Sonic Prime Season 2 Blu-Ray announced for August release – pre-order now!

SEGA’s Netflix series Sonic Prime has a season 2 blu-ray releasing soon! On August 27th, fans can get their hands on a physical copy of the second part of the series in lovely 1080p. Amazon has the Season 2 pre-order up now for $19.99, and if you missed it Season 1 is available now.

It’s great to see NCircle continuing their efforts to release Sonic animated content on DVD and blu-ray in a timely fashion. At this rate, we should see the full series on blu-ray before the year ends!

The Rebellious Crazy Taxi Driver Axel Makes His Way To Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble via SEGA Pass DLC

Axel, one of Crazy Taxi’s iconic cabbie drivers, makes his way to Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble as part of the SEGA Pass DLC.Axel joins AiAi and friends, causing chaos along the way!

Axel will be playable across both Adventure Mode and Battle Mode, with unique stats to help him on the courses. Plus, for Axel only, all in-game bananas will switch to coins in homage to the franchise so you can rack up some insane money.

The SEGA Pass is included with the Digital Deluxe Edition of Banana Rumble and will also be available as a separate bundle to purchase. Individual characters will also be available a la carte. All content is scheduled to be released over the coming months.

Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble launches exclusively for the Nintendo Switch family of systems June 25, 2024. Pre-order your copy here!

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SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS Speeds Into Stores Oct. 25, 2024; Now Available For Pre-Order!

Today, during Summer Game Fest 2024, SEGA had officially unveiled a new trailer for SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS and announced that the game will be set to release digitally and physically on October 25, 2024 and is now available to pre-order for PlayStation®5 (PS5®), PlayStation®4 (PS4®), Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, the Nintendo Switch™ family of systems, and PC starting at $49.99 USD.

The game will also have a Digital Deluxe Edition which allows fans to play the game three days early and includes additional iconic music tracks from previous Sonic and Shadow games, a Terios skin based on Shadow’s original concept, behind-the-scenes art, an additional level and Shadow Skin, and more!

Sonic fans can also pre-order the Physical Day One, Digital Standard or Deluxe editions of SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS ahead of launch to receive a legacy skin for Sonic, based on his look from Sonic Adventure™! Players who pre-order the Physical Day One Edition will receive Gerald Robotnik’s Journal, a 28-page logbook chronicling Gerald’s innermost thoughts and drawings while he created Shadow the Hedgehog and the Ark Space Station, in addition to the legacy skin for Sonic.

Hit the jump for more details on SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS from the official press release including pre-order bonus, key features and more!

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SEGA and Rovio announce production has started on The Angry Birds Movie 3

Now that SEGA owns Rovio, that means SEGA has involvement in all things Angry Birds and just this week the announcement was made that there will be a third animated movie for the franchise. Titled The Angry Birds Movie 3, the movie is now in production and a press release has been sent out detailing those involved, seen after the break. My big question is, will the movie open with the SEGA logo?

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy joins Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble via DLC/SEGA PASS

The crossover tradition continues in Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble as Sonic and friends joins the adventure.

Not only Sonic and Tails are returning as playable characters, but Knuckles and Amy joins Banana Rumble. Each with unique stats and Gold Rings as in-game pick-ups.

The Sonic Superstars will be available as part of the SEGA Pass included in the Digital Deluxe Edition, as a separate bundle, or a la carte.

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble will be available exclusively for Nintendo Switch on June 25, 2024. Pre-Order the Deluxe Edition on the official website.

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Like A Dragon: Yakuza Heads to Prime Video on October 24

RGG Studio dropped some major news regarding a live-action series adaptation of Yakuza/Like a Dragon series by announcing Like A Dragon: Yakuza for Prime Video set to be released on October 24th.

According to Variety, The series’ story is set in two time periods, 1995 and 2005, and follows the life, childhood friends and the repercussions of the decisions of a fearsome and peerless Yakuza warrior with a strong sense of justice, duty, and humanity.

The screenplay and story are by Sean Crouch and Nakamura Yugo, with a Japanese screenplay by Yoshida Yasuhiro and Yamada Kana. The six-part crime-suspense-action series is directed by Take Masaharu and stars Takeuchi Ryoma as the lead character, Kiryu Kazuma.

It will upload to Prime Video in two batches of three episodes on Oct. 25 and Nov. 1, with subtitled and dubbed versions in 30 languages.

We had a couple of live adaptations of the Yakuza/Like A Dragon series through Japan and other media. How do you guys feel about this one? Will you watch it when it airs? Let us know in the comments below!

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SEGA says “Don’t expect any Mini Console announcements this year”

Well, today is the 64th birthday of Sega, so Happy Birthday, Sega! Now, in the past few years, Sega made announcements of new mini consoles on their birthdate, as they had done with the Genesis/Mega-Drive Mini 2 and the Game Gear Micro, so now we can expect a new one to be announced any second now…….. annnnnnnnnny second now…

Surprise! The announcement is that there is no announcement. According to Yosuke Okunari, as transposed by Twitter announcement translator Gosokkyu, no new mini consoles are going to be announced in 2024.

That’s that. Nothing to see here. Go home, folks. (Or go outside, if you’re already home) (Or you can come with me past the break for a bit more info)

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Regal bringing first two Sonic the Hedgehog movies back to theaters this summer – tickets are just $1!

The Regal theater chain has announced their Summer Movie Express lineup, and featured in the lineup are the Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 movies. The kid-focused budget priced matinees are priced at $1 a ticket and feature budget priced concession items. Showings are Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 11am, with the first Sonic movie playing July 16 and 17 and the second Sonic movie playing the following week on July 23 and 24. Also worth noting, both Spider-Verse movies are playing as is the recent Ninja Turtles movie Mutant Mayhem.

The including of the first Sonic movie is exciting, as it really has not seen screenings since the pre-pandemic release. Who plans to watch the first two Sonic movies in theaters again this summer?

Enjoy the Ride Records releases limited edition Paramount+ Knuckles vinyl soundtrack

Enjoy the Ride Records has just released a limited run of soundtrack vinyls for the Paramount+ Knuckles series. How limited? Only 300 are being made in the Knuckles Spin Dash version. No other version is currently listed, so it is unknown if the soundtrack will see a wider release. The soundtrack is $24.99 and is set to ship in late summer or early fall (or sooner), just in time for the impending release of Sonic 3. Click on over here if you’d like to pick up a copy!

If you have collected all the Sonic movie soundtrack vinyls so far, this will slot in nicely with the labels previous releases. If you have yet to pick up the Sonic movie soundtracks on vinyl, you can find them in the shop’s catalog as some variants are still available.

Free Shinobi costume DLC for Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble being offered via email newsletter

SegaBits is a great one-stop-Sega-news-shop, but one service we cannot provide for you is free cosmetic DLC for the latest Sega games. We can still tell you when Sega offers you some however. Case in point, this special new Shinobi costume that Sega is offering to anyone who signs up for their email newsletter for the upcoming Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble game. No price is better than free, so head in past the break to sign up and enjoy your Shinobi costume when Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble comes out for Nintendo Switch on June 25th, 2024.

SEGA Announces Panel at Anime Expo; A New Era of Shadow

SEGA announced they will have a panel at the biggest anime celebration in Los Angeles, Anime Expo 2024. The panel will focus on everyone’s favorite brooding hedgehog, Shadow, including his origins, his story in SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS, and more.

Hosted by popular voice actor Zeno Robinson (Hawks in “My Hero Academia”, Hunter in “The Owl House”, and more) the panel will feature Takashi Iizuka (Sonic Team Creative Officer), Kirk Thornton and Stephanie Sheh, (English voices of Shadow and Maria), as well as Alan Wan, Kevin Molina-Ortiz, and Christopher Luc (Directors of Studio Giggex), as they discuss all things Shadow. The panel will also be answering fan submitted questions surrounding Shadow, Sonic, and more.

The panel will begin on Saturday, July 6 at 12:30 PM PT in Petree Hall at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Be sure to follow us on our website and social media pages as we will be attending Anime Expo covering SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS and many other SEGA titles on the showfloor!

SEGA Talk #140: Gain Ground (1988)

On this episode of Sega talk we discussed the 1988 arcade classic Gain Ground. How did this game Translate to the Mega Drive and Master System? Does the game have memorable characters and a story? What Legacy has it left? We discuss all this and more on Sega Talk!

[iTunes – Stitcher – YouTube – RSS – Download]

Support us on Patreon! Get early access, have your memories read on the show, select the games we talk about!

SEGA in the Media: The 1993 and 2022 Sonic the Hedgehog McDonald’s commercials were filmed at the same location

Would you believe that the 1993 McDonald’s Sonic 3 (the game, not the movie) Happy Meal commercial and the 2022 McDonald’s Sonic 2 (the movie, not the game) Happy Meal commercial, filmed 29 years apart, were actually filmed in the exact same location? That’s right! Over on Facebook the page Film Locations – Then and Now shared a post detailing a McDonald’s restaurant in California that is purely used for filming commercials. The MockDonald’s, as locals call it, is at 17030 Green Drive in City of Industry, CA and has existed for decades. The restaurant has appeared in the 1988 film “Mac and me” as well as dozens, if not hundreds, of McDonald’s commercials. The company is so committed to the location that it has seen numerous changes to the exterior to fit with the on-brand look of the company’s restaurants.

SEGA Announces Sonic Rumble; Closed Beta to Be Held from May 24 – May 26

Today, SEGA has officially revealed Sonic Rumble, the newest addition to the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, releasing this winter. The upcoming Sonic mobile game invites players to enter a twisted toy world created by the notorious Dr. Eggman.

In Sonic Rumble, players will take control of toy figures to compete in thrilling 32-player battle royale challenges, racing against each other to collect the most rings and prove themselves to be the fastest in the toybox. With iconic characters from the Sonic the Hedgehog universe available for customization, players can create their own unique avatars and dive into the action-packed gameplay.

Fans can look forward to the upcoming closed beta, set to take place from May 24 – May 26, 2024 which you can apply on the official website. What is everyone’s thoughts on this upcoming Sonic mobile game? Let us know in the comments below.

Sonic Mania Plus Now Available on Netflix Games

Artwork illustrated by Mark Hughes

Today, Sonic Mania Plus is now available on mobile for the first time, exclusive to Netflix Games for free!

Sonic Mania Plus is a true, classic Sonic experience – gorgeous pixel graphics featuring a variety of new original Zones along with iconic favorites from Sonic 1, 2, 3, Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic the Hedgehog CD.

Play as Sonic, Tails, or Knuckles, as well as two characters seen in past titles: Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel, who return with their own unique abilities.

You can download Sonic Mania Plus on Google Play here.