Welcome to our new video series The Weekly Five, a top five list covering a wide range of SEGA topics. We are celebrating The Year of Developers over at SEGAbits.com, that means that each month throughout the year we will be covering notable notable SEGA developers. This month is all about a developer that is close to my heart, SEGA-AM2. What better way to kick off the new series than to discuss five ways SEGA-AM2 changed video gaming.
SEGA AM2 has a huge library of developed games, but nothing is more shocking at how much they change genres and still delivered a game that would defy that same genre. For example, Virtua Cop which in my opinion is one of the best light gun shooters around.
Nothing has a bigger impact on you than the first stage’s music. Its the song that draws the player into the game and Virtua Cop succeeds with its Stage 1 Theme: “Arms Black Market”, giving you that feeling that you and a buddy really are taking down this black market gun rig.
SEGA and Atlus have had a long history together. Before SEGA bought the company in 2013, the companies collaborated on various titles which appeared on home console and arcade hardware. 1997’s Groove On Fight: Gouketsuji Ichizoku 3 was one of these titles, the third in Atlus’ Gouketsuji Ichizoku/Power Instinct series of fighting games.
In this week’s My Life with SEGA, AJ and Mickey Mac put Groove on Fight to the test! Is this really one of the best SEGA Saturn games you’ve never played?
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SEGA AM2 is just one of those developers that always puts a smile on my face whenever I talk about their games. Not only do they have one of the most vast libraries, but they also revolutionized gaming in general multiple times over the past decades. Let’s look at the developer that popularized sprite-scaling in the 80s, gave us modern 3D with their Virtua series and created one of the most expensive games ever as we walk through their legacy.
Don’t forget to join us all month long while we talk more about SEGA AM2 and all their legendary franchises.
It has been an interesting year for SEGA games. During the first few months of 2014, Western SEGA fans had very little when it came to new games, while those in Japan enjoyed the puzzle mashup Puyo Puyo Tetris and the Yakuza spinoff Ryu ga Gotoku: Ishin!. Thankfully, those in the West had Alien: Isolation and Platinum Games’ Bayonetta 2 to look forward to, and in early February it was revealed that Sonic Boom would be releasing to the Wii U and 3DS. Another reveal came, much to the delight of the Hatsune Miku fanbase, with the announcement that Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2nd was set for a Western release in November. Meanwhile, fans of Relic Entertainment and The Creative Assembly’s real time strategy PC titles were treated to Total War: Rome II DLC and Company of Heroes 2 standalone expansions Ardennes Assault and The Western Front Armies.
Suffice it to say, the year has been mixed but not a disappointment. While certain blue hedgehogs failed to give us a good game, fans who step outside their comfort zone of Sonic and traditional SEGA games will find several great titles from SEGA. What are these great games? Read on to find out what our favorite SEGA games of 2014 were in our annual year end round table!
Jingle Bells, Sonic smells, Saturn all the way! Oh what fun it is to ride in Opa Opa today…
Terrible rhyming aside, it was recently Christmas, and this calls for This is Saturn to get festive with the much-loved NiGHTS demo, Christmas NiGHTS! But are those who love it just looking through frosty, but rosy-tinted nostalgia lenses? Or is this demo really more than meets the eye? Find out, on this special Festivus episode of This is Saturn!
This is Saturn is a video series created by British teenager Liam ‘TrackerTD’ Ashcroft, aiming to give an alternative and in-depth look at the good, the bad, and the ugly of SEGA Saturn gaming, all whilst maintaining a somewhat strong accent.
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SEGAbits and Sonic Retro team up to bring you a podcast focused on SEGA’s new Sonic Boom franchise! Hosted by Barry the Nomad of SEGAbits.com and David the Lurker of SonicRetro.org, Boom Talkalaka features discussion of the many aspects of Sonic Boom – from comics and episodes of the cartoon, to the video games and toys.
In the second episode, Barry and David review the latest episodes of the TV show through to “Eggheads”, 2014’s final episode, discuss the direction the comic book is taking, and Barry shares his thoughts on the 3DS and Wii U games.
Give the show a listen and in the comments tell us what you think! If you have any questions or comments you want David to read on the next episode, leave your message here with the subject line “Boom-Grams”: http://segabits.com/contact/
Today marks a big day for fans of Phantasy Star, as it’s the 27th anniversary of the original game and the franchise as well. On December 20th, 1987, SEGA’s now iconic RPG released to the Sega Mark III. Following the original’s release, three numeric sequels released to the SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis and further installments released to numerous other platforms. The series has come a long way since 1987, and it’s amazing that it continues to this day with the releases of Phantasy Star Online 2 and Phantasy Star Nova. But rather than focusing on the newest installments, and grumbling about how we still can’t play them in the West, let’s take a trip back to the Fall of 1988 when SEGA’s The Team SEGA Newsletter previewed Phantasy Star for the Master System.
SEGAbits Plays gets into the festive mood as Barry and George play Dr. Seuss’s The Grinch and the Official Dreamcast Magazine demo disc Volume 10 for the SEGA Dreamcast. Join us as we destroy Whoville, fly about as a little toy Santa in Toy Commander‘s Christmas missions, and explore various demo disc oddities. Wait, was that an anti-smoking advert?
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This week on My Life with SEGA, Andrew and Mickey Mac dive into the trenches with a run-and-gun arcade classic from SNK, Metal Slug.
While the game is both addictive and exciting as a single player experience, it’s best enjoyed with a friend. Sadly, we’re getting these two jackasses that aren’t even capable of taking on the Empire without wanting to kill each other.
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Andrew Rosa and Mickey Mac must save SEGA from the vile Nintendo Empire in this ridiculous action/sci-fi comedy, starring Erica Winter, Barry the Nomad and Mike Lodato (SegaCDUniverse), with a special appearance by SEGA’s very own ToeJam & Earl!
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A few months ago we brought you an unboxing of a launch day Dreamcast, this time we are bringing you a short unboxing of the limited edition Persona Q 3DS XL from Gamestop. I have to say, this is the nicest looking special edition 3DS that I have seen and definitely worth looking into if you can’t wait for the New 3DS XL models to hit North America next year.
So if you have any questions about the Persona Q limited edition 3DS XL, let me know in the comments below. Thanks for watching!
We are coming to a close in our SEGA Saturn Month here at SEGAbits, so we decided to go out in a bang by telling you guys our favorite SEGA in-house developed game. SEGA had a power house of developers during the 90’s and most of them really hit their strides during the Saturn, we know its hard to pick just one game, so we will also be listing three more titles as honorable mentions.
Like always, if you guys want to let us know your favorite SEGA developed Saturn titles, you can do so in the comments section.
It’s a double dose of My Life with SEGA this week, as AJ boards a helicopter en route to Jurassic Park for the SEGA Genesis and The Lost World: Jurassic Park for the Genesis and SEGA Saturn.
Shining Force III Scenerio 2 & 3 never made it to America, which is too bad because the games where all fantastic. This track is from the 1st Scenario of the game, called “Sanctity”, which is one of the most epic tracks that I have ever heard in a game. I love the way it starts out simplistic enough and just adds layers throughout making it a very pleasant listen. Moving from epic, to haunting and back to absolutely beautiful.
No one quite does it like Motoi Sakuraba, who has worked on music for the first two Star Ocean games, Valkyrie Profile, Golden Sun series, and many more. The soundtrack to Shining Force III is so great, that I’ll embed another song after the break. For FREE, that’s right, 100% off! How’s that for a Black Friday deal?