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.
Hot on the heels of the recent news that SEGA Japan was selling all its Japanese arcade venues to Genda Inc, SEGA Japan have committed to a new Joypolis venue that will open in March 2022 in Sendai, North Japan. The Joypolis chain of in-door theme parks continues to be owned and operated by SEGA Japan and this new venue will be entirely sports focused and called Joypolis Sports.
The aim of the Joypolis Sports venue is to offer far more physical amusements to play and the venue is promising patrons access to ping pong tables, basketball courts, climbing walls, trampolines and much, much more.
The Joypolis Sports venue is located at the 1st floor of the Aeon Sendai Nakayama Store, Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture 981-3213 and will open in March 2022. Sendai is located 3+ hours away from Tokyo by train.
SEGA Japan have sold their remaining stocks in their Japanese arcade locations to Genda Inc and will stop operating arcades themselves going forward. While the company will continue to produce arcade games, these will simply be sold to any Japanese arcade operators and all SEGA-branded arcade locations will now be rebranded as GiGO arcades. SEGA had already sold the vast majority of their operations to Genda Inc back in November 2020 with the remaining stocks being sold only amounting to 15% of their total arcade business.
It’s another big loss to SEGA Japan’s arcade business which has been one of the country’s strongest up until the COVID-19 pandemic forced arcade operators to close their doors and limit indoor capacity. Back in September 2021, SEGA Japan closed its flagship Ikebukuro arcade which ran for an impressive 28 years.
It’s been a long old time since we last heard about Two Point Campus. Originally announced back in June 2021, this sequel to Two Point Hospital moves the action from healthcare to higher education and puts you in the hot seat as the designer of your very own university. A firm release date has now been set for May 17th 2022. Check out the new trailer by clicking the embed below:
Two Point Campus is releasing on a huge array of systems on May 17th 2022. The game will launch on PC via Steam, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. The game is being developed by Two Point (who could have guessed!?).
It’s been a long time since Data Discs released a SEGA soundtrack on vinyl, with their last release being Shenmue II back in December 2020. Well the UK label are back with a brand new release and this time it’s Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi’s Mega Drive soundtrack on 180g vinyl.
This record will be released on a single LP running at 45pm and come with a lithographic print of the game’s artwork. The record will be on sale Saturday 22nd January 2022 and will be available in 3 variants: a limited edition translucent teal with white splatter, translucent teal and classic black. The record won’t ship until February 16th 2022 so there’s not a long wait until release either.
Click here to be taken to the store entry on the Data Discs website. Please be reminded that the record is not sold out at the time of writing and it will go on sale on the 22nd of January 2022. You can also register to the Data Discs newsletter for earlier access to new releases.
A brand new trailer for Shenmue the Animation has debuted and with it we also get the news that the series will start airing on February 5th 2022 via Adult Swim. Check it out using the embed below:
Shenmue the Animation will be a 13 episode animated series that adapts the events of both Shenmue 1 & 2. The series is being distributed in the West by Adult Swim and Crunchy Roll and is being directed by Sakurai Chikara of Telecom Animation Film Studios and managed by Sola Entertainment.
The kings of prototype game preservation Hidden Palace have returned with another massive update of unreleased and prototype game dumps. Among the extensive update are a few unreleased SEGA titles with the most interesting being a 32X port of Spot Goes to Hollywood – the isometric sequel to Cool Spot. Check out some in-game footage below which also showcases a deleted stage based on the Aliens franchise:
In addition to the 32X Spot Goes to Hollywood discovery, we also have an interesting Time Warner 32X CMD Download Cartridge dump – a piece of software used to download programs onto a flash cart for testing on real 32X hardware.
On the Mega Drive side of things we have a dump of RBI Baseball 95 which was eventually cancelled. We also have a prototype version of Race Drivin’ that would see release on the system in March 1993. This prototype appears to be quite late in the game’s development.
A new version of the Astro City Mini has been revealed by SEGA Japan’s SEGA Toys division. Called the Astro City Mini V, this new version of the mini console features a vertically-orientated screen made for games that play in TATE mode. As a result, the system’s games library is specifically focused on TATE games, with a large amount being vertically-scrolling shoot-em-ups. Check out the reveal trailer below:
The Astro City Mini V will launch in Japan in 2022. There is no firm release date available at the time of writing. See below for a full list of included software:
Retro-bit recently re-released Mega Man: The Wily Wars for Mega Drive/SEGA Genesis and our guest contributor David Crint has written a brilliant analysis of the new packaging that goes into detail about what the collection offers alongside detailed analysis of the product’s quality. Please be aware that this feature contains no criticism of the actual software, with the focus being on the packaging of the collector’s edition re-release of Mega Man: The Wily Wars by Retro-bit and how it compares to the original release.
Teased back in May, the next mainline Sonic the Hedgehog game from Sonic Team has been formally unveiled as Sonic Frontiers. Sonic Frontiers will be the first open world entry in the franchise and it’s launching “Holiday 2022”. Check out the first in game trailer below:
Morio Kishimoto returns as director for Sonic Frontiers. Kishimoto previously directed Sonic Forces, Sonic Lost World, Sonic Colours and the Sonic Storybook games. Sonic Frontiers will release on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and PC.
The first trailer for the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 movie is finally here! Click the embed below to see the gang back in action alongside some new faces:
That’s certainly a lot of Sonic franchise references! We’ve got Tails, we’ve got the Tornado, we’ve got the master emerald, we’ve got buzzbombers and we’ve even got Knuckles. Idris Elba will voice Knuckles as the new antagonist of the movie alongside Ben Schwartz as Sonic the Hedgehog, Colleen O’Shaughnessey as Tails and Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik. Carrey has also received a makeover, sporting a more traditional Dr. Robotnik image – complete with bald head and enormous moustache.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 launches in cinemas worldwide on April 8th 2022. Jeff Fowler returns to direct.
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