1991’s Asterix for the Master System is a game that is likely going to be shrugged off as “Euro trash” by a certain contingent of retro gamers (cough cough, Americans, cough cough) thanks to the franchise’s French origins. Licensed platformers also don’t have a great track record when it comes to quality, but what we’ve got here is an internally developed SEGA platformer from an era when the company were on a hot streak.
SEGA have revealed the first entirely new Super Monkey Ball game in over 10 years. Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble is coming exclusively to Switch on June 25th 2024. The game is boasting 200 brand new stages and a new spin dash technique that works similarly to the Sonic the Hedgehog games. This means you can give yourself a burst of speed and open up new ways to progress through the stages. You can check out the game’s reveal trailer below:
Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble is also boasting 4 player multiplayer in the game’s adventure mode, as well as some exclusive multiplayer variants that support up to 16 players. You can also customise your character with over 300 items. Alongside the digital release of the game, a ‘legendary banana edition’ physical version is also available to pre-order which contains a reversible cover, bonus in-game banana suit for your character a 40 page ‘adventure book’.
Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble is a first party SEGA title and is being developed in-house. The game launches exclusively for Nintendo Switch on June 25th 2024.
The SEGA Saturn is not particularly well known for its 3D platform games, so we’ve decided to see what platformers were available for the system. We start our journey with a look at the Saturn port of Croc: Legend of the Gobbos by Argonaut Software. A special thanks has to be given to Mark Hughes for the game capture used in this video which was taken from real hardware. Check it out via the embed below:
It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything regarding the Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX remake by Merge Games, so it’s extremely exciting to hear that it’s finally got a release date of June 24th 2021. You can check out the latest trailer for the game below:
Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX releases on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Nintendo Switch on June 24th 2021. The game features a new art style, new stages, new modes and “alternative” boss fights as well as the option to switch between the new art style and the original look of the Master System game.
Physical copies of the game are being sold via Signature Edition and special edition versions with an art book, pin badges, a CD soundtrack and more goodies are also being sold. Click here to browse the selection at Signature Edition.
A brand new PC port of Dizzy the Adventurer based on an unreleased Mega Drive port has been released thanks to the wonderful efforts of The Dizzy Fansite.
This port of Dizzy the Adventurer was originally scheduled for release in a Mega Drive compilation called The Excellent Dizzy Collection, but it was unfortunately cancelled due to time constraints. The compilation would only release on Game Gear and Master System in November 1993.
This completed PC port of the previously unreleased Mega Drive port of Dizzy the Adventurer is available to purchase now from The Dizzy Fansite’s Itch page. It costs a minimum of £10 to purchase.
You may have seen the various unused gameplay elements and alternate artwork from this prototype in pre-release footage or the various magazine coverage from the time. This includes the UFOs in Marble Garden Zone, the different neon signs in Spring Yard Zone, the checkerboard ball that Sonic can run on in Green Hill Zone and the different stage titles for Spring Yard Zone and Scrap Brain Zone. Well, they’re all in this prototype and it makes for a fascinating insight into the game’s development.
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.
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.
UPDATE
In light of this announcement, Disney have removed the previously available Steam versions of The Lion King and Aladdin from sale. Their storefront pages are still on Steam, but the option to buy them is no longer there. Thanks to Saturn Memories for the tip.
ORIGINAL STORY
Disney and Digital Eclipse will re-release the Mega Drive versions of Aladdin and The Lion King in a new budget-release collection for PC, PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch on October 29th 2019.
This new compilation also includes the Game Boy versions of the games alongside the SNES version of The Lion King. The SNES version of Aladdin isn’t included, likely due to a licensing issue. The SNES version of Aladdin is a completely different game when compared to its Mega Drive equivalent, and it was developed by Capcom.
The collection also boasts a 15 second rewind button, a previously unreleased “Final Cut” of Aladdin and the 1993 trade show version of Aladdin. Aladdin is famous for being the 3rd best selling Mega Drive game behind Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
A recently discovered 1995 prototype of Pinocchio for the 32X has been discovered. Dumped by Radar and released by drx, this 32X version of the game features a wider colour palette and some additional layers of parallax scrolling backgrounds. You can see the game in action via our video below, where we also compare it to the eventual 1996 Mega Drive release:
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