Developer Retrospective: Rolling with the arcade kings of SEGA’s Amusement Vision

YOTSD-AVAs we hit the halfway point of the Year of the SEGA Developers, we turn our attention to a favorite of ours: Amusement Vision. Okay, so being a SEGA fan site, every SEGA developer is our favorite. But just look at Amusement Vision’s portfolio: imaginative new games like Monkey Ball and Ollie King , follow-ups to classic franchises including Space Harrier’s Planet Harriers, Daytona USA 2001, and Spikeout and Virtua Striker sequels. Amusement Vision also holds the distinction of being the first SEGA developer to take on a Nintendo franchise with the much loved F-Zero GX and F-Zero AX.

As is customary for a developer month kick-off article, join us as we look back on how Amusement Vision came to be, their library of games, and where the staff are now!

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Developer Retrospective: A look back at the games of SEGA’s WOW Entertainment

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When SEGA WOW Month began, we took a look back at the games of SEGA’s Overworks. While Overworks existed for only a short span of time before merging with WOW Entertainment, this month has made it very clear that Skies of Arcadia made a major impact on SEGA fans. But what of WOW Entertainment? Unlike Overworks, WOW managed to release a large number of games spanning different genres on different pieces of hardware. From sequels to classic franchises like The House of the Dead and Columns, to new franchises like SEGA GT and arcade oddities like The Typing of the Dead, a collaboration with Namco, and a dog walking simulator. While WOW Entertainment can’t be pinned down to one iconic title, they more than made up for this with an amazing library of games!

Join us now for part two of our SEGA WOW retrospective, in which we take a look at the many games of WOW Entertainment.

Ikaruga successfully greenlit for Steam

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Today’s Steam Greenlight round up features 37 games that have been voted on by the Steam community, and for Ikaruga fans can rejoice as the game was among them!

There is currently no release date set, and there is no other news about this version other than what is already known, however the developer, according to their official Twitter, has expressed interest in adding more of their games to Steam.

There are already games by the developer on Steam such as Dynamite HeaddyGunstar Heroes and Alien Soldier. However this is their first attempt at self publishing on the service.

More as it develops.

Treasure’s good news is Ikaruga on Steam Greenlight

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Back in late September, it was reported that Treasure was going to bring good news for fans of Ikaruga. Which turns out to not only be a port of their arcade game, but that it would be the developer’s first foray into Steam Greenlight. While this means they require fan demand for the PC version, they promise to deliver on an updated version of the Xbox 360 release which also includes XInput controller support.

Head on over to Steam Greenlight if you’d like to see this game, possibly along with their other titles, on their service. Maybe this could also lead to Guardian Heroes or Bangai-O on Steam?

 

Treasure says there is ‘good news’ coming regarding Ikaruga

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The SEGA NAOMI cult classic shoot ’em up Ikaruga might have some ‘good’ news incoming, that is according to Treasure’s twitter account.

Of course, fans are raving and hoping that this will mean a sequel to the original (which was a spiritual successor to Radiant Silvergun). I also hope for a sequel, the game has had enough ports already (appearing on Dreamcast, Gamecube, XBLA, and Android mobile devices). So, are you guys ready to return to another bullet hell adventure?

Ikaruga gets ported to Android devices, dodge bullets on the go

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Ikaruga is probably one of my favorite shoot ’em ups during the Dreamcast era, created originally for the SEGA NAOMI board. This little bugger has seen its fair share of ports, including the Gamecube, Xbox 360 and now Android powered devices. How much are they charging for this masterpiece? $9.

So head over to the Play Store and pluck down some money and if you haven’t played it, do so please.