This is Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Arcade Edition

Don’t throw away your lose change because SEGA has just released a trailer for their Mario & Sonic At the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Arcade Edition, try saying that ten times fast. Mario & Sonic At the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Arcade Edition was mean’t to launch back in February but has now been pushed back to June. The game is now out in limited locations and we have gotten the trailer above to promote the arcade unit.

Mario & Sonic At the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Arcade Edition features a pretty massive cabinet, something that most arcade manufactures have scaled back on. Due to its twin stick and foot control support Mario & Sonic At the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Arcade Edition plays differently than its home release counterparts. Let us know what you think of Mario & Sonic At the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Arcade Edition‘s cabinet in the comments below.

[Source: Arcade Heroes]

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SEGA News Bits: Crossover SRPG “SEGA Blast Heroes” Leaked

Earlier in July, a mobile game called SEGA Blast Heroes was seemingly leaked via Facebook ads. In this SEGA News Bits, George and Barry discuss this rumored new game that sets out to assemble an all-star cast of SEGA characters in a SRPG setting. Could SEGA Blast Heroes be the real deal, or is SEGA simply testing the waters and the game is nothing more than some mocked up screenshots?

If you enjoyed this episode of the SEGA News Bits, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and never miss an episode!

SEGA News Bits: Deep Silver to bring SEGA and Atlus titles to Europe

In this SEGA News Bits, George and Barry discuss the recent announcement that publisher Deep Silver has teamed with SEGA of America and Atlus USA to release Atlus and select SEGA titles to Europe. That’s right! While SEGA Europe lets great games slip through the cracks, these two American companies are picking up the slack (“Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers” anyone?) .

Europeans can expect Atlus’ Persona 5 and Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse as well as SEGA’s 7th Dragon III Code: VFD in both physical and packaged releases thanks to a deal made with Deep Silver, and that is just the beginning. More games are to come! Listen to our thoughts on what this means for SEGA Europe and why SEGA of America and Atlus USA had to do what they did in our latest News Bits.

If you enjoyed this episode of the SEGA News Bits, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and never miss an episode!

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Multiplayer Showcase Sets the Stage with Saturn Bomberman

Wondering what to look for in a SEGA Saturn game now that Saturn game encryption has finally been cracked? Why not one of the biggest multiplayer experiences on the console? Multiplayer Showcase continues to take a look at Saturn Bomberman by covering our favorite stages, gimmicks, exploit the dinosaurs and try to figure out what the kick power up looks like. The round table discussion features my friends Chance, Krys, Randy and Chelsea. (Who didn’t play with us but has actually played the game before!) We talk about the simple wide stage. What are your favorite levels or gimmicks from the game? Do the dinosaurs break the game for you or your friends? Sound off in the comments section.

Atlus announces Etrian Odyssey V DLC plans

etrianodysseyvIn the latest issue of Famitsu, Atlus revealed its DLC plans for the upcoming Etrian Odyssey V: The End of the Long Myth, at least in Japan. While I hate the idea of pre-released DLC plans, ill just post the list of Etrian Odyssey V DLC instead of preaching why this is bad for the industry.

August 4

  • New Adventurer 1 (300 yen) – Choose a “School Uniformed Boy” during character creation.
  • New Adventurer 2 (300 yen) – Choose a “Sailor Uniformed Girl” during character creation.
  • New Adventurer 3 (300 yen) – Choose a “Sweater Wearing Girl” during character creation.
  • New Adventurer 4 (300 yen) – Choose an Etrian Odyssey 1 Paladin New Illustration” during character creation.
  • New Adventurer 5 (300 yen) – Choose an Etrian Odyssey 1 Medic New Illustration” during character creation.
  • Adventurer Training Plan (300 yen) – Take on the “Adventurer Training Plan” quest at the bar. (On top of the fact that you get a lot of experience points for clearing the quest, you can also obtain an accessory that multiplies your acquired experience by three.)
  • Adventurer Good Luck Plan (300 yen) – Take on the “Adventurer Good Luck Plan” quest at the bar. (On top of the fact that you’ll get a lot of en for clearing the quest, you can also obtain an accessory that makes the availability rate of materials without drop conditions of enemies 100 percent.)

Still to be Dated

  • FM Sound Source Addition (800 yen) – Adds a Frequency Modulation Sound Source version as a BGM option, which can be switched from in the options menu.
  • New Adventurer 6 – Contents, release date, and price to be announced.

What are your thoughts on Atlus and how they have been handling DLC in the past few years? Are you thinking of picking up Etrian Odyssey V?

[Via: Gemastu]

SEGA Saturn copy protection cracked after 22 years

The SEGA Saturn has long been that one SEGA console that was near impossible to crack, and console owners could forget trying to easily play copied games (which currently relies on a mod chip and burning CDs). But now, thanks to electronics fellow and coder James Laird-Wah aka “Dr Abrasive”, the Saturn’s copy protection has finally been cracked.

Detailed in the extended video above is the process which Dr Abrasive took to achieve this. Essentially, games are loaded from USB via the expansion card port. The Saturn was so difficult to crack due to DRM requiring discs to have a physical mark on them (called a wobble) which was etched into the CD. Dr Abrasive got past this by figuring out how the disc drive worked and emulating it via USB. The project is still in the testing phase, but there are plans to make boards available for sale. The work will eventually open up doors to homebrew communities and preserve the console’s functionality years beyond the eventual death of the CD drive.

You can follow the project at Dr Abrasive’s Twitter account and at the official Assembler Games topic, and you can join the discussion at the SEGAbits forums.

Review: 7th Dragon III Code: VFD (3DS)

7thdragonreviewI have been complaining that SEGA should bring over the 7th Dragon series since it debuted on the Nintendo DS way back in 2009 and now we finally got our first entry with 7th Dragon III Code: VFD (which has been confirmed to be the last entry as well). The7th Dragon series had SEGA veterans like Rieko Kodama (Phantasy Star, Skies of Arcadia fame) and composer Yuzo Koshiro (Streets of Rage series, Etrian Odyssey) involved to help craft the long running series. While we missed out on first couple games and a couple of spin-off titles; its nice to finally get to play a official localized version of the game.

But was the last game really worth the wait? Well, let’s find out.

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Stories International to adapt SEGA’s Rent A Hero into a movie

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Via Deadline comes news that Stories International, a joint media venture between SEGA and Hakuhodo DY Group launched in 2011, plans to release a movie based on the 1991 Mega Drive game Rent A Hero. The movie will be spearheaded by filmmakers Steve Pink and Jeff Morris, with Pink’s credits including Hot Tub Time Machine, High Fidelity and Grosse Pointe Blank and Morris’ most recent credit being the upcoming Netflix project The True Memoirs of an International Assassin starring Kevin James. The original Rent A Hero starred the character Taro Yamada as the “Rent A Hero”, a hero for hire that needs to complete various tasks to save the day and pay for his suit. The game never saw release in the West, though a fan made english hack exists and an Xbox remake almost released to the West but was cancelled – though the finished translated version exists and is playable.

Stories International’s president and CEO Tomoya Suzuki and Hakuhodo DY Group are slated to produce. Meanwhile, Evan J. Cholfin of Stories International will oversee the film as executive producer.

So… first Shinobi and now Rent A Hero! What do you think of SEGA’s upcoming films? Sound off in the comments below!

7th Dragon III Code: VFD DLC will be free for first week buyers

Did you know that 7th Dragon III Code: VFD will have a array of DLC released? SEGA has confirmed that early buyers won’t have to pay a cent for the DLC, as long as you buy it during its first week of release. Mark your calendars because 7th Dragon Code: VFD hits store shelves on July 12th in North America.

Here are some of the DLC release dates:

July 12, 2016

  • Gold Rabi Outbreak! quest: Gold Rabi encounters. Free until July 18, 2016. $1.49 after.
  • Nagamimi Doll: free DLC that adds a talking Nagamimi to the player’s dorm.
  • Seed Outbreak! quest: Dragonsbane Seed encounters. Free until July 18, 2016. $1.49 after.

July 19, 2016

  • Code: Otaku!: recruit 7th Dragon 2020’s Hacker. Free until July 25, 2016. $1.99 after.
  • Code: Student!: recruit 7th Dragon 2020’s Samurai. Free until July 25, 2016. $1.99 after.

July 26, 2016

  • Allie’s Death March: boss rush of every encounter, with the bosses at their max level. Free until August 1, 2016, $1.49 after.
  • Code: Lucier!: recruit 7th Dragon 2020-II’s Lucier. Free until August 1, 2016. $1.99 after.
  • To My Beloved Unit 13: unlock classes’ ultimate weapons and the Blaster Raven character. Free until August 1, 2016. $1.49 after. (Note: only available in the quest list after beating 7th Dragon III Code: VFD.)

7th Dragon III Code: VFD is also coming to Europe, thanks to Deep Silver that has just announced a publishing deal with SEGA/Atlus.

Yuzo Koshiro’s studio releasing ‘Gotta Protectors’ on 3DS e-shop

If you didn’t know, Yuzo Koshiro is part owner of a development studio called Ancient Games. This studio is responsible for some big SEGA hits like Streets of Rage 2, Beyond Oasis/Story of Thor games and Vatlva (not so much a hit)While the studio has stayed mostly in Japan with new releases, that is about to change as they announced their new game ‘Gotta Protectors’ is coming to the Nintendo 3DS e-Shop on July 21st. Gotta Protectors or Protect Me Knight 2 (as its known in Japan) is a cooperative action tower defense game. This is how Ancient describes their game:

“Gotta Protector is a cooperative Action, Tower Defense game.
You become hero and battle against a bunch of monsters!
Train them, Get items and powers! Protect your princess!”

Gotta Protectors will retail digitally for $12.99 and have an additional FM sound pack as DLC for $7.99 bucks. Seeing that the composer for Gotta Protectors is Yuzo Koshiro himself, it might worth picking up the DLC even at that price. You can check out the game’s page for more information.

[Via: Tiny Cartridge]

 

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SEGA News Bits: Sonic & Friends New Concept Art Revealed Reaction

During the Sonic the Hedgehog 25th Anniversary Event in Japan, Sonic Team showed off some never before seen Sonic & Friends concept art prototypes. Some of these previously unreleased designs shows off early ideas for some very famous Sonic the Hedgehog characters. On this episode of SEGA News Bits, George and Barry have a look at each of the newly released Sonic the Hedgehog character designs and tell you their opinion.

If you like our SEGA News Bits content, make sure to subscribe to us on our YouTube channel to get more.

Cave Story being ported to SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive

If you haven’t played the 2004 indie game ‘Cave Story‘ then you are really missing out on a classic PC game. But don’t worry a retro developer is ‘demaking’ the classic for release on the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive. The game will scale down the graphics to run on the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive 16-bit hardware (I think it still looks pretty damn close though) and will have the full soundtrack (remade for Yamaha YM262 sound).

Not only that, the developer has already released a playable demo of his Cave Story demake. You can download it here. The Cave Story demo is limited to the first few areas of the game. You can also see gameplay of Cave Story running on SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive hardware above.

Download Demo Here

[Source: Retro Collect]

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SEGA News Bits: NiGHTS into Dreams turns 20 years old

NiGHTS Into Dreams hit the SEGA Saturn 20 years ago, leaving a generation of gamers mesmerized by its beautiful 3D graphics and surreal dream world. Today on the SEGA News Bits we will be talking all about Sonic Team’s NiGHTS franchise including a retrospective (of its two whole games) and even cameos the purple jester has made through its 20 years of existence.

So sit back, hit play and let’s chat about NiGHTS into Dreams. If you like these SEGA News Bits videos, hit subscribe on our YouTube channel to see more!

Publisher Deep Silver to bring Atlus and select SEGA games to Europe [Updated with press release]

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Moments ago it was tweeted out by Deep Silver, the video game publishing division of German multinational corporation Koch Media, that they will be bringing Atlus USA and select SEGA titles to Europe. This will include Atlus titles Persona 5 and Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse. No further details are known as of now, but we are hoping a press release hits soon. This is both great news and bad news for European SEGA fans. It’s great that more games from SEGA and Atlus will be releasing to Europe, but it is bad news as it is a major sign that SEGA Europe – a publisher in their own right – are so disinterested in their own titles that they must rely on an external publisher to bring them over.

No word on what these select SEGA titles would include, but I would wager they’d be the more niche and/or Japanese titles like Hatsune Miku and 7th Dragon III: Code VFD. This is just my guess however, as we do not an any confirmation of what SEGA titles to expect as of yet.

Updates as the story unfolds after the break.