Original Content

SEGA News Bits: SEGA Dreamcast 18th Anniversary Discussion

September 9, 2017 by Barry

On 9/9/1999 the SEGA Dreamcast released in North America, and now 18 years later we’re still talking about it. On this SEGA News Bits, we celebrate the birthday of SEGA’s final home console by recommending the best exclusives, looking at the indie games released in 2017 and looking ahead to what indie games are coming in 2018 and beyond!

If you enjoy our SEGA News Bits segments and want to support us: Give us a sub and give this video a like so it shows up on more like minded fans YouTube recommendations. You know, how that YouTube algorithm is.

Rez Infinite Review – Techno Enlightenment (PC)

August 17, 2017 by Moody

Rez is a one in a million game. A vision so confident, so bold, and so focused only comes around every decade or so. Released on the Dreamcast in late 2001 in Japan, ported for all regions on the PlayStation 2 in 2002, rereleased in HD for the Xbox 360 in 2008, remastered for VR on the PlayStation 4 in 2016, it’s now fully featured, fully formed on Steam and Windows in 2017. Rez Infinite may not technically be in the SEGA family on account of series rights apparently now owned by Enhance Games, but the legacy started with Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s concepts makes it only fitting to honor it here.

It’s a modern marvel, at once distinct, yet familiar; unique, yet clear in its inspirations; as awe-inspiring as it is clearly dated. Standing head and shoulders above its contemporaries in concept, presentation, and vision, no game comes close to it; before or since.

For the record before you hit the jump, there are certain features of Rez Infinite for the PC that I will not, and cannot review. Trance vibration is functional but I do not have the controllers for it, nor will I talk about the VR features of the game. The screenshots are also a lower res 720p than 1080p, apologies. Now, let us dive into synesthesia, and experience Mizuguchi’s masterpiece.

1 Comment

Night Trap 25th Anniversary Edition Review – The Definitive Package (PS4)

August 16, 2017 by George

Night Trap is an odd little gem that has a cemented history in gaming. While the game has garnered mix reactions over the years, those that have played it will all tell you that its the leader of FMV games from the 90s, being one of the most popular games in the genre. 25 years after the initial release, Night Trap is finally getting a remastered port for modern platforms including PlayStation 4, PC and Xbox One. Today we give you our review of Digital Picture’s Night Trap, brought back to life 25 years later.

Sonic Mania Review – Classic Sonic Returns! (PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC)

August 14, 2017 by Barry

I have no doubt that many reviews released today for Sonic Mania, releasing August 15 to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch and releasing August 29 to PC, will chart the ups and downs of the Sonic franchise, make mention of the recent Sonic Boom games, and make the assertion that Sonic has not been good for a long time. I also have no doubt that reviews like my own will smugly mention such reviews in an attempt to show how I’m coming at Sonic Mania from a more educated and informed place. Really, I just wanted an intro paragraph and now that that’s done we can get to what we’re all here for: my review of Sonic Mania!

8 Comments

SEGA in the Media: Ready Player One slaps a SEGA sticker on a futuristic bike

July 26, 2017 by Barry

Steven Spielberg’s upcoming film Ready Player One, based on the novel by Ernest Cline, had a new trailer released for Comic Con and man does it try to outdo Roger Rabbit and Wreck-It Ralph in the cameo department. While the scale of cameos isn’t huge, they sure are all over the map. Viewers have spotted The Iron Giant, Deadpool, Harley Quinn, Gandalf, the DeLorean time machine and other pop culture easter eggs (with many news sites inaccurately reporting it’s all 80s pop culture nostalgia). Being a SEGA fan site, I frame-by-framed the trailer and found a SEGA reference so that SEGA in the Media may live on!

At the 1:40 mark a futuristic red motorcycle appears sporting several stickers including the Atari and Taito logos as well as Hello Kitty and the SEGA logo. Who knows what other references to SEGA the movie will have, but this is a good sign that there could be more. After the break, check out a screengrab of the SEGA sticker.

Fastest Food Alive: Unboxing SEGA Forever Sonic the Hedgehog Gold Rings Cereal

July 14, 2017 by Barry

Fastest Food Alive takes a look at a modern promotional item advertising something classic: SEGA Forever Gold Rings cereal! Made to resemble a box of cereal, complete with actual cereal and a toy surprise, SEGA Forever Gold Rings was released to spread the word of the SEGA Forever classic games collection. The collection will bring games from the SG-1000 through to the Dreamcast to mobile devices in a free to play or $1.99 each to remove ads format.

If you enjoyed the video make sure to like, share and subscribe to us on YouTube if you haven’t already. Thanks for the support!

SEGA Talk Podcast #12: Crazy Taxi (1999)

July 12, 2017 by Barry

We’re back! SEGA Talk turns its high beams on and takes a closer look at SEGA AM3’s classic arcade and Dreamcast game Crazy Taxi. Despite its seemingly simplistic premise, Crazy Taxi offered up a lot of depth and has seen a long and successful history as a franchise with games still being released as of 2017. What are our memories of the game? What was the development history? How do the in-game cabbies compare to real life cab drivers? All this and more is talked about on SEGA Talk!

[iTunes – Stitcher – YouTube – Play Music – RSS – Download]

If you want to give us feedback, suggest a topic for the next podcast or want to ask a question for us to answer on the next episode you can add them as a comment below or send theme directly to our email. Make sure you use subject line ‘SEGA Talk’ and as always, thanks for listening!

1 Comment

SEGA Retrospective: An overview of Japanese only SEGA games, Part 2

July 11, 2017 by Trippled

When SEGA dropped out of the hardware business, SEGA fans wanted more games than ever before. Sadly, that didn’t happen as best as it could have. While several great SEGA games came to the west, several never saw a release outside Japan. In part two of this SEGA retrospective, we go through every system’s Japanese exclusives and add our own opinions on games SEGA should have localized and how they could have handled the Japanese line-up better.

SEGA News Bits: Sonic Forces Fist Bump Vocal Theme Reaction

July 7, 2017 by Barry

On this SEGA News Bits, George and Barry fist bump their way through the recently revealed main theme to Sonic Forces. The track, titled “Fist Bump”, features vocals and lyrics by Douglas Robb of Hoobastank and is composed and arranged by Tomoya Ohtani. How does the tune compare to past title tracks? What do we think of the lyrics? Who… bastank?

SEGA answers our burning SEGA Forever questions, tells us what to expect next

July 5, 2017 by Barry

After weeks of teasing, SEGA Forever was officially revealed to be a classic games collection initiative to bring everything from the SG-1000 to the SEGA Dreamcast to mobile platforms, with the big surprise being that all the games are free to play (with the option to buy). The collection kicked off with five SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis titles, including four emulated games including Altered Beast, Kid Chameleon, Phantasy Star II and Comic Zone, and the remastered Sonic the Hedgehog from Christian Whitehead. After playing the games and experiencing how the service works, we had a ton of questions for SEGA. Thanks to mobile games community manager Danny Russell, we received a speedy reply and every single one of our questions got answered!

Read on for our interview with Danny.

Night Trap 25th Anniversary Edition Website | Screaming Villains Facebook | Screaming Villains Twitter

9 Comments

Swingin’ Report Show #88: Night Trap 25th Anniversary Edition – Screaming Villains, Developer Interview

June 28, 2017 by Barry

In this episode we are joined by Tyler of Screaming Villains, who is developing the upcoming Night Trap 25th Anniversary Edition set to release to PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows PCs, with a limited physical run exclusive to the PS4. Tyler discusses how the project began, how the game differs from the SEGA CD and SEGA CD 32X versions, what new features fans can expect from the game and what future plans he hopes to have in the world of FMV games and beyond! Keep your ears peeled for some exclusive reveals, but watch out for those Augers!

[Download] [RSS] [iTunes] [Archive]

Sonic the Hedgehog’s 25th anniversary comes to an end as the blue blur turns 26

June 23, 2017 by Barry

Happy Birthday, Sonic – now give us our presents! Today marks Sonic the Hedgehog’s 26th anniversary, which officially signals the end of Sonic’s 25th. While the past year has been light on games, the biggest moments for the franchise has been a change in focus in several areas. Sonic Boom has seen a massive downgrade. Originally a multimedia alternate branch from the main Sonic franchise, featuring games, toys, comics, an animated show and a big fan event in New York in 2014; now only the animated series remains. As of this moment, no season 3 is confirmed and less than twenty season 2 episodes have yet to be aired. Could Sonic Boom be on the way out? Funnily enough, Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice was the only Sonic game to release during the 25th anniversary timeframe, making it technically the 25th anniversary game. A Japan only special edition with 25th anniversary swag supports this.

SEGAbits at E3 2017: Sonic Forces Hands-On Preview

June 17, 2017 by Bartman

Kori-Maru and Bartman back from the E3 show floor here to give their hands-on impressions of upcoming SEGA titles, including two Sonic the Hedgehog games coming out this year: Sonic Mania & Sonic Forces. This hands-on article features both of their thoughts and opinions on Sonic Forces. Be sure to hit the jump to hear their impressions. If you want to read their thoughts on Sonic Mania, click here!

SEGAbits at E3 2017: Sonic Mania Hands-On Preview

June 17, 2017 by Kori-Maru

Kori-Maru and Bartman back from the E3 show floor here to give their hands-on impressions of upcoming SEGA titles, including two Sonic the Hedgehog games coming out this year: Sonic Mania & Sonic Forces. This hands-on article features both of their thoughts and opinions on Sonic Mania. Be sure to hit the jump to hear their impressions. If you want to read their thoughts on Sonic Forces, click here!