Author Archives: TrackerTD

Slipstream takes to Kickstarter with the spirit of SEGA’s sprite-scaling racers

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We’re always ones for a good SEGA-inspired Kickstarter here at Bits, and it’s that time again; with Noctet Studio’s Slipstream being the latest object of our affections.

We’ve covered a few SEGA-themed racers such as Drift Stage and The 90’s Arcade Racer in the past, but rest assured; Slipstream is aiming for something very different to those games. It’s more focused on being a pure driving game than just a racing game, a la OutRun. And it’s not just in gameplay either; Slipstream makes clever use of sprite-scaling to deliver an authentic look that’ll be plenty familiar to fans of the 80’s and 90’s heydays for SEGA driving titles such as Rad Mobile, and the aforementioned OutRun, all on a custom engine at a smooth 60fps. The influences even stretch beyond the racing classics of SEGA’s past; because we can’t not look at that Casino district and see Casino Night from Sonic the Hedgehog 2!

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RadioSEGA’s WinterFest returns, starting December 18th

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It’s the holiday season; and to ring it in, our friends at RadioSEGA are back with another WinterFest, after the success of last year’s event!

WinterFest consists of a bunch of community members getting together and playing radio shows about all aspects of SEGA, whilst holding giveaways and playing some awesome music from the long history of SEGA. It’s a big celebration of community spirit; sites such as SEGADriven and The Sonic Show are involved, and this year, we’re getting in on the action too!

Liam Ashcroft of This is Saturn (that’s me!) will be hosting a show for the event; about VOCALOID! “VOCALAND with Tracker_TD” hits the air Saturday 19th December at 5pm GMT (12pm ET/9am PT). Be there!

Programming starts at 7pm GMT tomorrow, and you can catch the full press release from RadioSEGA after the jump.

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This is Saturn Rips n’ Tears some huge guts, with DOOM on SEGA Saturn

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Halloween is upon us; and so Tracker returns to delve into hell, with id Software’s classic first person shooter, DOOM!

The SEGA Saturn port of DOOM has received heavy flak over the years for being an awful port of the classic shooter. Is it really that bad? Tracker sets out to rip and tear his way through the game to find out.

This is Saturn is a video series created by British teenager Liam ‘TrackerTD’ Ashcroft, aiming to give an alternative and in-depth look at the good, the bad, and the ugly of SEGA Saturn gaming, all whilst maintaining a somewhat strong accent.

Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel.

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This is Saturn strikes back with Dead or Alive

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After a longer break than expected, This is Saturn finally returns with Team Ninja and Tecmo’s fighting game début, Dead or Alive!

Known for its innovative mechanics, recognisable characters, and… some certain other things, Dead or Alive is now an incredibly well known series. But was the first game worth much of a toss? Find out in this new episode!

This is Saturn is a video series created by British teenager Liam ‘TrackerTD’ Ashcroft, aiming to give an alternative and in-depth look at the good, the bad, and the ugly of SEGA Saturn gaming, all whilst maintaining a somewhat strong accent.

Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel.

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Cook and Becker release officially licensed Sonic the Hedgehog and Virtua Fighter art prints

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Art Dealership Cook & Becker have released several new officially licensed SEGA prints, adding to their previous prints including Phantasy Star and Streets of Rage; as well as a gorgeous Shenmue print. This time in the spotlight are two Virtua Fighter prints (for different coloured backgrounds) and everyone’s favourite spiny mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog himself. The Virtua Fighter print was produced by Gerald Parel, whilst the Sonic print was produced by Paul Veer (Also known as @pietepiet on Twitter), who you may know for his work on games such as Nuclear Throne. 

You can check out the prints here:

Unframed, the prints cost $115, or roughly £100/140 Euros, give or take. Be sure to let us know your favourites, and support these incredible artists! You can check out previews below.

 

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New SEGA 3D Classics announced; including Power Drift and Puyo Puyo 2

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My life has been made. SEGA has officially announced new SEGA 3D Classics; 3D Power Drift, 3D Puyo Puyo Puyo 2, 3D Maze Walker, and 3D Fantasy Zone II!

The full version of the teaser art we posted yesterday has been released (isn’t Arle adorable?), showing that the new physical SEGA Reprint Archives 2 collection will feature Power Drift and Puyo Puyo Tsu, with the bonus games this time around being Maze Walker and Fantasy Zone II; the Master System versions! Whether these games are to be released internationally is unknown, but honestly by this point I think we’ll be seeing at least Puyo and Power Drift on the western eShop soon.

More information on the new physical collection was released yesterday, but it’s damn cool to see not one but four new games for the collection!

I’m pretty ecstatic right now, but let us know what you think in the comments!

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SEGA 3D Reprint Archives 2 announced, with more boxart by Ken Sugimori and a new 3D Classic teased

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Well, this came out of nowhere! SEGA 3D Reprint Archives 2 is officially a thing, in Japan at least.

For those unaware, a while back SEGA released a few of M2’s amazing 3DS remakes of various SEGA games in a physical collection. Now Japan’s getting another one of these packs, but it looks to be something special; notice the mosaic. There’s clearly another character there, and it seems to be hinting at a new 3D Classic. I think the best guess I can muster is that it’s Gillius Thunderhead of Golden Axe riding a Chickenleg, but we’ll have to wait and see!

Currently confirmed for the collection are Sonic the Hedgehog, Altered Beast, Fantasy Zone II W, Thunder Blade, and Galaxy Force II, all in their remastered 3D Classics state. Various bonuses are also slated to be included; for reference, the previous physical release contained an improved version of Space Harrier’s 3DS port, as well as ports of Space Harrier 3D and OutRun 3D from the SEGA Master System; all of which we haven’t gotten over here on the eShop.

The new collection’s also rocking some amazing cover art by Pokemon legend Ken Sugimori once again; it’s surreal seeing someone well-known as a Nintendo and Pokemon artist drawing Sonic!

As mentioned, there’s no word of this coming here; and given the fact the last collection didn’t release here it’s really unlikely this will (unless SEGA decide Sonic gives it selling power…).

We’ll keep an eye out for any further news on this, including that mystery game and any new bonus features.

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Hatsune Miku: Project Diva X officially announced for PSVita and PS4 for 2016

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Here it is folks! SEGA has officially announced Hatsune Miku: Project Diva X for Playstation Vita and Playstation 4! The teaser site for the game still appears to be counting down, but regardless we now know Miku will be back on Sony hardware in 2016.

The trailer takes a look back on the last nine Hatsune Miku Project Diva games, and confirms various musicians involved with the project; as well as our first glimpse at the Playstation Vita version of the game! It’s unknown if there’s a PS4 trailer inbound but we’ll keep our eyes peeled. As for release dates, the Playstation Vita version is planned for March 2016, whilst the Playstation 4 edition is targeting Fall 2016.

It’s certainly a very exciting time to be a Miku fan though, what with Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX also being released on 3DS in a couple of weeks! It’s been stated SEGA will be bringing along a demo of the the game to the Miku Magical Mirai 2015 event, so we may get more information.

Stay tuned for this one folks!

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New SEGA feat. Hatsune Miku Project game seemingly confirmed through fan illustration contest

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It’s tough to say nobody saw this coming, but yep; almost everyone’s favourite digital idol, Hatsune Miku, is seemingly getting another SEGA game.

As picked up by MikuFan, the news was revealed through a Nicovideo Livestream, in which it was announced SEGA will be partnering with Piapro (the official site for the Crypton Vocaloid characters) in collecting fan artwork for the loading screens and ending credits in a new Miku project. Of note, this has been the case with the previous Project Diva titles in particular. SEGA will be accepting a whopping 200 illustrations for the project; 100 loading screens and 100 ending credit visuals. Submissions open August 10th, and end September 11th, both at 17:00 JST; and apparently we’ll be getting more information on the submissions and such on the 10th.

Not exactly the most conventional way to confirm what’s almost certainly a Project Diva title, or perhaps even the rumoured arcade port; but it sounds like something’s coming folks! Excited? Sound off in the comments!

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This is Saturn burns rubber with VATLVA

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This is Saturn comes back, engines blazing and rubber freshly burnt.

This time, we’re looking at a relatively obscure title in the Saturn’s back catalogue, Ancient’s VATLVA. This game boasts artwork by Hitoshi Ariga (responsible for various manga, particularly of the Mega Man variety), and a soundtrack by none other than Yuzo Koshiro! But is the game actually any good? Watch and find out on this episode of This is Saturn!

As mentioned in the video, you can grab a shirt to support the show by clicking here!

This is Saturn is a video series created by British teenager Liam ‘TrackerTD’ Ashcroft, aiming to give an alternative and in-depth look at the good, the bad, and the ugly of SEGA Saturn gaming, all whilst maintaining a somewhat strong accent.

Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel.

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This is Saturn gets puzzled, with Puyo Puyo Sun

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This is Saturn bounces back with Puyos, Suns, Arle Nadja, Satan, and more!

This time, we’re having a look at the third game in the incredibly popular Puyo Puyo series, Puyo Puyo Sun! Many’s first experience with the puzzler series was Dr Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine; a game I personally still don’t like much. But can the same be said of Sun? Find out in this episode of This is Saturn!

This is Saturn is a video series created by British teenager Liam ‘TrackerTD’ Ashcroft, aiming to give an alternative and in-depth look at the good, the bad, and the ugly of SEGA Saturn gaming, all whilst maintaining a somewhat strong accent.

Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel.

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Axel Stone from Streets of Rage, Sakura Shinguji of Sakura Wars and more confirmed for Project X Zone 2

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Courtesy of the new issue of Famitsu (and the scans above, provided by @TACK0520 on Twitter), we now know three more characters showing up on the SEGA side of things in the upcoming Project X Zone 2: Brave New World.

Axel Stone of Streets of Rage fame has been confirmed to show up in the game, as have Sakura Shinguji and Gemini Sunrise from the Sakura Taisen series. Whilst both Sakura Taisen characters return from the first game, this is Axel’s first appearance in a seriously long time, and it’s great to see him added to the roster. In addition to these SEGA additions, Capcom’s Phoenix Wright and Maya Fey of their Ace Attorney series are also confirmed to be appearing, as well as characters from God Eater 2 and Summon Night 3. From the looks of things, Axel will be an assist unit, whereas the Taisen characters return in their role from Project X Zone. 

Overall, it’s awesome to see more SEGA love from this game; Axel was definitely near the top of my wanted list, and I’m ecstatic to see him return.

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This is Saturn Season 2 is here, with a look at SEGA’s 3D Control Pad

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This is Saturn returns after an extended hiatus!

This time, we’re delving back into the world of SEGA peripherals, with SEGA’s 3D Control Pad for the SEGA Saturn. The pad was bundled with copies of NiGHTS into Dreams… and is often something associated closely with the Saturn’s legacy; but has it earned its place as part of the Saturn legend? Find out, as Tracker takes a gander at this old piece of kit.

This is Saturn is a video series created by British teenager Liam ‘TrackerTD’ Ashcroft, aiming to give an alternative and in-depth look at the good, the bad, and the ugly of SEGA Saturn gaming, all whilst maintaining a somewhat strong accent.

Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel.

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Support for HTC’s Virtual Reality kit could be coming to Alien: Isolation & Company of Heroes 2

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If you didn’t already need new pants after playing Alien Isolation, you might want to order a new pair in advance.

Reddit user “linknewtab” has discovered various titlecards for games coming to Valve and HTC’s collaborative virtual reality project within the Steam installation directory. There’s a pretty vast array of titles there, none more relevant to this article than the SEGA published Alien Isolation and Company of Heroes 2. This is pretty exciting stuff; it’ll be especially entertaining to see more of the reactions to Isolation in VR. The game was demoed with Oculus Rift back at E3 last year, but as of now it has no official VR support. Considering how long the Oculus Rift’s consumer release is taking, it’s likely it’ll be on the Vive before the Rift.

What do you think of CoH2 and Alien Isolation being realised in virtual reality? Let us know in the comments!

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SEGA announce donation drives for Nepal earthquake victims

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In wake of the devastating 7.9 magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal last Saturday, SEGA has announced several of its games will begin donating money earned from in-app purchases to the Japanese Red Cross.

In Phantasy Star Online 2 all profits made from the Cosmo Atomizer item will be donated until May 30th. Profits from Chain Chronicle’s Spirit Stone item will be donated, as will all profits from the Saintly King Stone item in Hortensia Saga. Finally, all profits of the Magic Guiding Stone item from Puyo Puyo Quest will also be donated. The donation drives in these latter three games will only run until May 3rd, however.

In addition to any funds raised by these games, SEGA will be donating an additional 2 million yen (about $17,000) to the Red Cross. Overall, it’s great to see SEGA engaging with the relief effort, as the world comes together to support Nepal through such a tragic event that has claimed thousands of innocent lives.

You can donate to the Nepal Earthquake Appeal here.

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