Lost Judgment is getting ready to release the upcoming ‘The Kaito Files’ DLC, so part of SEGA’s promotional is giving us fans the recipe for a cocktail inspired by everyone’s favorite Yakuza, Masaharu Kaito. Check out the video, sip slow and stay home!
You will need Japanese Whisky, orange juice, plum wine, mint and ice! The Kaito Files DLC releases on March 28, 2022!
Today’s lesson we learn is that some people play games to relax, while other people play to blow off steam. On the other hand, 54-year-old Toyokawa, Japan resident got so heated, he decided to go and e-mail SEGA death threats. The man was arrested on March 16th.
It seems that the man sent SEGA over 12 threatening emails that ranged from setting “the company on fire”, “kill employees” and even as far as “kill the family and children of employees.” Big yikes. According to Watanabe himself, he was upset because he had “lost in an online game and was frustrated”.
What game was he playing? Who knows, as its not detailed but considering he sent the emails from his mobile phone I would assume an online mobile game published by SEGA.
It looks like the the upcoming Forever Entertainment developed The House of the Dead: Remake will be getting three different physical releases from boutique publisher Forever Limited.
If you saw our Knuckles news, we’ve got more! In sharing the Knuckles document, a discussion within a private Facebook group led to a mention of an eBay seller in possession of SEGA Technical Institute documents. The documents are being sold for (in my opinion) obscene amounts and it just goes to show the difference between an archivist and a collector. Some real cool stuff is being revealed that has been literally sitting on people’s shelves for years! Basically, I’m asking for a “thank you, Barry” and PLEASE if you collect this sort of stuff SHARE IT. There is a dude sitting on a Sonic movie draft from the early 90s who still refuses to even share scans because, I guess, they are waiting for a payday. Ugh.
First up is a cool piece of art for Robotnik’s Pinball Fortress from Sonic Spinball. As noted by a Twitter user, this same art is seen in a grainy pitch video but is compressed and squished. Nice to finally see a clean look at it. Next up…
Less than a month before Knuckles’ theatrical debut comes an early document from SEGA Technical Institute dated April 12, 1993. The document, which was shared on a private Sonic the Hedgehog collectors group, was meant to introduce the new antagonist to staffers of SEGA’s American development team. Given Sonic the Hedgehog 3 released on February 2, 1994, this document was seen nearly a full year before making it one of the earliest glimpses of the character.
The document is chock full of interesting tidbits, including a humorous placeholder for his name which is literally “(Name)”. Also, it is stated that Knuckles crates a whirlwind to knock down walls. Of course, in the final game he just sort of walks into walls and “punches” them. But this ability DOES appear in the Sonic 3 Happy Meal which has the Knuckles toy spinning in a dust cloud. Also, Espio does eventually have such abilities.
After the break, read the document for yourself!
Back in January 2019, Wonder Boy Returns received a physical release to the PlayStation 4 courtesy of Strictly Limited Games. The game was a remake of the original arcade classic Wonder Boy, which was published by SEGA and developed by Escape (later Westone Bit Entertainment). In 2016, the remake Wonder Boy Returns was developed and published by CFK for the PC and PlayStation 4, with a new version for the Nintendo Switch released as Wonder Boy Returns Remix in 2019.
It has been recently revealed by Nintendo that three more titles from the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive are coming to the Nintendo Online Expansion Pass service. Two of them are from Treasure, being the coveted action game Alien Soldier and the isometric adventure game Light Crusader. The third being Super Fantasy Zone, an original game released for the Mega Drive originally developed by Sunsoft. All three games are now available for those that have the Nintendo Online Expansion Pass, in all regions.
It’s worth noting all three games were technically previously released on the SEGA Genesis Mini, albeit Alien Soldier was exclusive to the Asian (Korean and Chinese) market. But the lineup is still a solid reveal regardless, especially since Alien Soldier and Super Fantasy Zone are expensive on third-hand markets.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (the movie, not the game) is less than a month away, which means the marketing is really amping up! Toys are hitting shelves, a Happy Meal is releasing in April and Paramount just dropped a new poster, final trailer and AMC has announced a fan event! The trailer, seen above, showcases several news scenes and dips into some of the lore that the movie will drop. The poster, seen after the break, replicates the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 video game box art.
All this marketing sure makes you want to see the movie, right? Well AMC Theaters has you covered, because a fan event has been announced which allows early access to see the film on Wednesday, April 6. Showtimes appear to be at 6PM local times, and with your ticket you receive a limited edition comic book & exclusive collector print. You can buy tickets now over at AMC’s website.
During Sony’s State of Play stream today, Konami announced it would be releasing their long awaited Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection for (at least right now) Sony’s PS4 and PS5 (it has also been confirmed for Nintendo Switch, Xbox and PC).
The collection is set to have Konami classics ranging from their Arcade hits, NES, Gameboy, SNES and yes, even TMNT: Hyperstone Heist on the SEGA Genesis!
It’s been quite some time since the announcement of The House of the Dead Remake published by Forever Entertainment, the same publishers behind the Panzer Dragoon Remake. Today, Forever Entertainment released a new trailer for the upcoming arcade light gun remake that reveals new gameplay footage featuring cutscenes, creatures, and the infamous voice acting from the original game remade from the ground up. The trailer also revealed the release date of the game which is set for April 7th with pre-orders opening on March 31st for the Nintendo Switch.
What did you think of the new trailer of The House of the Dead: Remake? Let us know in the comments below.
Let’s take a look at the books, figures and plush dolls releasing for the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 2 movie!
If you want to support this type of content, you can check out our Patreon!
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.
The official SEGA Youtube channel revealed the first follow-up to the UFO A La Carte arcade machine series since 2009. A video was released showcasing the UFO A La Carte 3, the newest UFO machine developed by SEGA and the first under the GiGO license. The new catcher has bubbled pull strings to pull down using a fork-like gripper, with prizes on the end or next to it. How it works is you try to line up the gripper with the string to center it and it pulls the prize string down. You might have to get it a few times in order to win the prizes, which include plushes, keychains, figures and more. The video shows a small tutorial on how to use and is very familiar with other UFO machines with the two button layout. No information for distribution or a release date has come up but you can check out the video above.
The official Sonic Japanese Twiiter account are doing a new video project where the team takes a plush Sonic and explores around Japan. Started back on January 31, 2022, the videos will highlight various locations and hotspots, including shrines, statues, and more. It is a fun little project that reminds myself of when Sonic Team went on vacation to South America for inspiration for the development of Sonic Adventure. You can also give recommendations to where Sonic will “take a walking adventure” next on the official Twitter account and can read the editorials of the videos on the Sonic Channel website. The first video has Sonic explore Shinagawa including the main shrine, sniff some beautiful flowers, and take a selfie with a Komainu statue. More videos to come in the future and link to the Twitter is available here.
The PlayStation Blog has confirmed that Team Sonic Racing will join their free PlayStation Plus games for March. Sony has also added Ghostrunner, ARK: Survival Evolved and Ghost of Tsushima: Legends. I would say this is a really good month for the service, we will see if this improves the Team Sonic Racing’s lack of online players.
The new games will update on the PlayStation Store on February 28th. If you haven’t you can also add EA Sports UFC 4, Planet Coaster: Console Edition and Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep: A Wonderlands One-shot Adventure right now. As you can see, March is gonna be a way better month.
Atlus has announced Soul Hackers 2 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series, Xbox One and PC (Steam). The first game, at the time titled Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers is actually already the ‘second game’ in the ‘Devil Summoner‘ series which itself is a side-series of the Shin Megami Tensei franchise which originally came out on SEGA Saturn and PlayStation, then getting a 3DS remake in 2012. Does all this confuse you? Probably why they decided a more simple, Soul Hackers 2 title instead of “Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers 2”
The game is set to launch pretty soon, on August 25th in Japan and the next day world wide with Japanese voice overs and English, French, Italian, German, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese subtitles. In Japan they already announced a special Soul Hackers 2 25th Anniversary Edition for PS5 & PS4 that includes a three disc soundtrack, 100 page anniversary book with artwork & interviews, and more to be announced soon.
As for what special versions, day one editions or even pre-order DLC for those outside of Japan; its unknown as of right now. But don’t worry, we will keep you guys posted. Siliconera has a good breakdown on the Japanese content though.