Raster Scroll have opened a Kickstarter for a new book called Legends of 16-Bit Game Development. The focus of the book is aimed at Treasure and their 16 bit Mega Drive titles that include Dynamite Headdy, Alien Soldier, Gunstar Heroes and more.
The book is authored by John Harrison who has extensively researched the company and is aiming to offer readers insight into the business-side of the developer, the actual game development process, key members of the development team and their backgrounds, and the reception of the featured games after their release.
If you’re interested in funding such a project then head on over to the official Legends of 16-Bit Game Development Kickstarter. Several tiers are available with the lowest starting at $30. Each book aims to include 250 pages of full colour content.
You can read an excerpt from the book by clicking here.
The European SEGA Shop has kindly sent us some items from their Halloween Sonic the Hedgehog range and in our latest video we take a look at them. Check it out below:
The Sonic the Hedgehog Halloween merch line is available to order from the European SEGA Shop now. Click here to see the full line which includes a beanie hat, mug, enamel pin badges and the t-shirt and scented candle featured in our video.
If you enjoyed this video then why not subscribe to the SEGADriven YouTube channel for more visual SEGA fun!
Previously revealed for the deluxe version of Darius Cozmic Revelation, a new Extra Version of the previously Mega Drive Mini port of Darius will release on a Mega Drive cartridge thanks to the good people at Columbus Circle.
Columbus Circle have been responsible for a string of new Mega Drive releases that include 16 Bit Rhythm Land, Advanced Busterhawk Gley Lancer, Ultracore and Mad Stalker: Full Metal Forth.
Data Discs return with another Treasure shoot-em-up classic as they gear up to give a vinyl release to the Ikaruga soundtrack.
Originally released in arcades in 2001 and then the Dreamcast in 2002, Ikaruga is a legendary, vertically-scrolling shoot-em-up famed for its use of a colour-shifting gimmick. This allows the player to absorb enemy fire of the opposite colour to your ship, but enemy fire of the same colour can damage you. The game has subsequently released for GameCube, Xbox 360, PC, Switch and PS4.
The vinyl release of the game’s soundtrack comes on three colourways: a clear with black and white splatter special edition record, a white record and a black record. Also bundled with the release are 4 lithographic prints of artwork by Yasushi Suzuki. Pre-orders go live for the release via Data Discs’ website on Saturday 24th of October 2020. The records are expected to ship around the 20th of November.
According to lead animator Tim Dawson, the upcoming release of Golden Axed is a complete surprise to him and the team responsible for it.
Originally coded in 2012, the project was created off the back of the team’s Castle of Illusion prototype which successfully kept the company afloat. Development then proceeded under the concept that it would be a “darker, bloodier Golden Axe” and the team went ahead with combining those ideas with the concept of the original game.
What followed was 2 weeks of 14 hour days and several disputes with management, who wanted the game to be something else. Tim recounts, “much less luckily we also had the lead designer who thought he was designing it, and sometimes Sanatana Mishra would have to physically block him from reaching my workstation or he’d start explaining insights he’d received playing the mobile port on the train on the way to work.”
The most harrowing story Tim recounts is showing the latest build to management:
“but the biggest gut punch came a week and a half in – combat was working, it was all on track! I was called for a meeting in the big room, so I put the latest build on the network and went to see what was up. All of management was sitting around the big table
I showed the game. grave faces
There was a pause
“where’s the wow factor” someone asked
The lead designer once again complained it wasn’t a God of War-like 3D brawler like he wanted
Someone said maybe it’d have been better to have made a prerendered video where the barbarian fought a monster.”
The full thread of Tim’s experiences making the prototype can be read on Twitter. It’s not a particularly pleasant read but it highlights some important truths about game development that cannot be ignored and it’s unfair of SEGA to promote this title as a “janky”, “buggy artifact of its time” [UPDATE: These terms have fortunately now been removed from games Steam’s description]
Starting today (October 14th 2020) and lasting for 60 days, SEGA are celebrating their 60th anniversary with a huge swathe of discounts, competitions and interviews. An official SEGA 60th website has launched and it details what the various SEGA teams are sharing each week, and the most interesting exclusive that is coming from these celebrations is a selection of brand new PC mini games.
4 have been teased already and they are as follows (Steam pages for each game are linked as well):
– Streets of Kamurocho (a Yakuza-themed Streets of Rage-style beat em up, releasing 17/10/2020)
– Armor of Heroes (inspired by Company of Heroes, releasing 15/10/2020)
– Endless Zone (inspired by Endless Space, releasing 16/10/2020)
– Golden Axed (a prototype of an unreleased Golden Axe game, releasing 18/10/2020)
The mini games will launch one-a-day starting October 15th and will be available via Steam for a limited time only. You can also register on the SEGA 60th website to redeem a free copy of NiGHTS into dreams… Click here to be taken to the registration page.
You can also watch the reveal trailer for the SEGA 60th celebrations below:
Previewed back in January at CES, Arcade1Up’s Golden Axe arcade cabinet is now available to pre-order in the US and Canada. This cabinet features Golden Axe: The Revenge of Death Adder, Wrestle War, Shinobi, Altered Beast and the original Golden Axe and will set you back $399.
It’s a pretty feature-rich package with a 17″ display, 4 player joystick setup, light-up marquee, volume control and a riser. You can check out a trailer for the cabinet below:
A fresh selection of promotional material and t-shirts have been added to the Promotional Material and Clothing sections of the website. See below for the full list of additions:
– Castle Fine Art Presents 25th Anniversary Sonic the Hedgehog Card added to Promotional Material
– Sonic Boom Event Flyer added to Promotional Material
– Sonic Lost World Sticker Sheet added to Promotional Material
– Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing Door Hanger added to Promotional Material
– Sonic the Hedgehog 25th Anniversary Postcard added to Promotional Material
– Sonic the Hedgehog ‘Available Now’ Flyer added to Promotional Material
– Crush 40 T-Shirt added to Clothing
– Crush 40 Rules T-Shirt added to Clothing
– Fighting Vipers T-Shirt added to Clothing
– New images of Mega Drive T-Shirt added to Clothing
– Panzer Dragoon II Zwei T-Shirt added to Clothing
– Sonic Boom T-Shirt added to Clothing
– Sonic the Hedgehog Joypolis T-Shirt added to Clothing
– Sonic the Hedgehog “Slow Sucks” Gamestation T-Shirt added to Clothing
– Sonic the Hedgehog Primark T-Shirt added to Clothing
During a Reddit AMA, Dotemu confirmed that Lizardcube and Guard Crush Games are working on additional content for Streets of Rage 4. There is currently no release window set in stone, but the publisher responded to the question of, “will you add content to Streets of Rage 4?” with the following:
“YES, we will but there is no ETA. You guys are awesome and deserve the best so give us time to do things right.”
Streets of Rage 4 released on PC, Xbox One, PS4 and Switch back in April 2020.
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