Famitsu hosted a live stream to debut additional games for the upcoming Mega Drive Mini 2, as well as a revival of a unique controller. Yosuke Okunari was on-hand to make the reveals and give a little additional insight into the games.
We got a new package in the SEGAbits office, this time we will be unboxing a After Burner II Limited Edition Data Discs vinyl, which went up for pre-order a few months ago. Like all Data Discs vinyl release, there are three versions released including a black vinyl, colored vinyl (purple for After Burner II) and a limited edition (this one being splatter design). He can pick up a vinyl copy of a non-limited version here.
This is the 15th release on Data Discs retro vinyl line-up, are you picking these up? If so which release is your favorite so far?
SEGA has released a new trailer for SEGA 3D Archives 3: Final Stage, the third collection in the “3D Archive” series. This trailer demonstrates every game in the collection, including Sonic The Hedgehog 2, Bare Knuckle 2, After Burner II, and more, most notably the first time Alien Syndrome and Columns are shown in action. It also reveals the introduction of the game, highlighting the different games in SEGA 3D Archives 3: Final Stage.
SEGA 3D Archives 3: Final Stage (by extension the special SEGA 3D Archives 1.2.3 Triple Pack) releases on December 22 for ¥4990.
SEGA at Tokyo Game Show 2016 unveiled the first trailer for SEGA 3D Archives 3: Final Stage, showing off footage of the currently 6 revealed games. This includes Sonic the Hedgehog 2, After Burner II, Super Hang-On, Bare Knuckle II (Aka Streets of Rage 2 in the NTSC/PAL regions), Gunstar Heroes, and the new exclusive Turbo Outrun. Notably, it specifically mentions that Turbo Outrun will run at 60FPS, so no worries for those frame rate junkies out there. Sadly, the trailer doesn’t reveal any new information, so if you want to know what the mysterious last 3 games are you’ll have to wait longer.
SEGA 3D Archives 3: Final Stage will release on the Nintendo 3DS on December 22nd 2016 in Japan.
If you missed the news, SEGA has announced SEGA 3D Fukkoku Archives 3, which is best known in the west as SEGA 3D Classics Collection. This is the third volume released in Japan, while we only got one in the West. On this episode of the SEGA News Bits we discuss all the confirmed games for the SEGA 3D Fukkoku Archives 3, what hasn’t been announced and what Japanese fans wanted to see. This is a pretty exciting collection of games, so let us know in the comments what you want to see added and how SEGA could bring it west!
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It has just been announced that SEGA 3D Archives 3 FINAL STAGE, a physical collection of SEGA 3D Classics will be coming to Japan. In the West, we only got SEGA 3D Archives 2 as SEGA 3D Classics Collection earlier this year.
Games confirmed in SEGA 3D Archives 3 FINAL STAGE:
According to SEGA’s questionnaire that Japanese fans filled out lots of people want to see titles like Wing War, Gain Ground, Outrunners, and Virtua Racing to join the SEGA 3D Classics line-up. Famitsu didn’t reveal which was the number one requested game, you will have to wait for September 15 to find out since that’s when their magazine comes out. But let me spoil it for you, I bet you it was Virtua Fighter. SEGA 3D Archives 3 FINAL STAGE could get new timed exclusive titles, just like the last volume had Puyo Puyo 2 and Drift Stage as timed exclusives. SEGA 3D Archives 3 FINAL STAGE is set to hit Japan on December 22, 2016. No idea if SEGA West will plan on bringing it over.
[Source: Famitsu]
After Burner is just one of those franchises by SEGA that took American arcade goers by storm due to the sheer speed of the game, the eye catching cabinet, and its highly detailed (for the time) graphics. I truly believe that After Burner is just one of those arcade games that don’t get enough credit by gamers today, so jump into your F-14 Tomcat and blast through our After Burner retrospective. You never know, you might learn something!
The SEGA Blog has kicked off another series of translated interviews held between 3D Classics developer M2 and Game Watch & Impress, this time focusing on the upcoming 3D After Burner II which is due out on January 15th for Nintendo’s 3DS. The article, which you can find here, not only delves into the development of the 3DS remake, but also Okunari provides photos and videos of the After Burner II cabinet in SEGA of Japan’s permanent storage warehouse. Suddenly I’m having visions of the ending to “Raiders of the Lost Arc” with every crate sporting a SEGA logo.
Part one can be found at SEGA’s blog, and part two is to be released tomorrow.
Perhaps the most exciting news last year for Nintendo 3DS owning SEGA fans was the announcement that the second wave of SEGA’s 3D Classics were heading West in early 2015. Revealed to be releasing monthly, think of it as a SEGA Arcade Game of the Month Club, Nintendo Life has discovered that After Burner II will be kicking off the collection in Europe on January 15th and that the games will be priced at £4.49/€4.99. An American release date has not been discovered, but it will likely be the same or just a few days apart from the European date.
It can be assumed that 3D Fantasy Zone, 3D OutRun, 3D Fantasy Zone II, and 3D Thunder Blade will be released between February and May, making the first half of 2015 a retro SEGA fan’s dream come true!
SEGA AM2 is just one of those developers that always puts a smile on my face whenever I talk about their games. Not only do they have one of the most vast libraries, but they also revolutionized gaming in general multiple times over the past decades. Let’s look at the developer that popularized sprite-scaling in the 80s, gave us modern 3D with their Virtua series and created one of the most expensive games ever as we walk through their legacy.
Don’t forget to join us all month long while we talk more about SEGA AM2 and all their legendary franchises.
We are just ending our After Burner week with this new entry to our Round Table series where people on staff talk about a specific topic. This week we will be talking about our fond and not-so-fond memories with the After Burner franchise. Like always, if you guys want to tell us about your beloved memories with this AM2 gem, we would love to here them in the comment section below. Fire!
SEGA made a name for itself in the eighties thanks in no small part to the incredible talents of Yu Suzuki and his team at AM2. Though the company saw numerous successes throughout the decade ranging from Zaxxon to Fantasy Zone to Altered Beast, it was AM2’s innovative tetralogy of super scaler powered games that would make SEGA a big name in the arcades. From 1985 to 1987 SEGA released a crescendo of innovative mega-hits, including Hang-On, Space Harrier and OutRun, culminating with the release of After Burner.
Much like the rest of its brethren, After Burner was a resounding success, spawning numerous updates and spiritual successors. This week, we’ll be giving you a taste of what After Burner has to offer. First, we’d like to present an overview of the franchise for the uninitiated.
While the West is still enjoying SEGA’s weekly releases of 3D arcade and Genesis titles for Nintendo’s 3DS, with 3D Ecco the Dolphin and 3D Galaxy Force 2 releasing this week, Japanese gamers have the next wave of 3D classics to look forward to. Releasing December 18th to Japan is the arcade classic After Burner II, which features many of the same features that made 3D Space Harrier and 3D Hang-On so great. Players can expect 3D gameplay, reproduced arcade cabinet graphics and sound effects, stage select, the ability to save the game at any time, varying degrees of difficulty, a music test, and several control and screen settings. Check out the official 3D After Burner II site for more images and details, no announcement has been made for a Western release but once we hear something we’ll be sure to share it.