Fans have asked nicely. They begged. They asked rudely! And in the end, Discotek Media has delivered! That’s right, the Japanese version of Sonic X is finally releasing to home video in America! While Discotek has released the full english dubbed run of the series on DVD and SD on Blu-ray, the Japanese version was conspicuously absent.
The fan translation team known as Meduza Team (recently they translated Linkle Liver Story and provided widescreen hacks for Shining Force III, Powerslave and Dead or Alive) have announced they are working on a English translation for Valhollian or better known as “Zanma Chouougi Valhollian” . This Sega Saturn exclusive SRPG came out in 1998 and was developed by Datt Japan which only worked on two previous Sega Saturn games, Virtual Casino (1996) and Monster Slider (1997).
Quite frankly surprised this title never got a proper translation and release in the West since the game did sport some really cool looking polygon graphics and seems to have a pretty interesting cast of characters. Check out the video above on the work they’ve done on the game so far. Pretty interesting project and worth keeping an eye on if you are looking for more Sega Saturn goodness.
The recent release of Sakura Wars (aka Shin Sakura Taisen) has had a solid enough release, with it generally receiving mixed to positive reception and a slew of multi-media adaptations such as a manga, anime, and stage play. But if you’re still on the fence about this new take on the series, read this review by writer Kori-Maru.
However, it seems like SEGA is not quite done with the Sakura Wars IP. SEGA of Japan has recently filed several trademarks, for the purposes of multiple things such as miscellaneous types of physical media and software. This includes Sakura Taisen B.L.A.C.K., B.L.A.C.K., Sakura Ishin (Restoration), and Sakura Kakumei (Revolution). What these titles would be is not clear, but it’s likely Sakura Ishin is some type of remake or remaster of a past title and Sakura Kakumei is a spin-off. Currently nothing has been officially announced, but considering the recent Sakura Wars project has had a positive response from consumers so far, it would make sense to continue expanding on the brand in the near future.
Game review blog “Get Ready! Annex” administrator, Pin, is producing a fan doujinshi book for SEGA fans focused on celebrating the 60th anniversary of SEGA and is looking to gather at least 60 participates worldwide with content that they could tell about their love for Sega on one page per person.
The fan doujinshi will be a thin book of A5 size with dozens of pages and full color and set to be released for April 2020. Anyone in the SEGA community can participate in the book with illustrations of their favorite SEGA character, cosplay, comics, collections and messages. For more details on entry types, you can check it out on their site here. The deadline for entries are due before the end of Feburary.
To participate, all you have to do is contact Pin via on Twitter through DM or email with your entry. Celebrate SEGA’s anniversary together and share your thoughts on SEGA!
SEGA has uploaded another gameplay video of Judgment today. This time taking a look at what you can do in the game in the latest Features Trailer in english dubbing by showcasing Judgment’s unique detective gameplay that has the player solving mysteries around Kamurocho by searching for clues, catching targets in Quick Timed Events, evolved combat system, minigames involving drones and so much more. Here is a video description for Judgment
“We’re gonna chase the truth as far as we can.” Kamurocho isn’t exactly known for being the safest place in Japan, but even for this red-light district, a string of violent serial murderers has the entire city on edge. It’s up to private detective Takayuki Yagami and his partner Kaito to track down the truth using whatever tools they can. Get a look at just some of those tools (including a drone, lockpicks, and the muscles of a huge former yakuza member, to name just a few) in our new Features Trailer!
Get ready to uncover the truth when Judgment launches in the West on June 25, 2019! If you would like to hear the Japanese dub of the same trailer, you can check it out with this link provided here.
Are you excited for Compile Heart’s Hyperdimension War Neptunia vs Sega Hard Girls: Dream Fusion? This upcoming RPG combines the Hyperdimension Neptunia franchise and crosses it over with SEGA’s Japanese TV show/Light novel Sega Hard Girls.
The game is suppose to launch on the Playstation Vita, the company still hasn’t given up a release date, but they did just update their website with new direct-feed screenshots. So, if the game makes it west, which it will most likely, will you be picking it up?
[Via: Gematsu]
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!
SEGA has just announced another rhythm arcade game, this time called Chunithm, that has already been hitting CLUB SEGA Akihabra since November 28th. This new rhythm game joins SEGA’s last few rhythm games such as Crackin DJ, Project Diva and MaiMai.
Chunithum is also set to have songs from MaiMai in it. SEGA will be giving away a limited mini-soundtrack album to promote the new arcade. You can see the cabinet design and cover to the mini-soundtrack below. Am I the only one waiting for Virtua Fighter 6? What is this? What…
Not too long ago, we speculated that a physical release of SEGA’s 3DS 3D Classics was in the works, and shortly thereafter such a release was revealed to be happening! Releasing December 18th, and featuring cover art by Ken Sugimori, the compilation is 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.
For a sampling of what to expect from the compilation, check out the trailer above. If you have a Japanese 3DS or alternate means of playing import titles, you can pre-order the game from Play-Asia. In the meantime, I’ll just sit here watching the trailer, fingers crossed for a US release. Tears running down my face.
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 🙁 ).
SEGA Networks and gumi had recently made an announcement today to form a partnership by bringing SEGA Networks’ Japanese game titles in North America, Europe, South Asia and other territories. Gamers can expect the first batch later this year starting with the launch of the popular Japanese RPG mobile game, Chain Chronicle.
For those who are unfamiliar with Chain Chronicle, Chain Chronicle is a popular Japanese mobile game that allows players to become a soldier who builds an army and fights to protect the imaginary land of “Yugdo” from the menacing Black Army. As the game advances, players begin to unravel each member’s story to create a long chain of chronicles where all are connected.
Both companies are collaborating in order to provide localized support for player preferences, languages and gameplay environments. Hit the jump to view the press release of the game and footage.
Playstation 3 users might want to mark February 13th on their calendars as the day you get to try Yakuza Restoration for the first time. The game’s demo will be downloadable and will include mini-games like fishing and going to a singing bar.
The demo will weigh in at 2,410 MB. The game will come out on February 22nd on both Playstation 3 and Playstation 4. No Western release plans have been announced.
SEGA seems to really have partnered up with Nintendo for this generation. With the Wii U getting exclusive SEGA IPs like Sonic Lost World, it’s hard not to notice. Where are all those Playstation 4 and Xbox One SEGA games? Well, it seems that SEGA has more games planned for a Nintendo product; the Nintendo 3DS, and these games won’t cost you a cent! SEGA Japan already announced their first ‘free-to-play’ 3DS title with “Initial D: Perfect Shift Online“.
“We don’t intend to stop with this title, and after looking over its results, we’ll think about what to do next. However, unlike games for smartphones, I believe there’s a perfect shape of ways to do things, somewhere out there, for the Nintendo 3DS. I believe that finding it will be our challenge, and in many ways, Initial D will be our first step.” – Toshihiro Nagoshi
It is not surprising considering the fact that SEGA boosted about the success of their free-to-play titles in their last earning reports. It seems that SEGA’s catalogue for free-to-play games continues to grow, do you think it’s worth SEGA’s investment?
Here’s another story trailer for Binary Domain, it’s in Japanese so I can’t say much about it but I’m glad to see it looks as though it’s going to have a pretty deep plot which is what I’ve come to expect from Nagoshi and his new Yakuza Team.
I really hope this game does well for Nagoshi- he really needs to break into the West with both this and Yakuza but to be honest I don’t see a lot of hype around Binary Domain so I’m not convinced. Which is a shame, the guy can’t seem to catch a break.
Binary Domain is a Squad Based shooter Created by the Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. (Yakuza)
The game is planned for a world-wide release on February 2012 for PS3 and Xbox360.
[Thanks Suzuki Yu]
Check this out, Sega Japan has released a new trailer for Guardian Heroes and it’s looking bloody good! If this doesn’t fill you with warm bubbly nostalgia I don’t know what will. From the cheesy music to the bright, bold graphics this reminds me of a better, simpler time for gaming.
Guardian Heroes will be released on October 12th exclusively for XBLA and will cost you $10.