The Ela Fountain 2001

This is a page where you, the viewer, can send in your SMS memories to us and have them posted here on this page for the world to see. If you have fond memories of a game, a quest for a game, or anything SMS related, send it to us and we'll put er' on up here.

12/7/97 --Jon Deeter sms@dnc.net
I remember back in Christmas 1987, my friend down the street got a Master
System. The NES was already pretty huge, and the SMS was pretty much an
afterthought in people's minds, but after hooking that black box up, we knew
there was no going back. We played games like Afterburner and Alex Kidd in
Miracle World until our fingers hurt like hell, but we didn't care. We traded
off levels or lives on Alex Kidd for ages, and beat the crap out of each other
in Double Dragon,(eat your heart out NES'ers), at least until the last level. If
anyone beat on you in the last level, you got a real beating courtesy of
everyone in the room. I got my own SMS the next year and loved every minute of
it. The SMS sat in a closet from around 1991 to the summer of 1994, when I
pulled it out and plugged in Phantasy Star.... oh man, I knew I had to get as
many SMS games as I could get my hands on. Three and a half years, 140 games, a
web page, and countless e-mails later, here we are. The SMS is still and will
probably always be my favorite system of all time. I'd rather play an hour of
"My Hero" (and you SMS'ers know what that can be like) than ten minutes of Mario
64 or Crash Kangaroo, or... you get the idea.... So send in those memories, I am
sure you all have a story.

12/12/97--Bon Sawyer bikewks@gold.net.au
I remember my first encounter with an SMS- it was in early 1992, at my best
friend's place. I was only nearly eight years of age, so needless to say, I was
literally blown away by this funky little contraption. Alex Kidd in Miracle
World, it was- and I loved it! So I started begging Mum and Dad to get me one.
Soon, Dad said we were going to shopping... the bit I found surprising was that
he said he'd buy me a Sega! I was so excited about it. I can remember what games
he bought me, too- Hang On and Super Tennis. It took us ages to figure out how
to set the thing up, and when we did, it was my bedtime! But let me assure you,
I was up at 5am the next day just to play it. :-) We never bought many other
games- only Fantasy Zone. But we rented a game every week, so I was happy, and
half my mates had one too, so I'd always borrow one now and then. A year or two
later, I bought a Mega Drive (Genesis), and I thought that was just the ant's
pants. So the poor old SMS went back to where it had come from- it's box! (Geez,
it makes me feel like such a meanie when I think about that!) And then what
happened to it? A friend's house got raided of just about all his family's
possessions! So at the time it seemed the nice thing to do to give him my SMS,
so that he'd have something to play on until his Mega Drive and (shudder) SNES
were replaced by insurance.
So what happened to the games? 2 I sold to my cousins and the other I swapped
for Quackshot for my Mega Drive.
It was just this year that I decided to start an SMS collection. A friend's
family had been trying to sell their SMS and 15-odd games for months, and as
some of these games were some of my favourites, I asked if they'd sell it to me,
and they said I could have the lot for fifty bucks, which seemed and seems very
reasonable to me.
I had never intended to start collecting games, but when Dad got us a net
connection and I stumbled across the likes of PAF and Sega Master System
Collector's page, I knew that what I wanted was to bring back all those fond
memories and remember how video games once were- made for fun, not graphics and
sound. ;-) So I said to myself, "why not?" And now my collection consists of 24
games and still going strong!
And here's the funny bit- the friend from which I bought the SMS is the guy I
spoke about right at the start- the guy who actually got me hooked in the first
place! (Thanks Callan!)

12/11/97--Olorin me@me.com
Well said my friend! The SMS shines like a light in my childhood. I'll never
forget spending the summer at my cousins playing our SMS games. I'll never
forget my journey with Alis, Odin, Myau, and Noah through the three planets of
the Algo star system... Unfortunately, the Sega Master System was ripped from me
through a "borrow" to my friend that became a "borrow" to his friend. Alas,
Phantasy Star, Alex Kidd in Miracle World, and several other gems were gone
forever, replaced by a NES. I must admit that Zelda, Super Mario World 3, and
Metroid were good games(maybe the only good NES games), but the NES never
replaced the magic I lost from the SMS. I grieved for several years, especially
for Phantasy Star 1. The Genesis finally came and I enjoyed PS2 and 3, and 4
reminded me of 1 so much. I liked FF2 and Chrono Trigger for the SNES. Great
games, but neither matching the beauty of PS1. Then one day on the web I came
across Massage. I eagerly awaited the PS1 rom. When I got it I was so happy, but
when I played it it just wasn't the same as the actual cartridge. It's good but
like they say "ain't nothing like the real thing baby." I didn't play it through
untill the end, because playing it on computer, while fun, isn't the original I
wanted. I suppose someday I will play it through till the end, but only if I
can't find the original first. Still I am grateful for emulation, and the chance
to play games I never have before. And after playing FF7 for Playstation I am
amazed at how far games have come, especially RPG's. That game is great, but for
my money, I'd take Phantasy Star 1 any day over any new game.
Now if I could only find Alex Kidd in Shinobi World...

12/29/97 -- Ben Hilton
many years ago i cant remember how many, i went round to my best friends place
and sat down next to him. he had a new master system and was playing WONDER
BOY!!!!!!!! i just went crazy this was insane i played wonderboy for hours until
our eyes started stinging. i wrote this because strangely it is one of my most
vivid memories of my entire childhood which must mean the sms played a large
role in my growing up, which it did.the megadrive came out and i gave my sms
away to a friend never to see it again but i kept the games for my gamegear.in
early 1997, i went to a pawn store and bout a master system for $15 Australian
and started building a games library started of course by my still mint original
WONDERBOY copy!!!!!!!!!!!!!! whenever i play it it reminds me of the 80's and
how my life was better then my other favourites are california games, physco
fox, outrun and the sonics. i have a saturn and love it but sometimes i just
need a retro hit that only the sms can give......thanks for listening.

1/2/98 -- Scott
I distinctly remember buying my SMS in late 87'. I was at a local toy chain
store and was about to buy my first home video game system. I was familiar with
the two competitors. I knew of Sega from a few visits to the local video arcade
(Shinobi) and I had heard a little of Nintendo. When I walked down the aisle, I
first ran into the SMS and I fell in love with its sleek black and red colors
and its futuristic styling. It was bad in the best sense of the word and I knew
it. But was there more? When I compared the games (SMS vs. NES) all I saw on the
NES end was blocky characters and poor games, when I looked at the Sega games I
saw art; both in the box pictures and in the games themselves. Even though my
parents said that it was more expensive and not as popular I pushed on. Now,
eleven years later I am still playing and buying games for it (51 and still
going). It is my favorite system and the only one I still enjoy like it was new.

1/12/98 -- Daniel Babins
I FINISHED PHANTASY STAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When I was 10 {8 years ago}
I was given a copy of Phantasy star for my sms by my friend ethan. he told me he
had never finished it and {since he was selling his sega any-ways} said I should
give it a try. I expected a tough game. I didn't expect the next 6 months of my
life to be controlled by a EVIL black box. Every day after school I would cram
as much time as posible into that game, somtimes 13-14 hours a day, and yet it
never got any easier. There were two major problems though. first I could never
figure out how to get the hovercraft. second I never knew you could disarm the
pits {I never reolized they were called pit TRAPS. For the last 3 weeks I
wandered around senselessly until, {in a state of mass depression}, I sealed my
sega in the box and bought a genesis. Ever year or two since then I would
re-open the box and start over, always coming to the same point, then shutting
down. As of 1:17 am january 6 1998 both lassic and darkfalz have been defeated!
now on to phantasy star 2. Applause here is appropriate

1/15/98 -- Luke Breinig
It all started about Christmas time 1988 or so when two of my friends got NES's
and one of my friends and I both got SMS's. This was purely coincidental, but it
worked out great because this way everyone had someone else to swap games with,
and all four of us got to sample what both systems had to offer. Well, as fate
would have it, I for one have alot better memories of playing Golvelius, Psycho
Fox and Y's than Super Mario Brothers and Zelda. I eventually sold my first SMS
unit in about 1992 in order to buy a Genesis, but I did retain most of my
favorite titles for play on my gamegear via a Master-Gear Converter. Then, last
summer, I happened to stumble across a SMS I unit along with a whole mess of
games, all priced very reasonably, in a local videogame shop, so I snagged all
of them. A few weeks later, I was messing around on the internet and I happened
to stumble across your site. It was then I realized that, yes, there were other
people who shared my insanity and ever since it has been my life's mission to
acquire more and more SMS games. I've got right around 70 now, and still goin'
strong.

1/21/98 -- Eric R. Quinn
It was nearly ten years ago, November 1988. Christmas was fast approaching, and
video games were on my mind. Sure, I had heard of Nintendo and its NES, but I
wasn't impressed. I had seen the Sega Master System in passing at a Toy's R Us,
but didn't know much about it. I decided to find out more. As my knowledge of
the sleek, black system grew, I became aware that the SMS beat the pants off the
NES in almost every way. However, my two younger brothers had friends who
already owned NES's, so they favored the NES. There was no way that my parents
would buy the system for just me, so I had to convince my brothers that they too
wanted an SMS. This was far easier than I expected; all it took was a single
trip to Montgomery Wards, where a SMS was on display. After a few demos they
were both hooked. Now, we only needed to pester our parents. Our SMS mania was
so intense that, in the process, we managed to convince a friend of mine to buy
an SMS as well. He bought his shortly after Thanksgiving. I visited his house
one day after school and we played the SMS for quite some time. I knew that the
next three weeks until Christmas were going to be hell for me. I, and my
brothers, used the time to embed the name "Sega" into my parents brains (my dad
never quite got it, confusing the names Sega and Nintendo. He can even now be
heard to occasionally mutter "Sego" when referring to the SMS). Christmas day
finally arrived, and with unbelievable excitement, my brothers and I dove into
our presents looking for the SMS box (by this time, we had memorized its
dimensions and weight, we could have found it blind-folded). It wasn't long
before the wrapping paper was torn off and the SMS set up in our spare room
upstairs. And so it came to be that during my Freshman year in high-school my
brothers and I received our first Sega Master System.
For the next year, the SMS nearly dominated almost every aspect of our lives. We
played it constantly. The first games we had were Hang-On/Safari Hunt and
Choplifter. We tried to build our library as quickly as possible, but with our
incomes (virtually none) this was difficult to do. We satisfied our hunger, by
trading games with my friend. In this way we were introduced to Shinobi, R-Type,
and Golvellius, still our favorite three SMS games. If we weren't playing these,
it was "Hang-On Marathons" where each of us would play Hang-On as long as
possible. During the summer, it was swimming and SMS. My friend found a (rare)
place that would rent SMS games. We picked up Miracle Warriors, and played it
all night. We spent so much time playing the SMS, that his parents kicked us out
of the house. This by no means stopped us. Using a heavy-duty extension cord, we
set up a television and SMS in a tent in his backyard. This time, it was
Spellcaster. We played it all night.
By that Fall, the Genesis had made its appearance, and my friend and I were back
in school, Sophomores now. The SMS was slowly dying, and so was our interest in
it. In the next few months very few SMS games were purchased, and the ones that
were we found in the sales bins. Our SMS madness had ended. In the process my
brothers and I had collected a mere 13 games, some good, some bad.
For nearly eight years, our SMS was neglected. That is until a little more than
a year ago, when I stumbled across a still thriving SMS community on the
Internet. My interest again grew (what fond memories) and as mine did, so did
the interest of my brothers. Now, thirteen games is nice, but we were still
looking to expand our collection (and we had a little more money now too). The
hunt began. We hit gold, twice. In two strokes our collection grew from thirteen
to forty-one to eighty-five games, including nearly fifty duplicates. We now own
almost every SMS game we ever wanted (and a few we never wanted) including
Phantasy Star, Shinobi, Golvellius, R-Type and all the 3-D games. In fact, like
Mr. Daniel Babins, I too just won Phantasy Star for the first time (August 1,
1997 as recorded in the original Sega Notebook). Currently I am enjoying PSII,
on our 18-month old Genesis.