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.
Taito have revealed the various editions of the upcoming Darius: Cozmic Revelation bundle, which includes G-Darius HD and Darius Burst Another Chronicle EX+ for Playstation 4 and Nintendo Switch. It wouldn’t be a modern Taito re-release if there weren’t a bunch of extremely confusing differences across each version though, and none are more important here than the ‘Famitsu DX Pack’.
The ebten store version of the Famitsu DX Pack will include a physical cartridge version of ‘Darius Extra Version’, a Mega Drive port of Darius. If that sounds familiar, it’s because said port was actually included on the Mega Drive Mini!
Meanwhile, anyone who pre-orders the game from midnight October 13th to midnight October 15th (a 48 hour period) via Amazon will get a special ‘Prime Day’ bonus – a download code for the Mega Drive version of Darius that you can use on Nintendo Switch or Playstation 4. It’s currently not clear whether this will be released separately down the road, but looking at Taito’s history of locking entire games within collections behind pre-orders bonuses, we wouldn’t exactly hold our breath.
Sadly, Strictly Limited’s Western physical release makes no mention of the Mega Drive version in either download code or physical form; but we’ll update if this suddenly changes.
Darius Cozmic Revelation will be released February 25th 2021 in Japan. Strictly Limited’s version is expected to ship in June or July.
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.
The SEGA AGES release of Technosoft’s cult-hit Mega Drive RTS Herzog Zwei finally has a release date, and it’s this week! The game will launch on the Japanese Nintendo Switch eShop on August 27th. We suspect the Western release won’t be too far behind, but there’s no solid confirmation on that front yet.
As usual, this isn’t just a straight port. New features include online multiplayer, an expanded HUD not too dissimilar to the HUDs of M2’s ShotTriggers line, an automatic password save function, helper options, and a new ‘Academy’ tutorial mode. Just in case you’ve ever wanted a cute anime girl to teach you how to play Herzog Zwei. As let slip by the recent Herzog soundtrack release, there’s also a new music track from chibi-tech in there, who you may know for their many other amazing contributions to M2 projects.
Sadly, this is currently where the SEGA AGES for Nintendo Switch lineup ends. There’s currently no more games scheduled for release after this, so now we’ll just have to wait and see if more end up being in the pipeline. We certainly hope there are – Power Drift on Switch is something we’re not sure I can live without.
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.
The next SEGA Ages game for the Switch has been confirmed as Herzog Zwei. This title originally released on the Mega Drive back in December 1989 and is often regarded as one of the first RTS titles.
Developed by Technosoft of Thunder Force fame, this new port by M2 features a brand new practice mode which offers an extensive tutorial for new players. Alongside the game’s Original mode is a SEGA Ages mode which adds information panels and a mini map to help manage your craft and weaponry. We also have a Helper mode which gives you more resources and health for an easier gameplay option. The game will also support online multiplayer between 2 players, but the player you’ll face off against is chosen at random with no support for friends. The usual SEGA Ages settings and features like screen resizing, wallpapers and replays are also supported.
SEGA Ages: Herzog Zwei is due to release on the Switch eShop “soon” and will be priced at 999 yen for Japan. There is currently no word on a release date or pricing for the Western versions.
The Japanese SEGA Ages website has been updated to reveal that the next SEGA Ages port for Nintendo Switch will be Thunder Force AC. If you’re unfamiliar with the title then Thunder Force AC is the arcade version of Technosoft’s Thunder Force III. The Thunder Force series is a collection of fantastic shoot-em-ups and Thunder Force AC marks the first time the series switched to a solely horizontal scrolling presentation that was carried through to the series’ end with Thunder Force VI in 2008.
Thunder Force AC will launch in Japan on the Nintendo Switch very soon for 999 yen via the Nintendo eShop. This new port promises a low difficulty ‘Kids Mode’, online rankings and graphical filters that mimic the game’s arcade cabinet. The port also features the new stages that were added to the console’s Mega Drive port. Development duties are once again handled by M2.
The SEGA AGES klaxon rings out once again; from the sounds of things, G-LOC Air Battle will be the next game to join M2’s lineup of superb Switch ports.
Somewhat of an After Burner spin-off, G-LOC was perhaps most well-remembered for its absolutely ridiculous deluxe cabinet, the R360, which rotated the player’s seat all over the place as you played the game. Sadly we somehow doubt this port will magically spawn an R360 in your home, but we can dream.
This news comes from Famitsu via JapaneseNintendo; apparently the game will boast a new “AGES Mode”, though what exactly that doesn’t isn’t clear just yet. There’ll also be the standard difficulty level toggle, and online rankings to compete in.
An official confirmation from SEGA’s Twitter, as is usually the case, probably isn’t too far off now. That might also shed some extra light on what exactly AGES Mode changes.
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.
SEGA has now confirmed the Feburary 20th release date for Puyo Tsu in the West, with another surprising detail – Sonic the Hedgehog 2’s AGES release will launch on the same day!
This is the first time an AGES release has had it’s Western release in-line with the Japanese versions since launch, so it’s great news. AGES Sonic 2 will include the extra modes from the 3DS version, as well as Knuckles in Sonic 2 and the Drop Dash from Sonic Mania.
ORIGINAL STORY
Back in January, Puyo Puyo Tsu joined the SEGA AGES lineup on Nintendo Switch over in Japan. The good news is Western players won’t have to wait much longer to get their Puyo fix; as the port will be coming westwards on February 20th.
The information comes from a listing on the Nintendo eShop’s “Coming Soon” section, stating the ‘planned release’ date is 20/02/2020. For those unaware, this is a port of the arcade version, with a slew of extra features including online multiplayer, an endurance mode in which you fight every single opponent in a row, and even options to assist colourblind players. It’ll be £5.99, as with the other AGES ports.
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.
Weekly Famitsu have revealed a new feature of the upcoming SEGA Ages port of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for Nintendo Switch. This port will also include the ‘Knuckles in Sonic 2’ functionality that would normally come from locking the game onto Sonic & Knuckles. This allows players to play the entire game as Knuckles the Echidna as opposed to Sonic or Tails.
The SEGA Ages port of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is still without a release date, but it will be coming to the Nintendo Switch as a downloadable title. The game will also add additional actions, a Super Sonic mode and online rankings. The SEGA Ages collection has been entirely developed by M2 for Nintendo Switch and often feature exclusive features.
The most recent games in M2’s SEGA AGES lineup for Nintendo Switch, Fantasy Zone and Shinobi, finally have Western release dates. You’ll be able to get your hands on them on January 23rd.
Both games will cost £5.99, and include a slew of upgrades over their original incarnations. Fantasy Zone has all of the added content from the 3DS version, as well as an overhauled HUD akin to M2’s ShotTriggers lineup. Shinobi has a rewind feature that’s been improved over its implementation in previous AGES titles, and the AGES mode has benefits such as Joe being able to take more than one hit, and use his melee attack with a button rather than context-sensitivity. He also has his white garb from the later titles, as a cool nod for longtime fans.
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.
Sound the SEGA AGES klaxon – because Fantasy Zone will be joining SEGA’s lineup of Nintendo Switch re-releases this week, in Japan at least.
Previously announced to be the next game in the lineup, we now know the game will launch this Thursday, November 28th (thanks to timezones, that’ll be Wednesday afternoon in the UK). It’ll be the usual price of 999 JPY. The release includes the content of the 3DS port, such as the Upa-Upa mode, as well as new elements like a Time Attack mode and revamped HUD display similar to M2’s own ShotTriggers releases. More information is available on the Japanese page for SEGA AGES.
There’s currently no word on a Western release date for SEGA AGES Shinobi or Fantasy Zone, but we imagine it can’t be too far off now – we’ll report if one shows up.
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.
SEGADriven and its original content are copyrighted to their respective authors. Media related directly to SEGA is copyrighted to its respective authors. Any comments on SEGA-related materials do not represent SEGA themselves. All rights reserved 2008-2022.
