Finally, after ripping through Batman: The Video Game, Batman Returns and Batman Forever, from Genesis to SEGA CD to SEGA Saturn, Andrew Rosa must face off against Mr. Freeze, The Joker, the Mad Hatter and more in The Adventures of Batman & Robin on SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive, as well as SEGA CD.
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This week on My Life with SEGA, Andrew Rosa takes a request from YouTube viewer Darius Truxton and looks back on the North American SEGA CD pack-in bundle from 1992. This includes the side-scrolling space shooter Sol-Feace, SEGA Classics Arcade Collection, Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective and Rock Paintings (CD+G disc).
Yes, we got a lot of software back in the day. Six games and an audio CD that contains graphics! That sounds pretty sweet, right? We’re lucky if we get ONE game with our consoles these days. I can’t imagine how much a similar package would cost now. Now join me in 1992 when my brother blew $300 on a CD add-on that GamePro magazine listed as the “7th-worst selling video game console of all time”….
Yeah, who cares what GamePro thinks anyway. It’s not even a magazine anymore.
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In our latest episode of SEGAbits Plays, Barry walks George through an assortment of SEGA Genesis, SEGA CD and 32X games. Games featured include Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Tail Spin for the Genesis, Eternal Champions for the SEGA CD, and Motocross Championship and Zaxxon’s Motherbase 2000 for the 32X. Stay tuned for our next episode as we play through the best and the worst that the SEGA 32X has to offer!
This episode was recorded after we interviewed former SEGA of America President Tom Kalinske – a man who was influential in the success of the SEGA Genesis and Sonic the Hedgehog, as well as the release of SEGA’s 32X. Listen to the full interview here.
We told you before that there was going to be a Kickstarter to bring back the FMV ‘classic’ to a new generation. The game was originally released on SEGA CD then later ported to 32x, 3DO and DOS/Mac. The project is asking for $330,000 dollars to remake this game in HD.
A minimum pledge of $20 dollars will net you a copy on either PC, Mac, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.
You can check out their Kickstarter here. If you want to check out a sample of the HD footage from the game, check out this video.
Before Batman: Arkham City, before The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, Spider-Man was surrounded by his most threatening villains in New York that is set to explode in 24 hours in The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin for SEGA CD. I decided to play through the game live on SEGA Channel Retro on an unannounced stream and completed it and showed off two of the three endings. See Spider-Man fight foes such as crooks, rats and uh…bats for some reason while he hunts down the nuke that will wipe the Big Apple off the planet while he prove his innocence.
As usual you can check out the video on YouTube and Twitch, with the Twitch feed running at 60 frames per second. You can also check out the uncut livestream with some fumbled extra bits such as me briefly showing off The Adventures of Willy Beamish and the SEGA CD/32X version of the cult classic Night Trap. But I suck at the game and don’t get very far.
Also something about hedgehogs, dashing and androids.
The Amazing Spider-Man vs. Kingpin [YouTube] [Twitch]
Uncut Archived Stream [Twitch]
Read more on this game on Sega Retro!
Big news for Night Trap fans – the game’s director James Riley has promised the game’s Facebook community that Night Trap will return on an unspecified platform. Fans have been pressuring Riley to rerelease the game, and Riley has replied “I appreciate your on-going interest, but please understand I do plan to re-release Night Trap and have been talking with a number of interested parties to do so. However, the specific platform(s) have not been confirmed (including online) and I will let you know once we have a definite plan and release schedule. Night Trap will come back, in better resolution and game play than before, we just want to be sure it’s the best strategy for all involved.”
The original Night Trap was a controversial video game developed by Digital Pictures for DOS and Macintosh computers, the 3DO and the Sega Mega-CD. It is also one of six Mega CD 32X games. It was notable for being one of the games that led to congressional hearings on violent video games, and the creation of the ESRB.
Have you ever wanted to play SNATCHER, Hideo Kojima’s awesome SEGA CD game, on the SEGA Dreamcast? You might be able to do that soon enough, since Collectorvision is planning on remaking the game for the Dreamcast with ‘enhanced visuals’ and a remixed soundtrack.
Outside of this, not much else is known. You can check their facebook post, where they posted the above image (comparing the graphics of the SEGA CD version to the Dreamcast remake). Don’t expect it to be out soon.
Let’s get excited!
I’d like to introduce all of you SEGAbits’ latest feature: SEGA Saturday Morning Ads. This feature will take a look back at SEGA’s advertisements, their admen and their context in SEGA’s history. Today, we take a look at one of the most intense infomercials I’ve ever seen: SEGA Europe’s Mega Drive/Mega CD infomercial from 1993, released via VHS in the UK just as the MEGA CD was finally making its way across the Atlantic.
I first saw this infomercial back in 2002 when I was researching the SEGA CD and considering a purchase. The moment I downloaded and watched this commercial…I knew I had to have a SEGA CD. It just looked so awesome! I had no idea what the hell Make My Video was or how the hell it was a game, but I just wanted to play it immediately!
Of course, most of the SEGA CD games in this commercial ranged from barely mediocre to utter trash, but the fact that it got this reaction from me in 2002 should speak volumes of this infomercial’s sheer quality, from its sound, to its script, to its cinematography. Making someone lust for ten year old hardware and terrible FMV games? That is a quality piece of advertisement my friend. Unfortunately good ads aren’t always enough, and in the case of the SEGA CD, they weren’t enough to get more then 60,000 UK consumers to buy the peripheral at its £269.99 price tag.
Sit back, turn up your speakers and play this ad on full screen. Just be forewarned: you will want a SEGA CD after this.
I really wanted to feature a track from an Ecco game this week. I thought about featuring tracks from the Genesis or Dreamcast games, but I’d really like to save those for something else later in the year. So I’ve decided to go with something from the SEGA CD!
The Ecco series is renowned for its amazing, atmospheric soundtracks and the SEGA CD tracks from Spencer Nilsen are no exception. These tracks are absolutely beautiful and go so far as to sample sounds from actual aquatic animals to compliment the game’s atmosphere. The quality of this music should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with Nilsen’s work on SEGA CD. He was the same man who produced Sonic CD’s spectacular soundtrack.
To make up for a few weeks of inactivity, I’ve decided to feature another track from the game below. It’s too short to warrant its own Tuesday Tune, but serves as a nice compliment to Motion E. It’s called “The Machine”. Check it out below the fold.
AJ Rosa decided to take a look at two of his favorite songs from Flashback’s CD soundtrack. Take a look!
It’s kind of funny looking back on all those advertisements for Flashback on Sega Genesis that graced several gaming magazines in 1993. “It’s a CD-ROM game on a cartridge.”
That was a bold statement for sure, but once my brother and I laid eyes on those fluid cinematic cut-scenes, rotoscoped animation and hand-drawn backgrounds, our minds were totally blown. The music was something else. Synth-based minimalism that brought to mind images of a future where space travel is effortless, civilization is prospering, all while something dark and sinister builds underneath its glossy exterior. It gave me that very same feeling as when I watched Escape from New York or Blade Runner. Those scores may be simplistic in instrumentation, but there’s no denying their power to engage and affect an audience….
It’s time for some zombie MAYhem! In this first installment, I’m reviewing one of the first zombie games I ever played, as well as the first SEGA CD 32X title I purchased. This foul beast could only be unleashed by Digital Pictures, the same bastards that brought us a game like no other: Night Trap.
Yes, I’m talking about Corpse Killer. This monstrosity was released in 1994 for SEGA CD, though I missed it completely. Once I saw the 32X version, I couldn’t resist. I wanted to see a game that used both the power of SEGA CD and 32X.
Anyway, click ‘PLAY’, brah! We need to get our zombie poison down up in ‘dis bitch! Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel!
For SEGAbits’ 3rd anniversary I thought I’d devote this month’s Tuesday Tunes to choices from other staff members! This week we’ll be highlighting the host for the SEGAbits video series “My Life With SEGA” A.J. Rosa. His selection? Two songs from The Terminator for the SEGA CD, a game that he covered in My Life With SEGA as part of his Schwarzenegger double feature. Enjoy!
The Terminator for SEGA CD didn’t have any fancy scaling and rotation effects; it’s true. However, it did have a kickass soundtrack! That’s saying a lot, because I generally criticize movie-licensed games when they fail to include score from the actual film. While it does feature Brad Fiedel’s iconic theme, the score was written and performed by Tommy Tallarico. The man is a legend in his field, having scored hundreds of games, such as Earthworm Jim, Unreal, Robocop vs. The Terminator and Cool Spot. Rather than aping Fiedel’s destinctive style, Tallarico went his own way and wrote something more akin to rock opera. It’s bursting with wicked electronic guitars that kick-start your adrenaline, melodies that inspire feelings of foreboding and desperation….
That’s certainly appropriate.
This score is so fucking awesome that I made a copy for the car. I’ll listen to “Future Shock” on my way to work, “Destinations Unknown” on my way home. That CD didn’t leave my player for a month. So what you’re about to listen to is – essentially – my Going to work/Going home ritual. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Check out the songs below the break!
The not-so-epic conclusion to the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: 2-Man Scramble, where I – A.J. Rosa – force Mickey Mac to play the SEGA CD version of Power Rangers. Unlike Demolition Man and Batman Returns, this wasn’t simple expansion of the cartridge game; it’s an FMV quick-time battle romp that uses actual footage from the television series.
There’s no strategy to it like Wirehead. All you have to do is NOT FUCK UP! Well, this is My Life with SEGA, so the likely-hood of that is zero-to-none. Enjoy!
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Well, SEGA CD Month – Hell, this year – has come to an end. Before we call it a night, the bat, the cat and the penguin have something to show us; Batman Returns. While the movie split both critics and audiences, this game has been met with praise due to it’s impressive pseudo-3D graphics, exciting gameplay and kick-ass soundtrack….
But is there more hiding beneath that cowl? Let’s take a peek.
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SEGA CD month continues, and misery loves company in the latest episode of My Life With SEGA.
If you love FMV games, as well as watching Mickey Mac suffer, this one’s for you. This is the full-motion shit-fest only Tom Zito of Digital Pictures could produce. That’s right, I’m talkin’ about Wirehead. Written and directed by James Riley (Night Trap), this game takes FMV gaming to a whole new plateau. This is the 2-Man Scramble that nobody wanted to experience. Especially Mickey Mac, because he’s yet to speak to me since.
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