Genesis

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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Retro Review: World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck

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With the remake of Castle of Illusion gracing the PSN/XBLA this past summer, it seemed only fitting to revisit its sequel, World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, for Genesis Month. Though it featured far superior graphics and an expanded scope, along with the addition of Donald Duck and cooperative play, World of Illusion has, for whatever reason, struggled to retain the same classic status as its predecessor.

And that’s unfortunate, because World of Illusion is an incredibly capable sequel to Mickey Mouse’s first Genesis adventure; one that sends its title characters into an enchanting world and builds upon the magic of Castle of Illusion to deliver an entirely satisfying follow-up.

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SEGA Tunes: Dick Tracy’s Stage 1 Scene A for the SEGA Genesis

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Like my previous Tuesday Tunes entry, which focused on the music of Ghostbusters, this week’s tune comes from another favorite SEGA Genesis game from my childhood: Dick Tracy. Like Ghostbusters, Dick Tracy has the unfortunate distinction of being one of those awful titles… for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The SEGA Genesis version is a completely different game developed in-house by SEGA, and bears several similarities to the popular Shinobi franchise, which leads me to believe that the game was developed by the same team. But enough about the gameplay, I’ll save that for my eventual review, let’s talk about the music.

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Retro Review: Technocop

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Oh man, I have waited too long to use that image.

A.J. Rosa is a man of many talents – and a man of many games. I mean, hey; if he lacked games, My Life With SEGA wouldn’t still be running to this day! A short while ago, some of you may remember A.J. held a competition in conjunction with this very site, in celebration of the 3rd Anniversary of SEGAbits. The winner would receive A.J.’s personal SEGA Genesis Model 2, and the copy of Technocop he reviewed for My Life With SEGA.

Lo and behold, I ended up winning said contest – and so despite being one of the few staff members of SEGAbits from the UK, I don’t have to watch Genesis Month pass by whilst I cradle my beloved Mega Drive – and hey, I’d promised A.J. I’d post up my impressions of Technocop, so now’s as good a time as any.

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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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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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Swingin’ Report Show #58: Streets of Rage Special with Darren Wall

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SEGA Genesis Month continues as Darren Wall, the man behind the successfully funded and coming soon “SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis: Collected Works” book, returns to the Swingin’ Report Show to update Barry and George on his project’s progress! One exciting bit of news is the reveal that David Rosen, co-founder of SEGA, has been interviewed for the book. Learn what we can expect to hear from Mr. Rosen, as well as all the cool new art and articles the book will contain, in this week’s show.

Also, since it is Streets of Rage Week at SEGAbits, we spend a portion of the show talking about the game’s development including new details Darren has learned. We also share our nostalgic memories of the series, our favorite music tracks, and what we would like to see in the future from the series.

If you’re a fan of SEGA, and still think Genesis does what Nintendon’t, this is definitely the show for you.

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

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Interview with “Sega Mega Drive/Genesis: Collected Works” creator Darren Wall

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In November of last year, Darren Wall, graphic designer and art director at Read-Only Memory, took to Kickstarter in an effort to fund a book that was to be “the ultimate retrospective of the SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis”. Dubbed a “documentary art book”, Darren had the official license from SEGA, including access to the company’s archives and staff from both past and present. The only thing left to to obtain was the funds to make the project a reality.

This part was probably the easiest step of the project, as in less than 48 hours the team had met their £30,000 goal, and by the end of the campaign they earned £98,725! Prior to the end of the campaign, Darren joined George and I for a Swingin’ Report Show interview to discuss his plans for the book. It is now five months later, and Darren is nearing completion of the project with only SEGA’s approval and printing remaining. We caught up with Darren in a written interview, as well as another podcast which you can listen to tomorrow. Darren was even nice enough to give us some exclusive content from the upcoming book: design documents from the development of the original Streets of Rage!

After the break, check out the full interview as well as the cool exclusives from Read-Only Memory and SEGA.

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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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SXSW 2014: Hands On with the RetroN 5

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Photo courtesy of Hyperkin’s facebook page.

There wasn’t much of anything SEGA related at this year’s South By Southwest in Austin, Texas. However it did provide a chance to check out Hyperkin’s upcoming RetroN 5 console with a number of games to show off the system’s accuracy and additional perks.

The RetroN 5 is a major step up from the other RetroN consoles for a number of reasons. The system provides compatibility for a number of consoles including Nintendo, Famicom, Super Nintendo, Super Famicom, Genesis, Mega Drive, Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance games through its five cartridge slots on the system as well as Master System games via the Power Base Converter. But aside from the added compatibility, it makes use of emulators running on Android hardware instead of clone hardware to run the games. What this provides besides better accuracy, is the other benefits of game console emulation including save states, remapping buttons and macros on any controller, take screenshots, fast forward games, as well as several video filtering options.

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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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SEGA Tunes: Ghostbusters Main Theme and Ending Theme for the SEGA Genesis

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Ghostbusters for the SEGA Genesis is a game that holds a very special place in my heart. During Christmas 1991 I received my Model 1 SEGA Genesis with Sonic the Hedgehog bundled in, and from that point forward I was a SEGA fan. Owning a Genesis also meant that a whole world of games opened up to me, and since the console was a little over two years old, I spent much of 1992 buying up games I had missed out on. Buying games in the early ’90’s was tough. Nowadays we have instant access to the internet, so it’s easy to spot a game on the shelf, Google search reviews, and make the decision to purchase. Back in ’92 all I had to go by was the box art and the few screenshots provided on the back. Being a huge fan of both Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Ghostbusters, it only made sense for me to seek out the Genesis titles those franchises provided, and boy did I strike gold.

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Sega Genesis/Mega Drive shooter Steel Empire slated to release on the Japanese 3DS eShop this month

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Via Polygon comes news that the SEGA Genesis shooter Steel Empire, also known as Empire of Steel in Europe and Koutetsu Teikoku (鋼鉄帝国) in Japan, is set for a Nintendo 3DS release later this month. Members from the original development team, HOT-B, reformed to create Starfish which will be publishing the 3DS remake. Mebuis is in charge of remaking the game. Steel Empire is expected to release at the end of the month as a 2,940 yen eShop download.

Yoshinori Satake, former Hot-B lead game designer, is currently working on a sequel to the original game, entitled Burning Steel.

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The Year of the SEGA Console – Genesis month begins NOW!

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In mid-January we made the announcement that all year long we’d be celebrating five famous (and infamous) pieces of SEGA hardware hitting milestone anniversaries in what we dubbed 2014: The Year of the SEGA Console. While the 32X, Saturn, Dreamcast, and Pico are slated for month long celebrations later this year, all of March will be focused on SEGA’s 16-bit underdog the SEGA Genesis.

As an American who grew up in the late 80’s and early 90’s, the Genesis is a console that is near and dear to my heart. The Genesis was my introduction to the world of SEGA games, as well as the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. I know I’m not alone, as that period from 1989 to the mid ’90’s is filled with nostalgic memories for many SEGA fans of the era. As time went on, I became more savvy of SEGA’s impact on other territories, leading to the realization that the Genesis was actually the Mega Drive to everywhere else but America. Still, to me it was the Genesis, not the Mega Drive, that shaped my SEGA fandom and played a major part of defining my childhood.

To honor the Genesis, we plan to feature exciting content both here at SEGAbits and at the SEGAbits YouTube Channel. Expect to see another SEGAbits Franchise Week – this time dedicated to a certain bare knuckle brawler – as well as retro reviews, interviews, round tables, special edition podcasts, and a few surprises. So plug in your controller of choice, clean off those cartridges, and power on for SEGA GENESIS MONTH!

Learn more about the SEGA Genesis at our SEGA Retro wiki

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