SEGAbits & Sonic Retro present Boom Talkalaka #3: TV and Comics and Crossovers, oh my!

SEGAbits and Sonic Retro team up to bring you a podcast focused on SEGA’s Sonic Boom franchise! Hosted by Barry the Nomad of SEGAbits.com and David the Lurker of SonicRetro.org, Boom Talkalaka features discussion of the many aspects of Sonic Boom – from comics and episodes of the cartoon, to the video games and toys.

In this episode, Barry and David discuss an early version of Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric under the working title Sonic Synergy and take a look at concept art of elaborate in-store Sonic Boom displays. Also covered are the latest TV show episodes, the second comic book arc, the upcoming Worlds Unite comic book crossover, and we share our thoughts on the future of the new branch on the Sonic the Hedgehog tree.

[Download] [RSS]

Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem trailer shows that the game does indeed still exist

Back in January 2013, Nintendo announced that they were working together with Atlus to make a Shin Megami Tensei and Fire Emblem cross-over game for Wii U. Since then they hadn’t shown anything of this project, but today Nintendo finally shared the first trailer featuring a first look at the game’s cutscenes and gameplay on Nintendo Direct.

The game, which is now titled Geiei Bungoku #FE in Japan, will be released this winter. It’ll be released in the US and Europe as well, though they didn’t say what the game’s English title will be nor when we can expect the game to launch in those territories. It was also confirmed that the game is being developed by Atlus. And while the game will feature various Fire Emblem characters, it seems like the characters on the Shin Megami Tensei side will be original.

Rodea The Sky Solider gets 16-minute gameplay video

Recently some Japanese game programming decided to take a look at Rodea Sky Solider, since I don’t really understand Japanese and I assume you don’t either, I skipped the video above to the gameplay (and if I did it wrong it starts at the 8 minute mark). A few thing that I noticed was the long loading at the start and the low resolution textures (mostly because the game started as a Wii game).

It was recently announced that NIS America would bring the game to America and Europe this fall; so you’ll be able to play it in English soon enough. The game will be coming to Wii U and 3DS, the video mostly shows off the Wii U version but at the end they show off very little of the 3DS version too (off screen gameplay).

So who is picking up this title?

Rodea: The Sky Soldier coming to America and Europe this fall

Rodea

NIS America have just announced that they are publishing Prope’s long lost title, Rodea: The Sky Soldier in North America and Europe. The developer didn’t give a specific date of release other than this upcoming fall. The game is set to be released on both the Nintendo Wii U and 3DS.

NIS America hyped up their press event that was held earlier today, stating that they where planning some of their “biggest announcements yet.” One of those games being Rodea: The Sky Soldier, which was originally planned for the Wii, but later moved over to 3DS/Wii U.

The game is being directed by ex-Sonic Team and famed Sonic the Hedgehog developer Yuji Naka, who is directing this title. Here is NIS America’s product page.

Game Boy Advance classic Sonic Advance hitting the Japanese Wii U eShop next week

Screen Shot 2015-02-11 at 7.45.00 AM

Nintendo’s Japanese site has officially revealed that the Game Boy Advance classic Sonic Advance, seen by many fans to be the best post classic era 2D title, will be hitting the Japanese Wii U eShop on February 18th. The game is priced at ¥702 ($5.90/£3.90) and is set to take up 200MB of storage space, much larger in size than the original game but remember this includes a digital copy of the manual.

There is no indication of the game releasing to the West just yet, and there is no sign of the sequels, but we have our fingers crossed and as soon as we hear something we’ll be sure to share it! Me? I’d love to see SEGA’s entire library of Game Boy Advance games on the Wii U. From Jet Grind Radio to Gunstar Super Heroes. A man can dream…

Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric patch is live [UPDATE]

Sonic-Boom

A patch for Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric has gone live, and apparently it’s quite hefty, weighing in at roughly 1030MB! That puts this update at just over a gigabyte!

The news of the patch comes from multiple Twitter sources, confirming an update had indeed gone live; and now, one member of the Sonic Stadium forums has claimed the update clocks in a just over a gigabyte. That’s a pretty insane file size for a patch (though still not quite as bad as Ubisoft’s recent Assassin’s Creed patches…)! As for what the patch actually fixes, it is as of yet unconfirmed; early claims are that the Knuckles Infinite Jump glitch is finally gone, and that the visual performance in co-op mode has been improved somewhat. We’ll update here as details become more clear.

Thanks also go to Feniiku on Twitter for helping us confirm the release of the patch.

UPDATE: The patch is currently only live in Europe, from the looks of things. 

Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric demo coming to Wii U eShop

SonicWiiU

I’m sure you guys all want to get your hands on Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric just to see if this game is as big of a train wreck as most people are saying online. Guess what? SEGA will give you the chance on December 4th, when a demo will hit the Wii U eShop.

This isn’t the first Sonic the Hedgehog game to get a post-launch demo, this also happen with Sonic Team’s Sonic Lost World also on the Wii U. The demo will be available on both European and American Wii U eShops this Thursday. Now my only question is if they are actually going to patch and fix some of these glaring issues in the game? If its like past games, I’m going to assume they will ignore that the game ever existed and so will we.

Rodea: The Sky Soldier gets new screenshots, story and gameplay details

rodea-s-17-1

Rodea: The Sky Soldier was originally set to be a Wii game and now is going to get new life next year on both the Wii U and 3DS. Just last week the publisher, Kadokawa Games released a new trailer for the game and not much else. But now they have released the story overview, character profiles, gameplay details, and even a ton of new screens.

The story has empires, battle with technology and other themes present in past Sonic Team games. They even added a hint of Panzer Dragoon in there for good measure with its little map and on-rails looking gameplay.  Not only that, the Wii U version of the game also got a filter that gives it a sketched out feel, similar to what Valkyria Chronicles did compared to the Wii original. Oddly enough no 3DS screenshots have been shown yet.

Hit the jump to see Gematsu’s translation of the story,characters and a screenshot gallery.

Yuji Naka’s Rodea: The Sky Soldier gets new trailer showing off Wii U footage

Yuji Naka’s Rodea: The Sky Soldier is a weird story, seeing as it was supposed to be released on the Wii in 2011, even Yuji Naka said the title was completely done and just needed to be released by publisher Kadokawa games. No information was released and even Yuji Naka said he wasn’t sure if the game was going to be released last year. Well, thankfully the publisher Kadokawa games came to its senses since they announced the game coming for both Wii U and 3DS.

Seems that they are sticking with the Spring 2015 release window for Japan. Now we have a trailer showing off footage of the game and as you can see it looks like very low quality Wii graphics. But you know what? The game looks so fun, that it can be running on the Sega Saturn and I’d buy it. Let’s hope this is a good one, for Prope’s sake.

Sonic Talk #29: That’s a bounce pad!

[DOWNLOAD]

It’s time for another episode of that OTHER Sonic podcast on Segabits, Sonic Talk!  This week, Nuckles87, GX and Shigs discuss all things Sonic Boom. From the cartoon and comic to Shattered Crystal and go into great detail on Rise of lyric. You’ll hear our personal thoughts on the game and whether it’s a decent Sonic title or a glitchy, unfinished mess. Maybe both! Listen in and enjoy!

Yuji Naka’s Rodea the Sky Soldier releasing Spring 2015 in Japan to the Wii U and 3DS

B2J1bMtCEAAU0rl

Here at SEGAbits we like to keep things focused on SEGA both past and present, but when a SEGA legend leaves the company to do their own thing, we like to keep you guys informed as to what they’re up to – especially when it’s a big project with some SEGA influences. While we love former Sonic Team head Yuji Naka, who left SEGA in 2006 to found his own studio Prope, his studio’s games really haven’t had the same impact that his works at SEGA had. Outside of Let’s Tap and Ivy the Kiwi? (the question mark is in the game’s title), Naka and his team haven’t done much aside from releasing several bland iOS titles. However, there was one upcoming Prope game that looked to be on par with Naka’s work at SEGA: Rodea the Sky Soldier for Wii and 3DS.

SEGA releases launch trailers for Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and Shattered Crystal

SEGA has released the launch trailers for Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric for the Wii U and Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal for the Nintendo 3DS. Both games hit North America and Latin America today and will be in stores in Europe on November 21st. We’ll be sharing our own thoughts on the games soon, and next week expect some behind-the-scenes information on the development of the games. In the meantime, check out the Wii U trailer above and the 3DS trailer after the break!

Pier Solar out today on Wii U, coming to Xbox One on the 21st

10354077_781860221881657_5192823631522271172_n

Pier Solar and the Great Architects HD comes out on the Wii U today, so if your reading this go on the e-shop and grab yourself a copy.

As for Xbox One owners, you guys can now expect to play the game on November 21st, which has been approved by the boys over at Watermelon Games. That would mean that the only versions we are waiting on are the Dreamcast and Playstation Vita (unless I missed a platform?).

The game is already out on Playstation 4, Playstation 3, Steam, Ouya and (as of today)  Wii U. What console are you planning to pick this up on?

Sonic and friends rescue a cat from a tree in a new Sonic Boom commercial

Regardless of your opinion of SEGA’s upcoming Sonic Boom franchise, you gotta admit it’s nice to see some creative SEGA TV ads. Unlike past adverts for Sonic titles, which used actors in body costumes, the Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric TV ad features CG renderings of Sonic and his friends in the real world, using their teamwork to rescue a real cat (not Big, sadly) from a tree. Sonic Boom the TV show is set to air this coming Saturday at 7am EST, while the Wii U and 3DS games are set for a November 11th release in the US, and a November 21st release in Europe. The comic book is in stores now, and you can read our full review right here. Stay tuned to SEGAbits and Sonic Retro for all your Sonic Boom news, reviews, and information.

Swingin’ Report Show #72: Halloween Special featuring The SEGA Fall Lineup

Fall is in the air, the leaves are changing color and new console and PC games are releasing from SEGA! This week on the Swingin’ Report Show podcast, George and Barry look back on SEGA’s scariest games, and discuss the latest current and upcoming SEGA titles. We discuss why The House of the Dead has endured as a franchise for so long, talk SEGA’s most underrated scary titles, share our thoughts on the recently released Alien: Isolation and Bayonetta 2, and celebrate Valkyria Chronicles PC release announcement.

We also look ahead to November, as Barry talks about his experience playing Sonic Boom for Wii U and 3DS at SEGA’s New York event and details the first issue of Archie’s Sonic Boom comic book. November’s console theme month is also revealed, and we tease an upcoming special edition podcast that is going to be Mega fun. Give it a listen and Happy Halloween!

[Download] [RSS] [iTunes] [Archive]