NAOMI ports in Yakuza Kiwami 3, Power Smash online gameplay restored, SEGAbits.com viewable on the Dreamcast? Truly 2026 is the year of the Dreamcast revival. Let’s run through the past week’s news!
If you enjoy our SEGA News Bits segments and want to support us: Give us a sub and give this video a thumbs up so it shows up on more like-minded fans YouTube recommendations. You know, how that YouTube algorithm is.
When you can’t focus on the main story because of all the side games stealing your attention
Today, Sega and RGG Studio have detailed a bunch of side games in the upcoming Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties. Here, they’ve talked about beloved returning games such as karaoke and Reaper hunting and brand new stuff such as retro Sega games, substories, the Kanda’s Damage Control side missions in Dark Ties (Mine’s Story), and LaLaLa Loveland in Yakuza Kiwami 3 (Kiryu’s Story).
Clear out your afternoon, warm up your vocal pipes, gather up as many AA batteries as you can, and step on past the break to find out what awaits you during any downtime you have in Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties, which releases worldwide next month.
Sonic the Hedgehog, one of the most iconic and beloved brands in the industry, is thrilled to announce its 35th anniversary this year! Since his debut in 1991, Sonic has defined generations with his signature speed, attitude, and style, expanding far beyond his innovative video game origins into new characters and worlds, blockbuster films, animated television, music, merchandise, and more. To commence the festivities, SEGA released a new anniversary trailer to build hype and rewind through Sonic’s best moments over the last 35 years.
Throughout the upcoming year, SEGA will roll out a high-energy slate of anniversary programs designed to celebrate Sonic’s legacy while bringing fans together around the world. Planned activities include digital content highlighting Sonic’s evolution across the decades, fan meet-ups and community gatherings, exclusive brand and retail partnerships featuring limited merchandise, museum pop-ups and art exhibits, live concert celebrations, and a brand-new narrative podcast.
“We’re incredibly proud to celebrate 35 years of our beloved Sonic franchise with our fans,” said Marcella Churchill, Vice President of SEGA/ATLUS Brand Marketing at SEGA of America. “This milestone is not just a reflection of our past, but also a look toward the future as we continue to innovate and grow. We want to bring our community together and create memorable experiences for all our fans throughout 2026!”
Additional 35th anniversary-inspired content, partnerships, collectibles, and fan experiences will be revealed throughout the year. Head to the official Sonic the Hedgehog 35th Anniversary website for the latest news, updates, and media surrounding the year’s programs.
What are some announcements are you looking forward to during Sonic’s 35th Anniversary? Let us know in the comments!
The wait to own a physical copy of Sonic Racing: Crossworlds for Nintendo Switch 2, one that actually has the game on the card, is nearly over. Mark March 26th, 2026 on your calendars.
While Sonic Racing: Crossworlds had already been available as a native Nintendo Switch 2 game, complete with an upgrade pack for owners of the original Nintendo Switch version, since December 2025, it was only available digitally. (You can still buy the upgrade pack if you had a physical Nintendo Switch 1 version.) If you’ve been waiting for a native Nintendo Switch 2 game card, then pre-orders have just opened up for it. The pre-order price sits at $69.99 USD. Currently, only Amazon has a pre-order page open, but other retailers are sure to follow soon. You can check Sega’s own Sonic Racing: Crossworlds website for the most up to date information on where you can pre-order or where you can order any other version of the game.
As an added bonus, Sega have also made the Blue Star Extreme Gear DLC available for free on all platforms. (Currently it isn’t live on the Nintendo eShop, but this could be an error. Keep checking for it.) Originally available exclusively for those who signed up for a Sega account and redeemed it when the game originally launched in September, the Blue Star is an extra boost vehicle that’s based on Sonic’s Extreme Gear from Sonic Riders (2006). If you never signed up for a Sega account, you forgot to redeem the Blue Star DLC, or you’ve since bought Sonic Racing: Crossworlds on a second platform or a different platform than you originally intended, you can still get this absolutely free now.
Be sure to cross over past the break to see a bit more info on the physical Nintendo Switch 2 Edition that you might like to know.
Just because it’s 2026 doesn’t mean we can’t party like it’s 1999! SEGAbits is once again Dreamcast compatible, thanks to our new Dreamcast friendly website SEGAbits.com/DC. Back when the site began in 2010, we had a much lower tech website, but as times change so did websites and nowadays most websites don’t play well with old Dreamcast browsers. While there are search engines like FrogFind.com, which strip down websites making them viewable on old hardware, SEGAbits.com/DC shows the ten latest articles in full with viewable images!
If you have a Dreamcast with web access, check our new Dreamcast compatible page out and make sure to add it to your bookmarks. It’s still thinking!
I’ve long waited for the day I could talk about an impressive new indie game for the Sega Saturn, and the wait is finally over.
Vigilant Paradise is a new Miami Vice inspired FPS designed for the Saturn by one Riccardo Campione. Of course, although I say it’s new, the game actually made its debut with little-to-no fanfare in November 2025. It sat quietly on itch.io until someone going by dmar3000 just happened across it from simply searching for “Sega Saturn” on itch one day and then posted about it on Reddit. From there, it caught the attention of our good friends at Sega Saturn Shiro, who then wrote about the game themselves. It goes to show that sometimes going off the beaten path can lead you to some interesting hidden discoveries.
If this looks interesting to you, you can read on past the break to find out more about this hidden homebrew gem.
One of the most beloved and recognizable arcade racing games of all time, Daytona USA, is now playable in VR through the game VRChat. Now you can feel even closer to the action than ever before in the Hornet’s virtual driver’s seat.
And who do we have to thank for this? Not Sega, of course, but the longtime internet and Newgrounds culture legend Zone-Sama. For those of you in the know (especially those acting like you don’t know), Zone-Sama has been well known since the early 2000’s as a legendary animator of the Nice Sega Flavored Water variety, most recently including a certain Egyptian Animal Crossing cat captivating the internet with her mysterious dance. (Wait… that’s not Sega flavored at all…) He’s actually a man of many talents, but I bet you didn’t know that included programming.
As for VRChat, that is a well known free game allowing you to create an avatar and hang out in a variety of virtual worlds, including many user generated worlds like this one. You can communicate with others in real time, play games with them, and generally just goof off to your heart’s content. You don’t even need a VR headset to try it, though it can make things much more immersive. It’s also available on Steam if you prefer to get it there.
If that’s got you interested, then get strapped in and go beyond the break to learn how this works exactly.
On Christmas day, 2025, we lost one of the most influential men in SEGA history: David Rosen. David was a co-founder of SEGA, meaning he was not solely responsible, but he was one of the most important and key figures in the company’s founding. On this episode, we look back on his history and remember David Rosen.
If you enjoy our SEGA News Bits segments and want to support us: Give us a sub and give this video a thumbs up so it shows up on more like-minded fans YouTube recommendations. You know, how that YouTube algorithm is.
SEGA officially released the PAC-MAN™ Pack for Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds! Players can now race as video game icon PAC-MAN and Team Ghost on a track inspired by both modern and classic arcade-era PAC-MAN games. The PAC-MAN Pack includes the following:
PAC-MAN and Blinky as playable characters
Additional skins for Team Ghost: Inky, Pinky, and Clyde
PAC-MAN Mobile
PAC-VILLAGE & MAZE
Official PAC-MAN Music Tracks
Six different emotes per character
Players who own the Digital Deluxe Edition will automatically receive the PAC-MAN Pack as part of the Season Pass. For those who want to take part in the PAC-MAN action, the entire Season Pass is separately available for $29.99 USD, which includes access to even more exciting characters, vehicles, and courses. Players can also purchase the standalone PAC-MAN Pack for $5.99 USD.
Players who do not own the PAC-MAN Pack will still be able to compete online against those who do and will be able to race on the PAC-MAN course against the PAC-MAN characters.
It’s a sad day for all of us Sega fans. One of the most important people in the entire history of Sega has finally left this mortal coil.
David Rosen, the founder of Rosen Enterprises, which would later become the company we all know and love today as Sega, has passed away on December 25th, 2025 at the age of 95 in his Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles home. His funeral was held on January 2nd, 2026 at Inglewood Park Cemetary. News of his passing only just became public on January 2nd courtesy of Replay Magazine.
Very few people in the history of Sega are more worthy of being celebrated than David Rosen. He alone began the chain of events that led to the creation of Sega, and by extension, many of the games they had brought to the world that touched our hearts for decades. Whether it’s Sonic the Hedgehog, NiGHTS, OutRun, Phantasy Star, Shenmue, Like A Dragon, or countless other examples, Mr. Rosen allowed for all of that to eventually be possible.
But it’s not just Sega fans who have plentiful reason to celebrate this man’s life. Part of why Mr. Rosen founded Rosen Enterprises in the first place is because he saw great potential in the coin-op market in post-war Japan. His company was first made to help import coin-op games, which we know now as arcade games, to Japan. This eventually led to Sega making arcade games of their own, but the entire arcade industry owes a major debt of gratitude to Mr. Rosen for that.
If you’d like to hear more about the prestigious spot Mr. Rosen holds in video game history, you can hear more past the break. For now, though, on behalf of SegaBits and Sega/gaming fans around the globe, we salute the amazing David Rosen and thank him for his services to gaming. We are glad he lived such a long, fulfilling life and that he may now rest in peace. Many condolences go out to his surviving family and friends as well.
EDIT: I’ve edited my write-up on Sega following the Gulf+Western buyout to clear up some false information. My apologies for that.
Last year I started checking the analytics for all our accounts (website, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook) and found that we had been viewed an astonishing 18.7 MILLION times! So this year I ran the numbers again and was amazed to find that we grew 27.8% to see an astonishing 23.9 MILLION VIEWS!
2026 will see us entering our 16th year, and we will continue to cover the latest SEGA news, provide commentary on our ongoing YouTube shows The SEGAbits Swingin’ Report Show LIVE (the longest running SEGA podcast!) and SEGA News Bits LIVE and will continue to dive into SEGA history on SEGA TALK (the top rated SEGA podcast!). We also will continue our Arcade Adventure meetups at the Galloping Ghost Arcade (planning for late Summer or early Fall 2026) and will continue to attend gaming and SEGA events whenever we can! Our friends at Sonic Weekly will continue to crosspost to our site, and we plan on more crossover episodes in 2026!
Thanks to listeners, viewers and readers like you, SEGAbits continues to be the number one SEGA fan site AND the longest running SEGA news site! Thank you!
Today, SEGA announced the free NiGHTS content for Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds will be available for players starting Wednesday, Dec. 24 at 4:00 PM PT! Players will be able to race alongside Sonic and friends as the beloved Nightmaren, NiGHTS! The free NiGHTS Content Drop includes the following:
NiGHTS as a playable character
NiGHTS’ vehicle, Dream Sleeper
Special emotes and sounds
Players who own either the Standard (physical or digital) or Digital Deluxe versions of the game will automatically receive the free NiGHTS Content Drop. Please ensure that the game is updated to the latest version for the content to be downloaded properly.
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is available now both digitally and physically on PlayStation®5 (PS5®), PlayStation®4 (PS4®), Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC starting at $69.99 USD and on Nintendo Switch™, Nintendo Switch™- OLED Model, and Nintendo Switch™ Lite starting at $59.99 USD. The Nintendo Switch 2 Edition is also available digitally for players at $69.99 USD.
The darling Genesis/Mega-Drive indie game Tanglewood has come to Nintendo Switch with a new definitive edition. Originally released on Genesis/Mega-Drive in cartridge form and to PC, Mac, and Linux in 2018, this new release adds extra features that even the computer versions don’t have, such as widescreen support, new high quality music, and a new storybook mode to flesh out the world of Tanglewood.
Already an amazing achievement on Genesis, Tanglewood Definitive Edition (which just goes by “Tanglewood” on Nintendo’s eShop) is largely the same as it was on Genesis. However, this new version adds in enough to easily warrant a new playthrough if you’re already experienced in the game. You can find out more about this new release past the break below.
SEGA and Rovio are turning up the chaos in Sonic Rumble, unleashing an event of colossal proportions as Godzilla stomps into the arcade royale mayhem. The King of Monsters brings a new level of epic intensity to the game as Sonic’s iconic speed collides with the legendary power of the Kaiju.
Starting December 22, Rumblers can take part in a limited-time event, featuring exciting challenges and special Godzilla-themed rewards.
Highlights of the event include:
New Stage: Godzilla Survival – Survive Godzilla’s rampage on up to three boats in the middle of the ocean, while avoiding Godzilla’s devastating Heat Ray and the lurking Shockirus.
Unlockable Kaiju & Skills – Unlock legendary monsters with a free and premium pass, and look for Mechagodzilla and Destoroyah, featuring special skills, in the RSR shop.
Check out the official Sonic Rumble blog post HERE to learn more about the collaboration. Players can download Sonic Rumble on the App Store, Google Play and Steam today.
If you checked out The Game Awards for updates on the new Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage or Sonic games you probably felt pretty empty after the show wrapped. Still, SEGA had one reveal by way of Total War: WARHAMMER 40,000. The game itself looks technically impressive, and zooming in from a space battle to a ground battle was very cool both on a gameplay and technical level.
