Growing up on the Sega Master System while everyone else had a Nintendo has a lot to do with my perspective and taste for games. The two consoles may look the same at a glance but are drastically different from one another. For one thing; the Nintendo had an unprecedented amount of titles to choose from. Some of the greatest third party franchises belonged to the Nintendo, such as Mega-Man, Ninja Gaiden, Final Fantasy, Double Dragon, and Canstlevania just to name a few. This alone dwarfs the worth of th Sega Master System. But what the SMS lacked, made up in gaming atmosphere, music, graphics, sound effects and originality.
While Nintendo did have their great soundtracks from Konami and Capcom, I've always found them lacking sense of aura and originality. Sega, simply put, destroys the Nintendo's library of music (my opinion, of course).
One of the main reasons why is because, as oppose to Nintendo, Sega embraced it's origins. The console had numerous games that were heavily influenced by Japanese traditional culture. Complimenting Feudal Japan settings from The Ninja, SpellCaster and Kenseiden, were music that was completely unheard of at the time.
Kenseiden puts you in the roll of Hayato, a samurai that goes across the treacherous land of Feudal Japan, collecting scrolls from Warlocks in order to defeat Nobunaga. Along the way you'll have to fight some creepy and odd Japanese folklore demons. The settings of each stages are creepy, depressing and curiously beautiful.
Where the game shines most is it's eerie, unique soundtrack. Each song is layered incredibly deep with many different types of percussions, flutes and "twangs" unavailable in Sega's direct competition at the time. The soundtrack creeped the crap out of me when I was a little kid, and even today as I go through the tracks, some of them provoke the exact same feelings.
Here are some samples of Kenseiden's soundtrack (VGMusic):
If you own a Sega Master System, I highly encourage you purchasing Kenseiden. It plays like Metroid / Ninja Gaiden minus the speed, and the difficulty can be brutal at times, but if I cleared it when I was only 7, it shouldn't be a problem right? ;)
The game only cost me a mere $5 on eBay, and was worth sacrificing my meal from McDonald's.
Here's a pic of a spread from the manual to entice you:
Love that Harlot Lizard... *shudder*
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