SEGA have confirmed that long time artist, director and producer Rieko Kodama has passed away. Kodama passed much earlier in the year, back in May 2022.
News of Kodama’s passing came to light when Retro Gamer writer Nick Thorpe spotted a tribute to her in the credits for the Mega Drive Mini 2. This was then confirmed by SEGA producer Yosuke Okunari.
Rieko Kodama had been working at SEGA since 1984 and has produced art for many classic games that include Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Quartet, Phantasy Star, Altered Beast, Shadow Dancer and the first 2 Sonic the Hedgehog games. Kodama personally directed Phantasy Star IV and Magic Knight Rayearth for the SEGA Saturn, while producing a number of titles including Skies of Arcadia and the largely Japan exclusive 7th Dragon games.
SEGADriven would like to extend our condolences to Rieko Kodama’s family, friends and colleagues. She was 58 years old.
Strictly Limited Games are producing a boxed run of DariusBurst CS Core that features the SEGA DLC ships on cartridge for the first time ever.
DariusBurst CS Core is an enhanced version of Taito’s DariusBurst that boasts an expanded CS mode with new stages, arranged stages based on DariusBurst ACEX+’s event mode/PSP version, a replay mode, the Ghost Score mode, force feedback, DLC stages and new DLC ships based on different Taito and SEGA properties.
The SEGA ships are Harrier from Space Harrier, the Try-Z from Galaxy Force II and Opa-Opa from Fantasy Zone. While this content isn’t new and has been available digitally for a while, this is the first time it will be included on cartridge.
This new Switch release from Strictly Limited will be available as a standard edition for €29.99, limited to 3000 copies and a collector’s edition for €59.99, limited to 2000 copies. Both versions go on sale tomorrow October 23rd 2022.
ASRock (in collaboration with SEGA) are developing a Sonic the Hedgehog-branded PC motherboard. The board is based on the Intel Z790 Phantom Gaming Riptide motherboard, but features Sonic the Hedgehog artwork and logos adorning it alongside a change of colour.
The board is called the ASRock Z790 PG Sonic. It is a standard ATX motherboard with 2 PCIe x16 slots and 4 DDR5 memory slots. There is currently no word on when it will be sold and whether it is a limited edition product or not. It’ll be worth keeping an eye on ASRock’s website for further information.
Limited Run Games are bringing the previously Japan-exclusive Astro City Mini V console to the US with an extra game. The American version of the Astro City Mini V will include a port of SEGA’s Super Zaxxon originally released in 1982 alongside the line-up from the Japanese version.
The Astro City Mini V is a mini console featuring a vertically orientated screen made to play tate mode arcade games. It comes pre-installed with 23 games that include the aforementioned Super Zaxxon, as well as Batsugun, Grind Stormer, Gunbird, Raiden, Strikers 1945 and Tatsujin among others. A full list of the includes games is featured in our hardware entry for the console.
The American Astro City Mini V will go on sale from Limited Run Games on October 25th 2022. This is not a pre-order window – the console is in hand and will ship shortly after purchase. The console is also available with the Arcade Style Kit which includes a mini arcade base, chair, top board and stickers.
The American Astro City Mini V is priced at $159.99. It is currently unclear if this is the price for the console with the Arcade Style Kit, or just the console itself.
Both Judgment games have finally made their way to PC and can be bought together with The Kaito Files DLC as The Judgment Collection on Steam.
Judgment and Lost Judgment take place in the Yakuza universe and put you in control of a new protagonist called Takayuki Yagami who is a lawyer-turn-detective investigating a case involving a series of murders where the victims eyes are removed. While the combat is very similar to the Yakuza series, there is a heavier focus on investigation.
Judgment is currently priced at £34.99, Lost Judgment is priced at £49.99 and The Kaito Files DLC for Lost Judgment is priced at £24.99. The entire collection can be purchased for a discounted total of £83.57.
You can check out the collection’s launch trailer by clicking the embed below:
A new Yakuza side story game has been revealed called Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. The game will explore what happened to Kiryu Kazuma between Yakuza 6: The Song of Life and Like a Dragon 8. The game is set to launch at some point in 2023.
It has been reported that Like a Dragon Gaiden will be a smaller entry in the franchise – roughly half the size of a typical Yakuza game. The game is due to launch on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC.
You can watch the reveal trailer by clicking the embed below:
Like a Dragon 8 has been formally revealed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio for an early 2024 release. It will follow the turn-based RPG action of Yakuza: Like a Dragon but will feature 2 protagonists in the form of Ichiban Kasuga and a returning Kiryu Kazama, now looking particularly more aged since his last appearance in Yakuza 6: The Song of Life.
The Yakuza name has been officially dropped in Western territories, with the much more literal ‘Like a Dragon’ now being the franchise name going forward. The same applies to Like a Dragon: Ishin! and Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name which was also revealed today.
You can watch the Like a Dragon 8 reveal trailer by clicking the embed below:
Like a Dragon 8 will launch on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC in early 2024.
The Yakuza series spin-off Ryu Ga Gotoku: Ishin! is being localised for a Western release as Like a Dragon: Ishin! This new version of the game will release on PS4 and PS5 in February 2023 and is now powered by Unreal Engine 4.
The original release of Ryu Ga Gotoku: Ishin! was powered by SEGA’s internal Yakuza engine that powered every Yakuza game from Kenzan! to Kiwami. This version launched in 2014 and also saw release on PS3.
Watch the full reveal trailer from Sony’s State of Play event by clicking the embed below:
Like a Dragon: Ishin! will launch on PS4 and PS5 in Western territories in February 2023. The game is being developed once again by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios.
Things have been very quiet on the Endless Dungeon front, but Amplitude Studios’s top-down co-op shooter is now looking to launch in 2023. We also have new gameplay footage courtesy of today’s Nintendo Direct, which showcases the game running on Nintendo Switch. Check it out below (Endless Dungeon footage starts at 39:14):
Endless Dungeon will launch on Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC in 2023. The game features roguelike gameplay, procedural level design and 3 player simultaneous co-operative action.
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