Author Archives: Big Elk

Hundred Swords’s online multiplayer is restored thanks to Dreamcast Live

by

Happy New Year, Sega fans! What better way to ring in the new year than with a new Dreamcast game to play online!?

Sega’s medieval real time strategy game Hundred Swords, has just had its online multiplayer features brought back online This effort comes from the familiar Dreamcast Live hero Shuouma, who had previously brought games like Outtrigger, Sega Tetris, Speed Devils: Online Edition, and even the unreleased Dee Dee Planet back online.

The only downside here is that Hundred Swords was only released in Japan and no fan translations were prepared to coincide with this online multiplayer restoration. Without a decent grasp on the Japanese language (including kanji), you and the up-to-3 other players you’ll be playing with might be fumbling around through menus and such until you figure out what to do and how to do it. If you’re familiar with RTS games like Command & Conquer or Age of Empires, which this game was inspired by, the interface and basic goals may still be familiar to you. Prepping the game for online action is still simple, unless you wish to use your Broadband Adaptor, which Hundred Swords is sadly not compatible with. Go get your DreamPi ready and journey with me past the break to find out more.

Continue Reading ➜

4 Comments

Tanglewood Definitive Edition launches on Nintendo Switch eShop

by

The darling Genesis/Mega-Drive indie game Tanglewood has come to Nintendo Switch with a new definitive edition. Originally released on Genesis/Mega-Drive in cartridge form and to PC, Mac, and Linux in 2018, this new release adds extra features that even the computer versions don’t have, such as widescreen support, new high quality music, and a new storybook mode to flesh out the world of Tanglewood.

Already an amazing achievement on Genesis, Tanglewood Definitive Edition (which just goes by “Tanglewood” on Nintendo’s eShop) is largely the same as it was on Genesis. However, this new version adds in enough to easily warrant a new playthrough if you’re already experienced in the game. You can find out more about this new release past the break below.

Continue Reading ➜

No Comments

The Video Game History Foundation preserves 147 lost Sega Channel ROMs, including previously unreleased games

by

Looks like Christmas came a week early, Sega fans.

In, easily, the most incredible case of video game preservation that I’ve written about here on SegaBits to date, the Video Game History Foundation has recovered a massive amount of archival data pertaining to the Sega Channel, an online games-on-demand service that ran for Sega Genesis/Mega-Drive from 1994-1998 via cable TV services. For almost thirty years, the majority of material here had been lost media. The older folks among you, myself included, must’ve thought you’d never live to see all of this resurface again.

Among all this recovered data is 147 Genesis ROMs used on Sega Channel. That’s right. One Hundred And Forty-Seven. This includes Sega Channel exclusive games never before preserved like Waterworld, The Flintstones, and Garfield: Caught In The Act – The Lost Levels, and it is now available to download via Gaming Alexandria in partnership with the VGHF. That last game took a bit longer than we expected to be released after it was found and demoed just a year ago, but the wait is finally over. We hope you managed to resist kicking anyone off of any tables for a whole year.

Besides just the games, there are also ROMs of Sega Channel menus, some previously archived and some not, some related test ROMs, and even a mock-up of a Genesis web browser planned for the service. You read that right. An honest-to-goodness Web Browser was planned for Genesis that would’ve ran through Sega Channel. There are also tons of advertisements for print, TV, and radio, internal planning documents, user data, fan art sent by subscribers, and a whole lot more for all to view freely.

What to see exactly what was found? Click right past the break and get hooked in.

Continue Reading ➜

No Comments

Ultra rare Swing arcade cabinet with exclusive English translated SegaSonic The Hedgehog arcade board up for auction

by

Anybody got £40,000 pound sterling (Currently about $53,271.60 USD) to lend me? I’ll totally pay you back.

That’s how much it’s likely to cost you (Perhaps more) to get this Multi Cabinet Swing arcade cabinet that has, what is likely to be, the only officially translated arcade board of SegaSonic the Hedgehog housed in it. The game and cabinet are fully functional and properly maintained. They have been since this cabinet was first taken from Sega World London after its closure in 1999.

Since then, this cabinet fell into the hands of a few private collectors and, eventually, back into Sega Europe’s hands, where it was most recently up for display at a promotional event for Sonic Racing: Crossworlds, shown above. Now, this cabinet is up for auction at the Ewbank’s auction site with a starting bid of £10,000. Bidding begins on December 19th, 2025

If you’re a rich UK resident who’s feeling lucky, you can check in past the break to learn more about this golden opportunity.

Continue Reading ➜

3 Comments

Gamescare’s new GF-1 Neptune FPGA console pushed back into 2026

by

Looking forward to the new GF-1 Neptune? Well, I hope you don’t mind waiting a little longer, because Gamescare have announced in an email to newsletter subscribers like Yours Truly that the new FPGA-based Genesis/Mega-Drive and 32X console combo has been delayed.

Originally slated to have begun pre-orders in December 2025, which is now as this article is uploaded, the GF-1 Neptune has been pushed back in an effort to ensure that Gamescare’s quality standards are met. Pre-orders have still not yet begun and Gamescare also reiterates their commitment to avoiding crowdfunding or opening pre-orders before independent reviewers can demo the final hardware.

Below the break, we’ll have Gamescare’s statement on this matter.

Continue Reading ➜

No Comments

Jaret Reddick of Bowling For Soup releases a new recording of Sonic Unleashed theme with some special guests

by

Jeret Reddick, the lead singer of the pop punk rock band Bowling For Soup, has fired shots straight in our childhood feels with his shadow dropped cover of Endless Possibility, the theme song from Sonic Unleashed originally performed by himself.

Often misattributed to Bowling For Soup as a whole, the song was performed originally by musicians at Sega, including Sonic Unleashed’s main composer Tomoya Ohtani, while the lyrics were written and recorded by Jaret Reddick. This time, he and one of his bandmates, Rob Felicetti, have returned with cover band Punk Rock Factory and Wheatus (Best known for their hit song Teenage Dirtbag (2000)) to bless us with a new, independently recorded version of the beloved song, including a music video uploaded to the official Bowling For Soup YouTube channel. It’s an unexpected surprise, but as the song goes, the possibilities are neverending.

But how will you know what it sounds like? And how will you know if it’s cool. We all gotta jump past the break, and it’s like that for you. The possibilities are neverending.

Continue Reading ➜

No Comments

Lost Nintendo 64 game from Sammy, Viewpoint 2064, found and preserved online

by

That’s right. Another article from me regarding a Nintendo 64 game that’s now retroactively related to Sega by way of corporate merging years later. Are you doing any barrel rolls over that yet?

Viewpoint 2064 was developed exclusively for the Nintendo 64 (Oooooooh, I see what they did with the name there) as a sequel to Viewpoint (1992), an isometric scrolling shooter developed by Aicom and published by Sammy originally for the Neo-Geo family of game hardware. The original Viewpoint was ported to a few other systems, including the Genesis/Mega-Drive. (You might recall that was part of the Sega Genesis Mini 2) Viewpoint 2064 was still being published by Sammy, but was being developed by Racdym. (The same Racdym that made Snowboard Kids) It was shown to the public at Nintendo Spaceworld 1999, and was likely meant to release in stores either that year or the next, but for whatever reason it simply wasn’t meant to be.

Fast forward to 2025 and a new development cartridge containing the full game has been found and its rom dumped online for all to see. This comes after a prototype version of the game was previously found and dumped online in 2020. Not only does this new version look and feel much more complete than that prototype, but the cartridge also has a sticker with the word “Master” printed on it, implying that this might’ve been the completed version meant to be mass produced onto cartridges and shipped to stores everywhere. This master version was found and preserved by game archival YouTuber Hard4Games onto Archive.org for all to try for themselves.

Hard4Games has also prepared a video showing the game in action, including some comparisons to the prototype he found five years ago. If you would like to View that, then I will Point you beyond the break here.

Continue Reading ➜

2 Comments

Kickstarter launched for Bang² Busters 2, a Neo-Geo game sequel for Dreamcast and Neo-Geo

by

🐇🐇 Space Bunnies are back on NEO GEO and more!

Bang² Busters 2 expands upon the eccentric, vibrant universe of the original game, while significantly enhancing its core mechanics and scenario

Support the project here 👉 bit.ly/4qp83H0
💚 Free demo available

[image or embed]

— PixelHeart (@pixelheart-eu.bsky.social) October 31, 2025 at 1:02 PM

Just what the Dreamcast needed: Space Bunnies!

The niche Neo-Geo classic from Visco, Bang² Busters (That’s Bang-squared, so “Bang Bang Busters”), is finally receiving an official sequel courtesy of Pixelheart games, a longtime publisher of indie games on Dreamcast. Bang² Busters 2 is being developed for Neo-Geo AES/MVS as well as Sega Dreamcast, but first, the team has turned to Kickstarter to fund the project.

As of this writing, they have 22 days left to raise $40,378 USD and are a little over halfway there. If you’re interested in helping them reach that goal and securing your own copy of the game, check below the break for more info.

UPDATE: Rejoice! The game was successfully funded on November 30th, 2025. They managed to raise $47,527.

Continue Reading ➜

1 Comment

Lost Genesis/Mega-Drive RTS from Sega Technical Institute, Dark Empires, recovered and preserved

by

Another unreleased Genesis game long thought lost has now been found and preserved thanks to The Hidden Palace.

Dark Empires, which was being worked on alongside Kid Chameleon at Sega Technical Institute in 1990, got cancelled in order to get the studio to work on Sonic the Hedgehog 2 instead, as we had learned thanks to The Video Game History Foundation back in 2023. While Kid Chameleon made it to store shelves, Dark Empires wasn’t far enough along to get in the hands of Genesis/Mega-Drive owners everywhere. Thankfully, former STI artist Craig Stitt had found a pre-release copy of Dark Empires among his personal archives and shared it with Hidden Palace.

Interested in learning more? You can see more after the break, including the link to download the prototype.

Continue Reading ➜

2 Comments

Sonic Racing Crossworlds launches on Nintendo Switch 2 on December 4th, 2025

by

Sonic Racing Crossworlds fans on Nintendo’s ecosystem rejoice. The long awaited Nintendo Switch 2 port of the game finally has a release date: December 4th, 2025.

The game will finally launch for Nintendo’s newest hybrid console digitally first on that date. Physical versions (Which will not be installed on one of the dreaded Game Key-Cards) will come sometime in early 2026. If you have the game on Nintendo Switch already, a $10 upgrade pack will be available to convert your game to the native Switch 2 port, giving you sharper graphics and higher resolutions and framerates not possible in the Switch 1 version even when playing it on a Switch 2 console. Even better, the upgrade pack will be available for 50% off until December 10th.

For fans of Sonic’s Werehog form, you’ll receive the Werehog character DLC, originally a pre-order bonus for all other versions of the game, if you purchase a Day 1 edition of the Switch 2 version’s physical release. If you already have any DLC from the Switch 1 version, including the Werehog, it will remain accessible in the Switch 2 version after upgrading, along with any saved progress you’ve made.

More info on the Switch 2 version of the game is available in Sega’s updated Switch 2 version FAQ page, such as the max resolution and framerate of the game.

Do you already own Sonic Racing Crossworlds on Switch or any other platform? Were you holding out for the Switch 2 version? Let us know in the comments below.

1 Comment

New visual coding program for Genesis/Mega-Drive, MD Engine, coming soon

by

Look. I get you, Sega fans. You saw all these cool new homebrew games for Genesis/Mega-Drive coming out and you wanna make a game just like those, but you don’t know how to write code for Genesis. Thankfully, Two Black Cats have got you covered.

MD Engine is a new visual coding program made for easy development of games for Sega Genesis. A visual coding program, much like Game Maker or Clickteam Fusion, allows for the development of video games with an interface that allows for you to build a game with visual assets and menus without having to rely so much on writing code. With this, and a bit of patience and inspiration, you should be able to make your very own new Genesis games without having to write one line of code.

MD Engine was made as a fork of GB Studio, an open source visual coding program for making games for Nintendo’s Game Boy (Color) handheld. It uses much of the same interface and menus, so MD Engine should look familiar to anyone who has worked in GB Studio. However, MD Engine touts some extra special features that are not available even with GB Studio, such as exporting your game as a special PC or HTML5 game with extra features not possible on Genesis, such as a widescreen visual mode and CRT visual filters. Of course, if you just want to make a game ROM that can play on Genesis consoles or in Genesis emulators, you can do that as well.

Be sure to take a dive past the break to find out more about how MD Engine could help you make the Genesis game of your dreams.

Continue Reading ➜

4 Comments

Earthion Review – Ancient Returns to the SEGA Genesis

by

Where does the time go? It only feels like yesterday that I reported on the one and only Yuzo Koshiro being hard at work on his first new Genesis/Mega-Drive game since 1995’s Beyond Oasis, which we later heard would be named Earthion. Now, before I even knew it, Earthion had released on Steam and just came out for modern consoles earlier this month. Limited Run Games also started pre-orders for physical copies of the game on those modern platforms until September 28th, as well, but have yet to open pre-orders on cartridges for your old Genesis consoles. (Sorry for not letting you know sooner.)

Yuzo Koshiro’s studio Ancient has been kind enough to offer us a review code for Earthion on Steam, and I have run the game through its paces many a times. Now that the wait to experience this modern Genesis classic is finally over, it’s time for me to report on how this shooter turned out. Suffice it to say, the game pushes the Genesis to limits never thought possible, but is the game fun to play? Find out now after the break.

(Neither Ancient nor Limited Run Games have influenced this review or seen it before it has gone live.)

Continue Reading ➜

5 Comments

Unseen photos of Micheal Jackson, made for an unreleased Sega game, surfaced from a developer interview

by

Sega fans will know that the infamous King of Pop Micheal Jackson had quite the interesting history with Sega during the 90’s, but this may be something many of you weren’t privy to.

In a recent interview with designer Kazunori Sasaki with News Post-Seven, as reported on by MJ Vibe, Sasaki-san spoke about how he met with Jackson during his HIStory World Tour stop in Japan in December 1996 to do some photography and motion capture work for an unreleased game, presumably a new entry in Sega’s Digital Dance Mix game series for Saturn. The above photos of Jackson were taken during that shoot and were never publicly shown before. (The Ghost album cover has been available to the public for many years, but News Post-Seven just attached it to the pictures, for some reason.)

For those unaware, Digital Dance Mix was a planned series of rhythm games with each entry themed after a single popular singer. However, only one game in that planned series ended up releasing exclusively in Japan, based around the Japanese pop singer Namie Amuro. Apparently, she was popular enough to be known as the “Queen of J-Pop“, so she and Jackson may have been equals, depending on who you ask.

For more info from the interview, be sure to moonwalk right past the break.

Continue Reading ➜

1 Comment

New Chao Garden inspired indie game, Star Garden, launches Kickstarter and downloadable demo

by

Hey, Sonic fans. You miss the Chao Garden. I miss the Chao Garden. We all miss the Chao Garden. Game Garage misses the Chao Garden too, so they made a whole new game based on it.

Star Garden is an all-new 3D action racing game from indie developer Game Garden. Taking the cuddly creature customization and caring aspect of Sonic Adventure 1&2’s Chao Gardens, the unconventional, yet fun racing action of Nintendo and HAL Labratory’s Gamecube classic Kirby Air Ride, and the cute and whimsical Y2K stylings of many games on both the Gamecube and the Dreamcast, Star Garden promises a unique racing and exploration experience for you and up to 5 other players in multiplayer. Now the game is ready for the big time, with a demo now available on Steam and a Kickstarter which has burst WAY past it’s initial fundraising goal of $35,000 USD. As of this writing, the game has raised over $140,000, 4x their goal, with no sign of slowing down and more and more stretch goals coming in. People seem to think this game’s kinda neat.

Currently, the game is only planned for a PC release on Steam, with Nintendo Switch 1&2 ports being considered as a potential possibility. A stretch goal was added later on to guarantee PlayStation and Xbox ports when (At this rate, there’s no point in saying “if”) the Kickstarter raises $165,000.

EDIT: Sure enough, that stretch goal was reached. PlayStation and Xbox ports are happening now.

To find out more about this game, and its surprising star power that Sega fans may be familiar with already, as well as directions to the Kickstarter if you got money to spare, you can race past the break and learn more.

Continue Reading ➜

No Comments

Atari CEO Wade Rosen expresses desire to remaster Panzer Dragoon Saga and Snatcher

by

Have you played your Atari today? A better question would be “Have you played Panzer Dragoon Saga or Snatcher today?”

Under the leadership of Wade Rosen, Atari SA has been busy reviving tons of retro game franchises. From famous Atari classics like Yars Revenge, Centipede, and Missile Command, to obscure Atari classics like Caverns of Mars and Fatal Run, to even Bubsy, which Atari SA acquired only two years ago, Atari’s making one impressive comeback. Atari SA owned developers Digital Eclipse and Nightdive Studios are even bringing back classic games not owned by Atari, such as Mortal Kombat and Outlaws, which makes Mr. Rosen’s wishlist of classic games to remaster a bit more plausible than you’d expect.

In a recent interview with VGC, Wade Rosen expressed his personal desire to arrange remasters of Panzer Dragoon Saga, Snatcher, and Ogre Battle. Of course, this is not to be taken as confirmation that Atari SA or any companies under its ownership are currently working on such remasters.

You can see his exact quote right below the break.

Continue Reading ➜

10 Comments