Skies of Arcadia

After 20 years, the manga version of “Skies of Arcadia” will be published electronically in 2022 only in Japan

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Today, October 5th 2021, marks the 21st anniversary of Skies of Arcadia (aka Eternal Arcadia) in Japan and former Map Designer of the game, Kenji Hiruta, made an announcement that the Skies of Arcadia manga will be published electronically in 2022 only in Japan.

The short-lived serialization was a tie-in to the video game of the same name released in 2000. Illustrated by the game’s concept artist, HOSHI Itsuki, and written by the game’s official story consultant, FUJIMOTO Junya, it was briefly published in Gekkan Magazine Z, and was never collected in tankoubon format.

With the support from fans and Kenji Hiruta long journey in negotiating with SEGA and the publisher along with finding the mysterious person who was involved with the serialization, a tremendous miracle was achieved.

You can read his entire blog post on the process on how Kenji Hiruta was able to get the manga version of Skies of Arcadia published here. Fingers crossed if he can get the English version published for the western audience.

 

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First4Figures announces Skies of Arcadia Aika statue

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First4Figures is expanding their Skies of Arcadia statue line with the newly announced Aika. The statue itself had been in the works a while back, but went dormant for whatever reason. But, thanks to fan support F4F have revived the project and presented an updated 3D render of the statue with the promise of a standard and exclusive edition.

No word yet on release date and price, but if the Vyse statue is anything to go by, expect something costing $200 or more.

[Source: First4Figures]

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SEGA Talk Podcast #42: Skies of Arcadia (2000)

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Ahoy! On this SEGA Talk, George and Barry take to the skies to discuss the SEGA Dreamcast JRPG Skies of Arcadia! Known as Eternal Arcadia in Japan, the game is often cited as one of the best RPGs on the Dreamcast, and an underrated GameCube port has since helped its legacy. Learn about the early character designs, the game’s many innovations and the game’s legacy.

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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New Dreamcast documentary speaks with Masayoshi Kikuchi (Jet Set Radio), Tetsuya Mizuguchi (Rez), Rieko Kodama (Skies of Arcadia), and more

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To celebrate the upcoming 20th year anniversary of the SEGA Dreamcast, the Japanese YouTube channel Archipel has decided to go talk to Japanese creators that worked on software for the Dreamcast. This is just the first part and the people they got from SEGA is pretty crazy:

Hiroshi Iuchi (Ikaruga), Kenji Kanno (Crazy Taxi), Masayoshi Kikuchi (Jet Set Radio), Rieko Kodama (Eternal Arcadia/Skies of Arcadia), Tetsuya Mizuguchi (Space Channel 5 / Rez), Tetsu Okano (Segagaga), Yoot Saito (Seaman), and Hiroaki Yotoriyama (Soulcalibur)!

Its nice to see some of these creators sit down and talk about their time working on the very iconic Dreamcast, pretty excited to see part two of this documentary series. If you haven’t seen Archipel’s content, you should totally check out other documentaries they have done.

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Skies of Arcadia Limited Edition Soundtrack CD & Vinyl go up for pre-order

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It looks like Wayorecords will be publishing a very impressive looking limited edition vinyl and CD for Skies of Arcadia, the cult hit Dreamcast JRPG (with it getting a port later on GameCube).

The company is set to release three versions including the CD edition, Vinyl Edition and a music box! Some of these have limited runs including a vinyl in blue will only get 500 units printed and the first ‘music box’ will only have 250! If you are a SEGA collector, you should probably act quickly and swiftly. I will say that the vinyls are a bit pricey, coming in at about 55 USD but it does have a ton of cool extras. The music box on the other hand costs 280 USD!

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SEGA’s Rieko Kodama being honored with GDCA Pioneer Award

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One of our favorite SEGA developers here at SEGAbits, Rieko Kodama, who has worked on SEGA classics like Alex Kidd, Phantasy Star and even the Dreamcast cult classic Skies of Arcadia. She is set to recieve this year’s pioneer award at this year’s Game Developer Awards.

“The Game Developers Choice Awards were conceived as a way to recognize the all-too-often unsung genius and dedication of game developers throughout history, and this year’s award honors a figure who helped pave the way for countless game creators to follow, after decades spent developing some of SEGA’s most indelible classics, Kodama-san could easily rest on her laurels, but instead has dedicated herself to creating games that transcend gender and generations to give us countless hours of joy. This award is a ‘thank you’ to Kodama-san and all creators who work so hard to achieve greatness.” – Katie Stern, general manager of the Game Developers Conference

THe Game Developer Awards ceremony will take place in San Francisco Moscone Center on March 20, 2019 at 6:30 pm.

[Source: Variety]

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What could SEGA’s “16th January” lightbulb tease mean? [Updated]

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Today, both SEGA and SEGA Europe Twitter accounts (why are they have separate accounts still is best left for another article) shared a teaser image of “16th January” and a lightbulb. What could this mean? While it could mean anything really, there are a few clues here. For starters, this image comes from SEGA Europe. The ordering of days before month is a dead giveaway. The lightbulb, meanwhile, is commonly used to evoke an idea. How does one get to an idea? By thinking. The SEGA Dreamcast had the well known slogan “It’s Thinking…”. Could the lightbulb be the idea that the years of thinking is leading to? Could this be SEGA’s tease for impending Dreamcast ports? It’s possible. [Update: Or not? Read on!]

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SEGA adds more gaming soundtracks to Spotify

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SEGASoundtracksSEGA adds more gaming soundtracks to Spotify for your listening pleasure. It seems that SEGA is going to continue to add more in the upcoming months? I sure hope so. But as of right now, there are a ton of new SEGA soundtracks to feast your teeth into. Here are some of the franchises that got soundtracks added to the music streaming service:

  • Fantasy Zone
  • NiGHTS 
  • Out Run
  • Virtua Fighter
  • Skies of Arcadia
  • Chain Chronicle
  • Shinobi/Nightshade
  • Space Harrier
  • Rhythm Thief 
  • Gunblade NY & L.A. Machineguns
  • Power Drift
  • Alex Kidd

There are more here and there. Want to have a gander yourself? Check out SEGA’s artist page on Spotify. It does seem that this was done by SEGA Japan, only because there are some very Japanese focused soundtracks like Chain Chronicle (never published outside of Japan by SEGA) and Nightshade is using its Japanese name of Kunoichi. SEGA adds more gaming soundtracks to Spotify, does this mean you will be less likely to get a physical version of these soundtracks? Personally I think people that stream, where going to stream it regardless. What soundtrack is missing that you want? Sound off in the comments.

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SEGA News Bits: SEGA Survey Results for What Franchise Fans Want Revived

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This past week, SEGA of Japan put out a survey asking fans what brand they are most invested in, who their favorite character is, and which franchise they want to see revived. Now that the survey has ended, the results were posted and there were quite a few surprises! In this SEGA News Bits, George and Barry discuss the results and share their thoughts on the fan submitted entries. Did your favorite franchise make the cut? Check out the video above and once your done sound off in the comments below.

If you like our SEGA News Bits segments, make sure you subscribe to us on YouTube. Thanks for watching!

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SEGA survey results reveal what franchise fans want to see return

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Sonic___SEGA_All-Stars_Racing-PCArtwork4539Sonic_Racing_GroupHave you been looking forward to the SEGA survey results for the brand Japanese consumers want to see revived? If you guys didn’t know about the SEGA survey, we did a post about it earlier this week. SEGA has revealed not only what franchise fans want to see revived, but also what brand their most invested in and their favorite characters. Get ready for some unexpected results!

So hit the jump to see all the answers, including how many people voted for each brand, after the jump.

[Via: NeoGAF]

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SEGA Talk: Dreamcast Turns 17 Years Old, We List 6 Must Play Games

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On this very special episode of SEGA Talk we list our six defining Dreamcast games that everyone needs to play as the Dreamcast turns 17 years old today. That’s right the Dreamcast turns 17 years old for us SEGA fans in North America.

So sit back with us for this year’s SEGA Dreamcast anniversary and listen to us discuss our defining games and like always you can tell us your personal defining Dreamcast games in the comments below.

If you enjoy our SEGA Talk YouTube series segments, make sure you subscribe to our channel as we try to update it weekly. Thanks!

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Skies of Arcadia is still one of the best RPGs ever made

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Nearly ten years ago, Skies of Arcadia completely changed the way I viewed video games. What I once saw as a passive medium, where I followed a trail of bread crumbs from point to point to see what the developers had in store for me, I now saw something greater.

Arcadia drew me into its world in a way no game has before or since with colorful characters, beautiful locales, and a sense of adventure that the game not only emphasizes, but cherishes. Even today, when I come back to the game after having experienced the likes of Oblivion, Mass Effect, and Skyrim, I still get a feeling of adventure that no other game seems able to provide in quite the same way. Naturally, there are some spoilers ahead, so if you’d prefer to go into this game ignorant, don’t read any further!

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The SEGA Five: Favorite Moments in Skies of Arcadia

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Hey everyone welcome to another episode of The Weekly Five, I’m your host George and today we will be talking about my favorite moment of Skies of Arcadia. The game originally came out in 2000 on the SEGA Dreamcast.

The game later got 2002 re-release in Japan and 2003 in the West on the Gamecube, which included better graphics, less random battles, extra content, and more. Regardless of what version of the game play, both are fantastic experiences. Some disliked the game due to its constant random battles but I think it more than makes it up with its charming characters, light hearted humor and sense of exploration.

Great games have great moments and Skies of Arcadia is full of them, so if I don’t mention a moment you loved, share it with us in the comment section. Let’s get this list started.

Warning: Spoilers ahead. 

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Aboard Little Jack: How Skies Of Arcadia made an RPG fan out of me

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Skies of Arcadia is a game that made a huge impact on me as a fan of SEGA and Role-Playing games. Before it, I had very little exposure to RPGs. I had seen Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, but very rarely did I play them. The only one I actually played was Phantasy Star IV. While I enjoyed it, I was a bit too young to really be able to understand or get into it. I still had fond memories of playing it with my neighbor, and when I got older and had the chance to finally play it again, it became one of my favorite games of all time. It never would have happened without Skies of Arcadia.

At the time the game came out on the Dreamcast, I was around 10 years old. Old enough to start wrapping my head around more complex games. However, I didn’t have a Dreamcast at the time, only a Nintendo 64. My cousin had the Dreamcast though, and I was super close with him. He was like an older brother to me. He picked on me a bit, but he also showed me lots of cool stuff, even stuff I probably wasn’t supposed to see or play at my age yet. He was also a huge RPG fan, and had always tried to get me into them, but I never did get engrossed with them that much. Then, one weekend when he came to visit, he brought Skies of Arcadia. We spent an entire night playing it, and I don’t remember how long we played it for, but it was almost sunrise before we finally had to give into sleep.

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