SMS Technical specs
This page is for all you people who want to know about the SMS technical side...for you fans involved a little deeper... :)

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These are the technical specifications of the Master System, for those of you who actually know what it all means (because I don't :-)). In most areas, the SMS is superior to the contemporary Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), except for screen resolution, where the NES has the upper hand. I believe that these are the most correct tech specs I've found, but if you feel that any of them are incorrect, feel free to let me know. For more info check out the FAQs I have put on the site.

Thanks to Zoop for the info!!!


CPU:   Zilog Z80 at 3.58 mhz

RAM:   64 kilobits (= 8 kilobytes)

Save RAM:   on certain cartridges only (mostly role playing games).Up to two banks of 128 kilobits (= 16 kilobytes).

Video RAM:   128 kilobits (= 16 kilobytes)

Colours:   16*2 (=32) on-screen, choosed from a palette of 64. please note that the palette is updated instantly, and some games are using this feature to create nice effects (eg: Space Harrier (SMS&GG), Gangster Town (SMS), Gunstar Heroes (GG) ..)

Resolution:   256x224 pixels. Only the top 256x192 pixels or the top right . 248x192 pixels are shown on the screen. On the Game Gear, the 160x144 pixels centered area is shown.

Characters:   8x8 pixels, using one of the two 16 colors palette. Up to 512 characters can be stored in VRAM but usually only 448 are used because there will be not enough room to store other things ;)

Sprites:   maximum of 64 sprites on-screen. 8x8 or 8x16 pixels, using one of the two 16 colors palette (the same for all sprites). may be masked by foreground tiles.

Scrolling:   hard scrolling, vertical and horizontal, line per line. the scrolling can be ignored for the upper 16 pixels (used in many games for the status bar) and for the 64 right pixels (used in Gauntlet and Golvellius in vertical stages).

Audio:   three 'musics' channels with 1024 different frequencies, and one noise channel. 16 different volume step for each channel. Optionnal YM2413 FM chipset on Japanese systems: 9 channels, 15+1 instruments, hardware vibrato and amplitude modulation.

Guts:
RF Converter:    MGB3-VU3401, 8E388
PCB Component Side Markings:    (c) SEGA 1988 SEGA (R) M4 POWERBASE / NTSC 171-5533-01 837-6629 19 AUG 1988
CON2:    35 Pin Card Slot 209-5020 K16R
CON3:    50 Pin Cartridge Slot PSB4D255-4R1 M18R
CON4:    50 Pin Card Edge
IC1:    Zilog Z0840004PSC Z80CPU 8828 SL0965
IC2:    0821EX SEGA MPR-11460 W46
IC3:    NEC JAPAN D4168C-20 8829P5007
IC4:    SEGA (R) 315-5216 120U 8820 Z79
IC5:     SEGA 315-5124 2602B 84 18 89 B
IC6:     NEC JAPAN D4168C-15-SG 8828XX215
IC7:    NEC JAPAN D4168C-15-SG 8828XX215
IC9:    SONY 8M09 CXA1145


SMS Control Pad Information:
-female plug on end view: 5 4 3 2 1 9 8 7 6
-pin 1: Up
-pin 2: Down
-pin 3: Left
-pin 4: Right
-pin 5: No Connection
-pin 6: Button 1 (Start)
-pin 7: No Connection
-pin 8: Common (Ground?)
-pin 9: Button 2