The House of the Dead: Remake Review – A Decent, Yet Deadly Fun Remake (Nintendo Switch)

The House of the Dead series has been regarded as one of SEGA’s successful arcade franchises over the years with the first title debuting in arcades worldwide in 1997. What makes this series so special to many of us SEGA fans are the following things: Horror elements with blood & gore, fast paced action, and of course, its cheesy voice acting; most notably, The House of the Dead 2 being the most popular titles in this long running franchise. Many of The House of the Dead titles have seen near arcade perfect ports on multiple consoles from Dreamcast to PlayStation 3 with the exception of the original game that started it all, which was only ported to the SEGA Saturn and Windows PC in 1998. 

The House of the Dead: Remake confirms ‘gyroscopic functionalities’ for controls, doesn’t rule out a future VR port

The House of the Dead: Remake is coming out April 7, 2022. When the game was first announced, one of the missing details in the press release was if The House of the Dead: Remake would support gyro motion controls and now thanks to a interview by Way Too Many Games with producer and co-producers Artur Grzegorczyn and Benjamin Anseaume have confirmed that you will have the option to use ‘gyroscopic functionalities’:

Wonder Boy Returns Remix receiving physical Nintendo Switch release from Strictly Limited Games

Back in January 2019, Wonder Boy Returns received a physical release to the PlayStation 4 courtesy of Strictly Limited Games. The game was a remake of the original arcade classic Wonder Boy, which was published by SEGA and developed by Escape (later Westone Bit Entertainment). In 2016, the remake Wonder Boy Returns was developed and published by CFK for the PC and PlayStation 4, with a new version for the Nintendo Switch released as Wonder Boy Returns Remix in 2019.

Three SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive Titles Coming To Nintendo Online Expansion Pass

It has been recently revealed by Nintendo that three more titles from the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive are coming to the Nintendo Online Expansion Pass service. Two of them are from Treasure, being the coveted action game Alien Soldier and the isometric adventure game Light Crusader. The third being Super Fantasy Zone, an original game released for the Mega Drive originally developed by Sunsoft. All three games are now available for those that have the Nintendo Online Expansion Pass, in all regions.

It’s worth noting all three games were technically previously released on the SEGA Genesis Mini, albeit Alien Soldier was exclusive to the Asian (Korean and Chinese) market. But the lineup is still a solid reveal regardless, especially since Alien Soldier and Super Fantasy Zone are expensive on third-hand markets.

 

Rumor: “Wonder Boy Collection” rated by the ESRB for Nintendo Switch and Playstation 4

Continuing the trend of Wonder Boy (aka Monster World) getting a lot of love as of late, there is likely a new collection of the games that will be revealed soon. As revealed by this ESRB description, Wonder Boy Collection is a collection of four of the Wonder Boy/Monster World titles, with versions for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch cited on the page. While the page doesn’t list the individual games, the description makes mention of alcohol like beer and cocktails being sold in a shop, which is likely a reference to Wonder Boy in Monster Land where one of the shopkeepers is a bartender lizard.

No other information has been revealed, such as pricing or other features, but the existence of this page implies that Wonder Boy Collection is far into development and will be released soon.

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax drops new ‘Fight’ Trailer

Atlus has dropped a new trailer for their upcoming port of Persona 4 Arena Ultimax which was developed by acclaimed fighting developer Arc System Works (Dragon Ball FighterZ, Guilty Gear, Blazblue). This is a dub trailer titled ‘Fight’.

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax is heading for Steam, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch on March 17!

Official Sonic the Hedgehog HORI Switch Split Pad Pro revealed, available to pre-order now

Revealed today is an officially branded Sonic the Hedgehog HORI Switch Split Pad Pro, and guess what… you can pre-order it now! While Mario and Pikachu seem to have all the fun when it comes to branded Nintendo controllers, it’s great to finally see SEGA and Sonic stepping into the ring. The split pad retails for $59.99 and is said to release at the end of January, 2022.

Five SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive Games Get Added to Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pass

Five more SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive games are being added to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack service. These five games are Altered Beast, Toejam & Earl, Sword of Vermilion, Thunder Force II, and Dynamite Headdy. Out of the five games, Thunder Force II is probably the most notable, as it was skipped over in favor of its two sequels Thunder Force III and Thunder Force IV with stuff like the SEGA Genesis Mini or the SEGA AGES series, until now. All five games are the same across every region, and are available now for anyone that uses the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack Service.

Rumor: SEGA working on Phantasy Star Online 2’s successor as their next ‘Super Game’, will use NFTs

Its not hard to see that SEGA’s Phantasy Star Online 2 has been a massive success for the company, so much so that it recently that it got a graphical update with Phantasy Star Online: New Genesis. But the company is already ’embracing the future’ with them planning the successor, if this new rumor is to be believed. The rumor comes from Japanese user Makino180 that says:

  • Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis will be supported for only 5 more years.
  • Phantasy Star Crew’s 3rd Division is in planning stages of the next “Super Game” and is aimed to be finished in under 5 years.
  • Phantasy Star Online veteran Satoshi Sakai will spearhead the project
  • Plans are to make the next “Super Game” running on Microsoft Azure Cloud Servers.
  • SEGA is thinking of using NFT Blockchain technology for its monetization to prolong the value and wants to spearhead the future of Gacha Games which will implement a possible SNS Distribution of virtual items.
  • Initial Budget for this “Super Game” is 5 times the budget of normal SEGA AAA Games!
  • The main audience of the new “Super Game” is the Western audience.

While gamers dislike NFTs, Blockchain technology, it seems that companies and developers see a avenue for them to be used in games. What is your thoughts on the rumored, next, “Super Game” by the developers that made Phantasy Star Online 2?

Cotton Guardian Force Saturn Tribute on Nintendo Switch features fully working SEGA Saturn emulator


City Connection just recently released Cotton Guardian Force Saturn Tribute that compiled Cotton 2, Cotton Boomerang and Guardian Force on a single cartridge. The game was, well, not well received due to the emulation being used having input lag, making the games hard to play.

The story would have ended there but, GBATemp user Iisreal2301 figured out a way to load his own SEGA Saturn images onto the game file, basically allowing you to boot up any SEGA Saturn game by tricking the system into thinking its loading a Cotton game!

Sadly the emulation is far from perfect, but it seems to be a working project by users from GBATemp. I guarantee you that Nintendo will crack down on this game’s fun, but for now here is a list of games tested by GBATemp user Levine 19:

SEGA Mega Drive Shoot ’em up Gleylancer coming to all current consoles on October 15

The classic shoot ’em up for SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive, Gleylancer (I swear it was Gley Lancer?) is coming to all modern consoles on October 15, 2021. This includes PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. Sadly looks like PC gamers have been left out.

Originally the game was a Japanese exclusive but got a world wide release for the first time in 2008 via Wii’s Virtual Console. This version of the game will have even more improvements, according to the company it will feature:

  • Improved modes available with accessibility features and modern controls.
  • Classic and deep space shoot ’em up gameplay.
  • Epic space opera with anime cutscenes.
  • Option to customize the ship’s attacking power.
  • Iconic retro console graphics and sound.
  • Legacy 16-bit title from the 1990s!

Sonic the Hedgehog coming to Monster Hunter Rise

Capcom has just announced not only that Monster Hunter Rise is coming to PC (January 12, 2022) and that they have a new expansion called Sunbreak (coming Summer 2022) but that they also announced they will be doing a collaboration with Ghost ‘n Goblins: Resurrection and Sonic the Hedgehog!

This is what Capcom said in the press release:

“Finally, and also first revealed today, Monster Hunter is teaming up with Sega to celebrate Sonic the Hedgehog‘s 30th anniversary in Monster Hunter Rise. More details on this exciting new collaboration will be shared soon, prior to the Event Quest’s release in November.”

So stay tuned as Capcom will eventually show what these items will look like and what Sonic characters will be included in the event. I just want a Chao pet, to be honest!

[Via: Gematsu]

Bayonetta 3 finally shows off gameplay footage on Nintendo Direct, officially coming 2022

Bayonetta 3 is one of those games we have all been waiting for here at SEGAbits, we did a post about how Nintendo Japan had the game slated for release in 2022 and now Nintendo Direct’s latest presentation has confirmed it! Plus we got a look at the game for the first time, which includes an all new designed Bayonetta.

The game actually looks quite good for being a Nintendo Switch game and it seems to have good framerate. This is easily the nicest looking title shown at the show. But what do you guys think? What you think of her new look?

Nintendo Japan lists Bayonetta 3 for 2022 release

Amiibos allow you to instantly unlock costumes in Switch Bayonetta
Bayonetta 3 was announced way back in 2017, its been awhile! Hard to believe how long the games been in development without a single in-game screenshot shared by Platinum Games or Nintendo, but it seems that might change and soon. According to Nintendo Japan’s release schedule, Bayonetta is scheduled for release in 2022 along with Splatoon 3 and Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2.

It will be interesting to see what happens considering we haven’t seen anything yet. Do you think Bayonetta 3 will come out next year?