On this episode of SEGA Talk we look at Yakuza 2 and its remake Kiwami 2 as we look at the highly rated sequel to one of SEGA’s longest running franchises. What did the sequel do different? What did the remake add and what did it remove? Find out this and more on SEGA … TALK!!
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This evening’s stream showcased Metaphor: ReFantazio’s fantastical world, in which players will encounter the beautiful, the strange and the unique during their journey. Studio Zero director Katsura Hashino led viewers on a guided tour through multiple never-before-seen locations, from small towns, to islands, to labyrinths and to the belly of a worm. Hashino-san also introduced a new ally, Eupha, and hinted that more about her will be revealed in the future.
At the conclusion of today’s showcase, Hashino-san teased the next “ATLUS Exclusive” showcase – airing this Fall – and invited viewers to visit ATLUS at Tokyo Game Show 2024 to try a demo of Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Metaphor: ReFantazio launches October 11, 2024 for Xbox Series X|S, Windows, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 and Steam. Physical and digital pre-orders are available now.
SEGA News Bits Live is back! When big news drops, we have to jump on and talk about it. This week, the first trailer for the Sonic 3 movie dropped, and Barry breaks down and analyzes the trailer.
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The comparisons between Sonic the Hedgehog and Dragon Ball aren’t new; the two series share a lot of similar aspects in terms of tropes between their characters and power-ups. At this year’s Gamescom 2024, Catherine Lewis from GameRadar asked Shadow the Hedgehog creator Iizuka if he thinks the character has been interpreted differently over the past decade than he originally conceived him. His answer didn’t surprise anyone: ‘Yes.’
“So yes, there are some ways that people interpret Shadow that are not how the team is intending,” Iizuka begins (via translator). “I think the biggest one, if you look online, everyone’s like, ‘Oh, this is Dragon Ball Vegeta.” states that Shadow is “not Vegeta in any way. Vegeta really starts out as an enemy and then later becomes a friend and an ally and kind of, like, fights for justice and trying to save the world and whatnot. Shadow is not like that. I never want him to be like that. Shadow is doing his own thing, he’s not friends with Sonic, and he’s gonna go off and, you know, do whatever he feels is correct or right, or what he needs to do. And it’s not like, ‘Well, okay, we used to be enemies, but we’re friends now. Let’s save the world.’ He’s not that kind of character, and [I don’t] want him to be that kind of character.
“So when people are always online saying, ‘Oh, it’s Vegeta, it’s Vegeta,’ it’s like, it’s not Vegeta,” he laughs.
It’s quite interesting that he seems to be suggesting that he doesn’t agree with this sort of characterization that has been given to Shadow the Hedgehog by fans. While Shadow the Hedgehog isn’t really friends with Sonic the Hedgehog, they do save the world together when their goals align and would say they have a more ‘rival’ type of relationship, which I think Iizuka shouldn’t be afraid of promoting. I think it gives Sonic and Shadow an interesting dynamic.
HIT THE BELL! Its finally here, the grand return of Power Stone. Are you ready for the Power Stone wars once again? I guess this new Capcom Fighting Collection 2 marks the end of an era, the era of the such titles like Power Stone, Power Stone 2 and Project Justice finally getting a ‘superior’ release to the SEGA Dreamcast. I know some people will say that Power Stone Collection from 2006 would be considered ‘better’, but quite frankly found the loading and graphics superior on Dreamcast.
Though this new collection is set to make all that a thing of the past and…. I’m all for it! I think if you want a new generation of gamers to fall in love with your amazing older franchises you need collections like these with all new additions like online rollback netcode. Let’s be honest, when this releases playing with your discord friends across the country.
I’m excited. Let’s go!
The moment everyone has been waiting for has finally come. Paramount Pictures has at last unleashed the movie trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog 3, the long awaited third chapter in the Sonic the Hedgehog movie universe, as well as the movie debut of everyone’s favorite edgehog, Shadow, shown above doing the famous Akira motorbike slide. He does more than slide though. He also speaks for the very first time, sounding a lot like a certain movie star we all know and love who’s quite experienced with firearms himself.
This trailer’s also the movie debut of another very well known Sonic character with an intimate connection to Shadow, which I won’t spoil. Just motorbike slide in below the break to see for yourself, then contain your excitement and your holiday spirit until Sonic the Hedgehog 3 debuts in theaters on December 20th, 2024.
During the last bit of the Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase stream, Yakuza Kiwami was announced to be ported to the Nintendo Switch for the first time and will be available digitally on October 24th.
New players can experience the early adventures of Kazuma Kiryu as he emerges from prison 10 years later after taking a fall of a murder to yakuza clans on the brink of a war that hurtles him on an intense journey of love, humanity, and betrayal, fueled by his fists and unyielding resolve, set against a bustling red-light district in modern day Japan.
This is also a great way to promote the upcoming live action TV adaptation of the game coming to Amazon Prime Video on October 25th. Will you get the Nintendo Switch version of Yakuza Kiwami? Let us know in the comments below!
Retro-Bit Gaming has been releasing high-quality, officially licensed SEGA controllers for years. From Genesis to Dreamcast, they’ve had a strong lineup. However, they haven’t unveiled a major product like this until now.
Introducing Retro-Bit Gaming’s high-quality SEGA Saturn fight stick. Inspired by the Japanese SEGA Saturn Virtua Stick, this sleek controller features a black finish instead of the traditional white. For more images, check out Sega Saturn, Shiro!’s tweet after the jump. It has also come to my attention that the fighting stick is non-working and more of a pitch by Retro-Bit to SEGA, as its not ‘officially licensed’, well yet. I mean, we need one of these babies!
Let’s face it, The SEGA CD is expensive and prone to failure. It does offer that incredible CD quality sound but sometimes you just want to play all your classic Sonic the Hedgehog games on the regular old SEGA Genesis / Mega Drive. Guess what? Soon you can.
As part of this year’s Sonic Hacking Contest MDTravis has submitted a sorta demake port by making the once SEGA CD exclusive run on vanilla SEGA Genesis hardware. Like many great fan projects, MDTravis had the help of:
MD Sonic The Hedgehog is slated to get a full release on September 28th, so if your mom hasn’t let you upgrade to a SEGA CD for the last 30+ years, soon you will be able to try Sonic CD!
Edit: Forgot to mention that this would be a port of Sonic CD V0.02 which means it will be a early prototype build being ported over to the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive system.
[via: Time Extension]
Today, Limited Run Games has announced physical editions of Valkyria Chronicles Remastered for Nintendo Switch and PC with pre-orders available beginning from August 23rd to September 22nd.
Three editions are available for pre-order such as the regular Switch Limited Run physical copy, Gallian Edition, and the Ragnite Edition.
Valkyria Chronicles Remastered Gallian Edition includes:
Valkyria Chronicles Remastered Ragnite Edition includes:
You can pre-order physical editions of Valkyria Chronicles on Limited Run Games official website here!
During the Xbox @ Gamescom stream, there was a pre-recorded video from Studio Zero director Katsura Hashino who introduced viewers to the brand-new trailer for Metaphor: ReFantazio “Travel Beyond Fantasy”, which focuses on the journey for the Royal Tournament. The trailer revealed the Protagonist traveling far and wide, campaigning to win support from the people of the United Kingdom of Euchronia in the hopes of being elected as their new King and take the Throne.
The Xbox @ Gamescom livestream also included an informative interview with actors Stewart Clarke and Kristin Atherton who voice the English version of central characters Strohl and Hulkenberg. The two actors discussed their roles in the game, how they prepared for their performance and what it was like to immerse themselves in the magical, medieval world of Metaphor: ReFantazio. You can watch the VOD on the official Xbox YouTube channel here.
Metaphor: ReFantazio will launch on Xbox Series X|S, Windows, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 and Steam on October 11, 2024.
You may remember us reporting on Parking Garage Rally Circuit, an upcoming indie racing game coming soon to Steam, which is styled after a Sega Saturn game and could actually become a Saturn game if it gets enough sales on Steam. After that article, I have reached out to Tim of Walaber Entertainment, the studio developing Parking Garage Rally Circuit, for an interview with the man behind the game. He has kindly taken time out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions about the game for all our readers.
Join us after the break to hear about Tim’s history with Sega Saturn, his inspirations for Parking Garage Rally Circuit, and a bit more of what we can expect to see in this game when it launches on Steam sometime this year.
At gamescom’s Opening Night Live 2024, ATLUS announced unexpected news we never seen coming that a special challenge battle will be added to Persona 3 Reload on September 10, 2024 as part of Episode Aigis -The Answer-, the final content release for the Persona 3 Reload: Expansion Pass.
Wholly unique to Persona 3 Reload’s Episode Aigis, the encounter with the masked boy presents a hardcore challenge for players via a secret boss fight, replete with striking themes from Persona 5 Royal.
The confrontation is one part of the larger Episode Aigis -The Answer- content expansion, a major post-ending DLC that further develops the story of Persona 3 Reload and serves as a story epilogue.
The Persona 3 Reload: Expansion Pass includes Episode Aigis -The Answer-, the Velvet Costume & BGM Set, and the Persona 5 Royal EX & Persona 4 Golden EX BGM Sets. The Expansion Pass is available for purchase on digital storefronts for $34.99 on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows, Steam, PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4. It is also available at no extra cost for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers through January 31, 2025.
Esteemed Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio programmer Hitoshi Iizawa is being given an excellence award at the latest CEDEC, or Computer Entertainment and Developers Conference, in Japan for his work on emulation of Model 2 and 3 arcade games in the Like A Dragon series. This news was shared yesterday on Twitter by Lost Judgement director Yutaka Ito and is also being shown on the CEDEC website’s top awards list. Yutaka Ito’s tweet was also transcribed by known Twitter translator Gosokyuu.
Here’s what the CEDEC had to say about this honor on their website, translated to English:
The committee commended the expertise and uniqueness of the efforts to reproduce games for dedicated arcade hardware at the dawn of 3DCG games, as well as the fact that through the commercialization of these games, past arcade games that were often buried in the past were brought to the attention of today’s players.
Ito also had more to say about what went into the development of the emulation for these games and the difficulties of it on Twitter. You can read more about that past the break.
Just in time for Gamescom, SEGA has released a brand new gameplay trailer for SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS showcasing Shadow new abilities called “Doom Powers” which allows him to traverse through iconic stages and challenging boss battles like never before! The Doom Powers revealed are:
From surfing on water to flying over obstacles, the trailer is filled with high-speed gameplay and highlights the new abilities, stages such as Chaos Island from Sonic Frontiers™, and boss challenges fans can expect to play through this fall.
SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS is set to release on October 25, 2024, starting at $49.99 USD on PlayStation 5 (PS5), PlayStation 4 (PS4), Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, the Nintendo Switch™ family of systems, and PC. Sonic fans can subscribe to the Sonic newsletter before November 1, 2024 to receive the Sonic Jam Legacy Skin for Classic Sonic, inspired by Sonic’s first 3D appearance. The Sonic Jam Legacy Skin is free for all SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS players. Pre-order your copy here!