SEGAbits @ Anime Expo 2024: Metaphor: ReFantazio Demo Hands On Impressions

Thanks to the generous folks at Atlus, we recently had the opportunity to delve into an early hands-on demo of Metaphor: ReFantazio, their upcoming RPG slated for release on October 11, 2024, at Anime Expo. Developed by Studio Zero, renowned for their work on the Persona series, this title promises to captivate both longtime fans of Atlus and newcomers alike. Want to know our thoughts on our experience playing the demo? Hit the jump and find out!

SEGAbits at TGS 2023: Sonic Superstars Hands-On Preview

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During our trip to Tokyo Game Show 2023, Dakota and I were able to check out the SEGA & ATLUS booth to try out Sonic Superstars where there were multiple stations available for the game at the event including cool swag giving out to people who played the demo. We only had 15 minutes to play the Sonic Superstars demo and are here to share our thoughts on the game. Hit the jump to read more on our hands on preview with Sonic Superstars.

SEGAbits @ EGX London 2022: Sonic Frontiers Hands-On Preview

Thanks to the Eurogamer Expo, I finally got my hands on Sonic Frontiers. There are so many questions to be answered. How are the controls? Does the game flow well? Is the Open Zone packed full of activities or is it a barren wasteland? Now after getting my hands on the game, I can finally get some answers and find out if Sonic Frontiers is more than meets the eye.

Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 Preview – Comfortable Iteration

As I write this, I’m not actually sure what’s running on my Switch; Puyo Puyo Tetris, or Puyo Puyo Tetris 2. There’s almost a comfort to that, knowing that no matter what, a solid puzzle game is, waiting for me when I go get it off my nightstand. That comfort was even felt when I first booted the game, where I immediately launched into a standard 150 line Tetris challenge from the main menu and lost at line 140 due to being tired. There’s a comfort to the game being similar to my experiences to the first game, a comfort to the idea that I know what I’m getting into with a sequel, on some level.

I am not really an expert on Puyo Puyo. I’m not even really a Puyo Puyo player. My first experience with the series was the small Puyo minigame in Project Mirai DX back on the 3DS. But I am at least a big Tetris fan, I could eat Tetris for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. No library of mine is complete without a Tetris game somewhere in it. I find this puts me in an interesting position in comparison to the site’s resident Puyo fanatic, FlareHabanero, to preview, and then eventually review this crossover sequel. I have to save much of my thoughts on PPT2 for the review, but I can at least tell you from playing this game over the past few days that PPT2 is an excellent, polished, and feature-rich package I want to sink more hours into.

TGS 2020: Astro City Mini Hands-On Details and Pink Second Player Variants Revealed

More news about the upcoming Astro City Mini plug and play was revealed at SEGA’s Tokyo Game Show digital events. A variant with pink buttons, based off the player two controls of an Astro City cabinet, was revealed. Additionally, there will be Astro City Mini controllers and arcade sticks with the pink variant, as well as an accessory to place over the marquee making it appear to be a New Astro City arcade machine (New Astro City was a 1994 revision to the 1993 Astro City with exposed speakers jutting out from above the monitor).

Sakura Wars (2019) Hands-On Preview – A Dramatic Adventure at its best! (Playstation 4)

Sakura Wars has been a popular Japanese game franchise and media since the release of the original game in 1996 on the SEGA Saturn in Japan. It was known for its hybrid gameplay between dating simulation and turn-based tactical strategy. The franchise would later grow a cult following in the west through anime releases in the late nineties and the release of Sakura Wars: So Long My Love for Playstation 2 and Nintendo Wii by another publisher, NIS America. Since the release of So Long My Love, the franchise laid in dormant until SEGA made a surprising announcement in 2018 during SEGA Fes that a brand new entry to the series was in the works as a soft reboot and will be released worldwide.

With only 12 days to go with the release of Sakura Wars (2019) for Playstation 4, I’m going to share my hands-on experience of the game, courtesy of SEGA. Please note that this preview is the 1.0 version of the game before the Day One update with a full review coming to SEGAbits on April 27th. You can read my hands-on preview of Sakura Wars (2019) in full after the break!

SEGAbits at E3 2019: SEGA Genesis Mini Hands On Preview

In 1989, the SEGA Genesis was released in North America (in 1989 as the Mega Drive in Japan) bundled with the arcade classic Altered Beast and later Sonic the Hedgehog. The console was known for it’s blast processing capabilities and even rivaled the Super Nintendo during the console wars, a term by journalist & historians back in the day. Contributing to SEGA Genesis success were its library of arcade game ports, the popularity of Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog series, iconic sports franchises, and marketing that positioned the system as the cool console for adolescents.

Fast forward towards today, the console had been replicated by AtGames with over 80 built in games but was met with negative reception by gaming enthusiast and SEGA fans who grew up with the console most being due to its frame rate drops and sound issues. In 2018, SEGA announced their very own replica console called the SEGA Genesis Mini at SEGA Fes 2018 with help from M2 known for doing numerous ports of classic SEGA video games on several consoles. At E3, we managed to get our hands-on preview on the Genesis Mini. Does it live up to it’s expectations? Find out our thoughts on the miniature console after the break.

SEGAbits at E3 2019: Judgment Hands-On Preview


Out of every game at the SEGA booth, Judgment seems to be one of their biggest titles to come out this summer. Taking notes from the Yakuza series, Judgment takes it to another whole new level. Take a look at our hands on experience with the title as Dakota and I solve cases by fighting thugs, yakuza and playing wacky minigames. Be sure to hit the jump to read our hands on experience with Judgment.