Sonic Rumor Roundup: Sonic Toys Party leaks and whispers of Sonic Heroes remake

It seems these days, unless you’re constantly on social media and following a handful of oddly named accounts with shadowy account owners, you’re probably not going to be clued into what Sonic rumors are swirling around. Heck, even I had to crosscheck most of the stuff dropping this week as it seemed news was leaked and then dispelled within a few hours from the same people. So what is going on in the world of Sonic?

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Update: SEGA Genesis Mini 2 Officially Announced as Amazon Exclusive

Pre-Order the SEGA Genesis Mini 2

SEGA has officially announced the SEGA Genesis Mini 2. The console is an Amazon exclusive and you can learn more on the official website.

Our original news story, which broke before SEGA made the announcement, follows:

An Amazon listing has appeared for an American version of the SEGA Mega Drive Mini 2, appropriately named the SEGA Genesis Mini 2. Interestingly, the product is being sold by Amazon Japan despite being listed on Amazon US and ships from Japan. The listing title says “For North American sales only” in Japanese. Currently, it is priced at $103.80. We are still confirming the validity of this listing as the seller Amazon Japan could very well be an official sounding name used by anybody. So if you plan to pre-order, be mindful of this. Amazon will not take any money until the release date of October 27, 2022.

Another interesting bit is that Sonic 3D Blast is shown in the screenshots, and this game has yet to be revealed as a Mega Drive Mini 2 title. You can see the screenshot after the break.

An Amazon Japan listing has also appeared, with similar information but lacking screenshots but the item is sold by Amazon.co.jp itself. The listing also has a list of announced titles, including the aforementioned Sonic 3D Blast. Other newly announced titles include Rainbow Islands Extra, OutRunners, Super Hang-On, VectorMan 2, The Ooze and Rolling Thunder 2. See the full list after the break.

Rumor: “Wonder Boy Collection” rated by the ESRB for Nintendo Switch and Playstation 4

Continuing the trend of Wonder Boy (aka Monster World) getting a lot of love as of late, there is likely a new collection of the games that will be revealed soon. As revealed by this ESRB description, Wonder Boy Collection is a collection of four of the Wonder Boy/Monster World titles, with versions for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch cited on the page. While the page doesn’t list the individual games, the description makes mention of alcohol like beer and cocktails being sold in a shop, which is likely a reference to Wonder Boy in Monster Land where one of the shopkeepers is a bartender lizard.

No other information has been revealed, such as pricing or other features, but the existence of this page implies that Wonder Boy Collection is far into development and will be released soon.

Rumor: Judgment TV Show in the works starring Takuya Kimura

According to Japanese website Nikkan Gendai, who has pushed the rumor that Japanese Network TV Asahi is in talks with Takuya Kimura to star as his video game character Takayuki Yagami for a real life Judgment TV series. The Japanese network had tried to get Takuya Kimura back for another season of the popular BG: Personal Bodyguard but refused, saying he wanted to do something new.

The project is sitting with a tentative title of 裁かれざるもの (Things That Cannot Be Judged) with no release date as of now. According to the description, it looks like the idea is to adapt the second game, Lost Judgment:

Rumor: SEGA working on Phantasy Star Online 2’s successor as their next ‘Super Game’, will use NFTs

Its not hard to see that SEGA’s Phantasy Star Online 2 has been a massive success for the company, so much so that it recently that it got a graphical update with Phantasy Star Online: New Genesis. But the company is already ’embracing the future’ with them planning the successor, if this new rumor is to be believed. The rumor comes from Japanese user Makino180 that says:

  • Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis will be supported for only 5 more years.
  • Phantasy Star Crew’s 3rd Division is in planning stages of the next “Super Game” and is aimed to be finished in under 5 years.
  • Phantasy Star Online veteran Satoshi Sakai will spearhead the project
  • Plans are to make the next “Super Game” running on Microsoft Azure Cloud Servers.
  • SEGA is thinking of using NFT Blockchain technology for its monetization to prolong the value and wants to spearhead the future of Gacha Games which will implement a possible SNS Distribution of virtual items.
  • Initial Budget for this “Super Game” is 5 times the budget of normal SEGA AAA Games!
  • The main audience of the new “Super Game” is the Western audience.

While gamers dislike NFTs, Blockchain technology, it seems that companies and developers see a avenue for them to be used in games. What is your thoughts on the rumored, next, “Super Game” by the developers that made Phantasy Star Online 2?

Nintendo Japan lists Bayonetta 3 for 2022 release

Amiibos allow you to instantly unlock costumes in Switch Bayonetta
Bayonetta 3 was announced way back in 2017, its been awhile! Hard to believe how long the games been in development without a single in-game screenshot shared by Platinum Games or Nintendo, but it seems that might change and soon. According to Nintendo Japan’s release schedule, Bayonetta is scheduled for release in 2022 along with Splatoon 3 and Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2.

It will be interesting to see what happens considering we haven’t seen anything yet. Do you think Bayonetta 3 will come out next year?

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SEGA trademarks Lost Judgment

News has dropped that SEGA has recently trademarked a intellectual property name for “Lost Judgment” on the Chizai Watch website. So far, we are not sure if it’s a sequel to Judgment (aka Judge Eyes: Shinigami no Yuigon in Japan), a Yakuza spin-off action game developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio which involves a lawyer-turned-detective, Takayuki Yagami, as he and his allies explore a case involving corpses whose eyes have been removed, or possibly a brand new title?

We’ll keep everyone posted as we get more news on “Lost Judgment” from SEGA soon. What do you all think this new trademark IP could be?

[Sources: Chizai Watch, Yakuza Fan]

Rumor: SEGA files trademarks for several Sakura Wars related projects

The recent release of Sakura Wars (aka Shin Sakura Taisen) has had a solid enough release, with it generally receiving mixed to positive reception and a slew of multi-media adaptations such as a manga, anime, and stage play. But if you’re still on the fence about this new take on the series, read this review by writer Kori-Maru.

However, it seems like SEGA is not quite done with the Sakura Wars IP. SEGA of Japan has recently filed several trademarks, for the purposes of multiple things such as miscellaneous types of physical media and software. This includes Sakura Taisen B.L.A.C.K., B.L.A.C.K., Sakura Ishin (Restoration), and Sakura Kakumei (Revolution). What these titles would be is not clear, but it’s likely Sakura Ishin is some type of remake or remaster of a past title and Sakura Kakumei is a spin-off. Currently nothing has been officially announced, but considering the recent Sakura Wars project has had a positive response from consumers so far, it would make sense to continue expanding on the brand in the near future.

Fake 4chan Rumor: Microsoft buying SEGA


See the image above? One of the first times I saw the image was this weekend when longtime SEGAbits contributor SEGA Uranus posted it on our discord with a this link: https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2020/04/12/xbox-XO_world-live

As you can see, if you go to the link it takes you to a 404 page, me thinking this might have been a leak, I went to Twitter by posting the image looking for more information. My thinking was that SEGA had exclusives promised for the upcoming Microsoft Xbox Series X platform that is coming out this fall, but I quickly noticed people pushing the narrative that ‘SEGA is being bought by Microsoft!’.

After this I decided it was time to do a reverse image search for this image and it only got one hit at the time. 4chan’s /v/ section and even in the thread, no one actually saw the Xbox ‘link’ working. This is obviously a well devised 4chan prank, so please ignore it when you browse online and don’t be shy by linking people spreading this false rumor to this article. I mean, do you really want to see a American company to buy SEGA-Sammy?

Rumor: New Monster World IV remake in the works, will be announced at GDC 2020


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.

Rumors of Persona 5 coming to Nintendo Switch unsurprisingly gaining traction online

It was just announced the other day that Joker from Persona 5 will be featured in Super Smash Bros Ultimate as the first character in the season pass. This obviously got people excited and unsurprisingly started rumors about Persona 5 heading to Nintendo Switch. This rumor comes from MysticDistance, a writer for Persona Central and KHInsider which he said:

  • Persona 5 is heading to Nintendo Switch in 2019
  • The Nintendo Switch version will be announced the day Joker is playable and ready to download for Super Smash Bros Ultimate.
  • The version will have a brand new title (not uncommon at all for Atlus re-releases)
  • It will also have “adjustments to the game, additional aspects to the scenario, and other wanted auditions” (again, not uncommon see Persona 3 Portable, Persona 4 Golden)
  • The Nintendo Switch port has been in discussion since mid-2017
  • The game’s name is based on a domain that Atlus recently registered

To be honest, this rumor seems to be a fan just making a very obvious guess. I mean he only got this top secret information about Persona 5 coming to Nintendo Switch after the big Joker reveal was done out of nowhere. If he made it before, that would be something. If Persona 5 is being brought to Nintendo Switch, it will 100% have a new title and new features. Atlus already talked about how its company policy to add more content every time a game is re-released, thus why we have stuff like Persona 4: Golden and Persona 3 Portable differing from the original releases. The domain talk also lines up since back April 2017 we discussed new domains that hinted at possible Persona spin-off titles including P5AG (After Golden?), P5D (Dancing?), P5R (Ruby?) and P5U (Ultimax?)  I won’t be too shocked if this is true considering Atlus always does this. My only beef is that they should make the new, definite version on all platforms including Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. Get those sales!

[Via: GoNintendo]

Rumor: SEGA trademarks “Puyo Puyo Champions”, possibly hinting at Puyo Puyo eSports localization


Puyo Puyo eSports has been available for awhile now for Japanese, Korean, and Chinese markets for both the Nintendo Switch and Playstation 4. The game has garnered quite a lot of success, notably being a top charting title on the Japanese eShop. However, it seems like SEGA is not yet finished with the game, as they have recently filed a new trademark possibly hinting at a renaming and global release. The new trademark is simply called “Puyo Puyo Champions”, not to be confused with SEGA’s periodic official tournaments of the same name.

The trademark in question was originally registered on October 24th 2018 and made public on November 6th 2018, with the trademark covering multiple aspects related to a video game, including formatting, hardware, music, and recording. While the trademark may be for SEGA’s Puyo Puyo Champion tournaments, what hints at a possible localization for Puyo Puyo eSports is the name being entirely written out in English, an oddity as the series traditionally uses hiragana and/or katakana for registering trademarks and titles. Whether or not this will be the case, or even if it will be used, remains to be seen. Though reminder SEGA was “seriously considering” a localization according to professional Puyo Puyo player Tom Nadja, so it’s a possibility the trademarks are just a first step.

[Source: J-Plat Pat]

Rumor: Team Sonic Racing might have been delayed to 2019

We haven’t been shy to share our opinions on SEGAbits about the upcoming Team Sonic Racing, specifically the lack of marketing hype surrounding the game. Set for a winter 2018 release, the game has only seen a few teaser trailers and appearances at conventions. For a game that should be releasing in just a few months, it sure doesn’t feel like it is releasing in just a few months. Via Sonic Stadium comes the sighting of a pamphlet from a Russian computer and gaming expo that gives the game a 2019 release date. Such a delay would fit with how SEGA has been treating the game, and I did note that the official website for the game and the SEGA Press site does not list any release date information. Plus, SEGA has made it clear that quality is important for the Sonic brand moving forward, which has led to delays for games like Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice and Sonic Mania.

Of course, this could also all be false and the Russian event just had the wrong information. It wouldn’t be the first time Russians disseminated false news. We’ll see what information we can dig up on the potential delay, so in the meantime let’s classify this as a rumor.

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Rumor: Sonic Kart Racing Game Coming 2018, Won’t Include other SEGA IPs

On this episode of the SEGA News Bits we look at the new rumor that SEGA is working on a Sonic Kart Racing game that won’t be part of the ‘All-Stars’ series or include many or if any SEGA brands (outside of Sonic). Check the out the video above for the evidence, at the end I give you my opinion about the rumor and if I think its in fact a reality. I guess we will find out soon, at SXSW panel, if these rumors turn out to be true.

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