Previously, we reported a new trailer for SEGA 3D Archives 3: Final Stage at Tokyo Game Show 2016 that highlighted the currently revealed 6 games. However the event has revealed the 7th game in the collection, and surprisingly it’s the Technosoft title Thunder Force III.
Tokyo Game Show 2016 revealed a new trailer for Valkyria: Azure Revolution, the latest installment in the Valkyria franchise by Media.Vision and SEGA. This trailer focuses on the story of Valkyria: Azure Revolution, with the story being about a nation discovering a special material called Ragnite, the source of “Magic Arts” that brought many blessings to the world, creating the titular “Azure Revolution”. But this revolution would come at a cost, as the Rus Empire gains rapid industrial and societal expansion, creating a monopoly in European territories.
The only thing that can stop the Rus Empire is Jutland, a small economically blockaded country that strives for independence from the colonel rule. The trailer highlights varies characters you will encounter along the way, such as the protagonists Ophelia and Amleth, The Circle of Five (Aka Five Grand Criminals), and the Valkyria Brunhild. However no gameplay is shown.
Valkyria: Azure Revolution will release on the PS4 on January 19, 2017 in Japan.
Yakuza 6 at the SEGA stage from Tokyo Game Show 2016 was given a roughly 15 minute demo showing off the game. The demo hosted by Saki Akai and Yokoyama Masayoshi explore miscellaneous aspects of Yakuza 6, including varies phone options, exercising at the gym, exploring the city, and of course being the living crap out of enemies. It doesn’t reveal a lot of new information, but it gives a small impression of what Yakuza 6 is for those that are still unfamiliar with the game.
Yakuza 6 releases on the PS4 on December 8th, 2016 in Japan. Meanwhile for those outside of Japan, you can try out the prequel Yakuza 0 coming out on January 24th 2017 if you want to get associated with the franchise before jumping to Yakuza 6 later on.
SEGA at Tokyo Game Show 2016 reveals a new Puyo Puyo Chronicles trailer that talks about varies aspects of the game. Featuring talent Misako Uno and Chiaki Ito, it talks about its RPG elements, collecting items, battling, “Skill Battles,” gaining experience points, co-op gameplay, and other details. While it technically doesn’t reveal a lot of new information, it does reveal the returning Puyo Puyo SUN mode from Puyo Puyo 20th Anniversary that’s based on Puyo Puyo SUN and Mission Puyo that’s loosely based on the past Nazo Puyo spin-offs. It also briefly teases a mysterious dark crystal ball near the end, and (adorably) shows off Uno and Ito in the signature Puyo Puyo art style.
Puyo Puyo Chronicles will release exclusively on the Nintendo 3DS on December 8th 2016 in Japan.
SEGA at Tokyo Game Show 2016 unveiled the first trailer for SEGA 3D Archives 3: Final Stage, showing off footage of the currently 6 revealed games. This includes Sonic the Hedgehog 2, After Burner II, Super Hang-On, Bare Knuckle II (Aka Streets of Rage 2 in the NTSC/PAL regions), Gunstar Heroes, and the new exclusive Turbo Outrun. Notably, it specifically mentions that Turbo Outrun will run at 60FPS, so no worries for those frame rate junkies out there. Sadly, the trailer doesn’t reveal any new information, so if you want to know what the mysterious last 3 games are you’ll have to wait longer.
SEGA 3D Archives 3: Final Stage will release on the Nintendo 3DS on December 22nd 2016 in Japan.
SEGA’s interest with VR continues, as a new Hatsune Miku game called Hatsune Miku: VR Future Live involving everyone’s favorite cyan haired machine sounding girl and her friends receives a new trailer. The game will be divided up by “stages”, with the game initially having the 1st Stage when released on October 13th, 2016, while later introducing 2nd Stage in November and 3rd Stage in December. Each stage is ¥2,500 ($25), with an option to buy all three for ¥7,000 (roughly $70) later. A price for outside of Japan however isn’t known.
The game itself is as the name implies a game is in the vein of the Project Diva games, the main difference is that it’s displayed in a first person fashion from the prospective of the player and players can view varies concerts at varies angles. However the rhythm aspects from past Project Diva titles is absent, instead focusing on being a straight forward concert, so there’s hardly a true “game” in a sense.
The game will release on October 14th/15th as a launch game for the Playstation VR headset.
Sonic Mania is having a lot of love put into it by literally being a game for the fans by the fans, but SEGA is taking it to the next level by introducing a special Collector’s Edition. The package itself comes in a deluxe box with artwork based on the North American release of Sonic the Hedgehog, a Sonic statue on top of a model 1 SEGA Genesis with a special SEGA chant if you flip the switch, a Metallic Collector’s Card that contains a download code for Sonic Mania, and a cast with a gold ring shaped like a SEGA Genesis cartridge.
The package is available on Amazon for pre-order in North America for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC, all for $69.99. No word if PAL or Asian countries will receive an equivalent. Note that despite Amazon listing the game for a May 31 2017 release, it’s a placeholder date and the game still has a tentative release window of Spring 2017.
[Source: Official Sonic Twitter and Facebook]
As previously reported by Famitsu, the latest installment in the Yakuza franchiseYakuza 6 will have Puyo Puyo and Virtua Fighter 5 included as among the variety of minigames and SEGA arcade games included. However, the official Yakuza 6 website has updated with a first look at both games, plus the varies other activities you can play, including karaoke, darts, and mahjong.
Have a copy of Bayonetta for the Xbox 360 but worried about upgrading to the Xbox One, or have an Xbox One but neglecting to buy a copy? Good news then, because today Bayonetta is getting Xbox One backwards compatibility along with the games de Blob 2 & Arkanoid Live!, as officially announced on Larry Hryb’s Twitter. This is especially notable for those that lack a Wii U or Xbox360 and want an alternative to play one of the finest games to come out of PlatinumGames, especially since copies that came with Bayonetta 2 are out of print for the former.
Bayonetta has made a recent splash with Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS and Bayonetta 2, so if you have an Xbox One and if you’re curious about the game that started this crazy action packed series, give it a shot.
[Source: Larry Hryb’s Twitter/Major Nelson]
This article is from the opinion of the author only. None of the statements here are necessarily associated with SEGABits or SEGA as a whole.
Puyo Puyo Chronicles. This was a game that was expected to come out for the majority of the year, since it’s the 25th Anniversary of the franchise. Normally when it comes to anniversaries SEGA focuses their cards on Sonic, but people outside of Japan don’t know Puyo Puyo also gets attention with a sudden boom of merchandising and a new game. This also happened with Puyo Puyo’s 15th and 20th anniversary, where they got rather expansive games in the form of Puyo Puyo! 15th Anniversary and Puyo Puyo!! 20th Anniversary, respectively. The fact the franchise has endured for 25 years defying the “hiatus” problem many of SEGA’s franchises suffer from for one reason or another, should be a testament to it’s strength as an IP.
However, something is notably different this time around in contrast to the past.
Yakuza 6 is the latest installment in the Yakuza franchise for the PS4, set for a December 8th, 2016 release in Japan. However while you’re waiting for another trip into the brutal life of a yakuza member, we’re given a behind the scenes look as to how several special effects are handled courtesy of the CEDEC (Computer Entertainment Developers Conference) 2016 stream on NicoNico. These videos highlight specific effects throughout Yakuza 6, including how water is rendered and handles floating objects, how the game renders clouds, and the “dust particle” effects during combat.
The emphasis on water in particular makes sense, since one of the major locations in the game takes place in a real-world town called Onomichi in Hiroshima, which is a fishing town, and it does look impressive all things considered.
[Source: NicoNico / Dual Shockers]
To see these tech demos in action, click below. Be warned however, as they were hastily recorded from a NicoNico stream so have noticeably low quality.
Before we have written that Superdimension Neptunia VS Sega Hard Girls was going to get a fall 2016 release date for the PSVita. However, the people at Idea Factory International, the company publishing the game, have announced a release date for the game, along with a overview and English screenshots. Superdimension Neptunia VS Sega Hard Girls is set for a North America release on October 18th, and a Europe release on October 21st. The game will be distributed both physically and digitally, and it will have PlayStation TV compatibility.
[Source: Idea Factory Website]
For the overview and screenshots of the game from Idea Factory, click the Read More tag.
As reported earlier, the new 3DS game Puyo Puyo Chronicles by SEGA has been announced for a December 6th release date in Japan. Blending in the many multiplayer options similar to the past Puyo Puyo 15th Anniversary and Puyo Puyo 20th Anniversary titles, but also including a new RPG-like mode where you engage in battles and assist with sidequests in a similar vein to the “Quest Mode” in Puyo Puyo Box.
Famitsu has provide a first look into the game. Notably it introduces a new artstyle where everyone adapts 3D character models instead of the 2D artwork the series traditionally uses. It also reveals the first images of the new character named Arie/Allie, while confirming the characters Amitie, Ringo, Satan, and Sig will return. In addition, it goes into detail about how battles work, where you form a party of three and engage in battle by clearing Puyo to inflict damage, how sidequests are handled between NPCs, and a first look at the exclusive 3DS theme and boxart.
No release date for outside of Japan is announced, and may not be released due to the series traditionally being Japan-only, but there may be a surprise like how 7th Dragon III: Code VFD was released outside of Japan despite the doubts.
Click below to see all scans and screenshots of Puyo Puyo Chronicles by Famitsu.
Superdimension Neptunia VS SEGA Hard Girls is a crossover game for the PSVita, that as the name implies combines the Superdimension Neptuna franchise by Compile Hearts and the SEGA Hard Girls franchise by SEGA, both franchises being known for their satire on video game tropes with moe anthropomorphic consoles as the lead. As previously announced, Superdimension Neptunia VS SEGA Hard Girls for the PSVita will receive a western release by the usual international publisher Idea Factory International.
But recently, an ESRB rating has popped up that suggests there may also be a PC version in the works too. Though nothing has been announced, it would make sense since previous games from the Neptunia series have appeared on Steam. It would also make sense from a business point since the PC has a far larger install base then the PSVita could ever hope for.
The rating itself describes the game as such:
Puyo Puyo Tsu (or Puyo Puyo 2) is regarded as an arcade classic in Japan, setting the foundation for future titles with it’s fleshed out mechanics. Which is why recently the game received not only a 3D remake on the 3DS, but also made it one of the exclusive titles to SEGA 3D Reprint Archives Vol. 2 (SEGA 3D Classics Collection outside of Japan). That is until recently, where it’s been announced the game will receive an independent version on the eShop, and adding an additional Tournament Mode on top of the base game. This version will release on August 3rd, 2016 for the price of ¥864 ($8.22) in Japan.
Whether or not the similarly exclusive Power Drift 3D or the Master System games will receive an independent release too is currently in the air. No release for outside of Japan is currently announced, but keep an eye out in the near future.
If you want to learn more about Puyo Puyo Tsu 3D, read up on our review of SEGA 3D Classic Collection which includes Puyo Puyo Tsu 3D, and our guide on Puyo Puyo Tsu that talks about how the game works.
[Source: Nintendo Japan]