Retro

SEGA Retrospective: It’s Ristar Week, c’mon!

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I’d like to welcome you to Ristar Week! This week we’ll be focusing on Ristar’s depressingly short run as a video game star, looking back on the character’s two games. Sonic Team’s star-faced hero never got his due back when he first came around. Debuting just a few months after the release of the 32X and just a few months before the US debut of the Saturn, Ristar came out at a time when the Genesis was no longer a console SEGA was interested in selling. As a result, Ristar was ignored and became a cult classic. This week, SEGAbits will be giving Ristar his long overdue respect.

  First, though, a little history lesson.

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SEGA Memories: A look back at Toys ‘R’ Us’ 1996 holiday video game catalog

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Its almost that time of season where most kids are waiting to tell their parents what modern day war shooter they want under their Christmas tree. Its also the time where older folks, like ourselves on the site, think about our previous holidays and how we used to make our parents waste hoards of cash to buy our affection. Wasn’t that great? Well this week on Monday Memories we will look at the 1996 holiday Toy ‘R’ Us video game catalog. I remember these where awesome as a kid, it was like window shopping for games in my underwear.

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Mac Senour talks about how SEGA almost passed on Gunstar Heroes

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Imagine now if SEGA never published Gunstar Heroes, the first game by then brand new studio Treasure Co? That was almost the case according to a brand new interview with Mac Senour over at SEGA-16.

“12 people looked at it and passed before it got to me. If I didn’t pick it up, he was going to be rejected. I played it for five minutes, maybe less, and threw the controller on the floor and said “this is game of the year.” Every one in earshot laughed.” – Mac Senour

According to Marc, the only thing he asked the developers to change was a boss character that was basically Hitler. Those Japanese people, they love putting Hitler in all their media.

“I was the last guy; if I said no then it would have been canceled. They spoke no English, so I had to go through my contact at SOJ, Henry Geison. Henry and I became friends when I was developer tech support.” – Mac Senour

I know the gaming industry was way different back then, but I seriously don’t know how more than twelve people could pass on a classic like Gunstar Heroes?

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SEGA Memories: Dave’s Sega Saturn Page

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Obviously SEGAbits isn’t the first and won’t be the last website dedicated to the big blue. Throughout the life of the internet, there have been thousands upon thousands of SEGA related websites and out of all those websites there are few webpages that we would visit regularly. Dave’s Sega Saturn Page was one of those sites I always kept bookmarked along with others that we will most likely cover here on Monday Memories.

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A Look at Elusive Dreamcast Titles on Vidya Retro

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This week on Vidya Retro we look at what could have been after the passing of the Dreamcast as we take a look at unreleased games and other elusive Dreamcast products as well as a pre-show look at the Android version of Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing.

Games covered include released and unreleased Dreamcast games, as well as games running on commercial and homebrew emulators through Dreamcast such as Half-Life, Bleemcast! with Metal Gear Solid, Propeller Arena – Aviation Battle Championship, Wacky Races, Fur Fighters, Sam & Max: Hit the Road and Doom II – Hell on Earth.

Commentators include Sonic Retro members Bartman3010, TimmiT, Overlord, Cinossu and David the Lurker. Listen as they trudge up old Dreamcast information from the US Dreamcast magazine and guess review scores for Dreamcast games.

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Retro Review: Zombies Ate My Neighbors

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The following Retro Review of Zombies Ate My Neighbors was written by SEGAbits third anniversary contest winner Nicholas C.

Our current era juxtaposes AAA titles, with huge expectations on presentation and endless cutscenes, and smaller package XBLA/PSN/Steam/etc budget titles. There’s a lot to love on both ends and in between. But a few elements many recent games lack, for me, are local co-op. The ability to not take yourself too seriously, and simply being able to pick up and play the game (sadly, there are only so many levels to Earth Defense Force 2017).

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Speed Run: Fan beats Golden Axe in 9 minutes and 27 seconds

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Do you like speed runs? Do you like SEGA games? You will love this speed run of the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive version of Golden Axe by  Jason ‘honorableJay’ Feeney. I’m a bit confused as to why it is picking up attention now, since he completed the deed last year. Regardless, I haven’t seen it and it brings a nostalgia factor.

What is your favorite speed run of a SEGA game? How fast can you beat Golden Axe?

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Retro Review: Sakura Taisen

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Sakura Taisen (Sakura Wars) is a Strategy RPG adventure series that features a unique sim-based story system developed by AM7 Team Shinobi (Overworks) from SEGA along with Red Entertainment. The series first began in 1996 for the Sega Saturn and spawned several sequels, including OVA adaptations, TV anime series, a movie, and other merchandises. While the game was a successful Sega IP in Japan, it never had a release in the West until the release of the fifth game, which was released and published by NIS America. However, the series has had a cult following within the Sega & anime community fan base with english releases of anime videos. Want to know what I think about the game and how awesome it is? Read on to find out.

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SEGA Tunes: Sky Sanctuary

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So, I thought I’d give us all a break from orchestrations this week, to post up an oldie but a goodie: Sky Sanctuary Zone. I loved this song back in the day, and it’s still the classic Sonic theme I best remember. I still remember when I first loaded up Sky Sanctuary and was greeted with this tune. It was so…different from anything else I had ever heard in a Sonic game before, and it instantly gave Sky Sanctuary this huge breathtaking feel that went perfectly together with it’s scope. This theme is one of the primary reasons why I wanted the level to be included in Generations.

Speaking of which, I am including two very awesome remixes of this song below the fold, one put together by Kanjika and the other from Sonic Generations. I HIGHLY encourage you listen to both. It’s really surprising what Kanjika is able to do with this.

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Get a Load of This! – Planet Harriers

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Planet Harriers is a criminally underrated game from Sega’s history which is well over due a spotlight on SEGAbits, so here it is!

Planet Harriers is an on-rail shooter and part of the more widely recognized ‘Space Harrier’ series. It released in the year 2000 on the Sega Hikaru arcade board and while I believe plans for it to appear on the Dreamcast were afoot unfortunately it never materialized before the consoles untimely demise.

Planet Harriers uses a twin cabinet, which allows for two player Co-Op, or a networked two-player game. The cabinet has a seated configuration. Planet Harriers controls used a joystick with a missile and bullet trigger. ‘View change’ and bomb buttons were on the main panel.

So why do I think it needs to be given a spotlight on our front page? Well just look at that video! I think if there is ever a game that sums up what ‘Sega’ means to a whole host of older fans out there it’s games Planet Harriers. The game just drips with bright colours and that nostalgic ‘blue skies’ happy-go-lucky feeling a Sega game should. The graphics are beautiful too and I’m very impressed by the lighting. Not to mention the video above features the bonus character; SEGAbits’ adopted mascot OpaOpa!

Now if Sega ever wanted to bring this beauty to XBLA/PSN and Steam, this is something I could get behind!

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SEGA Tunes: Anu Orta Veniya from Panzer Dragoon Orta

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I love Panzer Dragoon. Panzer Dragoon Orta though? My favorite game of all time. Rail shooting gameplay honed to perfection. Graphics that to this day stand the test of time. Unique and varied locations ranging from epic air battles to lonely snow covered landscapes. Finally, its soundtrack never, ever misses a beat. I fell in love with Anu Orta Veniya the moment the credits began to roll after one of the most surprising and heart breaking endings I had seen in a video game at the time. Its amazing orchestration and beautiful vocals perfectly ended the most impressive gaming experience of my life.

An amazing end to an amazing series. Another song that stuck in my head was “Gigantic Fleet”. As usual, it’s after the break!

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SEGA Tunes: Sona Mi Areru Ec Sancitu

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Panzer Dragoon Saga was the epic finale to SEGA’s Panzer Dragoon trilogy, and what a finale it was! Switching from the more limiting rail shooter format to a fully 3D RPG, it mixed elements from the rail shooters with RPGs in a way that is still unique even to this day. The Saturn’s magnum opus, Panzer Dragoon Saga, had a beautiful soundtrack to match its scope, the crown jewel being Sona Mi Areru Ec Sancitu. In my humble opinion this stands as one of SEGA’s best songs, period.

Another great track from this game is “Atolm Dragon”, the theme for the boss fight with said dragon, which you can listen to after the break.

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SEGA Tunes: Panzer Dragoon “Flight”

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Panzer Dragoon is my favorite video game series of all time, thanks in no small part to the consistently awesome musical score. For the first game, I had some major difficulties deciding between the full version of the main menu theme, or Flight. They are both superb pieces, and an interesting look at Panzer Dragoon’s musical style before it settled on a specific style in Zwei. The theme here is a bit more typical kind of orchestration, with horns, violins, and flutes, with some tambourines keeping a nice beat in the background. Not quite what the rest of the series sounds like.

Below the fold you’ll find the full version of the menu theme.

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