SEGA Talk #119: Shining Force III (1997)

SEGA Talk takes a journey into the last Shining Force game by the original developers, Shining Force III! Not just the first game, but also scenario 1, 2 and 3. We also discuss the fan translations, development and more!

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Shining Force & Golden Sun artist Hiroshi Kajiyama passes away


Hiroshi Kajimyama’s son has revealed via Twitter that he’s father has passed away. The son didn’t give any details on when he passed away, what the causes or any other information. This is all probably a close family matter and I respect that.

Hiroshi Kajimyama worked on a ton of games, but most SEGA fans like ourselves will remember he’s amazing art from his SEGA games such as doing character designs, illustrations for Shining Force Gaiden, Shining Force Gaiden II, Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict, Shining Wisdom and Shining Force III. He would later go on to work with Camelot by doing the art for the Golden Sun games as well.

If there is any way that Hiroshi Kajimyama wants to be remembered, its probably by he’s amazing artwork so let’s look at some incredible pieces of art that he created throughout he’s career.

[Via: AnimeNewsNetWork]

Round Table: Our favorite SEGA developed Saturn games

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We are coming to a close in our SEGA Saturn Month here at SEGAbits, so we decided to go out in a bang by telling you guys our favorite SEGA in-house developed game. SEGA had a power house of developers during the 90’s and most of them really hit their strides during the Saturn, we know its hard to pick just one game, so we will also be listing three more titles as honorable mentions.

Like always, if you guys want to let us know your favorite SEGA developed Saturn titles, you can do so in the comments section.

SEGA Tunes: Shining Force III’s Sanctity & The Dragon’s Graveyard

Shining Force III Scenerio 2 & 3 never made it to America, which is too bad because the games where all fantastic. This track is from the 1st Scenario of the game, called “Sanctity”, which is one of the most epic tracks that I have ever heard in a game. I love the way it starts out simplistic enough and just adds layers throughout making it a very pleasant listen. Moving from epic, to haunting and back to absolutely beautiful.

No one quite does it like Motoi Sakuraba, who has worked on music for the first two Star Ocean games, Valkyrie Profile, Golden Sun series, and many more. The soundtrack to Shining Force III is so great, that I’ll embed another song after the break. For FREE, that’s right, 100% off! How’s that for a Black Friday deal?

Weekly Five: Saturn titles that should be on modern consoles


One of the best things about the SEGA Saturn is it’s wide array of exclusives. While Dreamcast lost many of its best exclusives to its competitors shortly after it died, the exodus of Saturn exclusives has been painfully slow. A port here, a remake there, but nothing like the sort of treatment that Dreamcast, Genesis, and even Game Gear/Master System libraries got after SEGA’s departure from the console business. Heck, when a Saturn game does get ported, it doesn’t even get localized much of the time. Why the general lack of porting or emulation? Well, according to Panzer Dragoon series director Yukio Fatatsugi, it’s because SEGA has misplaced the source code for many of their Saturn games, meaning that many games now on the Saturn will never see the light of day on another console unless they are completely rebuilt from the ground up, something that is probably unlikely to happen.

Hey, a gamer can dream, right? Here are five Saturn titles that I think should see the light of day on modern consoles, whether it be a port, emulation, or a total remake for a retail release. Since I recently wrote an entire article demanding an Astal remake, and since Guardian Heroes is now going to be the latest Saturn title to make the leap, obviously those won’t be counted.

Man lip syncs to Shenmue and other bad voice overs


What is this? SEGA games having cheesy voice overs? Not on my watch. Shenmue you say?

List of SEGA Games on here:

  • The House of the Dead 2
  • Shenmue 2
  • Shining Force Neo
  • Shining Force III
  • The House of the Dead 2 (again)
  • Zombie Revenge

Seriously, who doesn’t do this when replaying classic games? I do. Should have used some Virtua Fighter, king of cheese.

GamesTM Magazine Goes Cover Crazy

The SEGA europe blog has just (as in a few minutes ago) announced that European magazine GamesTM is celebrating their 100th issue by releasing 100 alternate covers to represent their list of the top 100 video games. Of course, SEGA is on the list, so we can expect 12 covers to represent our favorite company. See the other six covers after the jump.

Retro Review: Shining Force III Trilogy

Shining Force III is a game that had many Saturn owners wishing that they could speak fluent Japanese. Considered to be one of, if not the best game on Sega Saturn, only one third of the full story ever saw an English translation. While most fans will already know this, the Shining Force III that most westerners are familiar with is only a fraction of an intricate trilogy of games, a true epic in every sense of the word. Three different scenarios, three different stories, all intertwining and combining to form an intricate, sprawling story and game. Recently however, thanks to the hard work of some very dedicated and skilled fans, almost every part of every game has been translated finally allowing the game’s English speaking fan base to enjoy the game as it was intended. So, how does it hold up over a decade later?