SEGADriven is a SEGA news and information source that focuses on SEGA's console history, retro games and new software hitting the shelves. We want to share a love of great, quirky, clever and down-right fun games - something that SEGA have always specialised in. See below for the latest news, reviews and features added to the website.
With Yakuza 6 on the way, and last year’s Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami still relatively fresh on our minds, SEGA has continued the Yakuza series love with the announcement that Yakuza Kiwami 2 (a remake of Yakuza 2 for PS4, in the shiny new Dragon Engine) is coming West. And you won’t be waiting long either, as it’s out on August 28th!
As the official description from SEGA eloquently puts it:
It’s been a full year since Kazuma Kiryu took his leave from the world of the Yakuza during the events of Yakuza Kiwami. Fate, however, has other things in mind for the legendary Dragon of Dojima, and Kiryu finds himself back on the front lines of a potential all-out war.
The game will also receive a steelbook edition, as has basically become tradition for the series now. It’ll be a limited edition though; time to get those pre-orders in!
The Film Distributors’ Association, the UK body for theatrical film distributors, have listed the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog movie on their site. Notably, it’s been given a later release date than the previously reported November 15th 2019 launch, suggesting the film will launch in the UK on the later date of Friday December 13th 2019.
While films releasing later in the UK is nothing particularly new, this is somewhat notable; as it puts the film a week before the projected release date for Star Wars: Episode IX. Perhaps Paramount are betting on Sonic’s historic popularity in UK stacking up to Disney’s holiday juggernaut? It’s no doubt a risky move, but with a relatively star-studded team behind the Sonic film (including Neal Moritz of the Fast and the Furious series, and Tim Miller of Deadpool), whether it’ll pay off is anyone’s guess at this point.
Tags: release date, Sonic Movie, sonic the hedgehog, uk Posted in News | Comments Off on Film Distributors’ Association Lists Sonic the Hedgehog Movie for a December 13th 2019 Release in the UK
A short teaser trailer revealed at the SXSW Sonic panel appears to be hinting at the release of a new Sonic racing game.
The trailer features some images of a car that looks suspiciously like Sonic’s car from Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing before revealing a logo that is partially obscured. The logo appears to read “Sonic Racing” but it’s only the ‘R’ that’s illuminated; a nice little nod to 1997 Sonic racer, Sonic R.
There are no other details on this title available at this time, although it has been heavily rumoured that Sumo Digital are leading development on the title.
A new 5 part animated series called Sonic Mania Adventures will launch later this year.
The series will be released online for free and it appears to feature animation led by Tyson Hesse who previously collaborated with Studio Yotta on Sonic Mania’s animated sequences.
Check out the teaser trailer by clicking the embed below:
Sonic Mania is getting an enhanced physical release called Sonic Mania Plus. This new version adds Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel as playable characters. Mighty hasn’t been playable in a Sonic game since 1995’s Knuckles’ Chaotix and Ray hasn’t been playable since his one and only appearance in the Japan exclusive arcade title SEGASonic the Hedgehog which was released back in 1993.
This new package also includes something called Encore Mode, a new 4 player competition mode as well as a 32 page art book, a reversible cover featuring a faux-Mega Drive/Genesis look and holographic packaging. That’s quite a substantial upgrade over the previously digital-only release.
Sonic Mania Plus will release for PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch this summer.
The full list of included games has been confirmed by the PlayStation Blog. Notable exclusions from the collection include Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles which is likely due to licensing agreements regarding the soundtrack, which infamously features work by Michael Jackson. We also have confirmation of both offline and online multiplayer for games that support multiplayer options.
UPDATE 1
SEGA Europe have confirmed that the game will feature a new rewind option, a mirror mode and a selection of visual filters. SEGA Europe have confirmed the mirror mode mirrors the entire game horizontally – text and all. There has also been confirmation that Sonic 3 will not be included. The game will support trophies and achievements. An official website is also now live.
ORIGINAL POST
A new SEGA Mega Drive Classics collection will launch for PS4, Xbox One and PC on May 29th 2018.
This new collection appears to be based on the engine powering the SEGA Mega Drive Classics Hub for PC (complete with the virtual gamer’s bedroom), which is bizarre considering this is supposed to be getting a PC port as well. Will it become an update to owners of the SEGA Mega Drive Classics Hub on PC or will SEGA de-list the hub? We will update this story as we learn more.
This collection will feature over 50 Mega Drive titles including Sonic the Hedgehog, Streets of Rage, Golden Axe, Space Harrier II, Gunstar Heroes, ToeJam & Earl, The Revenge of Shinobi, Kid Chameleon and Altered Beast.
Puyo Puyo is now officially recognised by the Japan eSports Union, meaning Puyo players can now get a license required to compete in for-money tournaments in the country through this review for eSport acknowledgement statuses (due to gambling laws). This means it joins the ranks of Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, Call of Duty WW2, and several other titles in Japan’s eSports scene.
The first tournament will be held at SEGA FES 18, taking place on April 14 in Akihabara, Japan. There’ll be a 1 Million Yen prize for the winner (that’s around £6,750), with an overall prize pot of 1.65 Million yen (Around £11,150).
[ Source: SEGA, but the robust translation comes courtesy of GSK on Twitter. GSK regularly translates interesting video game information, so check them out! ]
Phantasy Star Online 2 is coming to Nintendo Switch, in the form of Phantasy Star Online 2: Cloud. The game’s been known about for a while now, but thanks to the recent Nintendo Direct we now know it’ll be landing on April 4th.
The game is, as ever, Japan-exclusive. It’s worth noting that the Switch is region-free, meaning those outside of Japan could technically get the game anyway – but as well as there being a huge language barrier that can be as easily circumvented as on PC, the game is actually streamed to the Switch, hence the “Cloud” moniker. As such there’s only a 40MB cloud-based application to download, but outside of Japan we can’t exactly imagine it’ll be a smooth experience, as all the servers the game will be streamed from are likely to be in Japan.
That being said, Phantasy Star Online 2’s Switch version does include a new set of items based on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which is a pretty wild thing to type. From the looks of things you’ll be able to get Link’s Champion duds, as well as the Master Sword and Hylian Shield. Also rather neat is that the game supports keyboard and mouse peripherals for the Switch, just in case you’ve got nostalgia for that one gigantic keyboard controller for Gamecube.
If one Sonic board game isn’t enough for you, good news there’s another on the way! IDW Games’ Sonic the Hedgehog: Crash Course is now available to pre-order from Game Nerdz.
The game takes a different approach compared to the recent Sonic Battle Racers board game – in that the theme is based around Classic Sonic, with rather cute minifigures of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Dr. Eggman included. There’s also some shiny new Classic Sonic art, and it all looks like it stepped right out of the 90’s. Essentially, whoever collects the most Chaos Emeralds in a game wins. It includes the following:
Contains:
60 Item Tokens
24 Chaos Emerald Tokens
12 Damage Tokens
4 Extra Life Tokens
10 Track Tiles
4 Character Tiles
1 Reference Tile
4 Pre-painted Miniatures
1 Rulebook
Currently the game is discounted on Game Nerdz site, down to $18.97. Unfortunately, the site only offers US shipping, so it remains to be seen whether the game makes its way to other areas in the future.
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