Features

Presenting the My Life with SEGA: The Next Level/No Limits VCD Trailer!

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In January we premiered the My Life with SEGA short film No Limits and announced a special Video CD release of the short film, and the previous My Life with SEGA short film The Next Level, featuring a retro SEGA CD Saturn plastic box design. In anticipation of the upcoming release, A.J. has put together a slick trailer featuring clips from the short films and reviews (Panzer Dragoon, Panzer Dragoon Zwei, Panzer Dragoon Saga, and Virtual-On) as well as VCD package shots.

Stay tuned to SEGAbits for details on how to get your hands on the release! In the meantime, why not binge watch Season 2 of My Life with SEGA?

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My Life with SEGA Season 2 ends with a SEGA Saturn classic – Die Hard: Arcade

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My Life with SEGA season 2 ends with punches, kicks, and several explosions as Mickey Mac and I take on the SEGA Saturn classic Die Hard: Arcade in a 2-Man Scramble! With season 2 over, what’s next for My Life with SEGA? I’ll be taking a break from the series as of now to concentrate on other projects. However, don’t think for a moment that My Life with SEGA is dead.

Next season is going to change things up where I’m sharing more single-player games with friends, like Mickey Mac, Lauren and others. I’ll do some straight reviews with big name titles (yes, Shenmue II), but this will be more freeform from Season 3 onward. Also, The Next Level/No Limits VCD: Special Edition is still in the works.

A big thanks to everyone – my family, friends, fans and SEGAbits – for keeping My Life with SEGA alive and well. It’s amazing to think that, come September 11th, it will be celebrating its 3rd birthday. I love you all, and I thank you from deep down in the cockles of my heart…. maybe below the cockles. Maybe even in the sub-cockle area. Maybe in the liver. Maybe in the kidneys. Maybe even in the colon. I don’t know.

STICK IT IN YOUR GENESIS, FUCKERS!

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Interview: Scott West, Hardlight Studio Senior Designer of Crazy Taxi City Rush

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SEGAbits: Hi Scott, thank you for answering our questions about the upcoming mobile game Crazy Taxi City Rush! What is your role at SEGA, and what is your favorite SEGA game?

Scott West: Hi there, I’m a Senior Designer at Hardlight Studios. As for favourite SEGA game, it would be impossible to name just one! I’d have to break it down into favourites throughout the course of the Consoles that I grew up with. From the Mega Drive days, I spent my childhood playing the likes of Golden Axe, Sonic, Streets of Rage and Outrun. Then on the Saturn it was Burning Rangers and Virtua Fighter 2 then of course the Dreamcast and House of the Dead, Jet Set Radio and Shenmue! That’s not to mention the hours I spent sinking into the Arcades on games like Rad Mobile and Crazy Taxi!

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Swingin’ Report Show #59: Sonic’s SEGA Genesis Spin-off Special

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The triple threat of George, Barry, and Bartman sit down for a round table discussion of Sonic the Hedgehog’s lesser appreciated SEGA Genesis titles: the spin-offs. We cover it all! From Dr. “don’t-call-him-Eggman-yet” Robotnik’s breakout role in Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, to Sonic’s transition from platforming icon to pinball with arms and legs in Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball, to Sonic’s take on the classic Flicky formula in Sonic 3D Blast. Even the digital sticker book Wacky Worlds gets some discussion.

So join us in a walk down memory lane (or is that “pain”?) as we relive and dissect Sonic’s SEGA Genesis spin-offs!

[Download] [RSS] [iTunes] [Archive]

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SEGA Tunes: Project DIVA blazes through the blue skies singing the After Burner theme

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Hatsune Miku and friends have sung many songs throughout their history, but none are more exciting than the SEGA inspired tunes that are featured in the franchise’s games. The 2010 arcade game Project DIVA Arcade featured the MEIKO Vocaloid voice (a voice provided by the Japanese female singer Meiko Haigō) singing lyrics over the theme to After Burner – a SEGA arcade classic. The video above features Hatsune Miku, despite the MEIKO voice. But can you blame us? It’s Miku! But in fairness to Vocaloids everywhere, we’re featuring MEIKO after the break. Happy listening!

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Round Table: Our SEGA Genesis memories

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SEGA Genesis Month may be coming to an end at SEGAbits, but we still have a lot more Genesis content to come in 2014 as we celebrate the console’s 25th anniversary. Still, to give the month a bit of finality, four of our writers have come together for a round table to share their favorite Genesis memories. The Genesis truly is a great piece of SEGA hardware, featuring many classic titles that span countless genres, innovative accessories, and the power to attract talented indie game companies of today that offer up new experiences on the console. Regardless of whether one was an early adaptor, or came to the console in its later days, the Genesis was and is a console that makes a lasting impression.

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Round Table: The future of Streets of Rage and our favorite memories

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As Streets of Rage Week comes to an end, the SEGAbits writer’s round table has us reflecting on our fond memories of the franchise, and where we would like to see the franchise headed in the future. SEGA has always been hit or miss when it comes to reviving and remaking older franchises. For every SEGA 3DS 3D Classics remake, Castle of Illusion and Shinobi 3DS there are a slew of stinkers – Golden Axe: Beast Rider, Altered Beast (PS2), several of the Sega Ages 2500 releases. Point is, a remake or reboot of Streets of Rage could go either way. What direction would be like to see the franchise headed? Follow the flashing “GO!” and read on!

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SEGA in the Media: Saints Row IV’s homage to Streets of Rage

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This just might be a first for SEGA in the Media, a SEGA inspired video game within another video game! Released last year, Saints Row IV was a tongue-in-cheek action-adventure game from Illinois based developer Volition. Given the self-referential nature of the series, it only makes sense that they’d eventually reference crazy action games of the past, and what game is more fitting to pay tribute to than SEGA’s Streets of Rage? Dubbed “Saints of Rage”, this 2D beat ’em up appears at around 75-80% of the way into Saints Row IV. In-game, “Saints of Rage” is an enemy created nightmare simulation. Kicking off with a “Winners Don’t Use Drugs” message, the player is taken to a title screen which is a direct reference to the original Streets of Rage title screen.

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My Life with SEGA doesn’t need a badge to play Streets of Rage 2 & 3

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My Life with SEGA’s Streets of Rage three parter comes to an end in the midst of Streets of Rage week at SEGAbits! In part one we looked back on one of the best beat ’em ups to grace SEGA’s 16-bit machine. In part two, Jimmy Mac and myself tackled two player mode for a 2-Man Scramble. Now we take a look at the sequels that followed, the appropriately named Streets of Rage 2 and Streets of Rage 3. Do the sequels live up to the original, or do they fail to reach the excellence of the first game? Punch the play button to find out!

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SEGA Retrospective: Grab some trash can chicken – it’s Streets of Rage Week

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This website was once a happy, peaceful place… until today, when an awesome SEGA franchise took over. This memorable series soon had control of our featured articles and even the Swingin’ Report Show. Welcome 16-bit brothers and sisters to Streets of Rage week at SEGAbits!

As we reach the halfway point of SEGA Genesis Month, we wanted to shine the spotlight on SEGA’s popular side-scrolling beat ’em up series of games. Streets of Rage (Bare Knuckle in Japan) was a franchise that spanned most of the lifespan of the the Genesis/Mega Drive, and like Sonic the Hedgehog, Phantasy Star, and Golden Axe, the series came to be one of the console’s defining franchises. To celebrate these titles, we have a slew of features planned this week including an interview with Darren Wall, creator of the official book “SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis: Collected Works”, exclusive never before seen design documents from the development of the original game, a special podcast looking back on the franchise, part three of My Life with SEGA’s Streets of Rage retrospective (watch part 1 and part 2), and more!

So put on your favorite fingerless gloves, tie on a headband, and hit the streets with us as we fight our way through Streets of Rage Week! After the break, a SEGA Retro rundown of all the games the franchise has to offer, including rereleases and cancelled titles!

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Retro Review: Hard Drivin’

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People don’t often think of the Genesis as a polygon pusher…mostly because it wasn’t. That didn’t stop some developers from trying to turn it into one though! Enter Hard Drivin’, a port of Atari’s 1988 3D polygon racing game. Ported to the Genesis in 1991, this game was one of the earliest examples of 3D graphics on a home console and given the limitations of the hardware, is surprisingly not a complete and utter disaster. That is not to say the game is good, though. Far from it in fact.

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My Life with SEGA takes on Mr. X in a 2-Man Scramble of Streets of Rage – Part 2

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SEGA Genesis month continues with part one of a three part Streets of Rage series of My Life with SEGA episodes!

Let’s admit it, Streets of Rage just isn’t fully experienced until you have a friend by your side in a co-op bare knuckle blast through the game. In part two of our Streets of Rage retrospective [watch Part 1 by clicking here] Mickey Mac joins me in taking down Mr. X in a 2-Man Scramble. Join us as we kick thugs in the face and enjoy some garbage can rotisserie chicken!

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Swingin’ Report Show #57: Interview with WaterMelon Video Games President Tulio Gonçalves

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SEGA Genesis month is in full swing, and Barry and George bring you our first podcast of the month which proudly features our special guest Tulio Gonçalves, president of WaterMelon Video Games! You may recognize WaterMelon as the developer of the phenomenal Genesis/Mega Drive RPG Pier Solar, released in 2010. Coming later this year is an enhanced and expanded HD release of Pier Solar, set for several platforms including Android, Linux, Mac, Ouya, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Windows PC, Xbox One, Wii U, and SEGA Dreamcast!

Tulio discusses WaterMelon’s early years, the creation of Pier Solar for the Genesis/Mega Drive, the upcoming Dreamcast version, and what we can expect in the future from the company. It’s a great discussion, so check it out! Also, we reveal the four winners of the SEGA and Tommo Mobile iPhone case giveaway.

Make sure to help WaterMelon to bring the game to PC by voting “YES” on their Steam Greenlight page!

[Download] [RSS] [iTunes] [Archive]

See the winning photos from the SEGA Tommo Mobile iPhone case contest after the break!

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Retro Review: Vectorman

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It’s the year 2049. Earth, as portrayed in BlueSky Software‘s Vectorman, has become completely uninhabitable by the human race. Having left their polluted planet behind, they’ve set off through the galaxy in hopes of finding a new home, while a crew of mechanical Orbots remains in their place to clean the Earth up.

Into this scenario (one which today seems oddly reminiscent of Pixar’s Wall-E) appears Vectorman; one such Orbot with an attitude and the courage to stop Warhead, an Orbot who went rogue and took control of the planet. The adventure that ensues is a fun one with great atmospherics, an addictive scoring system, and a bit of an edge. Vectorman was a great showcase of the Genesis’ capabilities back in its day, and even today remains a must play for those who want a stylish and futuristic sidescroller.

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My Life with SEGA bares his knuckles in Streets of Rage – Part 1

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SEGA Genesis month continues with part one of a three part Streets of Rage series of My Life with SEGA episodes!

In this first part, we take a look at the game that started it all: Streets of Rage, also known as Bare Knuckle in Japan. Created as SEGA’s answer to Capcom’s Final Fight, Streets of Rage quickly overshadowed Capcom’s brawler, bringing us three fantastic titles that appeared on the Genesis/Mega Drive, Master System, Game Gear, and on various compilation discs including the SEGA CD, Xbox 360, and PS3. Most recently, Streets of Rage appeared in the Nintendo 3DS 3D Classics series of games. But enough about modern ports, let’s look back at the cartridge that started it all (that’s your cue to press play on the video above).

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