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SEGA Tunes: Hideki Naganuma’s favorite Jet Set Radio tunes

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naganuma

The question of “What makes a SEGA game a SEGA game?” is often debated amongst fans of the company. Some believe it is as simple as looking at the package and spotting the SEGA logo, others believe that there is a magical mix of various elements that give that true “SEGA feel”. While I’ll admit that I believe any game funded by and owned by the company qualifies, I can’t help but feeling that some games have a certain je ne sais quoi (or is that je ne sega quoi?) that elevates them to another level.

Jet Set Radio is one of those games. It is a game that oozes style, featuring unique characters that are adventurous and edgy. The game puts a unique spin on established concepts, and pays tribute to the company’s arcade past by featuring fast paced gameplay. Most importantly of all, the game carries on the grand SEGA tradition of memorable music – so much so that I’d argue that Jet Set Radio is one of the greatest SEGA soundtracks of all time.

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SEGA Retrospective: Over the ‘hood, through the streets and right into your brain – It’s Jet Set Radio

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JSRweek

We’re transmitting our signal straight to you! Y’all got your antennas on?
Welcome to Jet Set Radio Week – a week long celebration of SEGA’s off-kilter cel shaded Dreamcast classic! Past SEGA Franchise Weeks focused on more than one game, but Jet Set Radio Week is going to be different. Rather than splitting our time between the Dreamcast original and its radically different Xbox sequel Jet Set Radio Future, we’re devoting the next seven days to simply Jet Set Radio. But don’t fret, Jet Set Radio Future will have its own week soon enough!

Like Sonic The Hedgehog on the Genesis, and NiGHTS on the Saturn, Jet Set Radio on the Dreamcast turned heads with amazing visuals, memorable music, and unique gameplay mechanics. Jet Set Radio (Jet Grind Radio in America) may not have taken off like SEGA had hoped, but it did do well enough to warrant the previously mentioned sequel and has since become a SEGA cult classic. After the break, let’s take a look back and how such a crazy concept for a game came to be.

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SEGA Retrospective: Over 20 years later, and the Pico is still an amazing piece of hardware

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pico

The Year of the SEGA Console highlights several pieces of SEGA hardware celebrating milestone anniversaries, and for the most part the featured consoles are well regarded. March’s Genesis Month focused on what was arguably the most beloved consoles from SEGA’s past. The Saturn (20 years old in Japan) and Dreamcast (15 years old in the West), despite their missteps, are equally loved. But what about the black sheep of the SEGA console family? The 32X, which turns 20 this year, has been bad-mouthed, stomped on, and even impaled by flaming arrows.

The Pico, a children’s computer which turns 20 this year in the US, hasn’t received the same vitriol as the 32X, but it too has been pushed aside as one of the disreputable members of SEGA’s hardware family. The reasons for this, I’d suspect, are that the Pico software is simply not targeted at gamers. The software, dubbed Storyware by SEGA, are teaching tools and interactive storybooks. As such, a bulk of the Pico’s library could be seen as “childish” and “boring”, but when approaching the console in the right mindset, it really is an amazing piece of hardware.

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SEGA Channel Retro: Enduring the Pressure of School with Valkyria Chronicles II

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Watch live video from SEGA_Channel_Retro on TwitchTV

Bartman3010 is heading off to school to become a better man and embrace wacky school hi-jinks in Valkyria Chronicles II along with other SEGA PSP titles. The live video should be airing shortly after you read this.

You can also expect bird harassment, InstantSonic, Sonic Rivals, Outrun 2006 – Coast 2 Coast and Power Stone Collection.

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Why its the perfect time for SEGA gamers to join the PC master race

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SEGAPCmasterrace
Ever since SEGA went 3rd party, fans have been looking for a new console to call home. The issue? SEGA, like all big 3rd party publishers, likes to keep their games in a multitude of devices and consoles. Now that the Playstation 4 and the Xbox One are already out, which one should a SEGA fan buy? Well, if you will take a few minutes to hear me out, I’ll tell you why I personally prefer the PC for gaming over the new consoles.

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Classic SEGA Ads: Streets of Rage 2 earns you respect!

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Something tells me that commercials like this didn’t really help SEGA’s case when they were called before the US Senate to explain why they didn’t think video games caused kids to become more violent back in 1993. Though personally, I like to think that young Bobby Angles won respect by simply inviting his peers over for some Streets of Rage 2.

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SEGA Channel Retro: Phantasy Star Online 2 Es First Look and Livestream

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Bartman3010 teams up with Shadix to fight dark forces and paywalls on Android mobile devices with Phantasy Star Online 2 Es, as well as the main PSO2 game itself. Come find out how the two interact with each other and the exclusive features of the Android version.

If you want to check out the PSO2 Es App for yourself and install English patches, please check out the PSO2 Es Tweaker located here from Arks Layer who are composed of dedicated members of PSO-World. I apologize for not mentioning them in the video, but their work has helped make this possible.

We’ve been playing PSO2 this week. You can check out the rest of our PSO2 adventures on SEGA Channel Retro’s Twitch channel. Don’t forget to subscribe to see when we go live again. You can also check out the entire PSO2 stream, as well as the previous one after the jump.

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Presenting the My Life with SEGA: The Next Level/No Limits VCD Trailer!

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In January we premiered the My Life with SEGA short film No Limits and announced a special Video CD release of the short film, and the previous My Life with SEGA short film The Next Level, featuring a retro SEGA CD Saturn plastic box design. In anticipation of the upcoming release, A.J. has put together a slick trailer featuring clips from the short films and reviews (Panzer Dragoon, Panzer Dragoon Zwei, Panzer Dragoon Saga, and Virtual-On) as well as VCD package shots.

Stay tuned to SEGAbits for details on how to get your hands on the release! In the meantime, why not binge watch Season 2 of My Life with SEGA?

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The REAL “Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog” Tails voice actor speaks up!

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Invincible_Tails

Back in December of 2013, fans of the early 90’s cartoon Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog were saddened to learn that actor Christopher Evan Welch, the man credited as voicing Miles “Tails” Prower, had passed away. However, soon after the news hit, several fans noted a discrepancy with the actor’s age and the obvious child-like voice of Tails. Christopher Evan Welch was 28 in 1993, there’s no way he could have pulled off such a voice. I decided to find out if Evan Welch was indeed the voice actor of Tails, and after a few e-mails with friends of the actor and a call to Evan Welch’s agent in New York, I came to the conclusion that Christopher Evan Welch did NOT voice Tails. But if he didn’t, then that meant another actor did, and it was possible that the REAL Christopher Welch was still out there.

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SEGA Channel Retro: Sonic GBA Multiplayer Live Stream

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Bartman3010 brings some friends over to play Sonic multiplayer games on Game Boy Advance. No link cables required! Thanks to my friends Captain Kangaroo and Noname for participating in the stream!

If you missed the livestream, you can check out the archived stream below on both Twitch and YouTube. You can also watch the main livestream uncut on Twitch here. Or check after the break for the complete list

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My Life with SEGA Season 2 ends with a SEGA Saturn classic – Die Hard: Arcade

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My Life with SEGA season 2 ends with punches, kicks, and several explosions as Mickey Mac and I take on the SEGA Saturn classic Die Hard: Arcade in a 2-Man Scramble! With season 2 over, what’s next for My Life with SEGA? I’ll be taking a break from the series as of now to concentrate on other projects. However, don’t think for a moment that My Life with SEGA is dead.

Next season is going to change things up where I’m sharing more single-player games with friends, like Mickey Mac, Lauren and others. I’ll do some straight reviews with big name titles (yes, Shenmue II), but this will be more freeform from Season 3 onward. Also, The Next Level/No Limits VCD: Special Edition is still in the works.

A big thanks to everyone – my family, friends, fans and SEGAbits – for keeping My Life with SEGA alive and well. It’s amazing to think that, come September 11th, it will be celebrating its 3rd birthday. I love you all, and I thank you from deep down in the cockles of my heart…. maybe below the cockles. Maybe even in the sub-cockle area. Maybe in the liver. Maybe in the kidneys. Maybe even in the colon. I don’t know.

STICK IT IN YOUR GENESIS, FUCKERS!

Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel!

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Contest: Share your Crazy Taxi memories to enter to win a Crazy Taxi City Rush iPhone case!

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CTmemories
 
Hey hey! Come on over, share your memories of Crazy Taxi!

In collaboration with SEGA, we’re giving away some super slick Crazy Taxi City Rush iPhone 5/5s cases! To enter, all you have to do is:

  • follow SEGAbits on Twitter
  • Tweet a Crazy Taxi memory – it can be from any moment in time and involve any of the Crazy Taxi games on any platform (arcade, console, handheld, mobile) – your tweet must include the hashtag #CrazyTaxiMemories
  • That’s it! You’ve entered to win a Crazy Taxi City Rush iPhone case!

So tweet your Crazy Taxi memories today! Multiple entries are accepted. The top three entries, as selected by our writers, will win. Contest ends April 30th. Good luck, and as always be creative!

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Interview: Scott West, Hardlight Studio Senior Designer of Crazy Taxi City Rush

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Untitled-1
 
SEGAbits: Hi Scott, thank you for answering our questions about the upcoming mobile game Crazy Taxi City Rush! What is your role at SEGA, and what is your favorite SEGA game?

Scott West: Hi there, I’m a Senior Designer at Hardlight Studios. As for favourite SEGA game, it would be impossible to name just one! I’d have to break it down into favourites throughout the course of the Consoles that I grew up with. From the Mega Drive days, I spent my childhood playing the likes of Golden Axe, Sonic, Streets of Rage and Outrun. Then on the Saturn it was Burning Rangers and Virtua Fighter 2 then of course the Dreamcast and House of the Dead, Jet Set Radio and Shenmue! That’s not to mention the hours I spent sinking into the Arcades on games like Rad Mobile and Crazy Taxi!

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Swingin’ Report Show #59: Sonic’s SEGA Genesis Spin-off Special

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The triple threat of George, Barry, and Bartman sit down for a round table discussion of Sonic the Hedgehog’s lesser appreciated SEGA Genesis titles: the spin-offs. We cover it all! From Dr. “don’t-call-him-Eggman-yet” Robotnik’s breakout role in Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, to Sonic’s transition from platforming icon to pinball with arms and legs in Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball, to Sonic’s take on the classic Flicky formula in Sonic 3D Blast. Even the digital sticker book Wacky Worlds gets some discussion.

So join us in a walk down memory lane (or is that “pain”?) as we relive and dissect Sonic’s SEGA Genesis spin-offs!

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

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Sonic Talk #26: Genesis with SEGA’s Aaron Webber

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[MP3] (iTunes Link coming soon)

Now with 100% more of Sega’s beloved Aaron Webber! In this months Sonic Talk Aaron, Shigs, Nuckles87 and Sonic Revolutions’ own Shayne Edwards discuss the Genesis Era of Sonic. Games include Sonic 1-3 and Knuckles, Sonic Spinball, Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, Sonic 3-D Blast, Sonic CD and Knuckles Chaotix. We also go into what makes Eggman tick and more!

CONTEST TIME! Listen in on this episode for a Sonic trivia question. Be the FIFTH person to answer (and answer correctly) to win an AtGames Sega Genesis (which I reviewed here the other day) with Street Fighter II and a Sega 6-Pack cartridge. Yeah, yeah. It’s not a great prize, but it’s better than nothing.

RULES: Be the fifth person to answer to win. Why fifth? I want more people to listen of course! If there is not a fifth person to answer, then the very first person will win the system and carts. Winner must join the Segabits forums and PM me their address. U.S. CITIZENS ONLY (I can’t afford the U.K. postage. Sorry.)

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