Famitsu hosted a live stream to debut additional games for the upcoming Mega Drive Mini 2, as well as a revival of a unique controller. Yosuke Okunari was on-hand to make the reveals and give a little additional insight into the games.
Two more titles from the SEGA AGES series are coming to western territories, which are Columns II and Puzzle & Action Ichidant-R. These two titles are actually relatively significant compared to past SEGA AGES releases, as they’ve previously never got a release in North America and most of Europe, or even that many re-releases in general. Both are scheduled to drop on the eShop on the Nintendo Switch for both North America and Europe on October 17th for $7.99 and equivalent.
Columns II takes the familiar gem dropping premise of the first game, and mixes it up with a new stage based structure. Now players are tasked with trying to clear out specific flashing gems by digging through a premade board, while trying to endure the board gradually being pushed up due to randomly spawning skulls. While Puzzle & Action Ichidant-R is a series of minigames, where up to two players are tasked with clearing over 20 different nutty minigames within 4 rounds. These SEGA AGES releases also include additional features, such as SEGA AGES Columns II giving you the option to disable the skulls and comes with the first Columns game as a bonus, while SEGA AGES Puzzle & Action Ichidant-R comes with the Mega Drive version included as a bonus and the ability to play against players with online play.
[Source: Twitter]
SEGA has revealed several pieces of new information regarding to their SEGA AGES lineup at Tokyo Game Show. The first bit of news is that the previously announced SEGA AGES Puzzle & Action Ichidant-R finally has a release date, being slated for a September 26th release in Japan for the Nintendo Switch. This version of Puzzle & Action Ichidant-R coming packed with the original arcade game with all 20 minigames intact, the inclusion of the Mega Drive version that includes additional modes like an RPG mode and a Competition mode, plus online multiplayer.
The second bit of news is that SEGA AGES Thunder Force AC will be the next title in the SEGA AGES series. Thunder Force AC basically being an arcade version of Thunder Force III, with some levels being changed from the original release and naturally having limited continues. However the most notable addition to this version is the option to play as Fire LEO-04 “Rynex”, the ship from Thunder Force IV, complete with all of the same weapons from that game. No definitive release date has been revealed as of this writing.
[Source: SEGA TGS Live Stream]
Another SEGA AGES title is coming soon to your Nintendo Switch, this time being the frantic minigame collection Puzzle & Action Ichidant-R. Puzzle & Action Ichidant-R is the second game in the Puzzle & Action series of games, featuring the thieves/detectives Robo and Mobo from Bonanza Bros., this time wearing knight costumes and participating in a stage play. Similar to it’s predecessor Puzzle & Action Tant-R, the player is tasked with beating a series of minigames, for a total of 4 rounds. There are 20 minigames in total, ranging from sharping pencils, hitting baseballs, guiding trains, stacking pots, stabbing dumplings, and more.
SEGA AGES Puzzle & Action Ichidant-R includes the arcade version, but also incorporates a “Mega Drive mode” that includes all of the modes included from the Mega Drive version. The most notable addition is the RPG mode, where players are tasked with trying to rescue the princess by collecting the Philosopher’s Stones. In addition, there will also be a Competition Mode and Free Mode. In Competition Mode, up to 4 players participate on a square board in the style of sugoroku (a Japanese board game comparable to backgammon), while in Free Mode up to 4 players compete to see who reaches the specified point threshold first. SEGA AGES Puzzle & Action Ichidant-R will also come with online play, allowing players around the globe to participate in the original arcade game.
SEGA AGES Puzzle & Action Ichidant-R is priced at ¥925 (roughly $8.70), though with no definitive release date.
[Source: Official Website]
More news has dropped regarding to the SEGA AGES series, this time a lot of announced titles coming to the series sometime in the future. These titles are Puzzle & Action Ichidant-R, Shinobi, G-loc Air Battle, Fantasy Zone, Herzog Zwei, and Wonder Boy in Monster Land. Each title will be based on their original arcade version, with the exception being Herzog Zwei instead being based on the Mega Drive version. No other information such as pricing, release date, or any other additional features have been revealed.
This announcement notably means that G-loc Air Battle will have the original arcade version ported to a home console for the first time, while this will be the first time SEGA used the Herzog IP after the acquirement of Technosoft’s library. What is your thoughts on these titles coming to the SEGA AGES series?
[Source: Twitter]