Arcade

The History of Sega Japan R&D, Part 2: The 90s Golden Age

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THE NUMBER ONE ARCADE ENTERPRISE

The Model series of arcade hardware by Yu Suzuki in co-operation with Lockhead Martin, where the next step in the Sega arcade world. Virtua Fighter sold Sega Saturns in Japan.

The Model series of arcade hardware by Yu Suzuki in co-operation with Lockhead Martin, where the next step in the Sega arcade world. Virtua Fighter sold Sega Saturns in Japan.

In Part 1, we looked at Sega’s origins and their Japanese game development during the 80s. In Part 2 we turn our attention to the golden age, when Sega was fought in the console wars and arcades were in full-force globally. Throughout the 90s, Sega would really grow up and mature and have individual divisions, splitting into arcade and consumer software and product development. Many of the programmers, designers and planners of the 80s and earlier would become managers and producers of their own divisions.
Let’s start Part 2 off with the growth of their AM studios, which is short for Amusement Machine Research and Development.

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Shinobi III and Super Hang-On’s soundtracks coming to vinyl thanks to Data Discs

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If you haven’t heard of the London based video game record label Data Discs, they have released both the Streets of Rage and Shenmue vinyls last month. Now they have announced their next SEGA related records, they will do a pressing of the Shinobi III: The Return of the Ninja Master and Super Hang-On soundtracks. Big props for not using the Western cover art, which is inferior to its Japanese counterpart. Also cut out design for the Super Hang-On record is very cool.

The record will cost £19.99 (About $30.45 USD) and come in three flavors (click read more to see those).

Since I have picked up their last two SEGA records, I will obviously be pre-ordering these as well. I’m just a little disappointed that they didn’t do one for The Revenge of Shinobi, which had an amazing soundtrack. Some might even say a better soundtrack than Shinobi III. But what are your thoughts? Excited? Press release after the break.

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SEGA officially confirms Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax hits America and Europe on October 6th

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Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax Day Bonus Soundtrack
SEGA has finally confirmed that Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax will launch for Playstation 3 and PS Vita on October 6 in North America, South America and Europe. We made a post in June stating it was suppose to come out on August 25th, a date given to us by a Gamestop listing, but that date turned out to be wrong.

North and South America will have ‘special launch edition’ version of the game that will include a bonus soundtrack CD that includes tracks from SEGA composers like Teruhiko Nakagawa, Naofumi Hataya, Kenichi Tokoi, and Jun Senoue. This will only be available to pre-orders and day one copies.

[Via: Gematsu]

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Blade of Arcus From Shining EX’s Japanese limited edition includes scantily clad anime girls

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SEGA has finally released all the high-resolution shots of the limited edition of Blade Arcus from Shining EX, which is a 2D arcade fighting game that is coming to the Playstation 4 and Playstation 3 in Japan this November.

The game’s limited edition is known as the “Tony Taka’s Premium Fan Box“, who is Tony Taka? He is the artist for the newer Shining series of games, specially famous for making anime girls, that well… aren’t exactly fully clothed (see the art in the image header for examples of such work).

Limited edition comes with:

  • A Tony Taka-illustrated special box
  • “Shining Heroine Works” 40-page art book
  • Shining Ark character 10-song CD
  •  Shining Blade 60-song soundtrack CD (two discs)
  • “Shining Beach Heroines” 2016 13-month swimsuit calendar

The game hits Japanese store shelves on Novemeber 26th, all first print copies come with Sonia from Shining Resonance as a playable character. No western release date has been announced, but if you want this edition of the game you can always pre-order it at Play-Asia for $110 USD. For more info, check out the game’s official website.

[Via: Gematsu]

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SEGA’s Transformers: Human Alliance gets G-LOC deluxe style cabinet

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SEGA has launched Transformers: Human Alliance in arcades and it seems that the license has earned enough attention that SEGA went and made a deluxe cabinet (Titled Transformers: Human Alliance Special) for the game. Just how SEGA-AM2’s biggest titles all had big mechanical moving cabinets, Transformers: Human Alliance gets the SEGA R-360 type cabinet from the early 90’s, which was used with G-LOC: Air Battles.

Some people will suggest that G-LOC: Air Battles came out 15 years ago, how can that be impressive? Those people never played G-LOC on the SEGA R-360 cabinet which spins the players a full 360 degrees. Hit the jump to see the SEGA R-360 from 1990 and the new Transformers one in action after the break.

[Source: NintendoLife]

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SEGA bringing its Shining spin-off arcade game Blade Arcus from Shining EX to PS4 and PS3

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SEGA Japan has announced that they are porting the 2D arcade fighting spin-off Blade Arcus from Shining to the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 via Famitsu. SEGA will add ‘EX’ to the end of the game because the game will have loads of extras, including new playable characters.

In Japan the game will get two releases, a standard that will cost 6,990 yen ($56 USD) and a limited edition costing 9,990 yen ($80 USD). All first print copies come with the character Sonia from Shining Resonance. The “Blade Arcus from Shining EX Tony’s Premium Fan Box” limited edition comes with a Tony Taka-illustrated special box, “Shining Heroine Works” art book, Shining Ark character song CD, Shining Blade soundtrack CD, and “Shining Beach Heroines” swimsuit calendar.

As for it coming west, SEGA probably wants to see how Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax does later next month. As for the characters, if you are a old school Shining Force fan, don’t get too excited since all in-game characters are from Shining Hearts/Blade (some original characters for the game too). Hit the job to see who made the cut. 

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Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games heading to arcades!

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SEGA has revealed that Mario and Sonic will be heading to arcades together for the first time, as part of their latest Olympics team-up. The games will be getting location tests starting today and running through July 20 at the Club SEGA in Akihabara and the SEGA World in Kasai.

It is currently unknown whether the arcade version will be a port of content from the Wii U version or be a completely unique game. At the very least, the game will have unique controls, going by the design of the cabinets.

Mario and Sonic 2016 will be launching for the Wii U and 3DS next year. It is currently unknown when the final version of the arcade game will hit Japanese arcades, and whether or not these machines will appear in Western arcades.

Source: Inside Games (translated by Perfectly Nintendo)

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Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax Ignition location test gameplay hits online

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While we are getting closer to the American release of Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax, there is already a ‘expanded’ version of the game being tested for release in Japan. While some people are calling it a ‘sequel’, to me it seems like a update to the game, sort of how Street Fighter II was updated to Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting a year after release.

The video clip above shows off new characters Quenser Barbotage (from Heavy Object) and Emi Yusa (from The Devil is a Part-Timer). Fighting Climax Ignition is set for arcades this summer in Japan, while the first game is coming to Playstation 3 and Vita in America on August 25th.

What do you guys think of this game? Will this updated release effect your purchase in August?

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New Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax adds characters from Heavy Object

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So Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax will be getting a sequel in arcades that is set to add quite a bit of new content including new playable characters. If you never heard of the game, its a 2D anime based fighting game that happens to feature some SEGA characters (from franchises like Virtua Fighter and Valkyria Chronicles). So what can you expect to see in the new game? Let’s check it out:

This new version of Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax is being titled ‘Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax New Work’ (working title) and will hit Japanese game centers this summer. The console version of the first arcade release is set to hit Playstation 3 and Playstation Vita this fall in the West.

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SEGA unleashes trailer for Blade Arcus from Shining 2.0

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Never heard of Blade Arcus from Shining? Its a Shining series spin-off that takes characters from Shining Hearts and Shining Blade and pits them against each other in a 2D fighting game, with a look that is very comparable to Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax. The game hit Japanese arcades on November 11th of last year and is now setting up for an updated release being called ‘2.0’. The update is set to hit game centers early this summer.

Version 2.0 will have the following additions:

Four new playable Shining Hearts  characters

New game systems

  • Rejection card
  • Reversal strike

Its also set to feature new stages, motion frame adjustments for all characters and other system improvements. The game has only been officially released in Japanese arcades, no plans are set for a console release at this time. What do you guys think of this spin-off? Would you guys give it a go if it was released in the West?

[Via: Gemastu]

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Developer Retrospective: Rolling with the arcade kings of SEGA’s Amusement Vision

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YOTSD-AVAs we hit the halfway point of the Year of the SEGA Developers, we turn our attention to a favorite of ours: Amusement Vision. Okay, so being a SEGA fan site, every SEGA developer is our favorite. But just look at Amusement Vision’s portfolio: imaginative new games like Monkey Ball and Ollie King , follow-ups to classic franchises including Space Harrier’s Planet Harriers, Daytona USA 2001, and Spikeout and Virtua Striker sequels. Amusement Vision also holds the distinction of being the first SEGA developer to take on a Nintendo franchise with the much loved F-Zero GX and F-Zero AX.

As is customary for a developer month kick-off article, join us as we look back on how Amusement Vision came to be, their library of games, and where the staff are now!

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SEGA launching Nail Sticker Print arcade machine in Japan

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Being a woman in Japan isn’t easy, especially when you have a full schedule. If there was only some sort of arcade machine that could print trendy and cute designs on our nails so we could be the talk of the office. Thankfully for you, SEGA has made ‘Nail Sticker Print‘, their latest arcade aimed at women (like you and me). This isn’t the first or last time SEGA has launched products like these and obviously aimed at a different market than something like Virtua Fighter 6 would be aimed at.

The machine seems to have an app that allows you to use pictures stored on your smartphone to make whatever print you would want on your nails. See a super scary spider? No fears, take a picture and print it on your nails. Now even your nails are scary. Boo!

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NYGX hosting Virtua Fighter tournaments this upcoming August

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Even though Virtua Fighter franchise has lost its popularity in the West through recent years, doesn’t mean places like New York Cities’ NextLevel will allow it to go unnoticed. From August 14th through the 16th NYGX will be hosting a array of Virtua Fighter tournaments.

What games are on the bill? So far:

  • Virtua Fighter 3
  • Virtua Fighter 4: Final Tune
  • Virtua Fighter 5R
  • Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown

How many of you guys play Virtua Fighter competitively and want to go to this? Should be a interesting event, definitely excited to see some new Virtua Fighter 4 matches.

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SEGA-AM2 is developing a arcade game based on Kantai Collection

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If you never heard of Kantai Collection (or KanColle as the fans say), its a free-to-play browser game created by Kadokawa Games and is actually a card collecting game. The browser game has over 2.5 million regisitered users and the franchise has been spreading to other media like manga (more than one series), anime series and even a licensed tabletop role-playing game.

The franchise is rising to popularity fast, with the browser game only launching in 2013. SEGA of course wants in on the action, seeing how highly successful other ventures like Hatsune Miku (Which AM2 developed the arcade version of this game) have been for the company.

Personally would rather have SEGA-AM2 announce a new internal IP, instead of doing a license game (especially a card game). But you never know what the future has in store…

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SEGA Tunes: Cutting corners while listening to Hang-On’s soundtrack

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SEGA-AM2 could really thank most of its success to how popular the game Hang-On was in 1985. This game really opened up for all those other popular SEGA-AM2 peusdo 3D scaler games that we all love today like Space Harrier, Out-Run, Afterburner, and many more.

The track above is called ‘Theme of Love’ and love is probably what kids in the mid-eighties felt when they played this game for the first time. Every time I hear any music from a early SEGA-AM2 games it just fills me with nostalgia and Hang-On‘s Theme of Love does it the best. It just does everything right and is an excellent piece of music.

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