Timeline | 1986: Sega Master System

Sega's competition for the NES, didn't reach nearly the same heights but it did pave the way for the Genesis/MegaDrive

The height of Sega's console sales, and arguably their importance as a video game console manufacturer came during the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive era - but the foundation for that success was laid during the previous gaming generation with the humble Sega Master System. The Master System was released in Japan in 1985 as the Sega Mark III and later rereleased as the Master System in 1987. It first came to North America in 1986. The Master System was not Sega's first console, it succeeded the SG-1000 in Japan, but it was Sega's first to come to North America and was released to compete with the Nintendo Entertainment System. Unfortunately due to a lack of advertising and third party games (due in large part to Nintendo's policy on the NES not allowing games to be released on other consoles) along with some questionable decisions as far as game localization by Tonka, the company Sega had contracted the North American market for the Master System to, the system never really took off. While the Master System only sold between 10-13 million consoles worldwide, compared to the 61+ million of the NES, it did establish successful markets for Sega in Europe and places like Brazil and Sega would build off of this success with the Genesis/Mega Drive.

A typical Master System game case.

The Master System's game library is relatively sparse, even more so when you consider that many of its later games could also be found (in superior ports) on other systems including usually the Sega Genesis. However, there are a few games that released on the Master System that would go on to be important for Sega including most notably Shinobi and Phantasy Star. Sega's first attempt at a mascot to compete with Nintendo's Mario was Alex Kidd whos games (all but 1 which came out on the Genesis) released for the Master System. Later Sonic the Hedgehog would replace Alex Kidd as Sega's mascot and while he came to the Master System a few times it was only ports of the newer systems.

Further Reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_System
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Master_System_games

Magazine | 1988: Nintendo Power Issue #1

The Inaugural Issue of Nintendo Power!

Prior to Nintendo Power, Nintendo produced a monthly newsletter call Nintendo Fun Club. The Fun club ran for 7 issues from 1987 to 1988 before Nintendo decided to start a full-fledged magazine and so Nintendo Power was born. Even if you are only a casual fan of video games, you likely remember Nintendo Power, it ran for nearly 300 issues starting in 1988 all the way until its demise in late 2012. We at least have it's spiritual successor - Nintendo Force!

They didn't skimp on the SMB 2 details, they included basically a walkthrough guide to the first 2 worlds/6 levels even.

For their Premiere issue, Nintendo Power ironically focused on seconds. The cover depicted a clay-mation scene from Super Mario Bros. 2 which was the focus of the magazine with gameplay tips and some great art about the enemies. They followed this with an article about the Second Quest in The Legend of Zelda which included a fold-out map of the game. Double Dragon, Gauntlet, Contra and several other games got smaller articles along with a 'Classified Information' section and a 'Counselor's Corner' section both with game play tips and tricks - in the pre-Internet era this was the place to be for how-tos (we didn't have 'Let's Play' videos on Youtube).

Eventually Nintendo would split the walkthroughs off as 'Nintendo Player's Guides' but early Nintendo Powers had all that included, the Zelda map here was quite an impressive addition.

A Howard & Nester comic (which introduced Nester who would become a long time mascot of Nintendo Power) along with a 'Video Shorts' section talking about other recently released NES games, and a 'Pak Watch' section talking about games that were coming soon were next followed by the NES Journal section which included an article about the launch of Dragon Quest III in Japan around that time. They had a 'Player's Forum' with some advertisements for books and movies along with the 'NES Achievers' sections with high scores.

They printed close to 3.6 million copies of Nintendo Power #1, and almost 1/3 of those that had Nintendo Fun Club before it subscribed - that 'Next Issue' might not have happened without those sales!

Finally the issue has a Top 30 Ranking of most popular NES games, then breaks it down to top 30's for 'Players' 'Pros' and 'Dealers' and then information on what is coming in the Next issue of Nintendo Power: Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, Bayou Billy, and Bionic Commando. Should be fun!

Timeline | 1988: Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

The follow-up to The Legend of Zelda diverged from the original significantly!

Originally developed for the Famicom Disk System in Japan (and released about 7 months before the original Legend of Zelda in the US) The Adventure of Link was a whole different beast than the original. Eventually making its way to the US in December 1988, Zelda II would introduce several new gameplay aspects to the series. Some, including the 'Magic Meter' and the Dark Link character would see use in later Zelda games, however others including Experience Points and Multiple Lives. Zelda II is famous for being the 'only' Zelda game with side-scrolling portions, however this is not exactly the case as some of the Gameboy Zelda games would reuse this concept.

A screenshot from the Zelda II Overworld

Zelda II borrowed the 'overworld' idea from Role-Playing games of the era (Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, etc.) and plays very similar to another great NES game - Faxanadu (a side-quest from Xanadu/Dragon Slayer, an RPG series nearly exclusive to Japan with Faxanadu being one of the only releases outside of Japan).

A screenshot from Zelda II's side-scrolling portions - here he finds the sleeping (original) Princess Zelda for the first time.

Zelda II was the most popular NES game of 1988 and would eventually go on to surpass all other NES games (save the Super Mario Bros. trilogy and the original Legend of Zelda) in sales. The game has since been ported to the GameCube (in the The Legend of Zelda: Collectors Edition) and later to the Game Boy Advance (as part of the NES Classics series) and has been released on the Virtual Consoles of the Wii, 3DS and Wii U.

Further Reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zelda_II:_The_Adventure_of_Link