ATLUS releasing Catherine: Full Body to the West, official website opens

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ATLUS has today announced that Catherine: Full Body, the remake of 2011’s Catherine, will be heading to the west. Release date and pricing is unknown at this time, but information will be revealed in the future. As we’ve detailed in our previous news stories, Catherine: Full Body will feature a new love interest, new storyline elements and additional puzzle content. For more information, you can check out the official website at catherinethegame.com/fullbody.

We’ll be sure to share more about the western release as we hear it, in the meantime you can check out the press release after the break!

Sonic Forces Releases ‘Free’ Super Sonic DLC For a Limited Time

If you guys forgot, we did a SEGA News Bits video on the Sonic Forces day one patch that had a Sanic shirt and Super Sonic. The Sanic shirt was released on November 27th for free. Well, now SEGA has made the Super Sonic transformation DLC live, at least in Europe. The page says it comes out on the 22nd, so expect it on the US PlayStation Store tomorrow.

“Speed through the levels faster than Sonic… as Super Sonic! Get the SUPER SONIC DLC for SONIC FORCES now to transform into Super Sonic across 20+ Modern and Classic Sonic. Collect the right amount of rings and Super Sonic will spring into action, giving you the ability to sprint across stages at break-neck speeds.”

According to the product description, you can’t participate in rankings with the Super Sonic DLC. If this was the end of this news story, I would say that SEGA did a great job, but sadly it isn’t. According to the Nintendo eShop page for the DLC, Super Sonic will be $2 paid DLC after January 23rd. I usually don’t mind companies adding new things to games and charging, if its worth it. But here are my issues with this…

Nintendo Switch Top 20 Selling Games of 2017 Includes Sonic Mania, Puyo Puyo Tetris

bestsellingnintendoswitchThe Nintendo Switch store has posted up the highest selling Nintendo Switch software for 2017. According to Reset Era post, this includes both digital and physical. The top 20 best selling Nintendo Switch games was mostly dominated by Nintendo games. No surprise there but it also included SEGA games like Sonic Mania and Puyo Puyo Tetris, while Sonic Forces didn’t make the top 20 list. According to people on the forum, Pokken DX sold over 500,000 units, considering Sonic Mania did better than that game its safe to assume it did over half a million digitally on the e-store.

Hit the jump to see the top 20 Nintendo Switch selling Nintendo Switch games of 2017:

Valkyria Chronicles 4 live stream promises first in-game footage on Dec. 27

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SEGA has declared that they will be hosting a live stream for Valkyria Chronicles 4 before the end of the year. On December 27, SEGA has promised to show off the very first gameplay footage of the upcoming SRPG.

The live stream will start on December 27, 2018 at 8:00pm JST and can be viewed at:

SEGA has confirmed that guests on the stream include the following voice actresses: Naomi Ohzora (voices Nikola Grev) and Yukiyo Fujii (voices Kiara Rosina). Hashiyan Kosaka has been confirmed to MC the event. Of course the creators behind the game will also be on the stream, explaining things. I would hope.

Valkyria Chronicles 4 hits Japanese PlayStation 4 owners on March 21, 2018 and later in 2018 for Nintendo Switch. As for us Westerners, we will get the game on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch sometime in 2018.

Persona 3: Dancing Moon Night and Persona 5: Dancing Star Night getting live stream on Dec. 24

Persona53Atlus (and SEGA) are busy this month, since they are putting up multiple streams in Japan. They just finished their ‘Persona 5 the animation new information broadcast‘ live stream, where they announced that they would be having another upcoming stream for the upcoming Persona 3: Dancing Moon Night and Persona 5: Dancing Star Night on December 24 at 20:00 JST.

If you didn’t know, both Persona 3: Dancing Moon Night and Persona 5: Dancing Star Night are coming to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita this upcoming spring 2018 in Japan. Yes, Atlus still loves their PlayStation Vita. We will know more information regarding these titles after the stream. As far as Western release, don’t be shocked seeing them released here.

[Source: Gematsu]

Dragon’s Crown Pro launch day edition to include extra goodies, same low price

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Atlus has announced Dragon’s Crow Pro Battle-Hardened Edition, which isn’t a special or collectors edition, but a day one edition. What does that mean? It means that this version of the game will cost the exact same as a regular copy, but since you bought into the title at the launch period, you get extra bonus content. Amazon hasn’t updated its listing yet, but pre-order for the game is only $49.99 ($39.99 with prime).

It looks like the Dragon’s Crown Pro Battle-Hardened Edition will come with a cool looking steel book case and 7 skill cards that feature in-game artwork. Dragon’s Crown Pro comes out on PlayStation 4 on April 24, 2018 in the Americas. It has also been confirmed that this version of the game will be able to play online co-op with the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita users, which is cool.

Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games to be removed from Japanese 3DS/Wii U eShop

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Bad news for the few people out there that are fans of the Mario & Sonic Olympic Games crossovers. It’s been announced that the most recent game in the series, Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, will be pulled from the Japanese 3DS/Wii U eShop on 27 December 2017 at 10:00 JST. This will also include the demo version of the game. It’s unknown if other regions will also pull the game from the respective 3DS/Wii U eShops.

No reason has been specified as to why the game is being pulled. The most likely theory is that the license to use the Mario or Olympic branding has been expired, and as a result the game will be pulled to not violate laws. This may also foreshadow the series being quietly cancelled, if the license to use the Mario or Olympics is not being renewed. Considering that the next Winter Olympics is coming in 2018 with no Mario & Sonic title announced yet, it’s a real possibility.

[Source: Japanese Nintendo]

Catherine: Full Body to include online battles, new endings and sexy events

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We posted earlier today that Atlus revealed a Catherine remake, being titled Catherine: Full Body. One of the new features was a pink haired, “third Catherine”, who is actually named Rin.  You can see her above. We got a few more details on her, according to Weekly Famitsu, she is a pianist at the bar Vicente frequents. She is honest and gentle. Sounds like my type of waifu.

The developer also discussed new features only in this remake including new endings, more animation and even online battles:

Hokuto ga Gotoku unleashes trailer, details Pressure Point Action system

First up we have a new debut trailer for Hokuto ga Gotoku, which was revealed by SEGA via their live stream. This trailer has about six minutes of gameplay. We get to see a few things displayed in this trailer, including the “Pressure Point Action” system, various mini-games and even shows of Kenshiro racing in customized cars. Just like the Manga (wait, was that in the Manga?). Also, we see a SEGA Mark III console!

Check out the Official Shenmue themed Yokosuka Tourist Guide – Now in English!

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Earlier this month we shared the news that SEGA teamed up with The Yokosuka Action Promotion Committee to design a map of Yokosuka, Japan. Why? Well, because Yokosuka was the setting of SEGA’s hit game Shenmue. Since the game’s release, fans have visited the locations from the game, using fan made guides and videos. But now, SEGA has officially put their stamp on the region with this guide! The guide was originally Japanese only, but now we have the English language version, which you can download here.

Retro-bit announces SEGA partnership – creating USB and Bluetooth Genesis, Saturn and Dreamcast accessories

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Have you ever played a rerelease of a classic SEGA game and felt that it just didn’t feel quite right with a modern controller? Well we could be seeing classic SEGA controllers for modern hardware soon, as retro gaming hardware manufacturer Retro-bit has announced a collaboration with SEGA. The official press release states that the plan is to produce accessories for SEGA’s platforms which includes, but is not limited to, SEGA Genesis, Saturn and Dreamcast. The first products to be released will include accessories that match the quality of the originals, made for use on original hardware as well as USB for PC use and Bluetooth wireless. These new products will debut in the Innex booth #21023 in the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center during CES 2018.

This is very exciting, as games like Sonic Mania, Jet Set Radio HD and NiGHTS HD all would benefit from the original controllers. Also, the notion of a new Dreamcast pad for original hardware being made in 2018 is just sort of crazy and cool. Also, new USB Saturn pads would be amazing.

Read the full press release after the break

Aladdin and The Lion King video games get surprise release on Steam

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If you were a big fan of early Disney games in the 90s, you are in luck because we got two surprise releases on Steam. First up we got Aladdin, this one is actually a port of the Amiga version, which was also done by the same developer as the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive game. One of the biggest differences between each version is the change in the UI, which is much larger on the Amiga version. I also prefer the sound of the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive version, including the music since its different. You can check out a comparison here. You can pick up Aladdin here.

The other Disney game we got released was The Lion King, this version was developed by famed Westwood Studios for SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive, SNES, Amiga, and a ton of other platforms. Of course this is the Amiga version, which I do not prefer. I know there are some big Amiga fanboys online but personally think the sound is the biggest drawbacks from these versions. You can check out the differences between each version here. You can get your Lion King fix here. The games are 33% off since they barely launched, deal ends on Christmas.

Phantasy Star Online 2 shows off Virtual-On in-game crossover content

SEGA and the team behind Phantasy Star Online 2 have revealed that the game will get Virtual-On unlockable items coming this upcoming February. This update is being released to promote the upcoming A Certain Magical Virtual-On crossover game hitting Japan during the same month. The thing is, Virtual-On already had items available in the game, way back in 2014 along with Shining Force Cross Exlesia. Back then it was released to promote the digital only re-release of Cyber Troopers Virtual-On: Force. It seems to be a re-release of the DLC, so if you play and missed it back in 2014! This Virtual-On DLC is pay for content…

SEGA also, according to the badly google translated description of the YouTube video, are celebrating 4.5 consecutive login-ins with SEGA ID. If you don’t know, SEGA ID is a service you have to sign up for to play Phantasy Star Online 2. I have also seen it used for some mobile games, so who knows if its just Phantasy Star Online 2 logins or if they’re counting anyone that just randomly logged into their SEGA ID account.

Yes, I know. I want Phantasy Star Online 2 in the west and no its not going to happen. Yes, it sucks. What else can we do about it besides play on the Japanese server?