We just talked about how Microsoft is giving away Sonic Generations on March 2020 for their ‘Games with Gold’, now PlayStation Plus has announced that they will be giving away Sonic Forces. Sure the game is newer, but I think a lot of hardcore Sonic fans would agree that Sonic Generations is better.
You will be able to download Sonic Forces if you have PlayStation Plus from March 3rd through April 6th.
It was 2015 when I posted the four part retrospective of Sega of Japan’s game development. 2015 was the year where they announced a new initiative and went as far as to make their previous corporate divisions their own separate companies. Such as Sega Games, Sega Interactive for arcades and so on (which they are already undoing again in April). Sega Game’s new president, Haruki Satomi, promised that he would right the wrongs of the past, gain back the trust of consumers and also shareholders with their “Road to 2020” initiative. Of course this encompasses the evolution of their Japanese in-house studios, which are arguably the core of Sega.
During the Sakura Wars livestream this morning, Shin Sakura Taisen the Animation (translated as New Sakura Wars the Animation) will be broadcasted in Japan every Friday starting on April 3rd on Tokyo MX 1 at 22:00 JST & BS 11 at 23:00 JST.
This season is truly perfect for Sakura Wars with the new game coming to the West on April 28th. I hope we can watch the anime during the same time it airs in Japan. Hit the jump after the break to see preview clips of an episode featuring the character, Clara and ED credits.
Oh boy it looks like a Japanese blog, Ryokutya2089, who is famous for leaking video game information early has done just that for the upcoming PlatinumGames announcement we talked about a few days ago. Thanks to Wario64’s Twitter translations we know a few facts about this game:
Seems like a lot of new information, just surprised we haven’t actually gotten a name for the game. Project GG, well… good game? What do you guys think?
While most of you guys on here probably already own multiple copies of Sonic Generation, you can pick up a free digital version if you own a Xbox console with Xbox Live Gold through Microsoft’s ‘Games with Gold’ program.
Xbox One
- Available for the whole month – Batman: The Enemy Within – The Complete Season (normally $14.99)
- From March 16 to April 15 – Shantae: Half-Genie Hero (normally $19.99)
Xbox 360
- From March 1 to 15 – Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 (normally $39.99) (plays on Xbox One)
- From March 16 to 31 – Sonic Generations (normally $19.99) (plays on Xbox One)
To be quiet honest, its surprising that we haven’t had a ‘remaster’ or ‘re-release’ of Sonic Generation on current generation consoles. Especially on Nintendo Switch considering that the original never came out on a Nintendo console (handhelds don’t count).
If you are a huge rhythm music fan, then we got a epic crossover for you. Hatsune Miku will join Space Channel 5 VR: Funky News Flash! as DLC. We don’t know when this DLC will be released but we do know you will be able to play as Hatsune Miku in the game.
The image above is from Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Future Tone, which had a Space Channel 5 costume. Not crazy to believe that this crossover was going to happen since SEGA develops and publishes Hatsune Miku games and owns the Space Channel 5 IP.
We will keep you updated on future news for Space Channel 5 VR. What do you think of Miku making an appearance?
[Source: Siliconera]
While the build up to GDC 2020 has been steady up to it’s March 16th opening, the official website has been updated with a list of exhibits detailing the latest games from different developers. However when browsing the list of developers and games, one currently unannounced title is listed as “Wonder Boy Universe: Asha in Monster World“. No specifics have been detailed on this title, but the name implies that it will be related to the Mega Drive game Monster World IV and is confirmed to be developed by Studio Artdink. Artdink for reference is a development studio best known for the A-Train series of train simulator titles, along with experimental games such as No One Can Stop Mr. Domino and Aquanaut’s Holiday.
We likely won’t get any official word until GDC 2020 officially opens, but in the meanwhile you can play the original Monster World IV on the SEGA Genesis Mini to pass the time.
It looks like PlatinumGames has updated their website teasing ‘four stars’.. What does this all mean? Well, according to the studio who is moving into self publishing, they have 4 projects in the works. The first project was launching the Kickstarter for the Wonderful 101 port; which would be the first star.
We also found out that PlatinumGames has a game announcement on the February 27,2020 issue of Famitsu, which will line up with the ‘second star’ announcement here on their website which teases it for ‘02.26.2020‘.
What do you think PlatinumGames will announce? I personally think this will be their first, 100% owned IP for the company and I think that’s pretty exciting.
DotEmu has released the new character trailer for Streets of Rage 4 by introducing Floyd Iraia, who is the last playable character to be announced for the game and dishes out hard hitting attacks and grappling movesets with his mechanical arms. Here’s is a description of the new character:
“Meet Floyd Iraia, the last Streets of Rage 4 playable character, who dishes out serious damage with his incredibly strong cybernetic arms. Although Floyd’s movement and health recovery are slower than most, he boasts the longest reach among the playable roster and tremendous power, ensuring any combo he puts an enemy through will be devastating.”
Streets of Rage 4 will also feature two co-op mulitplayer options: 2 Player Online and 4 Player Local Co-Op. 4 Player Local Co-Op would be featured for first time in the series.
Streets of Rage 4 will be making its way make its way on to PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch in Spring 2020.
This past week, George and I were asked to guest on SYFY Wire’s The Fandom Files podcast. The main topic of conversation was our reaction to the Sonic the Hedgehog movie, and we also talked about the redesign, the overall story of the movie’s development, and our own beginnings in SEGA blogging.
You can listen to the February 24, 2020 episode here or search The Fandom Files on Google Play or Apple Podcasts.
Following up from the previous article, there are more SEGA merchandise revealed at this year’s New York Toy Fair featuring Sonic the Hedgehog.
From Diamond Select’s booth, they are showcasing a statue of “Movie” Sonic on top of Dr. Robotnik Tech and the Ultimate “Classic” Sonic figure with customizable parts. Over at the Jakks Pacific’s booth, the booth has plushes of multiple Sonic the Hedgehog characters including Mighty the Armadillo.
Planning to collect some of the Sonic & SEGA merchandise sometime this year? Let us know in the comments below. Check out images of the merchandise after the break.
In a new 4Gamer Japanese 20th year anniversary Space Channel 5 interview with some of the original members of the team, which most are now working on Space Channel 5 VR over at Gounding Inc (A team made up of ex-SEGA employees including some from the Panzer Dragoon Team) the team discusses the origins of Space Channel 5 and even the project before the game was even thought of.
During the interview they asked the team about the game that came before Space Channel 5, which was at the time called “Eye” (Using Google Translate, so bear with me):
Takumi Yoshinaga: “(Eye) was an adventure game set in the near future, with a setting like “AKIRA” and you progressed through hacking. The main character was a boy, which is completely different from Space Channel 5. Actually the icon of “Eye” project is included in the end credits for Space Channel 5, which is a secret to the game’s origin!”
You can see the Project “Eye” logo from the Space Channel 5 credits after the jump:
Fellow Super Monkey Ball voice actor @Briantokyojapan posted on his instagram that there will be a interesting Super Monkey Ball announcement, that something is in the works and to stay tuned. He also hashtagged #monkeyball and #SEGA. But the interesting thing is that he used a photo that just says “Super Monkey Ball” on it, leading me to believe that this might be a port or remake of the original game. Or maybe another ‘Super Monkey Ball Deluxe‘ with the first two, but who knows.
“This is going to be interesting. Something IS in the works but I’ll miss the meeting on the 25th as I’m going overseas for a week. Stay tuned! #monkeyball#sega“
It makes sense since the last released game in the franchise, Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz HD was also a ‘remake’ of the original Wii game. They could also be creating a brand new game, since the official Super Monkey Ball twitter account ran a poll in September of last year asking fans what they want from the franchise next, in first place was a brand new game with 49.2% of the votes and in close second was a remake of the first two games with 42.1% . What do you think this Super Monkey Ball announcement will be?
Storm Collectibles recently announced tons of licensed merchandise that their working on at their booth during New York’s Toy Fair 2020 event. Two of the licensed SEGA related products set for released is Streets of Rage 4 and Golden Axe.
One of the first line up of action figures for Streets of Rage 4 is a 1/12 scale action figure of Axel Stone in his current attire for the upcoming game with the release TBD. For Golden Axe, the line up will feature 1/12 action figures of Ax Battler and the Skeleton warriors set for release on March 20th for $130.
Check out photos taken at the booth after the break. Credits to Streets of Rage Brasil and Bleeding Cool for providing photos.
On this SEGA Talk, George and Barry discuss the granddaddy of super scaler games: Hang-On! Learn about the mysterious Studio 128, the REAL reason the bike is red, and the bizarre sequels released that WEREN’T Super Hang-On.
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