When it comes to Japanese games being localized for the West, I tend to like it when they stick as closely to the original release as possible. I like to hear the original Japanese dialogue, have the names of characters and locations retained, see the original cover art used, and I hate it when they change the game’s title (hey, I just noticed that Jet Grind Radio broke all of these rules!). Skies of Arcadia, however, is a rare exception. When it was revealed in the pages of The Official Sega Dreamcast Magazine that Eternal Arcadia was to be retitled Skies of Arcadia, I was not only okay with this, I actually much preferred it.
Moving into the second month of our Year of the SEGA Developers, we shine the spotlight on two beloved SEGA development teams as well as their short life as a single entity. SEGA’s Overworks and WOW Entertainment were formed in in the midst of the Dreamcast era alongside several other internal SEGA development divisions. Prior to the formation of these teams, SEGA had a long history of shifting about, renaming, and refocusing the efforts of their many internal developers. To better understand where Overworks, WOW Entertainment, and SEGA’s many other divisions came about, let’s dive into a short history of SEGA’s internal teams!
SEGA AM2 Month has come to an end, and before we move onto February’s developer we wanted to look back on fond memories we have of SEGA’s most iconic and prolific developer. Usually the SEGAbits round tables involve our writers and contributors, but this week we thought we’d give up our seats to our loyal forum members! Of course, we promised the best entries SEGA 3D Classics codes, but to our surprise several forum members shared their memories despite already owning all the games or not having a use for them. What am I saying, of course this wasn’t a surprise. If there is one thing all SEGA fans excel at, it’s sharing fond memories of their favorite games and developers.
When we kicked off Virtua Fighter week, we took a look back at the main titles from the series. Despite being only five games long, thanks to the many revisions, updates, and upgrades as well as arcade to home console ports, what was five games felt more like ten. While Virtua Fighter didn’t dip into bloody fatalities or energy blasts, there did exist the metallic cyborg final boss Dural. Despite this, Virtua Fighter could be described as a fighter that tends to keep things in the realm of the real world. So where did SEGA-AM2 unleash their pent-up wackiness? In the spin-offs of course!
From 1996 through to today, Virtua Fighter has done everything from turning their adult roster into children, to crossing over with other SEGA fighters and even sharing the ring with a rival franchise! Join us as we look back on the many spin-offs, cameos, and crossovers that the franchise has produced over the years.
If you thought Virtua Fighter in arcades and on the SEGA Saturn was as real as it could get, Tiger Electronics asks you to think again! Released in 1995, Tiger’s R-Zone (not to be confused with Pizza Hut’s P’Zone) was a portable headset and attached controller that promised a virtual reality experience, but ended up just delivering a headache. Unlike other Tiger Electronic LCD games, R-Zone took cartridges.
Each cartridge contained a transparent LCD display, projecting the game onto a mirrored surface placed just inches from the players eye. As was the norm for VR at the time, red was the color of choice. Leeching off of popular franchises to survive, the R-Zone featured Men in Black, Jurassic Park, Batman, Star Wars, and SEGA’s own Virtua Fighter. Don’t let the ad above deceive you, despite being right in your face, R-Zone’s Virtua Fighter was as far from virtual Virtua Fighter as one could get. Wait… did that kid say “brain chop”?!?
The Sonic the Hedgehog franchise is not new to fan-made remix albums, and given the quality of Sonic music, I can’t blame the many artists out there for being inspired to put their spin on classic tracks. But every once in a while a really special remix album hits, and Dj CUTMAN’s “Spindash” is one of those. The album, licensed by SEGA, is a fitting tribute to SEGA’s blue mascot featuring diverse styles of music and even ventures outside of the 16-bit era to remix tunes from Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Colors.
“Spindash” is available now on Loudr, iTunes, Amazon and Google Play. Dj CUTMAN performed at this past weekend’s MAGFest, and SEGAbits was there! We’ll have coverage from the event up on the site soon, in the meantime check out the album and after the break, read the press release.
As SEGA-AM2 Month enters the final week, we thought it would be fitting to shine the spotlight on the developer’s longest running and most influential series – Virtua Fighter. One of SEGA-AM2’s defining traits is their ability to create “pure” gaming experiences. Looking at their catalog, they seem to have a penchant for taking a simple concept – be it fighting, racing, flying, or shooting – and translating it to a near-perfect 3D arcade experience. I hesitate to call SEGA-AM2’s games simulations, as gameplay is simple enough for any player and often AM2 titles have a bit of an elastic reality. Virtua Fighter didn’t have any gimmicks – there were no fatalities, weapons, adjustable bouncing breasts, or cutscenes. Players simply chose their fighter, each with their own defining style and moves, and fought. This why the term “pure” feels like the best way to describe their many games, and why the Virtua Fighter series is the purest fighting game franchise to ever exist.
The SEGAbits Swingin’ Report Show returns for 2015, featuring brand new interviews with talented people connected to and inspired by SEGA! On our 74th show we’re joined by Super Systems Softworks, developers of the 80s and 90s inspired racer Drift Stage. Chase Pettit (Programmer), Charles Blanchard (Art), and Hugh Myrone (Music) talk about the genesis of the project, their inspirations, and their plans for the final version of the game. We also take a trip down memory lane, talking about our favorite and least favorite racing games, as well as memories of SEGA-AM2’s classic OutRun.
Sad news today, as we have learned that Chikao Ōtsuka has passed away at age 85. Chikao Ōtsuka was the Japanese language voice actor of Doctor Eggman, and the longest running Eggman voice actor to date, voicing the character since 1998’s Sonic Adventure. Chikao Ōtsuka’s passing was confirmed on the talent agency website for Aoni Productions, the cause of death was given as ischemic heart failure.
Our thoughts are with Chikao Ōtsuka’s family, friends, and fans at this sad time.
SEGA has announced the global release dates for the upcoming Nintendo 3DS title Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX! The game will be releasing to North America on May 26th of this year, hitting both store shelves and Nintendo’s digital download service the eShop. Fans in Japan and Korea can expect a May 28th release, and Europe will follow on May 29th. Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX isn’t your usual Hatsune Miku game, as SEGA has teamed with Good Smile Company to present the characters in their chibi-style Nendoroid figure style. You may remember that Miku and Sonic got the Nendoroid treatment, and as somebody who owns the Sonic figure, I can tell you that Good Smile Company does a fantastic job with both the physical figures, and the Nendoroid redesign.
After the break, check out a full press release, a trailer, and gallery of images!
The SEGA Blog has kicked off another series of translated interviews held between 3D Classics developer M2 and Game Watch & Impress, this time focusing on the upcoming 3D After Burner II which is due out on January 15th for Nintendo’s 3DS. The article, which you can find here, not only delves into the development of the 3DS remake, but also Okunari provides photos and videos of the After Burner II cabinet in SEGA of Japan’s permanent storage warehouse. Suddenly I’m having visions of the ending to “Raiders of the Lost Arc” with every crate sporting a SEGA logo.
Online video series Did You Know Gaming has featured SEGA on past episodes, such as their Sonic the Hedgehog retrospective, and their latest episode takes a look at SEGA’s console swan song the Dreamcast. The video does a nice job putting all the interesting facts revealed over the year in chronological order, touching on the Tom Kalinske’s dealings with Sony during the 1990s, Microsoft’s early involvement, and how piracy both hurt the console and then later helped the indie scene.
I’ll admit, I thought I knew everything about the SEGA Dreamcast, but there were a few factoids I was unaware of like the “potato” chip gag. Was there anything in the video that surprised you?
Looking back, the SEGA Saturn ad campaign in America was nowhere near as memorable as the Genesis and Dreamcast era campaigns. While the Genesis ads were funny and subversive, and the Dreamcast ads were magical and, dare I say “dream-like”, Saturn’s ads were both weird and forgettable. While some ads did stick in many people’s minds, I’m not sure it was for the right reasons. The “Fly Plaything, Fly” commercial, for example, was a risky move that didn’t pay off. SEGA did indeed beat Nintendo years prior, but in no way did SEGA’s Saturn topple Sony’s Playstation. As much as a Saturn fan that I am, I have to concede that it was the Saturn that was “not ready”.
Other Saturn era ads, like this week’s featured commercial for SEGA-AM2’s Virtua Cop, went with the gritty “is this a game, or is it real life” route. While 3D games were quite impressive at the time, and Virtua Cop is a fantastic game, it was far from being “a little too real”. In fact, those who bought and played the game would discover that Virtua Cop, much like AM2’s other games at the time, existed in a quirky arcade-like world where over the top things like a seemingly endless army of identical henchman and criminal leaders in helicopters shouting “meet your maker!” are common occurrences in the life of a cop. Had SEGA played up the frantic over-the-top gameplay of Virtua Cop, showing that the game is far from “a little too real” and was in fact like nothing you have ever played before, then maybe they might have had a better ad.
After the break, check out some Virtua Cop print ads from around the world! Could somebody explain that “Bum Bum Bum” ad to me?
