SEGA Genesis

Space Harrier II, Shining Force II, and Sonic Spinball Coming To The Nintendo Online Expansion Pass

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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.

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Three SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive Titles Coming To Nintendo Online Expansion Pass

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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.

 

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SEGA Genesis STG Gynoug (Wings of Wor) Coming To Modern Consoles On November 12th

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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.

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Castlevania Chronicles gets fan made port demo for the SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis

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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’.

Now thanks to Master Linkuei, you can now try Castlevania Chronicles on your very own SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis! He has released a demo of his porting project to put more Castlevania on your SEGA consoles. This is being inspired by user Pigsy who is trying to port over Castlevania: Symphony of the Night to the SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis.

What do you guys think of all these new fan ports happening on SEGA Retro consoles? What’s your favorite current project?

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SEGA Mega Drive Shoot ’em up Gleylancer coming to all current consoles on October 15

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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.
  • Classic and deep space shoot ’em up gameplay.
  • Epic space opera with anime cutscenes.
  • Option to customize the ship’s attacking power.
  • Iconic retro console graphics and sound.
  • Legacy 16-bit title from the 1990s!

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Has SEGA Ever Officially Called Sonic the Hedgehog “Sonic 1”?

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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.

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SEGA of America Producer and Designer Michael Latham, best known for Eternal Champions, passes away

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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 II and 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

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‘Irena Genesis Metal Fury’ Kickstarter launched, a metal shoot ’em up for SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive

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A new studio making new shoot’em up Irena Genesis Metal Fury for the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive have launched their kickstarter. According to the Kickstarter page the game is influenced by SEGA classics such as Thunder Force III/IV, Aero Blaster, Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master, and Contra Hard Corps. Looking at the footage above, its definitely obvious.

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 the game is fully funded (which seems likely right now, its half way to its goal with 29 days left. ), it will get a 7 level game with cut scenes including dialogue, 3 upgradable weapons, multiple speed modes, and a ton of other features.

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).

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SEGA Nomad prototype shown to public for the first time ever

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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).

[Via: SEGA-16]

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SEGA Talk Podcast #55: Ghostbusters (1990)

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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!

[iTunes – Stitcher – YouTube – Play Music – RSS – Download]

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!

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CBS All-Access’ “Console Wars” documentary about SEGA and Nintendo’s 16-bit rivalry gets a trailer, release date

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If you guys have been keeping up with this blog, you’d know that we have covered the Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo and the Battle that Defined a Generation book when it came out back in 2014,was a book written by Blake J. Harris, who we had on our podcasts before. (We also had great podcasts with Console Wars stars Ex-SEGA America President Tom Kalinske and Ex-SEGA Director of Marketing Al Nilsen). Blake J. Harris talked about how he was working a documentary and it seems that documentary is coming to CBS All Access by September 23rd. Considered we have been waiting personally since 2014, waiting a few more weeks is easy.

This project is being produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, which was gonna debut via the Southwest Film Festival but considering whats happening in the world, its going to debut on CBS All Access instead.

Check out the trailer above and watch it on September 23rd, I think having these retro gaming documentary is great for the industry.

[Via: ETOnline]

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Sonic 2 ex-artist shows off unapproved SEGA pitch for ‘Spellcaster’ fighting game

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We have been covering all the SEGA Technical Institute pitches that Sonic the Hedgehog 2 artist Craig Stitt has been posting over at the SEGA Retro Gaming group on Facebook. First he showed off his pitch for Sonic’s partner called Boomer, then he showed off Astropede and now he is showing off a pitch Craig Stitt did with programmer Dave Sanner back in SEGA’s 16-bit days. The game was set to be called ‘Spellcaster’ and was meant to be a two player combat game based around the use of magic. The gimmick would be that the game would have a musical component in that players had to press button combinations to cast a spell but each button would play a musical note.

The idea would be that players would have a easier time doing complicated button combinations if they were based around sound. According to Craig Stitt, the pitch was put together after Sonic Spinball was completed and was rejected, this is when Craig Stitt began working on his Astropede pitch. Check out some of the artwork Craig Stitt did for Spellcaster below:

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Sega Technical Institute’s Canceled “Treasure Tails” For SEGA Genesis / Mega Drive Screenshots Hit The Net

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We have been posting a lot about Sega Technical Insitute’s canceled projects including Boomer an unused Sonic 2 side kick, Astropede a canceled pitch 16-bit game and now we have Treasure Tails which was a cancelled pitch by Sega Technical Institute. While these screens is all we have, at first, it was said to be pitched by Bill Dunn but Craig Stitt has come out and said its not true.

Check out what Craig Stitt had to say:

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Segapede/Astropede cancelled SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive gets over 12 minutes of prototype footage posted online

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If you haven’t been keeping up, SEGA Technical Institute artist Craig Stitt has been posting quite a bit of lost video game concept art and now prototype footage of a game he pitched SEGA at first called Segapede and later renamed Astropede. Its a very interesting project since it seems Craig wanted this to be a part of the Sonic universe and even used ideas from Sonic 2 with a twist, for example each pod that follows you contained a power and if you got hit you would lose a pod. A very similar gimmick to Sonic’s rings.

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