SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive Japanese game ‘Dahna: Megami Tanjou’ gets English fan translation

All the way back in the year 1991 a small developer known as Information Global Service released a action-platformer game for the SEGA Mega Drive known as Dahna: Megami Tanjou. Sadly the game never made it out of Japan, now a fan has went and translated Dahna: Megami Tanjou to English. While its nice to play the game with English text, I don’t find it a big deal considering Dahna: Megami Tanjou didn’t have much text to begin with and was fully playable in Japanese. It’s still nice of course.

Download English Patch Here

(You will need a Japanese Rom & LunarIPS)

Above you can watch 28 minutes of Dahna: Megami Tanjou gameplay and see if its for you. RetroCollects describes it as a hybrid mix between Castlevania, Rastan and Golden Axe; if those games are up your alley you should give it a go.

[Via: RetroCollect]

Deals: Steel Empire 3DS port discounted to $9.99 on eShop

steel empire 3ds port sale

If you’re looking for something to pick up and play this weekend, then might I recommend the Steel Empire 3DS port? It normally runs for $29.99 on the Nintendo eShop, but is currently going for just $9.99.

Those unfamiliar with the relatively obscure horizontal shooter might find its steampunk aesthetic pleasing. You can choose to fight with either a plane or a blimp, but of course you’re going to pick the blimp nearly every time.

The Sega Genesis shooter was originally created by HOT-B, with the 3DS remake being developed by Mebuis. The 3DS version received fairly good reviews from respectable outlets. So if horizontal shooters are your thing, there’s no reason not to give it a shot.

We’d like to start posting about Sega deals more often again, so if you spot a sale going on, please let us know!

SEGA in the Media: Pablo Escobar plays Streets of Rage on Narcos

Netflix launched the second season to their highly rated series Narcos, which follows the life of Colombian drug king pin Pablo Escobar. In the second season, second episode titled ‘Cambalache’ (slang for ‘junkshop’) it shows Pablo Escabar playing Streets of Rage with his son which is why the show being featured on our SEGA in the Media segment.

Netflix seems to always have a reason to show product tie-ins in their shows and isn’t just there to promote a product but to advance the story. This has been shown with the types of video games they showed in House of Cards episodes and it seems to be a continuing trend with Narcos. While most other TV shows just show characters frantically hitting controller buttons, Narcos really shows that the characters are playing the game with the dialogue back and forth. Its minor details that really make a scene seem genuine. Pablo is talking about hitting phone booths, grabbing pipes and questioning the game when he is confronted to fight a woman. His son even tells him that the Streets of Rage female baddie is called Nora, which is actually correct. Seems that Netflix did this cameo just in time, considering Streets of Rage just turned 25 years old a month or so ago.

Its also ironic that Pablo Escabar, who is basically a real life version of Mr. X, is playing a game where he is helping take down a evil organization since that is the main plot of the show Narcos. Only in real life he is the one everyone is trying to take down. It is also funny watching him question the game giving him a female opponent considering one of the big rivals pulling strings this season is a female.

Click here if you wanna read more SEGA in the Media style articles and if you have a SEGA in the Media sighting, contact us!

SEGA Genesis Aladdin’s Chicago C.E.S demo rom released

AladdinCESdemoBack in 1993 SEGA showed off the SEGA Genesis version of Aladdin during the C.E.S show in Chicago, this was a early prototype showing off what players can expect when Aladdin hit store shelves during the 1993 holiday season.According to Hidden Palace wiki, differences between Aladdin’s Chicago C.E.S demo compared to the retail versions are:

  • A lot of levels have enemies either missing from the final or incomplete pencil tests.
  • The level music for Level 2 “The Desert” is a completely different tune that was cut from the final. It’s based on a track from Jungle Book.
  • Aladdin’s lives icon looks different.
  • The “Inside the Lamp” level is completely different from the final. Instead of going all the way to the right of the level, the player instead has to reach the very top by riding on Genie bowling balls and jumping on springs. A lot of graphics appear that are not in the final iteration of the level.
  • The final level uses a different background.

The Aladdin’s Chicago C.E.S demo was dumped thanks to the user Billscat-socks, who has also dumped a ton of different prototypes. Its thanks to users like him that the retro scene gets all these interesting prototypes and we get to see changes made in prior versions. You can download Aladdin’s Chago C.E.S demo below.

Download Aladdin’s C.E.S Demo Here

Japanese SEGA Mega Drive ‘Star Cruiser’ gets fan translation

The Japanese exclusive Mega Drive space gameStar Cruiser has now been translated to English thanks to dedication from fans in the retro scene. The guys over at RetroCollect.com describe Star Cruiser as a hybrid between Star Fox, Elite and Phantasy Star. While we are talking about the Mega Drive version, Star Cruiser has been ported to the NEC PC-88, NEC PC-98, Sharp X1 and the Sharp X68000. Star Cruiser was suppose to be released in North America way back in 1994 and was going to be published by Namco, but game’s localization was cancelled for unknown reasons.

This game features four solar systems and over thirty planets for the players to get through, players are tasked with the goal of traversing the galaxy to get rid of a evil militaristic nation. By looking at the video you will notice that most of the game’s action is played through space dog fights featuring some really meh Super FX polygon visuals and the story elements are done through anime style cutscenes.

The Star Cruiser translation is in the form of a .IPS patch, so you will need to have a Japanese Star Cruiser ROM as well to apply the patch with LunarIPS. According to the person working on the patch, there are still plans to fix a few things but you can try it right now, since it seems playable.

DOWNLOAD HERE

[Source: RetroCollect]

Cospa’s SEGA merchandise up for pre-order before Tokyo Game Show 2016

COSPASEGAMerch1Cospa is a Japanese licensed merchandising company, just recently they updated their site with all the merchandise they will be premiering at this year’s Tokyo Game Show 2016. The line-up included other licenses like SNK, IDOLM@STER and of course our true blue SEGA. The company announced that the SEGA Merchandise was focusing on the SEGA Mega Drive (SEGA Genesis in America), Sonic the Hedgehog and oddly enough NiGHTS into Dreams..

So lets break down all the SEGA merchandise from Japan that will be shown off by Cospa at this year’s Tokyo Game Show and that you can pre-order RIGHT NOW (yes, we included import friendly shop links):

Disney Re-Releases Aladdin, The Lion King and The Jungle Book on GOG.com

Leave it to digital distribution to as a means to keep the older classics alive, although your mileage may vary if it may not quite be as you remember it. As is the case with today’s offering on GOG.com that sees the return of three Disney platformers from the 16-bit era.

As part of their joint effort with Disney to re-release games from past decades, GOG.com has re-released Aladdin, The Lion King and The Jungle Book on their digital service. Because GOG.com specializes in releasing PC titles in their original format without DRM, these titles are the DOS versions running in the DOSBOX emulator. Aladdin and Jungle Book are the significant highlights for SEGA fans as these ports are based on their respective Mega Drive and Genesis versions. The accuracy between versions may vary, but in the case of titles such as Aladdin, you still get to experience the highly animated characters and detailed backgrounds of the original game with the music recreated in MOD format.

As of this publication, they’re running an introductory sale where you can get each title for 10% off or all three together in a bundle. Lets hope we get to see more in the future along with Maui Mallard and maybe even Mickey Mania. Though for the true SEGA diehard, maybe we’ll see re-releases of titles such as Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Quackshot one day soon.

[Source: GOG.com]

SEGA Tunes: How Thunder Force III’s OST made the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive shine

SEGATunesTHUNDERFORCEIIIOn this entry of our ongoing SEGA Tunes series, we will be looking at how Thunder Force III‘s fantastic soundtrack cemented the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive as a musical powerhouse. The SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive’s sound usually gets negative responses from gamers due to some big games having bad sound, thus they assume its the system’s fault. If you know some gamers that have that opinion about the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive, pop in Thunder Force III. If they don’t change their minds, find new friends. Of course, there are many other SEGA games that had fantastic sound on the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive, but today we will be looking at Thunder Force III.

Let’s look at some of my favorite Thunder Force III tracks:

What SEGA can learn from Nintendo’s NES Classic Edition

NintendoMini

You are reading the title, dumbfounded that a SEGA fanboy like myself would tell the glamorous SEGA to take notes from Nintendo. You might be more confused after I made a jab at the NES Classic Edition on twitter the other day. While personally, I don’t care about a replica box that only plays a set amount of emulated games, I know there is a huge market for it in the states. These things are the Tiger Electronic toys of our time (maybe that’s too harsh)! But Nintendo has announced a few things with this project that I think SEGA should seriously take a closer look at, especially if they will be taking this whole ‘plug-in-play’ market a bit more seriously. 

So let’s talk about the SEGA’s emulated machines, the NES Classic Edition and what SEGA can do to capitalize on the attention that these devices will receive because Nintendo joined the ranks. 

Cave Story being ported to SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive

If you haven’t played the 2004 indie game ‘Cave Story‘ then you are really missing out on a classic PC game. But don’t worry a retro developer is ‘demaking’ the classic for release on the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive. The game will scale down the graphics to run on the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive 16-bit hardware (I think it still looks pretty damn close though) and will have the full soundtrack (remade for Yamaha YM262 sound).

Not only that, the developer has already released a playable demo of his Cave Story demake. You can download it here. The Cave Story demo is limited to the first few areas of the game. You can also see gameplay of Cave Story running on SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive hardware above.

Download Demo Here

[Source: Retro Collect]

SEGA News Bits: Sonic the Hedgehog turns 25 years old

Sonic the Hedgehog’s 25th anniversary officially kicked off on June 23rd, which was of course the release date of the eponymous game that started it all. In this SEGA News Bits, George and Barry look back on 25 years of Sonic by spin dashing through all the main series Sonic Team developed console games. There are quite a few to get through, so consider this more of a SEGA News Smörgåsbord. Why are you still reading this? Click play and enjoy!

What are your favorite Sonic games? Let us know the comments below and like always thanks for watching! If you like our SEGA News Bits videos, make sure to subscribe to us on our YouTube channel.

Sonic 25th Anniversary Humble Bundle launches with exclusive shirt

HumbleBundleSonicHumble Bundle has just launched its Sonic 25th Anniversary Humble Bundle which will include a wide arrange of Sonic games for PC including retro and more recent titles.

This is what you get in the Sonic 25th Anniversary Humble Bundle.

Pay $1 or more:

  • Sonic the Hedgehog (SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive)
  • Sonic Adventure DX 
  • Sonic 3D Blast
  • Sonic CD

Beat the average (right now $9.00) also unlocks: 

  • Sonic the Hedgehog 4 – Episode I
  • Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing
  • Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive)
  • Sonic Adventure 2 + Battle DLC 
  • More games coming soon

Pay $10 dollars and also get: 

  • Sonic Lost World
  • Sonic Generations + Casino NiGHTS DLC
  • Sonic the Hedgehog 4 – Episode 2
  • Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (Plus Metal Sonic & Outrun and Ryo DLC)

Pay $35 bucks and get: 

  • Exclusive Sonic 25th Anniversary Humble Bundle Shirt

If you have never used Humble Bundle, the way it works is that its all tiers. So if you pay the $35 dollars for the exclusive Sonic 25th Anniversary Humble Bundle shirt, you also get all the games in the package. All games redeem on Steam.

What are your guys thoughts on this Sonic 25th Anniversary Humble Bundle? What tier is everyone picking up? Let us know in the comments below.

D4 and EGG Project release new Madou Monogatari collection

madoumonogatari

After the success of the first collection with Madou Monogatari 1-2-3 and Madou Monogatari ARS, a new compilation has been released for Windows in Japan regarding to the Madou Monogatari series called Madou Monogatari yu~ Kyoku Taizen-Tsu MD & DS by companies D4 and EGG Project. In this collection contains the Mega Drive version of Madou Monogatari I and varies DiscStation titles, along with the original cover from the Mega Drive Madou Monogatari I and an OST. In addition, the first collection that contains Madou Monogatari 1-2-3 and Madou Monogatari ARS is receiving a reprint until September 2016.

SEGA Game Tester documentary from 1996 emerges online

This video was uploaded online a few days ago, titled ‘This is SEGA TEST’ a titled “trainumentary” created by the SEGA test department in 1995-1996. The video was shot on location at Sega of America in Redwood City, CA. The SEGA Game Tester documentary talks about what SEGA is looking for in a game tester, but gives you a interesting inside look at the company during that era and the people that worked as testers.

Tom Kalinske, President of SEGA of America at the time is in the video talking about the processes of selecting a SEGA game tester. We had a chance to interview him in our podcast, if you haven’t listened. Its a great little documentary, especially for retro SEGA game fans. Watch it and let us know what you guys think in the comments below and tell us how many of you wanted to be a SEGA game tester during the mid-90s.