Back in the day, SEGA music was so beloved that it was frequently performed live by SEGA’s own in-house band, the SEGA Sound Team Band (S.S.T. Band). They gave us some of the most incredible performances of SEGA music the world’s ever known, and in recent years several members of the group actually reformed under the new banner of Blind Spot. Their latest albums include both entirely new original pieces, as well as covers of classic SEGA tunes – and now they’ve announced a fourth album (technically their fifth?) is on the way.
With 12 tracks on offer, Blind Spot IV offers a mix of new and old tracks from beloved composers such as Katsuhiro Hayashi, Koichi Namiki, Takenobu Mitsuyoshi and more. In the SEGA department, the album promises remixes of tracks heard in Virtua Racing, Daytona USA, and even a new arrangement of the main theme of NiGHTS into Dreams – complete with a fresh vocal track!
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 most recent games in M2’s SEGA AGES lineup for Nintendo Switch, Fantasy Zone and Shinobi, finally have Western release dates. You’ll be able to get your hands on them on January 23rd.
Both games will cost £5.99, and include a slew of upgrades over their original incarnations. Fantasy Zone has all of the added content from the 3DS version, as well as an overhauled HUD akin to M2’s ShotTriggers lineup. Shinobi has a rewind feature that’s been improved over its implementation in previous AGES titles, and the AGES mode has benefits such as Joe being able to take more than one hit, and use his melee attack with a button rather than context-sensitivity. He also has his white garb from the later titles, as a cool nod for longtime fans.
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.
There’s not much longer to wait for Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD’s Steam release – because it’s actually out next week!
The game’s Steam page now confirms a launch date of December 10th. And to sweeten the deal, there’ll be a 20% off deal on the game until December 17th, putting the price at £19.99 (down from £24.99). For those unaware, Banana Blitz is a remake of the first Nintendo Wii outing for the series, but with 100% less motion controls. Party games have also been slimmed down to a more curated selection, level design has been tweaked to suit the new controls better, and perhaps most notably there’s a new unlockable character in the form of Sonic the Hedgehog. The Steam version will also seemingly add features, such as a Photo Mode.
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.
Persona 5 Royal, the updated version of Atlus’ hit RPG Persona 5, now has a release date for both America and Europe – it’ll launch on March 31st 2020, exclusively for Playstation 4. There’s also a new trailer to announce it.
Royal adds a slew of new content to the original game, such as an extra ‘semester’ of story content, new areas to visit, alternate endings, and new features including a ‘Thieves Den’ that you can customise to your own tastes. There’s also several brand-new characters, including the new Phantom Thief, Kasumi.
In addition, Atlus USA is technically no more. Instead the division is now known as the much more inclusive Atlus West, to reflect that Europe now gets Atlus games on time. After years of Atlus being the butt of jokes about forgetting Europe exists, it’s been quite the transformation this past year or two, and we’re happy to see it continue.
To recap: Persona 5 Royal launches on PS4 on March 31st 2020 in the West. There won’t be a PS3 version, unlike the original game. There’s also a selection of lucrative (and fairly expensive) limited editions, including a Day One edition with a Steelbook.
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.
Tags: atlus, Persona 5 Royal, playstation 4, rpg Posted in News | Comments Off on Persona 5 Royal Launches West on March 31st 2020 for PS4, Atlus USA Rebrand as Atlus West
Sound the SEGA AGES klaxon – because Fantasy Zone will be joining SEGA’s lineup of Nintendo Switch re-releases this week, in Japan at least.
Previously announced to be the next game in the lineup, we now know the game will launch this Thursday, November 28th (thanks to timezones, that’ll be Wednesday afternoon in the UK). It’ll be the usual price of 999 JPY. The release includes the content of the 3DS port, such as the Upa-Upa mode, as well as new elements like a Time Attack mode and revamped HUD display similar to M2’s own ShotTriggers releases. More information is available on the Japanese page for SEGA AGES.
There’s currently no word on a Western release date for SEGA AGES Shinobi or Fantasy Zone, but we imagine it can’t be too far off now – we’ll report if one shows up.
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.
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.
Owners of Valkyria Chronicles 4 on Steam are in for a treat, as the game has now been rebranded to the Complete Edition – even for those who already bought it!
The Complete Edition replaces the listing for the original release, and comes in at £39.99 – except now, you also get all of the DLC included in that price. And if that wasn’t enough, SEGA’s gone back and applied this retroactively to anyone who already purchased the game! So picked up Valkyria Chronicles 4 at launch and wish you’d waited for the Complete Edition? No need – you get all of the DLC for free!
It’s pretty generous to say the least, and a welcome move from SEGA. We can’t remember the last time ‘Game of the Year’ or ‘Complete Edition’ goodies got retroactively given to existing customers, so it’s a pleasant surprise.
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.
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.
We love a bit of weird SEGA trivia here at SEGADriven, and this certainly fits that bill!
Very recently, a cuddly soft toy called “Cheerful Usa-Chan” was released in Japan. It seems like it’s a spin-off from another popular product, IWAYA’s “Cheerful Kuma-chan”, and the idea is that it’ll sing kids a lullaby to help them sleep. Which is all well and good, but has absolutely nothing to do with SEGA. Or does it?
Turns out one of the songs included with Cheerful Usa-Chan is none other than a brand new arrangement of “Dreams Dreams”, the main theme of SEGA Saturn cult hit NiGHTS into Dreams! Specifically, it’s a new spin on “Dreams Dreams in Silent Memory”. Composer Tomoko Sasaki goes into detail about the surprising inclusion on her blog – from the sounds of things, she asked SEGA for permission to use the track and they granted it, so you can officially have your kids put to bed by a stuffed rabbit singing old SEGA music at them. The rabbit’s singing for the track is even provided by Sasaki herself! For those unaware, her resume includes Ristar and Burning Rangers, and later on tracks for Namco’s “The iDOLM@STER” series. She even voiced the Chao in Sonic Adventure!
Fortunately Twitter user @mid0_ring0 already got their hands on the plush, and being a NiGHTS fan they’ve provided a video of the new arrangement, after the jump:
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.
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