SEGA News

“Wonder Boy – Asha in Monster World” Announced for PS4 and Nintendo Switch With Original Development Team

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A new entry to the Wonder Boy/Monster World called Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World has been announced has been announced for Playstation 4 and Nintendo Switch with the original developers attached to the project.

The game features Asha, the protagonist returning from Monster World IV for Sega Mega Drive along with her flying blue Pepelogoo as they set on an adventure to save the world and will be fully dubbed with characters described as “lively and chatty”.

Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World will be developed by the Artdink studio in conjuction with ININ Games, with several members of the original Wonder Boy team which includes the series creator, Ryuichi Nishizawa, original composer Shinichi Sakamoto, character designer Maki Ozora, and cheif creative officer Takanori Kurihara.

The full reveal for Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World is expected to be shown during the Gamescom Awesome Indies digital event at 7:00 p.m. CEST on Saturday 29th of August.

[Source: IGN Spain]

 

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Puyo Puyo Champions to Receive a New Update: Spectator Mode, 2 New Characters, Color Blind Settings, & More!

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Puyo Puyo Champions will be receiving a new update with new features which will include a spectator mode, two more additional characters (Rafisol and Paprisu), color blindness mode, Gummy Puyo mode, game speed options, auto play assist and additional details on the match result screens.

The update for the game will arrive shortly on August 26th for Nintendo Switch, then Playstation 4, Xbox One, and PC this September.

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Yakuza Like A Dragon – “How Will You Rise” Trailer Showcases Outrageous Jobs & Release Date

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The new trailer for Yakuza: Like A Dragon, takes players on a journey through the streets of Yokohama, Japan with Ichiban Kasuga and his loyal party members, Nanba, Saeko, and Adachi, as they swap between just a few of the 20+ unique Jobs available throughout the game.

In what can only be described as a meta worldview, Ichiban envisions himself the lead character in an RPG and his ensuing skirmishes take on the form of turn-based battles. For example, you can become musician and make your enemies attack each other or a break dancer to perform some lethal funky moves.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon will launch on November 13, 2020 on Xbox One X, Xbox One, Windows 10, PlayStation 4, and Steam. Yakuza: Like a Dragon will also be available on the Xbox Series X console on day 1 of its release, as well as PlayStation 5 at a later date.

PRE-ORDER

PlayStation 4 | Xbox One & Xbox One X | Windows 10 | Steam

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SEGA Forever Pop-Up Facts Video Reveals Early “NiGHTS into dreams…” Box Art

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To celebrate the anniversary weekend of NiGHTS into dreams…, SEGA has reduced the price of the Steam release by 85%, making it just $1.19! We here at SEGAbits love the original Saturn classic, as well as the holiday themed demo disc Christmas NiGHTS (so much so, we reviewed and rated it an A+.)

In addition to the sale, the SEGA Forever YouTube channel shared a cool pop-up trivia video which reveals an early design of NiGHTS in some mocked-up concept cover art. In our opinion, it’s kind of creepy, but still a very cool find. By the way, if you like clean high res art from SEGA classics, we highly recommend following SEGA Forever on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Recent posts include some great promotional renders for NiGHTS, Gain Ground art and very blocky Virtua Racing renders.

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More SEGA Astro City Mini Games Revealed – Plus Accessory Kit Announced

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When we first shared the news about SEGA’s Astro City Mini, it was revealed that the plug and play would include 36 arcade classics. At the time, 10 were revealed, and today we learned of an additional 13 games! The newly announced titles include:

  • Cotton
  • Shinobi
  • Shadow Dancer
  • E-SWAT
  • Crack Down
  • Gain Ground
  • Puyo Puyo
  • Columns
  • Bonanza Bros.
  • Puzzle & Action: Ichidant-R
  • Wonder Boy
  • Wonder Boy in Monster Land
  • Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair

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Watch Takenobu Mitsuyoshi’s Dinner Event in Journey’s Canten Virtually this Sunday, August 23rd

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Although Takenobu Mitsuyoshi’s in-person dinner show was delayed up to next year in Japan, fans who are not able to attend can now watch his dinner show virtually online this Sunday, August 23rd on YouTube at 19:00 JST (6 AM EST, 5 AM Central, 3 AM PST). SEGA has even uploaded a dinner menu with a list of food Mitsuyoshi-san will be eating and encourages viewers to prepare the same food for the show as if they were attending the event.

Will you be attending Mitsuyoshi’s dinner show online this weekend, which iconic SEGA theme song would you like for him to sing during the dinner show? Leave us a comment down below.

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Sega Technical Institute’s Canceled “Treasure Tails” For SEGA Genesis / Mega Drive Screenshots Hit The Net

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We have been posting a lot about Sega Technical Insitute’s canceled projects including Boomer an unused Sonic 2 side kick, Astropede a canceled pitch 16-bit game and now we have Treasure Tails which was a cancelled pitch by Sega Technical Institute. While these screens is all we have, at first, it was said to be pitched by Bill Dunn but Craig Stitt has come out and said its not true.

Check out what Craig Stitt had to say:

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Segapede/Astropede cancelled SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive gets over 12 minutes of prototype footage posted online

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If you haven’t been keeping up, SEGA Technical Institute artist Craig Stitt has been posting quite a bit of lost video game concept art and now prototype footage of a game he pitched SEGA at first called Segapede and later renamed Astropede. Its a very interesting project since it seems Craig wanted this to be a part of the Sonic universe and even used ideas from Sonic 2 with a twist, for example each pod that follows you contained a power and if you got hit you would lose a pod. A very similar gimmick to Sonic’s rings.

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Panzer Dragoon: Remake heading to PS4, PC, and Xbox One by end of year, also coming to next gen consoles

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It looks like Zbigniew Dębicki, CEO of Forever Entertainment, the company that has created the Panzer Dragoon: Remake and will be doing The House of the Dead remakes sooner than later, has spoken about the game coming not only to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One; but also next generation consoles like PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. In a newly translated chat with the CEO by Panzer Dragoon World, the plan is to release the PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One by the end of the year:

According to the CEO, Panzer Dragoon: Remake is set to be released on other platforms like PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC (non-Stadia version) by the end of the year, but we will also be getting a PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X versions later down the line. I can already hear Limited Run Games salivating at all the different releases (oh, hi Josh). We shall see, Panzer Dragoon: Remake launched on March 10, 2020 on Nintendo Switch.

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Rumor: Leaked Image shows Arcade1Up’s upcoming SEGA AM2 Fighting Games

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Over on Reddit, a user named Smashingtime98, released a leaked image of Arcade1up’s upcoming arcade cabinet of games which features five SEGA AM2 fighting games. The list of games included is Virtua Fighter, Virtua Fighter Remix, Virtua Fighter 2, Fighting Vipers and Sonic the Fighters.

While the arcade cabinet is not officially confirmed by Arcade1up, we will keep an eye out for more details when it’s available. In the meantime, Arcade1up is also working on arcade cabinet featuring Golden Axe Revenge of Death Adder and more AM1 classics to be released soon.

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Galloping Ghost Arcade in Brookfield, Illinois Debuts Incredibly Rare SEGA R360 Arcade Machine – Only Publicly Playable Machine in America

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I’ve covered the Galloping Ghost Arcade in Brookfield, Illinois a bit here on SEGAbits. Mainly because it is just a short drive away from the SEGAbits Midwest HQ (or SEGAbits Building 2 as I will now refer to it as). The arcade opened in August 2010, and has since expanded to fill an entire block of storefront property in the Chicagoland suburb. In the past, the arcade has debuted countless SEGA classics and hidden treasures including Space Harrier, Air Bike Cop, Star Wars Arcade and Ribbit.

As the arcade nears 800 games and hits its 10 year anniversary, arcade owner Doc Mack has long wanted to celebrate the milestone by debuting the ultra rare and expensive SEGA R360. The process to obtain one has been in the works for a while, with Doc even reaching out to SEGAbits for help in finding somebody willing to part with one. Thankfully, it looks like Doc’s efforts paid off as now, for the first time in decades, a functioning SEGA R360 machine is publicly playable in America!

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SEGA’s Aaron Webber Accepts Role at SEGA of Japan as Director of Strategy, Studio & Community Relations

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Aaron Webber, longtime friend to the site and a legend among Sonic and SEGA fans, has had a long career with SEGA of America. Joining SEGA in 2008, Aaron worked as a Game Master for Phantasy Star Universe, an Assistant Community Manager and then as Associate Brand Manager before a brief departure from the company in 2014. Then, in 2015, Aaron returned to act as PR & Social Media Manager and then Senior Social Media Manager for the Sonic the Hedgehog brand. It was during this period that Sonic saw a social media EXPLOSION with national attention on how he and his team handled the brand’s social media accounts.

Now, Aaron has accepted a role with SEGA of Japan as Director of Strategy, Studio & Community Relations. While not much has been said of Aaron’s day to day responsibilities, he has said “besides Sonic, this means I get to support a lot of great SEGA teams – first up is PSO2 which just launched on Steam!”

We here at SEGAbits congratulate Aaron and wish him luck on his new role at SEGA’s Japan offices.

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SEGA Akihabara Arcade, Building 2, Closing Permanently on August 30

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Earlier this month it was announced that SEGA Building 2, a Japanese SEGA arcade in Akihabara, will be closing its doors for good on August 30. While no official reason has been given, some speculate that SEGA are competing with themselves as the 1st, 3rd, 4th and recently opened 5th SEGA arcades in the area draw much more foot traffic thanks to being near stations and busy roads. It has also been said that Building 2 is cramped and is difficult to navigate.

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SEGA Technical Institute’s Canceled 16-Bit Game ‘Astropede’ Revealed for the First Time

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SEGA Technical Institute had a short life at SEGA with the team being responsible for games like Kid Chameleon, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic Spinball, and a lot of canceled project. Some of these we know about, one that we didn’t know about has made it online for the first time ever. This canceled game was called “Astropede’ and was shared by artist Craig Stitt on the Facebook group ‘SEGA Retro Gamers’

“The only surviving video of ‘Astropede’, a game I pitched and went into production at SEGA (STI) circa 1994. Unfortunately after 14 months it was shelved after being starved to death by a lack of resources. The character had a train of pods with various power ups that would be pulled behind him. If hit, the pods would fly apart similar to Sonic and his rings. (my original intent was to have it be part of the Sonic universe) Somewhere I have a playable prototype… I just have to find it and hope it can be made to work!“

We have some assets that Craig has shared, including this concept art that really makes it seem like a ‘Sonic type’ game (hit the break to see that!), the animation loop on top of the page and he even found a protoype of the game… will he share it online tho?

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Craig Stitt shares his ‘Boomer the Turtle’ designs that were cut from Sonic the Hedgehog 2

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Craig Stitt has been posting a lot of old video game content on the SEGA Retro Gamers Facebook group, if you don’t know Craig Stitt worked at SEGA Technical Insitute on Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Kid Chameleon, Sonic Spinball, Spyro the Dragon and many more games. He was also one of the artist at SEGA Technical Institute that was part of the competition to create Sonic’s buddy, for the sequel, which we all know was won by a Fox we all know as Tails. But did you know that Craig Stitt designed “Boomer” or as the document called him “Boomy” as competition for the orange fox?

“For Sonic 2 we needed a buddy / player two for Sonic. This little guy was my submission. He would have been tough with the shell, but vunerable, needing Sonic’s help, if he got flipped on his back. He would have helped out Sonic by being able to ‘fly’ if Sonic pushed him up to speed. Then Sonic would jump up and ride on his back over lava, spikes etc etc.” – Craig Stitt

When we did notes for the SEGA Talk Sonic the Hedgehog 2 podcast, we talked about “I wonder what Boomer would have looked like” and I love that Craig Stitt posted these documents so I can rest easy. So what you think of Boomer the Turtle?

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