The Weekly Five

The SEGA Five: Places to Go for an Awesome Day in Tokyo-to

by

segabits jet set radio future 1

Well, you may have overslept, but there’s still time to catch what looks like a gorgeous day.

The sun, positioned high in a cloudless blue sky, beams down upon the bustling metropolis, its light casting a slight shimmer on the horizon. On most days your schedule’s packed; from time spent racing through the city streets, fighting off the Rokkaku Police and rival gangs, and doing everything in your power to recruit newbies, those in the GG’s rarely have time to slow down and appreciate the scenery.

Today was different, though. Today was your day off, and you figured you’d make the most of it and visit some of your favorite locales in the great city of Tokyo-to for a very different type of adventure from your typical day-to-day craziness.

Continue Reading ➜

No Comments

The Weekly Five: Favorite Moments in Skies of Arcadia

by

Hey everyone welcome to another episode of The Weekly Five, I’m your host George and today we will be talking about my favorite moment of Skies of Arcadia. The game originally came out in 2000 on the SEGA Dreamcast.

The game later got 2002 re-release in Japan and 2003 in the West on the Gamecube, which included better graphics, less random battles, extra content, and more. Regardless of what version of the game play, both are fantastic experiences. Some disliked the game due to its constant random battles but I think it more than makes it up with its charming characters, light hearted humor and sense of exploration.

Great games have great moments and Skies of Arcadia is full of them, so if I don’t mention a moment you loved, share it with us in the comment section. Let’s get this list started.

Warning: Spoilers ahead. 

Continue Reading ➜

3 Comments

The Weekly Five: Virtua Fighter Facts

by

Welcome to another unexciting episode of The Weekly Five where we create top five list on all things SEGA. I’m your host George and this week we will be talking about Virtua Fighter facts. This is a weird thing to do considering anything can be a fact, so I’ll try to keep it interesting. Who knows, maybe you’ll learn something new.

This will also be my last AM2 related Weekly Five for the rest of the year, so I hope you guys enjoy it! Let’s dive right in.

Continue Reading ➜

5 Comments

The Weekly Five: How SEGA redesigned Sonic the Hedgehog

by

wfsonic
 
Following the reveal of Sonic Boom, SEGA and Sonic fan communities exploded with discussion regarding the redesigns of the characters. Things like muscles, sports tape, scarves, tool belts, and blue arms became the subject of heated debates. Before the assurance from SEGA staff that the new game and TV show were a branch of the franchise and not a reboot, fans were both delighted and angered at the idea of Sonic undergoing another redesign after getting to know Modern Sonic for the past 7 years. Of course, fans of the franchise are not new to redesigns of SEGA’s mascot, so they can’t be blamed for assuming that Sonic was undergoing another permanent major change. While Sonic Boom Sonic and Modern Sonic “will continue to move forward in parallel” to each other, as stated by Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka, the new Westernized design of Sonic is here to stay – at least for the near future.

As we move forward into the Sonic Boom era, we thought it would be fitting to look back at five major moments in Sonic’s history of redesigns, from buttface to green eyes and beyond. “Buttface” is enough incentive to read on, right?

Continue Reading ➜

11 Comments

The Weekly Five: Ways to experience Sakura Taisen

by

sakura-wars_1

Sakura Taisen has had an interesting history in the West. Though the first four games that make up the core of the franchise were never localized, the series’ anime and manga adaptions were. As a result, Sakura Taisen was able to establish a cult following in the West, one strong enough to spawn continued interest in the franchise from both fans and corporations years later.

Thanks to the efforts of these companies and fans, there are now several ways for western audiences to get a taste of the franchise. Though they are not all complete and they are not all convenient, these are the five ways you can experience the biggest SEGA franchise to never officially make it West.

This is the Westerner’s guide to Sakura Wars.

(Special Note: the information from this list is derived from Kori Maru’s extensive knowledge of the franchise. He was gracious enough to help us out with the research for this article)

Continue Reading ➜

1 Comment

The Weekly Five: Five Game Gear games that need to come to eShop

by

3DSGG copy

This may not surprise you, but I was a Game Gear kid. While everyone else was bringing their Game Boys to school, I happily chugged away on my full color backlit power house, playing Sonic Triple Trouble, Lion King and Lucky Dime Caper. So when I heard the 3DS was going to have its own handheld centric Virtual Console, I was stoked. Finally, some of my favorite games from childhood would be available to play on a modern screen!
 
So far, SEGA’s selection of Game Gear titles have been pretty solid, with only a handful of mediocre Sonic games ruining what is an otherwise fine selection. Yet, there are still some spectacular titles missing from the line-up, titles which should be given their due before SEGA calls it quits on the Virtual Console.

Continue Reading ➜

4 Comments

The Weekly Five: Opa-Opa’s greatest cameo appearances

by

opaopa5
 
Before Sonic came along in 1991, SEGA had its fair share of mascots. Ask a SEGA fan in the 1980’s who SEGA’s current mascot was, and you’d likely receive a variety of answers. Some may point to the Shinobi arcade game star Joe Musashi, while others may point to the Mario-like Master System star Alex Kidd. Opa-Opa of Fantasy Zone was another of these mascots vying for the SEGA throne, and if you ask me he was the most worthy of the crown. While Opa-Opa lacked an expressive face, a drawback that some say was the reason Alex Kidd came out ahead of the sentient spaceship, I say he made up for it with a simple yet memorable design that evoked SEGA’s quirky nature at the time. Opa-Opa is both cute with his bright colors and white wings, and hardcore with his jet propulsion and firepower. He also fits in perfectly with the “blue skies” aesthetic SEGA is well known for thanks to the fact that the skies are where Opa-Opa spends a majority of his time.

Since his debut in 1986, Opa-Opa has made cameo appearances in several SEGA games, a testament to Opa-Opa’s original design. In fact, Opa-Opa’s cameo career began the very year he debuted and his cameo appearances continue through to today. In this week’s Weekly Five we’ll be highlighting some of Opa-Opa’s greatest appearances, from playable to non-playable and from obscure to blatantly obvious. Yes, Shenmue made the list, you can stop holding your breath Ryo Hazuki fans.

Continue Reading ➜

12 Comments

The Weekly Five: Shenmue’s craziest moments

by

segabits shenmue feature pic

It was a day of deathly quiet as Ryo hurried up the path to the Hazuki dojo, well aware that something was amiss. Minutes later, he would witness the murder of his father at the hands of Lan Di, an event that would forever alter the course of his existence.

Shenmue was a series that began dramatically, but quietly. Iwao’s death was one showcased with a degree of style, but the next few hours of the game saw the Hazuki dojo grieving, with Ryo searching through town for the most mundane of clues. It was a deliberately-paced start that may have mislead some into believing that they’d began a subtle and realistic experience; and to an extent, they wouldn’t be wrong. But Shenmue is, at heart, a Kung Fu epic.  And like in almost any of those, it doesn’t take long at all for the adventure to fly off the rails. In a good way.

Continue Reading ➜

10 Comments

The Weekly Five: Best SEGA games on the Xbox 360

by

wfx360
 
Today is the launch day for the Xbox One in America, and as people head to stores to pick up the latest console, the Xbox 360 officially becomes a “last gen” machine. Last week George named the five best SEGA titles to grace the Playstation 3, and seeing as how I’m the site’s Xbox guy, I thought I’d do the same for the Xbox 360. As with George’s list, these are my personal picks, so feel free to add any titles in the comments section!

Continue Reading ➜

3 Comments