Japanese Only Dreamcast Game “Nakoruru: The Gift She Gave Me” Gets Fan Translated English Patch

The SEGA Dreamcast is a great console that received a lot of great games, some of these games only got a Japanese release. Thankfully, in the last few years we have had fans go back and translate the games themselves. Nakoruru: The Gift She Gave Me was released back in 2001 on Windows PC and a year later on Dreamcast. This game is an adventure game that’s actually a spin-off of Samurai Shodown from SNK, since Nakoruru is a selectable fighter from the franchise.

Even though the game alludes to you playing as Nakoruru in this game, it seems that isn’t the case. Here is an overview of the game from SNK Fandom Wiki:

“The player is a seven year old girl named Mikato, a villager in Kamui Kotan who looks up to Nakoruru. She watches and idolizes the priestess, trying to help her in anyway that she can. During the time of peace, she spends time acquainting herself with the residents and the beautiful yet sometimes unforgiving environment. Their serene lives are invaded by an evil force, making once tame animals into berserkers and allies into sudden foes.

The basic flow of the game uses traditional elements from the adventure game genre. Players select their answers and proceed along a path that hopefully gets to the good ending of the game. Along the way, they’ll also have to complete a variety of mini-games that test typing and reflexive skills.”

This translation was brought to us by Derek Pascarella who posted his English translated patch on Github. He also points out that there is a bonus disc for the game that features brand-new supplement to the full game including music and a 30-minute OVA with English subtitles.

Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth coming in 2024 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series and PC

It looks like SEGA really is dropping the Yakuza name from its upcoming releases, while Ichiban’s debut game was called ‘Yakuza: Like a Dragon’, the sequel is being titled ‘Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth‘. The game just game a gameplay trailer shown off via the Xbox Showcase. I guess in Japan this game will still be known as Like a Dragon 8. Yeah, the naming and changing is getting a bit confusing.

Yes, the debut trailer is just one big gag about Ichiban being naked on the beach. Yes, the Yakuza, uh I mean Like a Dragon franchise is back to what we love. I can’t wait for it to come out early 2024!

(Note: I know the franchise has always been known as Like a Dragon in Japan)

Sonic Superstars opening animation, gameplay footage and development studios revealed

Following the reveal at Summer Game Fest 2023, a demo of Sonic Superstars is now available to play at the event. The footage gives fans a lot to chew on. First, the opening title screen which harkens back to the Genesis/Mega Drive days. Second, the opening animation which is very Sonic Mania and Sonic Origins in style. Third, a look at returning villain Fang and a new villain which appears to be some furry animal in a metal lizard suit.

Fourth, the names of the development studios: Sonic Team and Arzest, Arzest being Sonic designer Naoto Ohshima’s studio which also worked on Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games for the 3DS and Balan Wonderworld. Ohshima was previously announced as returning to the series with character design contributions, though it is possible he and his team are contributing more than just design work. Fifth and lastly, there is a lot of gameplay footage which gives fans a good idea of how the game looks and plays. We will let you do your own YouTube searching for videos, but after the break we have a short one giving a nice overview of different moments in the game.

Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name set to launch November 9, 2023

During Summer Game Fest, SEGA dropped a new trailer and release details for Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. Set for a November 9, 2023 release date to PlayStation 4, 5, Xbox consoles and PC, the game will be priced at $49.99. Pre-orders will get players a Legendary Fighter Pack.

ERASE YOUR PAST TO PROTECT YOUR FUTURE Once a legendary yakuza, Kazuma Kiryu faked his own death and abandoned his name for the sake of protecting his family. Now, he is thrust into conflict by a mysterious figure attempting to drive him out of hiding.

When we learn more about release details, including physical copies and those steelbooks we like so much, we will be sure to share the news!

SEGA Talk #120: The Ring: Terror’s Realm

On this SEGA Talk episode we pop in the VHS tape, take a job at the CDC and enter… The Matrix? Let’s take a look at the obscure SEGA Dreamcast game The Ring: Terror’s Realm!

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Sonic Superstars brings four player action to the classic formula in 2.5D – Releasing Fall 2023

SEGA has just announced a new 2D Sonic game, and it’s not Sonic Mania 2! Titled Sonic Superstars, the game takes the 2D formula into 3D (well, 2.5D) and allows players to play as Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy Rose on their own or with friends. Even more exciting, Fang the Sniper aka Nack the Weasel is back, and will make his transition to 3D! The game is due out Fall 2023 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PC.

Check out the trailer and read the official press release below. Also, signing up for the newsletter gets you free Amy Rose DLC which allows classic Amy to wear modern Amy’s dress.

The SEGAbits Swingin’ Report Show LIVE: Ghostbusters – Special Edition with BillyTime! Games

39 years ago today, the original Ghostbusters movie hit theaters and kicked off a franchise that has endured to this day! Heck, they’re in New York right now filming the fourth film! On this Swingin’ Report Show, BillyTime! Games stops by to talk about his SEGA Genesis ROM hack Ghostbusters – Special Edition.

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

SEGAbits Presents Arcade Adventure: Arcade meetup at Galloping Ghost Arcade in Brookfield, IL on 9/9/2023

Start working out those thumbs, because we’re announcing SEGAbits Presents Arcade Adventure! Meet up with fellow SEGA fans at Galloping Ghost Arcade in Brookfield, Illinois on September 9th, 2023 to play hundreds of arcade games in the world’s largest arcade!

Let us know you will be attending by clicking “Yes” on this form
(this is not a ticket or official commitment, it is simply a gauge for us to know how many will be attending)

This event requires no advance ticketing or advance access, simply show up to the arcade and pay them $25 for all day play. The arcade is open from 11am to 2pm the following day, and you are free to come and go as you please – just hang on to that receipt. The meetup will take place between 1pm and 9pm and will feature impromptu tournaments, arcade and world record attempts and the chance to meet and hang out with fellow SEGA fans. Oh yeah, and isn’t a certain SEGA console turning 24 years old on that day? Well, join us as we also wish the SEGA Dreamcast a happy birthday!

For those unaware, Galloping Ghost Arcade is HUGE. Want to play The House of the Dead 1 through 4? How about Monkey Ball with that ridiculous banana joystick? Or maybe you’ve always wanted to play SegaSonic the Hedgehog starring Sonic, Ray and Mighty? They have all those, plus nearly every super scaler game, Sonic the Fighters, Virtua Fighter, Fantasy Zone, Ghost Squad, L.A. Machineguns, Gunblade NY, Shinobi, Altered Beast, The Revenge of Death Adder, All-Stars Racing, and many, many, many more! Heck I’m just naming off a handful of the SEGA titles. There are close to 1,000 games!

Hope to see you there!

8/15 UPDATE: It is looking like a great group of Arcade Adventurers are forming, with over 20 confirmed guests! Guests will receive free Ryo and Kazuma stickers (as seen on our promotional art)! We will likely see many more who did not fill out the Google Form linked above. I was told by Galloping Ghost Arcade that the R-360 is being repaired, so it will not be operating on the day. However, there are dozens if not hundreds of SEGA machines up and running including some deluxe super scaler cabinets, light gun classics (House of the Dead 1-4 all lined up), all three SEGA Star Wars arcade games including the ultra rare Star Wars Arcade and games that saw Dreamcast ports from Capcom including Power Stone and Cannon Spike!

Artwork credit: Pseudochel

Rare 1980 SEGA Samurai arcade cabinet found and restored

This is an odd story. An arcade auction in Texas ended up auctioning off a rare 1980 SEGA Samurai arcade cabinet without even being aware of it. Patrick Scott Patterson, who reached out to us to share the news, was bidding on a Mr. Do! arcade cabinet that was a converted SEGA Samurai cabinet. Because nobody was aware of the cabinet’s past life, Patrick was able to win the machine easily. Throughout May 2023, Patrick stripped off the forty year old paint to reveal the artwork for Samurai. Once the project was completed, Patrick had himself a Samurai cabinet with all the lovely artwork intact.

New Genesis/Mega-Drive indie game Mega Slow Mole coming soon; demo and beta available now

We all love new games for Sega hardware. Well, here’s another one for ya. Mega Slow Mole is an ultra-difficult, precision platformer being developed by SlowMoleStudio for the Sega Genesis/Mega-Drive. SlowMoleStudio was formed by accomplished animator and filmmaker, Erik Rosenlund, who also animated the claymation trailer for the original NES Slow Mole game. You can see some of his animations on his YouTube page. His 12-year-old son, Linus Rosenlund, created the soundtrack and is currently working on Mega Slow Mole’s soundtrack as well.

This is the latest in their series of Slow Mole games, which started on NES with Slow Mole. Mega Slow Mole is planned to launch sometime within 2023, but SlowMoleStudio has already launched a free demo ROM on their itch.io page, where their earlier Slow Mole games are also available. The full game is already available in beta form on itch.io for $12 USD (Currently on sale at $8.40 as of this writing). Paying for the beta ROM should entitle you to any updated ROM files in the future. Future updates will include more levels and music, along with some secret screens.  A physical cartridge release is also planned, but no information is currently available on that yet.

Check out some extra screenshots after the break.

Samba de Amigo Party Central Shakes Its Way On Meta Quest 2 & Meta Quest Pro

During the Meta Quest Showcase, SEGA announced that Samba de Amigo: Party Central will be arrive for Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest Pro later this fall. Pre-orders for the game are available on the Meta Quest Store.

As a special bonus to those who pre-order the game ($29.99 MSRP) up until launch will also receive the following unique in-game accessories they can use to dress up their Amigo:

  • A virtual replica Meta Quest 2 VR headset
    A pair of virtual replica Meta Quest controllers that replace the player’s maracas

Samba de Amigo will also be arriving on Nintendo Switch on August 29 with pre-orders now available here.

Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis Ver. 2 launching on June 7th 2023 + new promotional collab events

Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis is preparing its biggest, most substantial update yet with PSO2 NGS Ver. 2, no separate disc purchases required this time. NGS Ver. 2 launches as a free update to the game on all available platforms on June 7th.

Starting on that date, NGS players will have access to Ver. 2’s biggest new feature: Creative Spaces, an expansion on the Personal Room feature from PSO2 that was originally introduced in Phantasy Star Universe. This allows players to put together their personal living space, with much more room for creativity than ever before. Other features include a new Jet Set Radio-style Toon Shading graphical feature, which is also highly customizable as well as optional, Portable Holograms for decorating the open field environments with new graffiti, items, and furniture, new ultra challenging enemy types and quest difficulties, and, of course, the start of Chapter 6 of the game’s story mode.

There is also an all new Sonic the Hedgehog birthday celebration event and a surprising new media collaboration on the horizon for June. I will save the latter for beyond the break, so temper your excitement until then. Rest assured though, if you haven’t jumped into NGS, but have been interested, this will be an excellent time to hop in and join the fun.

New Phøde ODE, supporting Dreamcast, Saturn, Sega CD, and more, launches pre-orders

Phøde ODE

If you’re looking for a device to play your digitized disc backups of your favorite Sega console classic games, then look no further than the Phøde, a brand new Optical Drive Emulator created by engineer Fixel. This single device supports almost every CD-Rom based game console from the 90’s, not just including the Sega CD (Models 1 and 2, Genesis CDX, and JVC X’Eye), Saturn (Both the 20 and 21-pin models), and the GD-Rom based Dreamcast (Models VA0, VA1, and VA2), but also various models of the Sony PlayStation and even the Philips CD-I, with more to be announced later. Fixel has just launched pre-orders for the Phøde in batches from their website. Batch 1 is still available, as of this writing, at $249.99 USD.

Check in after the break for extra info.

Kson wins the RGG hostess competition grand prize; will now appear in Like A Dragon 8

Back in April, I reported on Vshojo star Kson becoming a finalist in RGG Studio’s hostess grand prix and being awarded a hostess role in Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, alongside 4 other lucky women. Well, now that contest is finally over and Kson has taken home the grand prize, coming out just two points ahead of the runner up. She now gets the prestigious honor of not just being a hostess in Like A Dragon Gaiden, but also that upcoming game’s follow-up, Like A Dragon 8.

Moreover, the five finalists, including Kson, will be represented in Gaiden though live-action video footage, much like in the gravure photography mini-game from Yakuza Kiwami 2. Kson, as the grand prize winner, will have her real self recreated as a 3D model in Like A Dragon 8, like every other major hostess in the entire series. Look forward to seeing, and speaking to, her 3D representation in Like A Dragon 8, which does not yet have a firm release date as of this writing. Like A Dragon Gaiden is still on track to launch on PS5, PS4, Xbox, and PC within 2023.

To learn more about who Kson is and why her inclusion in the Like A Dragon series is so significant, check out my earlier article discussing her inclusion in Like A Dragon Gaiden. Tell us how hyped you are by this news in the comments too.

Special thanks, once again, goes to Sakura Ch. for their translation of the above clip from the official RGG livestream announcing the winner and detailing Kson’s new hostess role. Of course, I also heartily congratulate Kson on this milestone on behalf of SegaBits. (EDIT: Sakura Ch. deleted their clip from the livestream. I have replaced it with a screenshot of the tweet from VShojo congratulating Kson.)

SEGA Talk #119: Shining Force III (1997)

SEGA Talk takes a journey into the last Shining Force game by the original developers, Shining Force III! Not just the first game, but also scenario 1, 2 and 3. We also discuss the fan translations, development and more!

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Support us on Patreon! Get early access, have your memories read on the show, select the games we talk about!