Retro Review: Shadow the Hedgehog

segabits shadow the hedgehog

On January 4th 2006, I submitted to Gamefaqs a review for Shadow the Hedgehog , a game which at the time I boldly declared “the worst SEGA game I’ve ever played.” To date, the 2/10 score I gave it is the lowest I’ve scored a game in any context, on any site I’ve reviewed for, and nothing I’ve played either before or since has inspired a similar score. My outlook on SEGA at the time was incredibly bleak; it was a game that really tore down my confidence in the company and where it was headed, and for those reasons I’ve left this review, for the most part, as is, as a piece of history for how I viewed SEGA at the time, and where I feared the company was headed. Though I’ve edited it a little for form and trimmed it down, the message remains intact. Read on for my thoughts on Shadow the Hedgehog, directly from 2006, as I sat down to review what was (and still is) the worst game I had ever played.

SEGA Channel Retro: Sonic Birthday Celebration

Come join our live SEGA Channel Retro stream as we celebrate Sonic’s birthday the only way we know how! Come check out Sonic games and more on stream.

Now that the stream has concluded, jump to any point you’d like from our initial stream, and be sure to stay tuned this week for more Sonic games streamed live on SEGA Channel Retro. Videos are up on YouTube and on Twitch.

Uncut Stream [Twitch]

Sonic Jam (With Sonic 3 Easy Mode) [YouTube] [Twitch]

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Retro Engine [YouTube] [Twitch]

Sonic Adventure (Sonic’s Story) [YouTube] [Twitch]

SEGAbits, The Sonic Stadium, & Sonic Retro team up to celebrate Sonic’s golden birthday – party all week long!

Sonic23on23
 
Twenty-three years ago today, SEGA changed the future of video games with the release of Sonic the Hedgehog, and to celebrate Sonic’s golden birthday (that’s when your age matches your birthdate) we’re teaming up with The Sonic Stadium and Sonic Retro. All week long, all three sites will form Team SegaSonic, bringing you Sonic the Hedgehog articles, original content, videos, streams, and more from today through to the 29th! Also, as part of the celebrations, we’ll be hosting a panel with Sonic Retro at Too Many Games in Oaks, PA on Saturday the 28th at noon – featuring a Dreamcast round table, a My Life with SEGA episode premiere, the history of Sonic the Hedgehog 2‘s Hidden Palace Zone, and a trivia contest with rare SEGA prizes including The House of the Dead 3 & 4 posters signed by series director Takashi Oda. There will also be several Sonic prizes on hand.

Readers can join in on the celebrations as well! All you have to do is follow SEGAbits, The Sonic Stadium, and Sonic Retro on Twitter and share your Sonic the Hedgehog photos and memories with the hashtag #Sonic23on23. The best tweets will be retweeted and shared to over 11,000 SEGA and Sonic fans, and we all know that in today’s world nothing is more rewarding than a retweet.

Happy Birthday, Sonic! The party has just begun!

SEGA Channel Retro Highlight: Spider-Man VS. Kingpin for SEGA CD Playthrough

Before Batman: Arkham City, before The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, Spider-Man was surrounded by his most threatening villains in New York that is set to explode in 24 hours in The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin for SEGA CD. I decided to play through the game live on SEGA Channel Retro on an unannounced stream and completed it and showed off two of the three endings. See Spider-Man fight foes such as crooks, rats and uh…bats for some reason while he hunts down the nuke that will wipe the Big Apple off the planet while he prove his innocence.

As usual you can check out the video on YouTube and Twitch, with the Twitch feed running at 60 frames per second. You can also check out the uncut livestream with some fumbled extra bits such as me briefly showing off The Adventures of Willy Beamish and the SEGA CD/32X version of the cult classic Night TrapBut I suck at the game and don’t get very far.

Also something about hedgehogs, dashing and androids.

The Amazing Spider-Man vs. Kingpin [YouTube] [Twitch]

Uncut Archived Stream [Twitch]

Read more on this game on Sega Retro!

SEGAbits at E3 Interview: Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2nd Interview with Producer Sam Mullen

Sam Mullen, Localization Producer for SEGA, joined us for an interview at E3 2014 to discuss Hatsune Miku Project Diva F 2nd and our hopes for future Western releases of SEGA’s Japanese titles. Hatsune Miku Project Diva f 2nd is due out Fall 2014 for the Playstation 3 and Vita. We’re especially looking forward to the title, as we gave the original game for the Vita a well deserved “A” grade.

SEGAbits at E3 Interview: Sonic Boom Producer Stephen Frost

Our E3 coverage continues with an interview with Sonic Boom Producer Stephen Frost! Stephen was nice enough to sit down on the final day of the expo to answer our questions about the upcoming Wii U and 3DS games Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal. Developed by Big Red Button Entertainment (Wii U) and Sanzaru Games (3DS), both titles are due out November 2014.

SEGAbits at E3 Preview: Super Monkey Ball Bounce (iOS, Android)

I’m not really all that experienced with the world of mobile gaming. Though I’ve played my share of Angry Birds and a handful of SEGA games, most of my portable gaming is done on proper handheld systems with buttons and analog sticks. Needless to say, I was a little out of my depth at the SEGA Network party, which was showcasing several upcoming mobile SEGA games to the press, including Super Monkey Ball Bounce.
 

SEGAbits at E3 Preview: Rollers of the Realm (PC, PS4, & Vita)

Our work at E3 this year would have been cut short if it had not been for Sega’s acquisition of Atlus Games. (It also would have given us more time to have some fun. Kidding, kidding.) Still, this allowed us to check out some quality titles we might have passed up otherwise. Games like Citzens of Earth (which Nuckles87 recently did an extensive view of). I took up the quest to try Rollers of the Realm. A very different take on your average pinball game.

SEGAbits at E3 Preview: Citizens of Earth (PlayStation 4, PSVita, Wii U, 3DS, & PC)

Citizens-of-Earth

Some games just have this irresistible charm about them. The moment you see it, you just know you want to play it and see if it lives up to just how awesome it looks. At E3, Atlus’s Citizens of Earth was one of those games. As a man who is interested in politics and is always open to some political satire, and the concept on display here is way too hilarious to ignore.

Swingin’ Report Show #64: E3 2014 Special


This week we are chatting all about SEGA/Atlus’ presence at E3 2014. We talk all about the SEGA software including what we thought about our hands on with Sonic Boom video games, Alien Isolation and even the Nintendo published Bayonetta 2.

On the Atlus side we talk about playing Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, Citizens of Earth and much more.

Want to catch all our E3 2014 coverage? You can by clicking here.

[Download] [RSS] [iTunes] [Archive]

Segabits at E3 Preview: Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal (3DS)

Nuckles87 and I have been at odds with the Sonic Boom games at E3. While he was more forgiving of Rise of Lyric on Wii U, I found it a dull and mediocre experience overall. However, for Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal on 3DS, I really enjoyed this platformer while Nux was not as pleased. Surprisingly, I agreed with most of his complaints, but it didn’t affect my enjoyment of the game. So what’s in this game that makes me not only enjoy it much more than Sonic Boom on Wii U, but might be my favorite Sonic game on 3DS? Read on.

SEGAbits at E3 Preview: Sonic Jump Fever (iOS, Android)

sonic-jump-fever
 
While at E3, Nuckles87 and I were invited to a party hosted by SEGA’s mobile division, SEGA Networks, that was dedicated to mingling and showing off SEGA’s mobile titles. It was a great chance to relax after a hard day and to get some free food and drink. Those pretzel bun sandwiches with the roast beef and bacon were out of this world! But mostly, we where there to check out these games that have only been available to the lucky few… million in the Great White North. The one I’ll be talking about in this preview is Sonic Jump Fever, a sequel to the 2012 game that is both harder, easier and more fast-paced than its predecessor. It even has Chao. Yes, Chao are back!

SEGAbits at E3 Preview: Alien Isolation on Oculus Rift

AlienIsolation

“Candygram.”

Terror in virtual reality awaited me as I waited for over an hour to check out the Oculus Rift for the first time. I didn’t waste the wait too much. I did go off and leave Nuckles87 in my place for a bit to play as Sonic in Smash Bros 3DS. I won my match and even had an adventure kicking some Koopa and Egg Robo butt. But that’s not why you’re reading this. So after getting inside and sitting on a nice sofa, the fine folks at Oculus strapped on my headgear and headphones and put me into the world of Ridley Scott’s Alien.

SEGAbits at E3 Preview: Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2nd

Until a week ago, I had never owned a Hatsune Miku game. Until two days ago I had never played one. What I’m trying to tell you is I am extremely new to this franchise, so I would like to ask you to please excuse some of my noobish glee as I acknowledge several years after everyone else that Hatsune Miku Project Diva F is a really fun rhythm game and I am glad to have finally played it, even if it took the prospect of an E3 write-up for me to finally play it.

SEGAbits at E3 Preview: Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric (Wii U)

After you’re done reading, get a second opinion from Jason Berry over at Sonic Stadium!

Sonic has been reinvented countless times over the years, to the point where the character has time and time again become unrecognizable in every way except his name, speed and trademark attitude. Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric represents the latest of these reinventions and is one of the most radical re-imaginings since Sonic made the transition to 3D fifteen years ago. Nothing has been held as sacred here, with Sonic Boom effectively acting as a near complete teardown of what past games were.

For one, this game isn’t just about speed and platforming, but also features a variety of brawling-centric levels. Though very few speed areas were on display, the final game will apparently feature a mix of speed areas and brawling areas, rather than keeping them segregated from one another as they were in the demo. Since there were no real speed areas on display, this preview will be focusing mostly on the game’s combat areas.