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[Kazza]

just realized i could play shining force 1 and 2 on my phone (with ads) and i am super excited... just wish the controls felt better. oh well, they work well enough for free.

I think you can pay a dollar or two to make the adds go away.

 

[Kazza]

So it wasn't Virtua Fighter 6 or the Saturn Mini. However, SEGA are planning "a variety of special contents" to commerate their 60th anniversary.

Wait, why isn't he assaulting people in this video? While it's good that they got his son on board as the new mascot, how do they expect more people to play Sega games without the threat of extreme violence . This pop idol boy just isn't going to cut it.

 

[Grand Theft Scratchy]

I will never forget HIS ULTIMATE SACRIFICE!

 

[Slateee]

If only there had been a counter keeping track of all the hours of my life I've spent in the green hill zone...

 

[Kazza]

This Megadrive port of the Shinobi arcade game is coming along really well:



While the colours are different due to the limited palette of the console, in some ways it looks better than the arcade (although I prefer the more colourful ninjas of the arcade one)

 

[Kazza]

 

[Kazza]

Anyone else playing Sega games during this quarantine/lockdown period? I'm making my way through Shining Force for the first time. All good so far.

 

[Kazza]

Did anyone buy the pop-up arcade book? i was tempted, but it was a little too pricey for me. A cool concept though.

 

[Kazza]

From one of the developers of SoA and Sakura Wars:

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

Based but sad at the same time.

 

[Hideous Snake]

Right now playing Yakuza 3. About to finish it and jump to Yakuza 4

This series needs more love

 

[Kazza]

Right now playing Yakuza 3. About to finish it and jump to Yakuza 4

This series needs more love

Good choice. you can pretty much spend as much time as you want playing a Yakuza game. The 3-5 collection could easily keep a person entertained throughout the quarantine.

 

[Laconian Sword]

I'm nearing the end of Judgment and it's been incredible. I think I like Yagami as the main character even more than Kiryu.

Still have Yakuza 3-5, 6, 7 and Fist of the North Star to go. I've never seen story quality like this ever in games; even the critically acclaimed ones are usually pretty cringey and my tolerance for that is low.

 

[Hideous Snake]

Good choice. you can pretty much spend as much time as you want playing a Yakuza game. The 3-5 collection could easily keep a person entertained throughout the quarantine.

Mind you they are all replays. Had to get the collection just to support the series

I still find Yakuza 3 weak unfortunately

I'm nearing the end of Judgment and it's been incredible. I think I like Yagami as the main character even more than Kiryu.

Still have Yakuza 3-5, 6, 7 and Fist of the North Star to go. I've never seen story quality like this ever in games; even the critically acclaimed ones are usually pretty cringey and my tolerance for that is low.

I like Yagami too but Kiryu is the top man. Have fun! You're in for an intense story and amazing games

 

[Starlight Lotice]

I still need to finish Shining Force: SoH on the Game Gear Virtual Console but currently trying to finish up Crimsom Shroud.

 

[Hideous Snake]

Finished Yakuza 3 now at the beginning of 4. Great to play them again in 1080p/60fps

 

[drganon]

I'm nearing the end of Judgment and it's been incredible. I think I like Yagami as the main character even more than Kiryu.

Still have Yakuza 3-5, 6, 7 and Fist of the North Star to go. I've never seen story quality like this ever in games; even the critically acclaimed ones are usually pretty cringey and my tolerance for that is low.

Fist of the north star is the only game of theirs I never beat. The final gauntlet of enemies before you actually get to the final boss was too much for me.

 

[Kazza]

Finished Yakuza 3 now at the beginning of 4. Great to play them again in 1080p/60fps

I remember 5 being the roughest in terms of framerate. Just walking around that first city with Kyriu, it must have been 25 tops.

Speaking of Yakuza, it's been a while since Kiwami 2 was released on PC. Yakuza 3 is long overdue.

 

[Kazza]

It's good to see Super Hang On getting a little bit of attention. It was an important game for Sega, but is often overshadowed by Outrun.




It's funny when he tells the story of the Sega of America employee thinking he was going to get sacked, where actually they were calling him in to show off Super Hang On, which went on to become a massive success in the US.

Home ports of super-scaler arcade games tended to be a little hit or miss, but both the Master System and Megadrive ports of this were very solid (a liked the added depth they gave the 16-bit port, with the ability to buy bike parts etc).

The soundtrack is great too. I think this might be my favourite:

 

[Kazza]

Here is a twitter thread from one of the animators currently working on TLOU2. It talks about how AM2 helped pioneer many modern 3D animation techniques still used today. It's good to see AM2 getting some recognition:







There is more, so it's worth clicking through to the thread if interested. Many of the clips used in the thread appear to be from this video:

 

[Kazza]

It's rare to get an insight into Sega Europe in the 90s, so this recent translation of a 1992 interview with the head of Sega Spain is pretty interesting

Later, Pastor served as an advisor to Sega from 1987 until he became its president in 1989. Pastor was a major advocate of the Mega CD, and he tried desperately to get its price reduced in Spain. He convinced the head of Sega Europe, Nick Alexander of the need for a lower price point, and went as far as traveling to Japan to make his pitch to Sega CEO Hayao Nakayama personally. "I went to Japan myself and told him two things that I thought needed improvement," he later explained. "The first was that the older consoles should not be killed off when a new one came out, as happened with Master System and [later] Mega Drive. The other, the price." He also suggested that older games be ported to the Mega CD, but Nakayama reportedly disagreed because they would not demonstrate the new machine's capabilities. No agreement was reached, and Pastor left, frustrated.

The Mega CD's subsequent failure disillusioned him further. Pastor left Sega in 1993 and returned to music, where he continues to perform and tour.

Mega Force: JVC, Amstrad, in its day IBM… It seems that Sega has a good collaboration policy with other companies. Is Sega thinking about any other "partnership?"

Paco Pastor: Well, it's true. Right now, I'd say that our most important partnership is with Sony, which I think is a very interesting one. You know Sony is a dragon with many heads: it has its RCA studios, Sony Music or CBS… Additionally, this partnership guarantees what Sega has always looked for: to work with a company that could provide technical development, and that is precisely what Sony has. That said, it's a two-way partnership. It isn't just about giving another company a license to manufacture something Sega's already made. Imagine what it would be like to have all the Indiana Jones movies in video game form on the Mega CD!

Mega Force: Game Gear – for general consumption or a luxury?

Paco Pastor: It's never been our philosophy that the Game Gear was a product for general consumption. The Game Gear, by concept, is not designed to be a product for general consumption. It's a product for a more "enlightened" public, not the consumer who follows trends in the portable market. The phenomenon of the portable console is one of trends, a phenomenon of the masses. The Game Gear is absolutely not a large scale sale, and it can't be part of that trend for many reasons, starting with its price. All of this makes the demand much more selective, more educated, and at a higher level. The product itself becomes a premium choice within the market.

Sega-16 – Classic Interview: Paco Pastor (Sega Spain President)

www.sega-16.com

Sega ended up getting screwed by both Sony and Microsoft soon after collaboration! It's interesting what he says about the Game Gear. I guess he thought the price would just be too high, so wanted to market it as the premium handheld.

 

[Kazza]

 

[Afro Messiah]

I grow up in the USA, my parents 1st brought a NES for gaming. They brought a couple and felt it was too expensive, cuz me & siblings was always bugging them for more games. While they was shopping for games, a game owner brought up how cheap the games were for the Sega Master System. So they brought the system, many games for it and we became a Sega crew. My top 5 in order are:

Wonder Boy In Monster Land
The Disney's Illusion series & Donald Duck games
Outrun
House Of The Dead
Virtua Tennis

 

[Kazza]

I grow up in the USA, my parents 1st brought a NES for gaming. They brought a couple and felt it was too expensive, cuz me & siblings was always bugging them for more games. While they was shopping for games, a game owner brought up how cheap the games were for the Sega Master System. So they brought the system, many games for it and we became a Sega crew. My top 5 in order are:

Wonder Boy In Monster Land
The Disney's Illusion series & Donald Duck games
Outrun
House Of The Dead
Virtua Tennis

I hear that the Master System wasn't a massive thing in the US (compared to the NES anyway). It was still a fine system though. Sega Lord X has been producing some nice videos about the system recently, if you fancy a trip down memory lane:

 

[Kazza]

Sometimes I get really jealous of the games devs in the 80s, it seemed like a much more open time then. Imagine your company sending you on a roadtrip around Europe for "research" on a driving game.




I wonder if Outrunners will ever get an official home release?

 

[Kazza]

I have to confess, I have no memory of the Sega Channel at all. Maybe it wasn't promoted so much in the UK, or maybe I was just too focused on the next gen 32-bit systems by then. It sounded like a neat concept, and worked pretty well by all accounts. I suppose the advent of CD games put an end to games delivered online until the internet bandwidth became big enough to handle them.

 

[cireza]

Played some PSO2 this evening on XBox. I had a few disconnections, but otherwise it was a great, fun time.

The game runs really well on Xbox, and I am really surprised that Sega finally translated the absurdly huge quantity of content this game offers, be it text or voices. I really wonder if this will be worth the effort, but I do intend to play regularly during the coming year.

I enjoyed the first two areas, Forest and Volcan. I know there are many more to discover, I had a glimpse at 3 other areas during the Beta.

Also decided to try a new class (I am used to PSO on Dreamcast) with Braver. Pretty great class actually, where you play both katana and bow. Katana requires quick combos, and allows for parying as well as counter attacks (which leads to stats bonuses), and the bow is very versatile, with single or multiple shot, that you can charge as well. Great potential, and really good feeling for this class.

 

[Kazza]

Anyone here ever tried Sega Heroes? Well, you've got just over a month to try:

Now the last game they did was SEGA Heroes. But why has Demiurge studios bought the studio back from SEGA and want to go independent? According to this interview with the studios co-founder, they want to get out of the mobile market and work on supporting AAA studios like they did before they made Marvel Puzzle Quest. If you look at their history of games they worked on (which dates back to 2004), they worked on console games.

SEGA to shut down SEGA Heroes servers on May 21st

SEGA and Demiurge's SEGA Heroes mobile game is one of the few titles I pop in everyday to collec…

segabits.com

 

[Starlight Lotice]

I have come to really appreciate Japanese Mega Drive Box Artwork lately. (I sadly bought Puyo Puyo 1 because of Artwork alone)

I also absolutely love Alisia Dragoon and Arrow Flash as well. It really felt like SEGA were trying to attract the Manga/Anime audience of the day!

I mean....the West got Dungeons/Dragons art because apparently we ALL LOVE THAT!

(Needs a SEGA AGES release)

Of course, SEGA seem to be going back to this style as of late. Feels like perhaps the Seniors want to capture that 90's Japanese Artwork or something.

Due note that Sonic Mania is the ONLY 2D Sonic game where Americans got the Japanese Sonic Artwork on the front instead of the American look he had in the 90s, and it is the first time the West gets the weird Artsy Coloured Shaped Background as well. (although the rear cover has Sonic in Studiopolis, mimicing the EU/UK release of Sonic 3)

Pretty sad that the Puyo Puyo series never shows the characters anymore, as the older games had that style of showing the Protag as well as the Puyos in a Manga style.

I am glad we are getting the same artwork most of the time compared to Japan to be honest. Prefer Resonance of Fate over End of Eternity though.

 

[Kazza]

I also absolutely love Alisia Dragoon

I think both the Japanese and Western box art is great in its own way for Alisia.

Overall, I think that Japanese box art tends to be better. This is my personal favourite:

 

[Kazza]

Sega of Japan has a simple (short) form letting you choose your favourite Sega image from a selection (went for the Saturn myself), as well as leave a little message. Google translate works great, so why not leave Sega a 60th anniversary message:

ご登録の受付を締め切りました。

 

[Kazza]

Latest video from Sega's new mascot:




1 million views in just a few hours for a Japanese video - not too shabby.

 

[Grand Theft Scratchy]

It was certainly better than the last one.

 

[Kazza]

It was certainly better than the last one.

It was, I'm starting to warm to the character a little now.

 

[Kazza]

Some cool Sonic level design secrets currently being shared around:






I had no idea about that Chemical Plant one until very recently. Also, I'm sure there's a spring somewhere underneath where you can grab that Green Hill Zone 1 up (maybe that's a different zone?). I only found that spring myself while playing it on the Mini recently, I could never work it out as a kid.

 

[Starlight Lotice]

I had no idea about that Chemical Plant one until very recently. Also, I'm sure there's a spring somewhere underneath where you can grab that Green Hill Zone 1 up (maybe that's a different zone?). I only found that spring myself while playing it on the Mini recently, I could never work it out as a kid.

That shortcut one I heard about 2 years ago but my preferred method is using that booster and jumping at the right time to skip the Water section instead! It's really cool and discovered it when I was a kid.You have to do it on the first up-slope and you have to time it in order to get that height, you should land on the section before those moving platforms moving left and right (you go left of course after that Water Section). You can also do it on Sonic Mania's level as well.

 

[Kazza]

I have come to really appreciate Japanese Mega Drive Box Artwork lately. (I sadly bought Puyo Puyo 1 because of Artwork alone)

I also absolutely love Alisia Dragoon and Arrow Flash as well. It really felt like SEGA were trying to attract the Manga/Anime audience of the day!

I mean....the West got Dungeons/Dragons art because apparently we ALL LOVE THAT!

(Needs a SEGA AGES release)

Of course, SEGA seem to be going back to this style as of late. Feels like perhaps the Seniors want to capture that 90's Japanese Artwork or something.

Due note that Sonic Mania is the ONLY 2D Sonic game where Americans got the Japanese Sonic Artwork on the front instead of the American look he had in the 90s, and it is the first time the West gets the weird Artsy Coloured Shaped Background as well. (although the rear cover has Sonic in Studiopolis, mimicing the EU/UK release of Sonic 3)

Pretty sad that the Puyo Puyo series never shows the characters anymore, as the older games had that style of showing the Protag as well as the Puyos in a Manga style.

I am glad we are getting the same artwork most of the time compared to Japan to be honest. Prefer Resonance of Fate over End of Eternity though.

D dark10x seems to be a fan of the Megadrive box art too, he's always posting his new Japanese purchases:



That new Sakura Wars one is great too.

 

[Starlight Lotice]

I am sadly going to wait for awhile to get the New Sakura Wars games as I don't have much money coming in, as well as the fear of not enjoying it.

Still hoping they do a SEGA FES but online. Not heard of anything as of yet as to whether they plan on showing off new stuff in the next few weeks but I am interested in seeing their Financial Numbers (although I wish they shown sales per game rather than round them all up together, Nintendo never does this).

I was told by one of my gaming friends a few days ago that SEGA had a dodgy accountant in the 90s and he got done for some crime in 1995 thus was sacked. It makes you wonder if that is the reason why we don't have accurate Mega Drive numbers as well as sales of their best selling games?

 

[SirTerry-T]

I'm a child of the seventies so when I think of "video games" as a thing my first thoughts are of the arcades in the late seventies through to the eighties and nineties....Sega territory!

However, my first experience with the name Sega and the imagery of their games was from these things ...

Zaxxon!
That title font, the cool isometric aesthetic.
I was sold.
Later, when the early 8-bit home computers and consoles became popular it was games like this...

(I desperately wanted the steering wheel attachment that went with the Colecovision home version of this...alas, my aging Atari VCS would come up short)

Another Sega oldie (but goodie)

I remember it having a really catchy tune...


Years later I realised why!



Only Sega were cool but enough to have a Ryuichi Sakamoto composition in their game

Later on of course, it would be Hang-On, OutRun, Fantasy Zone, Golden Axe, Shinobi, those...all those other great titles that would solidify Sega as being my "side". There was just something so effortlessly cool about that company back then even if their boardroom antics would suggest otherwise.

I kept up with everything they did...for good or bad. I had the Tower Of Power and never regretted it!

Sega are right up there with Nintendo as far as their importance to the video game industry as far as I'm concerned. It used to irritate me that there was this modern day narrative of Sega being a bit naff that seemed to gain traction since their demise as a hardware manufacturer but it does seem that the tide is turning somewhat there....hell people even rave about the Megadrive's sound these days!

God bless those Blue Skies.

 

[Kazza]

 

[Grand Theft Scratchy]

My first experience with Skies of Arcadia was not the full game but the playable demo which came with the official Dreamcast magazine. It wasn't just the beginning portion of the game but also a couple boss battles (Antonio, Sentinel, Rokwyrm), an airship battle against a Valuan Gunboat, and several cutscenes - one where you're onboard the Little Jack and encounter Rhaknam and another cutscene where Vyse and his friends are talking to Belleza in the desert. It was pretty cool because most game demos didn't have that kind of content variety. I remember afterwards I would draw airships and maps and write short stories. I can't think of any other game growing up that captured my imagination like that as much as Skies of Arcadia did.

Replaying it years later on the GameCube was such a great experience too. It just has a very distinct, charming identity to it, and I've always believed it had the potential to be as big as Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest if more people gave it a chance.

 

[Kazza]

I've always believed it had the potential to be as big as Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest if more people gave it a chance.

In terms of Sega IPs which have yet to get some kind of modern remake or sequel, I think SoA is probably near the top of Sega's priorities list, just behind VF6, JSR and Nights. I think there is hope.

 

[Grand Theft Scratchy]

I would be happy just to see SEGA re-release the GameCube port on modern platforms, since it has the additional story content and lower rate of random battles compared to the Dreamcast version. I would also like to see them re-release Jet Set Radio Future but I know that's impossible due to music licensing.

As a potential flagship JRPG series, I can see every new mainline entry of Skies of Arcadia introduce new worlds with the player continuing to make discoveries in the overworld, updated airship battles, and expanding on what you can do with crew members.

 

[Tell_men]

Sega AGES releases are so few and far apart. I wonder how many programmers are assigned to this division.

 

[Starlight Lotice]

Someone has made a great Coffin Meme with Yakuza characters.

I have been making a few funny images with them.

 

[Grand Theft Scratchy]

I have never played a Yakuza game apart from a demo for the third entry on the PlayStation 3 but I pretty much exclusively play games on PC nowadays so maybe I should give Yakuza Kiwami a try? Most likely when it goes on sale anyway. But for anyone that has played the series from the beginning how does it compare to the original on PlayStation 2 ?

 

[Kazza]

I have never played a Yakuza game apart from a demo for the third entry on the PlayStation 3 but I pretty much exclusively play games on PC nowadays so maybe I should give Yakuza Kiwami a try? Most likely when it goes on sale anyway. But for anyone that has played the series from the beginning how does it compare to the original on PlayStation 2 ?

Just grab Yakuza 0 and start from there. I personally enjoyed the PS2 version, but most people today will be put off by the long loading screens and fixed camera angles.

 

[Kazza]

Some cool 60th anniversary Sega stamps::

 

[cireza]

Yakuza Kiwami is available on Xbox, in the Game Pass as well.

Playing PSO2 on Xbox, my character is level 40 at the moment. Enjoying my ride for now.

I have been playing some G-Loc Air Battle as well, my (French) review will be published in the coming days.

There is also Streets of rage 4 releasing in a couple days.

Sakura Wars releasing on PS4 today, I really hope that it will come on other platforms.

And finally, an English patch for Catherine Full Body is available for Vita, and I have been playing the game on the console (already completed it twice on Xbox One, game is BC, game is currently 5$ on Xbox, go for it).

Panzer Dragoon will soon get a patch that improves a number of things, will give it another playthrough once that it is available.

Great times to be a Sega fan.

 

[Kazza]

I have been playing some G-Loc Air Battle as well, my (French) review will be published in the coming days.

I'd be interested in a short English summary, if you get the time. Sometimes, those type of arcade games relied a lot on the cabinet and overall arcade experience and don't hold up so well at home. Hopefully there is gyro-aiming, which should help it feel more arcadey.