Author Archives: TrackerTD

“Hi☆sCool! Seha Girls” anime Episode 8 is out, Impressions inside

November 26, 2014 by TrackerTD

Hi☆sCool! Seha Girls episode 8 is on Crunchyroll right now, and that can only mean it’s impressions time!

In today’s episode, the Academy is anticipating the upcoming Cultural Festival, “Shock to the Brain! No spillage, but we’ll destroy the barriers of the spillage-obsessed Youth! Sehagaga Academy Fair!” The “spillage” in question, if you couldn’t guess from last week’s translation, is about… well, breasts, shall we say. The girls brainstorm ideas for a good exhibit, with Saturn suggesting a haunted house, then dancing (which Mega Drive quickly shoots down, referring to the Space Channel 5 mess) and then Dreamcast combines the two; terrify people with Mega Drive’s dancing! Unsurprisingly, along with the haunted house concept comes some choice footage of The House of the Dead 2!

Sonic R – A Soundtrack Story

November 21, 2014 by TrackerTD

Note from the writer: This was originally a forum post I made over on the Sonic Stadium, but since that post I’ve learned even more about the surprising history of this soundtrack, and so I’ve decided to update it to celebrate Saturn month; enjoy!

Who loves Sonic R?

Released in late 1997, Sonic R (ソニックR ) was first released for the SEGA Saturn, the under-appreciated 32-Bit powerhouse amongst SEGA’s console lineup. Sonic R had 10 characters to choose from, and presented 5 tracks to race across.

I gave my thoughts on it in my web series This is Saturn, which you can find here:

So, who does love Sonic R?

…not that many people to be honest. Some see it as an average racer, whereas others such as ScrewAttack see it as the absolute worst Sonic the Hedgehog game of all time.

We’re not here to discuss the game though – you probably could have guessed that from the topic title and the huge bloody banner saying “Sonic R – THE SOUNDTRACK.”

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“Hi☆sCool! Seha Girls” anime Episode 7 is here, Impressions; and hedgehogs!

November 19, 2014 by TrackerTD

Guess what time it is? That’s right: Hi☆sCool! Seha Girls episode 7 is on Crunchyroll, and it brings with it everybody’s favourite blue hedgehog!

The episode picks up where last week’s left off, with Sonic arriving in the nick of time to fend off Eggman. And that he does, as he proceeds to trash Eggman’s mechs, leading to Eggy legging it. The girls, still unable to get out of Border Break, manage to hitch a ride from Sonic, who’s initially none too impressed at the girls grabbing onto his spines.

This is Saturn goes cross-country with Gale Racer for SEGA Saturn

November 16, 2014 by TrackerTD

Surprise: It’s a This is Saturn double-month!
That’s right, to celebrate 20 years of the Saturn, we’re bringing you a second episode of This is Saturn for November!

Gale Racer, the Japan-exclusive port of SEGA AM2’s Rad Mobile to Saturn, has seen some bad rep over the years, with some going as far to call it outright “abysmal.” But is it really as bad as those folks suggest? Or has it earned that ‘glorious’ title?

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.

“Hi☆sCool! Seha Girls” anime Episode 6 is here, Impressions

November 12, 2014 by TrackerTD

Believe it folks! Hi☆sCool! Seha Girls episode 6 is on Crunchyroll, and along with it comes an appearance from everybody’s favourite spiny blue hedgehog!

In this week’s episode, the Girls are tasked with an exam, in which they enter the world of SEGA’s online arcade mech shooter, Border Break! Furthermore, if they manage to destroy the core of the area, they’ll be awarded 25 credit medals; and 50 if they do it without a mech!

Having all the luck in the world, Saturn gets thrown into battle without a mech, whilst Dreamcast and Saturn get the armour. Dreamcast then struggles to get used to the controls, and ends up going missing, to the annoyance of the other Girls. Dreamcast only gets into further trouble when she discovers an enemy, and tries talking out their issues; at which point Mega Drive steps in to deal some sharp justice. Then, tactics become involved, as the girls use a decoy (in the form of poor Saturn!) to lure out the enemy, and promptly slaughter them. Or at least, Mega Drive slaughters them, as Dreamcast continues to fumble about.

First footage of recently discovered Sonic X-Treme build released

November 9, 2014 by TrackerTD

Brace yourself for this one folks, because it’s pretty big!

Recently, a previously unearthed build of the infamous cancelled Sonic game, Sonic X-Treme for SEGA Saturn, made its way into the hands of AssemblerGames member jollyroger. It was a PC executable, supposedly tying into SEGA’s SEGA PC initiative that took place at the time of X-Treme’s development and saw several Saturn titles ported to PC. This initiative was also intended to help launch nVidia’s first GPU, the NV1, which worked similarly to the Saturn: this build required the NV1, as a result. This led to the interest of our fellow site Sonic Retro; and as one thing has led to another, jollyroger and Sonic Retro members cooljerk and Andrew75 (who has been working on a Sonic X-Treme remake project, Project AXSX in the Sonic GDK engine) have worked together to try and get the code running, with Cooljerk having sent off an NV1 to jollyroger, and Andrew75 testing parts of the code in SEGA Saturn emulators. And lo and behold; they’ve succeeded, in what I can only describe as a superb team effort.

Sonic the Comic Artist Carl Flint is at Weston Super Sonic 2015

November 8, 2014 by TrackerTD

Upcoming UK Sonic convention Weston Super Sonic has announced the next guest in it’s line-up; and it’s none other than Sonic the Comic artist Carl Flint!

Carl’s work includes over 50 of the comic’s covers, and was also a regular in producing artwork for the Tails and Amy-centric strips throughout the comic’s run.

This guest announcement is the latest in an impressive roster that Weston Super Sonic has built up; they previously announced that fellow Sonic the Comic legends Richard Elson, Nigel Kitching and Ferran Rodriguez will also be in attendance, and that Mike Pollock, the voice of none other than Dr Eggman, will be conducting a live Skype Q&A at the event. There’ll also be plenty of activities such as speedrun tournaments and art contests to keep you busy through the day!

And as previously stated, SEGABits will be there on the day, and bring you coverage of the event!

Plenty of details are available on the official Weston Super Sonic website, and if you want to go you’d better grab your tickets quick, as the last update on tickets stated there were only 10 left! You can register for tickets by clicking here!

If UK conventions are your thing, why not check out our write-up of the recent Sonic the Comic Con?

“Hi☆sCool! Seha Girls” anime Episode 5 has arrived, Impressions

November 5, 2014 by TrackerTD

Guess what time it? That’s right, it’s Hi☆sCool! Seha Girls time, with a new episode now available on Crunchyroll!

This episode, as with episode 3, sees the girls outside of the game worlds and back in the academy itself. The episode kicks off with Saturn deciding she wants a pet, with Mega Drive chiming in to find her one. Unfortunately, Mega Drive’s selections are somewhat off the mark, as she tries to convince Saturn to get a Mammoth from Space Harrier, or the dog from Shadow Dancer. After Saturn suddenly changes her mind about the whole pet thing, the girls are then called for their next assignment, which is something a little different to the norm.

They’re tasked with creating a new Puyo Puyo title!

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This is Saturn sees giant robots battle it out in Cyber Troopers Virtual-On for the SEGA Saturn

November 3, 2014 by TrackerTD

This is Saturn kicks off SEGAbit’s Saturn Month in style, with a look a SEGA mech-shooting bundle of action, Cyber Troopers Virtual-On. Widely hailed as one of the most memorable titles for Saturn, is this game really all it’s cracked up to be? Or does it belong in the scrapyard?

Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel.

The EU Blog has also confirmed the DLC.

All Japanese Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2nd DLC is coming West

October 30, 2014 by TrackerTD

The official US Playstation Blog has confirmed that all of the Japanese DLC for Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2nd will be made available for the Western release!

According to the blog, SEGA will “be releasing content every two weeks or so for nearly six months straight,” with three categories of DLC available:

UI Skins: $0.99, but free for the first 39 days after release
Costume Modules: $1.99 each
Rhythm Game Songs: $2.99 each

If that wasn’t enough, some special “sales initiatives” are being launched which gets you all the content as it’s released, as opposed to buying separately.

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“Hi☆sCool! Seha Girls” anime Episode 4 is here, and so are our impressions

October 29, 2014 by TrackerTD

It’s that time again: Hi☆sCool! Seha Girls has a new episode out, and it’s available now on Crunchyroll!

We’re back into the world of games in this episode, as the girls enter Space Channel 5 on the Dreamcast, to save Professor Asobin’s friends who have been taken hostage by Morolians; with the help of Space Diva Ulala of course! The girls must also raise their ratings up to 100%; it won’t be easy however, as they face setbacks such as Mega Drive’s struggle to dance and the fact the World Cup qualifiers are being broadcast at the same time!

It then turns out that the first of Asobin’s friends is actually Jeffry from Virtua Fighter! His mere presence manages to up the ratings of the Seha Girls’ broadcast; but then Dreamcast uses her internet capabilities to find other ways of getting 100%. And the result leaves Saturn… parading around in swimwear. It was only a matter of time before we got some fanservice folks.

…and hey, it’s Saturn so I’m not exactly going to complain.

SEGAbits at Sonic the Comic-Con 2014: The Write Up

October 26, 2014 by TrackerTD

Today, that being Sunday 26th October 2014 where I am, York here in the UK saw a plethora of Sonic fans descend upon it for an event dedicated to a certain blue hedgehog: or more specifically, his comic book based endeavours.

I’m quite sure a lot of our readers are familiar with the work of Archie Comics, and their long-running series of Sonic comics; in fact, this was the first form of Sonic in print that I discovered, through the Sonic Mega Collection. However, those outside of the UK missed out on another important part of Sonic’s history: Egmont Fleetway’s Sonic the Comic.

“Hi☆sCool! Seha Girls” anime Episode 3 is out, here are our impressions

October 22, 2014 by TrackerTD

Hi☆sCool! Seha Girls is back once again, with the third episode now being available on Crunchyroll!

This episode sees the girls spend more time in the main area of the SeHaGaga Academy, as opposed to being focused on a game like last time. The majority of the episode focuses on the girls chatting about what they’ll do upon leaving the academy, with Dreamcast brainstorming ideas for SEGA Saturn. They eventually decide on Saturn becoming a weather girl, and also become fascinated by the idea of her getting married to a baseball player; this actually results in a reference to the relatively unknown Home Run King! They also try and convince Mega Drive to give the job a go, which results in a surprisingly moving scene, as Mega Drive “bugs out,” and begins discussing… rabbit death. Well, OK then!