Review: The House of the Dead: Overkill – The Lost Reels (iOS)

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Despite SEGA West whittling down the number of franchises they’ll be focusing on, the longtime classic franchise The House of the Dead has been kept alive (no pun intended, seriously) as of recent thanks to rereleases of arcade classics and expanded enhanced ports of the franchise’s most recent title The House of the Dead: Overkill. The 2009 Wii release became a cult classic, featuring a crazy re-imagining of the light gun shooter as a grindhouse flick complete with over the top gore, 70’s film stock effects, and gratuitous language. In 2011, The House of the Dead: Overkill Extended Cut released to the PS3 with enhanced visuals and new modes and stages. We thought that was it for the Overkill titles, but we were wrong. Dead wrong. SEGA has released The House of the Dead: Overkill once again, this time on iOS and Android devices. Enough with the introductions, let’s tear into this f***er!

My Life with SEGA boots up and reviews the Genesis CDX

Time for another “classic” episode from My Life with SEGA where I review the Genesis CDX hardware, or Multi-Mega for those of you in Japan or the UK. Mind you, this is NOT a review of SEGA CD in general; just this specific piece of hardware.

Odd watching this again. This was made long before I joined SEGAbits and there are so many things I hint at here like Genesis/Star Trek, The Next Level. Hell, it practically foreshadows the 3rd Anniversary Contest and me ditching the Model 2….so fucking weird.

Anyway, on with the show! Enjoy, for this is the last old-school video I’ll be posting. It’s all new shit from this point forward. Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel!

After the break, check out the teaser trailer for next week’s extra special episode: My Life with SEGA: The Next Level.

My Life with SEGA boldly plays Star Trek: TNG and Starfleet Academy

With Star Trek Into Darkness hitting theatres May 17, I felt like taking a walk down memory lane with Star Trek: The Next Generation – Echoes from the Past for SEGA Genesis, and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy – Starship Bridge Simulator for 32X….

Good God, why must these titles be so damn long?!

Anyway, these weren’t just games I picked up later as I started collecting hard-core. I grew up with ’em. Echoes from the Past was the first Star Trek game I ever played, while Starfleet Academy was one of many reasons I wanted the notorious mushroom of failure. It’s been almost 20 years since the docked on SEGA. Are these echoes from my past worth hearing, or has my enjoyment faded into a dim memory?

Let’s see what’s out there. Engage, fucker! Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel!

SEGA in the Media: Parks and Rec peeks inside Andy and April’s toolbox

SEGA in the Media is back! Did you know that a certain SEGA Genesis classic made an appearance in the 2011 Halloween episode of NBC’s Parks and Recreation? You probably did, given this clip is almost two years old. In the episode, characters Andy and April throw a Halloween party, and Ron Swanson occupies himself by fixing up their house. Upon requesting their toolbox, Ron is handed a plastic bag filled with various items including… well, why don’t you watch it?

Zombie MAYhem – My Life with SEGA enters The House of the Dead

Zombie MAYhem comes to a close with my review of The House of the Dead for SEGA Saturn.

The original was a smash in arcades way back in ’97. It spawned four sequels and two atrocious cinematic adaptations. While the arcade game was met with praise, the Saturn port was slammed pretty hard upon release. Game Revolution gave it ‘C’ and called it a “sloppy port” and warned “don’t go in this house”.

But how can this be? The Saturn gave us some stellar ports, like Virtua Fighter 2 and the Virtua Cop. Why is this? Watch and learn. Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel!

Zombie MAYhem – My Life with SEGA’s postmortem on Corpse Killer

It’s time for some zombie MAYhem! In this first installment, I’m reviewing one of the first zombie games I ever played, as well as the first SEGA CD 32X title I purchased. This foul beast could only be unleashed by Digital Pictures, the same bastards that brought us a game like no other: Night Trap.

Yes, I’m talking about Corpse Killer. This monstrosity was released in 1994 for SEGA CD, though I missed it completely. Once I saw the 32X version, I couldn’t resist. I wanted to see a game that used both the power of SEGA CD and 32X.

Anyway, click ‘PLAY’, brah! We need to get our zombie poison down up in ‘dis bitch! Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel!

Video Review: Mega Drive Master System Converter

TrackerTD, first place winner of the SEGAbits third anniversary contest, put together this excellent video review of the Mega Drive Master System Converter, also known as the SEGA Genesis Power Base Converter. It really is a sweet piece of tech, allowing Genesis and Mega Drive owners to play Master System games in both cartridge and card formats on their 16-bit console. Check out TrackerTD’s great video review above and make sure to browse and subscribe to his YouTube Channel. Congrats TrackerTD, and enjoy  AJ’s personal copy of Technocop for the Genesis, his Genesis model 2 and a copy of the official “SEGAbits Presents My Life with SEGA” DVD!

Retro Review: Zombies Ate My Neighbors

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The following Retro Review of Zombies Ate My Neighbors was written by SEGAbits third anniversary contest winner Nicholas C.

Our current era juxtaposes AAA titles, with huge expectations on presentation and endless cutscenes, and smaller package XBLA/PSN/Steam/etc budget titles. There’s a lot to love on both ends and in between. But a few elements many recent games lack, for me, are local co-op. The ability to not take yourself too seriously, and simply being able to pick up and play the game (sadly, there are only so many levels to Earth Defense Force 2017).

Fan made: nikibaby’s sweet Sharpie SEGA drawings

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Third place SEGAbits third anniversary contest winner nikibaby won herself a My Life with SEGA DVD thanks to these two cool photos showing off her unique drawing style. Of course, the contest rules stipulated that the entry would have to be a review, but we left it as open as possible, hoping to see some more unique takes on the guidelines of the contest. As such, nikibaby worked in a short, but sweet, written review of SEGA by proclaiming “I ♥ SEGA”.

But the real stars of the pieces are her takes on iconic SEGA characters Sonic the Hedgehog and Jet Set Radio’s Beat. Using nothing but paper and Sharpie markers, nikibaby depicted Beat by way of bright colors, hatching, and cross-hatching. Sonic, meanwhile, was expertly drawn using a technique called pointillism. Bonus points for not scanning the drawings, but rather displaying them in a photo alongside the markers used. You can see nikibaby’s Sonic drawing after the break.

Great job, nikibaby!

SEGA Tunes SEGAbits community spotlight: Brian Corey’s cover of Splash Garden

This week we’re bringing you a special Tuesday Tunes, as we’re featuring the music of a SEGAbits community member! Ungibbed, aka Brian Corey, put together this cover of the NiGHTS into Dreams tune Splash Garden from memory. Pretty impressive if you ask us! Of course, we don’t blame him for getting the tune stuck in his head, as Splash Garden is a stage that Saturn fans have surely played again and again.

Great job, Brian, on this awesome cover! We look forward to hearing more tunes from you in the future. Share your comments for Brian below, or in our dedicated topic in the SEGAbits forums.

My Life with SEGA celebrates Kenji Eno with D for SEGA Saturn

In honor of Kenji Eno, I’m reviewing the survival horror/puzzle classic; D for SEGA Saturn. This game was his first major success and helped pave the way for Enemy Zero, the SEGA Saturn exclusive, and D2 for Dreamcast. D has been subjected to a great deal of mockery and derision due in large part to it’s heavy use of FMV and slow pace….

Is it deserving of such ridicule, or has it been treated unfairly? Turn out the lights and see for yourself.

Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel! My Life with SEGA will be taking a short break, but will return on May 2nd with two zombie classics. Continue reading to check out the awesome teaser video!

Announcing the SEGAbits Third Anniversary Contest winners!

On February 1st we announced a contest to celebrate our third anniversary. Since then, we’ve received several awesome entries, and while we loved each and every submission, in the end we had to select three winners. As per the announcement article, third place wins a copy of the official “SEGAbits Presents My Life with SEGA” DVD – and third place goes to: nikibaby19! nikibaby19 sent two awesome pieces of fan art, which we’d love to share now, but instead we plan to post them in their own dedicated “Fan Made” article on April 10th. The second place winner will receive AJ’s copy of Outlander for the SEGA Genesis as well as a copy of the official “SEGAbits Presents My Life with SEGA” DVD. And second place goes to: Nicholas C. for his written review of Zombies Ate My Neighbors. We’ll be posting Nicholas’s review on April 17th. Finally, first prize, which includes AJ’s personal copy of Technocop for the Genesis, a Genesis model 2 and a copy of the official “SEGAbits Presents My Life with SEGA” DVD goes to: TrackerTD for his video review of the SEGA Power Base Converter. TrackerTD’s entry will be posted on April 24th.

Again, a big thanks to all who entered. We loved reading and watching what you had to say, it’s great to see so many passionate SEGA fans out there. Stay tuned to SEGAbits for more contests, as well as our usual SEGA-centric content!

My Life with SEGA enters the Last Battle

The 2-Man Scramble 2-Part Special comes to an end with Last Battle. Yes, I know; how appropriate. My final penance for Wirehead, and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Universal Soldier may have been a 16-bit insult to both gamers and the 1992 film it was supposedly based on, but Last Battle is a laughably bad adventure title that never should have seen the light of day….

What, you don’t believe me? Watch this video and tell me I’m exaggerating.

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