Retro

Retro Review: Sonic Jam

by

The SEGA Saturn was something of a black sheep in SEGA’s family of consoles. It divorced itself from many of its predecessor’s most well-known franchises, and instead focused on a slew of original IPs. Even Sonic Team would take a big break from Sonic, instead focusing on NiGHTS into Dreams and Burning Rangers, the former becoming the Saturn’s mascot. This would lead to the Saturn becoming the one and only SEGA console to not feature a wholly original Sonic platforming game. Instead, the Saturn merely saw a trio of spin offs, in the form of Sonic 3D Blast, Sonic R and the subject of today’s review, Sonic Jam. The first two were fairly mediocre spin offs created by Traveler’s Tales for the purpose of filling the cap by the canned Sonic X-Treme game. Sonic Jam was easily the best Sonic game on the Saturn, though largely because it capitalized so heavily on the past: it was a compilation of the best Sonic titles ever made.

Continue Reading ➜

8 Comments

Retro Review: Sonic CD

by

With the news that a downloadable version of Sonic CD would soon be making it’s way to LIVE/PSN, I figured it was as good a time as any to review this “classic” Sonic game. Now, I say classic in quotation marks because frankly, I believe a lot of the praise of this game comes mainly from it’s nostalgia. Most folks remember Sonic CD because of several things. The anime intro/ending, the incredible music and of course, the battle with Metal Sonic. But does anyone remember it for it’s level design? No? There might be a good reason for that. Continue Reading to see why.

Continue Reading ➜

2 Comments

Sega-16: Celebrates 7 years with a Relaunch

by

I would like to apologize for my lateness as we are over a week late in reporting this but better late than never. SEGA-16.Com has relaunched and they are looking great.

For those unaware, SEGA-16 is the best site for preserving and digging deeper into the best era of SEGA, the 16-bit Era. Over the years they have interviewed corporate legends such as former SOA presidents Tom Kailnske and Michael Katz, along with devs like Mark Cerny and Peter Moriawec and even former allies like Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins.

If you want to be a top notch, hardcore, know it all Mr.SEGA Man, than SEGA-16 is where you start your reading.

Unfortunately it will probably take them sometime before all their features are back online.

5 Comments

Sturmwind Delayed

by


Redspotgames has been busy the past year with their usual promotions and sponsorships at Forumla events (yes, they promoted Rush Rush Rally Racing by sponsoring a BMW driver!) But wasn’t their next big release due this month? Whatever happend to Sturmwind? Well, it has been delayed. Why you ask?

After an internal evaluation as well as constructive feedback from fans, redspotgames and Duranik have decided to put even more efforts into ‚Sturmwind‘. Unfortunately this means that both parties have to announce a delay of the release of the game. The new street day will be 11-11-11.

The option to cancel the preorder has also been made avaialble (although no money will be deducted until unless the product ships, so why would one want to cancel it?)

For more information regarding the delay read the press release at redspotgames.com

4 Comments

Retro Review: Burning Rangers

by

The year was 1998, and the Sega Saturn was on its way to obsolescence and breathing its last. Sega decided to give the system one last hurrah with some very limited edition games. Panzer Dragoon Saga, Burning Rangers and Shining Force III (I think) were released at a very limited 5,000 copies each. If you didn’t pre-order these babies, you were paying through the nose later. In fact, I payed $100 for my used copy last year. Does Sonic Team’s future fire fighting game still hold up or has its charm burned away?

Continue Reading ➜

3 Comments

SEGA Recycles 79% of 16-bit compilations

by

Sega is readying themselves to re-re-re-release another bunch of 16-bit classics, which prompted Sega-16’s Ken Horowitz to compile a list of games all 3 current gen compilations (Sega Genesis Collection, Sonic Ultimate Collection & the upcoming Gold Collection) share.

It is intresting to note how oddly some titles have been dropped in future compilations for example Streets of Rage 3 is absent in the Gold Collection.

Horowitz also provides his own analysis as to why there is so much redundancy in the compilations and ends his post with something SEGA fans would love…

Give us collections featuring 32x & CD games!

Check out his insightful feature over here.
Check out the list of games here

5 Comments

The Weekly Five: Why We’re Partying Like It’s 2001!

by

2001 was a great year for SEGA games, but a bad year for SEGA. While a number of amazing titles released, we played them with the knowledge that the Dreamcast was to be discontinued by March. To create a sad analogy, it was like going to Disneyland knowing you had three months left to live. Jump ahead ten years to 2011. All signs point to a great year for SEGA games AND a great year for SEGA. The comparison between 2001 and 2011 doesn’t end there, as you’ll soon learn in this week’s “Weekly Five”. Just why are we partying like it’s 2001? Read on to find out!

Continue Reading ➜

6 Comments

Pier Solar: The First Few Hours

by

I confess, when I first heard about Pier Solar back in 2008, I was both excited and cautious. On one hand, the prospect of playing a new game on my Genesis sounded like an awesome proposition. On the other, I simply didn’t believe the game would get done. As the originally announced release date faded into memory, I assumed the game had simply gone the way of many a Dreamcast indie project, and forgot about it.

The game surpassed my expectations though, and has actually made it all the way into my Genesis. Even as I ordered it, I had my doubts about the game being anything more than a stereotypical role playing game that just happened to be on the Genesis. Has the game been able to surpass my expectations again?

Continue Reading ➜

4 Comments

SEGA responds to Streets of Rage Remake pull

by

“SEGA is committed to supporting any fans that take an interest in our games, and where possible we do so by involving them in Beta tests and other development, marketing or research opportunities,” explained the publisher. “However we need to protect our intellectual property rights and this may result in us requesting that our fans remove online imagery, videos or games in some instances.”

I guess it never occured to SEGA to protect their intellectual property when Bomber Games asked for permission to produce the Remake or when they allowed Secret Level to Remake Golden Axe.

After the Jump check out SEGA protecting their IP from a terrible reimaginig by Bottle Rocket.

Continue Reading ➜

8 Comments

GeistForce Beta Acquired by Assembler Games

by

Geist Force was one of the earliest Dreamcast games that was shown as a tech demo at TGS and E3 prior to its launch. Reportedly 80% complete, it ultimately failed to impress former President Bernie Stolar and his team, so it was quietly cancelled.

Recently a former Sega Employee registered at Assembler Gamer discussed DreamPast in great detail. Along the way he revealed he had a copy of Geist Force, which Assembler acquired for 700$. Currently the Assemblers are working on bringing the game to the masses.

For More Information Watch This Video, Sorry embeding has been disabled.

Continue Reading ➜

5 Comments

SEGA Tunes Vol.3 “End of the Millennium”

by

The long, long struggle of ancient times finally ended…
The victor sacrificed the vanquished to the heavens.
Four bells tolled. Four torches were lit.
And the world continued for thousands of years…

Phantasy Star: End of the Millennium is an epic journey of Self Discovery and finding purpose in life and most importantly, learning the value of love and friendship. Arguably one of the most memorable games from the Genesis in terms of Graphics and Gameplay was your typical JRPG, featuring the usual dungeons and the old school 2D top down camera angle. What elevated the game to the next level was the deep and fleshed out story, complete with the finest character development in video game history.

This tale of epic proportions was paired with some classic tunes that, nearly 2 decades later, fans fondly remember and remix. While there literary are thousands of remixes and arrangements out there, we share some of our favorites with you today.

Continue Reading ➜

7 Comments

The Last Boss: White Fang

by

Now, when you think of a game based around Die Hard, you would think the last boss would be Hans Gruber. Not so in Sega’s Die Hard Arcade though, this time you get to beat White Fang (better known as ‘The last guy from Die Hard Arcade’) into unconsciousness with the Presidential golf clubs. This Die Hard also features killer death robots that shoot laser beams, and giant Mexican Wrestlers called ‘Jocko’ so that kinda sets the tone for things to come, really.

Continue Reading ➜

5 Comments

HappyConsoleGamer Discuss Their Dreamcast Memories

by

I’ve been subscribed to these guys on youtube for a while now and I always find them quite entertaining.

This episode they discuss their Dreamcast launch memories and I suspect many of us has a very similar experience. I know the Dreamcast was the golden age of gaming for me and provided my best gaming summer break at one of the most memorable times in my life with some of my best friends. Enjoy!

4 Comments

The Sega-Vision… in 1977!?

by

Back in 2009 I wrote an article at SEGA Memories about a little known piece of hardware from SEGA known as the Sega-Vision. Patented in 1977, the Sega-Vision was a big screen projection TV sold to consumers. Since writing the article, a reader named Chris shared something I had never seen before: a TV commercial for the Sega-vision! So let us revisit this unique article covering an interesting moment in SEGA’s past, and take a look at the commercial, hosted by LA Dodger Steve Garvey! I wonder if Steve still has a Sega-Vision?

Click here to read the original SEGA Memories article and after the jump, check out the commercial!

Continue Reading ➜

6 Comments

The Last Boss: Michael Jackson vs Stray Dogs

by

When I heard that the new Michael Jackson video games for Wii, DS and Kinect were going to be dance games I was hugely disappointed. “What else would you expect them to be?” you may ask, and that is a fair question. I knew it was unlikely, but a small part of me was hoping that we would see some kind of follow up to the classic Sega title Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker. That game had it all; a Michael Jackson soundtrack, scrolling beat-em-up action and some great boss fights, not least of which was the legendary Stray Dogs. Yes, there was a video game where you used Michael Jackson to kick the ever-living shit out of a bunch of dogs.

Why this game doesn’t have a sequel is beyond me…

Continue Reading ➜

5 Comments