There is a Brave Frontier and Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse crossover event running from September 8th until October 5th. A number of campaigns see characters from the upcoming Apocalypse invade Brave Frontier‘s world. By participating in them, you’ll gain exclusive unique items that will fade away after the event ends.
Developer Retro Sumus has dropped a nice surprised today in the form of a new Xenocider demo, a public declaration of their goals, and the ability to pre-order the Dreamcast game.
The developer discussed how conflicted they were in accepting money for the game before the work being finished. However, they decided to commit to the project and to exclusively develop it for the Dreamcast. They have set a tentative goal of finishing the game in less than a year.
The demo contains three stages that the team describes as “virtually finished.” The areas available are Fantasy Land, Planet Krok and Planet ORL. You can download the demo right here.
If you’re sold on Xenocider already, you can now pre-order a copy on Retro Sumus’ new shop. You’ll find all of the Kickstarter’s editions available, which is rather nice. You can also throw down some money on a Retro Sumus shirt featuring the team’s logo.
In addition to the Xenocider news, the team also teased an upcoming announcement concerning their other Dreamcast game, Ameba.
Play Asia has posted the entire exhaustive interview Famitsu ran with some of Persona 5’s art and audio leads.
First up is Art Director Sudou Masayoshi. He discusses the usage of color for the last few Persona games, the wild UI that Persona 5 boasts, his sources of inspiration, and more.
From the first full Persona 5 trailer we saw a lot of the Game User Interface (GUI) that you created for the game, it really is a splendid piece of work. Your chance to create such work began with Persona 3, correct?
Sudou: Yes, whilst working on Persona 3, Mr. Soejima (the games character designer; Soejima Shigenori ) we got together a lot to throw ideas and see if we could confirm how to create the games GUI. Not just the GUI but also the game’s website design. Speaking of design, we really wanted to create a GUI that didn’t just stand out in a game related magazine but also something that would look interesting and stand out in magazines aimed primarily at females as well, it was an idea that I never thought of before. I always like using traditional methods, I tend to not add gradations, but prefer filling in each and every graphic. When I’m designing, I will continue to create my best work through trial and error until I feel 100% satisfied.
Is there something that you’ve put your entire heart and soul into when it comes to your designs?
Sudou: The biggest thing I put my all into was regarding the color of the interface compared to the game’s main color scheme. For example, the main color for Persona 3 was teal, Persona 4’s a vivid yellow color and so I had to decide the right colors for the menus etc. Of course Persona 5’s main color scheme is a crimson red and therefore after much deliberation I sat down and after trying out black and white text I was confident with it.
Lead Sound Designer Tsuchiya Kenichi and Sound Composer Mr Meguro Shouji are also featured. You can read the entire piece here.
Sega Amusements has released a trailer showing off Sonic Dash Extreme to potential vendors.
Yes, the recent trend of game creators making arcade machines out of their hit mobile games keeps rolling on. This arcade cabinet conversion of Sonic Dash allows vendors to set it up for either ticket redemption or just for fun.
Sonic Dash Extreme features a 55″ HD screen, leaderboards, and a giant-sized d-pad controller. You’ll find Sonic joined by Eggman, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Cream, Rouge, Silver & Blaze.
If you were a fan of the mobile game, then perhaps this is something to keep an eye out for. Sonic Dash Extreme has been available in America since some point in 2015. Maybe this marketing push will see more vendors picking up the machine?
UK retro gaming enthusiast magazine Retro Gamer is on a roll with Sega coverage!
In their most recent issue (#158), their cover story was Sonic’s 25th anniversary. They included an interview with Sonic Team’s Takashi Iizuka, where they discussed Sonic’s past, present and future. The Sonic coverage was pretty extensive, with it making up a good portion of the issue. SEGAbits and Sonic Retro contributor Nick Thorpe penned the piece.
Interested fans can still find copies of this issue on some newsstands or order it online.
In the next issue of Retro Gamer (#159), the cover story will be Streets of Rage 2. They promise to show “how Sega beat Capcom’s Final Fight to create the Mega Drive’s greatest scrolling fighter.” Well, that certainly sounds promising. The same issue will also have a feature on the Sega Master System.
You can look for it when it arrives or order it here.
It’s not every day you see Sega games gracing the cover of a magazine anymore, at least in English. You might as well take the chance when you get the opportunity.
If you’re looking for something to pick up and play this weekend, then might I recommend the Steel Empire 3DS port? It normally runs for $29.99 on the Nintendo eShop, but is currently going for just $9.99.
Those unfamiliar with the relatively obscure horizontal shooter might find its steampunk aesthetic pleasing. You can choose to fight with either a plane or a blimp, but of course you’re going to pick the blimp nearly every time.
The Sega Genesis shooter was originally created by HOT-B, with the 3DS remake being developed by Mebuis. The 3DS version received fairly good reviews from respectable outlets. So if horizontal shooters are your thing, there’s no reason not to give it a shot.
We’d like to start posting about Sega deals more often again, so if you spot a sale going on, please let us know!
The Xenocider Kickstarter campaign may have been cancelled after it they failed to raise the entire $92,000 goal, but developer Retro Sumus‘ soul still burns! They have been keeping true to their promise to continue working on the game and bringing their vision to fruition.
This week the team posted this short demo of the latest stage they are working on, Planet ORL. This new area has a swamp theme and features hostile plants and animals.
Sumus notes it is still a prototype of the intended final product.
As we reported on previously, Xenocider is a new original game for the Dreamcast heavily inspired by the Space Harrier and Sin & Punishment. The game was set to be one of the more ambitious independent posthumous Dreamcast releases, with loads of features.
What do you think of the Xenocider swamp stage? What sorts of objects and obstacles would you like to see the team add to the final version?
Idea Factory has revealed the Superdimension Neptune VS Sega Hard Girls limited edition for the American market. Pre-orders will open for the PS Vita game on September 15th, with it hitting North America on October 18th and Europe on October 21st.
$65 will get you:
Hit the jump to see a gallery of all of the contents individually.
Sega updated their website with some new Tokyo Game Show 2016 merchandise today. Hit the jump to check out a gallery of the goods!
Will you need those tissues when you say goodbye to Kiryu in Yakuza 6? Or how about a Persona 5 shopping bag to take all of your TGS swag home in?
The Persona 5 prequel anime special, Persona5 the Animation – The Day Breakers, has aired in Japan and it’s available to watch on Crunchyroll right now. A Blu-Ray and DVD release is scheduled for December 7th in Japan.
On top of that, I also have more information on Persona 5’s showing at Tokyo Game Show 2016 and a live event scheduled for July 2017 after the jump!
An Etrian Odyssey V discussion panel will be held in Japan on September 30th, 2016. It will be at the Shinjuku Loft Plus One venue in Tokyo, Japan at 8:30PM.
Panel hosts will include long-time Etrian Odyssey panel leaders Yoshihisa Kawahara and Ayumi Murase (both voice actors in EO V), as well as composer Yuzo Koshiro.
The announcement page for the event states that the show will discuss the Etrian Odyssey series and potentially include spoilers for the fifth entry, which released in Japan on August 4th.
Pre-sale tickets will be 2,000 yen, while tickets on the day of the panel will run 2,500 yen. Food and drink are included for free along with admission price. The show is restricted to persons 18 and older only, so expect a good drink selection.
You can buy tickets in advance over here starting on September 10th if you are interested in attending.
Sega has announced a special virtual reality experience featuring Ulala will be available at Tokyo Game Show 2016. Space Channel 5 VR: Ukuuki Viewing Show will allows players to participate as one of Ulala’s program viewers.
The VR experience will be running on the HTC VIVE at TGS. Will players be able to mimic Ulala’s commands with the VIVE controllers? Will this evolve into more than one simple encounter? Will you get over the likely possibility that Space Michael will not be included in future Space Channel 5 releases?
No additional details about a public release, future expansion of the demo, or compatible hardware have been announced.
A small teaser website is available here for now.
The latest issue of Weekly Famitsu has information on some of Persona 5‘s online features.
If you opt into the Phantom Thieves Alliance, multiplayer elements will be available during the main game. You’ll be able to cooperate with other players as you battles foes, explore dungeons, or just do normal teenager things around school.
In the video, we first see a developer animating a rather familiar QTE scene. The event in question, which features Ryu Hazuki hopping on stones to cross a stream, occurred in the epilogue of Shenmue II. It’s revealed that the team wanted to create the event for the third game, which brings us to a possibility of the entire last act of Shenmue II being playable again in the new engine.
The team member moves the scene’s camera around and discusses a future meeting with Yu Suzuki about cooler angles to use for the event.
The second part of the video takes us to another developer working on a scene situated on a mountain. An avalanche occurs and Ryu must run for his life as boulders of all sizes fly down towards him.
As the documentary ends, we see a few shots of devs at work and, finally, a quick glimpse of Yu Suzuki smiling.
The short film is titled Development Report Vol. 1, so hopefully this is the start of a new series of videos that Ys Net releases with some of the monthly Shenmue III updates moving forward.