Beggar Prince to be reprinted on SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive to celebrate game’s 20th anniversary

Beggar-Prince-Third-Times-the-Charm-1
Beggar Prince
 was a Chinese RPG that was only released in that region in 1996. In 2006 Super Fighter Team decided to translate the game to English and manufacture them on the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive carts, touting that it was the first SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive made since 1998. They sold out and now the $40 dollar game has been highly sought after. This will be the fourth release of the game (counting the 1996 original) and 3rd reprint by Super Fighter Team.

From the team:

“The prodigal son has returned! Beggar Prince, our first commercial video game, will be put back into production in the form of a special twentieth anniversary edition. Originally released in Taiwan in 1996, this fabulous role-playing adventure game was first published in English by Super Fighter Team ten years later. Ever since the game sold out, countless fans have written in to request that we put it back into production. Well, here it comes! Don’t miss this chance to own one of the most stunning games ever produced for the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive!”

As a person that has the 3rd release of the game, the cart doesn’t use SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive screws and the feel of the box isn’t the same as an actual SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive box. It has a different feel. You can pre-order your copy here for $55. Game isn’t set to ship till sometime in 2016.

The SEGA Five: Why every Sonic fan needs to play Knuckles’ Chaotix

Chaotix_title

The 32X gets a lot of shit, and with good reason. The system stands as SEGA’s most abject failure, featuring the smallest library and shortest lifespan of any SEGA platform. It failed to live up to the promises SEGA made to its consumers and is a classic example of SEGA’s mid-90’s mismanagement.

An unfortunate side-effect of the 32X’s infamy is that the system’s better games are often ignored, or even worse, get the same shit that the 32X does. Knuckles’ Chaotix is a game that unfortunately suffers from both of these issues, and after having spent several days playing the game for 32X month, I’ve got to say that it’s a real shame. As far as I’m concerned, Knuckles’ Chaotix is a game every Sonic fan ought to play at least once, and here are five reasons why.

The SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis: Collected Works is approved – book goes to print on August 11th!

Screen Shot 2014-08-08 at 12.02.01 PM
 
Darren Wall of Read-Only Memory has officially announced that SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis: Collected Works has been approved by SEGA and will go to print this upcoming Monday! In a detailed Kickstarter update, Darren shows off the book’s sexy cover, and details the exhaustive (but necessary) process in receiving approval from SEGA. The book will be 352 pages long, with 8 fold-out pages featuring hardware design drawings and jumbo versions of box art from Space Harrier 2, Alien Storm, Super Thunderblade and The Super Shinobi II/Shinobi III. The book will contain 80 pages of developer interviews, a guide to SEGA logotypes, and a chapter devoted to game art totaling 60 pages. The one downside, which is really not that bad, is that the approval process has delayed the expected shipping date. Darren promises “a firm delivery date from the printer very shortly”. To see hear and see more from Darren, check out the latest update.

A big congratulations from all of us at SEGAbits to Darren Wall! We can’t wait to hold the book in our hands.

Sonic Fights Robotnik Chapter 7 Live Fan Fiction Read

In the tradition of Sonic Amateur Games Expo comes a fan fiction reading of the greatest Sonic story ever told by the greatest Sonic fan in existence, SonicFan. This year InstantSonic, Katzu Niku, GeneHF, Bartman3010, Overlord, OverlyEquipped, Neo Hazard and of course DavidTL bring you a live (Now pre-recorded on YouTube!) read of chapter 7 of Sonic Fights Robotnik!

3D Thunder Blade announced as the next Nintendo 3DS SEGA 3D Classics title

Screen Shot 2014-08-08 at 11.11.38 AM
 
SEGA Japan has revealed that Thunder Blade is the next SEGA arcade title to receive the 3D remastering treatment. 3D Thunder Blade is set to release on August 20th, 2014, priced at 926 yen (excluding tax), and like other second series 3D Classics releases, there is no Western release planned as of yet. Hey SEGA, we want more 3D Classics! Features include a reproduction of the arcade cabinet experience, gyro sensor gameplay, and a special mode featuring the game’s final stage.

After the break, check out a gallery of screenshots, and while you’re at it let SEGA know (nicely, not rudely) that we want more 3D Classics in the West!

Alien: Isolation’s creative lead states that his game is not Colonial Marines

IGN has conducted an interview with Al Hope, creative lead developer for the upcoming Alien: Isolation.

In it, he specifies a number of different things, many of which should make Alien fans quite happy. His team, he says, from the start set out to create a different Alien game than Colonial Marines was: a true horror experience, something completely unlike the shooter-focused direction its predecessor took on.

Isolation, which according to Hope has been in development for the past four years, has always aimed to take the series back to its roots; the first movie, in particular, where the horror, not the action, took center stage.

“It would be awesome to show Ridley Scott what we’re doing,” Hope said. “I’d like to think he’d really appreciate the care and attention and level of detail we’ve put into re-creating his original vision and original universe and I think he’d appreciate it.”

Alien: Isolation hits stores this November.

Review: Crazy Taxi: City Rush (iOS)

Free-to-play games can be hard to get right. They can either block customers from playing until they pay up or give them too much, making the grinding easy and fun which kills any reason to buy anything. The free to play approach on Sonic Jump Fever and Crazy Taxi: City Rush couldn’t be more different. Sonic Jump Fever is all about the high score by having you follow your Facebook friends and compete with them on the leaderboards. Sadly, the only way to get the best scores is to have that one rare chao that kills all of your enemies, Use your hard-earned in-game currency on items like power ups and more powerful characters, and have an energy bar that depletes super fast.

All of this forces you to pay-to-win, requiring you to pony out dough just to compete with your friends. This may be a free to play game, but I’ve spent $14 on Sonic Jump Fever. Curse you Sonic Stadium’s Adam Tuff and your super-high scores! In Crazy Taxi: City Rush, the “fare” is much more fair and just a better game all around. Read on for why this is one of the better ways to make a free to play game.

SEGA localizing Phantasy Star Nova and Shining Resonance in Chinese

chineseShiningResonance
SEGA has just announced that they will be localizing both Phantasy Star Nova and Shining Resonance in Traditional Chinese. Isn’t that something? I know a few continents that would really enjoy English releases of those two games. Shoot, I think Phantasy Star Nova would do great on the Playstation Vita right now considering they don’t have much original games to play.

I guess the only two options to play these two games is either to learn either Japanese or Chinese.

SEGA Sammy Q1 results for Fiscal Year March 2015

segabits persona q

Sega Sammy has released their financial results for what was a fairly quiet Q1 for the company. Japanese tax increases and advertising costs took a toll on their bottom line, while their games divisions, including arcade, console, and mobile, all struggled due mainly due to a lack of new content. In short, Sega Sammy has certainly seen better days, though some big titles coming up should help them regain at least some of their traction.

Phantasy Star Online 2: Episode 3 Introduces Myau…er, Nyau!

PSO2NyauPhantasy Star Online 2: Episode 3 is coming out on August 27 in Japan. It will feature a new planet to explore, a casino for the lobby, new skills for old classes and an entirely new class in the Bouncer. It will also feature new characters and enemies, and the one featured above should be interesting to fans familiar with the classic Phantasy Star games.

Meet Nyau! Nyau is an enemy to be introduced in Episode 3, clearly inspired by the party character Myau from the first Phantasy Star game. According to Siliconera, Nyaus have high defense, so to battle them more efficiently you’ll need to make them vulnerable by destroying their weapon when they drop it. This will prompt Nyau to mourn the loss and be open for attacks. Nyaus are reportedly still strong on offense by themselves and can summon bosses, so speed will be of the essence. Also, if you manage to break a Nyau’s weapon you may have a chance for an item drop!

Credit to this PSUBlog entry for the image capture.

Swingin’ Report Show #68: Indie SEGA Dreamcast interview with the Elysian Shadows Team – Kickstarter Edition

The team behind the indie RPG Elysian Shadows returns to the Swingin’ Report Show following the launch of their Kickstarter. As discussed in early June, the game is heading to the SEGA Dreamcast, but this time the team has many more details and ideas for the beloved SEGA console. Check out our interview to hear the team’s plans for the game, what SEGA titles influenced them, and how far they’re potentially willing to go to support the many Dreamcast features and accessories. You can find their Kickstarter here, or search “Elysian Shadows” on Kickstarter.

[Download] [RSS] [iTunes] [Archive]

Console trailer for Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax released and out for PS3 and Vita on Nov 13


The wait is now over as SEGA has announced that their new fighting title, Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax, is set for release on November 13th for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. The video showcases characters special moves  and impact skills including the newly additional characters with a new theme song,(I’ve)の新曲「belief」, sung by Kawada Mami.

Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax is a 2D arcade fighting game published by SEGA which brings together selected characters from light novel series published under ASCII Media Works‘ Dengeki Bunko imprint. The project is a collaboration between SEGA and Dengeki Bunko as part of the 20th year anniversary of the light novel imprint.

The game also features various SEGA cameos with Akira Yuki and Pai Chan of the Virtua Fighter series as bosses and SEGA themed levels based on SEGA’s iconic franchises.

Be sure to tune in on SEGAbits for more Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax related news and events this fall.

My Life with SEGA travels to a galaxy far, far away in Star Wars Arcade for the SEGA 32X

That’s right, gang! My Life with SEGA has decided to celebrate the ill-fated 32X on its 20th anniversary by rehashing its not-so-exciting adventures in a galaxy far, far away.

Star Wars Arcade! Yeah, baby! This time, AJ is not alone. AJ and his faithful sidekick Mickey Mac, are going up against the Galactic Empire in a desperate attempt to see the fuckin’ ending!

If you wish to see the original solo – pardon the pun – review of Star Wars Arcade, you can find it after the break!

Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel!

SEGA Tunes: Knuckles Chaotix’s Speed Slider Zone

 
Knuckles Chaotix was the black sheep Sonic game of its era. Standing as one of the few major releases for an infamous peripheral, Chaotix had strange team based game play that played with Sonic physics in a way no game has done before or since, it featured an eclectic cast of characters that stand out even by modern Sonic standards, and it didn’t even feature Sonic or Tails among them. Even so, Knuckles Chaotix does contain one element that would be very familiar to any classic Sonic fan: a spectacular soundtrack.

Speed Slider is quintessential Sonic sound, chaotic and fast. It perfectly captures the speedy nature of its stage and the colorful, cheerful atmosphere of the game itself. Despite how infamous the 32X’s sound capabilities are, Knuckles Chaotix proves what the hardware was capable of in the right hands. In the hands of the Chaotix development team, the 32X sang.

Stick with us throughout the month as we examine some other great soundtracks from the 32X!

Phantasy Star Nova demo will allow 4-Player Co-Op

Phantasy StarNova4Players
We teased you in July about Phantasy Star Nova getting a demo on the Japanese PSN Store and now we get news that the game will allow 4-player co-op via local wireless connection.

Sadly though SEGA says this demo release will not showcase its character creation aspect or even story progression. I guess they want us to wait till the full game.

For those waiting on the full version of this title it will be coming out in Japan this November. The demo hits the Japanese PSN story on August 12th. We will most likely post some hands on impressions when it does hit. No release date announced outside of Japan (sorry 🙁 ).