Power Drift

SEGA Talk #138: Power Drift (1988)

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Welcome to the SEGA Talk Podcast, where we dive into SEGA’s golden age of gaming and bring you the classics that defined a generation. Today, we’re shifting gears and taking a high-speed trip down memory lane with SEGA’s iconic arcade racer, Power Drift. Released in the late 80s, this game took the racing genre to new heights with its innovative 3D-like graphics and adrenaline-pumping gameplay. So buckle up, grab your tokens, and let’s power slide through the history, the hype, and the high scores of this SEGA masterpiece.

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SEGAbits Exclusive Interview with Veteran SEGA Designers Akihito Hiroyoshi & Yumiko Miyabe

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During our visit to Japan for the Tokyo Game Show, we seized the opportunity to meet and engage in conversation with former veteran SEGA Designers, Akihito Hiroyoshi—renowned as the character designer for classic SEGA AM2 arcade games such as Arabian Fight and Virtua Cop—and Yumiko Miyabe, the former art director for the Space Channel 5 series.

These interviews unveiled insights into their early lives, careers during their tenure at SEGA, and personal hobbies. By clicking the link, you can delve into the interviews and explore behind-the-scenes artwork from the games they passionately crafted during their time at SEGA.

Additionally, the interviews are available in video format, with links provided here for Akihito Hiroyoshi and Yumiko Miyabe. A special acknowledgment goes to our fellow writer, Dakota, for video recording, as well as SEGA fans, Martin Hemmingway and Scott Hamby for translating the interviews. *Please note: images provided in the interview are copyrighted and may not be reproduced without permission*

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Arcade 1up Announces Deluxe OutRun Cabinet featuring OutRun, Turbo OutRun, OutRunners, and Power Drift

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It has only been a couple of months since Arcarde1up surprised us with the Golden Axe: Revenge of Death Adder cabinet and now they come and shock us again with a replica cabinet of the iconic OutRun Deluxe! Pre-orders are up on their site and will cost you a cool $499.99 USD (yo send me one for review, I’m poor!).

The cabinet will include the following games:

  • Outrun™

  • Turbo Outrun™

  • Outrunners™

  • Power Drift™

Going to be honest, this is the sickest cabinet that Arcade1up has produced and that is saying a lot considering each new cabinet gets me to want to buy one. UPDATE: Some things I wanted to update about that Sean Tagg posted on Twitter: The device doesn’t have Ferrari licenses so all the original games are going to be modified and the cabinet will omit Ferrari logos, the cabinet doesn’t have SEGA logos and the steering wheel is made out of foam.

[Via: Arcade1up]

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Check out all the SEGA & Atlus’ merchandise for Tokyo Game Show 2017

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Its that time of year again, when SEGA of Japan loads up Tokyo Game Show with a ton of amazing SEGA merchandise that makes us westerners scream, “Take my money!” I would say that SEGA’s Tokyo Game Show 2017 lineup is actually really good compared to last year, so expect a ton of great merchandise to follow. SEGA is not only set on bringing you merchandise for upcoming games like Sonic the Hedgehog,  Yakuza, Puyo Puyo, Hatsune Miku, and a ton more. But they are also doing Retro SEGA console merchandise which is very appealing. To add the cherry on top SEGA will also be selling Atlus merchindise including Persona 3, Persona 4 and Persona 5 stuff!

So lets get into it:

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SEGA adds more gaming soundtracks to Spotify

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SEGASoundtracksSEGA adds more gaming soundtracks to Spotify for your listening pleasure. It seems that SEGA is going to continue to add more in the upcoming months? I sure hope so. But as of right now, there are a ton of new SEGA soundtracks to feast your teeth into. Here are some of the franchises that got soundtracks added to the music streaming service:

  • Fantasy Zone
  • NiGHTS 
  • Out Run
  • Virtua Fighter
  • Skies of Arcadia
  • Chain Chronicle
  • Shinobi/Nightshade
  • Space Harrier
  • Rhythm Thief 
  • Gunblade NY & L.A. Machineguns
  • Power Drift
  • Alex Kidd

There are more here and there. Want to have a gander yourself? Check out SEGA’s artist page on Spotify. It does seem that this was done by SEGA Japan, only because there are some very Japanese focused soundtracks like Chain Chronicle (never published outside of Japan by SEGA) and Nightshade is using its Japanese name of Kunoichi. SEGA adds more gaming soundtracks to Spotify, does this mean you will be less likely to get a physical version of these soundtracks? Personally I think people that stream, where going to stream it regardless. What soundtrack is missing that you want? Sound off in the comments.

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3D Power Drift standalone Nintendo eShop release to feature a SEGA all-stars bonus mode

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Okay, this is amazing. Remember when SEGA released the SEGA 3D Classics Collection (Sega 3D Fukkoku Archives 2 in Japan) and it featured some new games including the arcade Power Drift? Well, SEGA is planning on releasing a standalone Nintendo eShop release and as an added incentive the game features a new special mode! As detailed on the official Japanese product page is a special mode that is earned upon completing the game once. One element of this mode replaces course music with medleys from other SEGA arcade classics. The course and medley breakdown is as follows:

  • Course A: Space Harrier medley
  • Course B: OutRun medley
  • Course C: Fantasy Zone medley
  • Course D: Thunder Blade medley
  • E courses: AfterBurner medley

The other element of this special mode is really cool. Each Power Drift driver is replaced by an all-star cast of characters from past SEGA 3D Classics, effectively making it a super scaler SEGA All-Stars Racing game! The roster is as follows: Harrier, Binsbein (3D Space Harrier), Nameless Beast Warrior (3D Altered Beast), Flagman (3D OutRun), Joe Musashi (3D The Revenge of Shinobi Ⅱ), Dralinflore (3D Fantasy Zone), Axel, Blaze, Adam (3D Bare Knuckle), Mr. Hang-On (3D Super Hang-On), Galaxy Lady (3D Galaxy Force), and Alex Kidd (who did not appear in a 3D Classics title yet, but has made cameos in many credit sequences in the series).

This mode is exclusive to the Japanese Nintendo eShop release of 3D Power Drift. More information on this awesome bonus as we hear it, and here’s hoping we get a localization with this new mode! After the break, check out a full gallery of the roster.

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SEGA 3D Classics is 30% off on Amazon

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sega3dclassicscollectionDidn’t pick up SEGA 3D Classics when it came out a few months ago? Shame on you! But its OK, you can now make it up to us by picking up SEGA 3D Classics for only $21.97 on Amazon (does have Prime shipping). That is pretty damn cheap way of playing classics like Power Drift, Puyo Puyo 2, Fantasy Zone II, and many more on the go. I do know that first print copies came with awesome SEGA stickers, don’t know if that is still the case but most likely it does.

You can buy a copy here. 

If you already have SEGA 3D Classics, good, now you can get a copy for your Nintendo heathen friends. So what do you guys think of the game going on sale out of nowhere? Good price?

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Review: SEGA 3D Classics Collection (Nintendo 3DS)

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SEGA 3D Classics Collection is the latest in the long line of compilations that SEGA loves to produce. For years the company has to rereleased various titles in a neat packages for convenience, often times Genesis titles from the golden days. Examples include both Sonic Mega Collection and Sonic Gems Collection, SEGA Genesis Collection, and SEGA Smash Pack. However, few of these compilations were released on handheld systems, and often times arcade games would get the short end of the stick. So SEGA 3D Classics Collection is a bit special in this case since it has several games that you don’t normally see in these compilations like Power Drift, Puyo Puyo Tsu, and Maze Walker.

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New SEGA 3D Classics announced; including Power Drift and Puyo Puyo 2

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My life has been made. SEGA has officially announced new SEGA 3D Classics; 3D Power Drift, 3D Puyo Puyo Puyo 2, 3D Maze Walker, and 3D Fantasy Zone II!

The full version of the teaser art we posted yesterday has been released (isn’t Arle adorable?), showing that the new physical SEGA Reprint Archives 2 collection will feature Power Drift and Puyo Puyo Tsu, with the bonus games this time around being Maze Walker and Fantasy Zone II; the Master System versions! Whether these games are to be released internationally is unknown, but honestly by this point I think we’ll be seeing at least Puyo and Power Drift on the western eShop soon.

More information on the new physical collection was released yesterday, but it’s damn cool to see not one but four new games for the collection!

I’m pretty ecstatic right now, but let us know what you think in the comments!

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The SEGA Five: How SEGA-AM2 changed video gaming

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Welcome to our new video series The Weekly Five, a top five list covering a wide range of SEGA topics. We are celebrating The Year of Developers over at SEGAbits.com, that means that each month throughout the year we will be covering notable notable SEGA developers. This month is all about a developer that is close to my heart, SEGA-AM2. What better way to kick off the new series than to discuss five ways SEGA-AM2 changed video gaming.

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Developer Retrospective: We celebrate the legacy of SEGA AM2

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yotsd_AM2

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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SEGA Tunes: Power Drift’s Like the Wind

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You know what’s more awesome then classic SEGA arcade music? Obscure SEGA arcade music! I’ve never played Power Drift, but its soundtrack is still pretty damn awesome. This is just the sort of incredibly catchy, upbeat tune that I would expect from a classic SEGA title. Hope you enjoy it!

Power Drift’s soundtrack was composed by Hiroshi Kawaguchi. He is one of the oldest SEGA composers still active and working within the company. You can find his website here.

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