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:
Thanks to the amazing programming talent of Ian Michael and artist Adam Burrell, we now have an unofficial Dreamcast collection of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games that aims to be the Dreamcast equivalent of the recently released Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection. This Dreamcast version compiles all the SNES, NES, Game Boy and Mega Drive titles together with surprisingly great emulation. The only games it doesn’t feature are the original arcade ports for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Turtles in Time.
Also included are the Spectrum ports of the first TMNT console game and the arcade conversion which goes above and beyond the scope of the official compilation. We also get ROM hacks of Streets of Rage 2 that include the turtles as playable characters, alongside 2 Beats of Rage games themed around TMNT. There’s also an extensive video gallery which allows you to watch 2 full episodes of the original 1987 animated show, alongside some really deep cuts like the making of feature for the Coming Out of Their Shells tour amongst other videos.
In our latest YouTube video, we take a look at the 2001 Dreamcast port of SEGA’s on rails shooter, Confidential Mission. Is this a forgotten SEGA lightgun classic? Find out by clicking the embed below:
The wonderful people at SEGA Dreamcast Info have managed to acquire and archive an early build of Shenmue II from April 11th 2001 that features a multitude of differences when compared to the final game. The most interesting discovery is that art assets of the game’s director Yu Suzuki are included in this build, and SEGA Dreamcast Info have also released a version of the prototype that changes Ryo’s character model so that you can play as Yu Suzuki instead. You can see him in action via the embed below:
A full article about every difference in this prototype can be accessed by clicking here. A download link for this prototype and the Yu Suzuki version are also included at the end of the article. Once again we have to say a huge, “thank you” to the team at SEGA Dreamcast Info for preserving this amazing piece of SEGA development history.
The wonderful people over at SEGA Dreamcast Info have released an astounding collection of 44 Dreamcast prototypes that are sourced from an ex-Acclaim beta tester.
Dubbed ‘Duffy’s Dreamcast Collection’, this collection features prototypes of games like Shadow Man, Vanishing Point, Re-Volt, F355 Challenge, Fur Fighters, Dead or Alive 2 and the infamously terrible/amazing Spirit of Speed 1937.
Hidden Palace’s amazing archiving efforts with Project Deluge continue! This time we have a brand new set of 135 unreleased Dreamcast prototypes and some SEGA Xbox prototypes as well.
Some notable inclusions on the Dreamcast side of things are an unreleased English localisation of Shanghai Dynasty, an early build of 4 Wheel Thunder called Offroad Thunder, an early prototype of Deep Fighter and a prototype of SEGA GT that features a track called “sonygt2” and features Luigi (see above). This one was clearly not made for public distribution!
On the Xbox side of things we also have prototypes of Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller, ToeJam & Earl III: Mission to Earth and Gunvalkyrie.
We have a fresh selection of new additions to our SEGA merchandise catalogue that have just gone live on the website. Please see the list below for the full list of additions and updates:
Thanks to the amazing efforts of Derek Pascarella and his team, Sakura Wars Columns 2 for the Dreamcast has now been fully translated into English and is now available to play on either real hardware or under emulation.
Sakura Wars Columns 2 is a little more than your standard re-skin of Columns featuring different characters and artwork based on a different franchise. The game also features a full story mode that melds the traditional Sakura Wars visual novel and dating simulation aspects into the Columns formula for a truly unique experience. It’s this game mode that benefits the most from the newly translated text.
A full list of download links for the title are available below:
The full development team on this translation is as follows: Derek Pascarella, Chanh Nguyen (Burntends), Natsume38, Danthrax4, HaydenKow, esperknight, VincentNL, nanashi, SnowyAria, NoahSteam, TurnipTheBeet, YZB, cj_iwakura, Ozaline, Matatabi Mitsu, ItsumoKnight, Samantha Ferreira, LettuceKitteh, JoblessFloppy, GriffithVIII, Patrick Traynor, AnimatedAF, Small Nerd and Einahpets.
One of the most infamous lost Dreamcast developments is Castlevania: Resurrection. This 3D Castlevania title was being developed by Konami and sadly cancelled in March 2000. Outside some scant screenshots in magazines as well as some reporting from E3 1999, the game was never showcased to the public in a playable or even viewable form until now.
A digital archivist called Comby Laurent has come into ownership of the 1999 E3 demo that was shown behind doors to the press and it has now been released publicly for the first time. The early prototype of Castlevania: Resurrection can be downloaded from Archive.org and played on real Dreamcast hardware or under emulation.
You can check out footage of the game in action via Retro Core and the embed below:
Fast becoming one of the most important resources for digital archiving of prototype software, Hidden Palace have released another slew of prototype versions of various Sonic the Hedgehog titles. These new dumps of late development builds of Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Spinball and Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine showcase some fascinating insight into their development and feature a slew of differences from their final builds.
Sonic Adventure 2 features many grammatical errors that would be corrected for the final build, Metal Harbor and the final Sonic and Shadow battle are considerably more difficult and the driving stages feature different collision results when driving into other vehicles. The full list of differences can be read on the Hidden Palace entry for this release.
All of these dumps can be downloaded and played through emulation or on real hardware from the Hidden Palace entries linked above. Hidden Palace will be streaming and revealing their “last present from under the tree” tonight (31/12/2020) at 10pm GMT on Twitch, so if you’re excited to see more prototypes from their team then be sure to tune in.
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