We did it. Sonic is finally dead.
At least in the context of this year’s April Fools from SEGA. To celebrate April 1st, SEGA has released a murder mystery game in which players solve Sonic’s murder. Titled The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, the game is free to download and play right now on PC and Mac platforms! Check it out and let us know what you think of the game in the comments below.
The Sega Dreamcast had a handful of interesting kart racing games in its time, but here’s one that never made it past the finish line to retail shelves. Woody Woodpecker Racing was released for PlayStation, PC, and Game Boy Color, but a Dreamcast version was also planned, as evidenced by the above ad from the manual for the Dreamcast version of The Grinch video game, also from Konami.
Now, thanks to video game archivist and Youtuber Andrew Borman and video game developer @frioglobal1, the source code for Woody Woodpecker Racing on Dreamcast has been found and miraculously compiled into a functional form. Thanks to them, we now have a glimpse of what this game could’ve looked like. Check in after the break to see more.
Sonic Origins Plus is due out just in time for Sonic’s 32nd anniversary and developer Headcannon, a software development and publishing business founded and run by Simon Thomley, is confirmed to be working on the updated release. Headcannon famously worked with Christian Whitehead on Sonic Mania, and Headcannon worked alongside SEGA on Sonic Origins last year. However, upon the game’s release Headcannon was not shy in criticizing some of the game’s bugs and performance issues.
Sonic appearing in other Sonic Team games was a highlight of the Dreamcast era, so it was delightful to see the press release from SEGA this morning revealing that Sonic himself will be making a cameo in the upcoming Nintendo Switch exclusive Samba de Amigo: Party Central! Sonic and City Escape will play host to Amigo and his friends as players shake it to two songs from the Sonic franchise: “Escape From the City” from Sonic Adventure 2 and “Fist Bump” from Sonic Forces. Check out the screenshot above and check the press release after the break! We wish SEGA sent a video clip too, but this is the best we can offer.
SEGA has officially announced Sonic Origins Plus, which is an expanded physical release as well as digital upgrade for existing owners of the game. The compilation adds 12 Game Gear games, adds Amy Rose as a playable character in all four Genesis/Mega Drive and SEGA CD titles and adds Knuckles to Sonic CD. Also included will be all previously released DLC as well as a 20-page art book and reversible cover which features a SEGA Genesis design. The collection will be up for pre-order soon on PlayStation 5 and 4, Nintendo Switch and Xbox consoles. After the break, check out the press release and some screenshots!
On this SEGA News Bits Live, Barry takes a look at leaked Sonic Origins Plus news and reviews the latest update to Sonic Frontiers. On the unboxing segment, Burger King’s new Sonic kid’s meal toys are detailed and Shadow finally is a juice bottle.
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While you wait for the release of Samba de Amigo: Party Central for Nintendo Switch, here’s a new development for what is probably the next best Samba de Amigo game.
Samba de Amigo ver. 2000, which originally released on Sega Dreamcast exclusively in Japan in the year 2000, has gotten a new English conversion by Dukeblooders. While the game originally didn’t have much Japanese text in it, and didn’t strictly require a mastery of Japanese to play anyway, Dukeblooders went the extra mile and converted as much of the game’s text as possible, mostly using audio or graphics from the Wii version of Samba de Amigo from 2007, which had most of ver. 2000’s features anyway. It may not seem like too much of a change, but it should help the game feel like a more complete English release that never was.
Currently, you can download the patch from Dukeblooders’s Github page. According to this page, patching your copy of the game requires the Universal Dreamcast Patcher software by Derek Pascarella, which you can get from his own Github page. Playing the patched game currently requires a Dreamcast ODE (Optical Drive Emulator) such as a MODE or a GDEMU, as it cannot run from a burnt CD-ROM at this time. It should run perfectly fine in a Dreamcast emulator, theoretically.
If you’re able to try this out, let us know what you think in the comments below.
Last year, SEGA promised three waves of free Sonic Frontiers DLC content, and the first wave entitled “Sights, Sounds, and Speed” is set for release on Wednesday, March 22 at 5:00 p.m. PDT / 8:00 p.m. EDT across PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, the Nintendo Switch family of systems and Steam. The update will include the following:
New Challenge Modes – After completing the main story campaign, players can access new challenge modes – Cyber Space Challenge and Battle Rush – via the title screen. The Cyber Space Challenge is a time-attack mode where players will compete against the clock to complete multiple Cyber Space stages in a row. Additionally, Sonic Frontiers will offer Battle Rush, a timed-battle mode where you fight multiple enemies, Guardians and Titans in one go.
Photo Mode – To capture memories of their time on the Starfall Islands, players can open the pause menu to access Photo Mode, which will pause gameplay and bring up a camera that is freely moveable.
Jukebox – Players can listen to their favorite Sonic songs all throughout the Starfall Islands with the new Jukebox. With 53 song tracks available, players will have instant access to 13 songs, and can unlock the remaining 40 songs by collecting Sound Memories on each island.
Two additional waves of content are expected for later this year, promising new features, challenges, playable characters and more. Given wave two has content specific to Sonic’s anniversary, a late June release is possible though not yet confirmed by SEGA. After the break, check out a gallery of screens for the content update!
On this EGGellent EGGpisode of the SEGGA Talk Podcast we will dive YOLK first into Elemental Gimmick Gear, a unique action RPG by a small unknown developer named Birthday. We will look at how a small egg model became a full blown Dreamcast cult classic!
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Its a video game inception post! In episode seven of HBO Max’s The Last of Us (which, believe it or not, is based on a video game), our lead character Ellie has a flashback episode remembering her time with an old friend where she was taken to an abandon mall which happens to feature a full set of working arcade machines. Aren’t they lucky? Ellie then bursts out that the arcades are “the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen”.
The episode shows Ellie trying out her driving skills on Daytona USA before they continue to play Mortal Kombat II, while it isn’t a SEGA video game, it was pretty prolific game on the SEGA Genesis. They also have the original Tetris machine which has a history with SEGA, as the Japanese rights for Tetris Arcade used to belong to SEGA.
Any other arcade machines you guys noticed during this episode?
Thanks to the folks at Retro-Bit, I was able to get my hands on their newest SEGA controller offerings: The BIG6 line of SEGA Genesis arcade pads. If you’ve followed retro gaming news you’d know that in the past ten years there has been great advancements in technology to improve the quality of life for fans of classic games. We’ve seen everything from flash cartridges to full on modern rebuilds of classic hardware, and on the controller end we’ve seen various companies and fan funded initiatives set out to improve button mapping, battery life, wireless efficiency or just create crazy controller hybrids. With the BIG6 line of controllers from Retro-Bit, the company has done all these things and in turn created a product I never knew I wanted and one I now cannot live without.
Hey! First article I get to write in 2023! FINALLY!
Pro-wrestling fans who tuned into to Impact Wrestling’s recent No Surrender event on February 24th, 2023 were in for quite a shock when it came time for the match between Joe Hendry and Quinn “Moose” Ojinnaka. Joe pulled out all the stops in this climactic battle, using a variety of unlikely objects as weapons against the mighty Moose, including a remote controlled toy car, a computer keyboard, and a Sega… Dreamcast?
Yeah. You telling me you would’ve have done the same if you were in his shoes?
SEGAbits and the Swingin’ Report Show podcast both turn 13 years old this month, making SEGAbits the oldest American SEGA fan site and the Swingin’ Report Show the longest running SEGA fan podcast! Celebrate with Swingin’ Report Show All-Stars Barry, George and Aki as we discuss Like A Dragon: Ishin! and Samba de Amigo: Party Central.
On this episode we dive back into the illusionary world of Mickey Mouse, this time being teamed up with Donald Duck in the World of Illusion! We take a look at this multiplayer take on the Mickey Illusion gameplay, and… do you know SEGA? Watch and find out!
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2023 is certainly shaping up to be the year of the Like A Dragon franchise, formerly the Yakuza franchise, with Like a Dragon: Ishin! releasing this week. SEGA has provided fans with a launch trailer, which you can watch above.
Former SEGA Senior Director of International Product Development and Localization Sam Mullen, who had worked on a bulk of the Yakuza/Like A Dragon franchise as it released to the West, shared his thoughts on the road to Ishin! on Twitter which are well worth a read. Since Twitter is not a very good place for archiving information, we’ve screencaptured Sam’s thoughts. After the break, information about the release platforms and Digital Deluxe Edition content.
Have you picked up Like a Dragon: Ishin!? Share your thoughts in the comments below!