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SEGAbits & Sonic Retro present Boom Talkalaka #1: Sonic Boom Begins

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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.

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”: https://segabits.com/contact/

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My Life with SEGA celebrates twenty years of Saturn with Virtua Fighter

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The SEGA Saturn celebration continues as Andrew Rosa and Mickey Mac with special guest Erica Winter “enjoy” one of the very first games released for the SEGA Saturn…. Virtua Fighter! Stay tuned for next week’s part two as AJ, Mickey Mac, and Erica tackle another Saturn classic. We’re not going to spoil it, but here’s a hint: it rhymes with “Smirtua Spider Shoe”.

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SEGA Tunes: Battle Garegga flies you to the leaden sky

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Battle Garegga is a fabulous vertical arcade shooter that was ported exclusively to the SEGA Saturn in Japan. Not into the genre? Who cares, you don’t have to care how a game plays to appreciate this fabulous piece of music. That’s the thing I like about Japanese games, they usually tried to hook you right at the first stage and offer you a bombastic opening track. Battle Garegga‘s Stage 1: Valley song is no different, a great opening track that has you hooked right at the first note.

So what are you waiting for? Hit play and fly to the leaden sky.

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Round Table: Our favorite SEGA Saturn imports

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It’s no secret that the SEGA Saturn did not have as strong a library as it could have had. The reason for this was that SEGA of America and SEGA Europe didn’t believe in the console like SEGA of Japan did, and thanks to a bunch onf inter-company politics, we never got to see many great titles in the West. Thankfully, the SEGA Saturn can easily play imports if you have yourself an Action Replay device – which Play Asia is conveniently having a sale on! Also, many of the Saturn’s imports are arcade titles or use minimal Japanese text, so you’re likely to find a slew of import friendly games.

Not sure where to start? Perhaps you need some ideas for additional games to add to your import library? Let the SEGAbits writers help out as we share our favorite SEGA Saturn imports!

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Classic SEGA Ads: The Saturn takes on the N64’s itty-bitty library

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If you asked me to make a list of what characteristics define the SEGA of the 90s, at the top of the list would undoubtably be “mocking the competition”. In an era where Nintendo was the family friendly choice, SEGA’s decision to be the rowdy cool kid in town who wasn’t afraid to shake things up and shit talk the competition got people’s attention. During the Genesis era, this sort of practice paid off. The Genesis made SEGA a household name in North America, and the company reigned supreme in the early 90s. However, due to unsuccessful launches of the 32X and Saturn, SEGA slipped in the market and in turn, attack ads like the one above lost much of its bite. Regardless, SEGA soldiered on with such ads, attacking the Playstation in claiming its single processor can’t handle a game like NiGHTS into Dreams and stating that the Saturn kicked Pretendo’s ass when it came to the respective console libraries.

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Opinion: What Modern Sonic can learn from Classic Sonic

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Like most long suffering Sonic the Hedgehog fans I have a love/hate relationship with the Sonic series. For every step forward Sonic takes, he takes two steps backwards or worse. I’m sure we call all agree, we’d like to see our beloved Sonic series shine again. Unfortunately we don’t all agree on how to achieve this goal. By creating various ‘generations of Sonic’ with a variety of differently play style,s SEGA have built a polarized, multifaceted fan base who all want something different from the series. From classic Sonic fans who like 2D side scrolling to Adventure fans who enjoy a varied play styles and a story driven experience and not forgetting the Rush fans that just want a good bit of fast.

Is any one group of the Sonic fan base more correct than the other? No, of course not- it takes all sorts. Though I do love the classics, I am no stranger to the modern Sonic games and I believe both have plenty to offer. I enjoy both Sonic Colours and Sonic Generations. I routinely return to Sonic Rush and it’s incredible OST. I spent an unhealthy portion of my teenage years in a stuffy dark bedroom playing the Sonic Adventure titles.

So is it possible to cater to the entire multifaceted Sonic fanbase? Probably not! But is it possible to create a Sonic game the majority of us can enjoy without it being a bloated hot mess? Maybe! Here are some of my suggestions.

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My Life with SEGA revives a dead format and plays some Video CDs on his SEGA Saturn

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The celebration of the SEGA Saturn continues as A.J. Rosa takes a look back on the Video CD format, and the VCD movie card available for SEGA’s 32-bit powerhouse.

In addition, you’ll get a brief glimpse at his VCD collection, as well as the Dreammovie VCD player for SEGA Dreamcast. If you’ve been wanting a “crash course” on the Video CD format and how it all works with our beloved Saturn, look no further.

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SEGA-Sammy’s Q1 2015 financial report detailed and explained

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SEGA-Sammy recently announced it’s first half results for the fiscal year and it came with mixed results. Some divisions have beaten expectations so far but the gloomy outlook for the rest of the year has effected the final net income expected by the group. During this period SEGA only released one major title but another up and coming title looks set to outdo their expectations, hit the link to find out what SEGA Sammy have been doing well and what the future holds for the group.

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SEGA Tunes: Virtua Fighter 2’s Sarah and her Black Moon Cat

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Virtua Fighter 2 was the most popular game for the SEGA Saturn for many reasons, the most popular of those being the graphics and gameplay. But for me, I could never get over the excellent soundtrack. Virtua Fighter 2 featured one of the most impressive soundtracks that came out of the SEGA Saturn era. This week we look at Sarah’s theme ‘Black Moon Cat‘ and its various remixes including the Virtua Fighter Kids remix and more!

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This is Saturn sees giant robots battle it out in Cyber Troopers Virtual-On for the SEGA Saturn

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This is Saturn kicks off SEGAbit’s Saturn Month in style, with a look a SEGA mech-shooting bundle of action, Cyber Troopers Virtual-On. Widely hailed as one of the most memorable titles for Saturn, is this game really all it’s cracked up to be? Or does it belong in the scrapyard?

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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Round Table: Our SEGA Saturn Memories

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As the SEGA Saturn’s 20th anniversary nears, and Saturn Month heads into day two, the SEGAbits team looks back to the first time we experienced the console. For this week’s round table, we’re joined by George and Barry, as well as three content creators from the SEGAbits YouTube channel – A.J. of My Life with SEGA, Liam aka TrackerTD of This is Saturn, and our newest member Adam aka Gunstar who will be producing a new series set to premiere soon. After the break, read how we were first introduced to the Saturn!

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The Year of the Console – This is Cool, This is SEGA Saturn Month!

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2014 has been a fantastic year for SEGA hardware anniversaries, with the SEGA Genesis turning 25, the SEGA 32X turning 20, the SEGA Pico turning 20 as well, and the Dreamcast turning 15. This month marks our final Year of the Console month long celebration as we turn our sights towards the SEGA Saturn, which turns 20 years old on November 22nd. All month long we’ll be celebrating SEGA’s under-appreciated 32-bit console with video reviews, let’s plays, podcasts, classic ads, retro reviews, and more!

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Swingin’ Report Show #72: Halloween Special featuring The SEGA Fall Lineup

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Fall is in the air, the leaves are changing color and new console and PC games are releasing from SEGA! This week on the Swingin’ Report Show podcast, George and Barry look back on SEGA’s scariest games, and discuss the latest current and upcoming SEGA titles. We discuss why The House of the Dead has endured as a franchise for so long, talk SEGA’s most underrated scary titles, share our thoughts on the recently released Alien: Isolation and Bayonetta 2, and celebrate Valkyria Chronicles PC release announcement.

We also look ahead to November, as Barry talks about his experience playing Sonic Boom for Wii U and 3DS at SEGA’s New York event and details the first issue of Archie’s Sonic Boom comic book. November’s console theme month is also revealed, and we tease an upcoming special edition podcast that is going to be Mega fun. Give it a listen and Happy Halloween!

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Comic Book Review: Sonic Boom Issue #1 (Archie Comics)

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When SEGA’s Sonic Boom was unveiled in October of last year, all we had to go on was four silhouettes and a press release detailing the people behind the TV series and the general direction. What a difference a year makes, as here we are now with a much better idea of what Sonic Boom is all about, as well as an expanded offering of Sonic Boom materials ranging from the TV show and video games, to toys and comic books. Never before has an offshoot of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise spanned so many forms of media, and such a broad spectrum says a lot about how invested SEGA West is in Sonic Boom. While the TV series is a little over a week away (Saturday, November 8th on Cartoon Network) and the games release in the following weeks, we have the first form of narrative content from Sonic Boom available to us in the form of Archie Comics’ Sonic Boom issue #1. I’ve read it, and now I’m going to review it!

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My Life with SEGA celebrates Halloween with Zombie Revenge for the Dreamcast

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‘Tis the season to be scary, SEGA fans! That’s why A.J. Rosa of My Life with SEGA is reviewing Zombie Revenge for the SEGA Dreamcast.

Zombie Revenge is a side story of the SEGA arcade smash, The House of the Dead. Point of fact, according to our wiki (SEGA Retro), the working title for Zombie Revenge was Blood Bullet: The House of the Dead Side Story…. Yeeeaaah, no.

Anyway, Zombie Revenge is a beat-’em-up/shooter, similar to Die Hard Arcade (Dynamite Deka). Gamers must punch, kick, shoot, slice and dice their way through the walking dead in order to stop a demented madman from wiping all of mankind off the face of the planet. So, how does this mash-and-bash stack up after 15 years? Turn down the lights and crank up the volume. It’s time to kill.

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