According to lead animator Tim Dawson, the upcoming release of Golden Axed is a complete surprise to him and the team responsible for it.
Originally coded in 2012, the project was created off the back of the team’s Castle of Illusion prototype which successfully kept the company afloat. Development then proceeded under the concept that it would be a “darker, bloodier Golden Axe” and the team went ahead with combining those ideas with the concept of the original game.
What followed was 2 weeks of 14 hour days and several disputes with management, who wanted the game to be something else. Tim recounts, “much less luckily we also had the lead designer who thought he was designing it, and sometimes Sanatana Mishra would have to physically block him from reaching my workstation or he’d start explaining insights he’d received playing the mobile port on the train on the way to work.”
The most harrowing story Tim recounts is showing the latest build to management:
“but the biggest gut punch came a week and a half in – combat was working, it was all on track! I was called for a meeting in the big room, so I put the latest build on the network and went to see what was up. All of management was sitting around the big table
I showed the game. grave faces
There was a pause
“where’s the wow factor” someone asked
The lead designer once again complained it wasn’t a God of War-like 3D brawler like he wanted
Someone said maybe it’d have been better to have made a prerendered video where the barbarian fought a monster.”
The full thread of Tim’s experiences making the prototype can be read on Twitter. It’s not a particularly pleasant read but it highlights some important truths about game development that cannot be ignored and it’s unfair of SEGA to promote this title as a “janky”, “buggy artifact of its time” [UPDATE: These terms have fortunately now been removed from games Steam’s description]
Starting today (October 14th 2020) and lasting for 60 days, SEGA are celebrating their 60th anniversary with a huge swathe of discounts, competitions and interviews. An official SEGA 60th website has launched and it details what the various SEGA teams are sharing each week, and the most interesting exclusive that is coming from these celebrations is a selection of brand new PC mini games.
4 have been teased already and they are as follows (Steam pages for each game are linked as well):
– Streets of Kamurocho (a Yakuza-themed Streets of Rage-style beat em up, releasing 17/10/2020)
– Armor of Heroes (inspired by Company of Heroes, releasing 15/10/2020)
– Endless Zone (inspired by Endless Space, releasing 16/10/2020)
– Golden Axed (a prototype of an unreleased Golden Axe game, releasing 18/10/2020)
The mini games will launch one-a-day starting October 15th and will be available via Steam for a limited time only. You can also register on the SEGA 60th website to redeem a free copy of NiGHTS into dreams… Click here to be taken to the registration page.
You can also watch the reveal trailer for the SEGA 60th celebrations below:
Sonic has found his way into yet another game, and this time it’s the summer’s smash-hit battle royale – Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, from British studio Mediatonic.
Revealed via a Mediatonic vs SEGA Europe livestream to mark SEGA’s 60th Anniversary, from this Wednesday you’ll be able to buy a costume of Sonic for your adorable Fall Guy bean. It doesn’t come in cheap though; you need 10 crowns for both halves of the costume (5 crowns for each half), and the main way of getting crowns is by being the last Fall Guy standing in a set of matches – which is far, far easier said than done. Fortunately Fall Guys’s recent Season 2 update has made it easier to accrue crowns by just playing the game, regardless of your victory tally, so any Sonic fans after this should probably get started on levelling up sooner rather than later.
The official PR is as follows:
Get ready for a supersonic brawl! SEGA® has teamed up with Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout developer Mediatonic to bring a Sonic the Hedgehog-inspired costume to the highly popular battle royale platformer’s Season 2 content.
Available starting Wednesday, October 14, Sonic fans can get their Fall Guys beans prepared for battle with a look modeled after the iconic hedgehog himself. The Sonic the Hedgehog costume is available for purchase in Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout Season 2 for 10 crowns.
Fall Guys is currently available on PC via Steam and Playstation 4.
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.
Forever Entertainment’s currently Nintendo Switch exclusive Panzer Dragoon Remake will finally be making the jump to other systems, as it has been confirmed that a Playstation 4 and PC version of the game is ‘coming soon’. The PC version will be available via both Steam and Good Old Games (GOG).
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.
During a Reddit AMA, Dotemu confirmed that Lizardcube and Guard Crush Games are working on additional content for Streets of Rage 4. There is currently no release window set in stone, but the publisher responded to the question of, “will you add content to Streets of Rage 4?” with the following:
“YES, we will but there is no ETA. You guys are awesome and deserve the best so give us time to do things right.”
Streets of Rage 4 released on PC, Xbox One, PS4 and Switch back in April 2020.
The latest Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase has announced Puyo Puyo Tetris 2: The Ultimate Puzzle Match. It’ll be coming to a slew of consoles: Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
The game is a direct sequel to the first Puyo Puyo Tetris, and will include a brand new Adventure Mode with a new Story, as well as new characters.
As well as the standard Puyo (and Tetris) fare, there’ll also be new modes, such as “Skill Battle” (which actually originated in Puyo Puyo Chronicle on 3DS). This mode will involve ‘Skill Cards’ – you can get some skill cards as a pre-order bonus for the game, including some based on Sonic the Hedgehog.
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.
Just the other day, Wonder Boy – Asha in Monster World was announced. Upon its reveal, it was billed as a new title with the involvement of the original Westone staff, and the logo seen on the game’s mailing list page (above) also suggested Asha was finally getting a new adventure.
However, Artdink have now launched their own PR for the game to Japanese outlets (under their ‘G-CHOICE’ imprint), with a slightly different story. Apparently the game will actually be a full remake of Monster World IV, using 3D graphics and voice acting. The game is however planned to feature new game modes, and will be available in a multitude of languages – Japanese, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Chinese are all listed as being included by Famitsu.
Also of note is that they list a platform that wasn’t mentioned in the English announcement – the game is planned to be released on PC via Steam, as well as the previously confirmed PS4 and Nintendo Switch releases.
It’s somewhat of a shame given how exciting the idea of a new game starring Asha was, but Monster World IV is a very good game – so hopefully this remake will do it justice. It’s that, or it’s actually Famitsu who’ve gotten it wrong – but time will tell come Saturday, where the game is set to be revealed at Gamescom.
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.
A new trailer has been released for Yakuza: Like a Dragon’s upcoming Western release, showcasing the ‘Job’ system. The game allows you to spec into 19 different jobs, that affect not only your abilities and fighting style, but your appearance too. So if you feel like kicking people with the power of dance, you can do that – likewise, you can hit them around the head with a scalding frying pan as a Chef.
Crucially, the new trailer also reveals when Western players will finally get their hands on RGG Studio’s latest; November 13th, for Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC via Steam. The Xbox Series X version is set to launch at some point in November, presumably on or around the as-of-yet unconfirmed launch date of the console, and at an unspecified later time for Playstation 5.
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.
Puyo Puyo Champions (known in Japan as Puyo Puyo eSports) will be receiving a major update later this week in Japan, first for Nintendo Switch. The update brings a slew of new features, including some heavily requested by the Puyo community.
First up, the game will finally be getting a Spectator Mode. This is set to make hosting tournaments and commentary a lot easier than previously, and was perhaps one of the most highly requested features. Also being added is an option for changing the colours of the Puyo, with several profiles tailored to specific kinds of colour-blindness. Other inclusions are more detailed post-match stats, an ‘autoplay’ function, a new game speed setting, and the ability to choose which side of the screen you use in single player modes.
Perhaps most notable for the slightly less competitive crowd are two new characters being added to the game, technically breaking Puyo’s self-imposed ’24 characters’ rule (it’s a pun, alright). Rafisol from Puyo Puyo Chronicles and Paprisu from Puyo Puyo Quest will be accessible by a good old fashioned hidden code – holding L and Y on the character select screen will unlock Rafisol, and holding R and Y will unlock Paprisu.
There currently isn’t a date for the Steam and PS4 versions of this update, but they are on the way. Likewise, it’s unknown when this update will make it over to the Western versions of the game.
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.
Phantasy Star Online 2’s PC exclusivity to the Microsoft Store is coming to an end, as the game will be launching on Steam as soon as next week, August 5th. It’s also been confirmed the game will support crossplay and cross-progress with other versions of the game, and that the Steam version will drop alongside the Episode 4 content update.
This also seemingly marks the official European release of the game, as the Steam page is available in select European territories. We don’t have a full list of who can and can’t access it right now, but we at least know that the UK is good to go, and the Netherlands are sadly out of luck as the page simply won’t load in that region.
The best part of this announcement however, is probably the new items announced to commemorate the launch. You’ll be able to get your hands on gear inspired by Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, Team Fortress 2 and Portal 2 as part of the game’s Steam launch. This isn’t wholly surprising, but it’s weird to see Gordon Freeman in PSO2 nonetheless.
PSO2’s PC launch was mired in technical issues, so hopefully the Steam launch will mark the end to that. Going off previous blogposts, it’s a safe assumption that Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis, the upcoming overhaul of the game, will also land on Steam at some point next year – though whether it’ll have timed exclusivity to Microsoft again remains to be seen.
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.
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