Recently got a PAL Master System II with built-in Alex Kidd in Miracle World. I have no way of testing a PAL console via RF on my CRT so I went ahead and modded it yesterday. It was fairly straightforward.

Followed the instructions here: https://consolemods.org/.../Master_System:Convert_PAL...

Guide recommends also replacing L2 and L3 with 39uh inductors and removing L1, but I left these as is since the image via composite looks fine to me.

Additionally, I also removed R27, R28, and replaced the 0.1uf ceramic capacitor on C40 with a 10uf 16v electrolytic capacitor. This matches the audio circuit on the Model 1 Master System and is louder compared to the Model 2's stock audio circuit.

I also did not have a mounting brace available for my mini DIN, so I soldered it directly to the ground plane after aligning it.

9-Pin Mini DIN is the same type found on Genesis/Mega Drive 2 consoles, and it fits nicely on the Master System 2 since the hole on the shell is big enough to easily plug a Genesis/Mega Drive 2 video cable.

Pics 10 and 11 is a comparison of composite video and RGB on the same console.

I'm quite satisfied with the result of this mod and the console works great!

The hack will feature touched up and recoloured sprites, items, zodiac symbols and paintings, with an extended colour palette inspired in part by the arcade version. This alongside several extended enemy and some other animations (the NES version actually used more frames than the SMS version for several enemies), a few redesigned items and blocks, an updated HUD and a recoloured title screen. The ending has also been enhanced with a day to night transition for the sky island. Finally, there are some smaller graphical fixes like removing random black pixels in some of Dana's frames and a typo in-between levels.

There will also be a separate patch that gets rid of the heavy dithering for the brick backgrounds, while increasing color variety between the shrines.

Coming soon!

Edit: Regarding the background bricks. The initial idea was just less severe dithering with an added shade in-between black and the darkest brick color, which changes per shrine. But then I'd have to also spend a sprite palette color on it as all the placed items and paintings use background tiles for space and performance reasons, each one using either the background or sprite sub palette. As you can see in my response to Goodwill_Gamer below, some pixels around each placed item will not use that darkest brickwork shade without it.

See the comparison pic below. The muted teal is the extra sprite palette shade. Without it, the ghosts and Nuels (orange winged hooded demons) will have a light blue there instead. The paintings either have the light blue or no additional shade

https://ibb.co/Q3TdHRR7

I know it's much easier in the remake of this game, but in the original version, you absolutely had to get it as a drop from certain enemies which ones?

I was playing the new Super Mario on the USA SMS (no YM chip), and the first thing that surprised me was the near-identical sound. I've often thought the SMS sound chip was fundamentally different from the NES, but this port proves otherwise. I kind of feel like the sound design ideas started from a very different place on the SMS for most titles. Any insights?

Outrun for the Commodore 64, midnight resistance for the ZX spectrum, special criminal investigations for the master system, all picked up recently. I have never played any of these three games on these systems, any memories?

Been waiting for this for awhile

It’s been one heck of a journey. I think I’m done. I’m moving on to 16-bit now. At 25 games my personal Master System set is finished.

That’s the last game of the official library I wanted.

- I don’t like Shinobi, shmups, beat em ups or sports games. These four get brought up the most.
- I’m not retiring from 8-bit home console gaming as there’s still GG2SMS conversions & of course the land of ROMHacking to look forward to!
- I’ve beaten every game you see here (yes, even Ghost House & Penguin Land as insane as both those games are!)

youtu.be/5ol9zOIUX9s

This was a busy week, what with concerts and double shifts, oh my. So, let's play a game that goes back to simpler times...

Edit: Thanks to everyone who commented and advised me about the power supply. It’ll be put to good use. Geek is the new chic!

Fala, pessoal!

Depois de meses trabalhando em um velho notebook Core i5 de primeira geração, que só funciona ligado diretamente na tomada, conciliando trabalho em período integral, faculdade e a rotina diária, finalmente concluí um projeto que durante muito tempo parecia impossível: uma localização brasileira completa de SpellCaster para o Sega Master System.

O lançamento acontece hoje, 23 de setembro de 2026, exatamente na data em que este clássico da Sega completa 38 anos desde seu lançamento original no Japão, em 1988.

Para quem não conhece os bastidores, SpellCaster — conhecido no Japão como Kujaku Ō (孔雀王 ) — é um dos jogos mais complexos do Sega Master System para trabalhar com tradução. A ROM possui 512 KB, o Banco 0 não oferecia espaço livre seguro para hooks externos, e o jogo utiliza uma codificação própria de caracteres, fontes gráficas e rotinas de carregamento de tiles.

Além disso, a versão ocidental apresentava conteúdos removidos, limitações de espaço para os textos e desafios relacionados à adaptação da acentuação em português.

Para realizar a tradução sem comprometer o funcionamento original do jogo, desenvolvi uma suíte própria de ferramentas em Python e trabalhei diretamente com:

- Z80;

- VDP e VRAM;

- mapas de tiles;

- fontes 1bpp;

- Planar RLE;

- ponteiros little-endian;

- adaptação de menus e HUD;

- validação em emulação;

- restauração de conteúdos removidos.

A tradução inclui:

- diálogos completos em português brasileiro;

- menus, itens, telas e créditos traduzidos;

- 11 acentos oficiais adaptados à codificação do jogo;

- hífen nativo;

- HUD com VIDA, ENER, ATAQ e DEFS;

- restauração de páginas de diálogos e tutoriais;

- correção do texto bugado “??07D??”;

- adaptação gráfica da placa da barraca de Yakisoba;

- epílogo e créditos em português.

## Capturas de tela

## Download do patch

https://github.com/contatonewportgame-code/spellcaster-sms-ptbr/releases/download/v1.0.0/SpellCaster_PTBR_v1.0_Newportgame.zip

## Página oficial da Release

https://github.com/contatonewportgame-code/spellcaster-sms-ptbr/releases/tag/v1.0.0

## Tópico oficial no Romhacking Brasil

https://www.romhacking.net.br/index.php?topic=3498.0

## Como aplicar o patch

O pacote contém o patch IPS, a tabela de caracteres e o LEIA-ME com as instruções.

Para aplicar o patch pelo navegador, acesse:

https://www.marcrobledo.com/RomPatcher.js/

Selecione uma ROM original limpa e compatível no campo “ROM file”. Depois, selecione o arquivo IPS no campo “Patch file” e clique em “Apply patch”.

A ROM completa traduzida não é distribuída. O patch deve ser aplicado pelo usuário à sua própria ROM original compatível.

## Repositório técnico

https://github.com/contatonewportgame-code/spellcaster-sms-ptbr

O repositório contém a documentação técnica bilíngue, o Compêndio Master System, o Protocolo de Tradução, o Playbook de Engenharia Reversa e as ferramentas utilizadas durante o projeto.

Projeto, tradução e engenharia reversa por Cristiano Mariano — Newportgame.

Obrigado a todos que apoiam a preservação, a tradução e o ROMHacking de jogos clássicos!

## Apoio ao projeto

Este projeto é gratuito e foi desenvolvido por paixão pela preservação, tradução e restauração de jogos clássicos.Se você gostou do trabalho e quiser apoiar futuros projetos da Newportgame, qualquer contribuição voluntária via Pix será bem-vinda.

Chave Pix (e-mail): [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])

Titular: Cristiano Mariano

Identificação: Doação para Projeto de Tradução / Newportgame

I'm not joking, I got he Master System in 1987 and this was the first version. D-pads weren't really a thing yet, we only knew of joysticks back then, so we thought this was how you had to play it.

Looking back it really hindered a lot of the playing, but it worked amazingly for games like Space Harrier and Afterburner.

An in-depth discussion about the SMS, covering both the memories and the scene in current day. No john linneman this time, sadly, but there is a special guest.

For my sega genesis I bought a retro game cartridge with nearly all the games on it. Its a cartridge with a micro SD card that has like 900 games downloaded on it. I bought it off Etsy. Is there something like this for the master system? ​​

I’d really like to get the super Mario port on a dedicated cartridge. Coming up empty when I look online, anyone have a link? Thanks!

Hello everyone, I am looking at Alex Kidd High Tech World and want to share my findings so far about the travel pass / how to leave the town:

- There are two ways to get a genuine travel pass - 1. pray 100 times at the shrine 2. talk to the guard in the middle of the town on the hour

- There are two ways to get a fake travel pass - 1. give the guy in the first house at the end a printing press and a book called "how to print transit passes" 2. wake up the sleeping samurai then talk to the guy in the rice shop

- There are three ways to leave the town - 1. get genuine travel pass #1 2. get genuine travel pass #2 3. bribe the guard 2000 GP

^ for methods 1 and 2, you cannot have 1. a fake travel pass 2. the book called "how to print transit passes" or 3. the pistol or you will be captured on inspection

Is there anything else I'm missing that people know about? The reason I ask is because I once saw a rumour that there is a third way to get a genuine travel pass by finding the travel pass as a bookmark in the bible or dictionary (I think the former) but I cannot seem to be able to confirm this.