Unannounced Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania leaks platforms via Brazil’s classification board


We posted before how the Australian Classification Board rated Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania and now it looks like the beans (I mean, bananas) have been re-spilled by a Brazilian certification board. But this time we got more information, which platforms the unannounced game is heading for and basically every modern piece of hardware:

  • PC
  • PlayStation 4
  • Xbox One
  • Nintendo Switch
  • PlayStation 5
  • Xbox Series X/S

Crazy enough, SEGA just revealed quite a bit of games, but still no word on this Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania title…

Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis launches free update on June 9

The Phantasy Star Online 2 team have now confirmed that Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis update will go live on June 9! Here is the update posted on the PSO2 blog:

“Scheduled Launch Date:
After the maintenance on June 9, 2021 (Wed)

Due to the PSO2:NGS launch, the scheduled maintenance that would have occurred on June 9 (Wed) will be moved forward by about one or two days. More information will be announced at a later date.

Global Maintenance Announcement
 Due to the change in the maintenance schedule, there will be changes to the dates and the content of the “The Road to NEW GENESIS Event” countdown login bonus event. More information will be announced at a later date.

Note: There are no changes to the amount of SG distributed.

We will hold campaigns to celebrate the launch, so be sure to check them out! 

Thank you for your continued support of PSO2:NGS!”

It really looks like SEGA has been hitting it out of the park with all the new announcements!

 

Streets of Rage 4 DLC “Mr. X Nightmare” finally make Shiva playable

Ever since I was a mere child and laid my eyes on the badass ninja guard for Mr. X, Shiva, I wanted him to be a playable character. Now, the wait is over, Streets of Rage 4’s first DLC pack “Mr. X Nightmare” has confirmed he will be the third playable character.

As we know the other two playable characters announced were Max Thunder and Estel Aguirre. Sadly we don’t have a release date for the DLC, but we do know its coming out sometime this year.

Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown to have delay-based netcode

According to the folks over at Kotaku, who talked to a SEGA representative via e-mail, have finally confirmed if Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown will have roll-back netcode. It won’t. This might be the biggest disappointment to fans looking forward to playing games with someone across the country.

It seems that the game will be re-using the old Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown netcode, which at the time was well received but now more people are asking for rollback netcode in fighting games. This movement has spread so far out that SNK has even went back and updated their old classic games with rollback netcode.

Though just because a team uses rollback, doesn’t mean that the game will not have lag or other issues. For example, Street Fighter V uses Capcom’s own rollback netcode and I personally have had way more smoother games in Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown back in the day.

Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown getting an arcade release & opening cinematic released

This is one of those two for one post on Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown. First we got a brand new opening cinematic released by the Japanese Virtua Fighter YouTube channel, seems this is the ‘eSports’ branded intro (for the arcades?). Regardless, the cinematic has me hyped, really loved the ending where all the main cast is looking at each other.


While SEGA and their arcade future isn’t looking too bright, it is known that each main series Virtua Fighter game has had an arcade version and Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown is no different as SEGA has confirmed the existence of an arcade version. It seems SEGA is branding this one Virtua Fighter E-Sports, like the teaser and releases on June 2nd, 2021. Interesting enough the opening really sells on the ‘fight anyone around the world’ and the arcade cabinet only supports one player.

Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown being given away to PlayStation Plus members starting June 1st


It looks like the rumors running around that Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown was going to be given away to PlayStation Plus members in June are true. It has now been confirmed via the PlayStation Blog:

Sega’s iconic one-on-one battler gets remade for a new generation by Yakuza and Judgment developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. This console exclusive debuts on PlayStation Plus, allowing both VF veterans and newcomers to experience the intense martial arts combat, deep strategy, and intricately balanced gameplay of the groundbreaking 3D fighter in stunning HD. New online features – like custom tournaments supporting up to 16 players and live spectating – join classic modes like Rank Match, Arcade, and VF5’s famously robust Training to deliver the definitive Virtua Fighter experience.

The game will not only be available on PlayStation Plus for about two months – June and July – but it’ll also be releasing on PlayStation Now in June! PlayStation Plus members can enter Virtua Fighter 5’s arenas starting Tuesday, June 1.

According to the internet, PlayStation Plus has over 47 million subscribers, meaning that Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown might be the most online active Virtua Fighter game ever. Maybe. What do you guys think of SEGA’s move in giving the game away for free to Plus members?

Japanese PSN leaks “Lost Judgment” early, sequel to Judgment

As you know, back in March SEGA filed a trademark for the name ‘Lost Judgment, which lead people to speculate that SEGA will be making a sequel to Judgment (or Judge Eyes in Japan). Since then SEGA has released the next generation ‘Remaster’ of Judgment and has been teasing a sequel on social media (which is set to be reveal tomorrow).

But Japanese PSN can’t wait, it has updated its store page to show off the sequel right now. The game in Japan will be called “Lost Judgment” according to the leak. The Japanese PSN has been on fire since they also leaked Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown early. We also know that the game will feature a season pass in Japan, according to the site page.
The game is set to launch in Japan on September 21st on both PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5! As far as the Western name for the game? I guess we shall see if we will get Judgment 2 or Lost Judgment; tomorrow at 7am PST!

 

Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World hitting Western PS4 & Switch May 28, PC on June 29

It looks like the Monster World IV remake, Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World, is set to launch both physically and digitally on PS4 and Nintendo Switch on May 28th in the West (North America, Europe and Australia). PC gamers will have to wait until June 29th to get their hands on it.

The game is set to retail for $39.99, which seems a bit high considering Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap remake of Wonder Boy III launched for half the price.

You can read the overview of this remake release, via the publisher ININ after the jump:

[Via: Gematsu]

Streets of Rage 4 reveals Max Thunder as playable, part of ‘Mr. X Nightmare’ DLC

Dot Emu has announced the ‘Mr. X Nightmare’ DLC where they teased the DLC having three new playable characters. The last announcement had Estel Aguirre as playable and this time its Max Thunder. While its not a surprise, since the publisher put up a silhouette image of the upcoming characters, its nice to finally get it confirmed.

But who will be the 3rd and final character? Everyone’s money is on Mr. X’s bodyguard Shiva, which has been a fan favorite character for decades. Considering that the DLC deals with Mr. X returning, having Shiva as a playable character would be pretty awesome.

This was announced today because its Streets of Rage 4′s 1st year anniversary. Time sure flies by….

Yakuza 0 Vinyl Pre-Orders Open, Including a Double Deluxe LP and a Six Record Limited Edition

Looks like Laced Records has opened up pre-orders fro the Yakuza 0 vinyl soundtrack. The company is set to ship the records in October 2021 and this will include:

The cheaper, deluxe record is set to include 27 songs, with on record being green and the other light blue. It will also including songs like “Fever ☆ Time,” “Ignite Your Spirit,” “Koi no Disco Queen,” “One-Eyed Slugger,” and “Setsuna No Ningyohime〜Heart break​ mermaid〜【Full Spec Edition】.”

Now the Limited Edition Six Record Set will offer 90 songs with each record getting its own sleeve and its own ‘color-in-color’ design. If you want “Bakamitai”, you gonna have to spend more money on this edition.

[Via: Siliconera]

Cancelled Dreamcast Castlevania: Resurrection prototype released to the public


Remember when the story came out that someone found a old pre-E3 Castlevania: Resurrection prototype? Castlevania: Resurrection has always been one of those missing titles that was suppose to come out and nothing happen. It was thought to be lost to time, but now everyone can play the pre-E3 demo thanks to the owner putting the disc up for free. He did try to eBay it, it even got to over 20k, but he took the listing down when people warned him Konami could go after him.

It seems that this demo disc was meant to be seen by gaming journalist, back in the day and is considered a “pre-E3 demo”.  The guys over at the SEGA Dreamcast Info Preservation Games has a huge write up on prototype.

Download Castlevania: Resurrection here!

Wonder if we will be seeing other prototype builds of this title come out? I sure hope so. Any other ‘cancelled’ Dreamcast games you guys would like to see prototypes of?

SEGA Japan announces its selling NFT digital content, upsets the internet so much they start trending

It really looks like the years of hard work to create good PR has all gone to waste, maybe! SEGA Japan announced it was going to partner up with ‘double jump .tokyo’ to create NFT digital content and utilize blockchain technology this upcoming summer. This obviously caused a huge uproar, so much so that it sent SEGA to trending on the front page of Twitter. Oh boy.

For those not in the know and never heard of “NFT”, it stands for ‘Non Fungible Token’. So that doesn’t explain much, but what does it do and what does this have to do with ‘blockchains’ and Crypto? Basically NFT’s right now are a digital way of buying a painting or piece of artwork that only you own and will forever live on the blockchain. For example if SEGA puts an official Sonic piece of artwork, they can allow users to bid with Crypto to see who ‘owns it’. Right now the biggest NFT market is ‘Open Sea’, which lets you browse and explore how the whole thing works.

SEGA Japan officially allows Japanese users to monetize videos on YouTube and Twitch

SEGA Japan has released new streaming guidelines for Japanese audiences, which will now allow individual users to monetize videos and streams of SEGA owned games through YouTube and Twitch.

Its actually kinda crazy that SEGA didn’t allow this before considering how games like Yakuza got huge brand awareness in the West due to streamers and YouTubers making videos on the games. But it seems that SEGA in the past allowed users to create videos, but not profit from them. It seems that SEGA is also encouraging players to add reaction faces and comments, but also asking for spoiler tags on videos that ruin story moments. They have also asked not to do unrelated edits that would obscure actual gameplay, which seems a bit vague?

This whole guideline sadly isn’t applying to Atlus or western developed titles such as Total War, but if its a success for SEGA; we can all assume this will all change.

[Via: Siliconera]

“Cotton Guardian Force Saturn Tribute” announced for PS4, Switch

It looks like City Connection will be releasing a shoot ’em up collection being titled Cotton Guardian Force Saturn Tribute for the PS4 and Nintendo Switch! This was done at the Shooting Game Daikanshasai event. The collection is set to launch on September 30, 2021 in Japan with a standard and special edition. Pre-orders open on April 27th.

The collection is set to gather the SEGA Saturn ports of the Cotton games which will include:

The collection will have all the modern emulation bells and whistles including save state, rapid fire, ability to rewind, online rankings, and more. The team is also working on Cotton: Reboot, which is due to come out later this year as well.

Who would have thought 2021 would have the Cotton series return?

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios teases ‘JUDGEMENT DAY’ on May 7th, Sequel to Judgment?

Ryu Ga Gotoku’s Yakuza side game Judgment might bet a sequel, at least if the new countdown website launched by the studio is to be believed. The page teases ‘JUDGEMENT DAY’ on May 07, 2021 at 7:00AM PDT! On the page there is a teaser that features footage from the newly re-release Judgment remaster (which changes up lighting and other aspects of the PS4 title) and even has a link to a upcoming ‘live event’ set for that day.

Quite frankly Judgment is a great title by the studio and I personally have wanted to see the franchise continue in some aspect. It looks like we might be getting that considering that SEGA just re-released the title on next generation consoles, the fact that we got theLost Judgment‘ trademark and now this teaser site?

Let’s go!