Kowloon Walled City, as seen in Shenmue II, is recreated as an arcade in Japan

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What if you could walk around Kowloon, just as Ryo did in Shenmue II, playing SEGA arcade games and collecting capsule toys? SEGA fans will remember Kowloon best as the location of Shenmue II’s second act. Seeing the city in video game form is no match to seeing it in person, but unfortunately the city no longer exists. What is a Shenmue fan to do? Is it still possible to recreate Ryo’s Kowloon adventures? Thanks to Kawasaki, you can! Located in Kawasaki City, an amusement center south of Tokyo, is “Digital Kowloon City”.

“Digital Kowloon City” is an indoor recreation of the Kowloon Walled City, a city which in the late 1980’s was home to 33,000 people in a 6.5 acre space. Quirky Japanese blog RocketNews24 paid a visit to “Digital Kowloon City”, and the photos they took are incredibly cool. The place really does look like Kowloon at night, and there are arcade games, capsule machines, and UFO Catchers all over the place. Head on over to their blog for a virtual walkthrough of the virtual city. By the end of their article, you’ll want to visit the place yourself and will probably boot up Shenmue II instead, since you can’t afford a trip to Japan.

E3 Hands-On: Bayonetta 2 UPDATE Touch control impressions

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I will confess, SEGA’s line up does not exactly blow me away this year. I am out of my depth when it comes to PC strategy games and as much as I love Sonic, I need more to sate my SEGA hunger. After experiencing other E3 lineups that had the likes of Vanquish, Shinobi, Anarchy Reigns, Yakuza, and House of the Dead Overkill: Director’s Cut, the line up at the SEGA booth this year feels sparse and not quite as exciting.

Thank God for Bayonetta.

E3 Hands-On: Castle of Illusion Remake

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Back in late 1990 Sega wowed players with a great platformer starring Mickey Mouse known as “Castle of Illusion”. It had great graphics, sound, and challenge for its time. To this day, it’s the game Mickey’s most well-known for. 23 years later, Castle of Illusion is back again thanks to Emiko Yamamoto and Sega Studios Australia. It features graphics that give it the look of a $60 game, while still being the simple but challenging platformer we’ve grown to love.

New Project X Zone E3 trailer and batch of screenshots released


Are you excited for the upcoming Project X Zone cross-over game featuring some pretty neat SEGA characters and cameos? Well even though the Japanese port of the title isn’t breaking front pages on websites right now, they still released a new English trailer and batch of screenshots.

So, are you going to get this on your 3DS when it comes out June 25th (US) and July 5th (EU)?

Bayonetta 2 will have touch control option and 2-player mode

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Platinum Games is really trying to step up their game for the upcoming sequel to their best selling title. This time around they announced that Bayonetta 2 will have a 2-player mode when it comes out next year.

They said that even though Bayonetta 2 is built around a single-player experience, that they included a 2-player mode with new combat features for mid-air battles. Details aren’t all there yet.

Bayonetta 2 will also feature touch controls via the Wii U gamepad and stylus. Nintendo says this is designed for newcomers to the franchise and is obviously optional. The touch controls are actually playable at the E3 show floor, so expect us to have hands-on previews shortly!

Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse E3 trailer shows off SEGA’s re-imagining of a classic!


 
SEGA’s latest trailer for Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse shows off even more gameplay of the upcoming SEGA remake of the SEGA Genesis classic. This time, SEGA promises a mix of old and new, with recognizable layouts and brand new gimmicks. Check out that playing card vortex! Admittedly, the CG scenes aren’t all that great, but in the end it’s the gameplay that counts.

Stay tuned to SEGAbits for E3 coverage, we’ll make sure to give our gameplay impressions of Castle of Illusion and ask SEGA our burning questions.

More Bayonetta 2 screens arrive – Are U ready to dance?

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Nintendo’s press site just released a load of new screens from Bayonetta 2. Like the recent Sonic screens, a majority comes from what we’ve already seen in video form. However, the screens are big and crisp and full of details that fans are sure to pour over for the coming months. Bayonetta 2 is due out sometime in 2014.

After the break, more screens than you can shake a broomstick at. Due to the file type, the usual gallery mode was not working. So I’ve simply posted all the screens full size. Those with slow internet beware.

Feast your eyes on these Mario & Sonic 2014 and Sonic Lost World screens

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Via Nintendo’s press site comes a ton of new screens from Sonic Lost World for Wii U and 3DS as well as Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games for Wii U. Seen in the screens are the stages SEGA’s Aaron Webber revealed on IGN late last week. However, it is great to see them nice and crisp in the new screens. Mario & Sonic reveals… not as much. However, it does give a good look at our first HD entry to the series.

After the break, enough screens to make your head spin!

Sonic Lost World gets a release date [Update: it doesn’t], The Deadly Six get names

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Via GoNintendo comes Nintendo’s E3 press release, which features a bit of information important to Sonic fans: the release date of Sonic Lost World for Wii U and 3DS. That date? According to the press release, October 13th. Update: Seems GoNintendo goofed up. In copy and pasting the press release, the formatting was thrown off and the Skylanders release date was assigned to Sonic. Still Holiday 2013. Oh, but read on for the names of the Deadly Six!

Another notable bit of news is the reveal of the names of The Deadly Six. Thanks to Nintendo, we have a ton of assets from Sonic Lost World. While we compile the screens in a seperate news piece, please enjoy a Deadly Six roll call after the break.

Check out Bayonetta’s new look in 30 images from Bayonetta 2


 
The latest Nintendo Direct has finished, and the biggest reveal (outside the usual Nintendo properties) was a new trailer and gameplay video of Bayonetta 2 from Platinum Games. Despite SEGA having limited involvement in the sequel, as far as we know they are only involved as the IP holders, this was too cool not to share. Bayonetta 2 is set for a 2014 release. Also on show during the event was Sonic Lost World for Wii U and 3DS, though little new was seen. Another Super Smash Bros. was shown off, but Sonic was nowhere to be found. Another certain blue mascot did appear, however.

After the break, check out 30 images from the stream as well as the full stream itself! Bayonetta 2 appears at the 29 minute mark.

Yu Suzuki turns 55 years old today. Happy Birthday to Yu!

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Yu Suzuki turns 55 years old today. Yu Suzuki is known for his many arcade titles like After Burner, Out Run and many others. The thing is, Yu Suzuki is a big part of how SEGA became the company it was famous for. Yu Suzuki delivered huge hits before Sonic Team ever existed and most of those titles stand the test of time. The man created driving games, took us to the Fantasy Zone and even laid out the foundation for 3D fighters. Have I mentioned Shenmue? Just check out the twitter and facebook fans demanding SEGA to finish off the trilogy.

Any way you slice it, Yu Suzuki is a huge part of SEGA and since SEGA is a huge part of my life, so is Mr. Suzuki! Just want to say happy 55th birthday and hopefully there are many more to come.

SEGA Memories: My First E3

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There is nothing quite like your first E3. Before I first went to E3 back in 2010, the event seemed like this wondrous and mythical place, like Narnia. A place that you read about and see pictures of, but never a place you actually go to. In 2010, thanks in part to some incredibly good luck, spurred on by a personal loss that made me decide to go out and see the world, I stepped through the wardrobe and raced off to something I had been dreaming about going to since middle school, but never in a million years thought I would be able to actually see.

It all started just a few weeks before the event. I had just lost someone dear to me and I was anxious to find something to do with myself. That’s when Sharky contacted me and told me that SEGA was interested in inviting SEGAbits to E3, but no one on the site would be able to attend. SEGAbits had caught my interest a few months after its debut, but I had decided not to apply for because I knew I wouldn’t be able to write for it regularly. After hearing  that they might be getting an invite to E3, I jumped at the chance and offered myself up as a part time writer and as someone who could cover E3 for them. I quickly wrote up a review of House of the Dead: Overkill, and kept my fingers crossed that it would pan out. Unfortunately, it didn’t. SEGA had sent out the industry passes to other people, and I resigned myself to being a faraway spectator of E3 again. No big deal, this was how these things normally worked out anyway.

Sonic Talk Episode #21: Tracy Take Two

It may have taken several more weeks and one more recording session than expected, but we’ve finally got Tracy Yardley on Sonic Talk! As they say, good things come to those who wait, and that is definitely true for anyone who was looking forward to this. No need to skip through to the interview either, as we have Tracy Yardley! for the entire show, so just sit back and enjoy. Or not. We won’t judge you.

Today, in addition to the Yardley interview, we (sorta) discuss Sonic coming to the Ouya, the Sonic Lost World game play trailer, finally having a 3D Sonic game on a handheld, and the fact that the third Sonic game is in fact not coming this year.

Check out the high res version of a special piece of art Tracy did for us below. If you want a chance to commission him for a piece of SEGA art, you can enter into our SEGAbits Summer of Art Contest.