Yearly Archives: 2025

SEGA Japan trademarks “Narcia’s Tears and the Fairy’s Flute”

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PopoloSoS_Cutscene01.0SEGA Japan has recently filed a trademark for “Narcia’s Tears and the Fairy’s Flute” (Narushia no Namida to Yousei no Fue). The trademark was filed on July 24th. According to Gematsu, Narcia is the name of a character from the PopoloCrois series, which has faeries as a prominent role. Not only that, the series’ main developer Epics has been on a hiring spree recently for a new PopoloCrois Monogatari game, looking for a “UI design intended for smartphone and consumer game screens.” Could this mean that the next PopoloCrois game will be published by SEGA?

It seems that the PopoloCrois IP is owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Even though they own the IP, 2015’s Return to PopoloCrois: A Story of Seasons Fairytale was the first game to be on a non-Sony platform as the IP was licensed out to Marvelous and the game released on the Nintendo 3DS. Its possible that SEGA could be licensing the IP and planning a new entry along with developer Epics, much how they have found success with Hatsune Miku titles. What are your thoughts on SEGA trademarking “Narcia’s Tears and the Fairy’s Flute” ? Do you think PopoloCoris franchise should be adding to SEGA’s publishing arm?

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Shining Series artist releases his art book ‘Tony’s Artworks From Origin’ tomorrow

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TonysArtOriginRegardless of what you think of Tony Takas art since taking over the Shining franchise’s art duties all the way back in 2004, he seems to have acquired a massive following in Japan. While the Shining series has had trouble selling copies of their games, it seems that Japan responded positively to Tony Taka’s character designs. So much so that there is a ton of Shining series merch being sold, more so than the actual games. Tony Taka has even released a couple of Shining related art books as well, this will be more broad artwork he has done in the past.

AmiAmi will be selling the “Tony’s ART works from Origin” book which is set to feature various character designs from his career including magazine covers and vocaloids he has designed, including a long form interview looking at his history these past 20 years. The book will come in A4 page format, will have a hardcover backing and clear slip on box. The book will set you back 5,000 yen ($46), will have 100 pages and feature 80 illustrations. The details of the book also brag that about 30 of the character designs in the book got made into figurines. Good for you Tony Taka, I guess.

Hit the jump to check out preview pages of some of the artwork that will be in the book:

[Via AmiAmi]

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Sonic Mania delayed on PC until August 29th

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If you are unlucky person, such as yours truly, then you will probably have to wait until August 29th to play Sonic Mania. That’s right, Sonic Mania on PC has been delayed until August 29th, all other console versions will launch on August 15th as normal. I guess I will have to purchase the game on consoles, digitally, to play it without it getting spoiled. I’m pretty sure SEGA and the people working on Sonic Mania didn’t want to delay it, its just how game development go.

The news was given out during the Sonic the Hedgehog live stream over at Twitch. Another bit of news was that 26 copies of the Sonic Mania Collectors Edition will be signed by Takashi Iizuka and Kazuyuki Hoshino of Sonic Team. Good luck with that one. Aaron Webber did say that all Sonic Mania PC pre-orders will get Sonic the Hedgehog on steam for free, which happens to be the non-Chrisitan Whitehead remake. It sucks, its nice that they are trying to give out a free game but is it enough? Sound off in the comments, what is your thoughts on Sonic Mania being delayed only on PC?

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Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth releases October 17, check out the new Fencer trailer

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Atlus has announced that Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth releases October 17 in the Americas, and as previously revealed Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth will have a launch day edition which will include extras like a physical 24-page art book, six-track CD and a outer box to hold all your goodies including the game. Amazon has the game for pre-order, if you have Amazon Prime the game will cost you $31.99.

In addition to the release date, Atlus has released a new trailer showcasing the Fencer and included the following description:

It just wouldn’t be smart to traverse the Yggdrasil tree without someone who is pretty handy with a blade, so why not have an Earthlain Fencer watch your back when exploring? The Fencer is master of both rapier and shield, and let’s just say that during fights they really like to get straight to the point. Quick on their feet, Fencers excel at evasion, stabbing, initiating defensive buffs, stabbing, chaining together attacks with other party members, and stabbing. They can further specialize in their agility by sacrificing unnecessary equipment for speed or go all in with their swordsmanship to become a whirlwind of pain.

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Ristar joins SEGA Forever line-up

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Ristar3Sonic Team’s Ristar might have only had one game, but it was a pretty damn good one. The stretchy armed platformer featured fantastic music, vibrant and colorful world. The game was also more of a slower platformer, having Sonic Team take a break from Sonic the Hedgehog games was a nice change of pace. If you never played the game, I feel like you should try it on a better emulator than what is being offered right now on SEGA Forever, but if a mobile phone is all you have then you can give the game a try for free, with ads. If you like what you played, you can always keep it ad-free for only $1.99. I have downloaded and played it a bit, the emulation on this title is a bit better, but still having issues with sound (on my Android device).

Download:
PlayStore – iTunes

It seems that Ristar had a sneak launch, while SEGA Forever teased the game, they haven’t officially announced it coming out. No trailer like they did for The Revenge of Shinobi last week and no tweet (as of writing this). If you want to learn more about the future of the SEGA Forever line of games, check out our interview with Danny Russell (Mobile Games Community Manager at SEGA).

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Rez finally on PC; Rez Infinite hits Steam for $24.99

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Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s rhythm shooter Rez originally hit Japanese Dreamcasts in December of 2001. Since then, it’s gone through a PlayStation 2 update, an Xbox 360 re-release, a VR-focused remaster on PlayStation 4, and now finally, the SEGA classic has hit PC. Teased yesterday by Enhance Games, Rez Infinite has finally hit Steam, currently only available on Windows.

The release comes feature complete; the full PS4 remaster, free deluxe DLC, enhancements for 4K resolution and increased texture quality from previous versions, as well as full compatibility with Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. The VR support even goes so far as to include most common control inputs for the platform. At time of this writing, the game’s launch is accompanied by a 20% discount, hitting $19.99 USD and £15.99 BP.

We’ll have our own review and write-up for Rez Infinite soon(this writer particularly intended to review the PS4 version which never panned out), but for now, why not take a look at the launch trailer and Digital Foundry’s breakdown of performance under the jump?

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SEGA News Bits: Sonic Mania Competition Mode Reaction

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The good people over at SEGA just teased the all new competition mode for the upcoming Sonic Mania, which will allow two players to have head to head races throughout the in-game levels. On this episode of the SEGA News Bits we go through all the rules of the new Sonic Mania competition mode, talk about the multiplayer modes from past Sonic the Hedgehog titles, discuss the fact that Sonic Mania competition mode will squish the aspect ratio, and much more. We also have a couple, minor news stories added in the video; like the first pictures of the Sonic Mania collector’s edition in the wild and the rumor that SEGA’s Takenobu Mitsuyoshi is the announcer in Sonic Mania’s competition mode! Let us know what you think of Sonic Mania‘s competition mode in the comments below. Only a week left until Sonic Mania officially releases!

If you enjoy our SEGA News Bits segments and want to support us: Give us a sub and give this video a like so it shows up on more like minded fans YouTube recommendations. You know, how that YouTube algorithm is.

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Looks like Rez Infinite is coming to PC tomorrow

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A eagle eyed NeoGAF poster by the name of Grief.exe spotted a tweet by @deadendthrills stating that he was extremly excited to finally bring Rez/Rez Infinite to PC which would support 4k with double the texture quality. Sadly he deleted his tweet, possibly due to Enhanced Games, Rez Infinite publisher teasing something for tomorrow.  How much do you want to bet that their announcement is the release of Rez Infinite on PC? Some believe that the tease is actually wrong and means September 9th, which I doubt. But we shall see.

For those not in the know, it seems SEGA has licensed the Rez IP and let Tetsuya Mizuguchi work on the franchise with other publishers.  The first attempt was Rez HD on Xbox Live which was published by Microsoft Studios, then last year we had Rez Infinite which added more content and supported PlayStation VR. No idea if the PC version will support VR out of the box, but I’m assuming it will. What are your thoughts? Will you be picking up Rez Infinite on steam if it comes out tomorrow?

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Sonic Mania revives the beloved Competition Mode

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SEGA has announced a new Sonic Mania feature that many classic fans are sure to love: Competition Mode! Players will be able to take on their friends as Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles with the winner determined by different factors: clear time, score, number of items acquired, number of rings acquired when clearing the level, and total number of rings acquired throughout the level. Rules can be adjusted via changing the available items in item boxes and the number of rounds.

Update: It is incredibly probably very likely that the announcer is Takenobu Mitsuyoshi.

Check out the mode in the video above, and after the break check out screenshots of the Competition Mode menu.

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ToeJam & Earl: Back to the Groove vinyl pre-orders go live

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The ToeJam & Earl: Back to the Groove vinyl has opened its pre-orders via the official Funkotron Shop! The vinyl set will set you back a cool $44.95 plus shipping. It seems like a ton of money but the vinyl set comes with a ton of things! The ToeJam & Earl: Back to the Groove vinyl set comes with:

  • 2xLP (ToeJam Red and Earl Orange)
  • Soundtrack on CD
  • Digital Soundtrack code
  • 24 page comic-style art book

While its cool that the package comes with the digital code and CD, it would have been cool to get a cheaper package with only the art book and vinyl. You can check more details about the ToeJam & Earl: Back to the Groove vinyl set over here. All orders are mean’t to ship this fall, keep that in mind. If you didn’t know, ToeJam & Earl: Back tot he Groove is a new entry to the ToeJam & Earl franchise being headed by creator Greg Johnson, the game was funded by Kickstarter on March 25, 2015. The game is set to come out sometime in 2017 on PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The game is being published by Adult Swim (the channel, yeah).

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Fan Made: Sonic Mania Physical Release Box Art Round-Up

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Sonic Mania has fast become the most hotly anticipated Sonic the Hedgehog games in years, in large part because it is not only the return of classic Sonic but also the return to the graphics and gameplay that made the series so popular in the early to mid 1990s. While Sonic Mania is releasing to all major modern platforms, the development team has described the game as Saturn-esque with several fans taking things a step further and declaring Sonic Mania the Sonic Saturn game we never got but always wanted.

While we won’t actually be seeing Sonic Mania on the SEGA Saturn or the Mega Drive/Genesis, that hasn’t stopped fans from creating their own custom box art that can be printed out, trimmed and applied to an old Saturn or Mega Drive/Genesis case of your choosing! After the break, check out the fan made box art we’ve found online and in the comments share your own custom box art.

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SEGA News Bits: Sonic Mania Special & Bonus Stages Revealed

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While last time we talked about the first screenshot of Sonic Mania’s special stages, but now SEGA has come back with footage showing a few of the special stages along with introducing the new (and I use that word lightly here) bonus stages and even reveal time attack. On this episode of the SEGA News Bits we discuss our thoughts special stages, discuss critics given online about the bonus stages and gush over time attack mode. According to SEGA this is the last big reveal for Sonic Mania, what with the game coming out in August 15, so hopefully you enjoy our big last SEGA News Bits for the game. Let us know what you think of all the new features SEGA showed off for Sonic Mania, in the comments below.

If you enjoy our SEGA News Bits segments and want to support us: Give us a sub and give this video a like so it shows up on more like minded fans YouTube recommendations. You know, how that YouTube algorithm is.

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SEGA releases free DLC schedule for Yakuza Kiwami

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SEGA has revealed that Yakuza Kiwami will be getting four content packs post launch, something that they have been doing with the series since Yakuza 3. The add-on content will be received as game updates, after its released, so no need to go into the PSN store, and deal with adding the content to your account.

If you hit the jump you can see all the cool free DLC content for Yakuza Kiwami like playing as shirtless Kiryu, having Majima’s iconic snake skin jacket and more. Remember that Yakuza Kiwami retails for $29.99, Amazon Prime pre-order is only $23.99 for the steelbook version!

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New Persona Q, Dancing All Night Games Announced

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Bet you never see this coming. Atlus and SEGA are pushing hard after the success of Persona 5 by bringing back two of it’s spinoff franchises. Just announced today is Persona Q2  for Nintendo 3DS and Persona 5 Dancing Star Night for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita. But wait! Without having to play catch up, Atlus also announced Persona 3 Dancing Moon Night for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita. All three titles have special websites open but the only information shown are the target platforms and release windows slated for the dancing titles in Spring of 2018. That’s three new Persona titles and equally surprising are two new PlayStation Vita titles that will release next year.

The Persona Q series is developed by the same team responsible for the Etrian Odyseey series that focuses on dungeon crawling and a super deformed art style with the first game focusing on Persona 3 and Persona 4 characters. Meanwhile the previous Dancing title played similar to the Hatsune Miku music rhythm series of games and focused only on Persona 4.

More information on these titles as more news develops. You can check out trailers for the two dancing games after the jump.

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