Author Archives: Big Elk

All-In-One Sega FPGA console “SuperSega” in development; shows world’s first Dreamcast FPGA footage

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There’s been talk lately of an all-in-one Sega FPGA console in the works called the SuperSega. Lots of people are excited by the reveal of this indie project, while others are skeptical about its chances of fulfilling its promises or even coming out at all. We’ve waited a bit for more concrete info about the SuperSega before reporting, so now we’re ready to talk about it at last.

The SuperSega is an FPGA console currently in development that can play games from every single console Sega has ever released (Except the Game Gear, for some reason, at least for now). We’re talking about SG-1000, Mark III, Master System, Genesis/Mega-Drive, Sega CD, 32X, Saturn, and Dreamcast games. Currently, the only Sega FPGA console ever released commercially was Analogue’s now decommissioned Mega SG, which was designed to play Genesis games, as well as SG-1000, Mark III, Master System, and Game Gear games via separately available cartridge adaptors. The SuperSega, on the other hand, only needs an original 32X unit for 32X cartridges. It has built-in cartridge slots and a disc drive for everything else. 

It sounds impressive so far, but as of this writing, no hardware prototype has yet been produced. Work has been done on the software, and a hardware prototype is planned to be produced this September. The SuperSega team has put together test videos, including one of Dreamcast games running on their targeted hardware. At least this way, we know it’s unlikely to be fake. Stop in past the break to see these videos and to learn more.

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A new Genesis/Mega-Drive shmup, ZPF, begins crowdfunding on Kickstarter; already achieves its goal nearly 5x over

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Are you guys ready for an especially wonderful new Sega Genesis/Mega-Drive experience? Apparently a lot of people were. A Kickstarter has been recently opened up for an incredible new shooter by the developer of indie Genesis darling Tänzer and its publisher Mega Cat Studios. ZPF is a game that aims to push the beloved 16-bit console like few modern indie hits have before, and it’s already gone way past it’s initial modest goal of $15,000 USD in less than half an hour after going live on July 1st, 2024. In fact, it is already over $100,000 raised. I think people might be a bit impressed so far.

ZPF is a horizontal scrolling shmup, much like Genesis classics such as the Thunder Force games, Steel Empire (1992), Arrow Flash (1991), and another hotly anticipated indie hit which was also a smashing success on Kickstarter, Irena: Genesis Metal Fury. ZPF aims to set itself apart with some incredibly detailed and imaginative artwork, three playable characters with their own unique attacks, and many secrets, including hidden stages and endings. ZPF aims to go hard or go home.

Suffice it to say, this game’s coming out with or without your support, but there’s still all of July to put a couple of bucks down and earn yourself some rewards. For a rundown of what you can get, as well as more of the game itself, scroll on past the break and be ready to contain your excitement.

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Retro Diner Amy skin for Sonic Superstars now available free to everyone

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Remember the Retro Diner Amy skin that was recently available exclusively to Ihop Rewards members? It is exclusive no longer. You can now finally download this skin completely free on the digital storefronts where Sonic Superstars is available. So if you’re like me and don’t have a Ihop for many miles to travel to just for some delicious Sonic pancakes (I’ve heard from Barry that they were good, anyway.), you can now just have the skin right now for nothing, even beyond the United States, where Ihop restaurants may not even exist depending on your country.

For convenient download links for all the different consoles and PC storefronts, check in past the break.

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Free Sonic Jam Legacy Skin for Sonic X Shadow Generations being offered via email newsletter

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Sega’s back to raid your email with news once again for free cosmetic DLC. If you’re a fan of how Sonic was presented in the Sega Saturn days, you’ll wanna sign up for the Sonic X Shadow Generations email newsletter for this free Sonic Jam Legacy Skin for our favorite boy in blue. As the name suggests, this is directly based on how Sonic appeared in the 3D Sonic World hub from Sonic Jam (1997), only in much sharper detail than a Saturn could present. Sign up by November 1st and you’ll receive the above skin to use when playing as Sonic absolutely free. So check your email storage capacity, change your password if you haven’t for a long time, and come on in past the break for the link to sign up.

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Indie Genesis/Mega-Drive Action RPG “Secret of the Four Winds” opens pre-orders; features all-new arranged music hardware

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Every once in a while, there comes an indie game for retired game consoles that does something really special to stand out from all games on that system, new and old. This is one of those times. Kai Magazine Software, who have developed a bunch of games for the Genesis/Mega-Drive before, have debuted their newest, most ambitious game to date: “The Secret of the Four Winds.”

The Secret of the Four Winds is an action RPG inspired by the likes of cyberpunk classics like Snatcher (1994) and Shadowrun (1994) on the Sega CD and Genesis respectively. The game centers around a trio of protagonists brought together after a mysterious army of shadowy ghosts is summoned that are only vulnerable to a special pistol found by main protagonist Gillian Seed Al. Once you meet your two cohorts, you’ll be able to command each of them in battle and outfit them for any role in battle, such as a tank or healer, for example. You’ll also make choices throughout the game that will affect the outcome of the story and your relationship with your two allies and other characters.

What makes this game really special, and unlike any Genesis game ever seen before, is its use of an all new audio chip developed by Kai Magazine Software, allowing the game to run fully arranged music, as if it were a Sega CD game. While it also gives you the option of regular FM sound, the arranged music is an incredible technical achievement. This has never been seen on Genesis outside of certain flash carts such as the Mega Everdrive Pro, which allowed you to add arranged music to existing Genesis classics through special game patches with its MSU-MD and MD+ technology. The downside is that this game will not function on certain Genesis systems, such as the Genesis 3 or most Genesis clone consoles. Any Model 1 or 2 Genesis should work, according to Kai Magazine Software. They also recommend disconnecting your 32X or Sega CD if music isn’t playing.

For more info, as well as a special video showcasing the game in action, have a look past the break below.

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Homebrew Games Summer Showcase 2024 showcases 120 new homebrew games, including many for Sega consoles

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Yesterday, on June 6th, 2024, NES Homebrew developer extraordinaire Matt Hughson aired the second ever Homebrew Games Summer Showcase video presentation. The 34 minute long presentation showcased a whooping 120 games across many retro game systems, most notably including many Genesis/Mega-Drive, Master System, and Game Gear games, as well as even one Saturn game and two Dreamcast games. You can also expect many games for NES, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, and SNES, as well as two Turbografx-16 games and even a Virtual Boy game. This is one video you can’t miss if you’re really interested in seeing what talented developers are doing with long retired game hardware today.

You can watch the whole video above, but join me past the break for a quick list of all the games shown that are coming to Sega platforms, as well as links to follow their developers and/or download the games.

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Burning Rangers gets lost 2P Co-Op mode restored with downloadable patch

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Did you know that Burning Rangers (1998) was planned to have a two-player co-op mode during development? This was shown in early previews and was found in some prototype builds of the game, but no such mode exists in the final retail release. Turns out that the code for the co-op mode was left within the game’s data, so dedicated Sega Saturn reverse engineer Bo Bayles has restored that co-op mode with a special patch. You can download the patch and try it out with your own image file of Burning Rangers. (Which I trust you obtained legally from a copy you own, which you may or may not have paid hundreds of dollars for, but that’s not my place to judge.)

Now then, to the next phase and to the next stage. Come with me past the break for the patch download and more info.

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SEGA says “Don’t expect any Mini Console announcements this year”

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Well, today is the 64th birthday of Sega, so Happy Birthday, Sega! Now, in the past few years, Sega made announcements of new mini consoles on their birthdate, as they had done with the Genesis/Mega-Drive Mini 2 and the Game Gear Micro, so now we can expect a new one to be announced any second now…….. annnnnnnnnny second now…

Surprise! The announcement is that there is no announcement. According to Yosuke Okunari, as transposed by Twitter announcement translator Gosokkyu, no new mini consoles are going to be announced in 2024.

That’s that. Nothing to see here. Go home, folks. (Or go outside, if you’re already home) (Or you can come with me past the break for a bit more info)

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Sega Tetris online multiplayer restored through Dreamcast Live

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Another Sega Dreamcast classic has just had its online multiplayer modes restored for Dreamcast Live, a new fanmade online connection service for Dreamcast. Sega Tetris (2000) is now back up and running online thanks to the efforts of one Shu, who has restored online features for many Dreamcast games already, including The Next Tetris: On-Line Edition (Also 2000), another Dreamcast Tetris game.

Unlike The Next Tetris, which only released in North America and Europe, Sega Tetris released only in Japan, both on Dreamcast and the NAOMI arcade system. Because of its reliance of Japanese reading comprehension, Dreamcast archivist PCWZRD13, who also made and uploaded the above video, had also taken the liberty of preparing a patch to translate the online multiplayer menus to English. Patched versions of Sega Tetris, as well as a few other Dreamcast Live compatible games, can be downloaded freely from Dreamcast Live’s downloads page.

Drop down past the break for more info on how to get started if you’re interested in trying this game out.

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Free Shinobi costume DLC for Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble being offered via email newsletter

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SegaBits is a great one-stop-Sega-news-shop, but one service we cannot provide for you is free cosmetic DLC for the latest Sega games. We can still tell you when Sega offers you some however. Case in point, this special new Shinobi costume that Sega is offering to anyone who signs up for their email newsletter for the upcoming Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble game. No price is better than free, so head in past the break to sign up and enjoy your Shinobi costume when Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble comes out for Nintendo Switch on June 25th, 2024.

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Sega 8-bit game publisher 2Minds opens pre-orders for Game Gear adventure “The Sword of Stone” + new Mark III and Genesis/Mega-Drive games

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Looking for something new to play on Sega’s 8-bit console library, including the Game Gear? French publisher 2Minds has reopened their online store as well as opened pre-orders for a new narrative exploration adventure for Game Gear titled “The Sword of Stone”. In addition, they’ve also opened pre-orders for new Mark III and Genesis/Mega-Drive cartridges of their Master System game library, along with a new Game Gear version of their existing Master System puzzle game “Heroes Against Demons”. The new Game Gear games cost €59 ($63.65 USD), Mark III games cost €55 ($59.33 USD), and Genesis and Master System games cost €50 ($53.94 USD). All pre-orders are estimated to ship in September, while Master System games, as of this writing, are already available to ship. Make sure you get the correct game cartridge for your personal setup.

All of the games are packaged with high quality cartridges containing brand new game PCBs of 2Minds’s own special design. They also come in a box with a color manual. The Game Gear games also come with brand new plastic shells for the cartridges, just like all brand new Game Gear games had. Really takes you back, right? Keep in mind, the Genesis cartridges are still Master System games, but playable on Genesis without the need of a Power Base Converter. They may not work with Genesis consoles incompatible with Master System games, such as the Nomad and Genesis 3, as well as the 32X. (Fun fact: Sega actually released a Master System game in a Mega-Drive cartridge themselves once.) Mark III games will have all text on the box and manual written in Japanese.

You can see links to the store after the break, along with picture galleries of all the available games.

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VGNYsoft preparing a new reissue of indie Dreamcast hit Sturmwind; Pre-orders open up May 15th, 2024

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Remember the amazing indie Dreamcast shooter Sturmwind? Developed by Duranik and originally published by redspotgames in 2013, Strumwind was a fun and beautiful side-scrolling shmup that has long since gone out of print. Now, a new publisher, VGNYsoft, who is no stranger to publishing new Dreamcast games, has gotten a hold of Sturmwind and is about to release an all new print of the game with all new packaging.

Like redspotgames before them, VGNYsoft is preparing a collector’s edition as well as a much more plentiful standard edition. The special edition packages the game’s jewel case into a cardboard box and includes an all new Sturmwind branded VMU plastic shell, silicone pad, and black d-pad, perfect for anyone trying to refurbish an old VMU. Only 500 copies of the special edition will be available, so act fast if you want one. (VGNYsoft have also cheekily pointed out the fact that their game discs will be professionally pressed instead of burned onto a CD-R, which is a jab at Limited Run Games for a very recent controversy of theirs.)

If you missed out on Sturmwind during it’s original release or during one of its other reissues through different companies, then this is a good chance to get an affordable and brand spankin’ new copy of it today, or at least May 15th, 2024, when VGNYsoft opens pre-orders on their own new print. You can find pre-order links, as well as a video trailer, after the break.

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Creator of the GEMS sound driver for Genesis/Mega-Drive, Jon Miller, has passed away

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It is with a heavy heart that I inform you all of the news recently shared on Twitter by Ecco The Dolphin creator Ed Annunziata that his old colleague, Jon Miller, has sadly passed away on May 7th 2024. Unfortunately, his exact birthdate is unknown, so we don’t know of his age at the time of death.

Jon Miller (Not to be confused with Joe Miller, former Sega of America Vice President of Product Development from the Genesis/Mega-Drive and Saturn years who, himself, passed away in 2014) was a software programmer at a few companies that worked closely with Sega of America in the early 90’s. At those companies, Jon had worked on Genesis games like Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin (1991), Chakan The Forever Man (1992), Taz-Mania (1992), Taz in Escape From Mars (1994), and X-Men 2: Clone Wars (1995). He was also a co-creator of GEMS (Genesis Editor for Music and SFX), a sound driver and audio production software for PC made to ease the composition of music for Genesis games for musicians who were not well-versed in FM sound programming. GEMS has been used to make music and sound effects in many American-produced Genesis and 32X games, including every game that Jon himself worked on. His brother, Mark Miller (Composer for the Toejam & Earl series, as well as Sega Channel) was another co-creator for GEMS. After 1995, Jon would join Crystal Dynamics, where he would work on games such as Gex: Enter The Gecko (1998), Akuji The Heartless (1999), and Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (1999).

On behalf of Sega fans everywhere, we here at SegaBits thank Jon Miller for lending his talents to many classic games, both Sega and non-Sega, and for his service in assistance to many composers of Genesis games. May he rest in peace. Many condolences go out to his friends and family.

Join us beyond the break as we reminisce on some classic Genesis game soundtracks that made use of GEMS in memory of Jon Miller.

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Original pre-Sega Columns game found; now playable through MAME on modern computers

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Columns is, without a doubt, a bonafide Sega classic, but it didn’t start out as a Sega game at all. The truth is that Columns was invented within the walls of computer hardware company Hewlett-Packard in 1989, by programmer Jay Geertsen. He made the original Columns game for HP-UX, an operating system unique to HP’s company computers at the time. Friends of his within the same company then ported his Columns game to MS-DOS and Macintosh computers. In 1990, Sega learned of Columns, bought the rights to it off of Mr. Geertsen, and got straight to work on the first Sega Columns games for Master System, Game Gear, Genesis/Mega-Drive, and their System C arcade board. While those versions of Columns went on to widespread fame, most have never played or seen either of the original three computer versions of Columns.

Now, a twitter user calling themselves Trevgauntlet Noə has managed to get a hold of the original HP-UX version of Columns, gotten it running, and took some screenshots of it. They even went the extra mile and made HP-UX and this original Columns playable in the MAME emulation software for both Windows 10 and 11 and Ubuntu Linux. All Columns fans and Sega historians alike owe Trevgauntlet Noə a big thank you for their effort in preserving this rarely seen piece of Sega history.

You can check out the tweet right here or click the above screenshot. For a gallery of all screenshots they’ve made, as well as links to the HP-UX Columns software for MAME on Archive.org, take a look past the break. While you’re there, tell us in the comments about what your favorite Columns game is.

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Google Play’s official Twitter gives us a totally accurate history refresher on Sonic the Hedgehog

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You know it’s a slow news day when we’re talking about something like this. Sonic fans everywhere were shocked and confused yesterday, April 27th, 2024, when the official Google Play twitter account decided to give everyone an unhinged informed look back over the years at how Sonic the Hedgehog has evolved with time.

It all began with the above post claiming to show us Sonic as he got “older and older”. As you can see, this tweet was labeled with a community note telling us that the entire thread is inaccurate and does not, in fact, show Sonic getting older and older, while giving helpful links to Wikipedia for context. We’re off to a great start right here.

Take a seat and say goodbye to a couple of brain cells as we journey through Sonic’s aging process through the eyes of Google Play. Take a look past the break once you’ve steeled yourself. (Oh, and click the screenshots of each tweet to be taken to the actual tweet.)

EDIT: Google Play has since deleted the entire thread. Oddly, they have not posted a single thing in the two weeks since then. Post your conspiracies about what happened in the comments below.

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