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.
The official Sonic the Hedgehog Twitter account has revealed that Sonic Frontiers will continue to see updates and support into 2023. The account has also shared a “content road map” which highlights 3 major updates. These will include the following features:
1) a new juke box mode, a new photo mode and new challenge modes will be added in the first update
2) a Sonic’s birthday event, a new open zone challenge and new koko will be added in the second update
3) a new story chapter and new playable characters will be added in the third update. Tails, Knuckles and Amy are all hinted at being made into playable characters
All of these additions and updates will be made available for free for owners of Sonic Frontiers. This is a surprising and welcome commitment from SEGA that should keep Sonic Frontiers feeling fresh into the new year.
Yuzo Koshiro has revealed that he is working on a new Mega Drive game with an unnamed designer who he previously collaborated with on Beyond Oasis/The Story of Thor.
While development is seemingly early, Koshiro has shared 2 screenshots of the game which appears to be a horizontally-scrolling shoot-em-up.
There is currently no word on when the game will release or whether it will get a physical release. Koshiro has previously worked on physical Mega Drive games that have been published by Columbus Circle, like 16 Bit Rhythm Land which released back in early 2019.
Koshiro has mentioned that the primary release will be for Mega Drive but that other platforms could follow.
Craig Stitt’s SEGAPede game has been discussed previously as some footage of it had been released back in August 2020 where it was known as Astropede. The game was pitched as a spin-off to the Sonic series where you play as a badnik who befriends Sonic. Using existing Hidden Palace tile-sets from his work on Sonic 2, Stitt developed a prototype to pitch to SEGA but the game was never picked up.
Now thanks to the amazing work of Hidden Palace, this prototype has been dumped and archived so we can actually experience the SEGAPede prototype in all its glory. You can check out direct capture of the game via the embed below:
You can download the SEGAPede prototype from the game’s entry on the Hidden Palace wiki. The ROM will run under emulation or on real hardware. Thanks again to the Hidden Palace team for their incredibly digital archive work and making sure this piece of SEGA history is now available to all.
We’ve been running a series on our YouTube channel where we try to find the cheapest games for a certain SEGA system that aren’t sports titles, and in our latest edition we put the focus on the SEGA Saturn. Check it out below:
The release of a new Sonic game has become a somewhat sad affair over the course of the last decade, right after it seemed like he was finding his footing with games like Sonic Colours and Sonic Generations. So after nearly two full run-throughs of the game, it brings me great joy to say that Sonic Frontiers is the best Modern Sonic title released in the past 10 years. In fact, there’s elements of it I think I enjoy more than Generations! It’s also, however, a game with no shortage of issues; in ways that often feel much like ‘first game syndrome’ for the ‘open-zone’ concept that Takashi Iizuka believes could form the future of Sonic games.
The latest Sonic Prime trailer has arrived and in this extended 2 minute look at the show we get to see even more “shatterspaces” and variants of Sonic’s buddies. We even get a whole menagerie of different Eggmen! You can check out the full trailer via the embed below:
Sonic Prime launches on Netflix December 15th 2022. The series is being animated by Wildbrain and features Deven Mack as the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog.
Former Sonic Team lead programmer Yuji Naka has revealed that former SEGA managing director Akira Nagai has passed away. He died on November 15th 2022 aged 79.
Nagai started his career at Nihon Goraku Bussan in 1963 where he worked in sales and distribution, directly selling to SEGA when they were producing electro-mechanical arcade games. Nihon Goraku Bussan was absolved into SEGA in the CSK buyout of Gulf+Western in 1984 and Nagai stayed with the company until 2004 when he retired after SEGA’s merger with Sammy.
Nagai is digitally immortalised in Shenmue as a yakuza boss. SEGADriven would like to send our deepest condolences to Akira Nagai’s friends, families and colleagues.
All 7 issues of SEGA Mania have now been digitally preserved on the SEGAMagazines.com website which is run by the SEGA Mania team. You can browse them all by clicking here. Thanks to Peder Johnsen on Twitter for informing us.
ORIGINAL STORY
The independent SEGA fanzine SEGA Mania has officially ceased publication after only 18 months of activity. The fanzine produced 7 issues.
Lead editor Tim Hugall has cited “a multitude of factors” for the fanzine’s discontinuation. He also revealed that the fanzine never produced any profit and all the writers contributed their work for free. All proceeds made from magazine sales were put directly into the production of the next issue. You can read Tim’s entire farewell announcement by clicking here.
SEGA Mania had only just revealed the cover for their 8th issue 2 days ago which makes the cancellation strangely abrupt. All open pre-orders and subscriptions have been reportedly refunded. Unfortunately, the team have also removed all access to digital back issues and completely deactivated their social media channels – a disappointing end to a fanzine that has previously championed digital archiving.
SEGADriven want to send our best wishes to the SEGA Mania team and hope everyone moves onto bigger and better things. You can read our full review of SEGA Mania issue 1 by clicking here.
The team at SEGA Powered magazine are putting together a special 2022 annual in celebration of the publication’s first anniversary.
SEGA Powered is an independent SEGA fanzine that features Dean Mortlock of SEGA Power fame as editor. The team have published 7 issues so far and this new annual will compile some of their best features with some additional new content.
The Kickstarter for the annual has 13 days left and is currently at £2066 funded. The goal to make the annual a reality is £5000.
If you’re interested you can head to the project’s Kickstarter page and look at he various tiers to see what suits you best. The annual is being offered as both a digital release and a physical hardback book.
The wonderful people over at Gaming Alexandria have discovered and dumped an unreleased SEGA Saturn game called The Sacred Pools.
Development on the game started in 1996 by SEGASoft of Bug Too! and Mr. Bones fame, and the title is described as an erotic thriller that heavily uses full motion video. The game was previewed at E3 that year and received a lot of negative press which eventually lead to the game’s cancellation.
The dumped disc image can be downloaded from The Internet Archive by clicking here. Gaming Alexandria also have an extensive article that delves deeper into the history of the game, it’s development and eventual cancellation that you can read by clicking here.
A huge thank you to Gaming Alexandria for preserving another lost SEGA title! You can watch the game in action via the video embed below:
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