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My Life with SEGA riddles us this in Batman Forever: The Arcade Game for SEGA Saturn

February 19, 2015 by AJ

After the misfire that was Batman Forever on SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive, Acclaim tried to make amends with this arcade beat-’em-up developed by Iguana Entertainment of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter fame. That’s right, no platforming nonsense or Mortal Kombat theatrics. Just good old-fashioned ass whoopin’ in black rubber…. Wow! That sounds about as wrong as nipples on the bat suit, doesn’t it?

In any case, I’m here to help you solve the greatest riddle of all. The mother of all riddles: “Is Batman Forever: The Arcade Game worth playing?”

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Review: 3D Fantasy Zone: Opa-Opa Bros (Nintendo 3DS)

February 18, 2015 by George

I’m going to be honest, when SEGA and M2 announced that 3D Fantasy Zone: Opa-Opa Bros was going to join wave 2 of their 3D Classics, I was sold. Fantasy Zone is just one of those games that doesn’t get enough appreciation in the West and having it release digitally will mean that more people get to enjoy this underrated classic. But how is the port? Well, let’s jump right into the review…

SEGA Tunes: Alien Front Online’s Alien and Army themes

February 17, 2015 by Barry

SEGA’s WOW Entertainment has a very eclectic resume, featuring games like the simulation-style racer SEGA GT, the dating sim Candy Stripe, the mutants teaching typing game The Typing of the Dead (co-developed with Smilebit), and today’s Tuesday Tunes spotlighted title, the online aliens versus army game Alien Front Online.

Initially released worldwide to arcades as Alien Front, Alien Front Online was soon released to the Dreamcast. Despite being Japanese developed, Alien Front Online was made to strongly connect with Western audiences. The game was simple, featuring online combat with voice communication allowing players to take on opposing sides of an army versus aliens war. Unfortunately, the game’s release was poorly planned out as Alien Front Online was released to North America six months after SEGA made the announcement that they were discontinuing the Dreamcast. The game ended up not releasing to other territories, and to make matters worse, shortly after release SEGA shifted to a pay to play model for their online games. I recall renting Alien Front Online when it released, and even through the game was just a few weeks old, the online community was incredibly small.

You can also pick up the album through Loudr or any other major music site.

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MAGFest 13 Interview: DJ Cutman talks to us about his new album “Spindash”

February 16, 2015 by Barry

At MAGFest, one of our colleagues Gunstar had a chance to talk with DJ Cutman about the new “Spindash” album, a 16-track remix tribute album to the Sonic series, recently put out through Cutman’s own label, Gamechops. We took the time to discuss song selection, how it helps both video game remix artists and Sega, and the goals of the label itself.

If you’d like to check out the album, you can check out the entire album through Gamechops’s youtube channel, and many other awesome video game remixes.

Finally, you can check out the Gamechops website to see all the albums and remixes they’ve done, as well as find all their social media outlets.

Swingin’ Report Show #75: Interview with Lisle Wilkerson – Shenmue II, Virtua Fighter and Crazy Taxi voice actress

February 13, 2015 by Barry

We celebrate 75 episodes in style on this week’s Swingin’ Report Show podcast! Joining us for an interview is Lisle Wilkerson, best known to SEGA fans for her voice work on Shenmue II, Virtua Fighter and Crazy Taxi. Learn what it’s like growing up in Japan and recording for some of SEGA’s greatest Dreamcast and arcade titles. Lisle also tells us about her correspondence work and her acting work on Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation with Bill Murray.

Then, George and Barry discuss the recent news of SEGA of America’s restructuring, dissecting SEGA Sammy’s official document to figure out what exactly we can expect in the future from SEGA. So what are you doing still reading this? We have a special guest and big SEGA news! Click play and enjoy our 75th show!

Don’t forget to follow Lisle Wilkerson on Twitter and Facebook!

[Download] [RSS] [iTunes] [Archive]

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SEGA Movie Dream Casts: From the House to the Streets

February 12, 2015 by AJ

How often have you played a SEGA game and asked yourself, “why isn’t this a movie?” Growing up with SEGA, I would ask that question constantly. To be completely honest, I’ve never stopped asking that question. Playing games like After Burner, Streets of Rage and Sonic The Hedgehog, I always felt they would make awesome movies. Well, that childhood dream may very well be coming true. Late last year, Variety reported that SEGA had hired former Break Media executive Evan Cholfin, collaborating with Stories International, to aid them in adapting some of their classic franchises into other forms of entertainment.

That’s right, SEGA fans! We’re talking about movies and television. The franchises mentioned include Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, Shinobi and Crazy Taxi. You know, just to name a few. This is something I’ve been fantasizing about since I was 10-years old. It’s surreal to think that it may finally come to pass.

Here’s a few SEGA properties I’d like to see on the big screen, and who I would like to see in the roles. Seeing as how I’m a director whore, I’ll even include my choice of filmmaker.

Aboard Little Jack: How Skies Of Arcadia made an RPG fan out of me

February 11, 2015 by Gunstar

Skies of Arcadia is a game that made a huge impact on me as a fan of SEGA and Role-Playing games. Before it, I had very little exposure to RPGs. I had seen Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, but very rarely did I play them. The only one I actually played was Phantasy Star IV. While I enjoyed it, I was a bit too young to really be able to understand or get into it. I still had fond memories of playing it with my neighbor, and when I got older and had the chance to finally play it again, it became one of my favorite games of all time. It never would have happened without Skies of Arcadia.

At the time the game came out on the Dreamcast, I was around 10 years old. Old enough to start wrapping my head around more complex games. However, I didn’t have a Dreamcast at the time, only a Nintendo 64. My cousin had the Dreamcast though, and I was super close with him. He was like an older brother to me. He picked on me a bit, but he also showed me lots of cool stuff, even stuff I probably wasn’t supposed to see or play at my age yet. He was also a huge RPG fan, and had always tried to get me into them, but I never did get engrossed with them that much. Then, one weekend when he came to visit, he brought Skies of Arcadia. We spent an entire night playing it, and I don’t remember how long we played it for, but it was almost sunrise before we finally had to give into sleep.

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2-Man Scramble plays Batman Forever for the SEGA Genesis – Holy co-op, Batman!

February 11, 2015 by AJ

Andrew Rosa and Mickey Mac must team up to beat one of the worst movie-licensed video games ever produced; Batman Forever on SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive.

Before this foul-mouth duo can take fight the puzzling Riddler and maniacal Two-Face, they must first overcome a seemingly endless onslaught of jackasses like “Blood Fire”, “Anti-Freeze” and “Charlie”, as well as some tough platform jumping.

For an in-depth review, watch Andrew go it alone in My Life with SEGA.

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Developer Retrospective: A look back at the games of SEGA’s Overworks

February 9, 2015 by Barry

Last week when we kicked off Overworks and WOW Entertainment month, we took a look back at how SEGA organized their many internal development teams over the years. Among those teams were Overworks and WOW Entertainment, two separate teams that released games from 2000 through to 2004 when they were merged and became SEGA WOW. This week, we will be taking a look back at the games released by Overworks. While the Overworks softography is small, especially compared to giants like SEGA AM2, in the span of four years Overworks released some truly classic titles.

Classic SEGA Ads: Take a peek above deck at these Japanese Skies of Arcadia commercials

February 7, 2015 by Barry

When it comes to Japanese games being localized for the West, I tend to like it when they stick as closely to the original release as possible. I like to hear the original Japanese dialogue, have the names of characters and locations retained, see the original cover art used, and I hate it when they change the game’s title (hey, I just noticed that Jet Grind Radio broke all of these rules!). Skies of Arcadia, however, is a rare exception. When it was revealed in the pages of The Official Sega Dreamcast Magazine that Eternal Arcadia was to be retitled Skies of Arcadia, I was not only okay with this, I actually much preferred it.

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The SEGA Five: 5 Year Anniversary Special

February 6, 2015 by George

This week on The Weekly Five we will be talking about our favorite moments here at SEGAbits. If you missed my last post, today is the fifth anniversary of SEGAbits so it’s fitting that we give ourselves a whole episode to discuss some of our favorite things we have done in the last half decade.

So let’s kick things off.

My Life with SEGA riddles his way through Batman Forever for Genesis/Mega Drive

February 5, 2015 by AJ

Batman Forever (1995) is often viewed as being one and the same with Schumacher’s second go with the dynamic duo, Batman & Robin (1997), but I feel this is unfair. Batman Forever retains a heartfelt core and dark edge, though it’s all masked with neon, subpar computer generated graphics and nipples. Still, it led to Batman & Robin. Sad face.

Batman Forever, like its prequels, was given a whole slew of merchandise to wrap their capes around, including video games! Enter Batman Forever for SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive. By this point, SEGA fans had already experienced Batman: The Video Game and Batman Returns on Genesis and SEGA CD. Neither game reinvented the genre, but they were reasonably solid and largely enjoyable. How does Batman Forever stack up?

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SEGA Tunes: Skies of Arcadia’s OST will make you feel adventurous

February 3, 2015 by George

Skies of Arcadia is a special game that had just the right amount of charm to win me over. Skies of Arcadia is just one of those games where you really like the bright colorful world and cheery character personalities, despite its random battle encounters and parts in the game that lead to frustration. Not only that, the game had an epic soundtrack that gives you a sense of adventure. Listen to the main theme above and tell me this doesn’t make you want to go exploring some caverns or travel in exotic locations?

This week on Tuesday Tunes we will be listening to some of my personal favorite tracks in Skies of Arcadia. Hit the jump and set your volume to an appropriate volume.

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Developer Retrospective: How Overworks and WOW Entertainment became Sega WOW

February 2, 2015 by Barry

Moving into the second month of our Year of the SEGA Developers, we shine the spotlight on two beloved SEGA development teams as well as their short life as a single entity. SEGA’s Overworks and WOW Entertainment were formed in in the midst of the Dreamcast era alongside several other internal SEGA development divisions. Prior to the formation of these teams, SEGA had a long history of shifting about, renaming, and refocusing the efforts of their many internal developers. To better understand where Overworks, WOW Entertainment, and SEGA’s many other divisions came about, let’s dive into a short history of SEGA’s internal teams!