SEGA soundtracks have been pouring in on vinyl for the last few years, this time we are getting Phantasy Star II from Ship to Shore. This is a limited time release, coming in a “Rolf & Nei” blue and magenta swirl vinyl. While having a big, physical copy of the Phantasy Star II soundtrack is awesome, this release also features all the original Japanese artwork by Hitoshi Yoneda. Its beautiful.
While pre-orders are open now, the vinyl won’t ship until Q4 2022.
Since the launch of Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack, Nintendo and Sega have been updating the service with new Sega Genesis games every two months. On June 30th 2022, they surprised everyone once again with four more games for subscribers to play. This time, Expansion Pack subscribers now have access to Comix Zone (1995), Mega Man: The Wily Wars (1994), Zero Wing (1991), and Target Earth (1990). As a quick fun fact, this is the first update to the service to feature third party Sega Genesis titles since the initial launch lineup. The same four games have also been added to the Japanese NSO + EP service at the same time.
Retro-Bit have just pulled back the curtain on the newest development of their partnership with Sega, this time being a completely new style of Sega Genesis controller merging features of the 3-button original and 6-button Arcade Pad.
The Big6 features the same extra wide body shape of the original 3-Button Genesis/Mega-Drive controller, but with the X, Y, Z, and Mode buttons introduced with the Sega 6-button Arcade Pad. It’s perfect for anyone who is nostalgic for that old controller shape, but not for pressing Start to switch between punches and kicks instead of pausing in Street Fighter II or pressing C to slowly cycle through all 3 extra items and then again to use one in Comix Zone, for example.
Welcome to the world of Eternal Champions, we’ll be your guides as we look at the creation of SEGA’s answer to Mortal Kombat, talk about the characters in the game, talk about the 7-Eleven Slurpee promotions, spin-offs, and even cancelled games!
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If you want to give us feedback, suggest a topic for the next podcast or want to ask a question for us to answer on the next episode you can add them as a comment below or send theme directly to our email. Make sure you use subject line ‘SEGA Talk’ and as always, thanks for listening!
Nintendo has announced three more games coming to the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack, this time it is the tactical role-playing title Shining Force II, the pseudo-Super Scaler title Space Harrier II, and the pinball game with ear bleed option menu music Sonic Spinball. All three games will be available in all regions for Nintendo Switch owners that have the NSO Expansion service.
What is your thoughts on the new titles? Please comment below your thoughts.
It has been recently revealed by Nintendo that three more titles from the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive are coming to the Nintendo Online Expansion Pass service. Two of them are from Treasure, being the coveted action game Alien Soldier and the isometric adventure game Light Crusader. The third being Super Fantasy Zone, an original game released for the Mega Drive originally developed by Sunsoft. All three games are now available for those that have the Nintendo Online Expansion Pass, in all regions.
It’s worth noting all three games were technically previously released on the SEGA Genesis Mini, albeit Alien Soldier was exclusive to the Asian (Korean and Chinese) market. But the lineup is still a solid reveal regardless, especially since Alien Soldier and Super Fantasy Zone are expensive on third-hand markets.
Gynoug (or Wings of Wor in North America) is officially receiving a re-release, courtesy of developer Ratalaika Games in conjunction with Masaya Games and Shinyuden. Originally released on the SEGA Genesis back in 1991, you play as the winged hero Wor, who is tasked with eradicating a hoard of mutated monsters that suddenly appeared in the land of Iccus, created by their leader Destroyer. Using a powerful set of spells collected from orbs, it’s up to you to clear six challenging stages from deep caverns to literally being in the belly of the beast to free the land of Iccus from this chaos.
Like Ratalaika Games past efforts, this re-release will included bonuses such as an advanced CRT filter and the option to rewind or use save states. Gyoung/Wings of Wor will be available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch on November 12th 2021 for only $6.99 or equivalent. As a fresh reminder, Ratalaika Games were also responsible for the recent releases of Gleylancer, Panorama Cotton, and Cotton 100%, so pick those up if you’re curious about their other efforts.
Back in the day, The Sharp X68000, a home gaming computer released in Japan, got its own exclusive Castlevania game titled ‘Akumajō Dracula‘ which would later be ported to PlayStation under the name ‘Castlevania Chronicles’.
The classic shoot ’em up for SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive, Gleylancer (I swear it was Gley Lancer?) is coming to all modern consoles on October 15, 2021. This includes PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. Sadly looks like PC gamers have been left out.
Originally the game was a Japanese exclusive but got a world wide release for the first time in 2008 via Wii’s Virtual Console. This version of the game will have even more improvements, according to the company it will feature:
Improved modes available with accessibility features and modern controls.
Nintendo has just announced the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack Membership plan, which will hike the price on their base online price but you get Nintendo 64 and SEGA Genesis titles. The new membership plan is set to launch in late October. No pricing yet.
The SEGA Genesis will launch with the following games:
I want to talk about Sonic 1. Specifically, the term “Sonic 1”.
Following the release of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in 1992, fans began to call the first game “Sonic 1”. The name is an easy way to differentiate the original 1991 game from Sonic the Hedgehog the comic series or the junior novel or OVA or 2006 game or 2020 movie or even the character himself. Fans have even given the Master System and Game Gear Sonic the Hedgehog the name “Sonic 8-bit” to make things less confusing.
SEGA of America’s Michael Lathan has passed away, as reported by SEGA-16’s twitter account. Michael started his gaming character at Rainbird Software where he would localize computer games for the American market, he would then move to Mediagenic where he was a producer for Ghostbusters IIand Tongue of the Fatman before the company went bankrupt in 1991.
“It was simply the most fun of any job I ever had. Everything just exploded, and for a young guy in the business it allowed me to do so much so fast. I entered the company as a producer, quickly moved up to run my own production group, and even became a VP before the age of 30, thanks to the unbelievable growth and talented people I worked with. It’s so hard to have all the right people in the right places, and when you do, you get hit companies and products. We were on movie sets, meeting with sport teams, going backstage at concerts – all kinds of exciting projects – and the development teams were still small and you really knew everyone you worked with unlike the mega development teams of today’s games.” – Michael Latham talks working at SEGA during the early 90s
As most SEGA fans know, these new studios pop up and promise big Kickstarter retro projects but most turn into nothing. The team seems to understand this and have at least put up a proof of concept demo, which you can download here.
If you are a big SEGA fan collector, there is some really great priced physical goods given out like the $55 dollar pledge with the physical game cartridge with manual and a bunch of cool digital goodies. Check it out before its gone since some of these rewards are limited (and moving fast).
Hey buddy, you like SEGA handheld consoles? Remember the SEGA Nomad? It was a small size SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive that you could take on the game. Yeah, like a Nintendo Switch but in the 90s. Recently SEGA has been celebrating the companies 60th Anniversary and they posted the following video above, a class room type setting going through the history of SEGA hardware. One of the pieces shown off for the first time? The SEGA Venus, which was a prototype that became the SEGA Nomad.
Its interesting to see the early designed console, it looks cool but the color scheme seems to be very different from anything ‘SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive’ related, which went with more ‘black’ slick style, this has a more bronze/grey look. Also seems that this version had more normal looking front facing buttons compared to the final model that hard buttons that sort of reminded me of the launch SEGA Saturn buttons (on the unit itself).
On this SEGA Talk, Barry schools George on his favorite non-Sonic Genesis platformer: Ghostbusters! Developed by SEGA and Compile, the game is a unique non-linear action adventure game. Learn about the all-star development team, the game’s unique place in canon and the discovery of demo tracks from the game’s soundtrack.
Support us on Patreon! Get early access, tell us what games to cover, and have your SEGA memories read at the end and more!
If you want to give us feedback, suggest a topic for the next podcast or want to ask a question for us to answer on the next episode you can add them as a comment below or send theme directly to our email. Make sure you use subject line ‘SEGA Talk’ and as always, thanks for listening!