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SEGA Channel Retro: Freedom Planet 2 and Sonic Robo Blast 2 Top Down Mod

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Today we spotlight a couple of releases from the community, the Freedom Planet 2 demo as well as a brief co-op run of the long awaited Top Down mod for Sonic Robo Blast 2. Read more on Freedom Planet 2’s latest demo and links to where you can find it here. If you want to check out the new Top Down mod for Sonic Robo Blast 2, be sure to hit up their forums.

SEGA Channel Retro is the SEGA themed variety channel covering anything and everything related to Sonic the Hedgehog, SEGA and the community that supports it. We stream SEGA games, games on SEGA consoles, hacks, mods and more!

You can now watch our live streams on YouTube or Twitch! Also please consider donating to SEGA Channel Retro!

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An update on the indie SEGA Dreamcast game SLaVE – why is it taking so long?

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Back in September of 2014 SLaVE, a Dreamcast game by indie developer Isotope and GOAT Store Publishing, was announced. The game was to combine the game design sensibilities and aesthetics of 80s arcade shooters with old school first person shooters like Doom and Wolfenstein. At the time of the games announcement, it looked as though the release was just around the corner with Goat Store taking pre-orders for a Limited Edition and a Limited Limited Edition. Since then, however, little has been said about the game aside from a mention in April 2015 of a “final bug test” and the cover art reveal.

And then? Nothing, at least until this week when Isotope developer Coraline released the following statement.

Continue Reading ➜

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Contest: Yakuza 0 Digital Copy Giveaway

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Y0SEGAbits

We’re excited to announce that we’ve teamed with SEGA to give away some digital copies of their latest game in the Yakuza franchise, Yakuza 0! For those not in the know, Yakuza 0 is an action-adventure game with beat ’em up gameplay, RPG elements and a slew of mini-games. The game takes place in 1988, before all the other canon Yakuza games, and puts you in control of Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima. We loved the game, and we’re sure you will to, which is why we’re so happy to be giving away copies to three lucky winners!

We have three contests running at once, and one copy will be given away in each, meaning that you can enter in all three to triple your chances of winning. Should a winner be selected more than once, we will select another winner in one of the contests so that nobody gets more than one copy of the game.

Here’s how to enter:

SEGAbits.com: In the comments section of this post, tell us your favorite Yakuza franchise moment or memory. When leaving your comment, please use a valid email address in the email field so we can contact you. Email addresses are not public.

Twitter.com/SEGAbits: Follow @SEGAbits and Retweet the contest tweet.

Facebook.com/SEGAbits: Like our Facebook page and in the comments section of the contest post, tell us your favorite Yakuza franchise moment or memory.

The contest is open to the Americas only and the contest ends February 7th at 9pm EST. Best of luck to all who enter!

The contest has ended! Thank you to all who entered, and congrats to our winner Jon p! Stay tuned to SEGAbits.com for future contests!

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Yakuza 0 bursts into the UK top 10 at the 8th position

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Yakuza0ChartTracker

There was a lot of pre-release hype for Yakuza 0 as reviewers lavishly praised the game and it had placed high in the UK Amazon preorder charts. Now the results are out and it looks like Yakuza 0 is a resounding success coming in at 8th, the highest position the series has ever managed in the franchise’s UK sales history. The previous record chart position was held by the 2010 release Yakuza 3 at 24th.

Interestingly, Yakuza 0 is 8th for both individual (games recorded by SKU) and multi-format (Where multiple SKUs are combined). Unfortunately for us, Chart Tracker doesn’t release sales numbers so it all comes down to the being able to work out what other titles have done to be able to work out roughly which position sold what. We do know that with Resident Evil 7 being the third best selling title in the franchise’s UK history, this means that sales would be no greater than 130,000 units. The split between the PS4 (73%) and Xbox One (25%) versions of Resident Evil 7, with the latter being the second best selling SKU, would allow us to know that Yakuza 0 has not sold more than 32,500 copies.

Looking at its position and if I had to hazard I guess, I imagine Yakuza 0 has achieved around 6,000 to 10,000 sales. A good starting point for the franchise, and of course the other European and American territories will only add to the number. Once we get updated numbers, we’ll keep you posted!

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SEGA Japanese developers talk Nintendo Switch

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SEGADevelopersSwitchSeeing as we are big SEGA fanboys, it is safe to say we care about what their developers think about a upcoming console. This month on Famitsu, SEGA Japanese developers talk Nintendo Switch and their thoughts on the big reveal presentation. The original news piece, posted by Nintendo Everything, also had other top Japanese developers. So check that out if you want to learn what other top Japanese talent from other publishing companies thought about the Nintendo Switch. So what SEGA Japanese developers talk Nintendo Switch? We have Takashi Iizuka (Sonic the Hedgehog series), Toshihiro Nagoshi (Yakuza series) and Mizuki Hosoyamada (Puyo Puyo series).

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Cook & Becker’s Sonic The Hedgehog 25th Anniversary Art Book reveals exclusive Yuji Uekawa print

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Sonic-art-print_UekawaLong time Sonic the Hedgehog artist Yuji Uekawa will be doing an exclusive print that will come with the Cook & Becker’s Sonic The Hedgehog 25th Anniversary Art Book Collectors Edition. If you missed the news, the art book will collect rare and exclusive art from the Blue Blur’s history and will come in two versions: standard hardcover and collectors edition. The Yuji Uekawa print will not be sold separately, as far as we know, meaning there will be about 2,500 copies printed. The Yuji Uekawa print focuses on the history of Sonic by showing him with his three major redesigns: Classic Sonic, Modern Sonic and Sonic Boom.

Cook & Becker was also nice enough to share what the Yuji Uekawa print looks like within the Sonic The Hedgehog 25th Anniversary Art Book Collectors Edition! Remember if you pre-order the collector’s edition before February, you get a 10% discount. The book is expected to ship to costumers sometime within April. What are your thoughts on the Yuji Uekawa print? Sound off in the comments below.

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Rumor: Sonic Mania to get a physical release [update]

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sonic mania physical

Up to this point, we knew that the anticipated Sonic Mania was coming to the PS4, Xbox One, PC, and more recently Nintendo Switch as a digital download. However, recent images suggest that Sonic Mania may also get a physical release, at least for the Nintendo Switch version. @SuperAj3 on Twitter recently posted an image of mockup cases for Sonic Mania, originally from EBGames Australia. According to him, he asked the people behind the counter about the game, and it was in their database. Later, another Twitter post from the official EBGames Australia account claims that they are “expecting” a physical release for Sonic Mania at this stage.

Together, this hints at Sonic Mania getting a physical release, at least for the Nintendo Switch version in Australia. However as of this writing, nothing from SEGA has been officially confirmed. It’s also unknown if a physical release will be available in other regions or if there will be physical releases for the other versions such as for the PS4 and Xbox One.

[Update] Sonic the Hedgehog social media manager, Aaron Webber, has taken to Twitter to set the record straight. According to him, there isn’t ‘currently’ news on the physical release.

“Hi guys – there’s currently no news on a physical release for Sonic Mania, sorry. We’ll let you know if anything changes. Thanks!” – Aaron Webber

Weird choice of using ‘no news on a physical release’ instead of ‘no plans’, but we shall see what happens in the near future. [/update]

 

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Valkyria Revolution debuts as worst selling entry in franchise history

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Valkyria-Azure-Revolution-Tokyo-Game-Show-2016-TrailerValkyria Revolution debuts as worst selling entry in franchise history and that isn’t clickbait. Valkyria Revolution (Valkyria: Azure Revolution)  moved 38,197 units on PlayStation 4 and only 18,219 on the PlayStation Vita. That means that combined, it did a total of 56,416 units. Even combined, its still the lowest debuting title in Valkyria franchise’s history:

  • Valkyria Chronicles – 77,698
  • Valkyria Chronicles II – 76,088
  • Valkyria Chronicles III – 102,779

The game got beaten in sales by other debuting games like Gravity Rush 2 (74,361) and Yoshi’s Woolly World (39,555) which both debuted with less sales than any past Valkyria Chronicles titles as well. Other factors we can look into as to why Valkyria Revolution debuts as worst selling entry in franchise history is the reception. We did a preview for the game and it just didn’t seem like the right execution for what the team was trying to do. Famitsu still managed to give the full game a rating of 8/9/8/7 [32/40], which is rather high.

It is not looking good for the Valkyria franchise with this being the lowest selling new release in the franchise’s history and Valkyria Chronicles remake only selling 24,156 units on its debut week. While the team behind Valkyria Revolution have been teasing about the possibilities of a new full fledged Valkyria Chronicles title, I don’t think SEGA would be as keen considering how these past two releases have sold (at least in Japan). I myself have mix feelings on how this title will do in the West and feel that adding a Xbox One version and not a PC version was a mistake. Considering that the PC version of Valkyria Chronicles has sold over 900,000 units.

[Source: Siliconera]

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SEGA News Bits: Puyo Puyo Tetris Coming West

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January 2017 saw the reveal of the Nintendo Switch, and following the live event several announcements were made. One that was of interest to SEGA fans was the reveal that Puyo Puyo Tetris would be coming west to the Switch and the Playstation 4. On this SEGA News Bits, George and Barry are joined by SEGAbits.com writer and resident Puyo Puyo expert FlareHabanero to explain what we can expect from the upcoming game.

If you enjoy our SEGA News Bits segments and want to support us, give us a sub. If you are already subscribed you can always like the video.

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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: Archie Sonic the Hedgehog Comic Cancelled Rumor and Analysis

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On this SEGA News Bits, Barry and George share their analysis of the rumor that Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comics are cancelled. How did this rumor spring up? Is there any validity to it? What could happen to the Sonic comic books should it happen? Give the video a watch to find out!

If you enjoy our SEGA News Bits segments and want to support us, give us a sub. If you are already subscribed you can always like the video.

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Western release of Yakuza 0 rewards players with Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin save file

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Yakuza0Items

Those who have purchased Yakuza 0 may find a prize waiting for them upon boot up. Like previous games in the series, Yakuza 0 gives players items if it can find Yakuza series system data on the Playstation 4. As I’ve imported Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin, it seems that did the trick in giving me gear to be used by Kiryu or Majima. As it is still early in the game I’ve yet to see what Majima’s Mad Dog Gloves do, but Kiryu’s Dragon God Amulet is described as “filling up your energy reserves when you’re close to death”, which should be handy for players!

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SEGA News Bits: Daytona 3 Championship USA Name Change Reaction

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On this SEGA News Bits, George and Barry discuss the sudden name change to affect the upcoming arcade racer Daytona 3 Championship USA. Yes, they changed the name and no, it still sounds like they threw a title into a blender. What was the purpose of this name change and what are our thoughts? Click play and find out!

If you enjoy our SEGA News Bits segments and want to support us, give us a sub. If you are already subscribed you can always like the video.

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[Updated] Yakuza 0 releases today to the Playstation 4 in the Americas and Europe

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2017 is a big year for SEGA games, as evidenced by the fact that Yakuza and Puyo Puyo are making their return to the west as full-fledged franchises, Valkyria Chronicles is set to return by way of a spin-off, and the company mascot Sonic the Hedgehog will debut two hotly anticipated games.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Today the prequel to the long running Yakuza franchise, Yakuza 0, releases to the Playstation 4 in the Americas and Europe. If you have not ordered the game, do so today via this handy link. Those who order now in America will receive The Business Edition, which includes a dragon branded business card holder and reproductions of business cards carried by the game’s protagonists Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima.

Now is the time to jump into the series, as Yakuza 0 takes place before the first game which has a remake due out later this year to the Playstation 4 followed by a localization of Yakuza 6 in 2018. If you have already ordered the game, share your thoughts in our dedicated forum topic or on the SEGAbits Discord chat. Still on the fence? Read or watch our review of the game!

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Official English Yakuza and Puyo Puyo accounts for social media live

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puyo puyo yakuza social media

Well this is a surprise! SEGA has made a lot of announcements and we’re expecting releases of games like Puyo Puyo Tetris and Yakuza 0. But are you worried that you might get lost in the sudden torrent of announcements? SEGA has got your back, as now there are official social media accounts for Puyo Puyo and Yakuza. Not only are these designed to promote upcoming games like the aforementioned Puyo Puyo Tetris and Yakuza 0, but also the respective franchises in general, possibly for future announcements.

If you want to show your support, please follow these accounts to stay updated with both franchises, and maybe for the occasional fan engagement.

Puyo Puyo

Yakuza

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