Dreamcast

Henshin Engine Kickstarter moves Dreamcast port to first stretch goal

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henshin engine kickstarter dreamcast stretch goal

Henshin Engine is an independent game that currently has an active Kickstarter campaign for a PC Engine and Steam release. Henshin is a 2D action platformer with a few horizontal shooting stages in the mix. It follows the adventures of a young gaming fanatic named Yuki who is transformed by her beloved console, the FX-Engine. Her opponents include Ultra Drive Unit: Genji, an obvious take on the Sega Mega Drive.

Today the team behind the project announced that they have adjusted their stretch goals for the Kickstarter campaign to make a Dreamcast port a higher priority.

The people have spoken! So we’ve gotten TONS of emails asking us to specifically port Henshin Engine to the Dreamcast and that it should be a reward that’s realistic to achieve. Although I would like to think that ALL the stretch goals are realistic to achieve *wink*, we did ultimately decide to make it the very first stretch goal we hit. I would be more than thankful to just hit our funding goal so that the game gets made, but if we hit that first stretch goal, that would be extra awesome! So remember you DC fans, thank your friends for the countless emails about Henshin on DC, but more importantly, SHARE with all your DC friends so that we can bring Henshin Engine to the DC! I wouldn’t mind seeing an animated cutscene for Yukis transformation

The campaign currently sits at $10,502 out of their $16,400 funding goal, with 23 days left to go for the campaign. The Dreamcast stretch goal is $22,400.

The team project has a target release date of March 28th, 2017.

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New Xenocider demo out, pre-order now available

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xenocider demo

Developer Retro Sumus has dropped a nice surprised today in the form of a new Xenocider demo, a public declaration of their goals, and the ability to pre-order the Dreamcast game.

The developer discussed how conflicted they were in accepting money for the game before the work being finished. However, they decided to commit to the project and to exclusively develop it for the Dreamcast. They have set a tentative goal of finishing the game in less than a year.

The demo contains three stages that the team describes as “virtually finished.” The areas available are Fantasy Land, Planet Krok and Planet ORL. You can download the demo right here.

If you’re sold on Xenocider already, you can now pre-order a copy on Retro Sumus’ new shop. You’ll find all of the Kickstarter’s editions available, which is rather nice. You can also throw down some money on a Retro Sumus shirt featuring the team’s logo.

In addition to the Xenocider news, the team also teased an upcoming announcement concerning their other Dreamcast game, Ameba.

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Dreamcast indie devs show off new Xenocider swamp stage prototype

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The Xenocider Kickstarter campaign may have been cancelled after it they failed to raise the entire $92,000 goal, but developer Retro Sumus‘ soul still burns! They have been keeping true to their promise to continue working on the game and bringing their vision to fruition.

This week the team posted this short demo of the latest stage they are working on, Planet ORL. This new area has a swamp theme and features hostile plants and animals.

Sumus notes it is still a prototype of the intended final product.

As we reported on previously, Xenocider is a new original game for the Dreamcast heavily inspired by the Space Harrier and Sin & Punishment. The game was set to be one of the more ambitious independent posthumous Dreamcast releases, with loads of features.

What do you think of the Xenocider swamp stage? What sorts of objects and obstacles would you like to see the team add to the final version?

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SEGA Talk: Dreamcast Turns 17 Years Old, We List 6 Must Play Games

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On this very special episode of SEGA Talk we list our six defining Dreamcast games that everyone needs to play as the Dreamcast turns 17 years old today. That’s right the Dreamcast turns 17 years old for us SEGA fans in North America.

So sit back with us for this year’s SEGA Dreamcast anniversary and listen to us discuss our defining games and like always you can tell us your personal defining Dreamcast games in the comments below.

If you enjoy our SEGA Talk YouTube series segments, make sure you subscribe to our channel as we try to update it weekly. Thanks!

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SEGA says Shenmue 1 & 2 HD remakes have their full attention

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Shenmue_HD_remasters_Sega_comment[1]SEGA Europe’s boss Jurgen Post has recently talked about the possibilities of doing Shenmue 1 & 2 HD remakes and ressured the fanbase that they have been looking into renewing licensing to do the remakes correctly.

This is what SEGA Europe said about the Shenmue 1 & 2 HD remakes:

“There is definitely a desire [to go back to our classic games], Even online, people are constantly talking about products they would like to see come back, and Shenmue 1 and 2  are probably in the top two places. We are looking into it. It is an old IP, it is a beloved IP – and not just by consumers, but also within Sega, we have people saying that if we could do Shenmue 1 and 2 all over again, we’d definitely go for it. The issue is that it is a big game. It is a project from many years ago. If we are to do it, we’d want to do a fantastic conversion to the current platforms, and there are a lot of licences in the game, which were cleared many years ago, so we will need to renegotiate those contracts. We are looking into it. We haven’t given it a green light, but it has our full attention.” – Jurgen Post, President and COO of SEGA Europe

This whole licensing issues from old games have plagued SEGA in the past when they ported over Crazy Taxi on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, omitting the iconic soundtrack due to SEGA not wanting to pay the licenses for the old tracks. This lead fans to getting upset and ever since then SEGA has made an effort to gather all the licenses when remaking or porting games. The last big examples include Castle of Illusions (which, now expiring license is making them pull it from shops) and Jet Set Radio.

What are your thoughts? Does Shenmue 1 & 2 HD remakes seem like a reality now? Jurgen Post has been teasing the return of classic franchises for awhile now, do you really think SEGA Europe actually have something up their sleeves?

[Source: MCVUK]

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Peter Moore talks SEGA Dreamcast days in recent IGN Unfiltered Interview

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Peter Moore talked about the SEGA Dreamcast days in a Unfiltered interview posted up by IGN. The video is an hour and a half talk about the man’s career and what led him to be EA’s Chief Competition Officer. Some of the games that he said made him smile from the Dreamcast era included Seaman, Samba De Amigo and he even mentions Yu Suzuki’s SEGA-AM2 studio with Shenmue.

Peter Moore worked for the underdog brands which included Reebok, SEGA and later the Xbox division. Peter Moore is a interesting guy and this interview shows it with a few more bits like his son being a SEGA Saturn owner before he worked at SEGA, pitching his ideas to SEGA Japan and the mysteries behind his marketing TV spots. Really makes you miss the days of SEGA hardware, huh?

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Pokémon GO releasing to the Dreamcast VMU in 2017

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The creator of Flappy Bird for the Dreamcast VMU, known as guacasaurus_mex on Instagram, has been hard at work on cool fan made VMU games since we last featured him. His Flappy Bird follow-up, Street Race, featured six OutRun-style tracks and a unique grayscale graphics trick which has to be seen to be believed. His latest project dives back into the smartphone remake world with a Dreamcast VMU version of Pokémon GO. Due to the time it takes to draw all the Pokémon, and laziness, the game won’t be ready until 2017. However guacasaurus_mex does promise a randomly generated map grid, in place of a GPS map, and a timing-based mini game to throw Pokéballs. More info on the game, including the release, as we hear it.

Note: Yeah yeah, I know. Any Pokémon GO article in gonna get us clicks, but to be fair we don’t make any money off of site traffic nor do we have ads. At least we didn’t try and tie No Man’s Sky into SEGA… yet.

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Seaman creator returning to the gaming industry

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lancado-primeiro-no-dreamcast-seaman-mostra-um-perturbador-homem-peixe-que-conversa-com-o-jogador-por-meio-do-microfone-do-videogame-1344280599341_956x500.0Yoot Saito the Seaman creator who also developed games like SimTower and Odama will now be returning to creating more video games. He announced this while speaking at the fourth annual BitSummit festival in Japan where he said he needed to get out of R&D and back into making video games for money.

“That’s the motivation. Computer games make money.” – Yoot Saito (Seaman Creator)

Seaman creator’s last released title was 2012’s luggage friendly 3DS title Aero Porter and then Earthbook which was a iOS app that no one cared about according to Saito, which ended up losing money. He didn’t go into specifics as to what he wanted to do for his next game but he didn’t rule out a spiritual successor but said the average player isn’t ready for a brand-new genre. I have to agree with Yoot Saito, while I would love a new wacky crazy genre created by him, I don’t think the average gamer would care, sadly.

I wouldn’t mind seeing a spiritual successor to Seaman, even if its just a mobile phone app. As long as the microtransactions to don’t take away from the game’s unique fun factor. Who knows, it could be the next wacky app to make it big. What are your thoughts on Yoot Saito returning to game development?

[Source: Destructoid]

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Garou: Mark of the Wolves coming to PS4 and PS Vita

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28188666492_30270b131d_zIt seems that Sony Interactive Entertainment America Third Party Production team have teamed up with SNK Playmore to bring Garou: Mark of the Wolves to the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita as a digital release. The PlayStation blog post says that it is the ‘Neo Geo’ classic meaning that this will be a port of that version being coded by Code Mystics, inc. The game will feature cross play functionality and promises high quality netcode. It seems that their last port, The Last Blade 2 used Code Mystic’s proprietary netcode and was well received. This release will also feature a gallery mode that allows you to collect artwork from the history of the Fatal Fury franchise and a sound testing mode that will allow you listen to the game’s soundtrack whenever you want.

Earlier this year SNK Playmore revealed that there was a sequel to Garou: Mark of the Wolves planned (then scrapped) and there was even some artwork released. Personally I played the game quite a bit on my SEGA Dreamcast, there have of course been various ports. Who knows if this release sells well we might finally get that sequel we all wanted. No release date announced yet. How many of you are going to check out this release? Let me know in the comment section!

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SEGA News Bits: Sonic the Hedgehog turns 25 years old

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Sonic the Hedgehog’s 25th anniversary officially kicked off on June 23rd, which was of course the release date of the eponymous game that started it all. In this SEGA News Bits, George and Barry look back on 25 years of Sonic by spin dashing through all the main series Sonic Team developed console games. There are quite a few to get through, so consider this more of a SEGA News Smörgåsbord. Why are you still reading this? Click play and enjoy!

What are your favorite Sonic games? Let us know the comments below and like always thanks for watching! If you like our SEGA News Bits videos, make sure to subscribe to us on our YouTube channel.

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Dreamcast homebrew game Wind and Water: Puzzle Battles getting reprinted

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The 2007 indie Dreamcast game Wind and Water: Puzzle Battles will be receiving a re-release this year, it has been confirmed.  Wind and Water: Puzzle Battles had been sold out for years and now developer Yuan Works Co., Ltd has teamed up with DragonBox Shop to re-release their famed puzzle game.

The studio announced that it was working on a new title called ‘Little Ninja‘, after Wind and Water: Puzzle Battles but it seems they are gauging interest for homebrew games, since Wind and Water: Puzzle Battles came out almost a decade ago. Yuan Works Co., Ltd also set up a Patreon to get development for Little Ninja off the ground.

If you haven’t played it Wind and Water: Puzzle Battles it mixes Bejeweled type puzzle gameplay with a over world map and old school JRPG like story elements. The re-release will have bug fixes and is up for pre-order for only $9.36 (plus shipping). Not a bad price at all.

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SNK shows off cancelled Garou: Mark of the Wolves 2 character roster

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Garou 2During an interview with 4Gamer, SNK’s Yasuyuki Oda (Game Director), Eisuke Ogura (System Designer), Hidetoshi Ishizawaka (Battle Designer), and Hayato Watanabe (Battle Designer) talked about their upcoming game King of Fighters XIV. Sure there is a lot of hype in the community for that game but what surprised me was that they showed the character roster for a cancelled sequel to Garou: Mark of the Wolves. Garou: Mark of the Wolves is a 1999 Arcade game that got ported to systems such as Neo Geo, PlayStation 2, Dreamcast and a lot more. It is also one of the most underrated fighting games on the SEGA Dreamcast library and that is saying a lot.

It seems that SNK’s Garou: Mark of the Wolves 2 would have used sprites, as seen above in the character art they recently released which is way different than the 3D look that King of Fighters XIV took. What are your thoughts on Garou: Mark of Wolves 2 being worked on rather recently? Let us know in the comments below. King of Fighters XIV is being published by Atlus in the United States.

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Celebrating Sonic the Hedgehog’s 25th anniversary with 25 great underrated moments

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sonic 25 headerSEGA’s Sonic the Hedgehog franchise turns 25 today, and while we’ve celebrated franchise milestone years in the past, there is something really special about this one. A quarter of a century is a long time, and it is a testament to SEGA’s perseverance and the devotion of the Sonic fanbase that the franchise is still going strong. Sonic Lost World and the Sonic Boom franchise – particularly the games – are often pinpointed as the franchise’s recent weak points and signs that the franchise as a whole needs to be put down or at the very least take a long break. While I am not here to debate the merits of Sonic Lost World and Sonic Boom, I will say that to end a series or take a long break because of either is both incredibly shortsighted and far too extreme a reaction. I would also argue that Sonic is about much more than just the main series games, as fans like to label the major titles, and that there has always been great Sonic things happening even during the franchise’s darkest years.

In celebration of 25 years of Sonic the Hedgehog, join me in looking back year-by-year as I shine the light on great moments in Sonic history that more people need to be talking about.

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Alpha build of Ecco II: Sentinels of the Universe leaked

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Ecco the Dolphin is a familiar face for SEGA fans, appearing in 4 different games and gaining a bit of a cult following due to it’s bizarre and surprisingly dark premise of a dolphin traveling through time to save his comrades from evil aliens. What many people didn’t know is that there was a fifth game in the series that was in development, acting as a sequel to the Dreamcast game Ecco the Dolphin: Defenders of the Universe. The game titled Ecco II: Sentinels of the Universe started in development sometime in 2001-2000, around the time the Dreamcast was on it’s last legs, with the build leaked in particular being made on February 19th, 2001. The game did not reach far into development, not receiving press coverage of any type and being silently cancelled when SEGA started to move away from the console business, though Ecco the Dolphin: Defenders of the Universe receiving mixed reception may of also contributed to the cancellation.

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SEGA News Bits: Dreamcast 2 Fan Project Shuts Down Reaction

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Late last year a group of SEGA Dreamcast fans announced they where petitioning SEGA to start Project Dream, which was basically a Dreamcast 2 console. The users behind the project used a Change.org petition to garner support for their Dreamcast 2 project. After getting over 30,000 signatures from fans around the globe, getting some mainstream press coverage and showing off a few Dreamcast 2 video concepts the team has now called it quits.

We give you all the information you might have missed on the project, talk about why they shut down and our opinions on the whole thing. Tell us what you think in the comments below. If you haven’t, make sure to subscribe to get more SEGA News Bits videos.

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