Author Archives: Big Elk

Shenmue wins BAFTA award for “Most Influential Video Game of All Time”

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It’s about time Shenmue got the recognition it rightfully deserves.

In a shocking turnout, Yu Suzuki’s darling Dreamcast epic Shenmue (1999) has just won a BAFTA game award for the “Most Influential Video Game Of All Time”. Over 2,800 people sent in text responses for what game was most deserving of this coveted award, rather than the British Academy of Film and Television Arts nominating a bunch of games of their choosing. Out of 20 other highly influential and well known video games that the public vouched for, including Super Mario Bros. (1985), Doom (1994), Minecraft (2011), Half-Life (1998), and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998), the majority ruled that Shenmue was the rightful winner.

If you’d like to see what BAFTA had to say about Shenmue, check in after the break.

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Sega Genesis Wumbo announced exclusively for North America and Sega Mega-Drive Micro announced exclusively for Japan (April Fools)

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In a most bewildering twist, Sega have announced their next big vision for mini consoles, and I do mean big. They’re returning, once again, to the Sega Genesis well with the announcement of the Sega Genesis Wumbo for North America exclusively and the Sega Mega-Drive Micro for Japan exclusively. Nothing has been announced yet for Europe.

Both consoles are essentially the same thing as the two Genesis Mini consoles before them, but now with a new and unexpected gimmick. Japan’s Mega-Drive Micro will be half the size of the original Mega-Drive Mini. It will be so small, in fact, that it will come with a special, separate USB-C adapter for both HDMI out and power input, as the console will be too small to fit an HDMI port and a power port on it. North America’s Genesis Wumbo will be twice the size of an original Model 1 Genesis console (Not the Genesis Mini. The original Genesis console from 1989). Controllers will also follow suit, with the Mega-Drive Micro’s controller being half the size of an original controller while the Genesis Wumbo’s controller will be double the size.

Sega have not yet announced a release date for the two consoles, but they have announced a starting lineup of ten games. Have a look past the break to see what those games are, along with more information.

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Rumor: Jet Set Radio Past in development by an undisclosed indie studio (April Fools)

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Jet Set Radio is set to make an amazing return to the limelight with a rumored updated port of the original Dreamcast classic and a confirmed brand new game on the way, but it looks like this two-fer might end up being a three-fer.

According to games insider Applefuel, an indie studio is working on a JSR game of their own titled “Jet Set Radio Past”. In an inversion to Jet Set Radio Future (2992), this game is looking like yet another reboot of the series, now taking place many years back in history. It’s not known for now how far back in time the game is meant to take place, but the game seems to feature a “Caveman Beat”, “Rokkaku Dinosaurs”, and a “DJ Pterosaur K”. A very interesting creative direction, indeed.

There is no news yet on what sort of developer is working on this game. Fans are speculating so far that it may be the work of Team Reptile, creators of the hit game Bomb Rush Cyberfunk. Interestingly, reports are also saying that this developer, whoever they are, didn’t even bother approaching Sega for the license to work on a Jet Set Radio game, believing Sega would never approve, but that they would also not even bother sending a Cease & Desist order because “they still do what Nintendon’t”. Oooooooookay…?

We don’t usually report on such silly rumors here on SegaBits, but what the hell, it’s been a boring day. If more news comes out, you’ll hear about it when you tune into the #1 Sega news network in town: SEGABIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITS!! After all, it’s never a gamble reading reports from the nerds we employ here.

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Sonic X Cream Advance announced as a remaster with new Cream the Rabbit content (April Fools)

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In a surprise announcement, Sega has revealed that an HD remaster of Sonic Advance (2002), named Sonic X Cream Advance, is in development. Taking after last year’s Sonic X Shadow Generations, Sonic X Cream Advance brings back the original game made for the Game Boy Advance, the very first original Sonic game on a non-Sega platform following Sega’s exit from the console market. The game will be rebuilt from the ground up in up to 4K resolution on all platforms supporting it with rebuilt physics and new animated cutscenes, all very much in the style of Sonic Origins.

Cream the Rabbit, who would not be introduced until this original game’s sequel, will star in the game as a new 5th playable character with all new levels meant to be traversed exclusively by her and her reliable Chao companion Cheese. These portions of the game will also feature a brand new story written by Ian Flynn, in order to tie the previously non-canon Sonic Advance into the Sonic timeline officially. No story details other than that have been revealed so far.

For more info on this exciting news, check in after the break.

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Sega has partnered with Steam to announce a new handheld-gaming PC: The Sega Teradeck (April Fools)

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Ladies and gentlemen! It finally happened. Hell has frozen over, pigs are flying, dogs and cats live together, Half-Life 3 is coming out soon, and Sega are about to (technically) finally make their grand return to the console hardware market.

In a surprise announcement, Sega have announced a partnership with Steam (Not Valve, the company. Steam, the product.) which will see the two join forces in launching the successor to, not only the Sega Dreamcast, but the Steam Deck: a new handheld gaming PC. The Sega Teradeck, named after Sega and IBM’s old Mega-Drive compatible PC the Teradrive, will be a handheld PC capable of playing all the latest PC games. It runs on a new operating system called SegaOS, features its own curated store consisting exclusively of games made and/or published by Sega, and also features compatibility with Steam, allowing Steam users to bring over the vast majority of games they have purchased on the popular PC game storefront throughout the years.

With handheld gaming PCs on the rise following the popularity of existing handheld PCs such as the Steam Deck and the ASUS ROG Ally, as well as the innovative Nintendo Switch, many computer manufacturers are gearing up to enter this soon-to-be crowded market. Even Microsoft looks to be making one of their own to be part of the Xbox family. Sega will be making a bold step as a newcomer to this scene, but retro Sega fans the world over have reacted with nothing but excitement.

To learn more about the Sega Teradeck, come on down past the break.

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Among Us introduces Like A Dragon cosmetics Cosmicube; now available until June 23rd, 2025

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How fitting for two games that are known for themes of betrayal, murder, and general “sussy-ness” to come together like this?

The ever so popular indie game darling Among Us has just introduced all-new cosmetic items based on all your favorite Like A Dragon characters. In the new Kamuroucho Cosmicube, now available for purchase for 110 Stars in all versions of the game, you’ll find many costumes from the above image based on everyone’s favorite Like A Dragon cast: Kazuma Kiryu, Ichiban Kasuga, Taiga Saijima, Shun Akiyama, Tianyou Zhao, and Goro Majima, who seems to get the most costumes out of everyone. He is the star of the latest Like A Dragon game, after all.

If you’re interested, the Kamuroucho Cosmicube is available for purchase now until June 23rd, 2025, so don’t put it off for too long. Now if you’ll join us past the break, you can see a list of all the specific items in this event. You’ll also see a special performance of a very famous song any Like A Dragon fan would know all too well.

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Dave the Diver Ichiban’s Holiday DLC coming out April 10th, 2025; only available for purchase for six months

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The wait is almost over to see the Hero of Yokohama Ichiban Kasuga join forces with Dave The Diver. The Ichiban’s Holiday DLC expansion for Dave The Diver will become available on April 10th, 2025 and will be the first paid DLC released for the game. The price has not yet been revealed as of this writing, but it will be available on all platforms that Dave The Diver is currently on, which is PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Steam (For Windows and Mac). A demo is also available for the Nintendo Switch version, if you’d like to try Dave The Diver before buying.

Now for the bad news. Ichiban’s Holiday, like other crossover DLC the game has seen besides the Dredge Content Pack, will only be available to purchase for just six months. It will be delisted in October 2025. Anyone who buys it before then will be able to play with it as long as they want, but it is sad that it doesn’t even get to stick around for a whole year. And they say video games aren’t facing a preservation crisis.

The developers of Dave The Diver have also provided a video showing a more in-depth look at what you can expect to see in Ichiban’s Holiday. You can scope that out past the break.

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Phantasy Star II getting a fanmade port to the Amiga platform

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These are interesting times for retro ports. First, we had folks porting games to Sega consoles from other platforms, then someone ported Shinobi and Golden Axe to SNK’s Neo-Geo platforms, and now someone wants to bring Phantasy Star II (1989) to the Amiga platform. I’m certainly not against it.

Homebrew developer RetroLover is now hard at work on an Amiga conversion of the seminal and very influential Genesis/Mega-Drive JRPG Phantasy Star II. That game is their favorite RPG of all time, and this is their way of paying tribute to it and the Amiga platform. The game is being rebuilt in Scorpion Engine, which is made for development of Amiga, Genesis, and even Neo-Geo games, but RetroLover is aiming to make this as faithful to the Genesis original as possible. They’ll still be adding enhancements to make it easier to play through, such as an improved battle system based on that of Phantasy Star IV (1995).

For now, though, the port is still early in development. However, RetroLover has released a demo for the public to try and is open to feedback. If you have a way to run Amiga games, I’d say give it a go. You can find a link to download it below the break.

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Indie fighting game Pocket Bravery getting an official Genesis/Mega-Drive port

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Here comes a new challenge on Genesis/Mega-Drive. Pocket Bravery, a modern, independent 2D fighting game by Brazillian developer Statera Studio, has an official 16-bit port being worked on for the Genesis. The port is being handled by RheoGamer, himself a Brazillian developer, who had previously ported Real Bout Fatal Fury to Genesis and is already hard at work on his own Genesis port of X-Men vs. Street Fighter and an original King of Fighters Genesis game. Needless to say, this makes him the perfect candidate for porting a game that was already clearly inspired by the best of Capcom and SNK’s fighting game pedigree. Never underestimate the love Brazil has for the old school Sega, Capcom, or SNK.

For more info on Pocket Bravery to get you excited for this 16-bit port, have a look past the break.

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Dreamcast racer Speed Devils: Online Racing back online thanks to Dreamcast Live

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It’s Dreamcast Live time again. The “Online Racing” subtitle of Speed Devils: Online Racing (2000) finally has meaning again now that online servers have been restored thanks to Dreamcast Live, Shuouma, and Flyinghead. Now you can once again race online in this oft-forgotten Dreamcast classic via Dreamcast Live’s network.

As a special side note, although this also works with the NTSC version of the game released in North America, the fact that this also works with the European PAL release makes Speed Devils Online the last online-enabled PAL Dreamcast game that wasn’t online. Now all PAL Dreamcast games with online modes are finally online once again.

Dive on in below the break for more info.

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Like A Dragon crossover DLC “Ichiban’s Holiday” coming soon to Dave the Diver

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Revealed in PlayStation’s State of Play presentation yesterday, February 12th, 2025, a new DLC crossover with the Like A Dragon series, Ichiban’s Holiday, is coming this April to the hit game Dave the Diver. After having already enjoyed crossovers with franchises like Godzilla and Guilty Gear, the Hero of Yokohama, Ichiban Kasuga, alongside the bartender of the Survive Bar, will be joining Dave The Diver in a new action-packed story expansion on all platforms that Dave The Diver is available on. This will include some new mini-games and a new beat-em-up style side game that’s sure to excite Dave the Diver fans.

For more info about this new expansive, dive in through the break.

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Golden Axe arcade game now ported to SNK’s Neo-Geo

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The arcade version of Golden Axe (1989) has now been ported to the Neo-Geo family of systems by h0ffman. This comes a couple of weeks after their homemade port of the arcade version of Shinobi (1988) to Neo-Geo, and the Golden Axe port was handled in much the same way. Now that their Golden Axe port is completed, it is now available to download for free from their itch.io page and ready to run on Neo-Geo AES, MVS, and CD hardware.

Unlike with their Shinobi port, they’ve added some extra special features to this new Neo-Geo port. You’ll find more information, along with a download link, right past the break.

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New mid-range Genesis/Mega-Drive flashcart, the Mega Everdrive Core, launches from Everdrive creator Krikzz

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The ever-so-busy creator of the Everdrive line of flash cartridges for various retro systems, Krikzz, has debuted his newest edition to the Mega Everdrive lineup for Genesis/Mega-Drive hardware: The Mega Everdrive Core. This new mid-range flash cartridge, in terms of functionality, sits between his most feature rich option: the Mega Everdrive Pro, and the next best option: the Mega Everdrive X5. (Not to mention a much bigger step up from the next newest edition to the Mega Everdrive family, the OpenED)

Like any flash cartridge, this allows you to run digitized Genesis game roms on original Genesis consoles, as well as certain clones. The Mega Everdrive Core can also run Master System and 32X game roms on Genesis systems as well. (Provided you’re using a system compatible with Master System games in the former case or have an original 32X equipped in the latter case.) It also has support for the Genesis version of Virtua Racing too, unlike the OpenED. The most important difference between this and the Pro model is that it cannot run Sega CD games, the modern classic Genesis RPG Pier Solar (2010), or games patched with MSU-MD support.

After the break, you can expect a handy chart detailing the differences between the Core and the Pro and X5 models, as well as a link to order directly from Krikzz’s Everdrive store.

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New Genesis/Mega-Drive shooter ZPF now available for pre-order

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Remember the new hit indie Genesis/Mega-Drive shooter ZPF, which succeeded in its Kickstarter campaign to fund development in July of last year? The game is still in development as of this writing, but pre-orders have now opened up to the public on Backerkit (In December 2024, but hey, they’re still available right now, at least). Even if you didn’t back the Kickstarter, you now have a chance to get your order in and be assured to receive your copy of the game as soon as it’s available. If you did back the Kickstarter, you can take this opportunity to order any items that weren’t included with your pledge that you may want.

From Backerkit, you can order new exclusive Complete-In-Box packages, collector’s edition sets, and other goods such as an artbook or a vinyl or CD soundtrack. You can also order copies of the developer’s previous game Tanzer or the other recent new indie Genesis game Rocket Panda, if you feel like having an extra game with ZPF. These two games are available for $45 USD, while ZPF is available as a $50 cartridge-only package, a $60 CIB set, and a $150 collector’s edition complete with unique cartridge design.

For a link to the pre-order page, and details on other goods you can pre-order, have a look after the break.

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Limited Run Games opens up pre-orders for new English printings of Earnest Evans and Annet Returns for the first time until March 9th

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Here’s a retro reprint that you do not see often. Limited Run Games have opened up pre-orders for the first ever English versions of Earnest Evans and Annet Returns for Sega CD. Both games released exclusively in Japan on that platform (Though a Genesis version of Earnest Evans had been made exclusively for North America) and have had their animated cutscenes finally dubbed in English for the first time, exclusively in this release. LRG has also begun pre-orders for reprints of the Genesis cartridge version of Earnest Evans at the same time. Each of these games can be purchased separately or altogether in a special collector’s edition bundle. Pre-orders are currently open right now until March 9th, 2025.

For a brief synopsis on each game, pre-order links, and a bit of a warning for buyers, check in after the break for more.

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