SEGA Mobile Games - Something To Do With Your Hands That Won't Make You Go Blind

[Berto]

I thought Football Manager was the successor of Virtua Striker? After all, Virtua Striker 4 was released in 2004 and no new games since, while Football Manager 2005 was released... well, same year, but still Sega seem to favour it over Virtua Striker.

The gameplay is too different, if Virtua Strikers is like Sonic Dash then Football Manager is like Sonic Blitz.
In Virtua Strikers we played as the football players, truly an arcade-like game.
In Football Manager we played as their manager, where we do things like scoutting players and managing player happiness, egos, and team morale.
We also do the financial management where we keep the club within wage budgets and ensuring financial compliance.
We don't even play football directly but we're responsible to bring our football club to its success.



Football Manager is actually the direct successor to the highly popular Championship Manager series that's started in 1992.



But before that, long long ago there are also Football Manager series that's started in, welp, 1982.



Kinda confusing I know but in short: The Football Manager name was acquired by Sports Interactive and SEGA as a continuation for their Championship Manager series after they lost the naming rights following Sports Interactive's split with their previous publishers Eidos Interactive.
So now the game has Football Manager name but with Championship Manager gameplay.

[Berto]

The 1st Persona5: The Phantom X (Official West) Original Character Popularity Poll Results Out Now 🏆

Official Persona 5: The Phantom X account revealed its first original character popularity poll results to mark the game's 1st anniversary, with top 10 led by Kira Kitazato in 1st and the Protagonist in 2nd.
Ayaka Sakai placed 3rd, followed by Merope, Leo Kamiyama, and others in the top 10, while lower ranks featured surprises like the cat Orange Tabby at 13th and owl-like character Lufel at 19th.

Source: https://x.com/P5XOfficialWest/status/2078347589943173476

[Mystic Monkey]

Rushing in swingin' from the jungle!🌹Thorn Rose is here to protect AND rumble!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4wBniae9jI



🔗 Get into the mayhem: https://sonicrumble.com/playnow

I've taken a break from the game. Not really as fun when:* No one else is as aggressive as you, thus I end up winning more often than I think I should.* Don't really have friends to play it with.

The gameplay is too different, if Virtua Strikers is like Sonic Dash then Football Manager is like Sonic Blitz.
In Virtua Strikers we played as the football players, truly an arcade-like game.
In Football Manager we played as their manager, where we do things like scoutting players and managing player happiness, egos, and team morale.
We also do the financial management where we keep the club within wage budgets and ensuring financial compliance.
We don't even play football directly but we're responsible to bring our football club to its success.



Football Manager is actually the direct successor to the highly popular Championship Manager series that's started in 1992.



But before that, long long ago there are also Football Manager series that's started in, welp, 1982.



Kinda confusing I know but in short: The Football Manager name was acquired by Sports Interactive and SEGA as a continuation for their Championship Manager series after they lost the naming rights following Sports Interactive's split with their previous publishers Eidos Interactive.
So now the game has Football Manager name but with Championship Manager gameplay.

I see, so it's actually been around for a long while. And plays more like a Fantasy Football game.

So... why did Sega retire the Virtua Striker series? Not like football ever fallen out of interest. Especially during FIFA.

[Berto]

I've taken a break from the game. Not really as fun when:* No one else is as aggressive as you, thus I end up winning more often than I think I should.* Don't really have friends to play it with.

Yeah,this is a kind of game where it's more fun to play with friends.

I see, so it's actually been around for a long while. And plays more like a Fantasy Football game.

So... why did Sega retire the Virtua Striker series? Not like football ever fallen out of interest. Especially during FIFA.

Just like Virtua Fighter, Virtua Striker franchise was built specifically for arcades (running on hardware like Model 2, Model 3, and NAOMI) rather than standard home console development.
That's why it was abandoned when arcade games started to decline. They make more money in arcade version, a lot compared to console versions.
For console games, now it's hard to make a football game to compete with EA because of exclusive their licensing deals, massive budgets, and brand power. EA has too much power in that area.

But it's also the other way around in football management game.
Football Manager franchise has decades of database advantage since Sports Interactive has spent over 30 years refining a vast network of real-life scouts globally, a scale no new entrant can easily replicate.
Their database remains unmatched and unchallenged in the industry.

Why Football Manager Has No Competition

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKDaDUjonIA

[Berto]

Persona5: The Phantom X - Ann Takamaki (Dancing in Starlight outfit) Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiFixLVsHiw

Perfect World Games has released the version 5.2.2 update trailer for Persona 5: The Phantom X. This update continues the main story, introducing a new Palace, and also adds Ann Takamaki in her Dancing in Starlight outfit as ...

Article : https://personacentral.com/p5x-522/

[Berto]

Fortnite Leaks Tease Gaming Legends Season 4 with Sonic the Hedgehog, Persona 5, and More

Trusted leakers like HYPEX and ShiinaBR report that Fortnite Chapter 7 Season 4, launching around August 20 after Season 3 ends on August 19, will feature a 'Gaming Legends' theme packed with crossovers. Highlights include a confirmed-feeling Persona 5 event spotted in Rocket League files, plus Sonic the Hedgehog, Kingdom Hearts, Mega Man, Crash Bandicoot, and Vampire Survivors. Fans are wishlist-ing full character squads and mind-blowing skins, though leakers warn plans from insider Adira could still change amid past lawsuit issues and Epic's history of twists.

Sources:
https://x.com/HYPEX/status/2079629092278714839
https://x.com/ShiinaBR/status/2079625968289738888

[Berto]

Hatsune Miku Graphy Collection Mystery Music Planet Re:Merge announced for iOS, Android

It will launch this fall in Japan as a free-to-play title with in-app purchases.
The game will feature Piapro characters such as Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin, Kagamine Len, Megurine Luka, MEIKO, and ...

Article: https://www.gematsu.com/2026/07/hatsune-miku-graphy-collection-mystery-music-planet-remerge-announced-for-ios-android

[Mystic Monkey]

Yeah,this is a kind of game where it's more fun to play with friends.

Just like Virtua Fighter, Virtua Striker franchise was built specifically for arcades (running on hardware like Model 2, Model 3, and NAOMI) rather than standard home console development.
That's why it was abandoned when arcade games started to decline. They make more money in arcade version, a lot compared to console versions.
For console games, now it's hard to make a football game to compete with EA because of exclusive their licensing deals, massive budgets, and brand power. EA has too much power in that area.

But it's also the other way around in football management game.
Football Manager franchise has decades of database advantage since Sports Interactive has spent over 30 years refining a vast network of real-life scouts globally, a scale no new entrant can easily replicate.
Their database remains unmatched and unchallenged in the industry.

Why Football Manager Has No Competition

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKDaDUjonIA

But aren't EA terrible?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-LE0ycgkBQ

Even if Virtua Striker, along with all the Virtua games, were made for arcades, their console/PC ports were still good in their own rights. So just because EA has the lead of football games doesn't mean Virtua Striker wouldn't stand a chance.

Take Virtua Fighter for example. It's major competitors are Tekken, Dead or Alive and Street Fighter. But Sega still made ports of these arcade games to console and eventually PC.

Other than that, Virtua Strike has more brand-recognition than "EA Sports FC", I had to Google the name because it was that forgettable to me. Even if EA has the higher budget, both Sega fans and Football fans would appreciate choice. Hell, having the "Sonic FC" be a reoccuring thing for each Virtua Striker game would really set it apart from EA Sport FC.


Other than that, given Sega produces Football Manager, I wouldn't be against Virtua Striker reusing assets from Football Manager. Even if someone with a keen-eye noticed a new Virtua Striker game recycled from Football Manager, as long as Virtua Striker carries the gameplay it has, that's what matters.

[Berto]

But aren't EA terrible?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-LE0ycgkBQ

As a company they're terrible, but they do make a good football (both soccer and american football), basketball, and ice hockey games.

Even if Virtua Striker, along with all the Virtua games, were made for arcades, their console/PC ports were still good in their own rights. So just because EA has the lead of football games doesn't mean Virtua Striker wouldn't stand a chance.

Take Virtua Fighter for example. It's major competitors are Tekken, Dead or Alive and Street Fighter. But Sega still made ports of these arcade games to console and eventually PC.

Other than that, Virtua Strike has more brand-recognition than "EA Sports FC", I had to Google the name because it was that forgettable to me. Even if EA has the higher budget, both Sega fans and Football fans would appreciate choice. Hell, having the "Sonic FC" be a reoccuring thing for each Virtua Striker game would really set it apart from EA Sport FC.


Other than that, given Sega produces Football Manager, I wouldn't be against Virtua Striker reusing assets from Football Manager. Even if someone with a keen-eye noticed a new Virtua Striker game recycled from Football Manager, as long as Virtua Striker carries the gameplay it has, that's what matters.

You're googling it uncompletely.
EA's football franchise is FIFA series. FIFA has more brand recognition than Virtua Striker.
They only changed the name recently due to how greedy FIFA had become so they left them but all fans know that EA Sports FC is the continuation of FIFA series (just like Football Manager fans know that it's a continuation of Championship Manager series).
FIFA series is the best selling football game even during Mega Drive and Saturn era.













Virtua Striker might have success in the arcade (in Japan Game Machine even listed Virtua Striker as being both the second most-successful arcade game and the most-successful dedicated arcade game of July 1995) but it has no chance in consoles.
SEGA only ported Virtua Striker 2 to Dreamcast so that the system could have a football game since EA refuses to make NBA, FIFA, NHL, and NFL games for Dreamcast due to SEGA rejected their demand for exclusive rights to publish sports games in Dreamcast. Sony took the chance and let EA ruled PS2 without worthy rivals to the point that many sport fans chose PS2 over Dreamcast. Imagine if you grew up with NBA, Madden NFL, NHL, and FIFA series and actively following them every year in SEGA system just to know that next SEGA system won't have them anymore, I really can't blame them.