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Arcade Review: House of the Dead Scarlet Dawn – True Horror Returns

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A classic SEGA franchise brand that spawned many sequels, spinoffs, movies and a vast global following of core and casual players since its debut in arcades in 1997. It has been 12 years since we have seen a House of the Dead game in the arcades worldwide and with SEGA CEO Haruki Satomi wanting to win older fans trust again when it comes to their brand, we finally managed to get a sample of that trust with a new entry to the classic arcade horror shooter. House of the Dead Scarlet Dawn, announced back in January 15th 2018 for Japanese arcades, is now in the west and we got a chance to play and complete it! The House of the Dead has risen beyond the grave once again but does this latest entry live up to our expectations. Hit the jump to read our review of House of the Dead Scarlet Dawn.

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SEGA AGES Nintendo Switch team reveals they are working on NAOMI Arcade emulation, not specifically Dreamcast

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According to a brand new SEGA AGES team interview, they have revealed that they are actually working on SEGA NAOMI emulation, not technically Dreamcast. If you didn’t already know, the SEGA Dreamcast is actually based on the SEGA NAOMI arcade board and was designed for companies to easily port their arcade games over to the SEGA Dreamcast. You can check out the full release of arcade titles to hit the SEGA NAOMI board here, but some highlights include Crazy Taxi, Dead or Alive 2, The House of the Dead 2, Samba De Amigo, Virtua Tennis , Power Stone, Marvel vs Capcom 2, and a lot more.

The team has said that these SEGA NAOMI titles will only happen if the first volume of SEGA AGES vol. 1 sells well on the Nintendo Switch. They have also said that they have a specific SEGA NAOMI arcade title in mind to launch the new series. What SEGA AGES NAOMI title would you want to see hit the Nintendo Switch?

[Source: GSK]

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SEGA Genesis Classics hits Nintendo Switch on December 7

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It looks like the Nintendo Switch version of the SEGA Genesis Classics compilation will hit the console hybrid portable this December 7, 2018. Looks like they really wanted to hit that holiday period. The collection will feature over 50 SEGA Genesis era titles.

Hot on the heels of the Sega Ages titles announced last week and set to launch during the Tokyo Gaming Show, SEGA continues a winter of bringing great classics to the portable Switch. Retro fans can now finally play the Genesis / Mega Drive collection on their way to school or work, in their lunch break or basically anywhere on the go! Sega Genesis Classics / Sega Mega Drive Classics has over 50 retro favorites to experience across every genre: arcade action, shooters, beat’m ups, puzzlers and hidden gems, with a raft of modern features. Exclusively for the Nintendo Switch players can now compete in same-screen local coop mode and use each Joy-Con individually if desired. Familiar features like online multiplayer, achievements, mirror modes, rewind and save states are all part of the collection for everyone to revisit and enjoy.
You can check out the list of games included after the break.

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Team Sonic Racing track reveal scratches that fan service itch – enter “Boo’s House”!

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We’ve been a little hard on Team Sonic Racing here at SEGAbits, but we do so out of love. Following up from the great Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing and excellent Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, Team Sonic Racing felt a little flat. In dropping the other SEGA characters and making it Sonic-only, I felt that SEGA really needed to go the extra mile to appease fans. Go nuts with the callbacks to Sonic’s racing past, feature long lost characters like Fang, give us tracks that mash-up classic and modern eras. Unfortunately, from what we’ve seen the roster is limited and the tracks feel pretty basic.

Thankfully, with the announcement of a delay to May 2019, we could see a little more TLC put into the game and today’s reveal just might be an indication of that. Released on the Sonic social media accounts is a preview of the music from a new track “Boo’s House”. What’s great about the track design is that it evokes Sonic 3‘s Sandopolis and Sonic Adventure 2‘s Pyramid Cave. The track is home to Sonic Adventure 2‘s boss King Boom Boo and the music is a remix of Sandopolis by Tee Lopes & Jun Senoue featuring Tei Sena on violin. Suffice to say, this reveal makes me very happy and I hope we see this level of fan service applied to other tracks in the game.

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SEGA in the Media: Sonic makes a cameo in the upcoming sequel to Wreck-It Ralph

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The embarrassingly titled sequel to Wreck-It Ralph, Ralph Breaks the Internet, releases next month. While the follow-up to the arcade and video game reference packed original is trading nostalgia for hip and trendy internet references, at least we will get some video game cameos. SEGA mascot Sonic the Hedgehog appeared a few times in the first movie, and he returns here with dialogue once again provided by Roger Craig Smith.

Footage of the cameo had been floating around the past few days, but it was a truncated and cropped version of the above video. Fans online have noted how great the animation on Sonic is, and I totally agree. He looks and sounds great! Such a shame a year from now we have that Sonic movie releasing where he will be in the real world and voiced by a different actor. Oh well, enough negativity from Old Man Barry… enjoy the clip!

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PlayStation Classic to include the original Persona game

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The full line-up of 20 games which will be included on the PlayStation Classic plug and play has been revealed, and surprisingly there is a reason for us to share the news! No, there aren’t any SEGA games included but an ATLUS title did make the cut. Included in the PlayStation Classic will be the first game in the Persona series, Revelations: Persona.

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SEGA AGES Phantasy Star gets new release date for October 31st

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Previously, SEGA AGES Phantasy Star was planned for a tentative September release date, but was quietly delayed as the SEGA AGES versions of Sonic the Hedgehog and Thunder Force IV filled in that month instead. However, now we have official confirmation as to when SEGA AGES Phantasy Star will be released, and it’s much more sooner than expected. The game is currently planned for this Halloween, October 31th 2018. An odd and sudden choice, but this is likely a side effect of these SEGA AGES delays causing the original scheduling to be messed up.

The game is slated for a ¥925 (roughly $8.50) pricing, and like the other SEGA AGES titles will come with an assortment of bonus features. In addition to the original game, players will have access to other features such as the ability to listen to both the PSG and FM sounds, an optional mapping system for dungeons, an “easy” mode for novices, and a special encyclopedia called the “Monster-Codex” that allows you to view the sprites, stats, and descriptions of different enemies.

[Source: Game Watch]

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Sonic the Hedgehog designer Naoto Oshima working on CGI film under working title ‘The Monkey Prince’

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It looks like Japanese film company Toei Animation and Chinese giant Bona Film Group are partnering up for CGI flick under the working title ‘The Monkey Prince‘.

This film was just shown off the other day as part of the Tokyo Film Festival and will have quite a bit of big names including Sonic the Hedgehog character designer Naoto Ohshima, who is obviously going to design the film’s characters along side Takao Noguchi (Dreamworks/Sony Pictures veteran). The film will be directed by John A. Davis (Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Ant Bully) and written by J. David and David N. Weiss (Shrek 2, The Smurfs)

Chuck Williams is being brought into production of the film, Chuck has a long history with Pixar and Disney Animation working on projects such as Brother Bear and Beauty and the Beast. He had this to say:

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Team Sonic Racing Delayed To May 21, 2019, Surprises No One

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Have you noticed something about Team Sonic Racing? There has been very little hype and update for the game and it seems the reason for that is that the game is being delayed. There have been rumors about this delay in the past but it has officially been confirmed by the Sonic the  Hedgehog twitter account this morning:


It feels to me that this could be a good idea if this actually means we are getting a better game for it. Quite frankly, I’m pretty sure that Team Sonic Racing might have not have done too hot this holiday season with big titles like Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Fallout 76 coming soon. What are your thoughts on the delay?

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7th Dragon 2020-II For Sony PSP Gets English Fan Translation

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As you already know that SEGA has only localized one of the four released 7th Dragon games from Japan. That one was the last one 7th Dragon III Code: VFD on the Nintendo 3DS. But if you didn’t already know the game debuted back in 2009 on the Nintendo DS with 7th Dragon (translated here), then 7th Dragon 2020 (translated here) on PSP and then comes this newly translated title 7th Dragon 2020-II. Obviously 7th Dragon 2020-II is a direct sequel the previous PSP game and its recommended you play that first.

If you guys didn’t know 7th Dragon was requested by most hardcore SEGA fans due to the involvement of big named SEGA creators including producer Rieko Kodama (Phantasy Star, Skies of Arcadia) and composer Yuzo Koshiro (Streets of Rage, Etrian Odyssey). I love these sort of fan translation projects because lets be honest, there is no way that these past three 7th Dragon games will get localization in the west especially considering that the Nintendo DS and PSP are both obsolete.

[Source: Romhacking]

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Yakuza 4 trailer for PS4 releases showing off Masayoshi Tanimura’s changed model in action

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We posted the other day that Yakuza 4 would release January 17, 2019 in Japan and that the character Masayoshi Tanimura, one of the four playable characters in Yakuza 4 would have a model and voice changed due to the original actor Hiroki Narimiya retiring from acting (which not might all be his choice). This new trailer shows the new voice and model in action, now being played by Toshiki Masuda.

Not only that, SEGA has also released a ton of screenshots including the box art for the game.

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Puyo Puyo eSports now available for Playstation 4 and Nintendo Switch, discounted till late November

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Puyo Puyo eSports has finally dropped for the Nintendo Switch and Playstation 4, available as a download title on the Nintendo eShop and Playstation Network respectively. This bite sized version of Puyo Puyo contain the bare essentials, 24 playable characters, two main modes with the traditional Tsu and Fever rules, and a streamlined presentation so it’s easier for both spectators and players to follow matches. Overall the goal of the game is to be a straightforward Puyo Puyo experience that anyone can easily obtain on modern systems.

Puyo Puyo eSports is currently available for Japanese, Korean, and Chinese markets. For those that want to download the game outside of these three regions, the game is readily available for anyone on both the Playstation 4 and Nintendo Switch, due to a lack of region locking. All that’s needed is to create an appropriate account for one of the three respective regions. However to sweeten the deal, SEGA has also discounted the game from it’s initial ¥1999 pricing to a mere ¥500, effectively only asking for 1/4 of the original price. This heavy discount will be active from today to November 30th, so it’s recommended to buy it as soon as possible.

No word if Puyo Puyo eSports will get a localization outside of these three regions, but we will keep up on any future developments. Until then, the game is still easily obtainable for anyone curious enough to try it out, especially with the discount making it quite a bargain.

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SEGA AGES team not ruling out Saturn & Dreamcast games in the future

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The people over in Famitsu had a great little interview with the people behind SEGA Ages which t his time included Rieko Kodama (Skies of Arcadia, Phantasy Star, Deep Fear) where she talked about what it meant for her titles to make the list of most requested SEGA Ages titles. There was also a lot of discussion regarding Jet Set Radio getting the number one spot, with the team saying that composer Hideki Naganuma himself asking fans to vote for the series. They also said that some issues regarding the poll happen because this time voting was open to everyone, while the last poll they had (after SEGA 3D Classics wave 2 in Japan, polling for what games will be in Wave 3) they only let people that bought SEGA 3D Archives Vol. 2 to vote, saying that this time a lot more younger fans that might not have grown up with the type of games they are reprinting will get to vote. They showed Mushi King ranking highly as an example.

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Yakuza 4 launches on PS4 January 17, 2019 in Japan, Masayoshi Tanimura being recast

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Famitsu has confirmed that the PlayStation 4 port of Yakuza 4 will be launching in Japan on January 17, 2019. Yakuza 5 is set to come out during 2019 as well.

The magazine also ran a story talking about how Masyoshi Tanimura, a main character in the game, will be recast. According to the magazine, SEGA needed to revise and re-record some lines for the character and since the orginal voice actor Hiroki Narimiya has retired from voice acting SEGA decided to recast the role as Toshiki Masuda. This means that SEGA will be changing the model and voice. Quite a bit of work, I guess Japanese men take their retirements very seriously.

[Via: Siliconera]

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