Retro

Rune Jade is brought back online thanks to Dreamcast Live

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Goodness, that’s five for five with Dreamcast Live this year. Give me some room to breathe in between articles here.

Rune Jade has now been brought back online thanks to Dreamcast Live. This obscure Japan-exclusive online RPG got its internet multiplayer features restored by Sh- wait, wait. Nope. It was just flyinghead who got the new servers on this game up and running by himself this time. Anyway, the game is finally about to fulfill your online multiplayer dungeon crawling itch once again since its servers were shutdown 25 years ago.

Chances are many of you might not be familiar with Rune Jade. You’d be surprised that this game beat Phantasy Star Online to market by a couple of months, making this the first MMORPG on Dreamcast instead of PSO, but its online servers didn’t last as long as PSO’s did. You can find out more right after the break.

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Bomberman Online finally playable online again thanks to Dreamcast Live

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BOOM! Here comes the BOOM! Ready or not! Here comes the boys from Dreamcast Live with a new update!

The Online part of Bomberman Online is finally truthful once again as Dreamcast Live has restored the online multiplayer modes of this Dreamcast classic. This comes from the familiar Dreamcast Live heroes Shuouma and flyinghead, along with a new face named Farkus. Just like when they restored Outtrigger and Speed Devils: Online Racing, Shuouma had started the process himself years ago only to hit an insurmountable wall. Like those other times, flyinghead would continue his work years later, but this time Farkus gave him some help, too, and the rest is history. Now that the fuse on this candle is lit, you can enjoy some nostalgic online Bomberman action on your Dreamcast after 23 years since its original servers fizzled out.

With that out of the way, come with me past the break and you can hear some more info about this game and how it works online.

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Retro-Bit opens pre-orders for their Collector’s Cartridge edition of Arcus Odyssey for Genesis/Mega-Drive

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Well, would you look at that. It’s Retro-Bit time again and Edia’s provided them another classic game to reissue as a Collector’s Cartridge.

Coming back from the Wolf Team vault is Arcus Odyssey, the cult classic action RPG originally released on Genesis/Mega-Drive in 1991. (As well as Psycho Dream (1992) for SNES, if you’re interested, but this is a Sega blog, so we’re just gonna talk about the Sega game here.) Pre-orders have now begun for North America and Europe from a variety of online retailers.

You can check out Retro-Bit’s official page for Arcus Odyssey for the most up-to-date pre-order information. If you would like to read more about this game’s history, you can read on right past the break here.

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The Game Gear has turned 35 years old in North America

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The year is 1991. Movies like Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Boyz n the Hood, The Scilence of the Lambs, The Addams Family, and Beauty And The Beast premiered in theaters. Shows like Dinosaurs, Home Improvement, Taz-Mania, Darkwing Duck, Samurai Pizza Cats, and Nickelodeon’s 3 premiere Nicktoons Rugrats, Doug, and The Ren & Stimpy Show premiered on TV. Songs like Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana, Bring The Noise by Public Enemy and Anthrax, Unbelievable by EMF, It Ain’t Over ’til It’s Over by Lenny Kravitz, and Groove Is In the Heart by Deee-Lite topped the charts. Video games like Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, The Simpsons Arcade, Another World, Neverwinter Nights, and Road Rash came out. Sega launched games like Streets of Rage, Toejam & Earl, Quackshot Starring Donald Duck, Rad Mobile, and uh, oh yeah… an obscure little game that just never took off called Sonic the Hedgehog. (Stay tuned for that anniversary coming up.) Sega had done something else even more significant on this day that very same year, though. (Okay, maybe not more significant than Sonic, but stay with me here.) They launched their one and only dedicated handheld gaming console: The Game Gear.

On April 11th, 1991, the Game Gear first hit store shelves only in test markets in New York City and Los Angeles. On the 26th of that same month, it launched in the rest of North America. At the time, Game Gear went up against Nintendo’s Game Boy and Atari’s Lynx, and wound up sitting comfortably in second place behind the Game Boy in sales and popularity worldwide. Still, the Game Gear retains its place in video game history as a memorable handheld with its own line of enjoyable games available nowhere else.

So grab your own Gear if you got one and join us past the break as we continue this little trip down memory lane in full color.

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Propeller Arena finally playable online thanks to Dreamcast Live

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Welcome to SegaBits!! Hi there! I’m your writer for this exciting news, Big Elk! You all as happy to see a new Dreamcast game playable online as I am!? Sit back, relax, and enjoy the wind rushing through your hair as you read on!

On April 1st, 2026, Dreamcast Live had, for the first time ever, opened up the internet features of the unreleased Dreamcast game Propeller Arena: Aviation Battle Championship for business, but this is no April Fools joke. Dreamcast Live heroes Shuouma and Flyinghead have done it again, figuring out how to finally allow for this game to be enjoyed over the internet thanks in part to the fact Propeller Arena made use of the same netcode as another game these two had brought back online: Outtrigger. If you’d been dreaming of one day finally experiencing online dogfighting in this game like I have, then your dream has finally come true.

Check in past the break for more info, then get set for flight.

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Former Sega hardware engineers Kenji Tosaki and Junichi Naoi confirmed a Saturn Graphics Accelerator was in development

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Ever heard the rumor that Sega was working on a Saturn add-on to enhance its graphics? I hadn’t. Apparently it really happened, though, or at least someone tried to make it happen.

In an interview with Japanese outlet Beep21, former Sega hardware designers Kenji Tosaki and Junichi Naoi confirmed that Sega really had sought out to create an add-on to help the Sega Saturn produce much better graphics than it could on its own. Essentially, this would’ve been the same thing for the Saturn that the 32X was for the Genesis/Mega-Drive, in that it would have its own line of Saturn games that would require it be attached to the console in order for those games to function. What’s more, the cancelled Saturn version of Shenmue, as well as a planned Saturn port of Virtua Fighter 3, were both planned to utilize it.

These two had quite a lot to say about this cancelled hardware expansion, so join us after the break if you wanna hear more.

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RGG Studio Directors Ryosuke Horii and Yutaka Ito reveal new behind the scenes info about the retro Sega games in Yakuza titles

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One of the many things people typically love about the Yakuza/Like A Dragon series of games are the old school Sega games included as part of the bonus games you can play in your downtime away from the main story. The latest game in the franchise, Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties, might have been a divisive entry, but what anyone can agree on are that the choice of new Model 3 games and the addition of Game Gear and NAOMI games are a welcome addition. It’s also just wonderful to have access to these games on modern platforms, even as side content in a Yakuza game.

Video game news outlet Automation JP have just sat down with current day RGG Studio directors Ryosuke Horii and Yutaka Ito to talk about the retro games added to the series. This should be a fun read if this is one of your favorite aspects about Yakuza, so sit down and join us past the break. We’re about to learn some unbelievable things about what went into choosing the games to include, how they implemented them into the larger game, and what the future holds for retro Sega games inside and outside the Yakuza franchise.

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Sovietborgs and Xenocider developer Retro Sumus has shut down

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⚠️ Retro Sumus has disbanded. If you’re interested in purchasing a digital copy of #Xenocider for #Dreamcast, please drop us a line.
🤖 In case you’re curious, you can also play the #Sovietborgs demo here: retrosumus.com/sovietborgs-demo/
🧑‍💻 Thank you for your continued support.

[image or embed]

— Retro Sumus (@retrosumus.bsky.social) February 24, 2026 at 4:10 AM

Sad news, Tovarisch. Retro Sumus, the talented Spanish developer of Xenocider and the unreleased Genesis/Mega-Drive title Sovietborgs has now disbanded.

They have revealed this news on February 24th, 2025 with the above social media post on Bluesky and on Twitter and Facebook. Their website is now only made up of the same farewell message. This comes following their unsuccessful Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign in August 2025 to fund the completion of Sovietborgs, their latest game which was planned for Genesis, Neo-Geo, MS-DOS, and Dreamcast. While the team was still committed to finishing the game anyway and finding a publisher, it seems now their optimism was misplaced.

Join me after the break to get in on saying farewell right back to them.

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Basic Fun!/Arcade1Up show off a brand new Sonic the Hedgehog home arcade cabinet at Toy Fair 2026

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Arcade1up, hot off of their recent acquisition by Basic Fun!, have come to the International Toy Fair 2026 in New York City to show off their latest home arcade cabinets releasing later this year. This includes a new Ms. Pac-Man cabinet with the usual Namco arcade classics and a new WWE Wrestlefest cabinet featuring that game and a few other classics by Technos Japan, but the most relevant for us is their 3rd and most recent collaboration with Sega (And probably their least exciting to date): a Sonic the Hedgehog arcade cabinet. This is an all-new original upright cabinet that, so far, features Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, and Sonic 3D Blast.

Despite these games having no prior history in arcade settings (Maybe some, technically, though I doubt these versions of these games will be included), they’re all coming soon to a new arcade cabinet meant for your home arcade/Sonic gaming space. The cabinet itself is assumed to be of the typical build quality as all of Arcade1up’s more recent cabinets, including the others shown off at this year’s International Toy Fair, so you’ll likely be able to play them all just fine here. Any other special features this may have are likely to be announced at a later date as this cabinet comes closer to its release.

I know you must be chomping at the power pellet to get this wholly unexciting new arcade machine, so check in after the break to hear more.

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Power Smash online functionality restored thanks to Dreamcast Live

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Dreamcast Live is on a roll all of a sudden!

The online multiplayer of the Dreamcast Tennis classic Power Smash is back in full swing thanks to Dreamcast Live hero Shuouma, who just came off of restoring online multiplayer for the classic Dreamcast RTS Hundred Swords exactly two weeks ago.

If the name Power Smash doesn’t ring a bell, but the game still looks familiar to you, that’s because Power Smash released internationally as Virtua Tennis. However, Virtua Tennis released first in North America and Europe, then had online functionality added in for the Japanese release a few months later, so only the Japanese version can go over the net. (Pun intended) Up to two players can play in online matches, but two local players on both ends can be present for four player Doubles matches.

For details on how to get the game online, check in past the break below.

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The late bloomer Saturn homebrew game, Vigilant Paradise, is available now

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I’ve long waited for the day I could talk about an impressive new indie game for the Sega Saturn, and the wait is finally over.

Vigilant Paradise is a new Miami Vice inspired FPS designed for the Saturn by one Riccardo Campione. Of course, although I say it’s new, the game actually made its debut with little-to-no fanfare in November 2025. It sat quietly on itch.io until someone going by dmar3000 just happened across it from simply searching for “Sega Saturn” on itch one day and then posted about it on Reddit. From there, it caught the attention of our good friends at Sega Saturn Shiro, who then wrote about the game themselves. It goes to show that sometimes going off the beaten path can lead you to some interesting hidden discoveries.

If this looks interesting to you, you can read on past the break to find out more about this hidden homebrew gem.

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Daytona USA unofficially playable in VRChat courtesy of Zone-Sama

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One of the most beloved and recognizable arcade racing games of all time, Daytona USA, is now playable in VR through the game VRChat. Now you can feel even closer to the action than ever before in the Hornet’s virtual driver’s seat.

And who do we have to thank for this? Not Sega, of course, but the longtime internet and Newgrounds culture legend Zone-Sama. For those of you in the know (especially those acting like you don’t know), Zone-Sama has been well known since the early 2000’s as a legendary animator of the Nice Sega Flavored Water variety, most recently including a certain Egyptian Animal Crossing cat captivating the internet with her mysterious dance. (Wait… that’s not Sega flavored at all…) He’s actually a man of many talents, but I bet you didn’t know that included programming.

As for VRChat, that is a well known free game allowing you to create an avatar and hang out in a variety of virtual worlds, including many user generated worlds like this one. You can communicate with others in real time, play games with them, and generally just goof off to your heart’s content. You don’t even need a VR headset to try it, though it can make things much more immersive. It’s also available on Steam if you prefer to get it there.

If that’s got you interested, then get strapped in and go beyond the break to learn how this works exactly.

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Hundred Swords’s online multiplayer is restored thanks to Dreamcast Live

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Happy New Year, Sega fans! What better way to ring in the new year than with a new Dreamcast game to play online!?

Sega’s medieval real time strategy game Hundred Swords, has just had its online multiplayer features brought back online. This effort comes from the familiar Dreamcast Live hero Shuouma, who had previously brought games like Outtrigger, Sega Tetris, Speed Devils: Online Edition, and even the unreleased Dee Dee Planet back online.

The only downside here is that Hundred Swords was only released in Japan and no fan translations were prepared to coincide with this online multiplayer restoration. Without a decent grasp on the Japanese language (including kanji), you and the up-to-3 other players you’ll be playing with might be fumbling around through menus and such until you figure out what to do and how to do it. If you’re familiar with RTS games like Command & Conquer or Age of Empires, which this game was inspired by, the interface and basic goals may still be familiar to you. Prepping the game for online action is still simple, unless you wish to use your Broadband Adaptor, which Hundred Swords is sadly not compatible with. Go get your DreamPi ready and journey with me past the break to find out more.

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Tanglewood Definitive Edition launches on Nintendo Switch eShop

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The darling Genesis/Mega-Drive indie game Tanglewood has come to Nintendo Switch with a new definitive edition. Originally released on Genesis/Mega-Drive in cartridge form and to PC, Mac, and Linux in 2018, this new release adds extra features that even the computer versions don’t have, such as widescreen support, new high quality music, and a new storybook mode to flesh out the world of Tanglewood.

Already an amazing achievement on Genesis, Tanglewood Definitive Edition (which just goes by “Tanglewood” on Nintendo’s eShop) is largely the same as it was on Genesis. However, this new version adds in enough to easily warrant a new playthrough if you’re already experienced in the game. You can find out more about this new release past the break below.

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The Video Game History Foundation preserves 147 lost Sega Channel ROMs, including previously unreleased games

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Looks like Christmas came a week early, Sega fans.

In, easily, the most incredible case of video game preservation that I’ve written about here on SegaBits to date, the Video Game History Foundation has recovered a massive amount of archival data pertaining to the Sega Channel, an online games-on-demand service that ran for Sega Genesis/Mega-Drive from 1994-1998 via cable TV services. For almost thirty years, the majority of material here had been lost media. The older folks among you, myself included, must’ve thought you’d never live to see all of this resurface again.

Among all this recovered data is 147 Genesis ROMs used on Sega Channel. That’s right. One Hundred And Forty-Seven. This includes Sega Channel exclusive games never before preserved like Waterworld, The Flintstones, and Garfield: Caught In The Act – The Lost Levels, and it is now available to download via Gaming Alexandria in partnership with the VGHF. That last game took a bit longer than we expected to be released after it was found and demoed just a year ago, but the wait is finally over. We hope you managed to resist kicking anyone off of any tables for a whole year.

Besides just the games, there are also ROMs of Sega Channel menus, some previously archived and some not, some related test ROMs, and even a mock-up of a Genesis web browser planned for the service. You read that right. An honest-to-goodness Web Browser was planned for Genesis that would’ve ran through Sega Channel. There are also tons of advertisements for print, TV, and radio, internal planning documents, user data, fan art sent by subscribers, and a whole lot more for all to view freely.

What to see exactly what was found? Click right past the break and get hooked in.

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