Master System Emulator for iPhone & iPad | Retropa

Prepare a .sms file

Master System ROMs carry the .sms extension. Retropa ships without games or BIOS files, so find your own copy and keep a backup outside the app before importing.

• .sms is the Master System extension.
• Game Gear uses .gg and is a separate system.
• ZIP and RetroPack archives open directly.

Core coverage

JGenesis runs Master System alongside Mega Drive, Genesis and Game Gear, so one core is doing a lot of work here. That is why the detected system is the first thing to confirm when a file misbehaves.

Import and verify

Park the ROM in local storage and pick it from the import entry in the Retropa library. Watch the picture and the sound, and try the default layout, before you layer on a skin or a display preset.

Two buttons, one direction pad

A Master System pad had a direction pad, two action buttons, and the pause control lived on the console itself. On a touchscreen, pause is the one people forget to map, so bind it to a key you can reach.

Picture treatment

Sega's early titles assumed a CRT rather than a bare pixel grid. Scanline and aperture-grille presets usually land closer to the original look. Retropa advanced filters size themselves to the real output area instead of a fixed integer multiple.

• Judge each preset against the original picture.
• Advanced filters need Retropa Plus.

When a Master System game will not start

Check the extension, the detected system and the exact error message, in that order. Region mismatch and a Master System file loaded as Game Gear explain most failures. Leave the original file alone while you narrow it down.

• Note the app version, detected system, core and error text.
• Keep commercial ROMs and BIOS files out of a support request.