Retro

First 4 Figures teases their upcoming NiGHTS figure

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First 4 Figures has teased this image on their Facebook, giving their fans a small taste of whats to come. If you haven’t heard of First 4 Figures, they make high quality video game figures in limited quantities. They dabble in Nintendo, Capcom and of course SEGA figures. I think my personally favorites are their Skies of Arcadia Vyse figure, Beat from Jet Set Radio, Akria from Virtua Fighter 5, and of course Ryo from Shenmue.

Not only are First 4 Figures known for their quality, but they are also known for their high price tags. Don’t be surprised if this figure goes on sale for over $200 dollars.

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Nintendo 3DS gets SEGA Dreamcast and SG-1000 themes in Japan

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The more SEGA themes Japan gets, the more I want to just import a Japanese 3DS so I can enjoy them. This month’s themes are easily some of the coolest. The Dreamcast theme is based around the system’s own menu, and even plays the mechanical whirring and VMU beeping that fans are familiar with. Less familiar is the theme’s background music, which is lifted from the Japanese-only browser disc Dream Passport.

The SG-1000 theme is pretty cool in its own right. Aside from being based on SEGA’s very first home system, the theme also displays screenshots from a variety of games in the background. The music might be familiar to any hardcore Sonic Team fans with an emulator (or the system and a Japanese television if you’re crazy) since it’s taken from Girl’s Garden, Yuji Naka’s first game. Checkout the theme below!

Both themes are available on the Japanese 3DS’s Theme Shop for 200 yen/$1.50. There is still no word on these themes coming stateside.

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SEGA Tunes: Panzer Dragoon’s OST is a beautiful masterpiece

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Panzer Dragoon is an artistic and beautiful game, sure it might be ‘ugly’ now since games can do better graphically. But there is just something about the art assets used that really strike me as beautiful. Like most SEGA games, the soundtrack matched the presented game and no other game delivered as well as Panzer Dragoon series. This week we will be looking through the first game’s soundtrack.

The above song attached is the main theme that really sets the game’s epic scoop. Its a beautiful piece that for some reason reminds me of the 1989 animated film ‘Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland‘. Fun fact: French artist Jean “Moebius” Giraud was actually involved in both Panzer Dragoon (mostly influence and did the Japanese cover) and the Little Nemo movie.

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SEGA Japan shows off new Game Gear, Master System 3DS themes

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If last month’s 3DS themes weren’t enough to make you envy Japanese gamers, this week’s ought to do it. 3DS has received two more SEGA console themes, this time centering on the Game Gear and the Master System.  

The themes are loaded with fan service, of course. The Game Gear theme is sporting the Green Hills Zone theme from its version of Sonic 2 and folders made out of 3D Game Gear cartridges, while the Master System theme features an 8-bit rendition of the Space Harrier song and 3D gold cartridge folders (which were a line of Master System cartridges in Japan).

Though I couldn’t find a price, the themes are likely going for 200 yen/$1.50 like last month’s themes. Having a Game Gear theme on my Nintendo handheld would be oh-so perfect, so hopefully we’ll eventually see their release stateside. Fingers crossed!

Check out the Master System theme below.

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The SEGA Five: Favorite Moments in Skies of Arcadia

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Hey everyone welcome to another episode of The Weekly Five, I’m your host George and today we will be talking about my favorite moment of Skies of Arcadia. The game originally came out in 2000 on the SEGA Dreamcast.

The game later got 2002 re-release in Japan and 2003 in the West on the Gamecube, which included better graphics, less random battles, extra content, and more. Regardless of what version of the game play, both are fantastic experiences. Some disliked the game due to its constant random battles but I think it more than makes it up with its charming characters, light hearted humor and sense of exploration.

Great games have great moments and Skies of Arcadia is full of them, so if I don’t mention a moment you loved, share it with us in the comment section. Let’s get this list started.

Warning: Spoilers ahead. 

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SEGA Japan releases Saturn and Master System themes for 3DS

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While in the USA we only have a free Sonic Boom theme from SEGA to apply to our handhelds, SEGA of Japan is really using the theme service and giving older SEGA console gamers the goods. Above is the video of the SEGA Saturn theme that was recently revealed. The song playing the in back is from Sonic R.

Below is the video of the SEGA Mark III (aka Master System in the West) which features the always delightful Alex Kidd (including its music). Will these themes hit the American or European eShop? I really do hope so, with these and the awesome SEGA 3D Classics; the Nintendo 3DS is becoming a nice nostalgic gaming machine.

The themes are now out in the Japanese eShop and retail for 200 yen each (a little over $1.50).

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Resident Evil Code: Veronica never before seen concept art hits the internet

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[Wasn’t this design later used in South Park?]

Resident Evil Code: Veronica was my favorite entries into Capcom’s long running survival horror franchise. Maybe its because I’m biased due to it being originally a Dreamcast exclusive title (which later got a Playstation 2 port). I’m also the type of person that likes to see unreleased artwork for games, especially concept art. It seems the guys over at Project Umbrella (a Resident Evil fansite) have been sitting on hundreds of pieces of unreleased concept artwork for Resident Evil Code: Veronica and Resident Evil Zero.

From the owner of Project Umbrella via NeoGAF:

We came into contact with freelance concept artist Satoshi Nakai, who was hired by CAPCOM in 1997 at the recommendation of Nextech Co., Ltd to provide concept art for the games under the directions of scenario company FLAGSHIP’s lead writers Noboru Sugimura and Hiroshi Soda.

Only a very small fraction of this artwork has been released by CAPCOM over the years. They are direct scans of the original pages. Also included is a single artwork for a scrapped game originally directed by Masaaki Yamada, featuring HUNK on a cruise ship facing against new plant/human Zombie enemies.

Hit the jump to see over  100 pieces of never before released concept art.

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SEGA Tunes: Skies of Arcadia’s OST will make you feel adventurous

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Skies of Arcadia is a special game that had just the right amount of charm to win me over. Skies of Arcadia is just one of those games where you really like the bright colorful world and cheery character personalities, despite its random battle encounters and parts in the game that lead to frustration. Not only that, the game had an epic soundtrack that gives you a sense of adventure. Listen to the main theme above and tell me this doesn’t make you want to go exploring some caverns or travel in exotic locations?

This week on Tuesday Tunes we will be listening to some of my personal favorite tracks in Skies of Arcadia. Hit the jump and set your volume to an appropriate volume.

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Dreamcast controller mod takes the Wii U pad to the next level

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Imagine if SEGA released a color screen on the Dreamcast controller, but not only that it would act like the Wii U and allow you to play games in your controller. Crazy right? I guess if you want it badly enough everything is possible as this hack shows. The modified controller features a 3.5 inch color screen that will display on both a connected TV and on the controller. So what if you wanted to just play on the controller? What about sound? Yes, it has built in speakers. But where does the VMU go? It actually has a VMU built in as well!

If you want to see it in action, hit the jump. If you want to read a more detailed article, click here.

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Rent A Hero English translation finally released

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SEGA AM2’s Action RPG, Rent A Hero, has been fully translated to English and released by the hard working of hackers from Rom Hacking Dot Net. Pretty much finishing what Edison Translation Group left off with only one section of the game translated.

Now gamers can finally get their hands on Rent A Hero from start to finish in English language for the first time ever.

Rent A Hero focuses on a teenager named Taro who has recently moved to Aero City along with his family and receives a armored suit. When he wears the suit, he becomes Rent A Hero, a hero for hire keeping the world at peace and payed for his heroic deeds.

For screenshots of Rent A Hero in English. Click the jump below!

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SEGA Tunes: Cutting corners while listening to Hang-On’s soundtrack

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SEGA-AM2 could really thank most of its success to how popular the game Hang-On was in 1985. This game really opened up for all those other popular SEGA-AM2 peusdo 3D scaler games that we all love today like Space Harrier, Out-Run, Afterburner, and many more.

The track above is called ‘Theme of Love’ and love is probably what kids in the mid-eighties felt when they played this game for the first time. Every time I hear any music from a early SEGA-AM2 games it just fills me with nostalgia and Hang-On‘s Theme of Love does it the best. It just does everything right and is an excellent piece of music.

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SEGA Tunes: Bust down the door and jam to Virtua Cop’s OST

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SEGA AM2 has a huge library of developed games, but nothing is more shocking at how much they change genres and still delivered a game that would defy that same genre. For example, Virtua Cop which in my opinion is one of the best light gun shooters around.

Nothing has a bigger impact on you than the first stage’s music. Its the song that draws the player into the game and Virtua Cop succeeds with its Stage 1 Theme: “Arms Black Market”, giving you that feeling that you and a buddy really are taking down this black market gun rig.

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SEGA fan shares his 1993 Christmas home movie featuring Sonic CD

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You guys might remember the SEGA Channel from a post we did where he gathered his home movies and did a touching tribute video to his dad. Now he is back, this time sharing a 1993 Christmas video. I got to admit, I love this sort of stuff and honestly a bit jealous, mostly because my parents weren’t so hip about the ‘vidya gaming’ growing up.

So the question for you all are, do you remember what you got for Christmas of 1993?

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Round Table: Our favorite SEGA developed Saturn games

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We are coming to a close in our SEGA Saturn Month here at SEGAbits, so we decided to go out in a bang by telling you guys our favorite SEGA in-house developed game. SEGA had a power house of developers during the 90’s and most of them really hit their strides during the Saturn, we know its hard to pick just one game, so we will also be listing three more titles as honorable mentions.

Like always, if you guys want to let us know your favorite SEGA developed Saturn titles, you can do so in the comments section.

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SEGA Tunes: Shining Force III’s Sanctity & The Dragon’s Graveyard

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Shining Force III Scenerio 2 & 3 never made it to America, which is too bad because the games where all fantastic. This track is from the 1st Scenario of the game, called “Sanctity”, which is one of the most epic tracks that I have ever heard in a game. I love the way it starts out simplistic enough and just adds layers throughout making it a very pleasant listen. Moving from epic, to haunting and back to absolutely beautiful.

No one quite does it like Motoi Sakuraba, who has worked on music for the first two Star Ocean games, Valkyrie Profile, Golden Sun series, and many more. The soundtrack to Shining Force III is so great, that I’ll embed another song after the break. For FREE, that’s right, 100% off! How’s that for a Black Friday deal?

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