A03 CPU and 8-bit Ricoh PPU graphics chip, each with an 8-bit data bus. The Master System's Z80 has a higher clock rate than the 2A03, but both output a similar number of instructions per second. The higher memory bus clock rate of the Z80 and the 16-bit data bus of the VDP gives the Master System a higher memory bandwidth than the NES. The Master System displays 16 colors per tile and 16 colors per sprite, like the Mega Drive, compared to 4 colors per tile and 4 colors per sprite for the NES. The Master System displays 32 colors on screen, compared to the Nintendo's 25 colors on screen. The Master System also supports diagonal scrolling as well as line scrolling, allowing it to simulate parallax scrolling. The Master System is thus a more powerful console than the NES. On the other hand, the NES had a Ricoh sound chip that was more advanced than the PSG in Western Master System hardware, but not as advanced as the Yamaha FM synthesis chip in Japanese Master System hardware. The NES was also capable of enhancement chips, some of which added diagonal scrolling, line scrolling and FM synthesis capabilities, but the Master System nevertheless remained the more powerful console.

Vs. C64 and ZX

The Master System's main rivals in Europe were the home computers ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 (C64), and Commodore Amiga 500 (A500), the latter releasing a month after the Master System's European release in 1987; though, despite the rivalry, Sega supported these platforms as a third-party licensor of arcade ports. The Master System was the most powerful 8-bit home system, surpassing the NES, ZX, and C64, while at the same time the SMS had a lower price point than the ZX and C64.

Vs. Amiga

Compared to the 16-bit Amiga 500, the A500 was generally more powerful overall, with a more powerful 16-bit 68000 CPU, higher resolution, larger color palette, larger sprites, faster blitting, and superior audio capabilities (like the Mega Drive released a year later). However, the Master had several advantages, including more hardware sprite, superior tile capabilities, and smoother scrolling. Its tilemap backgrounds require up to 64 times less processing, memory and bandwidth than the A500's bitmap backgrounds, allowing the Master System to produce smoother scrolling and animations. The Master System displays 32 hardware sprites on screen, compared to the A500's 8 hardware sprites (though blitting allows the A500 to exceed this limit). The Master System displays 32 colors on screen and 16 colors per sprite, while for the A500, colors range from 2 to 32 on screen and it displays 2 to 4 colors per sprite. The A500's parallax scrolling reduces performance and colors, while the Master System's line scrolling simulates parallax scrolling without affecting performance or colors. The Master System's cartridges also have faster loading than the Amiga's floppy disks. While the A500 was still more advanced overall, the Master System hardware was strong enough to remain competitive at a significantly lower price point, up until the release of the more advanced Mega Drive.

Comparison table

Console		Sega Master System	Nintendo Entertainment System
System master clock rate	NTSC	53.693175 MHz	21.47727 MHz
	PAL	53.203424 MHz	26.6017125 MHz
CPU		NEC 780C	Ricoh 2A03
Clock rate	NTSC	3.579545 MHz	1.789773 MHz
	PAL	3.546894 MHz	1.662607 MHz
Bits	Bus width	8-bit	8-bit
	Word length	8-bit	8-bit
	Instruction set	8-bit, 16-bit	8-bit
Main RAM	Memory	8 KB (XRAM/SRAM, 8-bit, 3.579545 MHz)	2 KB (SRAM, 8-bit, 1.789773 MHz)
	Bandwidth	3.579545 MB/s	1.789773 MB/s