The much anticipated Shenmue III has suffered another delay. Fortunately the game is still planned to release this year, but it’ll now be launching November 19th, rather than August 26th as previously planned.
In a joint statement, Yu Suzuki’s company YS NET and publisher Deep Silver said that the game “needed more refinement before being truly finished.”
We’re all for delays in the name of improving a game’s quality, so here’s hoping this helps Shenmue III become the game that fans have been waiting for.
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.
Sound the SEGA AGES alarm, because the latest title in M2’s lovingly crafted range of Nintendo Switch ports is almost upon us. Wonder Boy in Monster Land will be the next title released in the range, arriving this week, May 30th, in the Japanese Nintendo eShop.
Mooted features for the release include the Trial Mode content from the previous SEGA Vintage Collection release, as well as a single button mapping for the game’s “Alchemy” system and an additional difficulty setting.
Unfortunately, things have gone quiet on the Western front – SEGA AGES Puyo Puyo and Virtua Racing are still nowhere to be seen. Hopefully they show up sooner rather than later, and we’ll let you know if they do get release dates confirmed.
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.
Jeff Fowler, the Director of the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog movie from Paramount, has taken to Twitter to announce that the film has been pushed back from its November/December 2019 release date. The film will now launch on February 14th 2020, with Fowler citing the previously confirmed redesign of Sonic as the cause.
For those who’ve been under a rock, the trailer for the Sonic movie debuted to widespread horror at Sonic’s design, leading Fowler to almost immediately state they’d change it. This then led to concerns that the VFX artists would be hit by major crunch trying to fix things for the 2019 release window.
As such, the film’s now been delayed. It’s a welcome move honestly – now we go back to awaiting out next look at Sonic with bated breath.
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.
UPDATE: The Western titles have now been confirmed.
The next batch of games available on the Mega Drive Mini have been announced, and are as follows:
JAPAN:
Ghouls n Ghosts
Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition
Mega Man: The Wily Wars
Golden Axe
Revenge of Shinobi
Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium
The Story of Thor (Beyond Oasis)
Puzzle & Action: Tant-R
Party Quiz Mega Q
Yu Yu Hakusho Makyō Tōitsusen
AMERICA/EUROPE:
Mega Man®: The Wily Wars
Street Fighter II’®: Special Champion Edition
Sonic Spinball
Phantasy Star IV
Beyond Oasis
Ghouls ‘N Ghosts®
Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
Golden Axe
Vectorman
Wonder Boy in Monster World
Something cool to note: the last 4 games on this list supported 4 players via a Multitap on the original Mega Drive. They actually retain this functionality on the Mini – you can use a USB Hub to connect more controllers!
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.
After heavy criticism of Sonic’s on-screen appearance in the first trailer for the Sonic the Hedgehog movie, director Jeff Fowler has made it clear that changes to the design are, “going to happen”. Fowler’s full tweet regarding the backlash is below:
“Thank you for the support. And the criticism. The message is loud and clear… you aren’t happy with the design & you want changes. It’s going to happen. Everyone at Paramount & Sega are fully committed to making this character the BEST he can be… #sonicmovie #gottafixfast”
This is quite an interesting development and something that likely comes with a heavy development and marketing cost. It also shows a greater commitment to protecting Sonic’s status as one of the most recognisable mascot characters of the nineties, who was previously reported to be more recognisable than Mickey Mouse in the 6 to 11 year old demographic in 1992.
The first Sonic the Hedgehog movie trailer has currently been viewed 21.7 million times with 283 thousand likes and 479 thousand dislikes. The film is due to be released in the US on November 8th 2019. Sonic himself will be voiced by Ben Schwartz.
The SEGA AGES re-release of SEGA’s arcade smash-hit Virtua Racing is now available to download from the Japanese Nintendo eShop. The game will run you 999JPY.
Unlike previous ports, this is a straight re-release of the arcade version. The downside to this approach is it means no new tracks or cars, as was the case in Virtua Racing Deluxe. However, the game supports 8-player local multiplayer and 1v1 online play. It also includes a specialised replay feature, based on the live broadcast function of the extremely rare “Virtua Formula” release of the game.
There’s currently no Western release date for this or SEGA AGES: Puyo Puyo, but we’ll let you know 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.
Persona 5 Royal has been formally announced. The title is essentially an expanded remake of Persona 5, with a slew of new content. It is currently a PS4 exclusive.
This includes new outfits, a “third semester” added to the year the game takes place across, updated graphics, new areas and two new characters – Yoshizawa Kasumi and Takuto Maruki. The game launches under the title Persona 5: The Royal in Japan on October 31st, but western gamers will have to wait a little while longer.
This just leaves the question of what “P5S” is – presumably we’ll find out at the second day of Persona’s Super Live event, which is tomorrow.
The Japanese trailer is far more in-depth and can be seen below:
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 previously Eastern-exclusive Puyo Puyo eSports will launch in the West on May 7th 2019 as Puyo Puyo Champions, for PS4, Xbox One, Switch and PC.
This title is built heavily on the Puyo Puyo Tetris engine and focus heavily on both local and online multiplayer. You can check out the reveal trailer below:
Puyo Puyo Champions will release for £7.99 as a digital-only release.
A collection of floppy disks previously owned by SEGA Technical Institute employee Tom Payne has ended up in the hands of Jason Moorhouse, a California-based retro game shop owner. With the help of Frank Cifaldi of the Video Game History Foundation, Bob Morgan and Jessie Perez, these disks have been dumped and converted into a readable format and some incredible discoveries have been made.
The most interesting of the bunch is an unreleased Mega Drive game called Spinny & Spike vs the Nightmare King. The game is not in a playable state, but various art assets have been ripped and a selection of them are viewable here:
Also included are a huge selection of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 development documents. A lot of these documents are previously released concepts by Yasushi Yamaguchi, but there are some new discoveries in here and we’ve included a selection below.
If you want to read the full story on the origins of the box of floppies and exactly what is contained on each disk then click here to go to the Megabits blog and have a look around. There is some truly fascinating stuff here.
A fresh batch of games have been announced for the Mega Drive Mini. As with the first set, the titles vary by region, but there’s some surprising picks for both regions – namely in the form of the Disney Mickey Mouse titles! The announcement also confirms the previously mooted “one game per series” policy only applies to the Japanese version of the mini console, as Sonic 2 has been confirmed for the Western edition now.
The new batch for the Western Mega Drive/Genesis Mini is:
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Earthworm Jim
Streets of Rage 2
Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse
World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck
Shinobi III – Return of the Ninja Master
Thunder Force III
Super Fantasy Zone
Contra Hard Corps/Probotector
Landstalker
The new batch for the Japanese version is 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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The much anticipated Shenmue III has suffered another delay. Fortunately the game is still planned to release this year, but it’ll now be launching November 19th, rather than August 26th as previously planned.
