Mini-Moni. Shakatto Tambourine! da Pyon!, Sega’s one and only PSOne game, gets a fan translation

No, this ain’t Samba de Amigo, but it’s not that far off. The only PlayStation game Sega has ever developed “Mini-Moni. Shakatto Tambourine! da Pyon! (2002)” has just been fan translated, opening it up to an English speaking audience. Of course, this only goes for written text in the game, and not the lyrics to the songs within. The translation comes courtesy of the team of fan translators at Hilltop Works.

The game is very similar to Samba de Amigo and has tambourine motion-based controllers that you can play it with, which were originally packaged with copies of the game. The game can still be played with a regular DualShock controller, which you’re much more likely to own.

For a link to download the translation patch, as well as a brief background on the game, come on down past the break.

Castlevania Chronicles gets fan made port demo for the SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis

Back in the day, The Sharp X68000, a home gaming computer released in Japan, got its own exclusive Castlevania game titled ‘Akumajō Dracula‘ which would later be ported to PlayStation under the name ‘Castlevania Chronicles’.

Now thanks to Master Linkuei, you can now try Castlevania Chronicles on your very own SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis! He has released a demo of his porting project to put more Castlevania on your SEGA consoles. This is being inspired by user Pigsy who is trying to port over Castlevania: Symphony of the Night to the SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis.

What do you guys think of all these new fan ports happening on SEGA Retro consoles? What’s your favorite current project?

PlayStation Essentials Sale slashes prices on Persona games

Persona_4_investigation_team_2Are you a SEGA fan that still hasn’t tried any of the popular Persona series video games? I think now is the time for you to jump on board since Sony has put three entries on sale! All prices are USD. Persona is like Final Fantasy as you don’t need to play the prior ones to enjoy a new entry. Persona 4 Arena Ultimax is a fighting game that continues the plot after the RPG games, FYI:

If the prices aren’t low enough, Playstation Plus members get an extra savings (ranging from 10%-20%). If you have a Playstation Vita I would suggest picking up Persona 4 Golden instead of the PS2 classic version, since it has more content. You can read about that here. The sale ends on January 19th.

If you have an extra $4.00 dollars I suggest you also pick up one of my favorite Playstation One games, none other than Tomba!  a game created by Capcom legend Tokuro Fujiwara.

Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida says Shenmue 3 IP deal was between SEGA and Yu Suzuki

While Sony announced Shenmue 3 on stage and even admitted that they are involved with some funding for the project, fans are starting to wonder who owns the IP and what Sony had to do with getting the kickstarter going. If Sony’s involved why don’t they just fund the whole thing? According to Playstation President of Worldwide Studios’ Shuhei Yoshida, the deal for the Kickstarter was done by Yu Suzuki and SEGA.
During a interview with Engadget, they asked Yoshida-San the following: ” Why did Sony PlayStation decide to allow that crowdfunding announcement as opposed to funding it?”

“Ah, no, no, no. It’s a very exciting project and there are lots of PlayStation fans asking for it. But it’s a Sega IP and of course Suzuki Yu-san is the creator. So somehow Suzuki-san was able to work out with Sega to allow them to Kickstart the project. And because we liked the project, our third-party relations team struck a deal to help Kickstart the campaign at the E3 conference. That’s great PR.”

Sony has stated that they are willing to help promote the game and have shown that by allowing the Kickstarter to be announced on their stage at E3 in front of millions. Fans have been a bit angry with Sony’s involvement, in my opinion in the end of the day all the money funded by fans and Sony will go into Shenmue 3 to make it a better game, so in the end the consumer wins. No one is forcing anyone to donate to the Kickstarter, you can always wait for the released product. What are your thoughts?

Presenting “My Life with SEGA: Nothing Else Matters ”, a short film by A.J. Rosa

Andrew Rosa and Mickey Mac team up once again to take on a new threat. Their new flagship, SEGA Saturn, must ward off an army of palette swapped goons loyal to the Sony Empire in this high-octane geek-fest that DOES what Ninten-WON’T.

Starring Mike Bean (Getting it ‘N’), Mickey Mac (2-Man Scramble), Erica Winter (Raven Heights Radio Podcast) and Alex Gonzales. Written, Edited and Directed by Andrew Rosa.

Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel! After the break, check out a collection of outtakes from the production of the short film.

New Persona 4: Dancing All Night Trailer shows off the cast’s dancing moves

Here’s a new trailer for Persona 4: Dancing All Night, Atlus’ dancing rhythm game for the PS Vita. P4: Dancing All Night features characters from the popular Persona series- you guessed it, dancing all night. But this trailer boasts more than just a jig with a boy in a bear suit. Dancing All Night features a pretty meaty story mode, told through animated cut scenes and Persona style talking heads. Plus an impressive selection of songs and outfits to dress your favourite Persona 4 characters in.

Persona 4: Dancing All Night will release on June 25th, 2015 for the PS Vita in Japan. Western dates still to be announced sometime within the year.

Project DIVA f – Trailer

To be honest I’ve spent a long time now somewhat ignoring the Project Diva series, as it’s never had a release in the West coupled with my only passing interest in rhythm games it has remained on the peripheries of my gaming radar. However I have to say I felt a bit of a tingle while watching this latest trailer for Project DIVA f for the PS Vita.

Somewhere between the Phantasy Star Online 2 cameo and a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it glimpse of what looks like a modified Dreamcast controller this trailer managed to capture my attention. If Sega was to ever take a risk with bringing Project DIVA West it should be with a game like this. Perhaps a digital release? What do you think?

Virtua Tennis 4 World Tour Edition Launch Trailer

Check out the launch trailer for Virtua Tennis 4 on the PS Vita. VT4: World Tour Edition includes some brand new features exclusive to the PS Vita including multiple control options, two player touch screen on one console, motion controlled first person view and more.

House of the Dead: OVERKILL: Extended Cut – Crossbow Trailer


Today we’re proud to present the Grindhouse Crossbow trailer for The House of the Dead: OVERKILL – Extended Cut! Narrated by Jackson J. Jackson, CEO of Jackson J. Jackson’s Crossbow Emporium, these impressively scoped, extremely explosive lightweight portable crossbows are a great way to take out the mutant menace overrunning Bayou City. You won’t find higher-quality weaponry anywhere else – Jackson J. Jackson guarantees it or double your money back!

House of the Dead: OVERKILL: Extended Cut is exclusive to PlayStation 3 and built with the Move controller in mind. It’ll be released on October 25th, can’t wait to ‘asplode some zombies with the crossbow!

Rumour – PS:Vita Games List Leaked, Four Sega Games Listed!

Sega has already announced that they will have two games ready for the launch of the Playstation Vita, Virtua Tennis and an unannounced title which is widely believed to be Sonic Generations. Today possible new details have emerged in the forum of a list detailing games in development for the PS Vita from various 3rd party publishers has leaked and guess what? Yep, Sega won’t disappoint!

Hit the jump to find out what they are!

Phantasy Star Universe – PSU PC Updated, PSU PS2 closes!


It seems that the era of Phantasy Star Universe is coming to a close. Today Sega have announced that the Japanese Playstation 2 PSU servers will be shut down, leaving only the PC version still up and running.

However it’s not all doom and gloom; with the closing of the PS2 servers, the PC version of PSU is getting a substantial update introducing new areas, photon arts, items, special abilities and more. All are based on Phantasy Star Portable 2 or Phantasy Star Portable 2: Infinity.

With Phantasy Star Portable 2: Infinity doing well in the Japanese charts (well deserved) and the much anticipated Phantasy Star Online 2 on its way the Phantasy Star series looks set to continue for many years to come.

Hit the jump to see an early rundown of the new content coming to PSU-PC soon.