SEGADriven is a SEGA news and information source that focuses on SEGA's console history, retro games and new software hitting the shelves. We want to share a love of great, quirky, clever and down-right fun games - something that SEGA have always specialised in. See below for the latest news, reviews and features added to the website.
It’s been a long time since Data Discs released a SEGA soundtrack on vinyl, with their last release being Shenmue II back in December 2020. Well the UK label are back with a brand new release and this time it’s Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi’s Mega Drive soundtrack on 180g vinyl.
This record will be released on a single LP running at 45pm and come with a lithographic print of the game’s artwork. The record will be on sale Saturday 22nd January 2022 and will be available in 3 variants: a limited edition translucent teal with white splatter, translucent teal and classic black. The record won’t ship until February 16th 2022 so there’s not a long wait until release either.
Click here to be taken to the store entry on the Data Discs website. Please be reminded that the record is not sold out at the time of writing and it will go on sale on the 22nd of January 2022. You can also register to the Data Discs newsletter for earlier access to new releases.
A brand new trailer for Shenmue the Animation has debuted and with it we also get the news that the series will start airing on February 5th 2022 via Adult Swim. Check it out using the embed below:
Shenmue the Animation will be a 13 episode animated series that adapts the events of both Shenmue 1 & 2. The series is being distributed in the West by Adult Swim and Crunchy Roll and is being directed by Sakurai Chikara of Telecom Animation Film Studios and managed by Sola Entertainment.
The kings of prototype game preservation Hidden Palace have returned with another massive update of unreleased and prototype game dumps. Among the extensive update are a few unreleased SEGA titles with the most interesting being a 32X port of Spot Goes to Hollywood – the isometric sequel to Cool Spot. Check out some in-game footage below which also showcases a deleted stage based on the Aliens franchise:
In addition to the 32X Spot Goes to Hollywood discovery, we also have an interesting Time Warner 32X CMD Download Cartridge dump – a piece of software used to download programs onto a flash cart for testing on real 32X hardware.
On the Mega Drive side of things we have a dump of RBI Baseball 95 which was eventually cancelled. We also have a prototype version of Race Drivin’ that would see release on the system in March 1993. This prototype appears to be quite late in the game’s development.
A new version of the Astro City Mini has been revealed by SEGA Japan’s SEGA Toys division. Called the Astro City Mini V, this new version of the mini console features a vertically-orientated screen made for games that play in TATE mode. As a result, the system’s games library is specifically focused on TATE games, with a large amount being vertically-scrolling shoot-em-ups. Check out the reveal trailer below:
The Astro City Mini V will launch in Japan in 2022. There is no firm release date available at the time of writing. See below for a full list of included software:
Retro-bit recently re-released Mega Man: The Wily Wars for Mega Drive/SEGA Genesis and our guest contributor David Crint has written a brilliant analysis of the new packaging that goes into detail about what the collection offers alongside detailed analysis of the product’s quality. Please be aware that this feature contains no criticism of the actual software, with the focus being on the packaging of the collector’s edition re-release of Mega Man: The Wily Wars by Retro-bit and how it compares to the original release.
Teased back in May, the next mainline Sonic the Hedgehog game from Sonic Team has been formally unveiled as Sonic Frontiers. Sonic Frontiers will be the first open world entry in the franchise and it’s launching “Holiday 2022”. Check out the first in game trailer below:
Morio Kishimoto returns as director for Sonic Frontiers. Kishimoto previously directed Sonic Forces, Sonic Lost World, Sonic Colours and the Sonic Storybook games. Sonic Frontiers will release on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and PC.
The first trailer for the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 movie is finally here! Click the embed below to see the gang back in action alongside some new faces:
That’s certainly a lot of Sonic franchise references! We’ve got Tails, we’ve got the Tornado, we’ve got the master emerald, we’ve got buzzbombers and we’ve even got Knuckles. Idris Elba will voice Knuckles as the new antagonist of the movie alongside Ben Schwartz as Sonic the Hedgehog, Colleen O’Shaughnessey as Tails and Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik. Carrey has also received a makeover, sporting a more traditional Dr. Robotnik image – complete with bald head and enormous moustache.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 launches in cinemas worldwide on April 8th 2022. Jeff Fowler returns to direct.
A homebrew developer under the name of Mr. Sid is releasing a Commodore 64 port of the Master System/Game Gear version of Sonic the Hedgehog very soon. Playable on real hardware through the use of RAM expansion units, this is a remarkable development that is simply jaw-dropping to see in action. Check out the reveal trailer below:
Mr. Sid will release his homebrew port of Sonic 1 for Commodore 64 very soon. The exact date will be revealed shortly on his thread on the Lemon64 forums. The thread also contains exact details on the system specs needed to run the game on real hardware.
Discotek Media have revealed a new 2 disc blu-ray box set of the entire Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon series. Despite being a blu-ray release, the material is only in standard definition as it hasn’t been archived in high definition. Discotek are still promising the highest quality transfer of the series to date and have also promised a whole host of bonus content.
Also included is the Sonic Christmas Blast short that bridges the gap between Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and the Sonic the Hedgehog SatAM series. We also get the original sales pilot, high quality images of the original commercial bumpers alongside rare artwork and commentary tracks. See below for a full gallery that highlights the exact contents alongside examples of the blu-ray sleeve artwork and some of the content in the art galleries:
The new Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog blu-ray box set from Discotek Media launches exclusively in North America in February 2022. No word on a release in any other regions is available at the time of writing.
A handful of SEGA Xbox and 360 games have been added to the Xbox Series X|S backwards compatibility list. The main highlight comes in the form of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s 3rd person shooter Binary Domain which also gets a 60 FPS boost with its arrival. See below for the full list of SEGA/Atlus additions:
– Binary Domain (with FPS boost)
– Gunvalkyrie
– Otogi: Myth of Demons
– Otogi 2: Immortal Warriors
– Rock of Ages (with FPS boost)
An additional handful of Sonic games that were already backwards compatible have also received a 60 FPS boost. The most interesting of these is Sonic Unleashed which has only ever been playable in 30 FPS. The full list of FPS boosted titles now follows:
– Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed FPS boost
– Sonic Generations FPS boost
– Sonic Unleashed FPS boost
All of these updates are available to Xbox Series X|S owners now. Series S owners will need to own the games digitally in order to play them.
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