SEGA and Atlus are remastering the first three Etrian Odyssey games as Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection. The collection will launch exclusively on Switch and PC on June 1st 2023. Check out the reveal trailer below:
The Etrian Odyssey games are first person dungeon crawlers with turn-based combat. The games also feature music by Yuzo Koshiro of Streets of Rage fame. In addition to being released as a collection, each of the 3 Etrian Odyssey remasters will also be sold separately.
Microsoft have revealed a fresh batch of Xbox 360 games will start to be de-listed from their online marketplace starting February 7th 2023.
3 SEGA games are unfortunately amongst the list and these include Sega Vintage Collection: Alex Kidd & Co., Jet Set Radio and Daytona USA. This is once again a hugely unfortunate side effect of the move to digital-only game releases just like gali satta, and it’s a massive loss that these titles are not being preserved correctly for future generations. Children can learn a lot about other perspectives and cultures through games because they can immerse themselves in virtual worlds and sometimes connect with people from other countries.
Thankfully any game purchased from the Microsoft marketplace before a de-listing is forever redeemable if you ever want to re-download it, so if any of these titles are a part of your wish-lists then now is the time to buy them before you no longer have the option.
See below for the full list of Xbox 360 titles being de-listed on February 7th 2023:
– Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
– Assassin’s Creed III
– Assassin’s Creed IV
– Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD
– Blood of the Werewolf
– Blue Dragon
– Breakdown
– Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
– Call of Duty: Ghosts
– Castle Crashers
– Cloning Clyde
– Counter-Strike: GO
– Dark Souls
– Darksiders II
– DAYTONA USA
– Defense Grid
– Eets: Chowdown
– Far Cry 2
– Final Fight: Double Impact
– Iron Brigade
– Jeremy McGrath’s Offroad
– Jet Set Radio
– Left 4 Dead
– Left 4 Dead 2
– LIMBO
– Lost Odyssey
– Mass Effect 2
– MONOPOLY DEAL
– Mutant Blobs Attack
– N+
– Outpost Kaloki X
– Peggle 2
– Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds
– Prince of Persia
– R.U.S.E.
– Sega Vintage Collection: Alex Kidd & Co.
– Skate 2
– South Park: The Stick of Truth
– Spelunky
– Splinter Cell Conviction
– Star Wars Battlefront
– Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2
– The Orange Box
– The Raven Episode 1
SEGA are heavily hinting at the release of a brand new version of Cosmic Smash for VR-enabled gaming devices. A teaser video and website that features a countdown have gone live (click here to view the website). There is currently no word on specific release platforms at this time.
Cosmic Smash was originally an arcade title released by SEGA back in 2001 and ported to the Dreamcast later that same year. The game has a unique, minimalist aesthetic and plays like a cross between breakout and squash. The Dreamcast release is infamous for being one of the few Dreamcast games released in a DVD-style case and it also features the game’s stylish, minimalist art design:
Previously scheduled to release in July 2022, Bitmap Books have sadly had to cancel the release of their The Unofficial MD/Gen: A Visual Compendium book after SEGA have threatened the publisher with legal action.
Creative director Sam Dyer has issued a statement that says the company cannot risk potential legal action by releasing the book as the company cannot afford the costs as a small business. SEGA are reportedly not negotiating with the company despite them previously giving Bitmap Books their official stamp of approval for their Master System: A Visual Compendium book from 2019.
The move is a strange one from SEGA who have largely ignored unofficial publications based on their intellectual properties in the past. Dedicated SEGA fanzines like SEGA Powered continue to see publication without SEGA’s approval alongside Hardcore Gaming 101’s excellent SEGA Arcade Classics books.
Bitmap Books are looking for a way to release the PDF of the completed book for free so fingers crossed all the work done for The Unofficial MD/Gen: A Visual Compendium book doesn’t go to waste. This entire situation is a massive loss for video game preservation as history books like these become important archival documents for generations to come. SEGADriven send our condolences to Bitmap Books and the plethora of writers involved in this now cancelled publication.
Hidden Palace continue their incredible digital archiving work with a brand new SEGA Saturn prototype release of Burning Rangers from January 3rd 1998.
This latest prototype dump showcases a near complete version of Burning Rangers that features all the game’s missions, but they are missing certain features and tend to be a little bit on the buggy side. It’s a fascinating look at the later stages of the game’s development and can be downloaded direct from Hidden Palace by clicking here.
An extensive article by Bo Bayles is also available to read that details every interesting feature in that latest prototype dump. You can read that by clicking here.
Thanks once again to the incredible work of these dedicated digital archivists for continuing to preserve these amazing insights into SEGA Saturn game development.
More incredible SEGA preservation work has come to fruition after a chance discovery at a UK car boot sale. Thanks to the work of Ben Bizley, Nick Greenfield and the Oxford Duplication Centre, footage of Michael Jackson in SEGA’s arcade exclusive Scramble Training title for the VS-1 simulator has been archived from a D-2 tape sold at a car boot sale.
A detailed and comprehensive article on Jackson’s history with SEGA and the events that led to his contributions to Scramble Training can be read by clicking here. This is essential reading from UK arcade enthusiast ted90909 who has painstakingly chronicled Jackson’s own enthusiasm for video games and his eventual involvement with SEGA.
The full uncompressed video of Scramble Training can be downloaded from Gaming Alexandria’s Archive account, and the English localisation of the footage is viewable on YouTube via the embed below.
The official Sonic the Hedgehog Twitter account has revealed that Sonic Frontiers will continue to see updates and support into 2023. The account has also shared a “content road map” which highlights 3 major updates. These will include the following features:
1) a new juke box mode, a new photo mode and new challenge modes will be added in the first update
2) a Sonic’s birthday event, a new open zone challenge and new koko will be added in the second update
3) a new story chapter and new playable characters will be added in the third update. Tails, Knuckles and Amy are all hinted at being made into playable characters
All of these additions and updates will be made available for free for owners of Sonic Frontiers. This is a surprising and welcome commitment from SEGA that should keep Sonic Frontiers feeling fresh into the new year.
Yuzo Koshiro has revealed that he is working on a new Mega Drive game with an unnamed designer who he previously collaborated with on Beyond Oasis/The Story of Thor.
While development is seemingly early, Koshiro has shared 2 screenshots of the game which appears to be a horizontally-scrolling shoot-em-up.
There is currently no word on when the game will release or whether it will get a physical release. Koshiro has previously worked on physical Mega Drive games that have been published by Columbus Circle, like 16 Bit Rhythm Land which released back in early 2019.
Koshiro has mentioned that the primary release will be for Mega Drive but that other platforms could follow.
Craig Stitt’s SEGAPede game has been discussed previously as some footage of it had been released back in August 2020 where it was known as Astropede. The game was pitched as a spin-off to the Sonic series where you play as a badnik who befriends Sonic. Using existing Hidden Palace tile-sets from his work on Sonic 2, Stitt developed a prototype to pitch to SEGA but the game was never picked up.
Now thanks to the amazing work of Hidden Palace, this prototype has been dumped and archived so we can actually experience the SEGAPede prototype in all its glory. You can check out direct capture of the game via the embed below:
You can download the SEGAPede prototype from the game’s entry on the Hidden Palace wiki. The ROM will run under emulation or on real hardware. Thanks again to the Hidden Palace team for their incredibly digital archive work and making sure this piece of SEGA history is now available to all.
Former Sonic Team lead programmer Yuji Naka has revealed that former SEGA managing director Akira Nagai has passed away. He died on November 15th 2022 aged 79.
Nagai started his career at Nihon Goraku Bussan in 1963 where he worked in sales and distribution, directly selling to SEGA when they were producing electro-mechanical arcade games. Nihon Goraku Bussan was absolved into SEGA in the CSK buyout of Gulf+Western in 1984 and Nagai stayed with the company until 2004 when he retired after SEGA’s merger with Sammy.
Nagai is digitally immortalised in Shenmue as a yakuza boss. SEGADriven would like to send our deepest condolences to Akira Nagai’s friends, families and colleagues.
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