The reviewer made a lot of good points; did cartridges have a future for the platform? Didn't seem so. The system was super ugly. The cartridge slot mechanism was clunky ("like an older VCR"). His reflection on the NES' hardware being old (from 1983), and his discourse on the very primitive light gun technology, as compared to the Master System's, paints a clear picture that even in the 1980s Nintendo was releasing outdated tech.
If you want more proof, think about the PC Engine. The only reason that platform even existed was because the NES hardware was so bad that the Hudson guys decided they'd be better off designing new hardware from scratch!
The "dpad" went on to become a standard, but even then I think his commentary was astute; the NES controllers were never comfortable, and the dpad did and does suck at diagonals. And coming from a world dominated by joysticks, it's easy to see his disapproval of the NES pad. Heck, even as an young child-- ever-adaptable-- there was an uncomfortable adjustment period moving from the Atari 2600 and 7800 joysticks to a dpad when my uncle got a Genesis in 1989.
So why was the NES such a success then, while the Master System was a joke? Wait just a second cowboy.
Yes, the NES was a big success in Japan, and in America. But in literally every other country, the situation was reversed; the Master System was the dominant 8-bit console, while the NES was relegated to tiny back corners of game stores. Hell, the Master System still, in 2016, moves a boat load of units in countries like Brazil. That's thirty years after its initial launch! Not to mention, it's perhaps the sexiest looking system of all time:
