Mega Drive

SEGA Tunes: A look at SEGA AM2’s underrated Sword of Vermilion OST

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Before SEGA AM2 brought Shenmue to Dreamcast owners everywhere, they created a Japanese RPG in the late 80’s for the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive. That title would help SEGA-AM2 dip their feet into the console market, that first game was Sword of Vermilion. The game was a early Genesis/Mega Drive title and was one of the spotlight games in SEGA’s timeless “Nintendon’t: advertisement campaign.

While Sword of Vermilion was ambitious for its time, it wasn’t really known as a great game and possibly one of the lesser known games by the publisher. But regardless of that status, the soundtrack for this game is actually great. Composed by Hiroshi Kawaguchi (After Burner, Out Run, and more) and Yasuhiro Takagi (Virtua Racing, F355 Challenge and more), both composers who where literally at the top of their game during this time period.

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Developer Retrospective: We celebrate the legacy of SEGA AM2

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SEGA AM2 is just one of those developers that always puts a smile on my face whenever I talk about their games. Not only do they have one of the most vast libraries, but they also revolutionized gaming in general multiple times over the past decades. Let’s look at the developer that popularized sprite-scaling in the 80s, gave us modern 3D with their Virtua series and created one of the most expensive games ever as we walk through their legacy.

Don’t forget to join us all month long while we talk more about SEGA AM2 and all their legendary franchises.

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Price for upcoming unreleased SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis game ‘It Came from the Desert’ revealed

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Back in July we shared the news that the unreleased SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis game It Came from the Desert was finally seeing release by way of the efforts of Watermelon Games and the original developers Cinemaware. The game, originally slated for a 1990 release, was deemed by publisher EA to be too difficult and was troubled by a game crashing bug. Watermelon Games promises that both issues will be fixed.

Until now we did not know the price of the game, and as our headline suggests, well now we do! For $55, shipping not included, fans of long lost 16-bit titles will receive the limited edition release which will contain a case and slipcover, manual, poster, and of course the cartridge. Cinemaware promises that this price is final and will not change, and that more news is to come after the holidays including the start of pre-orders in January 2015.

Learn more about Cinemaware and their work at their official site.

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Retro SEGA themed console boxes will hold your trading cards

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Are you a Collectible Card Gamer (CCG)? You know, like Magic: The Gathering or even Pokemon? If so you might be interested in the variety of deck boxes, collection boxes and even card sleeves based on retro SEGA consoles that are offered by Amazon Japan. With SEGA Saturn’s anniversary coming next month, I think i’ll order myself a SEGA Saturn themed deck holder.

They  have them based on a variety of SEGA’s retro consoles, sadly nothing older than the Mega Drive and no handhelds. Hit the jump to check out the gallery.

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Son releases tribute video to remember his SEGA-loving father

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The above video comes from the ‘SEGA Channel’, a fan ran YouTube channel. This is a tribute to the uploader’s dad, who was a SEGA Genesis fan. He liked the Genesis so much that he made a home video trying to get his New York relatives to jump to the next level.

This video was released around September 1991, meaning that the SEGA Genesis was ramping up to being the number one sold console in the United States. Esposito, who made the tribute video to his father, who has since passed away. Thanks to Esposito for giving us a nostalgic look back to the early 90’s and sharing a personal moments he shared with his father. An entertaining video, must see.

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My Life with SEGA crosses streams with Ghostbusters for the SEGA Genesis

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My Life with SEGA ain’t afraid of no ghosts as AJ crosses streams with Ghostbusters on SEGA Genesis! 30 years ago, Ivan Reitman delivered one of the best films of 1984, starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson. It was brimming with laughs, action, and some of the best visual effects of the day.

24 years ago, Compile and SEGA delivered a side-scrolling platformer for the fresh-faced 16-bit Genesis. Is it just as enjoyable as the film it’s based on, or is it just a great big….Twinkie?

Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel. After the break, watch the My Life with SEGA Ghostbusters Master System review!

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SEGA reveals Hi☆sCoool! SEGA Hard Girls Anime

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A few months ago, SEGA has announced that they were green-liting a new anime project based on SEGA Hard Girls, a group of female humanoid consoles based on SEGA’s hardware consoles. Now, a brand new preview of the anime has been released titled Hi☆sCoool! セハガール (SEGA Hard Girls) produced by TMS Entertainment, known for their work on other SEGA related anime adaptations such as Virtua Fighter, Sonic X, & Hero Bank.

The plot centers around the SEGA Hard Girls (MegaDrive, Saturn, & Dreamcast) who all are enrolled in the Tokyo Haneda and Torii to “Sehagaga Gakuen” as they are issued a challenge for graduation credits from dubious teacher. To clear the problem, they must enter the game world of SEGA featuring tons of cameos. But can they graduate successfully?

The anime is set to air on ANIMAX on October 8th, 2014 every Wednesday and Saturday. Nico Nico Channel and pre-orders for Blu-Ray/DVD will be announced on a later date. Hope to expect translations soon.

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Round Table: SEGA’s worst decision during the 16-bit console wars

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Some people consider the 16-bit wars to be the golden age of gaming, but as much as we see the early 90’s with rose tinted glasses there where some serious mistakes made during the war (on both sides). This week we will discuss what we think SEGA’s worse decision during the 16-bit console wars was. Sit back and if you want to join in on the discussion, please do so in the comments.

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Round Table: Our Favorite SEGA 32X Games

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roundtablefavroties The 32x might be an add-on with only under 40 games released for the short lived unit, but it wasn’t hard for most of the staff here to pick their favorite game. Even though the library was small there was quite a few good original titles and faithful arcade ports that make all us SEGA fans mouth’s drool. Some games really showed off what the 32x was capable of, others focused more on delivering great game over graphics. Check out the games we chose after the break and you can tell us in the comments what your favorite 32x game is.

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SEGA Tunes: 1, 2, 3, GO! Virtua Racing Deluxe’s Replay

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This week on Tuesday Tunes we have a look at Virtua Racing Deluxe‘s song ‘Replay‘. Not only is this 32x port one of the best ports of the game to a console, it also has a pretty catchy soundtrack to boot.

Here we have an epic build up to a nearly nine minute song that is filled with nice dancing beats and epic saxophones that will put your ears’ in a 90’s nostalgia mood.

This is one of my favorite Virtua Racing tracks. Have you got a favorite of your own? Let us know in the comments!

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Beggar Prince to be reprinted on SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive to celebrate game’s 20th anniversary

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Beggar Prince was a Chinese RPG that was only released in that region in 1996. In 2006 Super Fighter Team decided to translate the game to English and manufacture them on the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive carts, touting that it was the first SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive made since 1998. They sold out and now the $40 dollar game has been highly sought after. This will be the fourth release of the game (counting the 1996 original) and 3rd reprint by Super Fighter Team.

From the team:

“The prodigal son has returned! Beggar Prince, our first commercial video game, will be put back into production in the form of a special twentieth anniversary edition. Originally released in Taiwan in 1996, this fabulous role-playing adventure game was first published in English by Super Fighter Team ten years later. Ever since the game sold out, countless fans have written in to request that we put it back into production. Well, here it comes! Don’t miss this chance to own one of the most stunning games ever produced for the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive!”

As a person that has the 3rd release of the game, the cart doesn’t use SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive screws and the feel of the box isn’t the same as an actual SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive box. It has a different feel. You can pre-order your copy here for $55. Game isn’t set to ship till sometime in 2016.

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Unreleased SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive game ‘It Came from the Desert’ getting official release by Watermelon Games

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It Came from the Desert is a 1989 computer game by Cinemaware and later got ports, of them being on the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive that was sadly cancelled before its release date in 1990. The SEGA 16-bit version was set to be different than the original by having custom power ups that where created by collecting machinery pieces, changing main protagonist who in the original was a scientist, now you are a teenage pest control worker named Buzz, and more.

Watermelon Games have announced that they will be working with the original developers Cineaware to bring an official limited release of ‘It Came From the Desert’. One of the main issues with the main game was that it was way too hard, Watermelon games said they will be tweaking the game to make it more enjoyable and will also be fixing a game crashing bug (reason it wasn’t officially released by EA).

You guys can check their product page here for more information.

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Round Table: Is Comix Zone too hard?

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RoundTable[Above art by SavinArtem via DeviantArt]

Welcome to another installment of our Round Table series. This one will be part of our Comix Zone week and will be looking at the questions asked by SEGA fans in the mid-90’s: Is Comix Zone too hard? There have been very few people I know that have beaten the game without using stuff like safe states or cheats. It is just one of those games that takes dedication and patience. Something most of us didn’t have much as a kid. Of course you can tell us your opinions in the comments.

Let’s get this discussion started!

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Comics to Cartridge: Comics that inspired Comix Zone

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[Sketch Turner drawn by RainDante]

It’s quite obvious that Comix Zone is a 16-bit video game tribute to the comic book medium. It takes several aspects from a variety of popular comics throughout history and uses them in its own way to create a unique world.  Here are some that I’ve noticed during play. Since the developers never talked about stories in comics that influenced them, some of these could only be coincidence.

Let’s have a look.

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