"GamesMaster" was first broadcast in 1992, during the fourth (16-bit) console generation - after the launch of the Mega Drive, but before the SNES. Sega's success in the early 90s (with both the Master System and Mega Drive, as well as the huge hit game Sonic the Hedgehog) helped cause a video game console boom in 1991, bringing gaming into mainstream UK culture, which would only increase following the arrival of consoles with 3D graphics such as those found on the PlayStation. That "GamesMaster" regularly drew in audiences in the millions proved that there was a huge and so far untapped audience.