SEGA Talk #176: Sonic Drift 1 & 2 (1994-1995)

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On this episode of SEGA Talk, we shift into portable racing mode as we take a deep dive into Sonic Drift and Sonic Drift 2 — SEGA’s kart racers released exclusively for the Game Gear. Long before Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing, these two hidden gems let players race as their favorite characters across colorful, high-speed tracks inspired by the early 16-bit Sonic era. So lets put the pedal to the metal on SEGA Talk!

[iTunes – Stitcher – YouTube – Download]

Support us on Patreon! Get early access, have your memories read on the show, select the games we talk about!

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Godzilla Invades Sonic Rumble with a Collaboration on December 22

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SEGA and Rovio are turning up the chaos in Sonic Rumble, unleashing an event of colossal proportions as Godzilla stomps into the arcade royale mayhem. The King of Monsters brings a new level of epic intensity to the game as Sonic’s iconic speed collides with the legendary power of the Kaiju.

Starting December 22, Rumblers can take part in a limited-time event, featuring exciting challenges and special Godzilla-themed rewards.

Highlights of the event include:

  • New Stage: Godzilla Survival – Survive Godzilla’s rampage on up to three boats in the middle of the ocean, while avoiding Godzilla’s devastating Heat Ray and the lurking Shockirus.
  • Unlockable Kaiju & Skills – Unlock legendary monsters with a free and premium pass, and look for Mechagodzilla and Destoroyah, featuring special skills, in the RSR shop.

Check out the official Sonic Rumble blog post HERE to learn more about the collaboration. Players can download Sonic Rumble on the App Store, Google Play and Steam today.

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The Video Game History Foundation preserves 147 lost Sega Channel ROMs, including previously unreleased games

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Looks like Christmas came a week early, Sega fans.

In, easily, the most incredible case of video game preservation that I’ve written about here on SegaBits to date, the Video Game History Foundation has recovered a massive amount of archival data pertaining to the Sega Channel, an online games-on-demand service that ran for Sega Genesis/Mega-Drive from 1994-1998 via cable TV services. For almost thirty years, the majority of material here had been lost media. The older folks among you, myself included, must’ve thought you’d never live to see all of this resurface again.

Among all this recovered data is 147 Genesis ROMs used on Sega Channel. That’s right. One Hundred And Forty-Seven. This includes Sega Channel exclusive games never before preserved like Waterworld, The Flintstones, and Garfield: Caught In The Act – The Lost Levels, and it is now available to download via Gaming Alexandria in partnership with the VGHF. That last game took a bit longer than we expected to be released after it was found and demoed just a year ago, but the wait is finally over. We hope you managed to resist kicking anyone off of any tables for a whole year.

Besides just the games, there are also ROMs of Sega Channel menus, some previously archived and some not, some related test ROMs, and even a mock-up of a Genesis web browser planned for the service. You read that right. An honest-to-goodness Web Browser was planned for Genesis that would’ve ran through Sega Channel. There are also tons of advertisements for print, TV, and radio, internal planning documents, user data, fan art sent by subscribers, and a whole lot more for all to view freely.

What to see exactly what was found? Click right past the break and get hooked in.

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Sonic Weekly: SEGA Girlie Manifesto w/ DANIELLE RADFORD

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Comedian Danielle Radford joins the show for a chat about why Sonic holds a special place in her heart and how Sonic Movie 2 is the best Tyler Perry film, Bo updates Rings of Saturn, and David & Grant react to The Game Awards and look ahead to Sonic’s 35th anniversary.

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SEGA’s big The Game Awards reveal was Total War: WARHAMMER 40,000

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If you checked out The Game Awards for updates on the new Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage or Sonic games you probably felt pretty empty after the show wrapped. Still, SEGA had one reveal by way of Total War: WARHAMMER 40,000. The game itself looks technically impressive, and zooming in from a space battle to a ground battle was very cool both on a gameplay and technical level.

No release date has been set, but more details are expected this week. In the meantime, you can check out the official site for more details!

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Ultra rare Swing arcade cabinet with exclusive English translated SegaSonic The Hedgehog arcade board up for auction

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Anybody got £40,000 pound sterling (Currently about $53,271.60 USD) to lend me? I’ll totally pay you back.

That’s how much it’s likely to cost you (Perhaps more) to get this Multi Cabinet Swing arcade cabinet that has, what is likely to be, the only officially translated arcade board of SegaSonic the Hedgehog housed in it. The game and cabinet are fully functional and properly maintained. They have been since this cabinet was first taken from Sega World London after its closure in 1999.

Since then, this cabinet fell into the hands of a few private collectors and, eventually, back into Sega Europe’s hands, where it was most recently up for display at a promotional event for Sonic Racing: Crossworlds, shown above. Now, this cabinet is up for auction at the Ewbank’s auction site with a starting bid of £10,000. Bidding begins on December 19th, 2025

If you’re a rich UK resident who’s feeling lucky, you can check in past the break to learn more about this golden opportunity.

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Gamescare’s new GF-1 Neptune FPGA console pushed back into 2026

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Looking forward to the new GF-1 Neptune? Well, I hope you don’t mind waiting a little longer, because Gamescare have announced in an email to newsletter subscribers like Yours Truly that the new FPGA-based Genesis/Mega-Drive and 32X console combo has been delayed.

Originally slated to have begun pre-orders in December 2025, which is now as this article is uploaded, the GF-1 Neptune has been pushed back in an effort to ensure that Gamescare’s quality standards are met. Pre-orders have still not yet begun and Gamescare also reiterates their commitment to avoiding crowdfunding or opening pre-orders before independent reviewers can demo the final hardware.

Below the break, we’ll have Gamescare’s statement on this matter.

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SONIC WEEKLY: Ristar w/ ALTSYNTH

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We’re joined by our new friend Altsynth to talk about the SEGA Genesis classic, Ristar (1995). But first there’s the weekly news, Rings of Saturn, and then at the end of the episode, David remembers Nick Thorpe, a member of the fan community gone too soon.

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SEGA Talk #175: SEGA in 1998

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On this episode of the SEGA Talk Podcast, we’re peeling back the curtain on Sega’s most pivotal year — the collapse of the Saturn, the rise of the Dreamcast, and the moment gaming stood at the edge of a digital revolution. All this and more… on SEGA Talk!

[iTunes – Stitcher – YouTube – Download]

Support us on Patreon! Get early access, have your memories read on the show, select the games we talk about!

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SONIC WEEKLY: Sonic Turkeys

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This week, the fellas are feeling grateful to do this show for you! News gets covered, Rings of Saturn returns, and the fellas nominate the most-deserving ‘Sonic Turkeys.’ What does that even mean, exactly? Listen on to find out!

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Jaret Reddick of Bowling For Soup releases a new recording of Sonic Unleashed theme with some special guests

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Jeret Reddick, the lead singer of the pop punk rock band Bowling For Soup, has fired shots straight in our childhood feels with his shadow dropped cover of Endless Possibility, the theme song from Sonic Unleashed originally performed by himself.

Often misattributed to Bowling For Soup as a whole, the song was performed originally by musicians at Sega, including Sonic Unleashed’s main composer Tomoya Ohtani, while the lyrics were written and recorded by Jaret Reddick. This time, he and one of his bandmates, Rob Felicetti, have returned with cover band Punk Rock Factory and Wheatus (Best known for their hit song Teenage Dirtbag (2000)) to bless us with a new, independently recorded version of the beloved song, including a music video uploaded to the official Bowling For Soup YouTube channel. It’s an unexpected surprise, but as the song goes, the possibilities are neverending.

But how will you know what it sounds like? And how will you know if it’s cool. We all gotta jump past the break, and it’s like that for you. The possibilities are neverending.

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Lost Nintendo 64 game from Sammy, Viewpoint 2064, found and preserved online

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That’s right. Another article from me regarding a Nintendo 64 game that’s now retroactively related to Sega by way of corporate merging years later. Are you doing any barrel rolls over that yet?

Viewpoint 2064 was developed exclusively for the Nintendo 64 (Oooooooh, I see what they did with the name there) as a sequel to Viewpoint (1992), an isometric scrolling shooter developed by Aicom and published by Sammy originally for the Neo-Geo family of game hardware. The original Viewpoint was ported to a few other systems, including the Genesis/Mega-Drive. (You might recall that was part of the Sega Genesis Mini 2) Viewpoint 2064 was still being published by Sammy, but was being developed by Racdym. (The same Racdym that made Snowboard Kids) It was shown to the public at Nintendo Spaceworld 1999, and was likely meant to release in stores either that year or the next, but for whatever reason it simply wasn’t meant to be.

Fast forward to 2025 and a new development cartridge containing the full game has been found and its rom dumped online for all to see. This comes after a prototype version of the game was previously found and dumped online in 2020. Not only does this new version look and feel much more complete than that prototype, but the cartridge also has a sticker with the word “Master” printed on it, implying that this might’ve been the completed version meant to be mass produced onto cartridges and shipped to stores everywhere. This master version was found and preserved by game archival YouTuber Hard4Games onto Archive.org for all to try for themselves.

Hard4Games has also prepared a video showing the game in action, including some comparisons to the prototype he found five years ago. If you would like to View that, then I will Point you beyond the break here.

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SONIC WEEKLY: Should Sonic be Funny?

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David & Grant cover the new Spongebob Squarepants DLC for Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, the new Endless Possibilities cover, and more. Plus we pose questions like: which special stage from the classic games is best? And should Sonic be funny?

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Two New SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance Steam Bundles Celebrate Lizardcube Excellence!

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Explore SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance with two exclusive Steam bundles that pair the iconic ninja game with a reimagined classic SEGA brand developed by Lizardcube, known for creating high-quality 2D games.

Pick up SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance alongside Streets of Rage 4 or Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap in two new bundles. Enjoy the beautiful art and amazing 2D action that await you!

Wield the blade, ready your fist, and slay the dragon with links to these sweet bundles below!

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