New to the SEGAbits store – SEGA Master System inspired shirts & VMU inspired designs

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Did you know that SEGAbits has a RedBubble shop? It’s true! Since December 2013, we’ve been uploading original designs for SEGAbits readers to purchase and wear to show their SEGA pride and to support the site. Recently, our own Liam Ashcroft aka TrackerTD of our This is Saturn video series created a Master System inspired design featuring the beloved 80’s console in a variety of styles – including one featuring Alex Kidd. We also have a VMU inspired shirt and phone case featuring a pixelated Ryo ready to fight. The design was built entirely in Photoshop and Illustrator from scratch, and the VMU icons were redrawn in the vector format. The VMU screen is a pixelated grid, allowing us to create whatever original pixelated images we can dream up. So head on over to the SEGAbits RedBubble shop today and check it out!

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Classic SEGA Ads: SEGA challenges you with After Burner for the Master System!


 
Wake up and check out this crazy SEGA commercial from 1988, advertising After Burner for the SEGA Master System. As most video game ads from the era tend to do, a young boy is transported from his living room to being behind the controls of an F-14 Tomcat. After flashing a thumbs up to the camera, the boy blasts off into the pixelated blue skies, taking on enemy fighters. However instead of looking outside the windows, he is playing After Burner inside the fighter jet (cue the “yo dawg i heard you like” meme). The announcer excitedly tells players that they can execute battle rolls, nose dives, supersonic speed (5 years before Sonic the Hedgehog!), and radar lock-on. The boy then, in his best impression of an action star delivering a death blow quip, says “your turn to burn!”. The ad ends with a tagline rarely reapeated nowadays, but it sure is fantastic: “SEGA: The Challenge Will Always Be There.” – emphasis on “Aaalways”, thanks to the narrator.

Overall, this is amazing ad! Fun effects work, lots of gameplay footage and music despite the real world setting of the boy in the fighter jet, and that ending tagline is just so damn strong. I think “The Challenge Will Always Be There.” deserves a comeback, don’t you?

After the break, see how SEGA of Japan advertised After Burner for the SEGA Mark III!

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SXSW 2014: Hands On with the RetroN 5

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Photo courtesy of Hyperkin’s facebook page.

There wasn’t much of anything SEGA related at this year’s South By Southwest in Austin, Texas. However it did provide a chance to check out Hyperkin’s upcoming RetroN 5 console with a number of games to show off the system’s accuracy and additional perks.

The RetroN 5 is a major step up from the other RetroN consoles for a number of reasons. The system provides compatibility for a number of consoles including Nintendo, Famicom, Super Nintendo, Super Famicom, Genesis, Mega Drive, Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance games through its five cartridge slots on the system as well as Master System games via the Power Base Converter. But aside from the added compatibility, it makes use of emulators running on Android hardware instead of clone hardware to run the games. What this provides besides better accuracy, is the other benefits of game console emulation including save states, remapping buttons and macros on any controller, take screenshots, fast forward games, as well as several video filtering options.

My Life with SEGA ain’t afraid of Ghostbusters on the Master System

It’s been 29 years since Ivan Reitman’s Ghostbusters graced the silver screen on June 8th 1984. Furthermore, it’s been 24 years since I’ve played Ghostbusters for the SEGA Master System. Has this relic of cross-promotional tie-ins aged just as well as the movie, or should it be cast aside along with Extreme Ghostbusters?

Find out this week on My Life with SEGA! Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel!

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My Life with SEGA vs. Spy vs. Spy

On this week’s 2-Man Scramble, Mickey Mac and I enjoy a Master System classic; Spy vs. Spy. Based on MAD Magazine’s infamous comic strip, created by Antonio Prohías way back in 1961….

While I have fond memories of this game, Mickey Mac has gone so far as to call this “the friendship killer”. Can our friendship survive Spy vs. Spy?

Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel! After the break, check out the promo video for what My Life with SEGA has planned for July!

SEGA Tunes: Power Drift’s Like the Wind

You know what’s more awesome then classic SEGA arcade music? Obscure SEGA arcade music! I’ve never played Power Drift, but its soundtrack is still pretty damn awesome. This is just the sort of incredibly catchy, upbeat tune that I would expect from a classic SEGA title. Hope you enjoy it!

Power Drift’s soundtrack was composed by Hiroshi Kawaguchi. He is one of the oldest SEGA composers still active and working within the company. You can find his website here.

SEGA’s Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse coming to modern consoles?

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Several gaming news sites have picked up on the fact that the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive (or Master System?) classic Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse, developed by SEGA AM7, has been rated by the Brazilian ratings board. The platforms listed include Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii U, and Playstation Vita. No other information, such as potential release date or whether this is the Master System version of the Genesis/Mega Drive version, is given. Could it be that Disney and SEGA have a stronger relationship following Wreck-It Ralph, and the two worked out a deal to rerelease the licensed game? Hope so! Ideally they’d release both versions of the game in a Vintage Collection, and other SEGA developed Disney titles such as World of Illusion and QuackShot are to follow. When we learn more, we’ll be sure to share.

My Life with SEGA reviews the Master System

Take a nostalgia trip this week with My Life with SEGA. This time around A.J. reviews the SEGA Master System. He also looks at some Master System games like After Burner, Alien Syndrome and Ghost House.

If you like it, what are you waiting for? Subscribe to our YouTube channel and get all the latest SEGAbits media right on your feed. As always, feedback is welcomed. What would you like to see in a future My Life with SEGA episode?

Sit on a Master System while you play a Master System

From gameblog.fr comes this crazy piece of fan art. French video game blogger Subby-kun and his wife Subbinette converted a couch into a Master System, complete with controller pillows. I’d make an Xzibit Yo Dawg meme image for this, but you can pretty much imagine how it would go. This isn’t their first piece of video game hardware furniture either, they’ve also created an NES bed. No clue what their next project is, but I’d love to see a Dreamcast futon. After the break, check out more images of this crazy couch!

Check out these awesome SEGA Master System shirts

SMS Power! forum member thoja has spotted  two SEGA Master System related shirts in his local mall. He said he found them in Bershka, a chain of Spanish stores from Spain. I have to say, I like the ideas but I don’t like white shirts all that much. I searched their site and only found a page for the Master System one, not the Alex Kidd one.

So what do you guys think of the shirts? Do you like in Europe? Maybe you should go out and check them out.

eBay: The complete US Master System collection

No, I’m not going to start heckling my crap to you guys, plus this isn’t crap. If there are any girlfriends or moms reading this and saying that video games are crap, then this is crap I want. All over me. The collection includes a US Master System with 114 US Master System games. Impressive!

Happiestsellever!, you can thank me for the shout out later. Check his auction here. Yeah, the dude wants almost 5 grand for the whole thing. Is it worth it? How much would you pay?

3D Dot Game Heroes can do Master System

Made by IGN’s Retro devision. 3D Dot Game Heroes is a throw back to retro titles with a weird, cube like graphical effects (3D pixels, if you will). The game has recently been released in the west by Atlus, on the Playstation 3.

Good to see that retro, especially 8-bit focused, get some SEGA love. Usually Nintendo hogs up all the spot light.

If you own the game, you can import IGN’s Master System characters (Opa-Opa and Mick), download here.

[Thanks: Monkeroony]