Arcade

The House of the Dead Prototype Discovered After 21 Years

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Arcade provider, AndyGeezerServices and Youtuber, KawaiiYinYang had released pictures and footage of the prototype version of The House of the Dead for the SEGA Model 2 arcade hardware on the internet after 21 years. The prototype features two playable levels and tons of unused content such as a different introduction, dialogue, animation, and sound effects (which one of them happens to be the “Reload!” sound from the Virtua Cop series). The prototype may have also been possibly used in a couple of tradeshows back in Japan around the time.

AndyGeezerServices submitted the prototype to MAME and we hope it’ll be open to the public for newer discoveries to come. Hit the jump to take a look at the prototype version of the original House of the Dead.

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Daytona Championship USA impressions and gameplay

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Last year I went out to the Dave & Busters in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, which at the time was one of few locations anywhere in the US that had Daytona Championship USA. The racing bug has been in my blood since I was a kid and Daytona USA is a series I absolutely adore. So here are some of my first impressions of the game (yes I still remember).

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Rare SegaSonic Bros. arcade prototype to be playable at California Extreme this weekend

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This upcoming Saturday California Extreme arcade & pinball event is happening in the Hyatt Regency hotel in Santa Clara, California. The event will last 2 whole days (July 28-29) and feature quite a number of speakers. While all that is nice and fun, one of the biggest surprises is that the long lost SegaSonic Bros. prototype will be playable at this event.

If you didn’t know, SegaSonic Bros. is a 1992 puzzle game for the Sega System C2 designed by Fukio Mitsuji (Bubble Bobble fame), the game never got a full release due to bad location testing in Japan and was considered lost until arcade board collector ShouTime revealed that he had a working board back in 2016. ShouTime will be bringing that working prototype board to California Extreme for arcade enthusiast to play. I sort of wish I had a heads up on SegaSonic Bros. being playable so I could have made plans to go and try it. Are any of you guys going to California Extreme? Check out more info here.

[Via Arcade Heroes]

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SEGA rarity A.B. Cop now playable at Galloping Ghost Arcade in Brookfield, IL

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Released around 1989, A.B. Cop (Air Bike Cop) is a Sega X Board rarity that few know about and even fewer have played. A super scaler game, like After Burner and Thunder Blade (also Sega X Board titles), A.B. Cop was jointly developed by Aicom and SEGA. In the game, you control an air bike cop who is out to arrest criminals by crashing into their vehicles, thus disabling them. The game is played on a sweet dedicated cabinet in which you perch yourself on a seat and use handlebar controls to move left and right, a button to jump and a lever to accelerate.

Sounds great, right? Want to play it? Well Galloping Ghost Arcade in Brookfield, IL just added the game to their arcade floor in a lovely dedicated cabinet! Revealed as their Monday Mystery Game via live stream, A.B. Cop came to the arcade direct from Japan. You can hear the story of how they acquired it and check out some gameplay footage on the stream. I plan to check the game out this weekend, and if you want to give A.B. Cop and 600+ more games a spin head to Galloping Ghost Arcade for yourself!

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House of the Dead: Scarlet Dawn to appear at all Dave & Busters locations this fall

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Via Arcade Heroes comes news that Dave & Busters have purchased House of the Dead: Scarlet Dawn units for all of their arcades nationwide. The plan is to have the game up and running at all locations in time for Halloween 2018. The units should be shipping end of September to early October. This is according to Dave & Buster’s Senior VP, Kevin Bachus on Reddit. Kevin also states that it is the best by far in the franchise. Meanwhile over in Japan, SEGA has released another location test version at the High-Tech Land SEGA Shibuya with more changes made. You can check out location test details over at The Website of the Dead.

This is great news for fans who wanted to play the game but thought it would be tricky to find a machine, seeing as Dave & Busters have locations in 38 states as well as Canada and Puerto Rico. If a Dave & Busters isn’t near you, fear not as SEGA Amusements are selling units to other chains. If an arcade chain is near you, maybe give them a call and request some Scarlet Dawn!

[Source: Arcade Heroes]

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SEGA Amusements announces western release of House Of The Dead: Scarlet Dawn

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SEGA Amusements have announced that House Of The Dead: Scarlet Dawn, the latest entry in the The House of the Dead franchise, is coming soon to arcades. If you’re thinking “wait, wasn’t this already announced for arcades?”, you’d be right! However, up until now we have only heard news of the game from SEGA’s Japanese arcade division with reports of special events and play tests. Now, with SEGA Amusements sharing information on the game, it looks like western fans won’t have to wait long to play the game for themselves!

[Source: SEGA Amusements]

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Rare 1987 SEGA arcade game Bullet now playable at Galloping Ghost Arcade

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The largest arcade in the world, Galloping Ghost Arcade in Brookfield, IL, has appeared quite a bit on our news page thanks to their continued efforts to make as many games playable as possible in their ever expanding lineup of machines (at well over 600). Their latest addition is a unique title from SEGA’s arcade past: 1987’s shoot ’em up Bullet. Developed by AM1 and playing similarly to Smash TV, the game is quite rare. According to Galloping Ghost only a few boards are known to exist and the one in their possession is the only one in the United States. The game uses two sticks, one for shooting and one for moving. Aesthetically, the game resembles Alien Syndrome and appears to recycle assets from Golden Axe.

If you want to play the game for yourself, head on over to Galloping Ghost the next time your in the Chicagoland area. If you can’t make it over, stay tuned to SEGAbits as we plan to head over there for an arcade game review. Thanks to Galloping Ghost for reviving this lost game!

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SEGA’s Next Big Arcade Game: Transformers Shadow Rising

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SEGA has had a huge presence in license arcade cabinets, all the way from its conception as a company moving on to their golden age of Japanese arcades. SEGA’s next big licensed arcade game happens to be another Transformers title, being a sequel to 2013’s Transformers: Human Alliance. Transformers Shadow Rising has been showing that Amusement Expo 2018 in its early beta stages. The game so far has been revealed to be 75% complete. It is funny though, that the game’s title reminds me of that one Wheel of Time book… 

Our friends over at Arcade Heroes had a big preview on the new upcoming game, talking about how the game is very similar to 2013 Transformers: Human Alliance but with more focus on co-op. SEGA Amusements has also released a press release which you can read after the jump.

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After Burner 2xLP vinyl pre-orders go live this Saturday

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The people over at Data Discs have announced their 15th retro SEGA vinyl release, it is After Burner! This will be a 2xLP affair with the first one having the whole After Burner soundtrack from 1987 as composed by Hiroshi “Hiro” Kawaguchi and the second LP featuring additional material like live arranged versions of the tracks by S.S.T. Band.

The LP will come on double 180g LPs, play at 45RPM and even have a fold out poster featuring the original artwork. This release will run you £24.99 ($34.88 USD) and come in three versions:

  • 2 x 180g Purple and Blue Swirl (Limited Edition)
  • 2 x 180g Opaque Purple
  • 2 x 180g Classic Black

The pre-order goes live on February 24th at data-discs.com, vinyls ship out on March 31st, 2018.

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Rare unreleased SEGA arcade game “Ribbit!” playable at the Galloping Ghost

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The largest arcade in the world, Galloping Ghost Arcade in Brookfield, IL, has appeared quite a bit on our news page thanks to their continued efforts to make as many games playable as possible in their ever expanding lineup of machines (at well over 600). Their latest addition is a unique title from SEGA’s arcade past: 1991’s Ribbit!. Developed and published by SEGA for the System C Hardware (an arcade board most notably used for Puyo Puyo, Columns and SegaSonic Popcorn Shop), the game plays similarly to Frogger where 1-2 players control frogs in four directions with the goal being to eat all the small bugs but ignore the larger ones.

Unfortunately, the game played too similarly to Frogger and it is said Konami threatened a lawsuit which lead to the game not seeing a full release. How Galloping Ghost got their hands on the board is a story they say will be told soon. In the meantime, fans of obscure arcade games can head on over to the arcade and play this hidden gem now! Worth noting, the team at Galloping Ghost placed Ribbit! into an original Frogger cabinet and had custom side art, marquee and control panel art made at Galloping Ghost Reproductions.

After the break, check out a gallery of images and I’ll be sure to write up an arcade game review of the game the next time I head over there!

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SEGA News Bits: House of the Dead: Scarlet Dawn Location Test Impressions & Information

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I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t super excited for the upcoming House of the Dead: Scarlet Dawn; so of course I had to make new video discussing all the new information that came out of the recent location test, talk about my impressions about what we’ve seen and speculate if its coming outside of arcades. Like always, I want to hear what you think, so leave a comment below and thanks for watching!

If you enjoy our SEGA News Bits segments and want to support us: Give us a sub and give this video a thumbs up so it shows up on more like-minded fans YouTube recommendations. You know, how that YouTube algorithm is.

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SEGA reveals new arcade action card game Sen Sen Sen Ki

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A few days ago we posted about SEGA teasing a brand new arcade title. Today they have revealed that the title is “Sen Sen Sen Ki” which will be a new action card game. SEGA is set to do location tests at SEGA Akihabara #2 and #3 from January 26 to the 28th.  There will also be a survey, which will take player feedback before the game launches later this year.

Sen Sen Sen Ki is a completely new franchise that will have digital card battles with modes such as ‘party battle’ and ‘dual turn’ systems. Some of the classes already confirmed for the game include:

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House of the Dead: Scarlet Dawn location test footage hits the net, looks amazing

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House of the Dead: Scarlet Dawn was just announced four days ago and its already already getting location testing in Japan. Thankfully for us, Throwback Tokyo has captured some of the first footage of the game in action for us that live outside of Japan. The game shows off a cutscene featuring  the new main protagonist Ryan Taylor and returning protagonist from House of the Dead 4 Kate Green. It seems from the little dialogue that we have gotten that this game takes place after the events of House of the Dead 4, making it a direct continuation.

Just like the past House of the Dead games, the game is voiced in English and has Japanese subtitles (instead of getting Japanese VO). For those of you wondering, yes, the voice work is super cheesy just like the classics. Personally, you can’t have a good House of the Dead game if it doesn’t feel like a cheesy B movie and so far from the little footage shown, this game is hitting its marks. According to other online users that went to play House of the Dead: Scarlet Dawn, SEGA had a survey asking users if they would be interested in a console port. I will have to say, hell yeah!

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SEGA News Bits: House of the Dead: Scarlet Dawn announcement reaction

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The House of the Dead franchise returns with an all new arcade game in 2018! Titled House of the Dead: Scarlet Dawn, the franchise drops the “The” and the numbering and seemingly returns to the franchises roots, bringing things back to a mansion and reviving a classic enemy. On this SEGA News Bits, George and Barry are joined by Patrick aka Kori-Maru who is the owner of The Website of the Dead, a The House of the Dead fansite. Hear our reaction to this news, what we can glean from the screenshots and website, and what past interviews with the franchise developers can tell us about this new game.

If you enjoy our SEGA News Bits segments and want to support us: Give us a sub and give this video a thumbs up so it shows up on more like-minded fans YouTube recommendations. You know, how that YouTube algorithm is.

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SEGA teasing another arcade game announcement with countdown page

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SenkiArcade

While SEGA has just announced House of the Dead: Scarlet Dawn, that doesn’t mean its everything they have up their sleeves for their arcade division. SEGA has also launched a site teasing an upcoming arcade game announcement. So far the only clue on the site is the word ‘senki’ which roughly translates to ‘military campaign’. This countdown is set to finish on January 19 at 15:00 JST, so we will know what it is in a few days.

The unannounced game seems to be fantasy themed since we see an hour glass and a king’s throne with floating islands. At first I thought this could be a sequel to an old arcade game like SEGA-AM2’s Quest of D, but I’m pretty sure their new arcade game Soul Reverse is suppose to be a spiritual successor. If I had to take a guess, I can see this being a arcade sequel to Shining Force Cross (also a lot like Quest of D) which came out in 2010. The image just gives me the vibe from that game. But who knows, could be a new IP.

I guess we will find out soon enough. What do you guys think this upcoming SEGA arcade game will end up being? Let us know in the comments below.

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