The first in-game footage of Feral Interactive’s Alien: Isolation port to Switch is now available to view via the embed below and my word does it impress. It looks like very little graphical fidelity and resolution has been lost. Have a look for yourself:
Alien: Isolation for Switch is due to release this Winter as a digital download title from the Nintendo eShop. There is no hard release date available at this time. Alien: Isolation was originally developed by The Creative Assembly and released for PS3, Xbox 360, PC, PS4 and Xbox One back in October 2014.
A new CD release that ties in with the release of the Mega Drive Mini is due to arrive this December. Mega Drive Mini -Celebration Album- compiles Yuzo Koshiro’s new menu music that features on the Mega Drive Mini itself with a selection of new arrangements of music from a handful of games that feature on the console. Games like Gunstar Heroes, Columns, Golden Axe and Thunder Force III all feature. Check out the fully translated track list below:
Mega Drive Mini -Celebration Album- releases December 12th 2019 in Japan and costs 3000 yen. Pre-orders are not available at the time of writing, but I’m sure the release will hit Amazon Japan and CD Japan very soon.
Jon Burton of TT Games has continued to upload the various demo music from Jun Senoue’s early cassette soundtrack for Sonic 3D: Flickies’ Island. The latest 2 videos feature the demos for Green Grove Zone which was previously titled Green Alley Zone, and another song for an unused Knuckles bonus stage is actually a demo for the song that would end up being used for Pleasure Castle in Sonic Adventure. Check them both out using the embeds below:
The earliest known prototype has been located and dumped by the good people at Hidden Palace and you can now download and play it yourself through emulation. This prototype dates back to December 4th 1992 and features the ‘CD Sonic’ title screen alongside an earlier build of Palmtree Panic which is known here as Salad Plain Zone. If you’d like to see the prototype in action then SEGADriven’s very own Tracker_TD has recorded a playthrough on his YouTube channel:
Alongside this release, Hidden Palace have also released a dump of a trade show-only multimedia disc that features some new artwork and animations of Sonic and Dr. Robotnik. Images of this artwork was previously referenced in magazine news articles that discussed Sonic 2 being ported to Mega-CD, which ultimately never came to pass:
The next SEGA Ages title coming to the Japanese Nintendo Switch eShop is SEGA Ages: Shinobi and it will launch on the 31st of October 2019.
This new port of the game by M2 features a whole raft of enhancements that include:
– a dedicated button for melee attacks (these were previously context sensitive)
– a stage select option
– new difficulty options
– rewind functionality
– replay functionality
– online leaderboards
– support for HD rumble
– an arcade cabinet mode that simulates the background noise of a bustling arcade
– a brand new ‘Ages Mode’ which acts as an easier difficulty where you play as Joe Musashi in his white ninja garb with permanent buffs and the ability to take 2 hits to kill
Check out some screenshots below which showcase this new port in action. You can see the famous Marilyn Monroe images have been replaced with an image of the wolf transformation from Altered Beast – a nice little touch:
The Panzer Dragoon: Remake being developed by MegaPixel Studio S.A. and published by Forever Entertainment had previously been confirmed as coming to the Nintendo Switch and PC, but we now have official confirmation that the PC version will be distributed via Steam. You can wishlist the game now. The Steam store page for Panzer Dragoon: Remake also lists the release date as “This Winter”, confirming a Winter 2019 release is currently planned.
Panzer Dragoon: Remake is not the only SEGA remake in development under publisher Forever Entertainment. Panzer Dragoon Zwei is also getting the remake treatment alongside remakes of the original 2 The House of the Dead titles.
We have a few new updates to the Graphic Novels and Books sections in our Merchandise catalogue today. See below for the full list of additions and direct access to their entries:
Back in October 2017, Jon Burton of Traveller’s Tales fame revealed that he was in the possession of a cassette containing the demo versions of Jun Senoue’s Sonic 3D Blast soundtrack. Well fast-forward 2 years and Burton has started to upload these demos to his YouTube channel, GameHut. You can listen to 3 of the tracks from the cassette via the embed below:
This is a fascinating piece of history that showcases how Jun Senoue wrote his music in 1996. The demos are arranged very simplistically on synthesisers before being re-arranged for use on the Mega Drive’s Yamaha YM2612 sound chip. The full tracklisting for the demo cassette is listed below. Hopefully Burton continues to share more of the music from the cassette:
A1 Opening (Short Ver.)
A2 Opening (Long Ver.)
A3 Power Up
A4 Green Alley Zone Act.1
A5 Casino Night Zone Act.1
A6 Boss (Minor Key)
B1 Boss (Major Key)
B2 Special Stage
B3 Bonus Stage (Miles)
B4 Bonus Stage (Knuckles)
SEGA has released a new “Special Announcement” trailer for Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD. It confirms the monkeys will have alternate costumes in the game, including some referencing other games in the series, such as Baby’s Secret Agent costume from Super Monkey Ball 3D for the 3DS.
But the real special announcement here is the confirmation of one of the worst kept secrets in recent SEGA memory – Sonic the Hedgehog has been added to the game as an unlockable character, in his Classic design! This was actually leaked three times, first through achievements that referred to him and then through a datamine of the recently released Japanese demo, and finally just earlier today through a leaked trailer. However we now have official confirmation, and our first look at him in action! There’s no word on how to unlock him in the game as of yet, but given this is Monkey Ball we can’t imagine it’ll be a walk in the park.
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD launches October 29th for Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4 and Xbox One, with a PC port coming later in Winter.
When Tracker isn’t playing SEGA games, he’s talking about SEGA games. Or drawing about SEGA games. Or all of the above. You can also catch him over on Twitter.
Currently working on a Switch remake of Panzer Dragoon, Forever Entertainment have now confirmed they will be developing remakes of the original 2 The House of the Dead titles.
No platforms have been specified at this time, but given that the Panzer Dragoon remake is coming to Switch, it’s a safe bet that the Switch will be one of the platforms that Forever Entertainment will be targeting.
It’ll be interesting to see how Forever Entertainment develop a modern on-rails shooter as it is not a genre that has seen much of a resurgence this generation. We’re only speculating but perhaps they will incorporate gyroscopic controls or VR support.
Hopefully it isn’t too long before we get to see Forever Entertainment’s efforts. The company have stated that it would be wise to follow their official channels if you’re interested in any of their SEGA remake projects.
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