Japan

Plenty of SEGA merchandise inbound at Comiket Special 6

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Running from March 28th to the 29th in Japan this year is the “Comiket Special 6 – Otaku Summit 2015,” a massive event packed with stuff for, well, ‘otaku.’ However, SEGA have announced they will be in attendance at the event, with a corporate booth to sell merchandise. And when they say “sell merchandise,” they aren’t kidding!

SEGA has shown off some of the items available for purchase at the event, a snippet of which we’ve included below. It covers a huge range of SEGA stuff; Fantasy Zone, Space Channel 5, Sakura Wars, and Virtual On all get nods, along with some obvious faces such as Sonic, and the usual console themed stuff (including a rather nice SEGA Saturn bag). Also slated to be available at the event is merchandise for the SEGA feat. Hatsune Miku Project (plus Mikudayo, the terrifying Project Mirai mascot costume that became something more) and the much-loved SEGA Hard Girls. 

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Game Boy Advance classic Sonic Advance hitting the Japanese Wii U eShop next week

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Nintendo’s Japanese site has officially revealed that the Game Boy Advance classic Sonic Advance, seen by many fans to be the best post classic era 2D title, will be hitting the Japanese Wii U eShop on February 18th. The game is priced at ¥702 ($5.90/£3.90) and is set to take up 200MB of storage space, much larger in size than the original game but remember this includes a digital copy of the manual.

There is no indication of the game releasing to the West just yet, and there is no sign of the sequels, but we have our fingers crossed and as soon as we hear something we’ll be sure to share it! Me? I’d love to see SEGA’s entire library of Game Boy Advance games on the Wii U. From Jet Grind Radio to Gunstar Super Heroes. A man can dream…

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SEGA in the Media: No Continue Kid shows SEGA lots of virtua love

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The arcades were a big part of Japan’s youth group up in the 80’s and 90’s, so its no surprise that a Japanese drama show based around these time periods would be created. No Continue Kid: Our Game History (ノーコン・キッド　～ぼくらのゲーム史～) is a TV show revolving around Reiji Watanabe, who in 1983 isn’t very interested in arcade games. The only reason he has to put up with them is because his father owns a game center. Reiji sees a girl he likes come in daily named Fumiyoshi Takano, she usually plays Xevious and leaves. Reiji decides to give this Xevious game a try to impress her and gets the best local player, Akinobu Kido (who goes by ‘Kid’, his high score handle) to teach him.

The show focuses on the friendships of these characters along with a new ‘Game Center’ trends throughout the decades (this show spans from 1983 to 2013 in 12 episodes) and even some console gaming love. Today we will be looking at some of the SEGA centric episodes including one for Columns, Fantasy Zone and two whole episodes based around the Virtua Fighter 2 fighting phenomenon. Let’s take a dramatized trip to the arcade scene in Japan from the 80’s through the 90’s, SEGA style!

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Atlus announces Etrian Odyssey V and Mystery Dungeon x Etrian Odyssey

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Do you like Etrian Odyssey? If so, I have good news for you! The not-so-hot selling franchise, Etrian Odyssey will not only get a new entry to the franchise but also have a new cross-over game with Mystery Dungeon.

Mystery Dugeon x Etrian Odyssey is basically going to be a Mystery Dungeon style game with Etrian Odyssey characters (some older Mystery Dugeon cameos will be included). The music will be done by legendary video game music composer Yuzo Koshiro (Streets of Rage series, Revenge of Shinobi) and the art  direction will be handled by Nizo Yamaoto (Princess Mononoke). This game is slated to be released in Japan next March.

As for Etrian Odyssey V, it was announced along with a list of people working on the game. This includes director Shigeo Komori, character designer Yuji Himukai, veteran composer Yuzo Koshiro, and monster desginer Shin Nagasawa.

To see the teaser trailers  for both Etrian Odyssey V and Mystery Dungeon x Etrian Odyssey hit the jump.

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SEGA releases 15 minute extended trailer for Yakuza Zero

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SEGA has published their extended trailer for Yakuza Zero (or Yakuza 0), the extended look was featured on their Nico Nico broadcast and is now up on Youtube for all of us to enjoy.

No western release date for Yakuza Zero has been announced, but the game is heading to Japan this upcoming Spring 2015 on both Playstation 3 and Playstation 4.

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SEGA 3D Reprint Archives officially announced, with boxart by Ken Sugimori

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The retail release of the SEGA 3D Classics Line we reported on the other day has now been officially announced by Famitsu!

The details are the same as the rumour from beforehand; the collection contains 3D Space Harrier, 3D Fantasy Zone, 3D Outrun, 3D Streets of Rage, 3D Shinobi 2,and 3D Ecco the Dolphin. Also included are two bonus titles, Space Harrier 3D and Outrun 3D, two Master System games that originally made use of the SEGA Master System’s 3D Glasses peripheral.

As if that wasn’t cool enough, the boxart has been released – and it features artwork by legendary Pokemon artist Ken Sugimori! This is a surprise on one hand, but on the other hand Ken is quite a bit of SEGA fan, what with having an amazing Dreamcast case for his 3DS, and his Twitter handle being @Super_32X, the Japanese name of the SEGA 32X, amongst other things. Anywho; Space Harrier’s never looked quite so good!

Overall, this looks to be an excellent package, and one that, unlikely as it is, I’m personally hoping makes it to the West.

The archives page on the official SEGA Japan site can be found here.

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Is a Nintendo 3DS SEGA 3D Classics collection retail release in the works for Japan?

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Spotted on NeoGAF and reported by gamestalk.net comes word that a physical release for SEGA’s 3D Classics collection for the Nintendo 3DS may be releasing to Japan on December 18th for 3,980 yen. The compilation is said to include a mix of wave 1 and wave 2 titles: 3D Space Harrier, 3D Fantasy Zone, 3D Outrun, 3D Streets of Rage, 3D Shinobi 2, and 3D Ecco the Dolphin. Also included are two bonus titles, Space Harrier 3D and Outrun 3D which originally released to the SEGA Master System and utilized the 3D glasses.

This leaves 3D Super Hang On, 3D Sonic the Hedgehog, 3D Altered Beast, 3D Galaxy Force II, 3D Afterburner II, 3D Fantasy Zone, and 3D Thunder Blade as eshop exclusives, but it is likey that if this compilation sells well, the rest will be released in another volume.

We’ll share more news on this potential release as we hear it, so stay tuned!

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SEGA launches copyright complaints against Hi Score Girl manga

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It seems that Square Enix’s manga branch is in a bit of trouble with companies for using copyright characters in their video game themed manga ‘Hi Score Girls‘. It seems that they used Virtua Fighter characters in the manga before SEGA actually granted them permission to use them and even though SEGA didn’t take legal action they did use them for a couple of years and that they ‘strongly objected’ the use. The weird thing is now they are OK with the usage of their characters in game if they are allowed to OK it before publishing and if it works for their PR for a game. The revelation comes in that ‘Hi Score Girl‘ manga was using copyright characters for years before getting permission.

This isn’t the only company to come out of the wood work years after the manga used their characters, SNK Playmore stated they where never asked if they could use their characters and showed 100 instances that characters from The King of Fighters, Samurai Showdown and other franchises where used in the manga.

The editor-in-chief of Squar-Enix’s Monthly Big Gangan has posted a message stating that the magazine will be put on temporarily halt due to alleged copyright violations.  The manga launched in 2010 and the complaints are barely coming in, what are your thoughts on the issue?

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The upcoming Yakuza game is called Yakuza Zero

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SEGA has announced that the new upcoming Yakuza game on the Playstation 3 and Playstation 4 is being called Yakuza Zero (in Japan: Like a Dragon Zero: The Place of the Vow). Sadly that is all that they really mentioned considering that most of the news will be coming next month during the Tokyo Game Show.

But if ‘Zero’ trends continue this could be a prequel to the franchise. Considering that in the first Yakuza game you control Kazuma Kiryu ten years after coming out of prison. Not only that, there has already been a prologue of sorts written in movie form to promote the first game.

What do you guys think?

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New Hero Bank 2 screenshots/artwork surfaces and set for release on 11/27 in Japan

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With Hero Bank successful in Japan with the 3DS title receiving great amount of sells and views from the anime series, SEGA is working on a sequel to the title with a brand new character joining Kaito (Enter the Gold) and Nagare (Dominion Dollar) in Hero Battles. The sequel also features a tag battle mode to play with your friends.

The story takes place two months after the events of Hero Bank. Kaito prevented the ambitions of Adachi and must face a new challenge to face the Seven Clothes Gods by receiving a special mission from Prime Minister Nagata Musaku.

For those who are able to purchase the game early will receive a bonus of a QR code to unlock Sutsu Shi Fu.

We hope that SEGA of America could localize the first game and bring the anime series to a cartoon station in the West soon. The concept of Hero Bank is very unique and the anime is pretty good show to watch.

The game is set for release on November 27, 2014 for the Nintendo 3DS. Artwork and screenshots are available to view by hitting the jump button.

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Phantasy Star Nova demo will allow 4-Player Co-Op

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We teased you in July about Phantasy Star Nova getting a demo on the Japanese PSN Store and now we get news that the game will allow 4-player co-op via local wireless connection.

Sadly though SEGA says this demo release will not showcase its character creation aspect or even story progression. I guess they want us to wait till the full game.

For those waiting on the full version of this title it will be coming out in Japan this November. The demo hits the Japanese PSN story on August 12th. We will most likely post some hands on impressions when it does hit. No release date announced outside of Japan (sorry 🙁 ).

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Phantasy Star Online 2: Episode 3 set to launch in August

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Phantasy Star Online 2 has been out for a few years and SEGA is now promoting their next major update titled ‘Episode 3‘ and will launch it this August. The Japanese site 4Gamer recently attended the announcement event and gave us a sneak peek at what to expect in the new update.

One of the coolest changes in the upcoming Episode 3 update is the lobbies will now have different themes. We saw this happen with the  Attack on Titan and Sonic the Hedgehog collaborations.

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SEGA Toys releases robotic cat and baby chick, much to the surprise of real cats

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New from SEGA Toys, the creators of Wappy Dog and home to the SEGA Pico in its later days, comes Yume Neko Celeb, a white robotic cat. Retailing for 11,000 yen and released yesterday, the cat snuggles, purs and meows. Some might say this is just like a real cat, but being a cat owner myself, there is a 90% chance that a real cat will bite or scratch you if you attempt any of these things. Thankfully, Yume Neko Celeb has not been programmed to harm humans… yet.

Released on the same day is a yellow chick robot called Yume Hiyoko, which moves its wings and chirps. I for one welcome our new robot overlords. After the break, check out an extended video for Yume Neko Celeb and Yume Hiyoko.

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Phantasy Star Nova getting a Japanese demo this August

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If you have a Vita and access to the Japanese PSN, you should get a bit pumped up since Phantasy Star Nova demo will be coming next month. The demo is set to have a boss fight and some exploration sections, giving the user a feel for the full game that will be coming later this fall.

SEGA will also hold a Phantasy Star events on July 26th and August 3rd at Sapporo Convention center and Port Messe in Japan. Sadly  for us Westerners, there hasn’t been a announcement if this title is coming West.

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Phantasy Star Nova short cutscenes show off the main characters

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Gematsu recently reported that Sega broadcasted a set of three cutscenes through Nico Nico this past weekend. They are each not much longer than a minute, and all are voiced. It’s another opportunity for a glimpse at what the game is set to look like, but also to get a grasp on the characters’ personalities. Of the main three characters, Lutia and Phildia, both of the female charcters, have pretty distinct characterizations in the trailers. When you see someone like Lutia pose and sound her barbaric yawp before charging in on a (rather freaky and cool-looking) Gigantes, you know you’re in for a party. Given tri-Ace’s reputation for dynamic and unique gameplay systems, it will be interesting to see what surprises tri-Ace will reveal in the future for this game.

Hit the break for two other videos!

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