SEGA News

SEGA looking for the right time to bring Yakuza Ishin West

by

The last few years have been a great time to be a Yakuza fan with the series’ rise to success over here in the west. It seems SEGA America is taking the series more seriously by investing in these titles, for example Yakuza Like a Dragon will feature a full English dub. In a recent interview with ‘Rocket Beans Gaming’, SEGA’s Senior Localization Producer Scott Strichart explained that SEGA America and Japan want to bring Yakuza spin-offs to the West but needs to find the right time:

“We’re interested in doing what Japan’s gonna do at this point. We absolutely recognize there are some holes in the backlog that we want to do and Japan wants us to do. It’s literally just a matter of finding space for them on the slate. Like you said there’s over saturation issues, do we stop doing new things to put out old things? Do we put out the old thing in the middle of working on the new thing? Then say please buy both? There’s definitely an issue there with over saturating the market. That’s where we’ve kinda landed on that unfortunately. As much as we all wanna do it we need to find the time and space.”

So this doesn’t confirm that its happening, but it at least confirms that SEGA Japan and America are interested but don’t want to over saturate the market. It makes sense, there has been quite a bit of Yakuza releases these last few years with them even releasing all the once exclusive PlayStation 3 games on PlayStation 4.

[Source: Tojodojo]

1 Comment

SEGA teases Project “B.L.A.C.K.” – Wonderful Future; more details coming September 2nd

by

SEGA has created a website and teased a new project titled, Project “B.L.A.C.K” – Wonderful Future, which is about a group of young female artists who want to help fight for the future of Japan. Among them, the performances of song and dances by 12 aces called “Noble 12” are supreme and mesmerizing. The acronym of B.L.A.C.K stands for Brilliant Legislative Artistic Celebrity Knights. Nothing else about the game is known at the moment besides the main characters but we do know that the game will involve Sakura Wars composer, Kohei Tanaka, in some capacity and more details on the game will be announced on September 2nd.

This game could be related to the previous article regarding several trademarks for the Sakura Wars brand and Sakura Wars fan, Rachael, discovered that the black emblem contains the kanji “Dai Teikoku” meaning Grand Imperial which could be a reference to the base of the Imperial Combat Revue from the main series. What do you think that this game could be a spin-off to the Sakura Wars series or an entirely different thing? Let us know in the comments below.

1 Comment

Sonic 2 ex-artist shows off unapproved SEGA pitch for ‘Spellcaster’ fighting game

by

We have been covering all the SEGA Technical Institute pitches that Sonic the Hedgehog 2 artist Craig Stitt has been posting over at the SEGA Retro Gaming group on Facebook. First he showed off his pitch for Sonic’s partner called Boomer, then he showed off Astropede and now he is showing off a pitch Craig Stitt did with programmer Dave Sanner back in SEGA’s 16-bit days. The game was set to be called ‘Spellcaster’ and was meant to be a two player combat game based around the use of magic. The gimmick would be that the game would have a musical component in that players had to press button combinations to cast a spell but each button would play a musical note.

The idea would be that players would have a easier time doing complicated button combinations if they were based around sound. According to Craig Stitt, the pitch was put together after Sonic Spinball was completed and was rejected, this is when Craig Stitt began working on his Astropede pitch. Check out some of the artwork Craig Stitt did for Spellcaster below:

2 Comments

Puyo Puyo Tetris 2: The Ultimate Puzzle Match announced; Pre-Order Launch Edition for rare in-game Item Cards for Skill Battle Mode

by

SEGA has announced today that Puyo Puyo and Tetris will be reuniting once again in Puyo Puyo Tetris 2: The Ultimate Puzzle Match coming to Nintendo Switch and the Xbox One family of devices, including Xbox Series X, and PlayStation®4 on December 8th, with the PlayStation®5 version coming Holiday 2020 and Steam version coming early 2021.

Continue Reading ➜

No Comments

EXCLUSIVE: Sonic & Knuckles Rock the Rock Revisited with Chris Tang – Beating the Previous Record!

by

High Score is a new documentary series on Netflix charting the history of video games. While the whole series is recommended to SEGA fans, the fourth episode in particular is a must watch. The episode, titled “This is War”, covers the console wars of SEGA’s push to outsell Nintendo in the United States. SEGA all-stars, and friends to the site, Tom Kalinske (former President and CEO of SEGA of America) and game designer and gaming tournament champion Chris Tang are featured in the episode. Chris is known best to Sonic fans as the winner of SEGA and MTV’s Rock the Rock competition in 1994.

Following the Netflix series debut, I got to talking to Chris and he revealed to me that the production of the documentary prompted him to revisit Sonic & Knuckles and redo the Rock the Rock’s finals competition run. The rules being collect the most rings in Launch Base Zone in 3 minutes as Knuckles. Chris, always the competitor, wanted to go up against himself and see if his current skills and abilities could outdo his previous win. After a day of practice, Chris fired up his recording devices and recorded this run that we are proud to debut exclusively here at SEGAbits!

Continue Reading ➜

1 Comment

Ninjala to feature Sonic the Hedgehog Collaboration

by

The developers behind Ninjala, a free-to-play online multiplayer action game developed by SOLEIL and published by GungHo Online Entertainment for Nintendo Switch which features modern day ninjas participating in a tournament with ninja gum as weapons, revealed on the 8th Dev Diary that they will include their first in-game collaboration with Sonic the Hedgehog as part of a celebration of surpassing 4 million downloads. The developers of Ninjala will have more news share regarding the collaboration on a later date.

What are your thoughts on the Sonic the Hedgehog Collaboration in Ninjala? Will you be playing the game with friends when it arrives? Let us know in the comments below.

1 Comment

“Wonder Boy – Asha in Monster World” Announced for PS4 and Nintendo Switch With Original Development Team

by

A new entry to the Wonder Boy/Monster World called Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World has been announced has been announced for Playstation 4 and Nintendo Switch with the original developers attached to the project.

The game features Asha, the protagonist returning from Monster World IV for Sega Mega Drive along with her flying blue Pepelogoo as they set on an adventure to save the world and will be fully dubbed with characters described as “lively and chatty”.

Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World will be developed by the Artdink studio in conjuction with ININ Games, with several members of the original Wonder Boy team which includes the series creator, Ryuichi Nishizawa, original composer Shinichi Sakamoto, character designer Maki Ozora, and cheif creative officer Takanori Kurihara.

The full reveal for Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World is expected to be shown during the Gamescom Awesome Indies digital event at 7:00 p.m. CEST on Saturday 29th of August.

[Source: IGN Spain]

 

13 Comments

Puyo Puyo Champions to Receive a New Update: Spectator Mode, 2 New Characters, Color Blind Settings, & More!

by

Puyo Puyo Champions will be receiving a new update with new features which will include a spectator mode, two more additional characters (Rafisol and Paprisu), color blindness mode, Gummy Puyo mode, game speed options, auto play assist and additional details on the match result screens.

The update for the game will arrive shortly on August 26th for Nintendo Switch, then Playstation 4, Xbox One, and PC this September.

No Comments

Yakuza Like A Dragon – “How Will You Rise” Trailer Showcases Outrageous Jobs & Release Date

by

The new trailer for Yakuza: Like A Dragon, takes players on a journey through the streets of Yokohama, Japan with Ichiban Kasuga and his loyal party members, Nanba, Saeko, and Adachi, as they swap between just a few of the 20+ unique Jobs available throughout the game.

In what can only be described as a meta worldview, Ichiban envisions himself the lead character in an RPG and his ensuing skirmishes take on the form of turn-based battles. For example, you can become musician and make your enemies attack each other or a break dancer to perform some lethal funky moves.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon will launch on November 13, 2020 on Xbox One X, Xbox One, Windows 10, PlayStation 4, and Steam. Yakuza: Like a Dragon will also be available on the Xbox Series X console on day 1 of its release, as well as PlayStation 5 at a later date.

PRE-ORDER

PlayStation 4 | Xbox One & Xbox One X | Windows 10 | Steam

6 Comments

SEGA Forever Pop-Up Facts Video Reveals Early “NiGHTS into dreams…” Box Art

by

To celebrate the anniversary weekend of NiGHTS into dreams…, SEGA has reduced the price of the Steam release by 85%, making it just $1.19! We here at SEGAbits love the original Saturn classic, as well as the holiday themed demo disc Christmas NiGHTS (so much so, we reviewed and rated it an A+.)

In addition to the sale, the SEGA Forever YouTube channel shared a cool pop-up trivia video which reveals an early design of NiGHTS in some mocked-up concept cover art. In our opinion, it’s kind of creepy, but still a very cool find. By the way, if you like clean high res art from SEGA classics, we highly recommend following SEGA Forever on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Recent posts include some great promotional renders for NiGHTS, Gain Ground art and very blocky Virtua Racing renders.

No Comments

More SEGA Astro City Mini Games Revealed – Plus Accessory Kit Announced

by

When we first shared the news about SEGA’s Astro City Mini, it was revealed that the plug and play would include 36 arcade classics. At the time, 10 were revealed, and today we learned of an additional 13 games! The newly announced titles include:

  • Cotton
  • Shinobi
  • Shadow Dancer
  • E-SWAT
  • Crack Down
  • Gain Ground
  • Puyo Puyo
  • Columns
  • Bonanza Bros.
  • Puzzle & Action: Ichidant-R
  • Wonder Boy
  • Wonder Boy in Monster Land
  • Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair

Continue Reading ➜

9 Comments

Watch Takenobu Mitsuyoshi’s Dinner Event in Journey’s Canten Virtually this Sunday, August 23rd

by

Although Takenobu Mitsuyoshi’s in-person dinner show was delayed up to next year in Japan, fans who are not able to attend can now watch his dinner show virtually online this Sunday, August 23rd on YouTube at 19:00 JST (6 AM EST, 5 AM Central, 3 AM PST). SEGA has even uploaded a dinner menu with a list of food Mitsuyoshi-san will be eating and encourages viewers to prepare the same food for the show as if they were attending the event.

Will you be attending Mitsuyoshi’s dinner show online this weekend, which iconic SEGA theme song would you like for him to sing during the dinner show? Leave us a comment down below.

No Comments

Sega Technical Institute’s Canceled “Treasure Tails” For SEGA Genesis / Mega Drive Screenshots Hit The Net

by


We have been posting a lot about Sega Technical Insitute’s canceled projects including Boomer an unused Sonic 2 side kick, Astropede a canceled pitch 16-bit game and now we have Treasure Tails which was a cancelled pitch by Sega Technical Institute. While these screens is all we have, at first, it was said to be pitched by Bill Dunn but Craig Stitt has come out and said its not true.

Check out what Craig Stitt had to say:

Continue Reading ➜

No Comments

Segapede/Astropede cancelled SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive gets over 12 minutes of prototype footage posted online

by

If you haven’t been keeping up, SEGA Technical Institute artist Craig Stitt has been posting quite a bit of lost video game concept art and now prototype footage of a game he pitched SEGA at first called Segapede and later renamed Astropede. Its a very interesting project since it seems Craig wanted this to be a part of the Sonic universe and even used ideas from Sonic 2 with a twist, for example each pod that follows you contained a power and if you got hit you would lose a pod. A very similar gimmick to Sonic’s rings.

Continue Reading ➜

4 Comments

Panzer Dragoon: Remake heading to PS4, PC, and Xbox One by end of year, also coming to next gen consoles

by


It looks like Zbigniew Dębicki, CEO of Forever Entertainment, the company that has created the Panzer Dragoon: Remake and will be doing The House of the Dead remakes sooner than later, has spoken about the game coming not only to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One; but also next generation consoles like PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. In a newly translated chat with the CEO by Panzer Dragoon World, the plan is to release the PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One by the end of the year:

According to the CEO, Panzer Dragoon: Remake is set to be released on other platforms like PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC (non-Stadia version) by the end of the year, but we will also be getting a PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X versions later down the line. I can already hear Limited Run Games salivating at all the different releases (oh, hi Josh). We shall see, Panzer Dragoon: Remake launched on March 10, 2020 on Nintendo Switch.

6 Comments