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Several Sega Forever mobile games unceremoniously delisted + End of Service announcement

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Remember Sega Forever, and how that started out in 2017 as Sega Europe’s initiative to bring classic Sega games to mobile app stores as free, ad-supported games? Well, Sega Forever is now “Sega For-never,” as more than half of the games released through Sega Forever have now been delisted from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store without so much as an official announcement. On top of that, the games now display an “End of Service” message like the one shown above saying that the games will remain playable, but will lose their online features, which amounted to save states being stored online, leaderboards, and offering you the option to pay $1.99 USD to play without ads. It also has a “More Info” button to show you where else the games available through Sega Forever can be played, but it only currently leads to Sega’s home page. (The above message comes from the Space Harrier II Classic app. I have not been able to confirm if the non-Genesis games display a message like this.)

Check in past the break to see what the remaining games are, as well as some more unsettling news…

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ChuChu Rocket! Universe pulled from App Store as three year Apple Arcade exclusivity ends

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Fans have noticed that ChuChu Rocket! Universe, the semi-sequel to the Dreamcast puzzle game ChuChu Rocket!, had disappeared from Apple’s App Store. The game, developed by SEGA’s Hardlight studio, was a worthy follow-up to the Sonic Team original, featuring new and returning puzzles, inventive 3D maps, a story mode and a classic multiplayer mode. The game was also exclusive to Apple Arcade, Apple’s pay to play collection of apps which were all free to download and free of any micro-transactions and in-app purchases.

It appears that the game was pulled due to a three year exclusivity window closing, as fans on Twitter have pointed out other Apple Arcade apps that debuted alongside ChuChu Rocket! Universe have also been pulled. If you still have the game installed, it can still be played. However the game cannot be redownloaded if your device offloads apps that go unused.

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SEGA Talk #102: Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing (2010)

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Buckle up because on this SEGA Talk, we put the pedal to the metal and hit the road to talk about Sumo Digital’s Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing! What are the origins of this racing franchise? What characters didn’t make the cut? What is a Bentley Jones? Click play and find out!

Support us on Patreon! Get early access, tell us what games to cover, and have your SEGA memories read at the end and more!

[iTunes – Stitcher – YouTube – RSS – Download]

If you want to give us feedback, suggest a topic for the next podcast or want to ask a question for us to answer on the next episode you can add  them as a comment below or send theme directly to our email. Make sure you use subject line ‘SEGA Talk’ and as always, thanks for listening!

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Yu Suzuki’s Air Twister is now available on Apple Arcade

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Yu Suzuki’s return to arcade gaming arrives today in the form of Air Twister, an Apple Arcade exclusive. Now before you moan and groan about it being on Apple products only, as revealed in our exclusive interview with Yu Suzuki it was Apple who asked him and his team for an arcade-style game. Apple is also listed in the game’s credits as a producer. So without Apple, this game would not have happened.

If you have an Apple Arcade subscription, the game is available to play now! I’ve tried it myself on an iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and iMac and all platforms play the game very well. My preferred method is a gamepad on the TV. I’ve tried the old iCade arcade stick and sadly it does not work due to how the iCade maps its buttons. Still, I am certain a bluetooth flight stick or arcade stick would work.

Stay tuned to SEGAbits for more Air Twister news!

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Shining Force: Heroes of Light and Darkness is no longer in development

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SEGA along with Vespa announced it was working on Shining Force: Heroes of Light and Darkness, based on the classic Shining Force franchise, way back in August 2021. Since the announcement, they’ve announced that it was suppose to get a full launch the first half of this year, as well as a beta before this period that never happen!

Its said that the reason that Shining Force: Heroes of Light and Darkness has suspended development is because the lack of funds and how long the negotiations for the Shining Force IP have taken with SEGA. According to Game Braves, SEGA never finalized the use of the Shining Force IP or at least full use of the IP. We know many classic characters were making their return in this game but the company also wanted to make original characters. No idea where the disagreement came since we’ve seen smaller companies license IPs such as Alex Kidd, Wonderboy, Panzer Dragoon and more.

Vespa is turning its attention and development to King’s Raid 2, a popular in-house IP already developed and owned by the company. Personally I want the return of classic Shining Force SRPG goodness, but not in a mobile game. Considering Camelot Software want to make a Shining Force IV, why not go for a real follow-up with the original team?

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Alien: Isolation coming to iOS and Android on December 16th

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2014’s Alien: Isolation was without a doubt the best game from SEGA for that year. Since then, the game won several awards and saw release to many platforms. Now, SEGA is bringing the game to mobile phones “without compromise” (their words), promising the complete experience. The game will support game pads and sport a “bespoke, fully customizable interface”.

It’s pretty amazing that when the App Store launched, we saw a basic Monkey Ball game and now we are seeing what was once an AAA title ported to smartphones. We will share our thoughts on the port when it hits December 16th!

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SEGA’s New RPG Being Teased for TGS 2021 Is a Smartphone Game

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We got the news the other day that SEGA had planned on announcing a new RPG during Tokyo Game Show 2021 livestream. Of course, the internet went ablaze with them listing older RPGs they’d like to see revived, some even said they’d be open to a new franchise while many long term SEGA veterans wisely gave up early suggesting it was a mobile game. Guess what? The vets are right, SEGA has opened and teased the game via their Twitter account. The game also got a brand new teaser website as well.

A rough google translation makes it seem that the game’s tag line will be something along the lines of: “Not a straight road, let’s make a one-time trip”. The teaser on the other hand confirms, within its Japanese text that its a mobile game plus shows off some really incredible artwork.

The one complaint I see from mobile fans is that SEGA shut down the Sakura Wars mobile a game within 6 months of launching, now the company is asking gamers to trust that this new RPG will last longer? I guess we shall see, full information will be coming out on the first of October.

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Taxman’s Sonic the Hedgehog 1 & 2 Definitive Mobile Ports Finally get Decompiled by Fans Allowing Unofficial PSVita and PC ports

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I will admit that I’m not really well versed on how this whole reverse engineering works, but thankfully twitter user Rubberduckycooly does and has now decompiled Christian “Taxman” Whitehead’s Sonic the Hedgehog 1 & 2 mobile ports, which are considered by fans as the definitive versions of these titles.

You can check out Rubberduckycooly’s github page for future updates on this project.

This project would allow us to run Sonic the Hedgehog 1 and 2 mobile ports on other platforms natively. So far we have seen people posting that its working on Windows, Mac, Linux, and the PlayStation Vita! This could also mean we can get fan ports on other hacked handhelds or consoles as well, but we shall see where the project goes. From what I understand, rubberduckycooly used the Sonic CD SDK base to get these ports on PC, Vita; so we shall see what happens in the future.

Really though, why hasn’t SEGA released these versions on all current consoles? Am I the only one that things its a waste to keep them mobile only?

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Sakura Revolution is available now in Japan for iOS and Android

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Sakura Revolution, a Dramatic RPG mobile game and spin-off of the Sakura Wars series, is now available for download in Japan for iOS and Android devices!

The game takes place in an alternate version of Tokyo, in the year Taisho 100 (2011 CE). In the year Taisho 84 (1995 CE), disaster struck the capital in a calamity known as the Great Imperial Capital Disaster. The nation was able to rebuild and recover, thanks to the discovery of a new energy based on spiritual power, known only as Mirai.

Sadly, with the activation of the New Imperial Tower, the cherry blossoms stopped blooming. Moreover, demons known as “Koki” began to increase in number, lashing out to attack people across the nation. To protect the people, the government formed the Great Imperial Combat Revue B.L.A.C.K., who protect the people from evil while bringing light to their hearts with unmatched live performances.

While peace reigns among the people thanks to Mirai and B.L.A.C.K. and many have put their trust in the government, some have come to realize that it is but a false prosperity.

These brave souls are known as the Imperial Combat Revue, and their mission is to uncover the government’s conspiracy and retake Japan!

If you want to try the game yourself but don’t live in Japan, Combat Revue Review has a guide available (for Android users) to use over on their website.

 

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SEGA to shut down SEGA Heroes servers on May 21st

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SEGA and Demiurge’s SEGA Heroes mobile game is one of the few titles I pop in everyday to collect all my rewards so I could fill out my SEGA roster. Its not ground breaking but the diversity of SEGA IPs really got me into it. Sadly, I will have to say goodbye to this mobile title as Demiurge studio has now become independent from SEGA. SEGA had previously worked with Demiurge on the Aliens: Colonial Marines DLC Bughunt, the same year they made their smash mobile title ‘Marvel Puzzle Quest‘ in 2013. After that, SEGA stepped in to purchase the studio.

Demiurge and SEGA’s games weren’t all hits either, the first title that the studio brought out to mobile was Puzzle & Glory in 2015, which got a soft launch in Canada and then a year later they closed the game down. Then in 2017 came the mobile title known as Crazy Taxi Gazillionaire that was then changed into Crazy Taxi Tycoon which was a top-down endless business management simulator and idle clicker game.

Now the last game they did was SEGA Heroes. But why has Demiurge studios bought the studio back from SEGA and want to go independent? According to this interview with the studios co-founder, they want to get out of the mobile market and work on supporting AAA studios like they did before they made Marvel Puzzle Quest. If you look at their history of games they worked on (which dates back to 2004), they worked on console games.

SEGA has also made a notice about the game closing, you can read that here.

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Apple Arcade launches with ChuChu Rocket! Universe and Sonic Racing

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Apple Arcade has launched, if you haven’t been keeping up with the new Apple news around the web it will be a paid service (much like Netflix or Microsoft’s Game Pass) that let’s you play a catalogue of premium mobile games with included features:

– Player can continue the in-game status within iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV devices linked to the same iCloud account.
– There are no ads or in-app purchases for games.
– No always-on DRM.
– Up to six family members per iCloud account are allowed access.
– Players’ privacy is protected by committing to having no tracking of gameplay or behaviors.
– Various game controllers are supported, such as the DualShock 4 and Xbox One controllers.

The service will cost you $5 a month and it seems as of right now its the only way to play Sonic Racing and ChuChu Rocket! Universe, the new entry in the ChuChu Rocket! franchise.

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ChuChu Rocket! Universe coming to Apple Arcade

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It has been speculated behind the scenes at SEGAbits HQ that this would be happening, and today’s the day! Apple’s keynote revealed new information about their upcoming streaming gaming subscription service Apple Arcade, including new games. We knew about Sonic Racing, but another SEGA title is going to appear on the service as well. ChuChu Rocket! Universe is an all new puzzle game which “launches the beloved ChuChus into a universe of strange and wonderful planets with over 100 mind-bending puzzles”.

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SEGA Heroes launches survey asking fans to request characters

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If you have been playing SEGA Heroes, a mobile cross-over game featuring SEGA IPs and have been loving it, you are in luck. SEGA seems like they will support the game going forward if a new survey asking fans what characters they want to see return.

You can take the survey here.

The list of IPs is rather massive even featuring thins like Toejam & Earl, Wrestle War, Alien Solider, Flicky, Football Manager, and even Hatsune Miku. Of course there are alot of other hardcore SEGA franchises but those really stood out as strange for various reasons. There are also some Atlus franchises listed. So SEGA/Atlus Heroes update coming?

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Team Sonic Racing mobile port revealed as Sonic Racing joins Apple Arcade lineup

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Apple’s newly announced streaming game service Apple Arcade features titles from a variety of studios and developers, and unsurprisingly SEGA is one of many on the list. SEGA has long been a supporter of Apple’s mobile game services, with Super Monkey Ball being an App Store launch title. Now, SEGA will be bringing Team Sonic Racing to mobile with Sonic Racing as a launch title for the service when it debuts this fall. With the “Team” dropped from the title, we have to wonder if the game will lack the team mode which is the backbone of the console version. Interestingly, this also makes the previously leaked 3D ChuChu Rocket mobile game more of a legitimate possibility. Both games appeared as Facebook ads earlier this month. More information as we hear it!

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