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Sega · Home console · 1985 Experimental

Sega Master System emulator for PC

Master System (Mark III) games run on Genesis Plus GX and are matched against the No-Intro Master System - Mark III DAT.

Written by vivusk, Nostyra maintainer Last reviewed Based on the Nostyra README and release notes

Game files

  • .sms files.
  • Keep the original extension: Genesis Plus GX picks the system by extension, so a Master System game renamed .bin would start as a Mega Drive game.

Saves and patches

  • Battery saves go to saves/sms/<ROM name> [<ID>]/save.srm. The core writes only up to the last used byte, so the file can be a few bytes; a game that never uses its save memory writes none.
  • Soft patches (.ips, .ups, .bps beside the ROM) work; the patched game shares the original's save folder.

Controls

  • Buttons show as 1 (B), 2 (A) and Start: the system's name with the shared RetroPad name in brackets.
  • The console's Pause button maps to Pause (Start).
  • Default keyboard: arrow keys = D-pad, Z = B, X = A, A = Y, S = X, Q / W = L / R, Enter = Start, Right Shift = Select.

Known limits

  • Marked Experimental: manual testing on real games is still in progress.
  • Light guns are not supported yet.

Before you start

Nostyra does not include, download or link to Master System games or BIOS files. Use games you own, dumped from your own cartridges or discs. See the disclaimer.

Features for Master System games

Save states A save state stores the whole emulated machine at one moment, so you can continue from any point, not only where the game lets you save. Rewind Rewind keeps a short history of the game in memory. Holding the rewind key plays it backwards at 2× speed. CRT and LCD shaders Shaders change how the picture is drawn, for example to imitate the scanlines of a CRT TV or the pixel grid of a handheld screen. Soft patching Translations, bug fixes and hacks are often shared as patch files. Nostyra applies them in memory when the game starts; the ROM file is never changed. RetroAchievements RetroAchievements is a community service that adds achievements to classic games. Nostyra supports it on 14 systems using rcheevos, the same library RetroArch uses.

Play Master System games with Nostyra

Free and open source. Portable zip, no installer, no account.

Download for Windows
macOS (planned) Linux (planned) iOS (planned) Android (planned)

Version 0.1.0 · 25.9 MB zip · Windows 10 / 11, 64-bit

Hosted on GitHub Releases. First time? Read the install guide.