Power Strike

Leah Rowe

30 July 2025

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Article published by: Leah Rowe

Date of publication: 30 July 2025

No microcode. No firmware. Respects your Freedom.

I’m not much of a gamer these days, but I do like Power Strike, on the Sega Master System / Sega Mark III. Also known as “Aleste”, in Japan.

Released in the year 1988 by COMPILE, and licensed by SEGA.

And here is a recording of me actually playing, and beating, the game:

Pity Sega got out of the console business. They always had the best games. My very first computer was in fact a Sega Master System model II, which my parents bought from a neighbour for me when I was three years old. I vividly remember taking it home with me. I had many games for it.

Back then, Master Systems and games were cheap in Europe, and especially the UK, because Sega had a dual strategy of re-branding older tech for the budget market (not everyone wanted to spend lots of money on games); so while lots of my classmates had the Mega Drive, I got to enjoy my Master System.

There was a car boot sale every weekend in my town, in the car park at a local school. I was always excited because my parents would take me there sometimes, and there was a man there who sold computer games, including Master System cartridges (second hand). Nowadays we have the internet everywhere, and people download games online; modern gamers do not know the satisfaction of bringing home a new game cartridge and sticking it in the machine.

I loved that thing. I still play the games on it. I have a Master System at my lab; I even have Power Strike, though the recording of me beating it was done on an emulator (namely Mednafen), running on my Debian Linux computer.

Alas, I’m an oldschool gamer. If a game came out after the year 2005, I’m probably not interested; though there are a few modern gems.

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