16-Bit Blast Processing Heroes - Ecco, Vectorman, Ristar, Kid Chameleon, etc

[Berto]

BOOK REVIEW The Bitmap Brothers: Universe

While the Bitmaps were focused on home computers for the majority of their career, several of the company's biggest titles were ported to consoles, giving the firm global fame. Speedball made its way to the 8-bit NES (as KlashBall) and Sega Master System, while its sequel would receive even more more conversions, eventually ending up on the NES, Mega Drive and even the Game Boy. The Chaos Engine and Gods also made the jump to consoles, with the latter – the book reveals – almost being a CD-enhanced launch title for the abandoned (and recently rediscovered) SNES PlayStation.
Like Read Only Memory's Sensible Software 1986-1999 (which covers another of the UK's premier '90s studios and one which had strong ties to the Bitmaps thanks to its association with Renegade Software, the publisher founded by the Bitmap Brothers in 1991 which was eventually sold to Time Warner in 1995) this book features plenty of amusing moments that tread the fine line between comedy and tragedy; tales of people sleeping under desks in duvets stolen from their kids, business meetings taking place topless due to an impromptu fish tank clean and people being kicked so hard in their nether regions that they ...

Article: https://www.timeextension.com/news/2016/10/book_review_the_bitmap_brothers_universe

[Berto]

Taito Milestones 3 | Pre-Order & Release Date (2024.12.10) Announcement Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6HjuuM9uzc

TAITO Milestones 3 is set to release on December 10th, 2024 and will be available both physically and digitally, reviving 10 beloved TAITO games from the late 1980s and early 90s:
1. Bubble Bobble (1986)
2. Cadash (1989)
3. Champion Wrestler (1989)
4. Rainbow Islands: The Story of Bubble Bobble 2 (1987)
5. Rastan Saga (1987)
6. Rastan Saga 2 (1988)
7. Runark (1990)
8. Thunder Fox (1990)
9. Warrior Blade (1991)
10. Dead Connection (1992)

Pre-orders for the digital edition start on October 29th, 2024 while pre-orders for the physical edition are already available.

Take advantage of a 10% discount on early digital pre-orders until the official release date.
Go check your Nintendo eShop for more details and secure your copy now!

Link : https://www.iningames.com/games/taito-milestones-3/

[Berto]

Accolade Sports Collection - Steam, PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X, Nintendo Switch Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdpW1OTlins

Accolade Sports Collection (QUByte Classics) is a retro collection featuring some of the most iconic sports games from the early 90s.
This collection includes titles like Summer Challenge, Winter Challenge, Hardball 1&2 and Hoops Shut Up and Jam!.

This collection offers a complete retro gaming experience, where players can easily select from the different titles available, with features like save states, filters options, manuals and more!

Links:
Winter Challenge: https://segaretro.org/Winter_Challenge
Summer Challenge: https://segaretro.org/Summer_Challenge
Hardball 1: https://segaretro.org/HardBall!
Hardball 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HardBall_II
Hoops Shut Up and Jam!: https://segaretro.org/Barkley_Shut_Up_and_Jam!

[Berto]

Aero The Acro-Bat: Rascal Rival Revenge - Launch Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGuurIlXUH8

We're happy to announce that Aero The Acro-Bat: Rascal Rival Revenge will be released TODAY (November 1st) on PS4/PS5, Switch, and Xbox!
The 2002 remake of Aero the Acro-Bat is back and better than ever!

🦇More info here: https://ratalaika.games/u/G4tTC

[Berto]

SEGA Talk #151: SEGA Controllers (1983-1998)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfZmYCZK3oM

On this SEGA TALK we go hands on with SEGA’s many controllers!
We take a look at the base controller for each major console, pointing out the weirdest and most essential controllers and share our personal preference.
Stick around until the end, because we will crown best SEGA controller of all time! On SEGA TALK!

Article: https://segabits.com/blog/2024/11/03/sega-talk-151-sega-controllers-1983-1998/

[Berto]

Interview with Yuzo Koshiro - INDONESIA GAME EXPO 2024

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X13xOYhfSz4







Link: https://x.com/yuzokoshiro

[Berto]

SEGA Plans to Delist SEGA Classics Games starting December 6th.

This news might be disappointing for SEGA fans who care about the preservation of the companies’ rich history of video games ranging from arcade to consoles, including myself and fellow SEGAbits writers. As of now, SEGA plans to delist a selection of games and bundles from virtual stores across gaming platforms including Steam, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and Playstation starting on December 6th at 11:59pm PST.

Nintendo Switch
SEGA® Genesis Classics™

Playstation
SEGA® Genesis Classics™

Xbox
Altered Beast
Crazy Taxi
SEGA® Genesis Classics™
Golden Axe
Monster World
NiGHTS into Dreams
SEGA Bass Fishing
Shinobi
Sonic the Fighters
Streets of Rage
SVC: ToeJam & Earl
Virtua Fighter 2

Steam
Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
Alien Soldier
Alien Storm
Altered Beast
Beyond Oasis
...

Read the full list here : https://segabits.com/blog/2024/11/06/sega-plans-to-delist-sega-classics-games-starting-december-6th/

[Mystic Monkey]

SEGA Plans to Delist SEGA Classics Games starting December 6th.







Read the full list here : https://segabits.com/blog/2024/11/06/sega-plans-to-delist-sega-classics-games-starting-december-6th/

Why are Sega delisting these classics?

I'm an advocate for more Master System to Saturn games to be added to Steam. With Sega Genesis & Mega Drive Collection to be updated to support these titles.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/34270/discussions/0/2561864094341105953
Now Sega wants to take them all away? Why? Sega needs to provide a source for the classics, not take them away!

This is why players are turning towards roms and emulators. Not to pirate the latest games for free, but just to play the old games that are no longer available on modern platforms, or for technology no longer available.

[Berto]

Sega Wanted Phantasy Star IV To Flop In The West, Hence The Sky-High $100 Price

So says Working Designs' Victor Ireland. Ireland reveals that Sega of America was initially going to pass on publishing Phantasy Star IV in the US until he showed an interest:
"The reason Phantasy Star IV came out the US from Sega was because of me.
It wasn't supposed to come out. They had rejected it. And I found out about it because I was dealing with Sega Japan a lot. I said, 'oh my god, I will absolutely license it. We'll do a cartridge.' I don't want to do cartridges because they're very expensive up front, but I know that this will sell a lot of games.
Then Sega Japan went to Sega US because they had an adversarial relationship, let's be honest. And they were like, 'well, look, if this is so bad, why is Working Designs all hot to get this game and bring it out to the US?'"

Ireland claims that Sega of America decided to publish the game off the back of him pushing to license it but deliberately priced it high so it would be a commercial flop, thereby vindicating the original stance in the eyes of Sega of Japan:
"Sega US was like, look, okay, we will take this game, we're going to price it so high that nobody will buy it so we can be proved right in the end when the sales suck.
The PR was like, 'oh, it's because it's a big ROM, blah, blah, blah.' It had nothing to do with that. If we had done it, it would have been a $69 game, no problem. And they could have done it at $69, too. But they priced it at a hundred bucks because they didn't want it to sell.
They wanted the sales to be low so that Sega Japan was like, oh, Sega US was right. Well, surprise, they sold out. It was very popular, even at a hundred bucks... and I made some enemies at ..."

Article: https://www.timeextension.com/news/2024/11/sega-wanted-phantasy-star-iv-to-flop-in-the-west-hence-the-sky-high-usd100-price

[Berto]

Why are Sega delisting these classics?

I'm an advocate for more Master System to Saturn games to be added to Steam. With Sega Genesis & Mega Drive Collection to be updated to support these titles.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/34270/discussions/0/2561864094341105953
Now Sega wants to take them all away? Why? Sega needs to provide a source for the classics, not take them away!

This is why players are turning towards roms and emulators. Not to pirate the latest games for free, but just to play the old games that are no longer available on modern platforms, or for technology no longer available.

Same question was asked (some of them are even are angry rants) by many other SEGA fans too.
At first some thought that may be SEGA's partnership with D3T Limited (who develop the SEGA® Mega Drive Classics™) was ended and SEGA is preparing a new one with another developer.
But turned out it's not just SEGA® Mega Drive Classics™ that's being delisted.
The SEGA Dreamcast Collection ones too!
Even Sonic the Fighters and NiGHTS into Dreams on XBox too!





Those are from SEGA themselves, not from D3T Limited.
It's like SEGA wanted to remove ALL Mega Drive, Saturn, and Dreamcast from the digital stores.

[Berto]

Super Street Fighter II (SEGA Genesis) - "Evil Ryu" Patch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_kvI3hFjtk

This patch by BillyTime! Games is designed to add a Ryu variant to Super Street Fighter II for the Sega Genesis.

With Omega SF2 in development, this hack is rather redundant.

This is a short playthrough showing off Evil Ryu. He deals extra damage and all hit set both players on fire. He even has his own unique win quote!

He is accessed by pressing start on Ryu at the character select screen.

Only bug so far is when you game over, the portrait palettes get a bit wonky.

Link: https://romhackplaza.org/romhacks/super-street-fighter-ii-evil-ryu-genesis/

[Mystic Monkey]

Sega Wanted Phantasy Star IV To Flop In The West, Hence The Sky-High $100 Price







Article: https://www.timeextension.com/news/2024/11/sega-wanted-phantasy-star-iv-to-flop-in-the-west-hence-the-sky-high-usd100-price

It probably sold so well at the price because the customers didn't give a crap about the in-corporate feuding and thought it was a high quality game.

Same question was asked (some of them are even are angry rants) by many other SEGA fans too.
At first some thought that may be SEGA's partnership with D3T Limited (who develop the SEGA® Mega Drive Classics™) was ended and SEGA is preparing a new one with another developer.
But turned out it's not just SEGA® Mega Drive Classics™ that's being delisted.
The SEGA Dreamcast Collection ones too!
Even Sonic the Fighters and NiGHTS into Dreams on XBox too!





Those are from SEGA themselves, not from D3T Limited.
It's like SEGA wanted to remove ALL Mega Drive, Saturn, and Dreamcast from the digital stores.

But why? Sega has nothing to gain from this decision except for backlash. And with the upcoming "Power Surge" on the way, having the prequels available would be appreciated by the fans.

[Berto]

It probably sold so well at the price because the customers didn't give a crap about the in-corporate feuding and thought it was a high quality game.

It's still a risque move, there's a reason why Square back then didn't want to bring Final Fantasy IV and V to the west.
Also this is still one side of the story, we haven't heard from SOA's side.

But why? Sega has nothing to gain from this decision except for backlash. And with the upcoming "Power Surge" on the way, having the prequels available would be appreciated by the fans.

There's a probability they're going to bring them back with better emulator / packaging.

[Berto]

Arle & Carbuncle Fan Art by ㇾᚿㅁꮲငが好きな人の妹 ともえ


Source: https://x.com/RetroXsister/status/1853056263942455459

[Berto]

Vectorman Fan Art by KnightLineArt



Source: https://x.com/KnightLineArt/status/1534535718839668741