Editing Master System (section)

=== North American release as Master System ===
[[File:Stockholms Spelmuseum by BugWarp (31).jpg|alt=A video game console with numerous video game boxes behind it.|left|thumb|The Master System was redesigned to appeal to Western tastes. The packaging of the console and the games was given a grid design on white, inspired by products from [[Apple Inc.|Apple]].]]
Though the SG-1000 had not been released in the United States,<ref name=":05">{{cite web|last=Plunkett|first=Luke|date=January 19, 2017|title=The Story of Sega's First Console, Which Was Not The Master System|url=https://kotaku.com/the-story-of-segas-first-console-which-was-not-the-mas-5888800|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170306195938/http://kotaku.com/the-story-of-segas-first-console-which-was-not-the-mas-5888800|archive-date=March 6, 2017|access-date=March 3, 2017|website=Kotaku|publisher=[[Gizmodo Media Group]]}}</ref> Sega hoped that their video game console business would fare better in North America than it had in Japan.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Wolf|first=Mark|title=Encyclopedia of Video Games: The Culture, Technology, and Art of Gaming · Volume 1|publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]]|year=2012|isbn=9780313379369|pages=553}}</ref> To accomplish this, Sega of America was established in 1986 to manage the company's consumer products in North America. Rosen and Nakayama hired Bruce Lowry, Nintendo of America's vice president of sales. Lowry was persuaded to change companies because Sega would allow him to start his new office in [[San Francisco]]. He chose the name "Sega of America" for his division because he had worked for Nintendo of America and liked the combination of words. Initially, Sega of America was tasked with repackaging the Mark III for a Western release.<ref name="Horowitz 2016 6–15" /> Sega of America rebranded the Mark III as the Master System, similar to Nintendo's reworking of the Famicom into the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The name was chosen by Sega of America employees throwing darts against a whiteboard of suggested names. Plans to release a cheaper console, the Base System, also influenced the decision.<ref name=":3" /> Okawa approved of the name after being told it was a reference to the competitive nature of both the video game industry and martial arts, in which only one competitor can be the "Master".<ref name="Horowitz 2016 6–15" /><ref name=":3">{{cite magazine|date=June 2002|title=Bruce Lowry: The Man That Sold the NES|magazine=[[Game Informer]]|publisher=[[GameStop]]|volume=12|issue=110|pages=102–103}}</ref> The console's futuristic final design was intended to appeal to Western tastes.<ref name="Edge" /> The North American packaging was white to differentiate it from the black NES packaging, with a white grid design inspired by [[Apple Inc.|Apple]] computer products.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Horowitz|first=Ken|title=Playing at the Next Level: A History of American Sega Games|publisher=[[McFarland & Company]]|year=2016|isbn=9781476625577|pages=6–15}}</ref>

The Master System was first revealed in North America at the Summer [[CES (annual technology trade show)|Consumer Electronics Show]] (CES) in Chicago in June 1986. It was initially sold in a package with the "Power Base" console, a light gun, two controllers, and a pack-in [[multicart]].<ref>{{cite magazine|date=June 1986|title=New, Advanced Video Game System Revealed|magazine=[[Computer Entertainer]]|volume=5|issue=3|page=1}}</ref> The console was launched in September 1986 at a price of $200 ({{Inflation|US|200|1986|fmt=eq|r=-1}}), including the games ''[[Hang-On]]'' and ''[[Safari Hunt]]''.<ref name="Allgame">{{cite web|last=Beuscher|first=David|title=Sega Master System – Overview|url=http://allgame.com/platform.php?id=23|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100102043846/http://allgame.com/platform.php?id=23|archive-date=January 2, 2010|access-date=March 31, 2014|website=[[AllGame]]|publisher=All Media Network}}</ref> Nintendo was exporting the Famicom to the US as the NES, and both companies planned to spend $15&nbsp;million in late 1986 to market their consoles; Sega hoped to sell 400,000 to 750,000 consoles in 1986.<ref name="takiff19860620">{{cite news|last=Takiff|first=Jonathan|date=June 20, 1986|title=Video Games Gain In Japan, Are Due For Assault On U.S.|page=2|newspaper=[[The Vindicator]]|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QBhcAAAAIBAJ&pg=2846,1271636|url-status=live|access-date=April 10, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170403104919/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QBhcAAAAIBAJ&sjid=MlUNAAAAIBAJ&pg=2846,1271636|archive-date=April 3, 2017}}</ref> By the end of 1986, at least 125,000 Master System consoles had been sold, more than the [[Atari 7800]]'s 100,000 but less than Nintendo's 1.1&nbsp;million.<ref name="CE">''Computer Entertainer'', February 1987, [http://i.imgur.com/eUXac6M.jpg page 13] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151122215258/http://i.imgur.com/eUXac6M.jpg|date=November 22, 2015}}</ref> Other sources indicate that more than 250,000 Master System consoles were sold by Christmas 1986.<ref>{{cite news|first=Stephen|last=Advokat|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/99559046/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210930214452/https://www.newspapers.com/image/99559046/|archive-date=September 30, 2021|title=Consumers eat up successors to Pac-Man; video games being gobbled up|date=January 30, 1987|newspaper=Detroit Free Press|access-date=December 31, 2020|page=2B|via=Newspapers.com|quote="Sega came on the scene late, offering its Master System ($150) in late September. Even so, it sold more than 250,000 units by Christmas."|url-status=live}}</ref>

As in Japan, the Master System in North America had a limited game library. Limited by Nintendo's licensing practices, Sega only had two third-party American publishers, [[Activision]] and [[Parker Brothers]].<ref name="Retroinspection" /> Agreements with both of those companies came to an end in 1989.<ref name="Horowitz 2016 6–15" /> Sega claimed that the Master System was the first console "where the [[box art|graphics on the box]] are actually matched by the graphics of the game",{{r|takiff19860620}} and pushed the "arcade experience" in adverts.<ref name="Edge" /> Its marketing department was run by only two people, giving Sega a disadvantage in advertising.<ref name="Edge" /> As one method of promoting the console, at the end of 1987 Sega partnered with astronaut [[Scott Carpenter]] to start the "Sega Challenge", a traveling program set up in recreational centers where kids were tested on non-verbal skills such as concentration and the ability to learn new skills. ''[[Out Run]]'' and ''Shooting Gallery'' were two games included in the challenge.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Sharpe|first=Roger|date=December 26, 1987|title=Sega Challenge Travels Cross-Country Promoting Video|magazine=[[Cashbox (magazine)|Cashbox]]|volume=51|issue=27|page=126}}</ref>

In 1987, amid struggling sales in the US,<ref name="Horowitz 2016 6–15">{{cite book|last=Horowitz|first=Ken|title=Playing at the Next Level: A History of American Sega Games|publisher=[[McFarland & Company]]|year=2016|isbn=9781476625577|pages=4–15}}</ref> Sega sold the US distribution rights for the Master System to the toy company [[Tonka]], which had no experience with electronic entertainment systems.<ref name="Retroinspection" /> The thinking at Sega behind the deal was to leverage Tonka's knowledge of the American toy market, since Nintendo had marketed the NES as a toy to great success in the region.<ref name="Horowitz 2016 6–15" /> The announcement was made shortly after the 1987 Summer CES.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Sharpe|first=Roger|date=August 22, 1987|title=Sega Makes News with Tonka Toy Announcement|magazine=[[Cashbox (magazine)|Cashbox]]|pages=35–36}}</ref> During this time, much of Sega of America's infrastructure shifted from marketing and distribution to focus on customer service, and Lowry departed the company.<ref name="Horowitz 2016 6–15" /> Tonka blocked [[Video game localization|localization]] of several popular Japanese games,<ref name="Retroinspection" /> and during 1988 were less willing to purchase [[EPROM]]s needed for game cartridge manufacture during a shortage. They also became less willing to invest in video games after taking massive loans in purchasing [[Kenner Products|Kenner Toys]] in 1987, followed by poor holiday season sales and financial losses.<ref name="Horowitz 2016 6–15" /> Though the distributor of the console had changed, the Master System continued to perform poorly in the market.<ref name="Retroinspection" />

The Mark III was rereleased as the Master System in Japan on October 18, 1987 for ¥16,800,<ref name="MS">{{cite web|title=Master System|website=Sega Hard Encyclopedia|url=https://www.sega.jp/history/hard/mastersystem/index.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180712005640/https://sega.jp/history/hard/mastersystem/|archive-date=July 12, 2018|access-date=February 13, 2025|publisher=[[Sega|Sega Corporation]]|language=ja}}</ref> but still sold poorly.<ref name="Retroinspection" /> Neither model posed a serious challenge to Nintendo in Japan,<ref name="business_japan">{{cite journal|author=Nihon Kōgyō Shinbunsha|year=1986|title=Amusement|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tJcSAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Sega+is+estimated+to+have+sold%22|journal=Business Japan|publisher=Nihon Kogyo Shimbun|volume=31|issue=7–12|page=89|access-date=January 24, 2012}}</ref> and, according to Sato, Sega was only able to attain 10% of the Japanese console market.<ref name=":02" />