SEGA Genesis

Playstation Plus members to get free SEGA Genesis titles

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PSN has been lacking a ton of Genesis games that XBLA got. Seems that they will soon be coming out and if you are a Playstation Plus member, you won’t have to pay anything. Below is the release schedule, as you’ll notice, Plus members also get them early.

PlayStation Plus Releases (free)

  • Sonic the Hedgehog – Available March 1 – April 5
  • Sonic the Hedgehog 2 – Available April 5 – May 3
  • Streets of Rage 2 – Available May 3 – May 31
  • Golden Axe 2 – Available May 31 – July 5
  • Comix Zone – Available July 5 – August 2
  • Altered Beast – Available August 2 – August 30

Regular PlayStation Store Release ($4.99 each)

  • Sonic the Hedgehog – March 29
  • Sonic the Hedgehog 2 – April 19
  • Streets of Rage 2 – May 17
  • Golden Axe 2 – June 14
  • Comix Zone – July 19
  • Altered Beast – August 16

The only issue with Playstation Plus is that you don’t own the games, if you stop paying for the service you can’t use the games anymore. That is a negative, but since each game costs less than the monthly subscription (if you buy a year’s worth), it might be worth a look.

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5 Annoyingly Catchy SEGA Genesis Tunes

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… or Mega Drive tunes, if you’re of that persuasion. Every blue blooded SEGA fan knows the distinct sound of Genesis/Mega Drive music. Having played dozens of Genesis games throughout the 90’s, a number of game tunes stuck with me. Many great, due to the sheer genius of their composition (Sonic 2’s Chemical Plant Zone and Streets of Rage 2 Stage 1-1 come to mind). But what of those game tunes that stick with you due to them just being plain old annoyingly catchy? Today I’m going to share 5 of those tunes. I actually find myself unknowingly whistling these on a daily basis. Proof of their annoying “catchocity” (a scientific measurement of catchiness).

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Rumor: Classic SEGA Games Releasing Under XBLA “Classics Live” Banner This Summer?

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File this one under rumor: The rumor began when fans of XBLA’s Game Room were speculating the future of the service. For those who don’t know what Game Room is, Game Room is a free application on XBLA that allows retro video game fans to buy 70’s and 80’s Atari, Konami, Activision and Intellivion games and set up the games in their own virtual arcade. I found the service to be a lot of fun, and full of promise, however SEGA had yet to get on board (despite a Genesis controller appearing in a menu icon) and Microsoft has yet to release new games since the last update in December. Game Room fans speculated that the service was dead, however recent discussion at the official XBOX 360 Game Room forums says otherwise. So where does SEGA come into this? What is the rumor? Get to the point, Barry!

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SEGA Sequels: Vectorman 3

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[You know you want to see him back]

Annnnnnd introducing…..SEGA Sequel Saturdays. The new feature where we discuss what we feel would be the perfect way to do sequels to some of our favorite SEGA games. This week, I tackle Vectorman, a pretty awesome SEGA Genesis run-and-gun platformer that was developed by BlueSky Software and published by SEGA. Though an attempt was made to revive the character back on the PS2 in 2003, the game was cancelled. All hope shouldn’t be lost, though. I still definitely think it’s possible to make a great next gen Vectorman game, and if you hit the jump, you’ll see how I’d go about reviving this Genesis icon for the current gen, and you can express your own ideas as well.

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Pier Solar is a new RPG for the SEGA Genesis

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Pier Solar started off life in 2004 in an internet forum, flash forward to now and its a full fledge game. In the game you play as Hoston, a young botanist who has to save his father from a illness. The game uses 64 meg cart, if you didn’t know, that is some intense power and is the biggest Genesis cart ever.

You can order the game via its official website.

The game has already gone into re-print due to overwhelming fan demand. It looks pretty good and I might order a copy for myself soon. As for screenshots, hit the jump.

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Classic SEGA Magazine Corner: EGM May 1991

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Continuing an article series started by SEGAbits writer MadeManG74, I present another classic SEGA magazine: Electronic Gaming Monthly Number 22, released May 1991. SEGA and Sonic fans of course recognize May ’91 as the month before Sonic the Hedgehog hit stores. American magazine EGM joined the hype wagon and gave Sonic his own cover and a two page preview spread. Check out the article that was, most likely, the first real preview many had seen of the now classic SEGA series!

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Gunstar Heroes arrives on iPhones

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One of my favorite Genesis games, Gunstar Heroes, is now on the iPhone (and iPod Touch as well, I assume). The game will run you $2.99. Wow, that is like a cup of coffee for one of the best Genesis games ever.

If that wasn’t enough, the game has bluetooth multiplayer. That is pretty awesome.

[Source: Siliconera]

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Phantasy Star II coming to the iPhone!

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One month ago SEGA brought iPhone and iPod Touch owners Shining Force. This Thursday the SEGA RPG love continues with the release of Phantasy Star II! For just $2.99 the classic game will be fully playable, running on the same emulator as previous games. However, unlike games that require precise controls and fail on SEGA’s Genesis emulator (I’m looking at you, Sonic 2), Phantasy Star II is promised to be a smooth experience as the game itself does not require fast timing or a fast frame rate.

Here’s hoping that we get more SEGA RPGs in the coming months!

[Source: TouchArcade and The Nomad Junkyard]

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Shining Force shines on the iPod!

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Didn’t SEGA say they were reassessing their iPod presence? Because it seems to me that they’re doing the same thing they were doing before: the occasional great 3D title and a number of emulated Genesis budget titles. Despite that, I’m glad SEGA has finally released a Genesis game worth buying an iPhone version of: Shining Force!

Offered up on the same emulation software as past Genny titles, Shining Force actually plays very well. As the game doesn’t require precise controls for split-second jumps (a la Sonic), players will barely notice the hiccups that may occur on older i devices. I might even buy the thing for my first generation iPod Touch.

The game is now available in the App store for $2.99

[source: TouchArcade and The Nomad Junkyard]

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Ecco and Space Harrier II hit the iPhone

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Remember ages ago when that Genesis emulator was announced for the iPhone and then SEGA canceled it? SEGA seems to have salvaged what they could from the canned project and have released Ecco the Dolphin ($2.99) and Space Harrier II (99¢) as single releases for the iPhone. The games are reported to run much more smoothly on the latest iPhone 4 than past Genesis releases, but any users on earlier platforms may encounter slowdown and crashes.

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RetroN 3: Play your SEGA and Nintendo in harmony

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So you want to play your SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis, but your brother has the Super Nintendo hooked up? Fear no more, now you can play SNES and Genesis off the same console, they even threw in NES as well. That is 3 consoles, all in one. This isn’t the first time a company have done this, but this one looks fairly good.

The console has 2 controller ports for each platform, so you don’t have to use a Genesis pad to play NES games. Unless you really want to. So yes, this will work with your original controllers from the official console. The console already comes packed with ‘wireless’ controllers. If you like that stuff. You get to choose either red or black for the console. Cost? $69.99.

[Product Page]

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Super Mario Bros. now on SEGA Genesis

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If for some odd reason, you have to play Super Mario Bros. on your SEGA Genesis. Now you can! Thanks to a kind soul that ported the game over to the 16-bit blast processor.

I’m pretty sure this would have been a bigger deal if it was the days of the ’16-bit war’, but Genesis does what Nintendon’t and now does what they do as well. Take that! The game is titled SMB4MD, standing for Super Mario Bros. for Mega Drive. Makes sense. Also can’t work with Genesis hardware yet, only emulator.

I remember the stories about Yuji Naka making a working NES emulator for the Mega Drive back in the day, seems like everyone else is just catching up.

[Source: Kotaku]

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The Firecore Genesis Reviewed

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Before the insanity that is E3 begins, I thought I’d give a hardware review of the Firecore Classic Console. Manufactured by Innex under license by SEGA, the Firecore is essentially a mini SEGA Genesis. Fittingly, it was around this time last year that the Firecore as well as its mobile brother the Retrogen were previewed at E3. You can check out the video preview if you’d like, but I warn you: a cringe inducing interview awaits.

click here to read the review

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First ever screens of Sonic the Hedgehog

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June 7th, 1990, SEGA showed off Sonic the Hedgehog to the public at the Tokyo Game Show.  When they showed it, the game was 2 months into development. So what they showed was very early.

Above is one of the first screens ever shown to the public and you can tell much has changed. First of all the background, from its odd city and mountains was changed in the final product. Though, regardless of stuff being changed, the art style and vision seemed to be there from day one.  The other screen that 1up had was the early title screen, which looks a lot like the original only without the Green Hill Zone backdrop.

[Source: 1up]

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Virtua Fighter 5R getting classic SEGA console items

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Even though SEGA is preparing for the upcoming Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown, does not mean it will stop adding stuff to Virtua Fighter 5R. SEGA updated VF5R this month, with classic SEGA consoles.

The image above shows the prices of the consoles, which can be used on your characters back. The prices for the in game items are the same price as the real consoles when they launched in Japan. Of course, you buy the consoles with in-game currency.  Make Akira look like Segata, with a Saturn on his back? Brilliant!

[Source: Versus City]

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