The Master System was Sega's first foray into the dedicated video games console market. Although Sega had released a computer that used a version of BASIC, it wasn't soley a video game machine. For the most part, the Master System, being technically superior to the NES, was a success, particularly in Europe and Australia. However, due to the stranglehold that Nintendo had on third party developers, the system wasn't very successful in the United States. Still, it interesting to note that as a consequence of this, many of the Master System's best titles were produced in house. Games like Phantasy Star, Wonder Boy and to a far lesser extent, Alex Kidd in Miracle World have all demonstrated Sega's prowess at manufacturing killer software applications.