Author Archives: James Barton

English Sega Saturn Policenauts fan translation released

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English Sega Saturn Policenauts fan translation header

An English Sega Saturn Policenauts fan translation has been released today, which is certainly not the October surprise you were expecting to be excited about.

Policenauts is a graphic adventure game that follows in the footsteps of Konami’s Sega CD cult classic Snatcher. Several years ago, an English translation patch was released for the PlayStation version of the game. Which was nice, but what most of us wanted was for the Sega Saturn release of the game to get the same treatment.

The Japanese Sega Saturn port of Policenauts contains all of the same content as the other editions of the game, but with a number of improvements. Most notably, the anime cutscenes run at 24 frames-per-second, while it’s PlayStation counterpart chugs along at just 15. In addition, it features more dialogue and scenes, less censorship, bonus videos after the game is completed, and an alternative credits sequence. It also features light gun support if you still have a handy Virtua Gun and old CRT TV to play it on.

The translation team has already made the game region free with the patch, so all you need to do is patch your game and load it up. You’ll be good to go and finally be able to experience this lost Hideo Kojima classic.

Head on over to Policenauts.net to download the patch and instructions.

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Persona 5 ships over 550,000 copies in Japan; new DLC announced

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Persona 5

Persona 5 has been a stunning success for Atlus since it’s launch on September 15th just a couple of weeks ago. The company announced at the end of this week that over 550,000 copies of the game have been shipped between PS3 and PS4 editions in Japan.

Let’s put that in perspective for Atlus. Persona 4: The Golden, the PS Vita re-release of the last mainline Persona game, had reached 350,000 units in Japan only after almost 2 years of being available. Clearly, Persona 5 is going to be a monster hit for the company and seriously fill parent company Sega’s coffers this year.

To celebrate this achievement, Atlus has announced it will be releasing two free sets of DLC costumes for players. Hit the jump to see pictures of the cast in their swimsuits and Morgana dolled up like a ram.

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Blade Arcus from Shining: Battle Arena demo now on Steam

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Blade Arcus from Shining: Battle Arena demo header

A Blade Arcus from Shining: Battle Arena demo has been released on Steam, allowing users to sample the game’s online multiplayer mode with 3 of the 16 characters.

Blade Arcus from Shining: Battle Arena was released to Steam on July 28th, 2016 and is based on Blade Arcus from Shining 2.1 EX, the most recent arcade version. It’s a 2D fighting game featuring characters from the Sega-published Shining Blade and Shining Hearts games.

Unfortunately, the game has potentially only sold a little over 2,000 copies if you go by the numbers SteamSpy suggests for it. Hopefully those excited to try it before buying will be able to find some online opponents this week thanks to the demo’s release.

The full game features a Story Mode, Training Mode, and local Versus Mode in addition to the Online Mode the demo restricts you to. If you fall in love with it, thankfully you’ll always have those and the new weekly tournament event to fall back on.

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Tetsuya Mizuguchi talks Rez and Rez: Infinite in new video

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A new video posted to Enhance Games’ YouTube channel features Tetsuya Mizuguchi talking about the creation of the original Rez and Rez Infinite. He discusses how he and his team wanted to make an environment where the player could have the ability to move freely and take advantage of stronger hardware to create a much more vivid experience.

Rez Infinite releases for the PlayStation 4 digitally in just under 2 weeks on October 13th, 2016. Gamers interested in specialty merchandise or a physical copy will have to order those through iam8bit. Be sure to read our recent hands-on preview of the game over here

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Casino Nights DLC now free to all Sonic Generations owners on Steam

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sonic generations casino nights dlc

In a surprising announcement at the end of this week, Sega has made the Casino Nights DLC free to anyone who owns Sonic Generations on Steam.

The news was revealed rather quietly a couple of days ago in a post to the Sonic Generations page on the storefront:

We are pleased to announce that from this point onwards, the ‘Casino Night’ DLC will be made available to ALL current and future Sonic Generations customers at no additional cost.

sonic generations casino nights dlc table

The Casino Nights DLC allows players to experience a pinball map based upon the beloved stage from the Sega Genesis classic Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

This is definitely a welcome surprise for a game released nearly 5 years ago. Naturally, some Negative Nancies in the comments on the post were immediately asking for a refund if they had purchased the DLC in the past. Even if they did so years ago.

The DLC itself has been met with many negatives reviews on Steam from buyers who did not read the description before purchasing it. Many seemed to blindly buy the package, thinking that they would be playing the classic original stage instead of brand new content inspired by it. We here at SEGAbits understand the issue for these Steam users: a one sentence description is a lot to sit through!

Have you played the Casino Nights DLC? Will you be downloading it this weekend to check it out? Let us know in the comments!

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Ken Horowitz’s SoA history book Playing at the Next Level ships October 30th

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Playing at the Next Level ships October 30th

Those who remember our interview with Ken Horowitz from back in February 2016 might recall he has an upcoming book called Playing at the Next Level: A History of American Sega Games. We now know the book covering the development of numerous Sega of America games will be shipping on October 30th and you can pre-order a physical edition at Amazon.

The book will focus on the actual games Sega of America produced from 1986 to 2001, along with a behind the scenes look at the development process. Horowitz sources the many interviews he’s done over the years along with numerous new ones. Playing at the Next Level will cover roughly 40 games with up to half a dozen developers being sourced for information on the creation of each game in question. Unlike Blake J. Harris‘ Console Wars, the book features developers much more so than executives and marketing personnel.

Ken Horowitz founded the popular fan site Sega-16 in 2004, where he has interviewed, researched and written about Sega’s history ever since.

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First Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap developer diary released

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DotEmu has released the Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap developer diary video. This one features Development Lead Omar Cornut and Art Director Ben Fiquet meeting with Ryuichi Nishizawa, creator of the Wonder Boy series. This video was shot around the BitSummit 4th convention in Kyoto, Japan in early July 2016.

Inside the video, we see the developers from Lizardcube showing Nishizawa the then-current build of the remake of his game for the first time. The trio discuss how the project began, the allure of secret doors, the appeal of the smoking pig, and more. Nishizawa does touch on some history from designing the original game as well.

Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap is a remake of the Sega Master System classic Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap, my favorite game on the platform. It is in development for consoles and PC with no specific target release date announced yet.

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Idea Factory releases Superdimension Neptune VS Sega Hard Girls opening movie

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Idea Factory has released the Superdimension Neptune VS Sega Hard Girls opening cinematic on their YouTube channel. If you are enough of a Sega fanatic as any of us here at SEGAbits, you might happen to watch the separate European video. In doing so, you might notice a surprising level of care taken to give Dreamcast an augmented blue outfit to emulate the European Dreamcast’s blue swirl.

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Big 75% off Sega sale at the Humble Store

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sega sale at the humble store

If you’ve got a few dollars burning a hole in your bank account, then maybe this large 75% off Sega sale at the Humble store might be your ticket today. For a little over the next 24 hours, a huge amount of Sega’s digital PC catalog is on sale there.

Everything from Alpha Protocol to Valkyria Chronicles is present, as are the SEGA Mega Drive & Genesis Classics Packs. If you haven’t tried it out yet, last year’s platformer Tembo the Badass Elephant is definitely worth $3.74. George reviewed it back then in the dark ages and I think his assessment still stands up today.

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You can find two instances of Japanese text in Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse

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shin megami tensei iv: apocalypse japanese text

Oh no! Word has gotten out that there exists an instance in Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse where you can run into the original, untouched Japanese text. The situation can occur during a late game battle only where a dialogue choice is given and if your partner is knocked out when that comes up. The chances of both requirements being met for this to occur are pretty slim, so it appears Atlus testers did not catch the text before the game was manufactured.

Atlus USA has been quick to apologize for the untranslated text and found one additional spot upon a thorough search. Of course, some people will use any opportunity to complain, and at least one GameFAQs poster has.

In a forum post titled “The game costs an extra $10 and it has no quality checking (MAJOR SPOILERS),” he posts a picture of the Japanese dialogue and berates Atlus. “Good job, Atlus. You couldn’t even bother to make sure that everything was translated.”

Usually I scoff at anyone who insists that gamers are entitled, but in this instance I think it applies well. There are huge projects exponentially larger than Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse with crazy budgets that ship with absolutely game-breaking or more horrendous bugs all of the time. This falls under a fairly benign issue that can easily be overcome by using a web search to find out what the correct English text should be.

Atlus has pledged to look into a possibility of correcting the errors somehow, whether it be possibly patching the game, changing the eShop version, or adjusting future shipments of the game in some manner. It’s also possible Nintendo will make doing any of these things nearly impossible due to their archaic systems, so I wouldn’t hold your breath for it.

I do have an easy solution to this problem in the meantime. If you don’t suck, you’ll never encounter it.

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Review: Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse (3DS)

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shin megami tensei iv: apocalypse review

Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse is not quite a sequel, side story, or even an expansion to the well-received Shin Megami Tensei IV.

If you took the movie Die Hard and filmed a What If ending showcasing what could happen if Reginald VelJohnson’s character Sgt. Al Powell had infiltrated the Nakatomi Plaza instead of waiting on the sidelines, then you would find yourself in a similar situation. Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse uses this What If scenario to fine-tune the gameplay from its predecessors and treat players to a very satisfying RPG for the Nintendo 3DS.

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First footage of Space Channel 5 VR: Ukiuki Viewing Show surfaces

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Screen Shot 2016-09-16 at 5.54.48 PM

Fans anticipating an engaging and entertaining game from the recent exhibition of Space Channel 5 VR: Ukiuki Viewing Show at Tokyo Game Show 2016 might want to throttle their expectations of the experience. At least for now.

This footage (from twitter user @mutedpsyborg) of a woman interacting with the VR game reveals that players simply flail their arms about while Ulala and the morolians do their thing on-screen. It’s a bit disappointing, as the HTC Vive’s controllers definitely offer the opportunity to emulate the classic Space Channel 5 experience by mimicking the game’s commands.

Perhaps this apparent marketing stunt was simply to gauge interest in the franchise currently or the possibility of a truly interactive Space Channel 5 VR game. Fan attention on social media since it’s announcement has shown there’s definitely some level of excitement about the possibility, but Sega and company need to actually deliver a compelling experience if they pursue it.

As of this time, no formal announcement has been made about the future of Space Channel 5 VR: Ukiuki Viewing Show.

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Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse launch trailer arrives

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All hell, heaven, and everything in between breaks loose in this Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse launch trailer. It does contain minor plot spoilers, mostly from the first 30 to 60 minutes of gameplay.

Last week, Atlus dropped a fairly humorous skit about their team picking a new name for the game that was known as Shin Megami Tensei IV: Final in Japan. It’s even more amusing after you begin playing the game and get the rest of the jokes. I think this could be the start of something awesome if they continue making interesting videos like this.

Are you looking forward to Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse? Our review of the game goes live in just a few days. I can’t wait to tell you all about it.

Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse releases in the Americas next Tuesday, September 20th.

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Henshin Engine Kickstarter moves Dreamcast port to first stretch goal

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henshin engine kickstarter dreamcast stretch goal

Henshin Engine is an independent game that currently has an active Kickstarter campaign for a PC Engine and Steam release. Henshin is a 2D action platformer with a few horizontal shooting stages in the mix. It follows the adventures of a young gaming fanatic named Yuki who is transformed by her beloved console, the FX-Engine. Her opponents include Ultra Drive Unit: Genji, an obvious take on the Sega Mega Drive.

Today the team behind the project announced that they have adjusted their stretch goals for the Kickstarter campaign to make a Dreamcast port a higher priority.

The people have spoken! So we’ve gotten TONS of emails asking us to specifically port Henshin Engine to the Dreamcast and that it should be a reward that’s realistic to achieve. Although I would like to think that ALL the stretch goals are realistic to achieve *wink*, we did ultimately decide to make it the very first stretch goal we hit. I would be more than thankful to just hit our funding goal so that the game gets made, but if we hit that first stretch goal, that would be extra awesome! So remember you DC fans, thank your friends for the countless emails about Henshin on DC, but more importantly, SHARE with all your DC friends so that we can bring Henshin Engine to the DC! I wouldn’t mind seeing an animated cutscene for Yukis transformation

The campaign currently sits at $10,502 out of their $16,400 funding goal, with 23 days left to go for the campaign. The Dreamcast stretch goal is $22,400.

The team project has a target release date of March 28th, 2017.

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