SEGA Five: A Salute to the SEGA All-Stars Part 3

As we move into November we reach the home stretch: Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed releases THIS MONTH. On November 18th to be exact. This week we continue our salute to the SEGA All-Stars with two of Sonic’s earliest rivals, Knuckles and Metal Sonic, as well as NiGHTS’ rival Reala. We also feature B.D. Joe of Crazy Taxi fame and the dwarf legend Gilius Thunderhead of Golden Axe. If you missed Part 1 and Part 2, what are you waiting for? check them out! If you’ve been following with us all along, continue our series with part 3 after the break.

My Life With SEGA celebrates Halloween with the infamous Night Trap

Happy Halloween! To celebrate, we end our My Life With SEGA Halloween celebration with the infamous Night Trap for the SEGA CD.

This Halloween, my special guest star, Shawn Morgan, and I shall sit through one of the most notorious games for Sega CD; Night Trap. Just to make it that much more special, this is the 32X SEGA CD version! It’s the 1992 crap-fest that will leave you breathless!

Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel! After the break, all the My Life With SEGA Halloween videos in one place.

SEGA Five: A Salute to the SEGA All-Stars Part 2

Our Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed celebration continues with part 2 of our salute to the SEGA all-stars who will hit the track this November. In part 1 we featured Sonic, Vyse, NiGHTS, Gum and Amigo. This week, we take a look at more characters from the Sonic and Jet Set Radio franchises, keep the ball rolling with the star of Super Monkey Ball and we see the return of a certain iconic ninja. After the break, it’s an all out all-star salute!

Nintendo Direct gives us our first look at Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed on 3DS

The Nintendo Direct stream, which concluded moments ago, gave SEGA fans their first glimpse of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed running on the 3DS. The stream, which highlighted upcoming 3DS titles, ended with a montage of games and SEGA snuck in a few seconds of the game in motion. Sonic was seen flying through the Panzer Dragoon track, followed by Sonic in Seaside Hill changing from a car to a boat. It was quick, but the game looked great! Want to see it for yourself? Click here to skip right to the money shot. After the break, screengrabs of the video preview.

My Life With SEGA hails the king in Evil Dead for the Dreamcast

Halloween month continues, as My Life With SEGA tackles Evil Dead: Hail to the King.

At long last, I’m finally reviewing a Dreamcast game….

Now, why for the love of Shenmue would I review Evil Dead: Hail to the King, besides the fact that it’s October and Evil Dead’s one of my favorite horror franchises of all time? I don’t know. Why can’t Ash stay outta’ the goddamn woods? Why can’t he remember three very simple magic words? Why are YOU still reading this?

Watch the fuckin’ review already, you primitive screw-head!

Was this video… groovy? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel!

Hell Yeah! DLC releases today, adds Shenmue, Jet Set Radio and more!

Shenmue, Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Kid Chameleon, Fantasy Zone and more appear as customizable hats and vehicles in one half of the DLC being released today for Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit. The other half of the DLC being released today adds fifty new challenges to the game, totaling over three hours of gameplay. SEGA has released a trailer showing off all this awesome new content. Do you own the game? Give this stuff a download ASAP. Do you not own the game? Well what the hell are you waiting for?

Anarchy Reigns finally has a western release date and gets a low price

Hooray! After months of silence, SEGA has given western release dates for the Platinum Games fighter Anarchy Reigns. The game will hit the 360 and PS3 January 8, 2013 in the US and January 11, 2013 in Europe, with a retail price of $29.99/£19.99/€29.99. No word on the Bayonetta DLC, but fingers crossed that we get it.

For those who forgot what the game was all about:

Anarchy Reigns delivers over-the-top close combat, set in a massively open and fantastical world in a bleak, mutant-filled future. Watch iconic characters from the PlatinumGames stable duking it out in a series of vibrant arenas that could only have been thought up by Japan’s critically acclaimed studio.

Up to 16 players can take part in multiplayer matches over a variety of game modes; engage in all-out Battle Royale destruction, co-operate with your friends and vanquish hordes of monsters in Survival mode or test your sportsmanship over a few rounds of Deathball.

SEGA Five: A Salute to the SEGA All-Stars Part 1

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is only a month away! In anticipation of the game’s release, we here at SEGAbits want to highlight the many All-Stars appearing in SEGA’s racing title. To do this, we’re kicking off a four week salute to the characters appearing in the game. Each week will focus on five SEGA All-Stars. We’ll share why we think these characters are important to SEGA’s history, and why we’re looking forward to racing as them. Let’s kick off part one with the first five, can you guess who they are?

My Life With SEGA: Halloween month continues with Quake on Saturn

A.J. continues with creepy games during the month of October as he checks out Quake on the SEGA Saturn.

Long before Master Chief, or even the Helghast Empire, there was Quake. You didn’t sit through numerous cutscenes, trying to dazzle you with diamonds only to baffle you with bullshit. With Quake, it dazzled us with atmosphere, bloodshed and firepower….

But how does it look and play with Sega’s 32-bit monster? Walk with me through the Slipgate and we’ll find out.

 Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel!

 

Review: Zaxxon Escape (iOS)

When SEGA announced Zaxxon Escape, I was very excited. SEGA was doing something they rarely do: resurrecting an 80’s IP that has been dormant since the mid-90’s. For those not in the know, the original Zaxxon was an isometric shooter released by SEGA to arcades in 1982. The game was played from a third person perspective at a top down angle, with simulated 3D pulled off via effects like shadows and an altitude meter. Gameplay involved shooting down as many targets as possible, whilst dodging obstructions such as electric fences, walls and enemy fire. Players also had to keep track of their fuel level, which was replenished by shooting fuel tanks. Zaxxon went on to be ported to numerous platforms and even had three sequels. Now, with Zaxxon Escape, SEGA takes us back to the ending of the first game, as players are tasked with escaping Asteroid City after having defeated Zaxxon.

Sonic Jump gameplay video appears, Hardlight Studio named as developer

It looks like SEGA’s Hardlight Studio, the folks behind the Viking PC port, were also busy developing Sonic Jump. In this 15 minute Sonic Jump gameplay video, Hardlight’s logo appears before the game begins, confirming that the developer has shifted focus from Vita games to iOS. While their “unique action adventure” title is still M.I.A., Sonic Jump looks to be a fun smartphone update to the 2005 mobile phone game Sonic Jump. So before you call this a Doodle Jump ripoff, remember than SEGA did it four years before Lima Sky did.

The game features both a story and arcade mode, with the story being as simple as the Genesis originals. Eggman has captured your animal friends, and the player can choose Sonic, Tails or Knuckles as the hero who leaps skyward after Eggman. Series staples including letter grades, red rings, badniks, springs, rings, spikes and power-ups appear. Fans who have searched through the game’s assets have also found character images of Amy, Cream, Rouge, Shadow, Blaze and Silver. No word on if these characters are also playable. The game releases tomorrow, and we hope to have a review up within the week.

SEGA Japan releases teaser trailer for Model 2 games

SEGA of Japan’s YouTube channel uploaded a sneaky teaser trailer proclaiming “2×5” followed by a series of video game sounds. SEGA fans with keen ears should recognize the sounds to come from Virtua Fighter 2, Fighting Vipers, Sonic the Fighters, Virtua Striker and Cyber Troopers Virtual-On. The title “2X5” most likely refers to SEGA’s Model 2 arcade board and the five aforementioned games. The teaser ends with “See You Tomorrow”, so we can pretty much expect the reveal of these five games for XBLA and PSN either today or tomorrow. Who is excited for some Model 2 arcade action?

Hell Yeah! DLC coming October 23rd, features numerous SEGA cameos

We’ve been seeing a LOT of SEGA cameos and crossovers this year: All-Stars Racing, Project X Zone, Samurai and Dragons, Yakuza in Border Break and now Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit! DLC. SEGA has just announced DLC that will be available on October 23 in North America and October 24 in Europe on XBLA, PSN, and PC Digital Download. The Pimp My Rabbit pack ($2.99 /240MSP /£1.99 /€2.49 /AUD$4.25) will offer over 50 masks for Ash and 11 driller skins with appearances from SEGA franchises including Jet Set Radio, Super Monkey Ball and Crazy Taxi. One screen shows off a sweet Shinobi mask and driller skin combo. Another DLC pack will be The Virtual Rabbit Missions ($4.99 /400MSP /£3.69 / €4.49 /AUD$7.75) which adds 50 new challenges totaling over three hours of gameplay. They missed a trick in calling it “Virtua Rabbit”.

After the break, check out additional screens of the DLC!

My Life With SEGA dives into the Saturn classic Deep Fear

Halloween month continues with another creepy video review from AJ, this time he dives into the Saturn classic Deep Fear.

You wanna’ see something really scary? Watch The Shinning, or A Nightmare on Elm Street, or Problem Child 3. Now, if you want something dark, moody and interactive, look no further….

This is Deep Fear for Sega Saturn. Sega’s answer to Capcom’s popular Resident Evil/Bio Hazard franchise. You may be saying to yourself, “I had a Saturn back in the day. Why haven’t I heard of it?” That’s easy; it was only released in Japan, England and Europe. There ya’ have it.

Did we miss out? The answer to that question lies in this video.

Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel. As a video bonus, after the break check out the Japanese commercial for the game starring Segata Sanshiro!

ToeJam & Earl funking XBLA and PSN this November

While we knew this for a while, SEGA has finally officially announced both Genesis/Mega Drive ToeJam & Earl titles for XBLA and PSN. ToeJam & Earl and ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron will be released separately on PSN on November 6th for $4.99 each, and will be packaged together as the SEGA Vintage Collection: ToeJam & Earl for 800 MSP starting November 7th on XBLA. After the break, a second screen! Yeah, we only have two at the moment, but as soon as we get more we’ll share them.