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.
The guys over at Sonic Paradise have found a upcoming mobile game being titled SEGA Legends, which is a puzzle game for mobile platforms (iPhone and Android). The game, for what it seems in leaked shots, is set to feature SEGA Legacy IP characters from games such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Monkey Ball and Streets of Rage. It seems that the game will have a puzzle and battle element like other popular games currently on the mobile market. I think the oddest mistake in this is that they didn’t make the puzzle shapes into Columns or Puyo Puyothemed.
The people at Sonic Paradise got this leak via a official SEGA newsletter, which featured a sign up for a beta. Who knows, the game might never even come out, we here at SEGAbits have seen SEGA mobile games get tested and never get released. What are your thoughts? Would you play SEGA Legends or is seeing legacy SEGA IPs in a generic puzzle game not your thing?
Sonic Team’s Ristar might have only had one game, but it was a pretty damn good one. The stretchy armed platformer featured fantastic music, vibrant and colorful world. The game was also more of a slower platformer, having Sonic Team take a break from Sonic the Hedgehog games was a nice change of pace. If you never played the game, I feel like you should try it on a better emulator than what is being offered right now on SEGA Forever, but if a mobile phone is all you have then you can give the game a try for free, with ads. If you like what you played, you can always keep it ad-free for only $1.99. I have downloaded and played it a bit, the emulation on this title is a bit better, but still having issues with sound (on my Android device).
The Revenge of Shinobi comes to SEGA Forever’s mobile line-up. This is a new “censored version” that has been around since the SEGA Vintage Collection era, which changes Joe Musashi’s face in the title screen due to the face basically resembling Sonny Chiba. Some hardcore fans take issue with this change because the original ‘Sonny Chiba copied face’ seems angry and bold while the edited version of Joe Musashi looks rather sad. Its also funny to note that the SEGA Forever trailer above even makes a joke about it being changed. You can see bothf faces below (Left original, right the new one):
The Revenge of Shinobi isn’t new to censorship, considering that the game has been heavily changed in the past due to copyright infringement on popular IPs such as Godzillia, Spiderman and even Batman. The Revenge of Shinobi is considered to be one of the best sequels of all time, adding much more depth than the original arcade Shinobi ever had. The Revenge of Shinobi also featured a critically acclaimed soundtrack by Yuzo Koshiro (Streets of Rage series) which should be enough to download and try it. The only thing is, have they fixed the audio in the emulation? Like all SEGA Forever titles, the game is free to play with ads and $1.99 to keep ad-free forever.
Remember that mobile teaser SEGA Networks put together, that we covered? Well, the game has finally been announced as World Chain which will be a time traveling ‘chain scenario RPG’ for mobile platforms. World Chain is being developed by the staff at SEGA that did Chain Chronicle and is expected to launch in Japan this fall.
The developer has listed World Chain‘s genre as ‘school life X history IF’ which will probably be something like a Japanese high school anime with historical what if scenarios. World Chain‘s story has you playing the protagonist that has just woken up in the an academy where history has been warped and some people have disappeared. In his hands he finds a ‘Chain Driver’ smartphone, which is a device that lets you travel time and ‘rewrite’ history. The game will have you answer questions like where did everyone go and who is rewriting history.
Anyone in the game that goes back in time to rewrite history are known as ‘Rewriters’, which allows you to share strong bonds with people in history and borrow their powers whenever you need them. The game promises up to 140 heroes each with their own story line.
So far World Chain has only been announced for release in Japan and is coming this Fall for Android and iOS.
Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1, that highly controversial 2D episodic game that has since released to just about every platform, has received a long overdue graphical update for the iPhone and iPod Touch version of the game. When Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1 first released, there were several different versions out there. Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 received the version of the game with the best graphics and sound while the Wii version was a step below, with less than stellar graphics and sound. Below that was the iPhone and iPod Touch version which not only featured very blocky graphics, but also had stages that existed before SEGA overhauled the game and did away with the mine cart and pinball machine levels. SEGA marketed these as “2 EXCLUSIVE LEVELS!!!”, but savvy fans knew that SEGA likely just didn’t have the time or resources to retool the mobile versions as they did the console versions.
SEGA Networks has recently released a gameplay trailer of Sonic Runners for smartphone devices. The gameplay showcases Sonic the Hedgehog and friends blasting through various levels in classic 2D format similar to the Genesis and Advance/Rush games with slight changes to their designs (retaining their original Dreamcast/Modern look but with shorter sizes) collecting rings, Red Rings, and what appears to be small colored diamonds.
The video also shows more characters to be unlocked, Sonic Record, a leveling up system, story mode and having companions during gameplay.
The graphics in this game looks pretty great and colorful. The gameplay in my opinion reminds me of a combination of the classic Sonic titles with the Rush feel to it. Sonic Runners will be running towards Japan on iOS and Android smartphone devices this Spring. What are thoughts on the gameplay? Feel free to leave comments in our comments section.
The official site has also updated with character descriptions and some screenshots, check it out!
Sonic Runners is going to be Sonic Team’s big Sonic the Hedgehog mobile developed game and SEGA has finally released the first teaser trailer. You can watch it above. The trailer basically goes through the history of Sonic Team developed Sonic games and starts off with a counter, counting down the years to 2015…
Something to note: The trailer only shows off the retro series and Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (if you count that as part of the retro series). Could this game be more influenced by older retro style Sonic games instead of the recent games?
SEGA also launched a site for the game which revealed that the game will be released in 2015 in Japan for free with premium items available. The game will be available for iPhone 4S and above, iPad 2 or later running iOS 7.0 or above. If you are on Android, you will have to be running OS 2.3 or later (Which means almost any Android phone released can play it.)
The site features an image of Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles running through Sonic Lost World‘s Windy Hill with Chao and the Mother Wisp from Sonic Colors DS floating above. Could the classic clips and Sonic 4 indicate that Sonic Team sees Sonic Runners as a successor to the originals, or hint toward a gameplay style? What’s with the Chao and Wisps?
UPDATE: An interview between Iizuka and Famitsu lists a end of February release for the game in Japan. From what we can understand from the interview, characters will run forward on their own and Eggman will make appearances during stages which there appears to be 50 of at first (if we are reading the translation correctly). Tails and Knuckles are also playable, but Sonic is the only character initially available. Famitsu also went hands-on with the game, mentioning a cutscene featuring Sonic, Tails, and Eggman. Jumping appears to vary based on where you tap on the screen, possibly indicating that you tap on enemies to homing attack. The Eggman boss battle appears to have Sonic throwing or knocking back Eggman’s projectiles to defeat him.
Want to play Crazy Taxi: City Rush on your iPhone and/or iPad? No problem, SEGA has announced that the game will be releasing globally tomorrow to the App Store. Soon fans can experience their new mobile, free-to-play revised take on the Crazy Taxi franchise.
Even though the new game borrows heavily from popular mobile games like Temple Run, don’t think that this entry has disregarded the Japanese team that created the originals. Kenji Kanno, creator of Crazy Taxi, has been overseeing development and lately been doing quite a bit of interviews on the web speaking about the game. The game is developed by Hardlight Studios who developed Sonic Dash, another title that was highly influenced by Temple Run (and Sonic Jump that takes notes from the popular mobile game Doodle Jump, though it should be noted that an earlier version of Sonic Jump released that pre-dates Doodle Jump).
This game is also supposed to be released on Android, but like always Android users must wait.
Today marks our four year anniversary, and it just so happens that we also have a contest to win a Tommo iPhone 5/5S case from our friends at SEGA and Tommo! What more, these SEGA iPhone cases come in SEGA Genesis, Mega Drive, and Saturn styles – consoles that celebrate milestone anniversaries this year, which we’ve aptly dubbed The Year of the SEGA Console! We have four cases (2X Genesis, 1X Mega Drive, and 1X Saturn) to give away to four lucky SEGA fans.
To enter, all you have to do is follow SEGAbits on Twitter and/or Instagram, take photos of your SEGA collection or your favorite SEGA hardware (be creative, it helps your chances) and share them with us, tagging your entry with #SEGAbitsContest. While you can submit more than one photo, we will only award one case per person and we advise you keep the number of entries minimal – think “quality over quantity”. We’re excited to see what our potential winners come up with!
Deadline for entries is February 28th. Winners will receive a randomly selected case, though a winning photo’s content may dictate which case we award. Contest not open to SEGAbits staff or staff of SEGA fan sites.
If you’ve missed our live stream shows, you’ll be happy to know that we archive (most) of our videos including our first look at Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed running on iOS as led by Guess Who. We’ve also got first looks of Sonic Dashand Crazy Taxi running on Android that showcase game features and commentary from the staff at Sonic Retro.
Be sure to follow our Vidya Retro on Twitch and YouTube for more first looks and other gameplay videos.
Just in time to dance in the new year, Sega presents GO DANCE on iOS devices. Working a lot like the Just Dance series of games, GO DANCE uses your iOS devices camera to track your dance movements as you groove to artists like Flo Rida and Niki Minaj or if you have actual musical taste, there are some Sega tunes thrown in as well including four from Jet Set Radio. GO DANCE is a free game app (with microtransactions of course) and is available on iTunes now.
At this year’s PAX 2013, SEGA is hitting it off with another indie developer under the SEGA Alliance brand. This time lending a hand to a developer from the Netherlands, Picomy Games, to release their action game Heroki to iDevices. I was joined in by two of the developers, Michael Balm and Bobby Bouman, as well as SEGA Alliance producer John Eternal as they showcased a build running on an iPad to help explain the game mechanics and provide some insight on the development on the game.
SEGA has filed trademarks for Flick of the Dead. What could this possibly be? Well, first of all its going to be a House of the Dead spin-off, that much is for sure. If SEGA’s latest iOS title, Miku Flick, is any indication, its going to be a House of the Dead title on smartphones.
What do I want it to be? I wish it was a full console release game where you play zombie filled stages from various zombie movies from the past three or so decades. Come on, that’s cooler than a mobile game, right?
SEGA announced that they where working on Yakuza Kizuna, a game for the popular GREE social gaming platform in Japan. Today SEGA Japan has released the first details and screens of the game.
The game will be a card battling game where you have to build your collection of character cards by battling and using synthesis. You will have to create alliances with other plays and work together to defeat bosses and other powerful opponents. Yakuza Kizuna takes place in good old Kamurocho.
The title will be released on March 26th, only on iPhone/iPod Touch and Android. Basic play is free. Even though its Japan only (so far) it looks fairly simple to play. SEGA should port this to America to promote Yakuza: Dead Souls!
