23. Alex Kidd In Miracle World - Sega Master System (1986)
By 1986 Mario was running rings around any platformer that Sega could put together. Super Mario Bros. gave Nintendo the console mascot that the NES needed. To compete, Sega had to come up with something similar - that one "killer app" that would attach a cheerful, memorable face to their console. For years, Alex Kidd was that cheerful face. Taking everything good about platform games at the time and dressing it up in the lush colors and detailed sprites afforded by the Master System's advanced hardware, Alex Kidd tried his damnedest to shift consoles as fast as his Italian nemesis was doing at the time. He remained the pointy-eared poster child for Sega for some time, until a particularly quick hedgehog showed up.
22. Phantasy Star - Sega Master System (1987)
Sega had a serious battle on their hands going into the 8-bit console wars against Nintendo. The NES was dominating the North American market, raining down pixelated happiness on gaming audiences, leaving Sega to fight hard to find market share. Phantasy Star may not have turned the tide, but it made a valuable impact that gave the Master System a much-needed boost - this was a console regarded to be more impressive technically, but which lacked the pull of Nintendo's library of awesome exclusives. Phantasy Star was lauded in its day for making sweeping advancements within the RPG genre, especially in the West, mostly in terms of the depth of its narrative, the scale of the game world and the detailed quasi-3D visuals. This massive role-player pushed the Master System hard, with stunning results.