SEGAbits @ SAGE 2022: Interview with Noah Copeland on Sonic Triple Trouble 16-BIT – PART TWO

[READ PART 1]

Welcome back to the second part of our two parter interview with Noah Copeland, the director of Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble 16 bit. On our last interview we chatted about how Noah gained an appreciation of the SEGA Genesis and his background in the fangame development scene. Hit the break to read the rest of the interview!

SEGAbits @ SAGE 2022: Interview with Noah Copeland on Sonic Triple Trouble 16-BIT – PART ONE

As part of our SAGE coverage, we managed to get a hold of Noah Copeland to come have a chat with us about the development of his fangame Sonic Triple Trouble 16 bit. This love letter to the classic Game Gear game released to much fanfair last month, remaking the original games visual to fit perfectly with it’s classic Mega Drive counterparts, featuring the ability to switch between Sonic or Tails as well as multiple playable characters. Hit the break for the first of two part interview with Noah as he goes into more detail about the fan games history and development ideology!

New music album/Windows 95 simulator developed for SEGA Genesis by Mike Yedley

A musical album released in the form of a game cartridge or ROM might sound like an odd concept, but quirky homebrew developer and musician Mike Yedley has done just that, and it’s not even his first one. Not too long ago, he debuted his second Genesis music ROM on his itch.io page, called “mikeyeldey95”. Being a ROM, it can be run in your favorite Genesis emulator or on original hardware with a flash cartridge such as any of the Mega Everdrive line of cartridges. In a very interesting twist, this album also doubles as a retro Windows 95 desktop simulation, full of fun easter eggs and mini-games. You can change the desktop background and color scheme, explore a web browser (This game has no way of actually connecting to the internet), and even explore an MS-DOS environment. There are 11 main songs total, but exploring a bit more can uncover several hidden songs, including some full PSG tunes.

Arts and Crafts: Make your own Sonic Origins Genesis box, manual and cartridge!

Fool your friends, be the envy of your enemies (or vice versa) with the Sonic Origins SEGA Genesis paper craft! I did it for Sonic 4 Episode 1, Sonic 4 Episode 2, Sonic Generations and Sonic Mania. So it only makes sense for me to do it again for Sonic Origins!

The process is pretty easy. Print out the images below, slip the cover in a Genesis case, tape or glue the label on a Genesis cartridge and fold and place the manual inside the case. I like to use old sports games, but you can use any old Genesis game case that you wish. Have fun!

SEGA Saturn classic Bulk Slash gets impressive English fan localization patch

[Trailer edited by Bofner]

The SEGA fan translation community has been on fire recently with fan translations and they seem to be getting bigger. For example the recently fan localized Sakura Wars GB: Go Forth, Young Cadet! even restored cut content that didn’t make it in the Japanese release. 

Now some of the people that brought you that are back to release their most ambitious localization to date: Bulk Slash, a title praised for its presentation, soundtrack, gameplay, replayability, and its graphics. The localization team not only translated all the text, but also had voice actors come in and dub the game. For a fan localization project, this is pretty major.

Download Bulk Slash English Translation Patch Here

SEGA Talk #67: Somari the Adventurer (1994)

Mario Lives! After his death on March 31, Mario has been resurrected as Somari the Adventurer! On this SEGA Talk, George and Barry discuss this legendary bootleg game that brings Mario into the world of Sonic the Hedgehog on the Famicom and Nintendo Entertainment System. Learn about the development, release and legacy of the Mario adventure SEGA and Nintendo don’t want you to see!

Support us on Patreon! Get early access, tell us what games to cover, and have your SEGA memories read at the end and more!

[iTunes – Stitcher – YouTube – RSS – Download]

If you want to give us feedback, suggest a topic for the next podcast or want to ask a question for us to answer on the next episode you can add  them as a comment below or send theme directly to our email. Make sure you use subject line ‘SEGA Talk’ and as always, thanks for listening!

Dreamcast Gets a New Game! Metal Slug 6 Arcade Ported to SEGA Dreamcast

SNK’s arcade board Atomiswave, which was created in collaboration with SEGA and Sammy (before the merger), was very close to SEGA’s arcade board NAOMI. NAOMI happens to be what the SEGA Dreamcast was based on. Recently, the arcade community has been porting Atomiswave arcade titles to NAOMI, and now thanks to Megavolt85 we are getting our first port to the SEGA Dreamcast… Metal Slug 6!

We’re not sure if this is technically considered a port, but according to Megavolt85: “Atomiswave is Dreamcast with small changes. all the information you need is in the MAME source code”.

Could be interesting seeing more Atomiswave titles ported, you can check out the full list of Atomiswave games below:

Sega Saturn Japanese exclusive SRPG “Valhollian” getting fan made English translation

The fan translation team known as Meduza Team (recently they translated Linkle Liver Story and provided widescreen hacks for Shining Force III, Powerslave and Dead or Alive) have announced they are working on a English translation for Valhollian or better known asZanma Chouougi Valhollian” . This Sega Saturn exclusive SRPG came out in 1998 and was developed by Datt Japan which only worked on two previous Sega Saturn games, Virtual Casino (1996) and Monster Slider (1997).

Quite frankly surprised this title never got a proper translation and release in the West since the game did sport some really cool looking polygon graphics and seems to have a pretty interesting cast of characters. Check out the video above on the work they’ve done on the game so far. Pretty interesting project and worth keeping an eye on if you are looking for more Sega Saturn goodness.

Fan recreates Burning Rangers with Unity

YouTube user, Andreas Scholl, demostrated a tribute demo of Burning Rangers, one of Sonic Team’s earlier titles for the Sega Saturn, through the use of the Unity Engine featuring a recreation of the first level and Tillis as a playable character.

He also adjusted the vertex coloring of the shader and the general light settings to resemble closer to the Sega Saturn visuals which is very impressive.

What are your thoughts on this demostration demo and would you like to see Burning Rangers remade for modern consoles the same as Panzer Dragoon and The House of the Dead? Leave us your thoughts in the comments below.

Fan-made open beta of Sonic Runners underway

2015 was an interesting year for Sonic. Before the ignition that started with the 25th anniversary party, the Sonic Mania hype, and SEGA Forever, we were gifted as with a few lovely mobile apps for SEGA to dip their toes into the market. With Sonic Jump and Sonic Dash being both moderate and raving successes respectfully, it was time that Sonic Team took a slightly different approach to the next mobile game, leading to Sonic Runners. However, within over a year of its launch, the game was shut down. Now fans have worked their magic again to revive the long-forgotten game app, which was a favorite among the community. Click the jump to find out more.

Fan restoration of Archie’s Sonic Universe #95 releases – read the full issue now!

Fans of Sonic the Hedgehog comics went through a series of ups and downs during the final years of the Archie Comics run of the series. From reboots to cancellations to an outright end to the series, the long running series deserved a better finale. The spin-off from the main series of comics, Sonic Universe, came to an end with issue #94 wrapping up a Chaotix story arc. However, fans were promised a new arc with issue #95 focusing on the members of the Freedom Fighters. Of course, issue #95 never came to be however the penciled and partially inked issue was made public. Using these elements, a group of fans took the incomplete work of Adam Bryce Thomas, Jim Amash and Ian Flynn and inked, colored, wrote and lettered the full issue. The issue is available to read now, and can be found here!

Most exciting, to me at least, is that the end of the restored comic teases that Sonic the Hedgehog #291 – the conclusion to Genesis of a Hero – will be the next Archie Sonic comic to be restored. This will complete the four issue flashback arc that would have acted as a fitting end to the series.

Oh, and my fingers are crossed for Mega Drive: Overdrive to be restored next.

Seeking Art Submissions: Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog charity fanzine seeks to help Robotnik designer Milton Knight

For those who don’t know, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog character designer Milton Knight – who is famously known for creating the design of Robotnik for the series – had fallen on hard times in 2018 with an eviction from his longtime home, which itself was riddled with substandard living conditions. In 2019, things got worse as Milton was a victim of a hate crime and was assaulted. I personally have had a long history with Milton, purchasing some art from him ten years ago which led to a correspondence where we discussed his work on Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, my personal favorite Sonic cartoon, and his art.

In an attempt to raise funds for Milton in his time of need, a fan named Harper plans to release a charity fanzine (fan made magazine) of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog inspired art. Harper tells me that he is “attempting to unite the talented artists as a force of good to create an AOSTH-themed Zine” and that “proceeds from this zine will be donated to Milton Knight’s gofund me”. The submission details, also found after the break, can be seen here: https://aosthzine.tumblr.com

As a fan of Milton and Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, I urge other fans to spread the word of the fanzine. Best of luck to Harper and his efforts!

Shenmue I & II Remasters get first HD texture pack for PC

Wait, didn’t Shenmue I & II Remasters just come out? That isn’t stopping hard working fans from improving upon the release, at least on PC. If you didn’t know, the Shenmue I & II Remasters came out with the original textures from the Dreamcast, which I feel are fine but if you wanted updated textures then modder ‘Dragean’ has you covered! He is working on a HD Texture Pack for Shenmue I & II and the first version has been released!

The HD Texture Pack is set to recreate HD textures for environments and not just upscale the existing textures. The mod isn’t even close to being complete, I mean the Resident Evil 4 HD pack mod has been going on for years, so it could take quite awhile before this mod is completed.So far he has tweaked existing Yamanose textures, added street textures in Dobuita, added Yamanose tree leaves/shrubs/bush sprites, reworked road signs/grass textures, and added some patchy dirt/brick wall textures.  The HD Texture Pack requires Kaldien’s Special K mod (download), Ryo’s clothes HD textures from here, and HD texture pack for walls/doors (by hope3090) can be found here. Check out some of the screenshots to see the differences, see live comparisons over here!

[Via: DSOGaming]

SEGA Game Gear’s Sonic Chaos being re-imagined by fans, demo out now

Its incredible how talented and hardworking some of the Sonic the Hedgehog fans out there are. Not only does the franchise seem to get some sort of fan remake, re-imagining and other game type projects announced a few times a year; they are usually pretty well thought out! This time the fan team over at A+Start is aiming at re-imagining the 1993 SEGA Game Gear exclusive Sonic Chaos.

Even better? The team over at A+Start has released a full playable demo for you guys to try. You can download that right here.

Seeing the trailer, its quite obvious that the team is very influence by Sonic Mania and that is not a bad thing! As you know we love Sonic Mania. Are you guys going to give this fan re-imagining of Sonic Chaos a spin?

[Via: DSOGaming]

Fan created ‘Super Mario 64 Online’ returns, adds Sonic & Knuckles as playable characters

Back last year there was a mod for Super Mario 64 that made a splash online. This mod was called Super Mario 64 Online by Kaze Emanuar and would allow up to 24 players to play the Nintendo 64 classic at the same time. The mod gained massive popularity online and of course it was only a matter of time before Nintendo struck this project down. They started by taking down the creator’s Patreon account.

Now, after eight months of silence, Mario 64 Online has returned with the new, less exciting name of ‘Net64 2.0‘, being a very similar project with new additions. One of those additions is the inclusion of SEGA’s popular Sonic & Knuckles.

This isn’t just some ‘skin’ on Mario, the characters have actually been changed. If you look at the video above, they break down the changes made to Sonic & Knuckles. Start at 1:36 for Sonic and Knuckles at 2:00. What do you guys think?

[Via: Nintendo Life]