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The Weekly Five: Best to worst “Avengers” SEGA games

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SEGA’s license pact with Marvel was a prime example of how the game industry tends to treat movie licensed properties these days. They sell the license to a game company to promote the movie. Game company turns around and uses their B and C (and sometimes D) teams to work on said games and hope they can come up with at least a half decent effort. Then the game is released just before the movie hits theaters whether it’s ready to go or not. Many times, they fail even to get to that half-decent point.

But this doesn’t mean that all movie licensed games have to stink. Sometimes, you get the right development team with the right goal in mind and you get something of quality. Sometimes, a game is almost crap, but you can see a little bit of gold in that turd. But sometimes, crap is just crap no matter what angle you look at it. What better example of this is there than with these five Marvel Studios movie licensed games released by SEGA. And what better time to “reminisce” over these games than with today’s movie release of The Avengers in American theaters. Read on to see which one I find is the best quality to which one I think is total, unredeemable crap.

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Weekly Five Rewind: Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing 2 Predictions

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Well, the hedgehog is out of the bag. Yes, there will be a Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing 2, dubbed “Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed”. Back in January 2011, following the release of the first game, I ran through five things an All-Stars Racing sequel must have. Now that the sequel has been announced, let’s take a look back at what we wished for, and what SEGA and Sumo Digital now promises to deliver. You’d be surprised by how well SEGA listened to fans on this one.

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SEGA Tunes: Sonic R’s Super Sonic Racing

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I’ve been struggling to figure out just what tune to feature this week.  Panzer Dragoon’s Flight seemed so fitting! After all, it was used in the All Stars Racing demo Jason and I got to try out. Unfortunately, Flight had already been featured during Panzer Dragoon month. In the end there could only be one choice, another classic SEGA song from Saturn era.

Ladies and gentleman, Richard Jacques’ Super Sonic Racing! Sonic R is known for its cheesy lyrics and energetic singer, so much so that the PC version actually had an option that allowed players to turn them off. Frankly, I can’t imagine playing Sonic R without this music. It turned what was otherwise a mediocre racer with poor controls into one of the most memorable spin-offs in the mascot’s history. Fans don’t remember this game for the tracks or the characters, they remember it for its over the top soundtrack!

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Interview with Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed Producer Joe Neate

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I sit down with Joe Neate, Producer for Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed, to have a talk with him about the game. Will All Stars be usable online? Will there be more online modes? Will there be a larger number of franchises represented? Find that out and more in the video interview above.

This isn’t the entire story, though. For a more Sonic centric interview, check out Nuckles87’s interview over at Sonic Stadium!

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Sonic Talk Episode 7 “Transformed”

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In this special episode of Sonic Talk, Shigs and Nuckles87 are joined by Sven Joscylene AKA Dreadnux (Sonic Stadium, Spong) to talk all things All-Star. All three of us have gotten our hands on the game and will be discussing it at length along with what our choices would be for racers and courses. Tell us your favorite Sega franchise you would like to see in the game by hitting the comment section.

[powerpress url=”https://segabits.com/wp-content/uploads/SonicTalk07.mp3″]
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Preview: Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed

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Sega has become synonymous with San Francisco. Station Square and the City Escape level from Sonic Adventure are loosely based on it as well as the first Crazy Taxi game. Even Sega of America itself has its offices based in the city by the bay. So it’s only natural that here is where they show off their latest game in the All-Star/Superstar series that includes both the blue-blur and B.D. Joe.

Just off the 101 freeway in good ‘ol San Fran is a Go-Kart tracing track which for one Tuesday afternoon, was taken over by Sega. In a meeting lounge, me and Nux (check out his preview at TSS) and other press were presented with the first preview of two tracks from Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed. (Sega, if you’re going to shorten the title, wouldn’t “Sonic and Sega Racing Transformed” have been better? You’re cutting out your own name!) Anyway, onto the preview!

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Why Sonic 4: Episode II shouldn’t skip the Nintendo Wii

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There have been a lot of talks since SEGA announced that Sonic 4: Episode 2 wouldn’t be headed for the Nintendo Wii. Many long time Sonic fans got angry, mostly because they only own Wiis. I know some of you might grunt at the thought of only owning a Nintendo Wii, but that’s their choice.

Not to mention that the first title appeared on the Wiiware service, got pretty good scores on the service. So why do you think SEGA pulled it and why do I think they should reconsider putting it back on the Wii?

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SEGA Tunes: Flying like a butterfly

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Let me just start by saying that this has to be one of the coolest fucking songs on the planet. Relax, savor the smooth bass and let the glorious techno overwhelm all that you know.

Jet Set Radio Future’s free spirit and somewhat darker energy is captured perfectly in Hideki Naganuma’s ode to chaos and all that is groovy. The track kicks off with a bang and never looks back, the simplistic but sensible vocals (“I felt like a bulldozer…trying to catch a butterfly”) telling us all that we need to know as the music forcefully grabs hold and drags us along with it at about 90 miles per hour.

To be sure, the original Jet Set Radio had its share of fast and exciting songs, but little compares to the sheer energy that the fastest songs in its sequel conjured up, this one among them. The funny thing is that, for me anyway, Jet Set Radio Future was by far the slower of the two games as far as its pacing was concerned, probably its biggest flaw, but the music was more than willing to pick up the slack.

To this day I go back and forth about which game had the better soundtrack. Though oftentimes I lean in favor of the original’s, it’s tracks like this one that cause my resolve to waver, just a little.

For another epic track from Jet Set Radio Future, Continue Reading to understand the Concept of Love.

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Why Dreamcast fans should be hyped for Sturmwind

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The world of independent Dreamcast games has been quiet since the release of NG:DEV.TEAM’s Fast Striker. Established indie Dreamcast games publisher RedSpotGames is looking to break that silence with the upcoming shoot ’em up Sturmwind. While Sturmwind IS another shoot ’em up aka shmup, a popular genre in the Dreamcast indie scene, don’t let that fact dissuade you from checking out the title when it releases this year. In this week’s Weekly Five we’ll run through the reasons why Sturmwind may be worth your time (and money).

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PAX East: Crimson Dragon Preview

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Shut up. Right now.

I realize it’s not wise to tell our readers such a thing, but I thought I’d just get that out of the way now. I don’t care if SEGA’s not on the box, nor that it wasn’t at their booth. This is a SEGA game, if not in reality then in spirit, and I’m writing about it. Ladies and gentleman, Crimson Dragon is Panzer Dragoon 5.

I confess, I haven’t been following this game too closely. I’ve seen far too many Kinect titles I’ve thought had potential crash and burn and I wasn’t about to let myself get my hopes up for a new “Panzer Dragoon”. Upon playing it though, I have to say…Crimson Dragon is the best Kinect game I’ve experienced.

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Sonic Talk #5: This episode is totally Metal!

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Sorry for how late this episode is and we have no extra guest this week. But we’ll make up for that next week with IAN FLYNN!! For now, it’s just me and Nux talkin’ all things Sonic.

This week, we talk about the Sonic 2 HD fiasco, the reboot rumor, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic 4-2 Avatar items and of course, Sonic 4 Episode Metal. In comic talk we’ll discuss Sonic Universe #38 along with a little of #39, the weepfest that is Sonic #235 and I’ll tell you EXACTLY who the supposed “traitor” is! (I’m using quotation marks cuz technically, there is no traitor.) If I’m wrong, Ian Flynn can shave my head at the San Diego Comic-Con! All this and our game topic of the week is the awesome Sonic Triple Trouble!

If you have a question for Ian Flynn leave it in our comment section by Thursday morning and it may make it on the air.

[powerpress url=”https://segabits.com/wp-content/uploads/SonicTalk05.mp3″]
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Arts and Crafts: Make your own Sonic 4 Episode 2 Genesis box, manual and cartridge!

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With only a month until the game’s digital release, I thought it would be fun to once again create a retro Genesis box design for Sonic 4’s next episode. The first time I designed a fake Genesis box was for Sonic 4 Episode 1, which I shared over at my personal blog The Nomad Junkyard [Update: Here is the new Sonic 4 Episode 1 download link]. I used the original Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis box design as inspiration for Episode 1, so I thought it would be fitting to use Sonic 2’s original Genesis box as my inspiration for Episode 2. After the break, a download link, instructions and a photo gallery for those too lazy to make it themselves.

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SEGA Tunes: What about the future?

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http://youtu.be/CeoK6x1IP-U

I’m not entirely done with Hideki Naganuma yet, (as you’ll see, I have another one of his songs after the break) but thought I’d give Richard Jacques a little attention this week, as well as shift the focus towards the future….Jet Set Radio Future, that is. One of the lucky IP created during the Dreamcast era to receive not a port, but a sequel, on next gen hardware, the evolution of the Jet Set Radio series was shocking in just how much was changed from one game to the other. Taking more of the form of a reboot than a sequel, Jet Set Radio Future introduced not only a staggaring number of gameplay changes, but its soundtrack too took on a very different form.

I can’t help but grin when I hear tracks like this one nowadays, with electrohouse and dubstep taking a firm hold on mainstream culture; I feel like playing JSRF back in the day exposed me to dubstep before dubstep was dubstep. (Wikipedia states that dubstep as we currently know it first came to be in 1998, with the genre coming into its own in around 2001-2002, so, if that’s true, such an assertion is actually not too far off.)

Either way, regardless of where you fall on the whole electrohouse thing, this is a pretty cool track. I’ve always associated it with SEGA’s bold dive into 3rd party publishing, and the adventure and high hopes that went along with it. Richard Jacques’ track is exciting, it carries with it a cool futuristic vibe, and it sounds different from everything that existed in the original Jet Set Radio; an underrated gem. But speaking of futuristic tracks, here’s one from Hideki Naganuma, also fitting in with JSRF’s futuristic motif. Hit the good ol’ “Continue Reading” button to check that one out.

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SEGA Five: Bein’ bad – SEGA style

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Admit it. When a game gives you the option to be bad, you go for it. Unlike the stupid real world, video games have no repercussions. While game designers may not intend for you to do these bad things, or there are in-game penalties, in the end it’s just a game so you can be bad to your heart’s content, hit the reset button and return to playing the game as it was intended. In this week’s Weekly Five, we celebrate Friday the 13th with five SEGA games which allow you to be (you guessed it) bad.

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