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Early Knuckles the Echidna art and details emerge from newly uncovered internal document

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Less than a month before Knuckles’ theatrical debut comes an early document from SEGA Technical Institute dated April 12, 1993. The document, which was shared on a private Sonic the Hedgehog collectors group, was meant to introduce the new antagonist to staffers of SEGA’s American development team. Given Sonic the Hedgehog 3 released on February 2, 1994, this document was seen nearly a full year before making it one of the earliest glimpses of the character.

The document is chock full of interesting tidbits, including a humorous placeholder for his name which is literally “(Name)”. Also, it is stated that Knuckles crates a whirlwind to knock down walls. Of course, in the final game he just sort of walks into walls and “punches” them. But this ability DOES appear in the Sonic 3 Happy Meal which has the Knuckles toy spinning in a dust cloud. Also, Espio does eventually have such abilities.

After the break, read the document for yourself!

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EXCLUSIVE: Sonic & Knuckles Rock the Rock Revisited with Chris Tang – Beating the Previous Record!

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High Score is a new documentary series on Netflix charting the history of video games. While the whole series is recommended to SEGA fans, the fourth episode in particular is a must watch. The episode, titled “This is War”, covers the console wars of SEGA’s push to outsell Nintendo in the United States. SEGA all-stars, and friends to the site, Tom Kalinske (former President and CEO of SEGA of America) and game designer and gaming tournament champion Chris Tang are featured in the episode. Chris is known best to Sonic fans as the winner of SEGA and MTV’s Rock the Rock competition in 1994.

Following the Netflix series debut, I got to talking to Chris and he revealed to me that the production of the documentary prompted him to revisit Sonic & Knuckles and redo the Rock the Rock’s finals competition run. The rules being collect the most rings in Launch Base Zone in 3 minutes as Knuckles. Chris, always the competitor, wanted to go up against himself and see if his current skills and abilities could outdo his previous win. After a day of practice, Chris fired up his recording devices and recorded this run that we are proud to debut exclusively here at SEGAbits!

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SEGA News Bits: Shenmue III E3 Gameplay & Epic Store Exclusive Reaction

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While Shenmue III just got a delay into November, it doesn’t mean that E3 isn’t the biggest event for YS Net and Deep Silver to promote the upcoming kickstarter backed game. We got a ton of news at E3 2019 including a brand new trailer with facial animation, over 13 minutes of gameplay, a new Limited Run Games collector’s edition, and finally the game going Epic Store exclusive on PC. We share our thoughts on all the news, let us know what you think in the comments below.

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Shenmue III is going Epic Store Exclusive on PC

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Shenmue III dropped a new trailer showing off a more completed version of the game, but most people online seemed to be focused on the fact that the trailer showed a Epic Store logo and not a Steam one. As someone that backed the project, I vividly remembered that it said that the PC version would be a Steam key. Will they do what Metro Exodus did and fulfill all Steam pre-orders? Who knows, Shenmue III kickstarter isn’t the best with communication. Here is all they said on it being exclusive:

“The PC Gaming Show just wrapped up with some big news for Shenmue III. The new trailer was unveiled and it was announced Shenmue III for PC will be an Epic Games Store exclusive!“

You would think they would have clarified if all the Kickstarter promised keys would be Epic Game Store keys. It seems the internet is having mixed opinions on this. One side defends the move saying PC gamers just have to download a new launcher, the other side either hates Epic Game Store moves like this or wants the key on Steam as promised for backing the project. As always the PlayStation 4 version will remain unaffected. What do you think?

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SEGAbits X Sonic Prologue 2

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The wait is now over and we at SEGAbits are happy to announce our surprise partnership with NECOMIX with their upcoming sequel to their Sonic Prologue fan film, which had over 900k views since it’s launch last year in August, to celebrate Sonic’s 25th Anniversary next year. With this partnership, we will be posting updates on Sonic Prologue 2 exclusively on our social media network, Facebook & Twitter.

Sonic Prologue 2 takes place directly after the events of Sonic 2 and the beginning of Sonic 3 where Sonic first meets one of his earlier rivals in the series, Knuckles the Echidna. This time, the team is going to need support through donations to make this project happen. Hit the jump for the “exclusive” 60fps trailer, story synopsis, screenshots, a message from the director and details on donation support of the smash hit fan film.

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Exclusive Excerpt from “Console Wars”: SEGA of America’s first look at Sonic the Hedgehog

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Thanks to It Books, HarperCollins Publishers, and author Blake J. Harris, we have an exclusive excerpt from “Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation” which features the first time SEGA of America President Tom Kalinske and his staff laid their eyes on Sonic the Hedgehog in action! The full excerpt can be found after the break, and if you like what you read, make sure to pre-order a copy of the book today and enter our Twitter and Facebook contests to win a copy of the book. Contest winners will be announced on our release day podcast with the book’s author Blake J. Harris, which will debut alongside the book tomorrow!

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Interview with “Sega Mega Drive/Genesis: Collected Works” creator Darren Wall

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In November of last year, Darren Wall, graphic designer and art director at Read-Only Memory, took to Kickstarter in an effort to fund a book that was to be “the ultimate retrospective of the SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis”. Dubbed a “documentary art book”, Darren had the official license from SEGA, including access to the company’s archives and staff from both past and present. The only thing left to to obtain was the funds to make the project a reality.

This part was probably the easiest step of the project, as in less than 48 hours the team had met their £30,000 goal, and by the end of the campaign they earned £98,725! Prior to the end of the campaign, Darren joined George and I for a Swingin’ Report Show interview to discuss his plans for the book. It is now five months later, and Darren is nearing completion of the project with only SEGA’s approval and printing remaining. We caught up with Darren in a written interview, as well as another podcast which you can listen to tomorrow. Darren was even nice enough to give us some exclusive content from the upcoming book: design documents from the development of the original Streets of Rage!

After the break, check out the full interview as well as the cool exclusives from Read-Only Memory and SEGA.

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Crush3D out tomorrow, exclusively being sold at GameStop

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Well, I predicted that this game was going to fail and it seems that SEGA also predicted it. It was supposed to be out this past Tuesday and it went missing in action. Now, all of a sudden SEGA says on twitter (as a reply, mind you) that it’s coming out tomorrow. Wow. No blog post? Press release? Alright.

@ShaunNorton @sega Is Crush 3D a GameStop exclusive now? Also, when is it coming out?

@nron10 @ShaunNorton Out tomorrow exclusively at GameStop for $19.99!

I guess it isn’t all bad, since the game is going to be $19.99 instead of the usual $39.99. At least you save 50%!

 

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Rumor: Sonic 4 Episode 2’s first stage called Cryptic Clock Zone?

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Adding to yesterday’s exclusive rumor on Sonic Episode 2, this time we hope that we are revealing the first stage name for the game. According to the anonymous e-mailer the first zone is going to be titled ‘Cryptic Clock Zone’.

“The first stage is titled Cryptic Clock Zone, set in a dark moonlit stonehenge like area. “

I’m pretty sure if this turns out to be true, that this is an original level idea, unlike the first episode that seemed to borrow themes from past Sonic titles. Or am I wrong? Is there a super secret stonehenge inspired Sonic stage that I missed?

Edit: Put rumor in the title after some sites started running the story as a fact. This is a rumor and has been filed under rumor since I posted it.

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PS3 exclusive House of the Dead: Overkill – Extended Edition level revealed

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[Yes, its called “Creeping Flesh”]

The first exclusive level had you playing as Varla and Candy, this second level does too. This time you find yourself in a local slaughter house.

The slaughter house will feature new mutants with extra flesh on them, thus they will be able to take more gunfire. Not to mention the whole slaughterhouse seems to be made up of flesh, so its looks like a meat wall. Carnivore delight.

SEGA does give us a tease at the boss, known as Meat Katie, a cleaver wielding cow stuck in a meat factory. SEGA teases that you will need a lot of good reflexes, steady aim, and perseverance, to beat this melee wielding super cow.

SEGA have also confirmed that the title is a ‘exclusive’ Playstation Move title. Meaning you will need Playstation Move to play it, unless its a mistake. The game hits store shelves in North America on October 25, 2011.

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Virtua Tennis on Playstation Vita has exclusive content

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Just like its Playstation 3 big brother, the Playstation Vita port coming around the launch of the new handheld, will have exclusive content. Here is a trailer showing it off and some details.

  • Touch Controls: Consoles had motion, this version has touch. Regular and touch controls will always be on together, so you can use both at the same time.
  • Touch Vs. Mode: A top down versus match against another player, played on a single Vita system.
  • VR Match Mode: Virtual Reality or ‘First Person’ view tennis will use the Vita’s gyroscopes for movements.
  • Rock The Boat minigame: Test your skill as you hit targets on a rocking boat.
  • Camera (augmented reality): Details on how SEGA will use augmented reality have not been detailed. But we do see the cameras at work in the create a character, with ‘face scanning’. Nice.

So if you haven’t picked up Virtua Tennis 4 on consoles, this might be one of the best options. Though, I don’t know how much I will use touch controls myself.

[Source: Playstation.Blog]

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House of the Dead Overkill: Extended Cut reveals first exclusive level

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House of the Dead Overkill: Extended Cut was said to have a ton of new content, which also includes new stages. This first one to be revealed is called “Naked Terror”. You have to shoot your way through a stripper bar, killling exotic dancers and biker mutants.

But that isn’t all: the level has you playing as Varla Guns and her exotic dancer friend Candy, both of which were only NPCs in the last release.

House of the Dead Overkill: Extended Cut is coming exclusively to Playstation 3 on October 25th in the USA. Are you ready?

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The Weekly Five: Lesser Known Dreamcast Exclusives

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I make it no secret that I am a big time Dreamcast fan. It is the SEGA console I own the most games for (around 120 last time I counted) and every September 9th I take the day off from work to host a nine hour Dreamcast marathon. There are many reasons why I love the console, but the number one would have to be the exclusives. Jet Set Radio, Shenmue and Crazy Taxi 2 are fantastic games and have yet to appear on any other console, and I’m totally cool with that. It’s a perfect reason for my Dreamcast to remain hooked up next to my current generation consoles.

But as time goes on, SEGA has been porting more and more Dreamcast classics to other consoles. Great for the gaming community, bad for the Dreamcast. Less exclusives mean less of a reason for gamers to pick up a used console. I know it sounds like I’m being overly dramatic, however this past May I did witness a kid turning down the purchase of a Dreamcast due to SEGA’s recently released Dreamcast Collection. As such, I thought I’d share five lesser known Dreamcast games that remain exclusive to the console and show no sign of receiving a rerelease. If you want these, you need a Dreamcast.

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Sonic Generations on 3DS to have multiplayer?

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SEGA of Japan has put up their website for Sonic Generations. They have screenshots of the HD versions of the game, very nice and fancy stuff.

Here is something odd. The HD versions of the game say they are single player titles, but the 3DS lists 1 to 2 players. The 3DS already confirmed it will get an exclusive level, will it also get exclusive multiplayer?

[Source: AndriaSang]

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Virtua Tennis 4 on Playstation 3 gets exclusive content

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SEGA has just confirmed that the Playstation 3 version of Virtua Tennis 4 is getting exclusive playable characters. These include Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg and Pat Rafter. As well as two minigames. The first one is Pin Crusher which is made for regular controllers in mind and the other is Net Blitz which is Move exclusive.

There is also a minigame being made for PlayStation Home Central Plaza that will launch with the start of the French Open. To check out the message SEGA sent out, hit the jump.

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