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Help The Dreamcast Junkyard decide the top 200 Dreamcast games!

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SEGAbits partner site The Dreamcast Junkyard has set up a poll which includes every single Dreamcast game from all regions, including indie titles. The mission: to create a definitive top 200 list of the best Dreamcast games. If this sounds familiar, it’s because back in 2009, a top 100 list was created by The Dreamcast Junkyard using data collected from a similar poll. Given attitudes towards certain games have likely changed with time and rereleases, as well as the additions of new indie Dreamcast games to the console’s library, now it a good time as any to revisit and expand the list.

To contribute, simply head on over to the polling site and select every game that you would deem to be a worthy addition to a top 200 list. You can select as many as you’d like, and it is encouraged that you select a sizable amount. This is not a popularity contest for one specific title. It is a comparison of many (at the time of this writing, 100+) Dreamcast fan’s lists. Games that appear one more lists are the ones that are more likely to make it near the top. The poll runs until November 18th and the results will be revealed on November 27th, which is the Dreamcast’s 15 anniversary in Japan.

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Review: Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse (XBLA)

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coirev

Before Sonic the Hedgehog, there was Mickey Mouse. In November 1990, Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse released almost simultaneously in America, Europe, and Japan to the SEGA Genesis and Mega Drive consoles. At the time, the game was visually stunning, described in one video preview as “beautiful”, “brilliant” and continuing the tradition of Disney animation. On top of that, the platforming was brimming with inventive platforming elements accompanied by catchy, whimsical music. The game was great at the time, and replaying it in 2013 it is easy to see why it is deemed a platforming classic.

As far back as April of this year there were rumors that a remake was on the way, thanks to digital box art that had leaked. The idea of a Castle of Illusion remake really was an unexpected surprise. Sure the original is fantastic, but few fans were demanding a remake and even fewer fans ever expected SEGA to team with Disney to make it happen. But here we are, the summer is coming to an end, and we have a re-imagining of the SEGA classic. Was a remake really necessary, and does it maintain the magic that made the original so great?

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SEGA Tunes: Sonic Adventure, merging past and future

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My very first experience with the Dreamcast took place at a crowded Toys R Us demo kiosk, the system launch being mere weeks away and with a poster for Sonic Adventure having caught my eye.

I picked up the controller to find myself in some sort of futuristic bumper car hall. Momentarily confused as to what to do, I did what all little kids do when they’re stuck in a video game; I had Sonic jump around aimlessly until he hijacked one of the bumper cars and drove it out onto an outer space race track.

Simply put, my mind was blown, and the Twinkle Park stage became one of my favorites in the series, a place that it still holds to this day.

I was in for another surprise in the final product, when I got to play the Twinkle Park stage on my own TV with the sound up. The music, an epic remix of Panic Puppet Zone Act 1 from Sonic 3D Blast, was incredible. Crazily enough though, despite being a remix, the Sonic Adventure version unquestionably takes on a life of its own and fits the game just as well as an original track would have, if not better.

Sonic Adventure made several major changes to the series, there’s no doubt about it. But the game also had many nods to the character’s past, all integrated seamlessly into Sonic Adventure’s next generation shell.

To hear the original Sonic 3D Blast version of the song, hit the jump.

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The SEGA Dreamcast turns 14 today, how are we going to celebrate?

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Hey there, space cats! The SEGA Dreamcast turns 14 today in the USA, how are we celebrating? Well, we will be delivering a bunch of Dreamcast related content all month long. We will have all our weekly features focus on Dreamcast music, games and nostalgic moments. Expect to see Dreamcast related articles on Monday Memories, Tuesday Tunes, Saturday Sequels, and Sunday Round Table. There will also be the return of the ‘SEGA in the Media‘, where we spot SEGA references in current TV shows and movies (sometimes even the past).  We already started celebrating by giving you guys a really awesome episode of the Swingin’ Report Show featuring the editor-in-chief and writer for Official Dreamcast magazine.

One of our former writers and current editor-in-chief over at Dreamcast Scene is also teaming up with us, DC Emu and Age-Media to bring some interviews with current SEGA published authors and Dreamcast indie developers. Actually he already published one of his interviews with David Munoz, author of ” “Service Games: Rise and Fall of Sega ”. Some of the other interviews you can expect includes author of “Zoya Street’s Dreamcast World” author, who got crowd sourced by Indiegogo. There will also be interviews with indie Dreamcast developers like Senile Team, Duranik and Water Melon.

Stay tuned later today for “Monday Memories: Remembering the Dreamcast’s launch“.

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Swingin’ Report Show #50: Dreamcast Birthday Bash with Francesca Reyes, Simon Cox, & Ricardo Torres

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If you didn’t know, we here at SEGAbits are huge fans of the Official Dreamcast Magazine, so you know we totally geeked out knowing that Francesca Reyes (ODCM writer and OXM editor-in-chief) and Simon Cox (Editor-in-chief OCDM) were coming on the podcast. But that isn’t all, we also have a unique perspective coming from Ricardo Torres (working at CNET Gamecenter, coming from early online media compared to print at the time) who gets massive SEGA props for having more Samba de Amigo maraca sets than all the staff combined. I’m really happy with the way the podcast turned out this week, full of nostalgia and the perfect way to kick off the 14th anniversary of the Dreamcast.

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Happy 20th anniversary to Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog!

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aosth
 
Today marks the 20th anniversary of one of Sonic’s most inventive, craziest, and funniest cartoons: Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog! One of my strongest nostalgic connections to the Sonic franchise was this 1993 cartoon series. It was the only cartoon of my childhood which I remember watching from the very beginning. While I was a huge Ninja Turtles and The Real Ghostbusters fan, both cartoons were at their heights a few years before I began watching.

When The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (hereby known as AoStH) premiered, I remember exactly where I was. It was September 6th 1993 and I was eating breakfast in our kitchen, catching the first episode (in airing order, not production order) “Best Hedgehog”. The image after the break is a pretty accurate representation of what I saw. Yes, despite it being 1993 we still had an old black and white in our kitchen.

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PAX ’13 – Heroki Demo Impressions

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At this year’s PAX 2013, SEGA is hitting it off with another indie developer under the SEGA Alliance brand. This time lending a hand to a developer from the Netherlands, Picomy Games, to release their action game Heroki to iDevices. I was joined in by two of the developers, Michael Balm and Bobby Bouman, as well as SEGA Alliance producer John Eternal as they showcased a build running on an iPad to help explain the game mechanics and provide some insight on the development on the game.

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Review: Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F

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Warning: the review you are about to read is very bright and colorful. If you hate bright neon and colorful things, well.. you have been warned 😉

So it’s finally happened, a Hatsune Miku game has been translated to English and released in the Western hemisphere. Is the Project Diva series as good as people say it is? Read on to find out how I have experienced my first Hatsune Miku game.

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My Life with SEGA returns this October with an Alien-packed season 2 premiere

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The SEGAbits YouTube channel original series My Life with SEGA will return this October with a three part assault on the Aliens franchise! On October 2nd, AJ revisits the Alien Trilogy, a game he reviewed way back before the series moved to SEGAbits. October 16th sees the battle of Aliens vs. Predator, and then the infamous Aliens: Colonial Marines lands the day before Halloween. Check out the trailer above, and mark your calendars!

Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel.

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NiGHTS into Sonic Lost World?!? – SEGA reveals The Deadly Six Edition

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Well this is very much a “what the f***?!” piece of news! SEGA has released the Sonic Lost World Gamescom trailer with an added bit at the end showing off a special version of Sonic Lost World for Wii U dubbed The Deadly Six Edition which includes “deadlier game content” by way of The Deadly Six teaming up with NiGHTS bosses! Yes, you read that right. Sonic is going back to the world of NiGHTS and is taking on several bosses from the series. Give the video a watch and try to wrap your head around this crazy news! Currently the special edition of the game is only announced for the UK, but like Sonic & All-Stars Racing’s special edition a US version is likely to be revealed too.

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My Life with SEGA gets unboxed by SEGA CD Universe

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YouTube user Vampire Mike, owner of the SegaCDUniverse YouTube channel, has created an unboxing video of the recently released “SEGAbits Presents My Life with SEGA” DVD which was given away as part of our third anniversary contest. While Vampire Mike was not a contest winner, he was enough of a My Life with SEGA fan to receive a copy of the DVD from AJ, as well as a hilarious note and a special Video CD version of “SEGAbits Presents My Life with SEGA” for use on the SEGA Saturn. As AJ is on summer vacation, with new episodes returning in October, I thought I’d share this special unboxing video. Check it out, and check out SegaCDUniverse’s awesome channel!

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SEGA Tunes: Samba de Amigo’s Samba de Janeiro

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In Samba de Amigo, every day is a dance party, with and endless parade of singing, shaking and Latin music. Few songs in the game embody the spirit of Samba’s visuals as well as Samba de Janeiro does. This is what a wild party sounds like and it’s always a joy to shake maracas to. This carefree party atmosphere also makes Samba de Amigo one of SEGA’s quintessential summer games.

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Fighters Segamix: Waku Waku 7

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Now for something a little different. I’m reviewing Sunsoft’s Waku Waku 7. A fairly rare import (although available on Neo Geo in the U.S.) full of oddball fighters that takes some stabs at Anime tropes. It’s a very fun fighter with a small assortment of crazy characters and a super meter that beats them all. However, the translation from Nero Geo to Saturn didn’t go as well as expected. Considering it also comes with a one meg RAM cartridge, how could they mess up those backgrounds so badly?! Check out my video and see is you have the “balls” to play this wacky fighter.

Click on comments to check out a Neo Geo comparison.

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