M2 are having a serious amount of fun with the Aleste franchise at the moment. Following on from their brand new release of GG Aleste 3 that featured in the recent Aleste Collection, M2 are bringing another new Aleste title called Senxin Aleste to arcades. This title is very much a throwback to the 16 bit tate shooters of the early 90s and features 4 playable characters. You can check out a trailer for the game below:
There is currently no release date set for Senxin Aleste, but it will be arcade exclusive; specifically to SEGA arcades in Japan for the time being. Fingers crossed the game doesn’t stay Japan exclusive for long. Western fans will be more familiar with the Aleste series through games like Power Strike and M.U.S.H.A.
A UK distributor for the Astro City Mini has finally been confirmed and it’s Funstock to the rescue! The Astro City Mini is only available in the UK in two configurations; the base console is available for £129.99 or a version with 2 gamepads is available for £189.99. Shipping within the UK is completely free as Funstock waive the shipping fees for all orders over £100. Click the links below to be taken to each of the listings on Funstock’s website:
Our hardware section has been updated with 2 new console features and a stack of high quality photographs. The hardware section now has a new section at the bottom of the page that features Aftermarket/Mini Consoles, and with it comes 2 new console features on the Astro City Mini and the Game Gear Micro respectively. Click the links below to be taken to each console feature as well as the accompanying image galleries:
The Astro City Mini is released Stateside thanks to Limited Run Games on March 26th 2021. 3500 units will release in this territory with new localised English packaging. There is currently no word as to whether this will mean the US ROMs for the included games are being used, but seeing how the Japanese Astro City Mini has English language support we’re assuming that the only difference is with the system’s packaging.
The Astro City Mini will launch for $129.99 and an additional controller can be purchased for $27.99 as well as the “Style Kit” which turns the whole unit into a miniature arcade cabinet complete with chair, base and top board for $39.99. The full size joystick that was also available to the Japanese market doesn’t appear to be available from Limited Run.
If you’re interested in a US release of the Astro City Mini then set your alarms for 10am Eastern/2pm UK time and bookmark the following links:
The next retrospective from SEGA Forever has arrived, and this time it’s all about The House of the Dead!
The video focuses mainly on the original arcade series, running from The House of the Dead all the way up to the most recent game in the original canon, Scarlet Dawn. That said, a nod is given to Overkill and even Pinball of the Dead; and they even give some love to The Typing of the Dead II, a great game that flew under the radar compared to its predecessor.
Each title also has the list of platforms it’s available on listed alongside it; very handy for those looking to shoot some mutants at home. We’re really loving this series, and we can’t wait to see what gets the retrospective treatment next!
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.
There’s been a lot of celebration around SEGA lately, what with their 60th Anniversary and all; but sadly, it’s not all been cause for partying. SEGA has published extraordinary losses from its amusements division (thanks to COVID-19), leading them to outright sell off the majority of their arcade business to Genda Inc (formerly Midas Entertainment). SEGA will still be producing arcade games, and their arcade centres will still be plastered with the SEGA logo, but those centres are Genda’s now.
That’s not all though, as it’s now emerged that SEGA have asked 650 employees to “voluntarily retire”. Supposedly those who accept the offer to retire by February 2021 will receive a “payment of extraordinary retirement allowances and reemployment support”. SEGA’s executives are also getting hit by the changes, though not nearly as severely as those losing their jobs; instead, the company’s Senior Executive Vice President and Senior Vice President will have 20% and 10% taken out of their monthly salaries respectively… which isn’t exactly much for the salaries they’re probably on. The Representative Director will see a slightly more substantial cut of 30%.
It’s been a rough year for businesses across the world this year, and given their presence in Japan’s arcade scene, it’s not surprising that SEGA got hit hard; but the layoffs are disappointing news all the same. It’s also very likely that SEGA’s mooted ‘Fog Gaming’ concept may not be going ahead anymore, but time will tell if Genda choose to adopt that instead.
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.
Tags: arcade, japan, Layoffs Posted in News | Comments Off on SEGA Request 650 Employees To Retire “Voluntarily”, Cut Salaries of Executives By Up To 30%
Previewed back in January at CES, Arcade1Up’s Golden Axe arcade cabinet is now available to pre-order in the US and Canada. This cabinet features Golden Axe: The Revenge of Death Adder, Wrestle War, Shinobi, Altered Beast and the original Golden Axe and will set you back $399.
It’s a pretty feature-rich package with a 17″ display, 4 player joystick setup, light-up marquee, volume control and a riser. You can check out a trailer for the cabinet below:
The next 13 games have been announced for the SEGA Astro City Mini, coming to us via the latest Dengeki stream.
The games are as follows:
Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams
Shinobi
Shadow Dancer
Cyber Police ESWAT (ESWAT – City Under Siege)
Crack Down
Gain Ground
Puyo Puyo
Columns
Bonanza Bros
Ichidant-R
Wonder Boy
Wonder Boy in Monster Land
Wonder Boy III – Monster Lair
This puts the announced game total at 23 titles, with 36 confirmed to be on the microconsole. The next set of titles will be announced on September 3rd during a Famitsu stream.
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.
Another officially licensed multi-game arcade cabinet from Arcade1Up appears to be on the way as a leak from a poster on Reddit has revealed an image of a cabinet which is made to play Virtua Fighter, Virtua Fighter Remix, Virtua Fighter 2, Fighting Vipers and Sonic the Fighters. The leak appears to have come from some advance promotional material for the cabinet. There is currently no other information on this release at the time of writing or even if this is a genuine leak or a hoax.
Arcade1Up are also due to release a cabinet featuring Golden Axe: The Revenge of Death Adder, Shinobi, Altered Beast, Wrestle Wars and the original Golden Axe. This cabinet was revealed at CES back in January 2020 and is also without a release date or price. However, Arcade1Up cabinets normally retail for around £300.
The official Astro City Mini website has now gone live and with it we have the reveal trailer you can watch below, and our first look at one of the system’s extra peripherals which will be sold separately.
The Astro City Mini control pad will be sold for an additional 2,780 yen (approximately £20) and feature a d-pad instead of an arcade stick, as well as the standard 6 button setup.
We also have a more accurate release date of December 2020, but the console is still Japan exclusive at the time of writing. The same lineup of 10 titles from yesterday’s news leak are also confirmed. There was some confusion about whether it was Puzzle & Action: Tant-R or Ichidant-R that was making it to the system, but as previously reported it is in fact Puzzle & Action: Tant-R.
Pre-orders from Amazon Japan are now available but only the Astro City Mini ships worldwide. The control pad is Japan exclusive:
– Astro City Mini
– Astro City Mini Control Pad
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