This week My LIFE with SEGA takes on the undead in the Japanese SEGA Saturn game Biohazard, also known as Resident Evil. Then, AJ and his friend Mickey Mac play with some balls in Ballz for the SEGA Genesis. Like these videos and want to see more? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel!
Ballz after the break.
Poor Anarchy Reigns. It really got a bum rap this year after Sega went through its restructuring. From being delayed indefinitely, possibly being cancelled to finally having a super-delayed release date of early 2013. All the while, Platinum Games finished the Japanese version with full localization built in for a world wide release. Several Platinum Games fans were outraged that they wouldn’t be able to play the game for another 6-9 months from now. I’m sure there’s a logical and financial reason why they’d make such a delay, but it makes no sense to me.
But why wait? The game is region free on both X-Box 360 and PS3 and is available to import from sites like Play Asia right now! It’ll cost a bit more than if you wait, but if you want one of the best brawling games this generation early, this is the best way to go. Read on to see what you’re missing out on.
The Marie focused edition of Rhythm Thief Month has been postponed until I get further into the game.
Until then, I thought I’d post up one of the other things that makes Rhythm Thief cool: homages to other SEGA rhythm games. Rhythm Thief is a game with some interesting SEGA pedigree. Not only is its director, Shun Nakamura, responsible for also directing Samba de Amigo, but the game’s list of contributing composers include Tomoya Ohtani and Naofumi Hataya, whom have worked on the soundtrack for Space Channel 5 Part 2, Samba de Amigo, Feel the Magic as well as a variety of Sonic and Sonic Team games.
Above is Vamos a Carnival, from Samba de Amigo. The actual mini game is a surprisingly faithful adaptation of Samba de Amigo’s game play onto the 3DS, using both face buttons and tilt functions to replicate the Dreamcast classic’s game play. It’s one of my favorite games in RT, and this style of mini game is also one of the most difficult I’ve yet encountered in the game.
The other SEGA rhythm game Rhythm Thief pays homage to is Space Channel 5. Much like the Samba de Amigo mini game, it also adapts the Space Channel 5 formula into the game, complete with a track from the game, which I have posted below after the break.
SEGA assured that the changes they made would help the company and it doesn’t seem they are lying. SEGA has reported increased profits for the first quarter of the current fiscal year. Sadly the consumer business is still reporting losses, however SEGA has really reduced the losses year-over-year. Sadly the losses are contributed to the lack of demand for home video games in the U.S. and Europe.
SEGA only shifted 1.34 million units this quarter, which is down 42.5 perfect compared to 2.33 million year-over-year. SEGA has also stated that their free-to-play game Kingdom Conquest has been downloaded over 3 million times. No idea how many people opted for buying upgrades and other pay-to-use items.
Fans of MST3K, bad movies and early 80’s film to game adaptations should really check out the iOS game MANOS – The Hands of Fate. Based on a movie that many consider to be the worst ever made, ranked #4 on the IMDb bottom 100, Manos is an 80’s inspired platformer with numerous homages to both classic games and bad b-movies. SEGA fans should recognize the death animation, in which the player turns into a transparent ghost and flies upwards. This, according to the game’s developer, was an homage to the Master System’s Alex Kidd in Miracle World. Nice to see the Master System getting some homages, the Master is pleased.
Another week and another video for My Life with SEGA posted on the SEGAbits YouTube channel. This week Die Hard Arcade is up for review.
“In this ‘classic’ episode, I review Die Hard Arcade (a.k.a. Dynamite Deka) for the SEGA Saturn. As a bonus, I manage to critique the cross-platform hit, Die Hard Trilogy….
Now, which one’s gonna’ find out what a TV dinner feels like?”
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I’ve finally recovered from my jet lag, so it’s time for another (late) addition of Tuesday Tunes! Continuing our celebration of SEGA’s latest rhythm game, this week we feature one of the most cheerful tunes on the soundtrack: One More Time.
The lyrics don’t make much sense, but as with anything in Rhythm Thief, it’s the rhythm that’s important here, and it’s something this song does incredibly well. The mini game this is paired with is one of my favorites that I’ve played in the game so far, a much more difficult version of the Show Time mini game that was available in the demo.
Next week we’ll be taking a look at Marie’s side of things with “Moon Princess”, but until then, please enjoy “Detective Claude Appears”! This one has a great rock theme that’s very remeniscent to some of the best modern Sonic tunes, making the composer’s Sonic music pedigree pretty obvious.
The indie Dreamcast game Gunlord from NG:DEV.TEAM has been out for less than a month, and while I’m sure many fans of indie Dreamcast titles have picked it up and are enjoying it, there are always those who are still on the fence and are either waiting to hear more opinions or for a price drop. I’m sure there are also those who have their Dreamcast stashed away in a closet and need a reason to dig it out. In this week’s Weekly Five I thought I’d share five reasons why Gunlord is worthy of a Dreamcast fan’s collection.
Another week and another episode of My Life with SEGA. This week A.J looks at Virtua Racing, a fan favorite around these parts. If you have never seen the show enjoy. Three versions of the game, one video. Get to it, hit play!
“This week, we’ll be taking a long hard look at Virtua Racing. Not only will I review the Saturn version, but I’m reviewing the 32X and Genesis/Mega Drive version as well. Which is the best of the bunch? Watch and learn, friends.”
Today was Preview Night for the San Diego Comic Con, and I made sure to make the most of it! While I was walking from the Archie booth to the SEGA Arcade across the street to check out SEGA’s Comic Con offerings, I came upon something surprising: a photo shoot starring the Mordecai and Rigby of Regular Show! Then I spotted a television, and then a couch between the throngs of people taking pictures, and I knew what else had to be there: a Master System!
The Master System has long been a part of Regular Show, gaining the show quite a following among some of the people here at SEGAbits. It’s good to see it wasn’t forgotten in the Comic Con photoshoot! I am pretty sure it’s a prop though, and not an actual system. I’m sure some SEGA fans with more energy then me will be able to tell. Still really cool reference to an often overlooked SEGA system!
I later took several pictures of the SEGA Arcade booth across the street at 200 Harbor Drive, Suit 120. You can see them after the jump. Unfortunately, my camera died before I could take the last few pics, so expect more tomorrow. I’ll also be keeping an eye out for cosplayers. Hint hint!
Welcome to another week of My Life With SEGA, this week A.J. has two games to review for the 32x. Shadow Squadron and Zaxxon’s Motherbase 2000. Never heard of them? Well, press play and educate yourself.
“In this “classic” episode of My Life with SEGA, I show some love for SEGA’s most maligned add-on; the 32X. You’re not got getting just one lousy review, but two! Shadow Squadron and Zaxxon’s Motherbase 2000.”
Today, the first original SEGA rhythm game since the days of Space Channel 5 and Samba de Amigo, makes it’s debut. Rhythm Thief, available exclusively for the 3DS, is part rhythm gam and part Professor Layton-esque puzzle game, with a healthy amount of inspiration from SEGA’s classic rhythm games sprinkled throughout. This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, since the game is directed by Samba de Amigo director and Sonic Team alumni Shun Nakamura.
To mark the occasion, the good people over at Random Encounter Entertainment have put together a little musical based around the game’s characters and plot. It’s a funny little musical number that does a pretty good job of actually explaining what the game is about. Big thanks goes to the people of Random Encounter for putting together this little tribute to a game that will probably go ignored when it is released today, and to Aaron Webber for both co-producing this and sending it in to us!
Things look a bit bleak over at Sega. There’s been a lot of restructuring that’s been occurring as of late. Several titles have been cancelled or delayed to focus on more AAA games. The European and Australian offices have been closed down. Jun Sunoe had to sell his guitar for cash and is now using an old ukulele and poor Takashi Iizuka had to change his toothpaste from Crest: Ultra Whitening to store brand!
Okay, those last two are lies, but the Sega outside of Japan has been in dire straits as of late. However, things are not as bad as they seem. Some recent decisions have actually been very beneficial to the company. Read on to see why those dark clouds may be breaking up into blue skies.
Welcome to another odd and exciting episode of the Swingin’ Report Show. This week George, Barry the Nomad and A.J. talk about their Fourth of July drinking, SEGA closing offices in Europe and finally the return of the purple Jester himself. No, I’m not talking about Prince, we are talking about NiGHTS! [Download] [Archive] [Archive] [RSS] [iTunes]
I think the first few seconds of the video should sum up the game pretty well. What the fuck indeed. Did someone say fuck? Must be an episode of My Life with SEGA!
“It’s a very special episode of My Life with SEGA this week. With my special guest star, Mickey Mac, we review one of the absolute worst fighting games ever released on the Sega Genesis.”