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Retro Review: Space Channel 5 (Sega Dreamcast/PS2)

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The Dreamcast era was a unique time for SEGA when it came to marketing their characters. While the Saturn’s launch made the error of shifting the spotlight away from Sonic the Hedgehog, the Dreamcast launch proved that there was more than enough room for established characters as well as new faces. Joining Sonic was a lineup of first party and third party faces, from Midway’s Afro Thunder of Ready 2 Rumble and Namco’s Soulcalibur fighters to SEGA’s own creations.

Space Channel 5’s Ulala was without a doubt the most heavily marketed of these new characters, with her face seen just about everywhere. Ulala appeared in a promotional stage show at Universal City Walk, she dominated SEGA’s booth at 2000’s E3, she was seen in print and on TV and even appeared as product placement in the 2001 movie Josie and the Pussycats. There was even talk of Ulala hosting her own TV show! Suffice to say, there came a point in Space Channel 5‘s promotion where Ulala nearly overshadowed her own game. There is no doubt that Ulala is a fantastic character (she is a favorite of the SEGAbits staff, so much so that we named our podcast after her report show), but has the original game stood the test of time? Let’s find out as we look back at the United Game Artists’ classic Space Channel 5!

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Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX delayed to September a week before release

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I hope you weren’t looking forward to playing Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX, because SEGA has announced that they’ve delayed the game just a little over a week before it was originally supposed to be released. Instead of being in stores next week, the game will now release on September 8th in North America and September 11th in Europe. SEGA hasn’t announced a delay for the Japanese version of the game that was announced later on, so it will seemingly still be released there on May 28th.

SEGA also announced a special Launch Edition for North America, which includes “premium outer box packaging” and a wallet chain that’s based on Hatsune Miku’s belt. All physical copies will also include 19 double sided AR cards that let you see various dance moves and costumes. As for European stores getting this special edition: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

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NIS America interviews Yuji Naka to promote Rodea: The Sky Soldier

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NIS America just posted an interview with Rodea the Sky Soldier creator Yuji Naka (Sonic the Hedgehog, Chu Chu Rocket and NiGHTS) and director Zin Hasegawa (Fatal Frame series) on their Youtube channel. It’s a pretty interesting interview with Yuji Naka starting off by saying that it has been a long time and it really has, so it’s good to see him do these types of interviews for games again.

Yuji Naka even talks about how he has created games that have to do with speed like Sonic the Hedgehog and flying games like NiGHTS and whether that factored into creating Rodea the Sky Soldier since it has similarities. Listen in and I hope Prope and SEGA work on a project again in the near future.

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Here are the 17 mobile games SEGA have pulled for a lack of quality

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We talked about it before that SEGA planned to drop older titles that they either weren’t going to update or didn’t fit their quality of standards.
The following titles are no longer available on Google Play or iTunes:

  • After Burner Climax
  • Jet Set Radio
  • Super Monkey Ball 1 & 2 
  • Super Monkey Ball Tip’n’Tilt 1&2 (older phones)
  • Altered Beast
  • Ecco the Dolphin 
  • Golden Axe 1, 2 & 3 
  • Phantasy Star 2 
  • Streets of Rage 1& 3
  • Space Harrier 2
  • Virtua Fighter 2 
  • Zaxxon Escape

After Burner Climax has also been taken down from XBLA and PSN, so it makes sense that the mobile version would also be dropped. As for those Genesis/Mega Drive games, SEGA has been trying to have higher quality versions of them starting with Sonic CD, Sonic 1 & 2. SEGA did say; “Given the right situation, these titles may return in an updated form,” so you never know if we will see some of these return.

If you paid for any of the games, you can still download them at anytime on iTunes or the Play Store.

[Via: Eurogamer]

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SEGA Humble Bundle sale slashes 75% off some great games

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Open up your E-Wallets folks! There’s a big sale going on at Humble Bundle and SEGA is one of the main publishers, so get in on the big clearance ‘cuz everything must go! Although, technically it’s digital so it really doesn’t go anywhere. Just…data gets copied from a server and onto your computer but that data also stays at the server so it’s not like…..NEVERMIND! Anyway,here are some of the great SEGA deals going on:

And many many more! The sale ends soon, so come on down and take a gander.

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Hucast Games announces Redux 2 for the Dreamcast

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We have a love and hate relationship with Hucast Games, while we admit we weren’t the biggest fans of their first entry due to technical issues, it felt even more slimy with they continued to re-release the game multiple titles and charging people for these new versions (see: Dux 1.5,  Redux: Dark Matters and the revision disc). Now the studio is ready to move on and finally release a full fledged sequel called Redux 2.

The game will come in three packaged variations:

The game is set to feature seven stages, new spacecrafts, a selection of new weapons, and 2-player co-op mode. While the game has not gotten a release date, Hucast Games is allowing users to pre-order their games now. Isn’t that generous of them?

Here are the different packages and first screenshots:

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SEGA 3D Classics Space Harrier and Fantasy Zone themes now on North American Nintendo eShop

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While SEGA has released several awesome Nintendo 3DS themes over in Japan, here in the West all we have are Sonic the Hedgehog themes. Don’t get me wrong, I like Sonic, but what about SEGA’s non-blue hedgehog stuff? Well today things change, at least for North American fans at the time of this article. Via SEGA Localization Producer Sam Mullen comes news that 3D Space Harrier and 3D Fantasy Zone themes release today! Available now for $1.99 each, these two themes feature graphics and sounds from both games and are an excellent way to scrub every hint of Nintendo off of your 3DS. Fill the home screen with SEGA games, pick a SEGA 3D Classics theme, slap on a SEGA branded skin and you’re all set!

No word on Europe yet, but when we hear something we’ll update the story.

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Cook & Becker releases official licensed art prints for Phantasy Star, Shinobi, Streets of Rage, and more

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If you have ever wanted to put some cute retro SEGA art on your wall and show people that you too are a retro gaming art snob, you can now pick up prints over at Cook & Becker. These prints are officially licensed by SEGA and being sold by the Dutch art dealer for $99 dollars unframed.

Check out the pieces here:

More should be coming out this summer, if you wallet wasn’t empty already. My favorite prints are Phantasy Star, Golden Axe and Shinobi (yes, in that order). Which are your favorites?

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Atlus releasing Lost Dimension July 28th, free timed DLC detailed

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Atlus has now confirmed that Lost Dimension, a SRPG for the Playstation 3 and Playstation Vita will launch in North America on July 28th. As for Europe, you can expect the game to be released sometime this summer (no solid date has been given yet).

The game will give you free DLC content for the first two weeks. The retail value of this DLC is $20 dollars. This means that if you buy the game at launch, you will be given $20 dollars worth of content for free, once the game is out for 2 weeks new buyers will have to purchase the DLC.

So whats all the DLC you’ll be getting? Hit the jump and find out.

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Stella Glow developer Imageepoch files for bankruptcy

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After suffering millions in losses, employees heading to other companies, and last month’s disappearance of their CEO, Imageepoch will be filing for bankruptcy.

Founded in 2005, Imageepoch enjoyed moderate success as a JRPG developer. Some hardcore SEGA fans may know them through their work on the DS’s Sands of Destruction. They also developed the 7th Dragon series, which was produced by Skies of Arcadia and Phantasy Star creator Reiko Kodama and published by SEGA. The company was set to celebrate their 10th anniversary next month with the release of the SEGA-published 3DS JRPG Stella Glow.

The company was doing well through September 2011, when they reported 1.7 billion yen in profit. Unfortunately, not long after the company announced they would start self-publishing some of their games, they began to run into problems. Just two years later, the company reported a mere 400 million yen in profits. Many of their self-published games were met with mediocre reviews and sold poorly. Now, the company has 1.1 billion yen in debt owed to 43 creditors, with an additional 3 million owed to five creditors through affiliate company Smile Online.

According to Siliconera, this bankruptcy won’t affect the release of Stella Glow, which has been completed for some time. Stella Glow was originally announced as a self-published title, before SEGA picked up publishing duties in mid-March.

If you want an in-depth look at the fall of Imageepoch, you might want to take a look at this article. I’m not familiar with the website, but a lot of the information inside it seems to check out with what I’ve read elsewhere.

Stella Glow will be released by SEGA on June 4. It’s set to be localized by Atlus later this year.

[Via: Siliconera]

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Review: 3D Thunder Blade (Nintendo 3DS)

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The final arcade title in wave two of SEGA’s 3D Classics line of games releases this Thursday, and boy is it a special one! While Thunder Blade is not SEGA’s most famous 80s arcade title, eclipsed by greats like OutRun, Space Harrier, and Hang-On, it certainly deserves a spot with the big boys. Perhaps the general public’s neglect of Thunder Blade stems from the game’s home console releases. While other SEGA arcade classics have seen near perfect home ports, Thunder Blade never truly saw a worthy release that stacked up with the arcade original. But now, nearly 30 years later, SEGA and M2 just may have done the original justice with their latest SEGA 3D Classic release. How did they do in porting this 1987 classic? Read on!

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Axel Stone from Streets of Rage, Sakura Shinguji of Sakura Wars and more confirmed for Project X Zone 2

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Courtesy of the new issue of Famitsu (and the scans above, provided by @TACK0520 on Twitter), we now know three more characters showing up on the SEGA side of things in the upcoming Project X Zone 2: Brave New World.

Axel Stone of Streets of Rage fame has been confirmed to show up in the game, as have Sakura Shinguji and Gemini Sunrise from the Sakura Taisen series. Whilst both Sakura Taisen characters return from the first game, this is Axel’s first appearance in a seriously long time, and it’s great to see him added to the roster. In addition to these SEGA additions, Capcom’s Phoenix Wright and Maya Fey of their Ace Attorney series are also confirmed to be appearing, as well as characters from God Eater 2 and Summon Night 3. From the looks of things, Axel will be an assist unit, whereas the Taisen characters return in their role from Project X Zone. 

Overall, it’s awesome to see more SEGA love from this game; Axel was definitely near the top of my wanted list, and I’m ecstatic to see him return.

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Grandia II getting a PC port based on the Dreamcast version

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GungHo announced that they’re re-releasing the acclaimed JRPG Grandia II on PC via Steam. While the game already got a PC port back in 2002, this will be a new port based on the original Dreamcast version. Aside from the usual Steam features like achievements and trading cards, the game will have both mouse and keyboard and gamepad support.

The port is the result of a survey GungHo put out, in which they asked fans which games by Game Arts they would want to see re-released and on which platforms. With Grandia II apparently getting a lot of support for a PC port. GungHo hasn’t said when we can expect to see this release or if any other much requested games like Lunar will be seeing re-releases as well.

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Classic SEGA Magazine Corner: The Official Dreamcast Magazine blasts off with Space Channel 5

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During their short run, the US Official Dreamcast Magazine managed to produce some excellent covers showcasing a wide range of Dreamcast titles. Unlike other gaming magazines tied to a single company, ODCM didn’t rely on mascots to sell the latest issue. Amazingly, Sonic only appeared on two covers during the magazine’s run; the promotional Issue 0 and the premiere issue. from issue 2 and beyond, ODCM shifted the spotlight to both first and third party franchises from a range of genres. Either it was a testament to the console’s strong library, or the editorial staff’s taste, but not a single issue of the magazine gave a cover story to a dud of a game. In this installment of Classic SEGA Magazine Corner we’re taking a look at issue 4 which gave Space Channel 5‘s Ulala the cover treatment, a full introductory spread, and the top slot in an article about great Dreamcast games due for release in 2000. Enough talk, let’s crack this issue open!

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