3D Streets of Rage 2 gets rated in Australia, could come to your 3DS soon

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SEGA’s 3D Classics on the 3DS eShop seem to be a hit, at least enough so for the company to bring more obscure titles to the platform (like 3D Thunder Blade). Recently ‘3D Streets of Rage 2‘ was submitted in Australia for rating, a game that hasn’t been announced yet. As you can see, the developer is being listed as M2, the same developer that has done the past 3D Classics and the game was submitted by SEGA Europe.

Don’t be surprised if SEGA announces the game soon, along with some really nice extra features to add to the overall experience. Online co-op, please!

Game Boy Advance classic Sonic Advance hitting the Japanese Wii U eShop next week

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Nintendo’s Japanese site has officially revealed that the Game Boy Advance classic Sonic Advance, seen by many fans to be the best post classic era 2D title, will be hitting the Japanese Wii U eShop on February 18th. The game is priced at ¥702 ($5.90/£3.90) and is set to take up 200MB of storage space, much larger in size than the original game but remember this includes a digital copy of the manual.

There is no indication of the game releasing to the West just yet, and there is no sign of the sequels, but we have our fingers crossed and as soon as we hear something we’ll be sure to share it! Me? I’d love to see SEGA’s entire library of Game Boy Advance games on the Wii U. From Jet Grind Radio to Gunstar Super Heroes. A man can dream…

Regarding Sonic The Hedgehog 3 Remastered – Guest Post by Stealth

[The following is a guest post about the Sonic 3 Remastered campaign written by Stealth, who with Taxman made the Retro Engine versions of Sonic 1 and 2 which can currently be bought for iOS and Android. They had also made a proof-of-concept of Sonic 3 running in the engine on the iPhone. This was originally posted on Stealth’s own blog, so it’s written in a way you can expect from a post on a personal blog.]

Intro

Before I start, I’ll first say that I’m speaking as an individual, and not on behalf of any other party, team, business entity, etc. As such, I will speak only for and of myself, without regard to other parties who may want to remain uninvolved.

With the exception of the anniversary presentation from October, I’ve remained relatively silent on the subject of remastering Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Naturally, this is expected of me as someone who has already contracted with SEGA, would be a part of the Sonic 3 remastering project, and would potentially perform work under contract for SEGA again in the future, however, I no longer feel that it’s appropriate to maintain near-complete silence in contrast to my own personal feelings as an individual and as a fan of classic Sonic the Hedgehog.

Alien: Isolation leads BAFTA Games Awards 2015 with six nominations

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The BAFTA Games Awards nominees for the 2015 ceremony have been revealed, and lo and behold SEGA leads the pack with six nominations! Seems last year’s Alien: Isolation made quite the impression, as The Creative Assembly’s survival horror game is up for awards for Audio Achievement, Best Game, British Game, Game Design, Game Innovation, and Music. The slew of awards was no surprise to us here at SEGAbits, as we loved the game so much we gave it a glowing review and named it one of our favorite SEGA games of 2014. Congrats to SEGA and The Creative Assembly on the nominations, and stay tuned to SEGAbits to see how they cleaned up once the winners are revealed on March 12th!

First 4 Figures Sonic & Tails Tornado diorama pre-orders open

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Last week, First 4 Figures teased a very cool Sonic & Tails Tornado statue which was the second in their Sonic Diorama line. Today, pre-orders have officially opened, and we now have a whole slew of photos, the dimensions, the expected release date, and most importantly – the price! Selling for $299.99 the diorama measures 17.5” tall x 14” long x 14” wide, is limited to 1000 pieces, and is expected to release Q4 2015 (the pre-order page accidentally lists “Q4 2014”). There is also an exclusive version, priced at $329.99, limited to 425 pieces, and featuring the inclusion of LEDs to give the rocket booster a flashing effect.

As you can see in the photos, found on the First 4 Figures pre-order page, the statue is a real beauty and is sure to be a hit with classic Sonic fans. But is it worth the asking price? Are you planning to pre-order the latest diorama? Sound off in the comments section!

New Persona 5 details emerge, main character details revealed

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Now that the first Persona 5 trailer finally came out, everyone is left wondering when the first batch of new information will be out. Today’s your lucky day, since Famitsu has released some of the first details regarding the new Persona game.

The main protagonist in this game is a second year high-school student who recently moved to Tokyo in the spring. He doesn’t live with his parents, but friends of his parents, who just happen to live in a coffee shop. The protagonist is bonds with people who have recently lost their homes. The main character’s persona is called Arsène (most likely named after Arsène Lupin).

In the Famitsu issue they interviewed both Katsura Hashino (Producer and Director) and Shigenori Soejima (Character Designer) where they gave more info on the game.

Developer Retrospective: A look back at the games of SEGA’s Overworks

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Last week when we kicked off Overworks and WOW Entertainment month, we took a look back at how SEGA organized their many internal development teams over the years. Among those teams were Overworks and WOW Entertainment, two separate teams that released games from 2000 through to 2004 when they were merged and became SEGA WOW. This week, we will be taking a look back at the games released by Overworks. While the Overworks softography is small, especially compared to giants like SEGA AM2, in the span of four years Overworks released some truly classic titles.

3D Fantasy Zone: Opa-Opa Brothers hits 3DS eShop this week

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Ask us if we like Fantasy Zone. Now look at our logo, stop asking questions, you dingus. Luckily for us and even luckier for you, SEGA has announced that their next SEGA 3D Classic port that’s coming west is Fantasy Zone.

The game isn’t just a regular port as it will add new 3D visuals, adjustable difficultly settings, the ability to save your game, let you play the Japanese or English version, a stage select, and if that wasn’t enough they will have a brand new mode that allows you to play as Upa-Upa (Opa-Opa’s brother).

The official SEGA blog has a great interview with Yosuke Okunari and Naoki Horii talking all about bringing the game to the 3DS.

New Persona 4: Dancing All Night trailer shows remixed songs, more characters and dancing Nanako

So the other new trailer to come out of the Persona live stream was for Persona 4: Dancing All Night. Atlus had already shown the incredible opening theme “Dance”, and in this video they give a taste of the remixed songs you’ll be able to play in the game. It also confirms that Nanako, Yukiko, Naoto and Teddie will be dancing in this game in addition to Yu, Rise, Chie, Yosuke, Kanji and a new character called Kanami.

The end of the trailer also showcases the various editions of the game that will be sold in Japan. The special edition will include a 2-disc OST of the game along with some DLC for the game. There’ll also be a bundle that includes the special edition and a special Persona 4: Dancing All Night themed Playstation Vita. Finally, the first run copies will include a blu-ray with exclusive new footage of Persona 5. The trailer also confirms that the game will be released on June 25th in Japan. While it’s already been confirmed that the game will be released in the US, no release date has been announced yet.

Everyday, young life, Ju-ne-su.

First 4 Figures teases Sonic & Tails Tornado diorama statue

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The First 4 Figures Facebook page is teasing an upcoming statue in the Sonic Diorama series of statues. Dubbed “The Tornado”, this impressive piece is to feature Sonic, Tails, and the Tornado bi-plane. Pre-orders are set to open Tuesday 10th Feb 2015 at First4Figures.com. Though no price is known yet, the previous Sonic Generations diorama sold for $299.99 and measured 12” x 10” x 12”. Let the countdown begin!

Celebrating five years of delivering quality SEGA content

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It really is hard to believe that this site has been around for half a decade and it really passed by quickly. In that time the site has grown and changed so much, hopefully most of it for the positive. I don’t usually go too far into depth when it comes to my anniversary posts, but this time I decided to give you guys some background on how SEGAbits came to be. I hope you guys enjoy.

Persona 5 trailer shows an amazing new style

So Atlus just released this trailer for Persona 5, and it looks nothing like any Persona game before. Aside from plenty of new and returning gameplay elements, the game has a new style that barely any game has ever pulled off before. The closest thing that I could think of is Rhythm Thief combined with Catherine. It just looks fantastic.

Persona 5 will be released on Playstation 3 and Playstation 4 later this year and has already become my most anticipated game of this year.

New Toejam and Earl game in the works

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So your asking yourself when SEGA announced a new Toejam and Earl, considering they published all three previous titles. The answer, they aren’t. SEGA actually doesn’t own the IP to Toejam and Earl. While we know very little on the new title, including who is publishing it, we do know its happening. Posted a few days ago on the official Toejam & Earl Facebook page:

Greetings from Funkotron! We haven’t been posting as often lately because we’ve gotten really busy with the new TJ&E game. We will be making some announcements in a probably 3 or 4 weeks, when we have something we can show, and will be able to share lots of information with you.

Personally I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some sort of crowd funding happening. Greg Johnson (designer and IP holder for the series) also posted the following concept art sketches. When the game is announced, the developer will most likely be HumaNature Studios (HNS), a indie studio being headed by Greg Johnson himself.

Persona 4: Dancing All Night’s opening theme is very danceable

Atlus has released the opening theme of Persona 4: Dancing All Night on Youtube, and it does a fantastic job living up to the music quality standards past games in the series have set. Persona games usually have great music, and it looks like Dancing All Night won’t be an exception as it adds some nice disco flavor to the soundtracks the games have. The vocalists of previous Persona games, Shihoko Hirata and Lotus Juice also make a return here.

While a specific release date hasn’t been announced yet, Persona 4: Dancing All Night will be released later this year for the Playstation Vita. You can expect more Persona news soon, as the Persona Channel livestream will bring more reveals tomorrow.

Hi-sCool! Seha Girls complete series getting a physical release in the West

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Hi-sCool! Seha Girls (or Sega Hard Girls) has been released digitally over in the West thanks to CrunchyRoll, but now that the show is over fans can expect a physical release. No information on if the series will be released on both DVD and Bluray or what.

The series will be published by Discotek Media and was confirmed via their Facebook earlier today. Here is the picture of the cover (which is the same one on the CrunchyRoll page), featuring quite a bit of SEGA cameos that you can find in the full show.

You can also find our written impressions on some of the episodes here.