Released June 24, 2022 to Apple Arcade, Yu Suzuki’s Air Twister was a Space Harrier inspired behind the back 3D shooter from the man who created the original SEGA franchise. In what was perhaps our biggest “get”, we managed to interview Yu Suzuki himself to talk about the game! And yes, I will try to link to that interview whenever given a chance.
Yu Suzuki’s return to arcade gaming arrives today in the form of Air Twister, an Apple Arcade exclusive. Now before you moan and groan about it being on Apple products only, as revealed in our exclusive interview with Yu Suzuki it was Apple who asked him and his team for an arcade-style game. Apple is also listed in the game’s credits as a producer. So without Apple, this game would not have happened.
If you have an Apple Arcade subscription, the game is available to play now! I’ve tried it myself on an iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and iMac and all platforms play the game very well. My preferred method is a gamepad on the TV. I’ve tried the old iCade arcade stick and sadly it does not work due to how the iCade maps its buttons. Still, I am certain a bluetooth flight stick or arcade stick would work.
Stay tuned to SEGAbits for more Air Twister news!
It goes without saying that Yu Suzuki is one of the most influential figures in video gaming. Yu Suzuki was instrumental in the development of full body motion controls, 3D racing, 3D fighting, open-world gameplay and QTE. Even if you have never played one of his titles, which you really need to rectify right now, you have played a game that includes one of his contributions to the gaming industry.
Space Harrier, one of Mr. Suzuki’s early arcade titles, was a third-person rail shooter set in a fantasy environment. The player controlled a jet propelled cool blonde dude, shooting down everything from geometric shapes to robots to one-eyed woolly mammoths. The game was such a success that it was one of Japan’s top two highest-grossing upright arcade games in 1986. The other title was Mr. Suzuki’s Hang-On, released a year prior. Now, in 2022, Yu Suzuki is returning to the world of third-person rail shooters with the Apple Arcade exclusive game Air Twister which is set to release on June 24, 2022.
Mr. Suzuki was kind enough to grant us an interview to talk about the upcoming title, and as luck would have it we are releasing this on his birthday! So before we kick things off, we would like to wish Mr. Suzuki a happy birthday and thank him again for taking the time to answer our questions.
All this time we were asking “Where is Shenmue 4?” when we should have been asking “Where is a new Space Harrier game?”
In a surprise reveal from Yu Suzuki’s YS NET studio is a spiritual successor to Space Harrier titled Air Twister. Presented in full 3D, the game takes many cues from the SEGA arcade classic, and also appears to be much more in-line with the original game than SEGA’s own Planet Harriers was (which was also a 3D take on Space Harrier). The game is an Apple Arcade exclusive, which will elicit groans from some. As for me? I have about half a dozen Apple devices and cannot wait to try the game out with a bluetooth controller on my TV. Learn more about the game after the break, and make sure to mark June 24, 2022 on your calendar!
We have reached the last episode of Shenmue the Animation! On this After Show we discuss our overall review for Shenmue the Animation season 1, look at the finale episode and discuss our overall opinions on the changes the anime made from the game. You can check out our Shenmue the Animation After Show playlist here.
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Shenmue creator and SEGA legend Yu Suzuki recently attended a event to celebrate Shenmue in Yokosuka, right during the finale of the Shenmue the Animation. At this event there where several gaming outlets including IGN Japan and Famitsu, where he discussed the anime and talked about the future of the series.
One of the interesting points he touched on was the fact that Shenmue 3 was created to please long time fans from the start since they’re the ones crowdfunding it. Yu Suzuki says he received positive feedback from those old time fans but felt that newcomers “felt like they had been left behind”. This made it a bad entry point for newcomers.
We are almost coming to an end in our Shenmue The Animation After Show, on this episode our heroes journey into the Yellow Head Building, while the anime actually expands on both Joy and Wong’s character arcs and leaves us off with an epic stare down between Ryo and Lan Di!
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On this episode of Shenmue the Animation After Show we discuss Episode 9: Distinct. On this episode our young hero finishes his quest to discover the Four Wude, we are finally introduced to controversial Shenmue thug Yuan, and more!
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The journey to find the Four Wude continues, each secret being held by a Martial Arts master. On this episode we are introduced to new minor characters from Shenmue II which includes Eileen M. Edelweiss and Izumi Takano; one of these two characters was meant to be Ryo’s love interest? Let’s get sweaty!
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Ryo continues his journey into finding the Four Wude, we talk about some of the new returning characters and our thoughts on this very ‘video gamey’ episode!
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Shenmue the Animation has finished the story for the first Shenmue game and has moved on to Hong Kong covering the first part of Shenmue II’s storyline. On this After Show we talk about the missing Boat scene, new characters introduced for the first time in the anime and our overall thoughts of some of the missing storylines!
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The Shenmue The Animation After Show is back this time looking at the the Episode 4 ‘Shackles’ giving us more of a look at the iconic character Goro, Fuku-San gives up his piggy bank to Ryo, we meet the Mad Angels, and Nazomi has been kidnapped? Oh my!
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Finally! SEGA Talk covers the long awaited sequel to 2001’s Shenmue II – Shenmue III! We discuss the ups and downs of the Kickstarter campaign, the new gameplay elements and the future of the franchise.
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On our Shenmue The Animation After Show, we discuss the second episode of the anime which includes some major changes, expanded storylines to some key characters and even a change in Ryo’s motivation?
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SEGA Talk returns to the world of Shenmue, this time talking about the legendary SEGA-AM2 title, Shenmue II! We cover the development, talk about cut content, original ideas behind the game and even discuss a PS2 rumored port?
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 – 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!