Puyo Puyo 20th Anniversary Trailer

Sega’s popular (in Japan) puzzle series Puyo Puyo marks it’s 20th anniversary this year and Sega is putting out a new Puyo Puyo game for PSP, 3DS, DS and Wii this year (again, in Japan). Western Sega fans may know this game more when it was Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine. Don’t expect to see any of these Puyo Puyo games reach the states as the market for them here doesn’t exist.

[Source: GoNintendo]

Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games Trailer

It’s Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games… What a mouthful!
If there is something I don’t think anyone could fault Sega for, it’s their very impressive CGI and Mario/Sonic/London as I’m now calling it does not disappoint on the CGI front!

A great trailer and hopefully a great game! Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games will release for the Nintendo Wii on November 15th in North America, November 18th in Europe and the DS version will release Febuary 2012.

SEGA in the Charts: Japanese Charts 1-7 August 2011

The latest in the J-League Pro Soccer Club! series comes at a rather quiet time for the Japanese market with sluggish sales all round. However, the series that has declined since its heydays, still continues to be big seller for SEGA, so how has the latest edition been doing and what other SEGA title continues to chart? Continue to see if J-League Pro Soccer Club! 7: Euro + managed to make it to the number one spot.

SEGA Japan shutting down servers for Shiren the Wanderer DS & Wii


If you have the Japanese copies of Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer, Shiren the Wanderer DS 2, and Shiren the Wanderer 3 (released in America by Atlus as Shiren the Wanderer) then you might want to know that they will be going offline coming this November. The servers will be shut down on October 31st, SEGA announced today.

That means stuff like leaderboards, time attack rankings, item trading and the rescue system will not work in the games anymore (at least the Japanese versions). It is not confirmed how this will effect the other versions of the game.

Only the SEGA published Shiren the Wanderer games are going offline, so that means Shiren the Wanderer 4 will still be online for the world to play.

[Source: Siliconera]

Puyo Puyo gets its own racing car


SEGA-Sammy are putting in some big bucks to advertise Puyo Puyo. They are sponsoring a KONDO Racing Team. This will mean that there will be big Puyo Puyo 20th Anniversary billboards in the racing track and that the franchise will have its own sponsored car.

It feels good seeing SEGA give big props to the Puyo Puyo franchise. I thought it was going to be overshadowed by the Sonic hype, but it’s getting some big bucks and love in Japan. Don’t hold your breath for a western version of this title.

Puyo Puyo 20th anniversary limited edition unboxing

So some of you guys on here have probably wanted to import the new Puyo Puyo 20th anniversary game, but dont’ know if you should pay the extra for the limited edition or go with the regular? Well, now we have an unboxing of the limited edtition and I have to say, its well worth the extra cash.

It has a ton of key chains, nicer packaging and a hand fan. Yes, a hand fan. Hit the jump to see those pictures!

Captain America gets pre-order bonuses at Gamestop

Captain America: Super Solider is looking like it will be the best SEGA and Marvel tie-in game in recent history. Yes, that is not saying too much. If you pre-order the game via Gamestop (US only as far as I know) you will get the “Ultimates” DLC pack below.

  • Ultimates 1942 Captain America costume
  • The “Ballroom Blitz” Challenge Mode Map
  • Early in-game access to Cap’s “Weaponize” ability

Below are more screens of the DLC stuff in action. You can go here to pre-order or your nearest Gamestop. You know those stores are spawning everywhere.

Puyo Puyo 20th Anniversary – Trailer

This year isn’t just Sonics 20th birthday! No, this year is also the 20th anniversary of one of the best if not the very best ‘falling blocks’ puzzle game ever, Puyo Puyo! To celebrate, Sega is releasing a Puyo Puyo 20th Anniversary game for the Nintendo DS which will feature 20 years of Puyo Puyo game modes and characters.

These modes are from fan favourites like Puyo Puyo Sun, Tsu and Puyo Pop Fever amongst others. Returning characters range from the early days right up to Puyo Puyo 7. The Puyo Puyo 20th Anniversary game features coop and competitive wireless gameplay for up to 8 players!

If nothing else, the trailer is worth a watch simply for that man in the ball… Good stuff Japan!

SEGA publishing Aliens Infestation according to trademark

The Australian classification website has posted that SEGA filed for Aliens Infestation. Says it will be a ‘computer game(s)’ and being done by Wayforward Technologies.

Wayforward was doing the DS version of Aliens: Colonial Marines when it was put on hold. Their DS game was going to be a 2D shooter, much like Contra. Maybe SEGA decided to release the game with its own title?

[Source: Classification]

Mario & Sonic platformer never happened due to internal disagreement

When we where kids, growing up in the 16-bit era, we always took sides with either Sonic or Mario. But deep down inside, we always wanted to see them do a game together, an awesome platformer. Then SEGA announced Mario & Sonic Olympic series, making people angry. But why not make a platformer game?

“Prior to this project there has always been a discussion between Nintendo and Sega about bringing Sonic and Mario together somehow. But every time we talked about it, there was an issue as to exactly how we could achieve that.

These characters come from two totally different backgrounds, and have completely different worlds. If you do any kind of collaboration, you can’t just get them to run on one of the Sonic stages or vice versa. You have to create something from scratch, a neutral location. Nintendo and SEGA never managed to agree on just where or what kind of universe we could set a Mario and Sonic adventure in.

Then, some time ago, SEGA secured a license to create games based on the Olympics. At that point I came up with the idea of having Mario and Sonic compete with each other in the Olympic games setting. We proposed that idea to Nintendo and they were really positive and interested in the idea, so that is where we started building it into a concrete game proposal.” – Osamu Ohash, Producer.

Very interesting, minigames seem to be the easiest way to cash in on the brand names.

[Source: Spong]

Review: Thor: God of Thunder (DS)

Licensed games tend to be cursed. They’re usually made by low-end development teams with little budget and even less time. This is even more true with Sega’s games that are licensed out by Marvel. Iron Man, Incredible Hulk and especially Iron Man 2 have all been stinkers that seemed to have been made for a quick cash-in.

However, when given to the right developer, you can have a winning game on your hands. Such is the case when Sega gave development of the DS version of Thor to Wayforward. The company behind such other 2-D hits as Contra 4, Shante and Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Here’ they bring their expertise to make what could have easily been movie tie-in garbage into a well polished 2-D action game.