Rumor

Former Sega hardware engineers Kenji Tosaki and Junichi Naoi confirmed a Saturn Graphics Accelerator was in development

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Ever heard the rumor that Sega was working on a Saturn add-on to enhance its graphics? I hadn’t. Apparently it really happened, though, or at least someone tried to make it happen.

In an interview with Japanese outlet Beep21, former Sega hardware designers Kenji Tosaki and Junichi Naoi confirmed that Sega really had sought out to create an add-on to help the Sega Saturn produce much better graphics than it could on its own. Essentially, this would’ve been the same thing for the Saturn that the 32X was for the Genesis/Mega-Drive, in that it would have its own line of Saturn games that would require it be attached to the console in order for those games to function. What’s more, the cancelled Saturn version of Shenmue, as well as a planned Saturn port of Virtua Fighter 3, were both planned to utilize it.

These two had quite a lot to say about this cancelled hardware expansion, so join us after the break if you wanna hear more.

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Rumor: Jet Set Radio Past in development by an undisclosed indie studio (April Fools)

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Jet Set Radio is set to make an amazing return to the limelight with a rumored updated port of the original Dreamcast classic and a confirmed brand new game on the way, but it looks like this two-fer might end up being a three-fer.

According to games insider Applefuel, an indie studio is working on a JSR game of their own titled “Jet Set Radio Past”. In an inversion to Jet Set Radio Future (2992), this game is looking like yet another reboot of the series, now taking place many years back in history. It’s not known for now how far back in time the game is meant to take place, but the game seems to feature a “Caveman Beat”, “Rokkaku Dinosaurs”, and a “DJ Pterosaur K”. A very interesting creative direction, indeed.

There is no news yet on what sort of developer is working on this game. Fans are speculating so far that it may be the work of Team Reptile, creators of the hit game Bomb Rush Cyberfunk. Interestingly, reports are also saying that this developer, whoever they are, didn’t even bother approaching Sega for the license to work on a Jet Set Radio game, believing Sega would never approve, but that they would also not even bother sending a Cease & Desist order because “they still do what Nintendon’t”. Oooooooookay…?

We don’t usually report on such silly rumors here on SegaBits, but what the hell, it’s been a boring day. If more news comes out, you’ll hear about it when you tune into the #1 Sega news network in town: SEGABIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITS!! After all, it’s never a gamble reading reports from the nerds we employ here.

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Sonic Rumor Roundup: Sonic Toys Party leaks and whispers of Sonic Heroes remake

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It seems these days, unless you’re constantly on social media and following a handful of oddly named accounts with shadowy account owners, you’re probably not going to be clued into what Sonic rumors are swirling around. Heck, even I had to crosscheck most of the stuff dropping this week as it seemed news was leaked and then dispelled within a few hours from the same people. So what is going on in the world of Sonic?

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Sonic Origins Plus appears on Korean video game rating site – What could the rerelease include?

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A rating for Sonic Origins Plus has appeared on The Game Rating and Administration Committee of Korea website, potentially leaking the existence of an enhanced and expanded (and possibly physical) rerelease of last year’s Sonic Origins. Fans knew something has been in the works for the game, as various updates have been in the approval stages behind-the-scenes with nothing publicly released as of yet. Following the release of the digital-only retro compilation, SEGA sent out various surveys asking players to share their thoughts on the game and what sort of additions they’d like to see in a future update.

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Update: SEGA Genesis Mini 2 Officially Announced as Amazon Exclusive

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Pre-Order the SEGA Genesis Mini 2

SEGA has officially announced the SEGA Genesis Mini 2. The console is an Amazon exclusive and you can learn more on the official website.

Our original news story, which broke before SEGA made the announcement, follows:

An Amazon listing has appeared for an American version of the SEGA Mega Drive Mini 2, appropriately named the SEGA Genesis Mini 2. Interestingly, the product is being sold by Amazon Japan despite being listed on Amazon US and ships from Japan. The listing title says “For North American sales only” in Japanese. Currently, it is priced at $103.80. We are still confirming the validity of this listing as the seller Amazon Japan could very well be an official sounding name used by anybody. So if you plan to pre-order, be mindful of this. Amazon will not take any money until the release date of October 27, 2022.

Another interesting bit is that Sonic 3D Blast is shown in the screenshots, and this game has yet to be revealed as a Mega Drive Mini 2 title. You can see the screenshot after the break.

An Amazon Japan listing has also appeared, with similar information but lacking screenshots but the item is sold by Amazon.co.jp itself. The listing also has a list of announced titles, including the aforementioned Sonic 3D Blast. Other newly announced titles include Rainbow Islands Extra, OutRunners, Super Hang-On, VectorMan 2, The Ooze and Rolling Thunder 2. See the full list after the break.

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Rumor: “Wonder Boy Collection” rated by the ESRB for Nintendo Switch and Playstation 4

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Continuing the trend of Wonder Boy (aka Monster World) getting a lot of love as of late, there is likely a new collection of the games that will be revealed soon. As revealed by this ESRB description, Wonder Boy Collection is a collection of four of the Wonder Boy/Monster World titles, with versions for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch cited on the page. While the page doesn’t list the individual games, the description makes mention of alcohol like beer and cocktails being sold in a shop, which is likely a reference to Wonder Boy in Monster Land where one of the shopkeepers is a bartender lizard.

No other information has been revealed, such as pricing or other features, but the existence of this page implies that Wonder Boy Collection is far into development and will be released soon.

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Toshihiro Nagoshi’s New Studio To Be Named ‘Nagoshi Studio’ Leaks European IP Office

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Toshihiro Nagoshi has been a big figure at SEGA ever since he worked on the massively popular Daytona USA with SEGA-AM2. Ever since then he has had his own studio, first with Amusement Vision with creating hit games like Super Monkey Ball and later to creating the massively popular Yakuza series and the Ryu Go Gotaku Studios! Nagoshi would announce him leaving SEGA this past October to work with Chinese developer NetEase.

The story has always been that Nagoshi would set to create his own new team over at NetEase and create new games for the company. Sadly the Nagoshi Studios trademark has now been removed from the EU IP Office entry, but the representative company ‘Ingenias’ has also filed a ton of IP trademarks including “Abyss Rush”.

Looking at the trademarked logo, it seems like most likely, the new studio will be barring Toshihiro Nagoshi’s family name. Nagoshi Studio makes sense and the logo having a film strip as part of its design makes sense considering RGG Studios’ games have always been highly cinematic.

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Rumor: SEGA files trademarks for several Sakura Wars related projects

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The recent release of Sakura Wars (aka Shin Sakura Taisen) has had a solid enough release, with it generally receiving mixed to positive reception and a slew of multi-media adaptations such as a manga, anime, and stage play. But if you’re still on the fence about this new take on the series, read this review by writer Kori-Maru.

However, it seems like SEGA is not quite done with the Sakura Wars IP. SEGA of Japan has recently filed several trademarks, for the purposes of multiple things such as miscellaneous types of physical media and software. This includes Sakura Taisen B.L.A.C.K., B.L.A.C.K., Sakura Ishin (Restoration), and Sakura Kakumei (Revolution). What these titles would be is not clear, but it’s likely Sakura Ishin is some type of remake or remaster of a past title and Sakura Kakumei is a spin-off. Currently nothing has been officially announced, but considering the recent Sakura Wars project has had a positive response from consumers so far, it would make sense to continue expanding on the brand in the near future.

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Fake 4chan Rumor: Microsoft buying SEGA

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See the image above? One of the first times I saw the image was this weekend when longtime SEGAbits contributor SEGA Uranus posted it on our discord with a this link: https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2020/04/12/xbox-XO_world-live

As you can see, if you go to the link it takes you to a 404 page, me thinking this might have been a leak, I went to Twitter by posting the image looking for more information. My thinking was that SEGA had exclusives promised for the upcoming Microsoft Xbox Series X platform that is coming out this fall, but I quickly noticed people pushing the narrative that ‘SEGA is being bought by Microsoft!’.

After this I decided it was time to do a reverse image search for this image and it only got one hit at the time. 4chan’s /v/ section and even in the thread, no one actually saw the Xbox ‘link’ working. This is obviously a well devised 4chan prank, so please ignore it when you browse online and don’t be shy by linking people spreading this false rumor to this article. I mean, do you really want to see a American company to buy SEGA-Sammy?

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Rumor: New Monster World IV remake in the works, will be announced at GDC 2020

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While the build up to GDC 2020 has been steady up to it’s March 16th opening, the official website has been updated with a list of exhibits detailing the latest games from different developers. However when browsing the list of developers and games, one currently unannounced title is listed as “Wonder Boy Universe: Asha in Monster World“. No specifics have been detailed on this title, but the name implies that it will be related to the Mega Drive game Monster World IV and is confirmed to be developed by Studio Artdink. Artdink for reference is a development studio best known for the A-Train series of train simulator titles, along with experimental games such as No One Can Stop Mr. Domino and Aquanaut’s Holiday.

We likely won’t get any official word until GDC 2020 officially opens, but in the meanwhile you can play the original Monster World IV on the SEGA Genesis Mini to pass the time.

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Super Monkey Ball voice actor says ‘Something IS in the works’, to ‘stay tuned!’ regarding franchise

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Fellow Super Monkey Ball voice actor @Briantokyojapan posted on his instagram that there will be a interesting Super Monkey Ball announcement, that something is in the works and to stay tuned. He also hashtagged #monkeyball and #SEGA. But the interesting thing is that he used a photo that just says “Super Monkey Ball” on it, leading me to believe that this might be a port or remake of the original game. Or maybe another ‘Super Monkey Ball Deluxe‘ with the first two, but who knows.

“This is going to be interesting. Something IS in the works but I’ll miss the meeting on the 25th as I’m going overseas for a week. Stay tuned! #monkeyball#sega“

It makes sense since the last released game in the franchise, Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz HD was also a ‘remake’ of the original Wii game. They could also be creating a brand new game, since the official Super Monkey Ball twitter account ran a poll in September of last year asking fans what they want from the franchise next, in first place was a brand new game with 49.2% of the votes and in close second was a remake of the first two games with 42.1% . What do you think this Super Monkey Ball announcement will be?

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Sonic Movie Rumor: Mid-Credits Cameo Revealed

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I’ll admit, we’ve been pretty quiet on the Sonic movie news front lately, but today we have a juicy rumor regarding a cameo that appears during the movie’s credits sequence. You’ll note we did not spoil this in the headline, image, tags or before the “read more” bit because we want to respect those who don’t want to be spoiled.

Still want to hear the rumor? Read on!

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Rumor: Nintendo website hints at possible SNK character appearing in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

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Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is pretty much a video game celebration at this point, going above and beyond expectations to create the best crossover possible. But it seems like another major player may have been accidentally confirmed by Nintendo themselves. The website mentions “SNK Corporation” while describing what the Challenger Pack 4 DLC contains in the copyright section. Nothing specific has been leaked about what the SNK content is, however it does confirm that it will contain a new fighter, stage, and music, like the other Challenger Packs.

SNK is in particular known for IPs like King of Fighters, Fatal Fury, Samurai Shodown, and Metal Slug, and in the context of SEGA has done collaborative work for the Dreamcast and Neo Geo Pocket, even borrowing some of SEGA IPs like Sonic the Hedgehog and Puyo Puyo in the meanwhile. Considering the popularity of the King of Fighters series in particular, there’s a strong chance that the fighter might be Terry Bogard, the protagonist of the Fatal Fury series and a recurring fighter in the King of Fighters series. Maybe even someone from Metal Slug like Marco or Tarma. Either way, we’ll have to wait for official confirmation from Nintendo/SNK themselves. Until then, maybe boot up your Dreamcast to play some Capcom vs. SNK.

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Rumor: “Tasty Good! Super Monkey Ball” rated in China/Taiwan for PS4, Switch, and PC

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The rumors of a new Super Monkey Ball continue to come in. Two months ago, SEGA of Japan trademarked “Tabegoro! Super Monkey Ball”, Tabegoro roughly translating to “Good to eat”, “tastes good”, etc., though for the sake of this article it will be unofficially called “Tasty Good!”.

Now more fuel in the fire has been added, as the official Chinese/Taiwan ratings board Game Software Rating Regulations has seemingly revealed more information about this supposed game via the official Chinese title “現嚐好滋味！超級猴子球”. It will be developed and published in house by SEGA itself, not outsourced similar to other revivals in recent years, and it’s planned for the PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC, with an icon seemingly displaying the title also in the documents. No other information about what exactly Tasty Good! Super Monkey Ball is, such as whether it’s a sort of remake or an original game, has been revealed at this time. Guess we must wait until SEGA officially announces the game to know more.

[Source: Game Software Rating Regulations]

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