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SEGA Tunes All Stars: Space Harrier Main Theme

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http://youtu.be/TuU_6NpHPkY

This track acts as the perfect book end for a near perfect SEGA tribute. Much like After Burner, Space Harrier is an arcade classic with an awesome soundtrack. Are you feeling down today? Do you need a little pick me up? No worries, because I’ve brought an extended version of this song today. If you’re feeling blue, just sit back for 15 minutes and let this little tune wisk you away to a far off place with dragons and giant floating heads and some blonde dude inexplicably floating in mid-air with a giant laser gun.

So as to not get the hopes of anyone who hasn’t beaten the game yet up, Space Harrier is not in this game. Just the soundtrack, which plays on a track I don’t intend to spoil.

Speaking of spoilers, though, you’d best have beaten the game by next Tuesday. For the last three weeks I’ve been sitting on music for a course that Sumo kept under wraps so as to not spoil the surprise. Next week I’m spilling the beans. So you’d best have beaten Career Mode by then!

Still want more music from the fantasy zone? Check below the fold for a remixed vocal version of the Fantasy Zone theme from the 1996 SEGA AGES release! Its pretty sick.

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Happy 14th Birthday, SEGA Dreamcast!

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Fourteen years ago today, in Japan, the final SEGA console released: the Dreamcast. Of course, being an English speaking blog, we tend to put more emphasis on 9-9-99. Still, 11-27-98 is just as, if not more, important than any other Dreamcast launch date simply because it was the first. Also, it is the day before my birthday. A-hem! Anyway, Japanese launch titles included: Sonic Adventure, Pen Pen TriIcelon, Godzilla Generations, July, and Virtua Fighter 3tb. July and Godzilla Generations never made it outside Japan. Considering Famitsu gave Godzilla Generations a 20 out of 40, and Western import reviews were even worse, it seems those outside Japan weren’t missing out on Godzilla.

To celebrate, enjoy the hilarious Japanese Dreamcast commercials starring Senior Managing Director of SEGA Hidekazu Yukawa. The man truly was the Segata Sanshiro of the Dreamcast era, though he acted the complete opposite. Yukawa appeared on the Japanese Dreamcast box, he had his own game, his own merchandise including a cell phone charm, and even appeared in a cameo in the Shenmue demo “What’s Shenmue?”. You can see a complete playthrough of that after the break. Happy 14th Birthday, SEGA Dreamcast!

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Review: Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (PS3 & Wii U)

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UPDATE: Patch is in, so the WiiU score will be changed.

Last year, SEGA released Sonic Generations. A celebration of Sonic’s history showcasing some of the greatest parts of Sonic’s past and being a celebration of all things Sonic in general. It gave you a strong feeling of nostalgia while offering new kinds of gameplay and a great, remixed soundtrack.

This year, SEGA releases Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. A game showcasing and glorifying the greatest parts of SEGA past and being a celebration of all things SEGA in general. It gives you a strong feeling of Nostalgia while offering new kinds of gameplay and a great, remixed soundtrack. Deja-Vu!

But does this game hold up to 2010’s offering? And how does the Wii U version compare to the others? I’ll be going  in depth about the game and discussing its greatest strengths and weaknesses. Is it a champion or does it stall out the gate? Get Ready. 3…..2…..1…..GO!

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32X Month – My Life With SEGA celebrates with Metal Head

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Happy Thanksgiving and a happy belated birthday to SEGA’s 32X, which turned 18 yesterday. To celebrate, My Life With SEGA takes a look at Metal Head.

The ‘shroom is now a man. What say we celebrate by taking a long, hard look at Metal Head; the first-person mech shooter developed and published by Sega. Sure, it may not be anything Earth-shattering now, but – back in 1994 – it was a bit of a showpiece for this fresh-faced add-on….

18 years later, is it worthy of our cheers, or 18 great big slaps to the face? Let’s find out.

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SEGA Tunes All Stars: After Burner theme, Bayonetta Remix

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I think there are two things any group of SEGA fans can agree on: After Burner is pretty awesome, and the After Burner easter egg in Bayonetta is one of the coolest moments in the last decade of gaming. After years of dormancy, the After Burner franchise has seen a resurgence of sorts over the last several years, including the XBLA/PSN release of the latest superb entry in the franchise After Burner Climax, as well as cameos in four games including SEGA Superstars Tennis, Shinobi 3DS, the aforementioned Bayonetta easter egg, and of course Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed.

This track is easily my favorite rendition of the Afterburner theme. It’s a shame they didn’t use this version in All Stars Racing Transformed. Check out the original theme after the break.

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Sonic Talk 14: “Heathcliff and Felix All Stars Podcasting Transformed”

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An early show this week as we are just two days away from the release of Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed! With that in mind, I talked to Brand Manager Aaron Webber with some final questions on the game that I didn’t get to ask Steve Lycett. I also talk with him about Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz on the Vita and the upcoming Anarchy Reigns. We have a shorter show this week due to everyone’s schedule, but Alex, GX and I still get in some chat about Paper Mario Sticker Star, The sonic Super Digest book and veer off topic on Felix the Cat and Heathcliff for some crazy reason (Which drives GX nuts).

[Download]

Read on for the full list of topics discussed.

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32X Month – My Life With SEGA packs a punch in Cyber Brawl

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While the modern SEGA gaming world is enthralled with Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, the retro SEGA gaming world is in the midst of 32X month. In celebration of the little add-on that couldn’t, we continue with a brand new episode of My Life With SEGA. This week, AJ and Mickey Mac play Cyber Brawl.

Mickey Mac joins the 32X celebration. This week, we’re playing Cyber Brawl, otherwise known as Cosmic Carnage in North America. Released alongside Doom, Virtua Racing and Star Wars Arcade, this was the first fighting game to grace the ‘shroom with it’s presence….

I guess the big question is, “How does it fare after 18 years?”

The answer lies within.

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Community fundraiser: Help us raise some money in memory of a young fan

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Earlier this year, SEGA and Sonic fans heard the sad news of a four year old Sonic fan who lost his life in an unfortunate accident while on holiday. The boy, Dylan Cecil, was such a big Sonic fan that the family had a Sonic casket and flower arrangements made for the boy. Really heartbreaking stuff. Members of the Sonic and SEGA community, from Sonic Retro to Sonic Stadium, knew something had to be done to help the family. AAUK of Sonic Wrecks, with the support of SEGA of America and several fan sites, has created a series of eBay listings featuring rare and unique Sonic items. All profits will go towards the Burnham Area Rescue Boat fund at the request of the Cecil family. Fans who do not want to bid, but still want to help, can donate on the BARB website directly.

Items include a rare Sonic Generations press kit, t-shirts and Generations gold Sonic rings. There are currently ten items up but there will be more additions in time.

You can find a summary of goods on the SSMB Marketplace whilst the items themselves are on sale here: http://www.ebay.co.uk – Seller: Kevskingdom

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SEGA Tunes All Stars: Vyse’s Theme

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With All Stars just a week away, now seems like the perfect time to start posting Tuesday Tunes again, focusing tunes for the characters and tracks featured in the game.

Skies of Arcadia is an upbeat game that eschews the usual heavy drama common in Japanese RPGs for optimism and a thrill for adventure. Embodying this is Vyse, a young idealistic air pirate who wants explore the world and do things no one else has ever done before. The above track is the perfect theme for the character, embodying Vyse’s energy and optimism.

I’ve got Fina’s character theme below the fold for another dose of Skies of Arcadia auditory glory!

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Review: Sonic Adventure 2 (XBLA/PSN)

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SEGA’s rerelease of Jet Set Radio was, in my opinion, excellent. After the so-so Dreamcast Collection rereleases, the first game of the SEGA Heritage Collection was a breath of fresh air. HD visuals, widescreen support and SEGA trying their best to retain as much of the original game as they could. My hope was that this trend would continue with the next two Heritage titles. Does Sonic Adventure 2, a game that is considered one of Sonic’s best 3D outings, carry on the SEGA Heritage quality or is it a step back? Read on to find out!

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SEGA Five: A Salute to the SEGA All-Stars Part 4

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I can’t believe that four weeks have passed since we began this salute to the SEGA All-Stars appearing in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed! Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 can be viewed at those handy links. If you’re all caught up with us, let me introduce you to our five All-Stars for this week: Ulala of Space Channel 5, Shadow of Shadow the Hedgehog (oh, and some franchise called Sonic the Hedgehog), Sonic’s not-quite girlfriend Amy Rose, Aiai’s wife MeeMee and our flagman of the game Ristar.

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32X month – My Life With SEGA kicks things off with a hardware review and T-Mek

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Apologies for the day delay. Blame Hurricane Sandy, the Nintendo Wii U and Mitt Romney. In any case, here is your weekly dose of My Life With SEGA. This week, A.J. starts off 32X month by doing a very special hardware review, followed by a classic episode in which A.J. takes on T-Mek for the, you guessed it, 32X.

Oh yeah, ladies and germs; I’m reviewing the 32X. Not just a game, but the hardware itself. 18 years ago this month, Sega unleashed their 32-bit peripheral upon the American public. While it’s earnings were initially strong, it soon crashed harder than the Hindenburg….

How? Why? Well, here’s my take.

After the break: T-Mek!

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Retro Review: Sakura Taisen

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Sakura Taisen (Sakura Wars) is a Strategy RPG adventure series that features a unique sim-based story system developed by AM7 Team Shinobi (Overworks) from SEGA along with Red Entertainment. The series first began in 1996 for the Sega Saturn and spawned several sequels, including OVA adaptations, TV anime series, a movie, and other merchandises. While the game was a successful Sega IP in Japan, it never had a release in the West until the release of the fifth game, which was released and published by NIS America. However, the series has had a cult following within the Sega & anime community fan base with english releases of anime videos. Want to know what I think about the game and how awesome it is? Read on to find out.

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SEGA Tunes: Daytona USA “Let’s Go Away -H. version”

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In this month’s Tuesday Tune, we’re going to upload some familiar Sega racing tunes to our readers as Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed will be hitting our local game stores in two weeks. To fill your racing mood for November, the first Sega tune will be the remix “Let’s Go Away -H. version” sung by none other than Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, composer for Sega Corporation who is known for his awesome musical scores on several Sega titles since 1990 such as Virtua Fighter & Shenmue. Mitsuyoshi-san uploaded this video to promote the rerelease of Daytona USA for digital platforms. One thing that has been bugging me for a while, why hasn’t Sumo have this awesome man to sing a theme song for Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed? That would fill the mood for me to race players online. How about you guys?

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SEGA Five: A Salute to the SEGA All-Stars Part 3

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As we move into November we reach the home stretch: Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed releases THIS MONTH. On November 18th to be exact. This week we continue our salute to the SEGA All-Stars with two of Sonic’s earliest rivals, Knuckles and Metal Sonic, as well as NiGHTS’ rival Reala. We also feature B.D. Joe of Crazy Taxi fame and the dwarf legend Gilius Thunderhead of Golden Axe. If you missed Part 1 and Part 2, what are you waiting for? check them out! If you’ve been following with us all along, continue our series with part 3 after the break.

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