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Retro Review: Jet Set Radio

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From their garage hidden amidst the alleyways of Shibuya, to the neon-drenched streets of Benten-Cho, they ride high on the funky rhythms being streamed directly into their brains. They are the GGs, and when their story was first told on the Dreamcast, it brought the world the beautiful synergy of cel-shaded graphics played to Hideki Naganuma’s incredible soundtrack. It was a game that further cemented the Dreamcast’s place as the platform for artsy and innovative adventures, and while some aspects of its gameplay still frustrate slightly, Jet Set Radio is every bit as fun as it was back in the day.

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Kenji Kanno and Hardlight Studios gives insight on Crazy Taxi City Rush with a Developer Diary series

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Kenji Kanno, the original creator of the Crazy Taxi arcade game, and Hardlight Studios gives us an insight on the development on the upcoming Crazy Taxi City Rush mobile game for IOS and Andriod platforms.

While working with the team at Hardlight Studios for the first time, Kenji Kanno wanted them to understand the roots of the game franchise in order for them to be more ambitious and keep the original concept true to the game. He also gives his opinion on the unique thing about smartphones is that you could start the game as a timewaster at first, but become sucked into it and get really addicted to the game.

Hardlight Studio’s Scott West explains that their company has a different audience and playstyle. So what they did with the game was to implement missions from pickup missions, daily challenges which are timed, regular missions, ranking missions and special missions. For more highlights from the video that are included in Crazy Taxi City Rush, be sure to hit the jump.

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Classic SEGA Magazine Corner: The Official Dreamcast Magazine previews Jet Grind Radio

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Jet Set Radio Week rolls onwards! Today’s feature dusts off a classic issue of the Official Dreamcast Magazine (ODCM), which was published in the United States from June 1999 (the premiere Issue 0) to March 2001 (the final issue 12). Issue 6, which we’re shining the spotlight on today, released in the summer of 2000 and was a much anticipated issue as it featured an extensive preview of the upcoming Jet Set Radio – which was retitled Jet Grind Radio for the US market at the time the magazine went to print.

The author of the preview, Francesca Reyes (former Editor-In-Chief of the Official Xbox Magazine), is a name SEGAbits readers may remember. Francesca, as well as former ODCM Editor-In-Chief Simon Cox and former Gamespot Editor-In-Cheif Ricardo Torres, joined us for our 50th podcast to celebrate the Dreamcast’s birthday and talk about the history of the magazine. For the preview, Francesca not only flew out to Japan to go hands on with the game, but she also met with SEGA’s ragtag Smilebit team! After the break, let’s crack open this classic issue and see what this wacky cel shaded graffiti game is all about.

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Contest: Win a Jet Set Radio hoodie or soundtrack!

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Now that Jet Set Radio week is in full effect, let’s talk about our contest. We will be giving away Jet Set Radio hoodies and Japanese soundtracks via our twitter account. Make sure you follow and retweet the tweet below to enter.


The week isn’t over, we will also be streaming Jet Set Radio via our Twitch channel this Thursday at 5:30pm PST/8:30pm EST. Tune in, before Captain Onishima tries to shut down the stream!

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Atlus set for another Persona announcement on May 2nd

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Right after the SEGA buyout was confirmed, Atlus went ahead and confirmed that they where working on four Persona titles. Seems that isn’t enough, since we will be getting another announcement come May 2nd.

Atlus will be having a live Persona-related stream on NicoNico on May 2nd, 11:30pm JST. What is this stream about? They will have guests, preview material for the upcoming Persona 3: Midsummer Knight’s Dream movie, and this teased announcement.

The last event was when Atlus announced those upcoming Persona games. What do they have in store this time? Another movie? More games? I guess we will find out soon.

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SEGA All-Stars “Skies of Arcadia” Vyse statue now available to pre-order from First 4 Figures

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First 4 Figures, creators of the Sonic the Hedgehog and SEGA All-Stars lines of collector’s statues, are at it again as pre-orders for their beautiful Skies of Arcadia Vyse statue are now open! Sculpted to 1/6 scale, Vyse himself measures approximately 11″ tall. In total, from the base to the tip of the pirates flag, the statue measures 17″ tall. As expected from First 4 Figures, there are two versions. The standard edition is limited to 1,000 pieces and is priced at $199.99, the exclusive version is limited to 425 and is priced at $219.99 and features a switch-out right arm holding the Pirate’s Cutlass. Both statues are expected to release Q4 2014.

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SEGA Tunes: Hideki Naganuma’s favorite Jet Set Radio tunes

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The question of “What makes a SEGA game a SEGA game?” is often debated amongst fans of the company. Some believe it is as simple as looking at the package and spotting the SEGA logo, others believe that there is a magical mix of various elements that give that true “SEGA feel”. While I’ll admit that I believe any game funded by and owned by the company qualifies, I can’t help but feeling that some games have a certain je ne sais quoi (or is that je ne sega quoi?) that elevates them to another level.

Jet Set Radio is one of those games. It is a game that oozes style, featuring unique characters that are adventurous and edgy. The game puts a unique spin on established concepts, and pays tribute to the company’s arcade past by featuring fast paced gameplay. Most importantly of all, the game carries on the grand SEGA tradition of memorable music – so much so that I’d argue that Jet Set Radio is one of the greatest SEGA soundtracks of all time.

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Insert Coin’s SEGA catalog to be updated with new items

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Insert Coin is a United Kingdom-based clothing company with apparel and accessories featuring various video game franchises. As it is, their catalog of Sega items is fairly expansive and covers a few SEGA franchises including Jet Set Radio, Shinobi, Space Channel 5, and of course Sonic the Hedgehog. SEGAbits has covered some of their offerings previously, including one news post that features a Beat-inspired shirt and a Knuckles-inspired hoodie, and another news post that shows off Dreamcast and Mega Drive-inspired bags.

The company recently updated their blog to show off a new line of SEGA-themed items for this year. These include the above-pictured “Running Club” T-shirt which pays homage to the central title screen icon and release year of the first game. There’s also a “Science Club” T-shirt for future evil geniuses creative and inventive thinkers, and a dress with Sonic the Hedgehog 2’s Casino Night itself as the dress. Rounding out the collection is a Shenmue-inspired Hazuki jacket.

The company hopes to release these new products in Q3 of this year, and plans to release more details and images of the products in the near future.

What sort of SEGA-themed clothing or accessories would you be interested in?

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SEGA Retrospective: Over the ‘hood, through the streets and right into your brain – It’s Jet Set Radio

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We’re transmitting our signal straight to you! Y’all got your antennas on?
Welcome to Jet Set Radio Week – a week long celebration of SEGA’s off-kilter cel shaded Dreamcast classic! Past SEGA Franchise Weeks focused on more than one game, but Jet Set Radio Week is going to be different. Rather than splitting our time between the Dreamcast original and its radically different Xbox sequel Jet Set Radio Future, we’re devoting the next seven days to simply Jet Set Radio. But don’t fret, Jet Set Radio Future will have its own week soon enough!

Like Sonic The Hedgehog on the Genesis, and NiGHTS on the Saturn, Jet Set Radio on the Dreamcast turned heads with amazing visuals, memorable music, and unique gameplay mechanics. Jet Set Radio (Jet Grind Radio in America) may not have taken off like SEGA had hoped, but it did do well enough to warrant the previously mentioned sequel and has since become a SEGA cult classic. After the break, let’s take a look back and how such a crazy concept for a game came to be.

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Phantasy Star Online 2es coming to iOS in May

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(Above is a Let’s Play, which was done through our Twitch channel. Follow us!)

Phantasy Star Online 2es is already out for Android in Japan, but it will soon hit Apple devices in May. The Android version has broke 100,000 downloads since it was released on April 7th. That is pretty impressive.

As of right now, SEGA West hasn’t made any more statements about Phantasy Star Online 2 or Phantasy Star Online 2es coming to the West. But if you are on Android and want to play PSO2es, there is already an English patch. To see the English patch in action, check out our hands-on video above.

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SEGA CUP: Virtua Fighter Tournament begins today!

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The SEGA Cup 2014 for Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown is now live with tournament brackets and schedule released for the event.

The description is as follows:

SEGA® of America, Inc. today announced that it will once again host a Virtua Fighter™5 Final Showdown Tournament this year, continuing its partnership with Alex Valle and Level|Up. The 2014 “SEGA CUP” tournament will take place in Los Angeles at the Super Arcade on April 26, 2014. Cash prizes will be awarded to the top 16 players. Once again, the version for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system will be used for the competition.

Last year’s tournament celebrated the legacy of the popular “fighting game fan’s fighter” for the first time and saw player Fuudo, who previously won the Virtua Fighter EVO 2012 and Street Fighter IV EVO 2011 tournaments, emerging as the winner.

Based on the latest arcade version of the celebrated Virtua Fighter 5 series, Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown launched in June 2012 for PlayStation®Network (PSN) and on the Xbox Live online entertainment network for the Xbox 360 games and entertainment system from Microsoft.

The tournament will be streamed on Level|Up’s twitch channel. Who’s going to be the best Virtua Fighter player in the West Coast this year? Click here to see the schedule for the tournament.

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Yuzo Koshiro will compose music for Persona Q

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Yuzo Koshiro has worked on music for a lot of games, but SEGA fans will always know him for his amazing work on the Streets of Rage series. In my opinion, this is what made Yuzo Koshiro a legend. Want more music from him? Don’t worry, it has been revealed that he will be composing tracks for the upcoming Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth.

Also announced to be working on the game is Yuji Himukai who is being brought aboard to design some monsters along with Shin Nagasawa. All three (including Yuzo Koshiro) worked on Etrian Odyssey (and Persona Q is basically Etrian Odyssey with Personas…).

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SEGA’s Shining cross-over fighting game reveals six playable characters

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SEGA is putting together a Shining cross-over fighting game and calling the game ‘Blade Arcus from Shining‘. The 2D fighting game will run location tests in Japan from May 9th to May 11th in Akihabara. Blade Arcus will allow users to test six characters, which include two new characters just for this game.

  • Ryuga (new)
  • Pairon Wong (new)
  • Rage from Shining Blade
  • Sakuya from Shining Blade
  • Xiao-Mei from Shining Hearts
  • Altina from Shining Blade

Given that SEGA has taken this franchise everywhere from a hack’n’slash arcade game to various role-playing games, does an entry into the 2D fighting game market excite you? Would having classic Shining Force characters matter?

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SEGA Retrospective: Over 20 years later, and the Pico is still an amazing piece of hardware

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The Year of the SEGA Console highlights several pieces of SEGA hardware celebrating milestone anniversaries, and for the most part the featured consoles are well regarded. March’s Genesis Month focused on what was arguably the most beloved consoles from SEGA’s past. The Saturn (20 years old in Japan) and Dreamcast (15 years old in the West), despite their missteps, are equally loved. But what about the black sheep of the SEGA console family? The 32X, which turns 20 this year, has been bad-mouthed, stomped on, and even impaled by flaming arrows.

The Pico, a children’s computer which turns 20 this year in the US, hasn’t received the same vitriol as the 32X, but it too has been pushed aside as one of the disreputable members of SEGA’s hardware family. The reasons for this, I’d suspect, are that the Pico software is simply not targeted at gamers. The software, dubbed Storyware by SEGA, are teaching tools and interactive storybooks. As such, a bulk of the Pico’s library could be seen as “childish” and “boring”, but when approaching the console in the right mindset, it really is an amazing piece of hardware.

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