Author Archives: Big Elk

Melodies Zone celebrates Sega’s 65th anniversary with a new fan remix album

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June 3rd was the 65th anniversary of our lord and master favorite video game developer and publisher, Sega, and to celebrate the occasion, the video game fan cover music label Melodies Zone is releasing an all new Sega album. Melodies Zone’s new Sega fan remix album, simply titled “Sega 65th Anniversary”, contains 20 fan covers from Sega’s storied history, from artists like Kamikaze Bitch, A-bug, Chief Takinawa, and Klaymore.

From Sonic to Shenmue to Super Hang-On, you’ll hear some of your favorite songs in a new light thanks to these talented and passionate fan musicians. Expect a lot of loud metal guitar, thumping dance beats and synths, vocals for the songs that have them originally, and one relaxing lo-fi remix to sit down and take a breather to after 19 more exciting tracks kept your heart pumping.

Wanna hear it for yourself? You can find out how from right beyond the break.

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Sega looking at Shinobi: Art of Vengeance as a chance to fully revive the Shinobi franchise

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Here’s a declaration of confidence in a new game that you don’t hear often from Sega or their partners. Sega and Lizardcube are working right now on Shinobi: Art of Vengeance with the aim for this to be the smoking gun that brings Shinobi back as a top IP at Sega. We think they got a fighting chance so far.

That sentiment was shared by Game Informer (A publication that can relate to dying and then rising from the ashes) as they wrote an article about the hard work being done to not only make a great game out of Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, but for it to be so great that it can potentially bring Shinobi as a whole back to its long lost status as a franchise on the level of Sega’s best, like Sonic the Hedgehog. Certainly no easy task, in fact Sega have tried it 14 years ago with Shinobi (3DS), only for the momentum from that game to have quickly fizzled out despite people generally liking that game well enough. If that game couldn’t pull it off, how could Art of Vengeance do it? Sega’s content production department director Kagasei Shimomura and Lizardcube CEO and creative director Ben Fiquet feel they’ve cracked the code.

Wanna hear what got them fired up to get Shinobi back in style? Slip on in past the break and find out for yourself.

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Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. has “exceeded expectations” in North America; now more popular than VF5 Ultimate Showdown

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Pat yourselves on the back, VF fans in North America. Legacy Virtua Fighter Project Producer Seiji Aoki has found himself pleasantly surprised with the latest version of Virtua Fighter 5’s sales performance in the region so far. He even says it “exceeded expectations” already and that it’s done much better sales-wise than Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown had done on PlayStation 4 since its release way back in 2021.

This news comes from an interview with him and New Virtua Fighter Project Producer Riichirou Yamada at Event Hubs. Here’s what Aoki-san had to say exactly about the matter.

“Compared to Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown, VF5 R.E.V.O. has been enjoyed by a significantly larger number of players. In particular, its popularity in North America has exceeded our expectations. Moving forward, we plan to implement various initiatives and updates to ensure that even more people around the world can pick up and enjoy the game. Our goal is to continue growing and further developing the VF community.”

If that’s not impressive enough, recall that on Ultimate Showdown’s release, it was given away free to PlayStation Plus subscribers for a while. R.E.V.O. was discounted a couple of times, but never free as of this writing. Still, fans spoke with their wallets and their message was heard loud and clear. Maybe it was the long requested rollback netcode that sweetened the deal? Maybe just the simple fact that a Virtua Fighter game was available officially on PC for the first time since Virtua Fighter 2 28 years ago? Whatever the case may be, we’re not complaining.

Wanna see more? Walk the walk past the break.

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Dreamcast online shooter Outtrigger now back online thanks to Dreamcast Live

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We’re live with a new Dreamcast Live update, as Outtrigger’s online multiplayer is now back in action thanks to Dreamcast Live. This is all thanks to Dreamcast Live legends Shuouma and Flyinghead, who also recently brought Sega Tetris and Speed Devils: Online Edition back online through Dreamcast Live.

Similar to the story of Speed Devils Online, Shuouma began work getting Outtrigger online years ago, but was unable to finish the job by himself. Years later, he showed Flyinghead the work he had done and he finished it for him. Now we all get to enjoy some online Outtrigger action once again through a DreamPi or a Dreamcast Broadband Adaptor, for those lucky enough to own the latter.

Check out some more info beyond the break and then get to blasting in Outtrigger.

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Sega Saturn turns 30 years old in North America

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The year is 1995. Movies such as Billy Madison, Bad Boys, Desperado, Jumanji, and Toy Story hit theaters. TV shows like Fraisier, Babylon 5, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the Earthworm Jim cartoon, and the Street Fighter and Darkstalkers cartoons premiered on TV. Anime such as Saint Tail, Slayers, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, and Virtua Fighter premiered in Japan and Ghost In The Shell premiered in Japanese and UK theaters. Songs like “Gangsta’s Paradise” by Coolio, “Fantasy” by Mariah Carey, “Waterfalls” by TLC, “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” by Smashing Pumpkins, and everyone’s favorite holiday song that they never get sick of hearing after midnight every November 1st: “All I Want For Christmas Is You” also by Mariah Carey, topped the charts. Video games like Chrono Trigger, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest, Command & Conquer, Rayman, and Time Crisis came out. Sega released Genesis games like Beyond Oasis, Comix Zone, and Garfield: Caught In The Act and arcade games like Virtua Cop 2, Fighting Vipers, and Cool Riders. We were also 5 years away from entering the 21st century. We’d come a long way, but were we ready for the future?

Sega Saturn released on this day in North America three long decades ago, but as many of us know, it wasn’t originally supposed to be this day. It was originally decided to launch the console in September of 1995, but Sega of America surprised everyone by moving the launch up to May, a costly mistake that kneecapped the Saturn at the starting line. Even so, Saturn goes down in history as a beloved 32-bit system with some impressive games that stood the test of time, such as the Panzer Dragoon series, NiGHTS Into Dreams, Sonic R, Mr. Bones, Guardian Heroes, Burning Rangers, Fighters Megamix, and ports of incredible arcade games like Virtua Fighter 2, Virtua Cop 1 & 2, Fighting Vipers, Sega Rally Championship, and The House of the Dead. Saturn went woefully unappreciated all around the world other than Japan, however, and sold somewhere between 9 and 17 million consoles worldwide, putting it third place behind the competition of the time, but that doesn’t mean we have nothing to celebrate today.

Join us, if you will, beyond the break for a look back on the Saturn’s history and its impact on the gaming world today.

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Retro-Bit re-opens pre-orders for Toaplan Shooters Collector’s Edition Vol. 2 set of Genesis/Mega-Drive games, now without Twin Cobra

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Remember when Retro-Bit opened pre-orders for a new collector’s set of Toaplan Genesis/Mega-Drive official reprints, only to quickly call it off because of an unforeseen licensing issue? It seems they have now worked out that licensing issue and the set is now available to pre-order once again. Sadly, Twin Cobra (1991) seems to have been the source of that licensing snafu and has been removed from the set, leaving only Slap Fight MD (1993) and Grind Stormer (1994). Fortunately, those two games are the ones with extra modes exclusive to the Genesis versions, when Twin Cobra had no such additions.

The entire set has been readjusted and is available for pre-order at the usual retailers in North America and Europe. Due to it going from three games down to two, it is now available for the reduced price of $139.99 USD instead of $159.99 USD, with the individual games still being $59.99 USD. Anyone who really wanted Twin Cobra should be allowed to request a refund if they left their old pre-order in place. Anyone who still has a pre-order open and can live without Twin Cobra will still have their pre-order honored.

For more info on the new Collector’s Set, as well as pre-order links, come on down past the break.

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Supersega’s long, crazy history as a crowdfunding scam

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Image credit: Time Extension

You might recall last Summer when we talked about the announcement of a new FPGA console called the SuperSega. It was proposed as a console that could accurately run games from any original Sega console off of it’s original media, even Dreamcast games. I was cautiously optimistic as I wrote about the console, though the general consensus online, including from our own commenters, was that the SuperSega was destined to be vaporware. After a few short months, a couple of sketchy video demonstrations of the SuperSega hardware, and some ultra sketchy pre-orders that took way more money from people than they agreed to pay, it’s looking like it’s worse than even the naysayers thought at the time. Gotta give them credit.

We might be late in talking about this now, but because I had already reported on the SuperSega as if it was potentially going to be a legitimate product, we may as well take some time to go over all that had transpired regarding this new console since my original article. Join us after the break. It’s gonna be a long one.

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Physical copies of new Master System indie game, Frontier Force, coming soon from 2Minds

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The hot new Master System indie shooter, Frontier Force, which I had written about here just two days ago, will soon be available in a boxed physical cartridge form from 2Minds, a new publisher for indie games on Master System and Game Gear. The game will be packaged much like any old retail release for Master System, complete with box, reversible color inlay, manual, poster, and cartridge for use in any Master System or Master System cartridge adaptor for Genesis/Mega-Drive, Mark III, or Game Gear. It will cost €50 (Currently $56.78 USD).

For links to order the game, check in after the break below.

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New indie shooter “Frontier Force” released for Master System

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We love new games released for Sega consoles here at SegaBits, and this is one you won’t want to miss. Homebrew developer Badcomputer has just released an amazing new shmup for Master System called Frontier Force. The game sees your Space Harrier-looking character on the ground firing upwards at enemy forces with six different weapons, five of which have limited ammunition that requires replenishing. The game boasts some incredible graphics with plenty of detail and parallax scrolling, more than you saw in most official Master System games at retail back in the day. It also features an incredible soundtrack by chiptune musician Crisps as well as a printable digital manual.

The game is now available as a digital ROM file for your favorite Master System emulator or to run on a flash cartridge on any Master System, Mark III, or Master System-compatible Genesis/Mega-Drive console for only $5 USD from Badcomputer’s itch.io page, which will be linked beyond the break below.

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Sega confirms release date and details for Nintendo Switch 2 versions of Sonic X Shadow Generations and Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S; both launch alongside Switch 2 console with caveats

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We’re a little more than a month away from the heavily awaited (and heavily controversial) launch day of Nintendo’s new game console, the Nintendo Switch 2, and Sega’s got four amazing games lined up to launch with the console. Yakuza 0: Director’s Cut and Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army were already confirmed to be there on June 5th, 2025, alongside the Switch 2 console itself, but Sega have just confirmed that the Switch 2 versions of Sonic X Shadow Generations and Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S will also be there that day, along with the Switch 1 version of Raidou Remastered. Pre-orders have already begun for each of these games in NA.

Sonic X Shadow Generations has been confirmed to have better resolution and framerates compared to the Switch 1 original, and Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S will have new modes based around the Switch 2 Joy-Con mouse controls, making these exciting new ways to play in Nintendo’s hybrid ecosystem. Sadly, there are some major drawbacks that are sure to make these upgrades less of a no-brainer than they oughta be. For more on that, plus some pre-order trailers and links, check in below the break.

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Sonic X Shadow Generations Dark Beginnings wins People’s Voice award at 2025 Webby Awards

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Awards for some of Sega’s most amazing achievements just keep on coming.

The incredible prequel animation to last year’s hit game Sonic X Shadow Generations, Dark Beginnings, has just won a coveted People’s Voice award at the 2025 Webby Awards. The People’s Voice awards, as the name suggests, are awards decided upon by public submissions, much like the BAFTA award that was just given to Shenmue (1999) earlier this month. Sonic X Shadow Generations Dark Beginnings receives this award as part of the Animation (Branded) category, which is for official animations made as part of products or services for the purposes of marketing.

As highlighted on the award page on the Webby Awards website, Sonic X Shadow Generations Dark Beginnings has achieved over 7M views, over 558K likes, over 188K shares, and over 76M impressions across all official uploads. Sonic fans and gamers outside that spectrum everywhere have expressed nothing but love for this groundbreaking piece of Sonic media for its on-point portrayal of the fan favorite Shadow the Hedgehog, both his personality and his deep-seeded trauma, as it hyped up the release of Sonic X Shadow Generations last October, which went on to sell over 1 million units on launch day alone and achieved several rave reviews.

If you haven’t seen this animation yet, you owe it to yourself to give it a watch, so we’ll share it after the break.

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Japanese Saturn classic Princess Crown now finally fan translated

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After more than a decade of work from several fan translation teams, Atlus’s beloved Sega Saturn classic RPG Princess Crown (1997) is finally translated into English. The final release of the translation is available to download now and patch into your digital copy of the Saturn game files that you mysteriously obtained.

As reported by Sega Saturn Shiro!, release candidates of the translation were made public at the start of this month of April 2025. On April 18th, the final version of the translation had been completed and put up on the Github page for the project. Before all that, though, a different group consisting of SamIAm and CyberWarriorX had began efforts to translate the game and uploaded an unfinished build in 2014, only to leave their efforts for the current team to eventually pick up and build upon last year, making this a rather special translation in and of itself.

If you love this classic game from the team who would, years later, bring you games like Dragon’s Crown and Unicorn Overlord, then you’ll want to check out this fan translation for sure, so head on in after the break for the download link.

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Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack updated with Streets of Rage, ESWAT: City Under Siege, and Super Thunder Blade

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On April 11th, 2025, Sega added three early Sega Genesis/Mega-Drive games: ESWAT: City Under Siege, Streets of Rage, and Super Thunder Blade, to Sega Genesis – Nintendo Switch Online. Japan gets the same three games at the same time.

All three games are immediately accessible to Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscribers following a quick patch update to the app. For more info on each game, check in after the break for a synopsis on all of them.

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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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