Prototype build of Star Wars for the SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis released

As a SEGA and Star Wars fan, it had long bothered me that Star Wars never saw games released to the SEGA Genesis. Despite some truly great Star Wars arcade games developed by SEGA talent, only the Genesis add-ons SEGA CD and 32X had seen a few titles. However, as it turns out, a version of the SNES game Super Star Wars was in development by SEGA Interactive during 1992/1993 for the Mega Drive/Genesis before shifting to the SEGA CD and then being outright cancelled.

SEGA News Bits: Our Favorite SEGA Games of the DECADE

The road to 2020 has ended, and now it is time for us to look back at TEN YEARS of SEGA games! On this SEGA News Bits, old man George and grandpa Barry share their favorite game from each year of the past decade. The fact that SEGAbits turns ten years old in 2020 is not lost on us, as this is a real walk down memory lane. Once you finish the video, check out Our Favorite SEGA Games of 2019.

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SEGA News Bits: Our Favorite SEGA Games of 2019

Happy new year!

No, wait! It can’t be 2020 yet! Not until you’ve watched our favorite SEGA games of 2019 video. On this SEGA News Bits, George and Barry share what they thought were SEGA’s best offerings, and reflect on the year as a whole. How was SEGA’s marketing? How was SEGA on social media? Click play and hear our thoughts!

If you want to support this type of content, you can check out our Patreon!

If you enjoy our SEGA News Bits segments and want to support us: Give us a sub and give this video a thumbs up so it shows up on more like-minded fans YouTube recommendations. You know, how that YouTube algorithm is.

Atlus & SEGA Creators Talk 2020 and Future Goals

The Japanese gaming website 4Gamer & Famtisu runs a piece every year talking to Japanese developers about their yearly goals, every New Years. This time it seems a bit special considering we are going into a brand new decade, 2020. Or is it 2021?

Most of the answers here from Atlus and one SEGA developer comes from the Famitsu article and was translated by Gematsu.

Madou Monogatari III for Game Gear gets an English fan translation

For those that want to dig into the past for the Puyo Puyo series, a new English translation patch has been released for the Game Gear version of Madou Monogatari III. This English patch, renamed Sorcery Saga III: The Ultimate Queen, is a complete translation that has everything in English, and is compatible with both revisions of the game.

Like it’s predecessors Madou Monogatari I and Madou Monogatari II, you take on the role of Arle Nadja and her companion Carbuncle in an old school dungeon crawling RPG. In this game, Arle encounters the self-proclaimed Fighting Queen Rulue and her bodyguard Minotauros, but this encounter is short lived, as Rulue commands Minotauros to drive Arle and Carbuncle deep into a forest in order to win over Satan’s love. Now lost in a strange labyrinth, Arle must find her way out and get revenge on Rulue. The Game Gear version specifically makes changes to the story and game design compared to the previously released MSX2 and PC-98 versions, like the inclusion of the Frog Empire that assists Arle during her quest.

[Source: Romhacking.net]

Japanese Sonic the Hedgehog Movie trailer reveals “Baby Sonic”

For a while it’s been rumored that the Sonic the Hedgehog movie would have a baby version of Sonic, but until now it was unofficially revealed from leaked merchandising. Now we have official confirmation that this younger version of Sonic is indeed real, including a new trailer and artwork briefly highlighting the tiny hedgehog. According to the official website page, it describes Baby Sonic as innocent and full of energy, and we will get to see Sonic’s unexplored past. Likely he will appear in the movie either from a flashback or as part of an overall origin story, maybe explaining how Sonic gained his sound breaking speed in the first place.

In addition, movie goers in Japan will receive a bonus Baby Sonic keychain for those that pre-order tickets early.

SEGA Sammy to merge SEGA Games and SEGA Interactive in April 2020


SEGA Sammy has announced that two of it’s subsidiaries, SEGA Games and SEGA Interactive, are going to be merged into a single entity called SEGA Corporation. While SEGA Holdings Ltd. will be renamed to SEGA Group Cooperation. For context, SEGA technically isn’t a single entity, but rather multiple divisions under the SEGA Sammy umbrella, in this case SEGA Games handling the video games and SEGA Interactive handling amusement machines like UFO catchers. According to the official PDF file describing the merger, the decision was due to wanting to strengthen their research and development on new products for a global market, while also citing their previously discussed “Road to 2020” plan as another influence. It’s also possibly related to their declining arcade division, though that was not officially cited.

This merger is being planned for a April 1st 2020 schedule, though meetings between shareholders are also planned during February and March 2020. It’s promised that these changes will not dramatically impact production on future products, again with the claim that having these divisions under a single union will improve productivity for a global market.

[Source: PDF, Stream]

New Cotton game announced for 2021


The Cotton series has been getting a decent amount of love, such as the recently announced game Cotton Reboot! and Cotton herself making guest appearances in games such as Umihara Kawase Fresh! and the upcoming platformer-fighting game Umihara Kawase BaZooKa!

However, in a recent user experience event where people had the opportunity to play a demo of Umihara Kawase BaZooKa!, it was announced that a new Cotton game will be coming out in 2021. Not much information has been revealed about what the game is, but it is confirmed to be unrelated to the game Cotton Reboot!, which is still scheduled to be released in summer 2020 for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

[Source: 4gamer]

SEGA 60th Anniversary Fan Doujinshi Book to be released in April 2020 – Author looking for 60 fans to participate

Game review blog “Get Ready! Annex” administrator, Pin, is producing a fan doujinshi book for SEGA fans focused on celebrating the 60th anniversary of SEGA and is looking to gather at least 60 participates worldwide with content that they could tell about their love for Sega on one page per person.

The fan doujinshi will be a thin book of A5 size with dozens of pages and full color and set to be released for April 2020. Anyone in the SEGA community can participate in the book with illustrations of their favorite SEGA character, cosplay, comics, collections and messages. For more details on entry types, you can check it out on their site here. The deadline for entries are due before the end of Feburary.

To participate, all you have to do is contact Pin via on Twitter through DM or email with your entry. Celebrate SEGA’s anniversary together and share your thoughts on SEGA!

SEGA Talk Podcast #32: Phantasy Star Online (2000)

Renew your Hunter License because Barry and George are returning to Ragol to discuss Phantasy Star Online! On this episode we share our memories of playing the game as it released and new versions rolled out, the unique gameplay and chat functions and the future of the franchise.

Support us on Patreon! Get early access, tell us what games to cover, and have your SEGA memories read at the end and more!

[iTunes – Stitcher – YouTube – Play Music – RSS – Download]

If you want to give us feedback, suggest a topic for the next podcast or want to ask a question for us to answer on the next episode you can add  them as a comment below or send theme directly to our email. Make sure you use subject line ‘SEGA Talk’ and as always, thanks for listening!

Sakura Wars Fan Translation Completed – Play Sakura Wars in English on Emulator and Modded Sega Saturn

With Project Sakura Wars released in Japan (as Shin Sakura Taisen) and on it’s way to the West for next year in Spring 2020, you can finally get the chance to play the first title with an english patch for the SEGA Saturn version on a SEGA Saturn emulator or a modded Saturn console.

Sakura Wars is a cross-genre video game developed by Sega and Red Company, and published by Sega in 1996. It is the first game in Sega’s Sakura Wars series, created by Oji Hiroi which become a hit in Japan overtime and produced many sequels, spin-offs and media franchises. Defined by Sega as a “dramatic adventure” game, Sakura Wars combines overlapping tactical role-playing, dating sim and visual novel gameplay elements. You can download the English patch and instructions here.

Huge thanks to CJ_iwakura, NoahSteam, Crouching_Mouse, and MatatabiMitsu for making the patch and trailer from the Saturn Commerical in English.

SEGA Talk Podcast #31: The Revenge of Shinobi (1989)

The SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive action classic The Revenge of Shinobi is the focus of this SEGA Talk episode. Barry and George discuss the game’s development, the difficulty, the various revisions and the impact the game made on the Shinobi series as a whole. While not available on the SEGA Genesis Mini, the game was included on the Japanese and Asian models and is available in the west via the SEGA Genesis Classics collection for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One.

Note: Due to a setup error, George is speaking through his computer mic. Please forgive us for his audio quality.

Support us on Patreon! Get early access, tell us what games to cover, and have your SEGA memories read at the end and more!

[iTunes – Stitcher – YouTube – Play Music – RSS – Download]

If you want to give us feedback, suggest a topic for the next podcast or want to ask a question for us to answer on the next episode you can add  them as a comment below or send theme directly to our email. Make sure you use subject line ‘SEGA Talk’ and as always, thanks for listening!

SEGA AGES Puyo Puyo Tsu coming soon, more information revealed

Want some more Puyo Puyo action after playing SEGA AGES Puyo Puyo? Well the hit sequel from Japan, Puyo Puyo Tsu, is coming soon to the SEGA AGES series! Like the previous arcade game, you take on the role as heroine Arle Nadja, as you are tasked with stacking the titular Puyos to flood your opponent’s side with Nuisance Puyo. Puyo Puyo Tsu however fleshes it out further with several new mechanics, including double rotation, offsetting, and the All Clear. Combine that with the potential to fight over 30 different opponents and multiplayer that has different options to choose from, it’s easy to see why Puyo Puyo Tsu was a big hit in Japanese arcades back in the mid 90’s and why Puyo Puyo games to this day use the Puyo Puyo Tsu gameplay as the golden standard.

SEGA AGES Puyo Puyo Tsu adds several new features. It will include the original arcade mode, but there will be an additional Kachinuki Mode where you have to battle against every character in the tower. In addition to this, players will have the ability to read the character introduction for everyone, including Arle and Carbuncle who normally don’t have one, and the ability change the appearance of every Puyo with different styles. Like it’s predecessor SEGA AGES Puyo Puyo, it will also come with online play, allowing you to play with a friend and record your highest score on a rankings board.

Currently SEGA AGES Puyo Puyo Tsu is priced at ¥999 with a release date pending.

[Source: Official Website]

Two Point Hospital releasing on February 25th 2020 for consoles

Two Point Hospital, the spiritual successor to Bullfrog Productions’ Theme Hospital, has been available on PC via Steam since last year. However, for those that would rather play the game on home consoles, Two Point Hospital will soon be released for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch on February 25th 2020. It will be available both physically and digitally priced at $39.99 across all platforms, and pre-orders are now available.

PlayStation 4 | Xbox One | Nintendo Switch

Tons of new information for Shin Sakura Taisen released – Stage performance, Animation, and DLC dates announced!

New information on Shin Sakura Taisen, aka Project Sakura Wars in the West, has been released from the recent Sakura Taisen live broadcast stream celebrating the game’s launch in Japan which includes announcements Shin Sakura Taisen, the Stage, the Animation and downloadable content (DLC) release dates. Hit the jump for more information on each announcement after the break.