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Several VHS recordings of never before seen Sega Channel found and preserved online

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The Sega Channel, a long dormant online games-on-demand service for the Sega Genesis/Mega-Drive, has long been an enigma in the years since its official sunset in 1998. Very little material from the service has been preserved or documented, and there is still so much that only those who subscribed to the service and have vivid memories of it would know for sure. Thankfully, @Ghostsencore and prolific Genesis romhacker Billy Time Games have come across a smorgasbord of archived VHS tapes containing recordings of someone, presumably the person who recorded the footage in the first place, perusing the menus of Sega Channel during a few months where the service was still alive and well.

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Mega Drive Tracker website set up to catalogue upcoming physical indie game releases for Genesis/Mega-Drive

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Brand new games for Genesis/Mega-Drive, coming from talented indie enthusiast developers, are a common occurrence today. It is rather exciting, but it might be a little tough to keep track of them all. Of course, you can search SegaBits for our own articles about new Genesis game releases, but what if I told you there’s now a website with an easy to read catalogue of upcoming releases to look out for?

Developed by fellow Sega fan and writer Mollie L Patterson, Mega Drive Tracker is a WordPress site keeping track of upcoming Genesis releases that are planned to come out on physical cartridges that you can buy and run on original Genesis hardware. The pages for each game include links to the websites where the games can be bought or pre-ordered, if they are still available. This includes a couple of games we have written about before too. They’re grouped by four categories:

  1. New Releases, which are brand new games being developed from the ground up for Genesis. (Examples: Phantom Gear, Earthion, ZPF)
  2. Ports, which are conversions of games that already exist on other hardware. (Examples: Black Jewel Reborn, P47 II MD, Asuka 120% Re-bon)
  3. Reprints, which are brand new printings of games that already released on Genesis years ago. (Examples: Aero The Acro-bat, Grind Stormer, Twin Cobra)
  4. Localizations, which are translated releases of games originally unreleased in English speaking countries. (Example: Eliminate Down, Slap Fight)

Take a look after the break for a link to the website for you to bookmark and look at.

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SEGA News Bits Live: Delisted Classic Games and New Pico Hardware

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SEGA has announced several classic games are being delisted, but they are also releasing a new SEGA Pico and emoji pager for kids. On this SEGA News Bits Live, Barry talks about why SEGA might be removing classic games and takes a look at the new hardware from SEGA FAVE.

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Endless and Humankind developer Amplitude Studios breaks from SEGA, returning to being independent

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Founded in 2011 by former Ubisoft staffers and purchased by SEGA in 2016, Amplitude Studios has announced that they are a fully independent studio again. During their time under SEGA’s umbrella, the studio released several games including Humankind and Endless Dungeon, as well as a free game titled Endless Zone which was their take on Fantasy Zone. The announcement was made in a message titled “Returning to our Roots”, which included a statement from founder Romain de Waubert de Genlis.

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SEGA Plans to Delist SEGA Classics Games starting December 6th

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This news might be disappointing for SEGA fans who care about the preservation of the companies’ rich history of video games ranging from arcade to consoles, including myself and fellow SEGAbits writers. As of now, SEGA plans to delist a selection of games and bundles from virtual stores across gaming platforms including Steam, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and Playstation starting on December 6th at 11:59pm PST.

If you happen to own the games on the following platforms, they will still be available in your library. You can still get them all for very good prices, so be sure not to miss out on the opportunity. Do you all think that this is a bad decision from SEGA or do you think they might have something planned for the titles down the line? Let us know in the comments below and hit the next section of the article to see the list of games that are planned to be delisted.

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New Virtua Fighter Game In Development According to Executive Vice President Head of Global Transmedia Group SEGA, Justin Scarpone

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In a published interview about why SEGA is reviving their classic IPs across media with Executive Vice President Head of Global Transmedia Group SEGA, Justin Scarpone, with Video Game Chronicle, he was asked how challenging it would be for SEGA to revive their IPs that are nearly 30 years old to resonate with a modern audience.

He responded that the IPs would need to be reinvented with persistent slate plan, marketing initiatives, product, and more transmedia. Scarpone would also confirm that numerous SEGA Legacy IPs are currently in development, including Virtua Fighter. Here is a snippet of the interview:

“So we have a suite of titles in development right now that fall into that legacy bucket, which we announced last year at The Game Awards; Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Streets of Rage, Shinobi, and we have another Virtua Fighter being developed. And so all that’s very exciting. And then in certain instances, we’re also doing animation series, or live-action films to augment that and be part of those roadmaps.” – Justin Scarpone, Executive Vice President Head of Global Transmedia Group SEGA

It’s been sometime since we seen a new Virtua Fighter title (with the exception of VF5: Ultimate Showdown). Are you all excited to see a new Virtua Fighter game in the works? Let us know in the comments below!

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SEGA Talk #151: SEGA Controllers (1983-1998)

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On this SEGA TALK we go hands on with SEGA’s many controllers! We take a look at the base controller for each major console, pointing out the weirdest and most essential controllers and share our personal preference. Stick around until the end, because we will crown best SEGA controller of all time! On SEGA TALK!

[iTunes – Stitcher – YouTube – Download]

Support us on Patreon! Get early access, have your memories read on the show, select the games we talk about!

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Retro-Bit opens pre-orders for all-new Toaplan Genesis/Mega-Drive game reprint collection; Pre-orders open until December 1st 2024

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Here comes Retro-Bit once again with a new set of Genesis/Mega-Drive Collector Cartridge sets that you can pre-order right now.

Retro-Bit, in collaboration with current Toaplan rights holders Tatsujin, have revealed the Toaplan Shooters Vol. 2 Collector’s Cartridge set, consisting of Twin Cobra (1991), Slap Fight MD (1993), and Grind Stormer (1994). Not familiar with Vol. 1? That began pre-orders in 2020, consisted of Truxton (1989), Hellfire (1990), Fire Shark (1990), and Zero Wing (1991), and we somehow neglected to do a write-up about it. (Hey, I wasn’t here to cover retro news back then. Sorry.)

Anyway, all three games can be ordered separately or together in one big, bad collectors set with all three games in a nice slipcase. The collector’s set also includes a digital pocket clock, a sheet of puffy stickers, and a booklet featuring an interview with Toaplan developer and composer and current day president of Tatsujin, Masahiro Yuge. It can be had for $159.99 USD and is now up for pre-order in North America from Castlemania Games, Rondo Products, Limited Run Games, and PNP Games. Pre-orders in Europe are currently available at Just For Games, Retro Cables, Spel & Sant, Strictly Limited Games, Dragon Box Shop, Xtra Life, Zedlabz, and NedGame. Each separate game costs $59.99 and is NTSC and PAL complainant. This is a limited product and all pre-orders will only run throughout November 2024 and end December 1st, 2024.

Have a look after the break for the deets on each of the individual games.

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Aero The Acro-Bat Genesis/Mega-Drive cartridge reprint now up for pre-order from Limited Run Games

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Limited Run Games and Sunsoft have teamed up to bring you a new reprint of Aero The Acro-bat (1993) with a box, manual, and high quality translucent “Sparkle Black” cartridge. Pre-orders will be open all throughout November 2024 for just $59.99 USD and the game is estimated to ship to customers in June 2025. The Genesis/Mega-Drive version, as well as the Super Nintendo version, will be available simultaneously. This comes long after LRG’s reprints of Aero The Acro-bat 2 (1995) and Zero The Kamikaze Squirrel (1994). Strange that they decided to sell this trio of games in reverse order of their original releases, but at least now, if you had your chance to get these games, you can finally complete your collection if that’s what you aimed to do.

Unlike Aero 2 or Zero, however, Aero The Acro-Bat on Genesis can still be found very cheap, even complete in box, as of this writing. A brand new copy will currently cost you just over $100, so if you really gotta have a sealed, new copy of Aero The Acro-Bat, LRG’s reprints can be a bargain, as long as you don’t mind the lack of a Sega Seal of Quality. If you just want a copy of Aero for Genesis, you can get a decent copy for a decent price and not have to wait until next Summer to see it. No judgement from us if you got the other two games from LRG and just want to complete your collection of the whole trilogy, though. Fortunately, LRG seems to, at least so far, take printing quality new cartridges more seriously than printing new game discs.

To learn more about this release of Aero The Acro-bat, and to pre-order, glide right in past the break for the skinny.

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Paul W.S. Anderson set to direct and write The House of the Dead Film

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According to Deadline, there is a new House of the Dead movie in the works with Paul W.S. Anderson (Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil) writing and directing the upcoming film. Anderson will produce alongside his partner Jeremy Bolt, Sega’s Toru Nakahara will produce along with Story Kitchen’s Dmitri M. Johnson, Mike Goldberg and Dan Jevons. Timothy I. Stevenson will be executive producer.

The plot of the film will be based on the third installment in the franchise, The House of the Dead III, with Lisa Rogan in search of her father and Daniel Curien, who’s the son of the man who caused this mutant outbreak in the first place and who has to deal with the sins of the father. The film will take place in an abandoned research facility where these creatures were hatched, before, as Anderson quipped, “the inmates took over the asylum.” The filmmakers say these inmates are way more capable killers than zombies.

They will pitch the project immediately, with plans to be in production by mid- to late-2025. Anderson is repped by Ken Kamins at Key Creatives & Alexander Lea at Wiggin, Bolt by Alexander Lea at Wiggin LLP, and Story Kitchen by WME and Pryor Cashman. Toru Nakahara negotiated on behalf of Sega. Check out concept art for the film in the next section of the article.

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Review: Parking Garage Rally Circuit (Walaber)

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If you yearn to revisit the glorious need for speed that Sega provided you with stellar 90’s arcade racers like Daytona USA, Sega Rally Championship, or Manx TT Superbike, you’re not the only one. A few developers have begun taking a crack at recapturing that spirit with some brand new games. Today, we’re putting a spotlight on one of the newest games of that bunch: Parking Garage Rally Circuit. Developed by Walaber, whom we’ve had the pleasure of speaking to about this game before, PGRC aims to be the Sega Saturn racing hit that never was. A frantic time trial racer that aims to emulate the look of 90’s 3D console racers to an extreme degree, a lot of passion for that unforgettable time in gaming history is as clear as the blue, blue skies the game graces you with, but does that passion equal a game that’s as worthy of your time as most any racer Sega had developed during that decade? Find a cozy parking spot to sit back, relax, and read through our review of Parking Garage Rally Circuit after the break.

(A Steam copy of the game was provided by Walaber for the purpose of this review. They have not influenced the review in any other way and have not read it before it went online.)

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Steal This Look: Jet Set Radio Future’s The Latch Brothers

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This article is probably too late for this Halloween, but there is just 365 days until the next Halloween so you now have plenty of time to prepare!

Remember the Smilebit Xbox classic Jet Set Radio Future? Remember the wild music from The Latch Brothers? If you don’t know about the musical group, I wrote a retrospective article back in 2015 that is well worth a read. But if you want a quick refresher:

The Latch Brothers were an elephant, a lion and a rabbit in lab coats. Behind the scenes, and occasionally revealed in magazine articles from the time about the new artists joining JSRF‘s soundtrack, The Latch Brothers were Michael Diamond, Tick, and Wag. Michael “Mike D” Diamond (known in the group as “The Latchin’ Duke”) is the most well known of the trio, having been a founding member of the New York City hip hop group the Beastie Boys and co-founder of the record label Grand Royal.

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SEGA and PDP Debut New Sonic Realmz Wireless Controller: Shadow Space Colony ARK

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Today, SEGA and PDP unveiled the all-new Sonic REALMz: Shadow Space Colony ARK Wireless Controller for Nintendo Switch systems. The new Sonic REALMz: Shadow Space Colony ARK controller celebrates the immersive universe from Sonic games, including the just launched SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS, with an exciting design featuring a collectible Shadow figurine set in the controller’s grip.

Sonic fans can pre-order the Sonic REALMz: Shadow Space Colony ARK controller today from www.pdp.com and participating retailers for $64.99. The Sonic REALMz: Shadow Space Colony ARK controller launches in the U.S. on December 7, 2024. The controller will be available in the UK and Europe on January 10, 2025.

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SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS Arrives on Consoles and PC Today

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Today, SEGA launched SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS, the definitive blend of Shadow, Classic Sonic, and Modern Sonic gameplay. SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS introduces a brand-new Shadow story campaign featuring the new Doom Powers, as well as a complete remaster of the original Sonic Generations™ for the latest console era.

SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS is now available both digitally and physically starting at $49.99 USD on PlayStation®5 (PS5®), PlayStation®4 (PS4®), Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, the Nintendo Switch™ family of systems, and PC.

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SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS Surpasses One Million Units

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With SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS officially releasing to all major platforms today, SEGA has announced that the title has surpassed one million units in worldwide sales!

SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS brings together Classic Sonic, Modern Sonic, and Shadow in an all-new collection featuring iconic 2D and 3D Sonic levels within two completely unique experiences, making it a standout game for 2024.

In the newest entry to the Sonic franchise, players will dive deep into Shadow’s dark past in a brand-new story campaign introducing never-before-seen abilities for the character, while also experiencing a complete remaster of the original Sonic Generations for the latest console era.

Check out the official press release on the announcement in the next section of the article.

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