Sonic Frontiers continues to do well globally, we reported how it was performing in the UK and Steam yesterday, today we can see how well it’s been performing in Japan thanks to the latest Famitsu game charts. Unsurprisingly the Switch version was the best selling SKU this time round, but both the PS5 and PS4 SKUs managed to make the top ten.
Sonic Frontiers made a strong start to life in the charts, boosting a number 4 spot in the UK Game Charts and sold 5% more than 2017’s release Sonic Forces. While this might not seem a large increase this does not include digital sales so Frontiers’ actual increase over Forces could be quite significant yet. We know more than half of UK game sales are now digital. What was more interesting was the platform break down, while Sonic Forces enjoyed strong sales on the Nintendo Switch, this time the best selling platform for the franchise was as follows; Playstation 5 (40%) Switch (34%) Xbox (14%) and Playstation 4 (12%) But it wasn’t just the UK where Sonic Frontiers is enjoying a successful start to it’s sale life, hit the break to read more how it’s fairing on Steam!
Thanks to the Eurogamer Expo, I finally got my hands on Sonic Frontiers. There are so many questions to be answered. How are the controls? Does the game flow well? Is the Open Zone packed full of activities or is it a barren wasteland? Now after getting my hands on the game, I can finally get some answers and find out if Sonic Frontiers is more than meets the eye.
Welcome back to the second part of our two parter interview with Noah Copeland, the director of Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble 16 bit. On our last interview we chatted about how Noah gained an appreciation of the SEGA Genesis and his background in the fangame development scene. Hit the break to read the rest of the interview!
As part of our SAGE coverage, we managed to get a hold of Noah Copeland to come have a chat with us about the development of his fangame Sonic Triple Trouble 16 bit. This love letter to the classic Game Gear game released to much fanfair last month, remaking the original games visual to fit perfectly with it’s classic Mega Drive counterparts, featuring the ability to switch between Sonic or Tails as well as multiple playable characters. Hit the break for the first of two part interview with Noah as he goes into more detail about the fan games history and development ideology!
If you ever wanted to know what you missed out on as a kid when McDonalod’s teamed up with SEGA to release a bunch of Sonic LCD games well, you’re in luck! Thanks to developer Dfug hard work, we have been graced with the collection that has all the games from Knuckles Baseball to Tails Soccer. Their painstaking work to digitise the collection of 17 games helps to perserve these bits of Sonic memoriable and shows you how popular Sonic was in 2003, with the height of popularity coming thanks to a combination of Sonic X and the release of Sonic Heroes. So head over to SAGExpo and give them a try, along with all the other cool games at the event.
It’s that time of the year again where the Sonic Amateur Games Expo, or SAGE (No relation to the Sonic Frontiers villain!) for short, graces us with it’s presence. Filled to the brim with some of the most dedicated Sonic fans on the net, this event now boasts a huge selection of non-Sonic fangames from Mega Man to Kirby as well as a host of indie games. In the coming days we’ll be sharing interviews with developers and game impressions at the event, so stick with SEGAbits and don’t miss a beat in our coverage. In the mean time, check out the SAGE trailer and head over to Expo’s website here and start downloading some of the coolest fan projects around!
It’s that time again! Okay, so financial reports may seem boring to some, but if you are a SEGA fan, reading these things is vitally important. Knowing how well (or how poorly) certain divisions did dictates how SEGA Sammy moves forward as a company. After the break to find out how the company’s latest set of financials turned out as they released the third quarter results for the fiscal year 2020.
Several pieces of news have dropped for Panzer Dragoon over the last few hours including some footage of the first stage in the up and coming remake on the Nintendo Switch. Thanks to attendees at the event, we’ve also found out several things regarding the remake that fans of the series can look forward to.
There’s a few more pieces of information related to the game that you can read about after the break.
People have wanted to see more Shenmue footage for a while and we’re treated to a new trailer from Gamescom albeit offcam. In it Ryo wanders through the night market of Bailu before coming across a couple of arcade games that seem to be inspired by classic SEGA arcade titles Drivemobile and Dodgem Crazy. The trailer gives a decent look at a few new NPCs and another look at the battle system with Ryo taking on multiple assilants before finishing off with a bout with a familiar foe from the past. Shenmue 3 is due out on 19th November 2019 for Playstation 4 and PC.
With Gamescom in full swing, we’ve been getting more media for the up and coming Mario & Sonic game and Nintendo showed off close to 30 minutes worth of gameplay on their stream showing rock climbing, archery and karate. But for the second half of the video we’re shown how the 2D events work where players can take control of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Eggman, Mario, Luigi, Peach and Bowser competing against each other in Long Jump and Diving, amongst other events. Hit the break to see the trailer SEGA prepared to show off the mode.
Yakuza 3 remastered for PlayStation 4 is available to download digitally and play… today! SEGA has announced that The Yakuza Remastered Collection will be hitting PS4 digitally today for $59.99, with the third game available now, Yakuza 4 unlocking October 29, 2019 and Yakuza 5 unlocking February 11, 2020.
For those who prefer physical, all three games will be released in a handsome two disc case with the third and fourth games sharing a disc and the fifth game on a disc of its own. What’s really cool, and proof SEGA of America totally gets their fans, the package will also contain a Yakuza 5 PS3 case (no PS3 disc will be included). The reason for this is Yakuza 5 released digitally in 2015, leaving a hole in fan’s physical collections. Now, at least, a PS3 case can fill that gap while a PS4 remastered disc can be in hand.
Pre-Order the physical The Yakuza Remastered Collection
After the break, read the full press release!
SolSeraph is the latest game from developer ACE Team known for their Zeno Clash and Rock of Ages titles. In SolSeraph players take control of Helios, the Knight of Dawn as he fights to protect humanity from the threats of hellish monsters and aid them in the development of their cities. It’s clear to see that the game takes direct inspiration form the 1990 SNES game ActRaiser, but does it live up to Quintet’s classic it’s based on? Read on to find out!
Discotek Media announced today on their Facebook that they’ll be bringing the complete Sonic X series to SD Blu-ray on May 28th 2019. All 78 episodes will be available in standard definition on 2 Region A Blu Ray discs with English language dub and optional closed captioning in English. Sonic X’s was SEGA’s second attempt in bringing Sonic to the world of animation and it was highly successful for the publisher’s animated subsidery TMS Entertainment who said by 2007 it became their best selling anime abroad. Fans of the series can pre-order the title from Rightstuf for the discounted pre-order price of $45.47 (From the usual $69.95)
Sonic X aired over 3 seasons and started off with original storylines before adapting several of Sonic’s game adventures.
[Source: Discotek Media Facebook]
There was good news for those waiting for Ryu Ga Gotoku’s latest title Judgment today as SEGA confirmed on twitter that the PlayStation 4 detective adventure is still set to hit Western shores on June 25th 2019. There was some worries that Pierre Taki’s arrest on hard drugs charges was going to delay the game but the publisher came out today to assure fans the game will still be arriving on time. On twitter SEGA had this to say:
Due to unforeseen circumstances, the character model and Japanese voice for the character of Kyohei Hamura will be adjusted for the Western release of Judgment, launching on June 25, 2019. Screenshots and trailers featuring Hamura have been temporarily removed from all of SEGA’s official channels. Updated versions of these materials will be made available at a later date.
The bad news is obviously Taki will no longer be part of this game due to his run in with the law. If you’re familiar with Taki’s work how does this make you feel, or if you think of a suitable replacement, why not drop a message in our comment section?