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.
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.
SEGA has announced that they are now prioritising native ports for SEGA Forever a la the ‘TaxStealth’ ports of Sonic 1 and 2, as opposed to emulated titles.
In a post on SEGA’s blog, they state that the native ports amongst the SEGA Forever lineup (Sonic 1,2 and CD, Crazy Taxi, and Virtua Tennis Challenge) are the most played – and as such, they intend to bring more of these sorts of titles to the service, rather than the emulated Mega Drive titles that make up a fair chunk of the current lineup. There’ll still be emulated titles added to the roster, but the focus of the initiative is now elsewhere.
As a result of this shift, the slew of releases for SEGA Forever is set to slow down a tad – however it appears the aim here is now “quality over quantity,” which will likely be music to the ears of many a SEGA fan. Also promised is “a surprise or two you weren’t expecting” amongst the upcoming emulated titles.
Speaking of which, the blog’s decor does tease another upcoming Mega Drive title for the service – it appears Treasure’s classic head-em-up Dynamite Headdy is coming to smart devices soon, as is… Super Monkey Ball?
Sonic Triple Trouble is getting a new lease of life through a fan made 16 bit remake. Titled ‘Sonic Triple Trouble 16-Bit’, Noah Copeland is building the remake using Overbound’s engine for Sonic Time Twisted, which is a game we very much endorse. Click the embed below to see the first look of the fan game in action:
Sonic Triple Trouble 16-Bit has no release date at present, but it will be a PC title and the description for the trailer says, “This is a fan game you can expect to be completed… soon!” Hopefully not too long of a wait, then.
The Yakuza 6 demo has been removed from the US Playstation store after some users found an exploit to allow them to play the full game.
The demo itself is 36.53gb in size and actually contains all the data for the full game, except the demo was designed to lock players into a small portion of the game with their progress being carried over to the full game on release day (17th of April 2018).
The full game exploit appears to be exclusive to the American version of the demo as the demo is currently still available on the UK and Australian Playstation store-fronts. If this changes then we will be sure to update this story.
Ben Huskins and Mark Webley from Two Point have revealed the first in-game footage of Two Point Hospital; the new hospital management sim from this new studio that features ex-Bullfrog staff – the developers of the original Theme Hospital. This 8 minute dive into the title also features commentary from Ben and Mark. Click the embed below to check it out:
Two Point Hospital is due for release on PC later this year and will be the first title from the newly formed Two Point studio.
If you love Sonic the Comic, here’s a date to remember: on June 3rd, an event celebrating 25 years since the series’ debut will be held in Manchester, here in the UK.
With all the talk of Archie Sonic’s demise and the all-new IDW comics, it can be easy to forget that the UK got its very own slice of Sonic comic action. The Fleetway Sonic comics were a unique take on the adventures of the blue hedgehog, even compared to the stuff going on across the pond at the time – and it garnered such a cult following that the comic still receives new issues created entirely by fans to this day, over on Sonic the Comic Online.
The event is being run by Michael Corker, founder of StCO – it’ll also mark his farewell from the series, as he intends to step down from his role as StCO’s editor in May.
The festivities will be held at the Fab Cafe in Manchester – rather than being a bombastic convention-style affair a la “Sonic the Comic-Con” (held in 2014), it’ll be a quieter meet for people to socialise and reminisce about the beloved comic series. There’s also plans for special guests, from StC both past and present, and plenty of art supplies for folks to get creative themselves.
Data Discs have announced their next vinyl release in collaboration with SEGA Japan, and it’s a big one – After Burner II!
The release will feature the full soundtrack to the arcade classic, plus the version of the main theme, “After Burner” without the lead melody (as it appeared in the original After Burner game). In addition, the second disc will feature three re-arranged tracks from the SEGA Sound Team (performed in 1988) as well as a medley by the current incarnation of the group, the SEGA Sound Unit [H.]. The set also comes with a poster of the game’s iconic artwork, showing the F-14 Tomcat – this art has been re-licensed just for this release!
Pre-orders go live on Saturday 24th February, with all versions of the soundtrack priced at £24.99. The release date itself is set for March 31st.
Marking the end of the series’ over 10-year absence from Western shores, SEGA has announced Shining Resonance Refrain, a remaster of the PS3 title Shining Resonance. The remaster includes all previously released DLC, as well as a new ‘Refrain Mode’ that adds brand-new content. For those wondering, Shining had a bit of an image overhaul after Camelot broke ties with SEGA – so if you’re expecting something along the lines of the classic Mega Drive Shining series, this might not be what you’re after.
One slightly odd thing to note – while SEGA hasn’t localised any entries in the series for over 10 years, the fighting game spin off Blade Arcus from Shining: Battle Arena was localised, by Studio Saisenzen, and is available on Steam.
The game will also be getting a launch edition with a reversible metal slipcase – this will also be available in Europe, which is always nice to see. SEGA has also confirmed that the game will receive an English dub, with the option to use Japanese audio also being available.
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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.
