Interview

Sega Blog: SEGA 3D Classics – 3D Super Hang-On Interview with Developer M2

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Originally published to the SEGA Blog on Nov 27, 2013 – republished here for archival purposes

We continue our SEGA 3D Classic interviews with Super Hang-On, which appears on Nintendo eShop tomorrow alongside Space Harrier. We’re really excited to get these games out to fans and hope these interviews bring all new insight into not only the creation of the games, but also the finer details inside.

Thanks again to Game Watch and Impress, Okunari-san, and Horii-san for their involvement in making these interviews available to our western audience. Thanks to Siliconera for coordinating with us to help spread the word to SEGA fans across the web. And special thanks to our producer Sam for translating these interviews for everyone’s enjoyment.

If you read and enjoy this interview, please take the time to post a comment and let us know. We’ve got a lot of folks looking on reading the feedback, so don’t hesitate to post!

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SEGA Blog: SEGA 3D Classics – 3D Space Harrier Interview with Developer M2

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Originally published to the SEGA Blog on Nov 25, 2013 – republished here for archival purposes

We are extremely excited to present to fans a series of interviews on our upcoming 3D Classics on the Nintendo 3DS. The interview originally took place across the Game Watch and Impress website, featuring both Yosuke Okunari from Sega of Japan and Naoki Horii from the developer M2. These interviews show not only the care that went into making the absolute best versions of these titles on the 3DS, but also a lot of the technical challenges in creating 3D versions of our classic SEGA games.

Big thanks to Game Watch and Impress, Okunari-san, and Horii-san for their involvement in making these interviews available to our western audience. We hope you enjoy these interviews and encourage you to feedback with your own questions or comments. Let’s begin with Space Harrier and information on how the project got started…

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CNBC interviews Sega Sammy Holdings President Haruki Satomi

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Recently CNBC’s Christine Tan sat down with Sega Sammy Holdings President Haruki Satomi to discuss video games, including the flagship series Sonic the Hedgehog, as well as the pachinko business and more. The interview was held as part of the CNBC show Managing Asia and is available in full as a transcript and offers a revealing look at Satomi’s thoughts on the company and his family’s legacy. Most amusingly, Satomi reveals that his favorite games are the Yakuza and Valkyria Chronicles series. Guess we know why they make so many of them now!

Give the interview a read and once the full video is posted online we will be sure to share it!

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Takashi Iizuka says Sonic Mania Plus physical release is ‘everything we could do for the Sonic Mania Project’

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Sonic Mania was a hit for the indie developers behind the project which included Christian Whitehead, Stealth from Headcannon and PagodaWest Games. It made a lot of older fans come back to the Sonic the Hedgehog brand with delight and soon we will be getting Sonic Mania Plus with added Ray and Mighty.

One thing a lot of hardcore fans want to know, will we see a sequel to Sonic Mania?

“Maybe the next one will be Sonic Mania’ (Dash) then [laughs]. Jokes aside, with the release of the physical version in Sonic Mania Plus, it feels like we did everything we could for the Sonic Mania project.” – Takashi Iizuka

You can check out the fully translated Famitsu interview over at Siliconera, where he even talks about how Ray and Mighty are ‘sealed’ characters that where never mean’t to be in a future game. Interesting?

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Swingin’ Report Show #90: Game Designer and International Video Game Hall of Fame Inductee Chris Tang

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The SEGAbits Swingin’ Report Show is back with returning guest Chris Tang! Chris is a game designer and gaming tournament champion, and was recently inducted into the International Video Game Hall of Fame. SEGA fans know Chris as the winner of SEGA’s Sonic & Knuckles Rock the Rock competition in 1994, and before that Chris was a finalist in 1990’s Nintendo World Championships. Since then, Chris has worked on games at Atari and Capcom, including Gauntlet IV, Primal Rage, Street Fighter III, Rival Schools and Power Stone. Chris is also the yearly announcer for the Tetris World Championships and originator of the BOOM! Tetris for Jeff meme.

Currently, Chris is hard at work on Flight Armor Project: STRIKE HARBINGER (working title – subject to change), a new game inspired by classic SEGA titles like Space Harrier. The game combines the fast paced forward flying gameplay of Space Harrier with the RPG and combat elements of Phantasy Star while utilizing a unique arcade control structure that evokes Virtual On. The game is developed by HitSparks Games, and features the work of senior artist Kiyoshi Okuma, whose past work includes Gauntlet: Legends, World Series Baseball 2K2, The Sims 2 and Darkspore.

I sat down with Chris for an update on the development of Flight Armor Project: STRIKE HARBINGER, including the incredibly fun two player mode, and to discuss more of his past career, his work as an announcer for the Tetris World Championships and his recent induction into the International Video Game Hall of Fame.

Want more information on Flight Armor Project: STRIKE HARBINGER? Visit the official website!

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Swingin’ Report Show #89: Sonic Mania – Tee Lopes, Composer Interview

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On this episode we chat with Tee Lopes, composer for Sonic Mania, who answers our burning questions about his career before working on a SEGA game, how he landed the Sonic Mania job, and how one goes about composing for video games. We also try to get some soundtrack secrets out of him, and we’ll let you be the judge on how well we did. If you loved the music of Sonic Mania and are a video game soundtrack aficionado, or if you just like an hour of video game chat, this episode is a must listen!

You can learn more about Tee Lopes and follow his work by checking out his website teelopesmusic.com, following him on Twitter, subscribing to his You Tube channel, and if you want the best possible aural experience of Sonic Mania make sure to check out the official vinyl (and included digital music download) from Data Discs.

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SEGA answers our burning SEGA Forever questions, tells us what to expect next

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After weeks of teasing, SEGA Forever was officially revealed to be a classic games collection initiative to bring everything from the SG-1000 to the SEGA Dreamcast to mobile platforms, with the big surprise being that all the games are free to play (with the option to buy). The collection kicked off with five SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis titles, including four emulated games including Altered Beast, Kid Chameleon, Phantasy Star II and Comic Zone, and the remastered Sonic the Hedgehog from Christian Whitehead. After playing the games and experiencing how the service works, we had a ton of questions for SEGA. Thanks to mobile games community manager Danny Russell, we received a speedy reply and every single one of our questions got answered!

Read on for our interview with Danny.

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Swingin’ Report Show #88: Night Trap 25th Anniversary Edition – Screaming Villains, Developer Interview

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In this episode we are joined by Tyler of Screaming Villains, who is developing the upcoming Night Trap 25th Anniversary Edition set to release to PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows PCs, with a limited physical run exclusive to the PS4. Tyler discusses how the project began, how the game differs from the SEGA CD and SEGA CD 32X versions, what new features fans can expect from the game and what future plans he hopes to have in the world of FMV games and beyond! Keep your ears peeled for some exclusive reveals, but watch out for those Augers!

Night Trap 25th Anniversary Edition Website | Screaming Villains Facebook | Screaming Villains Twitter

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SEGAbits at E3 2017 Interview: Sam Mullen – Yakuza Kiwami & Yakuza 6

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Our E3 coverage continues with an interview with Sam Mullen, Senior Localization Producer of SEGA products at Atlus U.S.A., who has worked on Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. We talk to Sam about these upcoming games in the Yakuza series and what both longtime fans and newcomers can expect.

If you enjoy our interviews and want to support us: Give us a sub and give this video a like so it shows up on more like minded fans YouTube recommendations. You know, how that new YouTube algorithm is.

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SEGAbits at E3 2017 Interview: Aaron Webber – Sonic Mania & Sonic Forces

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Our E3 coverage continues with an interview with Aaron Webber, PR and Social Media Manager for Sonic the Hedgehog. SEGAbits swingin’ reporter Kori-Maru asks Aaron about the upcoming Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces, including questions about the recently revealed villains trailer and the mysterious Infinite.

If you enjoy our interviews and want to support us: Give us a sub and give this video a like so it shows up on more like minded fans YouTube recommendations. You know, how that new YouTube algorithm is.

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Swingin’ Report Show #87: Sonic the Hedgehog 25th Anniversary Art Book – Cook & Becker CEO Maarten Brands

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The SEGAbits Swingin’ Report Show is back, bringing you an interview with Maarten Brands, CEO of Cook & Becker who is behind the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 25th Anniversary Art Book! In this, his first public interview talking about the book, Maarten goes into the history of the international art dealership Cook & Becker, how the SEGA partnership began and what fans can expect from the Sonic art book.

The book releases soon and comes in two editions, which you can pre-order now:
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 25TH ANNIVERSARY ART BOOK – COLLECTOR’S EDITION
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 25TH ANNIVERSARY ART BOOK – STANDARD HARDCOVER

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SEGAbits at New York Comic Con 2016: Interview with Archie Sonic the Hedgehog Comic Colorist Matt Herms

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While covering New York Comic Con 2016, SEGAbits writer FlareHabanero had a chance to talk to Archie Comics freelance colorist Matt Herms. Matt has worked on a variety of Archie’s video game books, including Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic Universe, Mega Man and the incredibly popular Sonic Mega Drive. Check out the interview for yourself to learn about how Matt got his start in the industry and what it’s like to work in comics as a colorist!

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After the break, check out a bonus video of Matt drawing Sonic!

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SEGAbits at New York Comic Con 2016: Shenmue 3 Interview with Cédric Biscay

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SEGAbits attended New York Comic Con 2016 and had the opportunity to speak about Shenmue 3 with Cédric Biscay, president and CEO of Shibuya Productions. Cédric was kind enough to sit down with our own Kori-Maru to tell us how he got his start in the industry, what it’s like to work with Yu Suzuki and more!

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