SEGA America and SEGA Europe have finally committed to bringing Olympic Games Tokyo 2020: The Official Video Game to the West and the game is set for a June 22nd 2021 release.
Originally releasing in Japan on the 24th of July 2019, SEGA America and SEGA Europe seemed to shelve plans to release the game in favour of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, which released in November 2019. Olympic Games Tokyo 2020: The Official Video Game takes a more realistic approach to its presentation and features 18 different events to compete in with up to 8 player online multiplayer alongside local multiplayer features.
Olympic Games Tokyo 2020: The Official Video Game will release for PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC and Stadia on June 22nd 2021. Check out the new release trailer below:
— Roger Craig Smith (@RogerCraigSmith) May 26, 2021
In a bizarre sequence of events, Roger Craig Smith is returning to voice Sonic the Hedgehog after only 4 months away from the role.
Smith originally announced that he was leaving the role on January 28th 2021 after 10 years of being the voice of Sonic. We can only speculate why Smith stepped down from the role in January and why he has now returned to it, but it could well be a simple case of his contract expiring and SEGA not initially renewing it until now.
Sonic fans will have recognised Smith’s narration in yesterday’s ‘Unstoppable’ video, made to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. A Sonic Central event will take place tomorrow May 27th 2021 at 5pm UK time to reveal “upcoming projects, partnerships, and events to celebrate Sonic’s 30th anniversary”.
SEGA will hold a special Sonic Central 30th anniversary event on Thursday 27th of May 2021 at 5pm UK time. The event promises, “a first look at some of our upcoming projects, partnerships, and events to celebrate Sonic’s 30th anniversary”. The show will stream live on youtube.com/sonic and twitch.tv/sonic.
SEGA have also released a celebratory 30th anniversary video called ‘Unstoppable’ which takes a brief look back at the entire Sonic franchise in a similar style to the Pokemon Sun & Moon adverts that ran a few years back. Check it out below:
The ‘Unstoppable’ video also features narration by Roger Craig Smith who had previously revealed he was stepping down as the voice of Sonic. If this is true then this video might be the last time Smith is involved with the Sonic franchise.
Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown has finally been officially announced. The definitive version of SEGA’s beloved fighter will hit Playstation 4 on June 1st, as a digital exclusive.
The trailer points to this being a collaboration between AM2 and RGG Studio. Whether it’ll come to any more platforms in the future remains to be seen; there have also been rumours swirling that the game will be part of next month’s Playstation Plus offerings, which would make sense given the release date.
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.
File this one under ‘strange crossovers’ with the talking bunny that sings NiGHTS music; Green Tea specialists ITO EN have unveiled their new advertising campaign in co-operation with Japan pop music legends Dreams Come True. The main advert for the cross-promotion can be seen above, and the music should sound more than a little familiar to anyone reading a SEGA website.
As detailed in a blog post about the advert – yes, it’s just straight-up Green Hill Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog, now with fresh new vocals to go with it! For those unaware, Masato Nakamura of Dreams Come True produced the soundtrack for Sonic 1 & 2, and still owns the rights to the music. So this doesn’t really have anything to do with SEGA in terms of them actually being involved, but it’s very nicely timed for Sonic’s 30th Anniversary nonetheless!
The blog post also says a full version of the arrangement is being made, with vocal recording in progress currently. We’ll keep an eye out for a full version down the line!
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 Western release of Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams Reboot! has finally been confirmed for June 2021 on both Switch and PS4. The game will release both digitally and physically and will be published by Inin.
The Cotton remake was developed by Beep based on the Success original which was released on SEGA’s System 16 arcade board back in 1991. The Cotton series is a franchise of cute, horizontally-scrolling shoot-em-ups where you play as a young witch called Nata de Cotton who has to battle several monsters through a fantasy world to obtain her Willow candy. You can check out a trailer for the Cotton Reboot! by clicking the embed below:
Cotton Reboot! adds a new, HD art style to the game as well as the ability to play the 1993 X68000 port of the game. In addition to this there is also a newly arranged soundtrack as well as online leaderboards.
SEGA have revealed the sequel to Judgment in the form of Lost Judgment, which will be releasing worldwide on September 24th 2021 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. You can check out the reveal trailer by clicking the embed below:
According to an IGN interview with Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi and producer Kazuki Hosokawa, the Judgment sub-series is now flying the flag for the more traditional beat-em-up action the Yakuza franchise is known for, while mainline Yakuza titles will now follow the turn-based RPG action of Yakuza: Like a Dragon.
The previous Judgment game puts you in control of Takayuki Yagami, a private detective investigating a serial-murder case in Kamurocho. The game features similar beat-em-up action to most of the classic Yakuza titles but with the addition of an investigation mode where players must search the scene of the crime for evidence and clues in order to solve the case. This gameplay will be carried forward into Lost Judgment.
Thanks to the amazing efforts of Derek Pascarella and his team, Sakura Wars Columns 2 for the Dreamcast has now been fully translated into English and is now available to play on either real hardware or under emulation.
Sakura Wars Columns 2 is a little more than your standard re-skin of Columns featuring different characters and artwork based on a different franchise. The game also features a full story mode that melds the traditional Sakura Wars visual novel and dating simulation aspects into the Columns formula for a truly unique experience. It’s this game mode that benefits the most from the newly translated text.
A full list of download links for the title are available below:
The full development team on this translation is as follows: Derek Pascarella, Chanh Nguyen (Burntends), Natsume38, Danthrax4, HaydenKow, esperknight, VincentNL, nanashi, SnowyAria, NoahSteam, TurnipTheBeet, YZB, cj_iwakura, Ozaline, Matatabi Mitsu, ItsumoKnight, Samantha Ferreira, LettuceKitteh, JoblessFloppy, GriffithVIII, Patrick Traynor, AnimatedAF, Small Nerd and Einahpets.
One of the most infamous lost Dreamcast developments is Castlevania: Resurrection. This 3D Castlevania title was being developed by Konami and sadly cancelled in March 2000. Outside some scant screenshots in magazines as well as some reporting from E3 1999, the game was never showcased to the public in a playable or even viewable form until now.
A digital archivist called Comby Laurent has come into ownership of the 1999 E3 demo that was shown behind doors to the press and it has now been released publicly for the first time. The early prototype of Castlevania: Resurrection can be downloaded from Archive.org and played on real Dreamcast hardware or under emulation.
You can check out footage of the game in action via Retro Core and the embed below:
The next playable character in the Mr. X Nightmare DLC for Streets of Rage 4 has been revealed to be Max Thunder. Max only appears as a boss in the base game using SOR4’s updated art style, but he did make a playable appearance via his unlockable retro incarnation. You can check out Max in action via the reveal trailer below:
The Mr. X Nightmare DLC for Streets of Rage 4 will be available later in 2021 for PC, Xbox One, PS4 and Switch. The DLC will also feature new music by Tee Lopes of Sonic Mania fame.
SEGADriven and its original content are copyrighted to their respective authors. Media related directly to SEGA is copyrighted to its respective authors. Any comments on SEGA-related materials do not represent SEGA themselves. All rights reserved 2008-2025.
We use cookies to analyse site usage, provide social media features and personalise content and ads. We may also share information about your use of our website with our partners.
