Author Archives: Barry

Sonic celebrates his 22nd birthday at Tokyo Joypolis in Japan

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In a video that is sure to make Sonic fans smile, we see Sonic (actually a guy in a costume) celebrating his 22nd birthday at Tokyo Joypolis in Japan. Surrounded by SEGA staff, Sonic received a birthday cake complete with candles and blew them out with the assistance of Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka. The stage featured some snazzy graphics including assets from the upcoming Sonic Lost World, as well as a dancing strawberry cake. No doubt following the event, Sonic and Iizuka hit the club while Jun Senoue tried to convince the DJ to play some of his music. Good times.

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“Not Enough Rings” Sonic parody comic attempting a book release on Kickstarter

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The hilarious Sonic the Hedgehog parody comic “Not Enough Rings” has turned up on Kickstarter to fund a physical book release of the series. We’ve backed it! Why don’t you do the same? Creator Veronica Vera describes the series best: “We know video game webcomics are a dime a dozen. Especially Sonic ones! But in all our years on the internet, we never came across the comic we wanted. No sprite recolors, no tribal Echidna warriors, definitely no werehogs — just a real comic retelling of the remarkable games we grew up playing.”

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For just $25, fans get a slick looking copy of the book, featuring comics covering every stage from Sonic 1 through to Sonic 3 & Knuckles. As a special perk to buyers, many of the Sonic 3 & Knuckles comics will release in the book long before appearing on their website. Other goodies include a barrel of death t-shirt, signed copies of the book, original art, and more! So what are you waiting for? Spin dash over to their Kickstarter page and help them out.

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Sonic Boom and Summer of Sonic event locations and dates revealed!

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Hey Sonic fans, tired of the internet and want to mingle with fellow Sonic fans in the real world? Well, thanks to SEGA and The Sonic Stadium’s Svend Joscelyne, Summer of Sonic is back! The event takes place Saturday, August 3rd at the Westminster Central Hall in London, UK. Details can be found on the official website, including the mention of a theme for this year: Metal Sonic and Badniks. Live in America and can’t make it to London? Sonic Boom is also back, this year at The Pageant in St. Louis, MO on August 10th, 2013 at 5pm. Why St. Louis? SEGA figured the East and West coasts get a lot of love, and it was about time that we saw a midwest event.

More details can be found in the SEGA Blog post. Are you attending one of the events? Let us know in the comments section!

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My Life with SEGA ain’t afraid of Ghostbusters on the Master System

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It’s been 29 years since Ivan Reitman’s Ghostbusters graced the silver screen on June 8th 1984. Furthermore, it’s been 24 years since I’ve played Ghostbusters for the SEGA Master System. Has this relic of cross-promotional tie-ins aged just as well as the movie, or should it be cast aside along with Extreme Ghostbusters?

Find out this week on My Life with SEGA! Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel!

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SEGA announces “Hero Bank” – a 3DS exclusive money-based RPG

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Via Famitsu comes the reveal of a new 3DS exclusive from SEGA Japan entitled Hero Bank. Set to release on December 19th, Hero Bank is a unique RPG that revolves around world currencies. Seen after the break are two heroes, one with a yen theme and one with a US dollar theme. From what we can gather, the game is based around a fictional sport known as “Hero Battle”. Through one-on-one battles, players must earn as much money as possible to become the winner. Players download “hero data” which is based on real world individuals for in-game use. SEGA uses racers and baseball players as examples of potential real-world individuals.

It sounds like a pretty unique spin on the RPG battler genre, and the character designs are pretty cool. When we learn more, including who exactly is developing the title, we’ll be sure to share it!

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Direct-feed footage of Sonic Lost World reveals some awesome music!

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The past few days of E3 have given us a lot of Sonic Lost World footage, but a bulk of that was either filmed from the show floor or featured the manly voice of “Men of E3” winner SEGA brand manager Aaron Webber. Now, thanks to Gamespot and TSSMB member Woun comes direct-feed footage of Sonic Lost World in action on the Wii U, free of show floor chatter and commentary. Check out the video above and the video after the break to soak in all the sounds and music we’ll be hearing this holiday season. Should more footage appear, we’ll be sure to add it to this post.

Want to learn more about how the game plays? Check out our hands-on preview.

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Four more Game Gear games now available on the 3DS eShop

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The SEGA Blog has revealed the next Game Gear titles heading to the Nintendo 3DS eShop. When are they available? Today! Right now, ready to download, are Sonic the Hedgehog, Columns, Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, and Shining Force: Sword of Hajya! All four are fantastic titles. Sonic fans who never experienced the 8-bit version of Sonic’s first adventure should play the Game Gear Sonic the Hedgehog as soon as possible. Both Columns and Mean Bean Machine are solid puzzle games, and Shining Force: Sword of Hajya (aka Shining Force Gaiden II: The Evil God Awakens) is a great mobile version of the strategy rpg series.

SEGA also promises that more titles are on the way, so stay tuned!

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Kowloon Walled City, as seen in Shenmue II, is recreated as an arcade in Japan

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What if you could walk around Kowloon, just as Ryo did in Shenmue II, playing SEGA arcade games and collecting capsule toys? SEGA fans will remember Kowloon best as the location of Shenmue II’s second act. Seeing the city in video game form is no match to seeing it in person, but unfortunately the city no longer exists. What is a Shenmue fan to do? Is it still possible to recreate Ryo’s Kowloon adventures? Thanks to Kawasaki, you can! Located in Kawasaki City, an amusement center south of Tokyo, is “Digital Kowloon City”.

“Digital Kowloon City” is an indoor recreation of the Kowloon Walled City, a city which in the late 1980’s was home to 33,000 people in a 6.5 acre space. Quirky Japanese blog RocketNews24 paid a visit to “Digital Kowloon City”, and the photos they took are incredibly cool. The place really does look like Kowloon at night, and there are arcade games, capsule machines, and UFO Catchers all over the place. Head on over to their blog for a virtual walkthrough of the virtual city. By the end of their article, you’ll want to visit the place yourself and will probably boot up Shenmue II instead, since you can’t afford a trip to Japan.

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Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse E3 trailer shows off SEGA’s re-imagining of a classic!

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SEGA’s latest trailer for Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse shows off even more gameplay of the upcoming SEGA remake of the SEGA Genesis classic. This time, SEGA promises a mix of old and new, with recognizable layouts and brand new gimmicks. Check out that playing card vortex! Admittedly, the CG scenes aren’t all that great, but in the end it’s the gameplay that counts.

Stay tuned to SEGAbits for E3 coverage, we’ll make sure to give our gameplay impressions of Castle of Illusion and ask SEGA our burning questions.

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More Bayonetta 2 screens arrive – Are U ready to dance?

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Nintendo’s press site just released a load of new screens from Bayonetta 2. Like the recent Sonic screens, a majority comes from what we’ve already seen in video form. However, the screens are big and crisp and full of details that fans are sure to pour over for the coming months. Bayonetta 2 is due out sometime in 2014.

After the break, more screens than you can shake a broomstick at. Due to the file type, the usual gallery mode was not working. So I’ve simply posted all the screens full size. Those with slow internet beware.

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Feast your eyes on these Mario & Sonic 2014 and Sonic Lost World screens

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Via Nintendo’s press site comes a ton of new screens from Sonic Lost World for Wii U and 3DS as well as Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games for Wii U. Seen in the screens are the stages SEGA’s Aaron Webber revealed on IGN late last week. However, it is great to see them nice and crisp in the new screens. Mario & Sonic reveals… not as much. However, it does give a good look at our first HD entry to the series.

After the break, enough screens to make your head spin!

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Sonic Lost World gets a release date [Update: it doesn’t], The Deadly Six get names

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Via GoNintendo comes Nintendo’s E3 press release, which features a bit of information important to Sonic fans: the release date of Sonic Lost World for Wii U and 3DS. That date? According to the press release, October 13th. Update: Seems GoNintendo goofed up. In copy and pasting the press release, the formatting was thrown off and the Skylanders release date was assigned to Sonic. Still Holiday 2013. Oh, but read on for the names of the Deadly Six!

Another notable bit of news is the reveal of the names of The Deadly Six. Thanks to Nintendo, we have a ton of assets from Sonic Lost World. While we compile the screens in a seperate news piece, please enjoy a Deadly Six roll call after the break.

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