Climax Entertainment illustrator Yoshitaka Tamaki passes away at 55 years old

Man, what’s with all the bad news lately? I’m sorry today’s been such a downer, Sega fans. I’ve saved the saddest, most serious news for last though.

Beloved artist and character designer behind some of the Shining Force and Stalker games at Climax Entertainment, Yoshitaka Tamaki, unfortunately passed away from lung cancer on July 13th, 2023 at the still-too-young age of 55. He was just recently mourned in a private funeral service, according to a post from his own twitter that was translated by Gosokkyu.

Tamaki-san’s artwork was easily recognizable with its stylized merging of anime and Disney-esce visual styles. Sega fans will remember his art best from games like Shining in the Darkness, Shining Force, Landstalker, Time Stalkers, and Shining Soul I and II, each of the Sega games he worked on during his time at Climax Entertainment, the developers of all except for the two Shining Soul games. Before all that, he got his start in the video game industry working freelance at Enix until getting noticed by Climax and asked to design art for their first Genesis game, the aforementioned Shining in the Darkness. Besides those games, he would also illustrate for games like FEDA: The Emblem of Justice (both the Super Famicom original and its Sega Saturn remake), FEDA 2: White Surge, Alundra, and Assault Suits Vaiken. Unfortunately, photos of him are rare because he was rather camera shy in life.

We at Segabits humbly thank him for gracing us with his talent and wish the best for his friends and family. His stamp on Sega and video game history will remain long into his absence. 

Feel free to take in some of his amazing art from the Sega games he worked on as well as leave some best wishes and fond memories in the comments after the break.

Camelot Software wants to make Shining Force IV

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Camelot game producer Hiroyuki Takahashi joined a held conference in Japan titled “3rd Game Business Archive” along with Treasure President Masato Maegawa (where he teased an upcoming announcement) and Former Compile director Masamitsu “Moo” Niitani. During his talk he went into detail on Shining Force sale figures and numbers from games way back in the day. This is some of the information he discussed:

  • Shining in the Darkness shipped 300k units in Japan, while he states that it was about half the Mega Drive units sold at the time, its not 100% true. As of March 1991 the Mega Drive had 1.90 million units in Japan.
  • Shining Force CD was created for the team to practice on SEGA CD hardware, that’s why they added bonuses.
  • Hiroyuji Takahashi has confirmed that he would like to make Shining Force IV.

As you already know, Camelot Software had a falling out with SEGA after the development of Shining Force III on the SEGA Saturn. Shortly after they went on to work with Nintendo on the highly acclaimed Golden Sun series then after started making various Mario sport titles. If SEGA is serious about reviving older IPs on its road to 2020, then they should totally take Camelot Software up on this offer.

[Via: ResetEra]

SEGA Games That Are Celebrating Big Anniversaries in 2016

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SEGA has created some highly popular and cult classic series of games that have stuck with people over the years. While most of you guys already know that Sonic the Hedgehog is celebrating his big 25th Anniversary this year, many other games get ignored because they aren’t as relevant as they used to be. Today we will list those mostly ignored video game franchises we all love. Did your favorite game make our list?

Gamestop’s PowerUp Rewards lets you spend your points on SEGA Genesis games

Hey, do you wish that GameStop still sold retro video games like SEGA Genesis carts? Well, if you are a PowerUp Rewards member you can now spend your points on SEGA Genesis games. Right now they only have Shining In the Darkness and Mortal Kombat. Yes, not the greatest selection, but it’s a good start!

I wasn’t going to post this due to the fact that GameStop sold out of their SEGA Genesis games. But, since they are in such high demand they will most likely get more. If you wondered how the PowerUp Rewards point system works, check out this great blog post on it.