In a pleasant surprise for Xbox fans, SEGA’s beloved Yakuza series will finally be making touchdown on the Xbox One for the first time – as Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza Kiwami 2 all hit Microsoft’s console in Early 2020.
If that wasn’t enough, the three games will also be added to Xbox’s Game Pass subscription service. This means if you’re subscribed to Game Pass, you get all three games for as long as you pay for the subscription, along with the frankly pretty staggering number of other games on the service. This also goes for the PC version of Game Pass, which likely means the three games will be coming to the Microsoft Store around the same time as the Xbox versions launch.
The only date given was “Early 2020”. It’s fantastic news that even more people will be able to experience the adventures of Kazuma Kiryu – now how much do we have to bribe SEGA for an oh-so-elusive Nintendo Switch port?
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.
The next game to join the SEGA AGES lineup for Nintendo Switch will be the arcade shoot-em-up Fantasy Zone.
As expected, this release of the game will include the extra content introduced in the 3D Classics release of the game, such as Upa-Upa Mode (which lets you switch between power-ups freely, charging you for ammo rather than for each weapon), a ‘Coin Stock’ that accumulates over your playtime (so you can jump into the game with a loaded inventory of coins if you want), and bosses from the Master System version implemented as extra bosses in the arcade version. As you play and accumulate more coins, you’ll also unlock more options, such as increased power-up ammo, and the ability to change how many coins enemies drop when defeated.
There’ll also now be a time attack feature that gives you infinite lives, HD rumble support, the standard replay and ranking functions of the other AGES releases, and a massively overhauled HUD. The HUD is notable, as it’s actually very in-line with M2’s separate ShotTriggers line of shmup ports.
There’s no solid date on Fantasy Zone’s Switch release right now, but we’d expect it to show up within the next two weeks. Over here, it’ll probably launch alongside the recently released Shinobi port.
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.
It feels bizarre writing the words ‘Shenmue III launch trailer’ but it’s here and the game is nearly upon us. 18 years after the release of Shenmue II, we can finally experience the next chapter in Yu Suzuki’s open world opus. Click the embed below to watch the latest preview of Shenmue III in action:
Shenmue III launches on PS4 and PC via the Epic Games Store on the 19th of November 2019. The game has been developed by Ys Net and is being published by Deep Silver under license from SEGA.
A new “Behind the Gameplay” documentary on Streets of Rage 4 has been uploaded to the Dotemu YouTube channel and it offers some fascinating insight into the game’s development at Guard Crush Games as well as showcasing some new in-game footage. Check it out by watching the embed below:
Streets of Rage 4 will release on PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch at some point in 2020. The game is being developed by Lizardcube and Guard Crush Games with Dotemu publishing under license from SEGA.
2 new hardware articles on the Master System II and Dreamcast have been added to our hardware section. These articles feature a detailed history of each system alongside the system’s specifications and a selection of high quality images.
In our latest video on our YouTube channel, we take a look at the recently released first demo of Noah Copeland’s Sonic Triple Trouble remake. Click the embed below to see the game in action alongside our thoughts and first impressions:
After the negative reception of Sonic’s look in the first trailer for the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog movie, Paramount Pictures have gone back to the drawing board, delayed the film until February 2020 and given the visual effects team some extra time to redesign the character. We now have our first look at Sonic’s redesigned with this brand new trailer. Check it out below:
While the design still looks quite similar to the original, with Sonic having 2 separated eyes and lots of finer spines on his back, he definitely looks more like his game model with an overall cuter look and the addition of gloves instead of white fur on his hands. His shoes are also more comparable to those of the games as well.
The Sonic the Hedgehog movie will now launch on February 14th 2020. Ben Schwartz voices Sonic with James Marsden playing his police officer friend Tom and Jim Carrey taking the role of Dr. Robotnik.
Another selection of updates to our hardware section have just gone live. See below for the full list of additions complete with links to each article:
2 new features on some rather obscure Dreamcast hardware have now been added to our hardware section.
To begin with we have a feature on the incredibly rare, Japan-only SEGA Fish Life unit. This piece of hardware was sold to businesses as a way to add a virtual aquarium to their decor.
The other hardware feature we’ve added is on the unreleased Dreamcast Zip Drive peripheral. This peripheral would have connected to a Dreamcast and sat underneath the console and given users access to 100mb zip disks to allow for greater storage space while browsing the internet and downloading additional game content.
Both features contain multiple images of both pieces of hardware.
UPDATE
Overnight an additional Sonic 2 prototype has been made available by the good people at Hidden Palace. This prototype dates from August 1992 and can be downloaded by clicking here.
ORIGINAL STORY Hidden Palace‘s Sonic Month continues with a fresh selection of unreleased Sonic prototypes. This time we have 3 different releases of Sonic Chaos for Master System and Game Gear and a separate Sonic the Hedgehog 2 release for Mega Drive.
The Sonic Chaos releases date from May, June and July 1993 with the May release being an early Game Gear prototype that features different character sprites from the final build. Download links for each of these releases are listed below:
For fans of either game, these prototypes reveal some fascinating insight into the games’ development and are well worth a look if you have any interest in either game.
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