Famed Shining Force and Landstalker character designer Yoshitaka Tamaki has died aged 55 after battling lung cancer.
Tamaki actually passed back in July, but his family have only just made the news of his death public after a private mourning period.
Tamaki’s character design credits are featured in Shining in the Darkness, Shining Force, Landstalker, Shining Soul 1&2, Feda Remake: The Emblem of Justice, Time Stalkers, Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon and Shining Force Neo.
SEGADriven would like to send our condolences to Tamaki’s friends, family and colleagues. He leaves a legacy that will never be forgotten.
For SEGA’s 60th anniversary, the company have revealed a new novelty micro console in the form of the Game Gear Micro.
Currently only scheduled for a Japanese launch on October 6th 2020, the console will be available in 4 colour variants, each bundled with its own compilation of 4 Game Gear titles. Each system will launch for ¥4,980. A special edition bundle is also available which includes all 4 console variants, a set of replica game cases for each of the included titles and a working SEGA Big Window (aka the Super Wide Gear) which allows you to magnify the screen. This will set you back ¥29,980.
The Game Gear Micro will measure 80mm wide, 43mm tall and 20mm deep and include a 1.15″ display. It also includes a single mono speaker, a headphone jack and is powered by 2 AAA batteries. Supposedly you can power the system for a longer period of time with a separately sold USB cable.
The full list of included titles on each of the Game Gear Micro variants now follows:
Black Game Gear Micro
Out Run, Puyo Puyo Tsu, Royal Stone and Sonic the Hedgehog
Blue Game Gear Micro
Baku Baku Animal: Sekai Shiikugakari Senshuken, Gunstar Heroes, Sonic & Tails and Sylvan Tale
Yellow Game Gear Micro
Nazo Puyo: Arle no Roux, Shining Force, Shining Force II and Shining Force: Final Conflict
Red Game Gear Micro
Columns, The G.G. Shinobi, Megami Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible and Megami Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible Special
SEGA has confirmed that the Mega Drive Mini is currently planned to have one game per series – so don’t expect every Sonic game to be on there, as with most Mega Drive collections. The possibility was floated at SEGA Fes 2018 when the console was announced, but this is a more solid confirmation of the plan.
As a result of this, SEGA has decided to open up some of the game choice to the fans – asking them which game from the Sonic the Hedgehog, Puyo Puyo and Shining series should appear on the console. The options are:
Sonic the Hedgehog vs Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Puyo Puyo vs Puyo Puyo Tsu
Shining Force vs Shining Force II
The poll is available as a Twitter thread and on the Mega Drive Mini website. It’s worth mentioning also that something like Puyo’s choice may not matter for us in the West, as the system is planned to have different games per region – so we’ll probably get Puyo Puyo in the guise of Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine regardless.
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 fan created online MMO Shining Force Online begins its public beta at some point today. The game is created with the original Mega Drive franchise in mind and uses a combination of new art assets from the Gameboy Advance remake as well as new art by developer unFun Games.
The game will be played in browser and will be accessible via this link. The game is currently unavailable but keep checking back for updates.
Acapella internet sensation Smooth McGroove returns with some more SEGA love for Shining Force 2. Check out the man’s sultry vocal rearrangement of the Elven Town theme below:
The 3DS eShop will be getting a slew of new Game Gear titles. The newly announced additions include:
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Sonic Blast
Sonic Labyrinth
Sonic Drift 2
Tails Adventure
Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
Crystal Warriors
Columns
Defenders of Oasis
Shining Force II: The Sword of Hajya
G-Loc Air Battle
Vampire: Master of Darkness
No release dates have been announced at this time.
After a controversial decision by SEGA to remove certain Shining Force-related videos from YouTube, SEGA have back-pedalled on their decision.
Brand manager Aaron “RubyEclipse” Webber has released the following statement:
“Thank you to all of our fans for waiting while we worked hard to get this issue solved. While SEGA may need to remove videos in rare cases, we’re happy to confirm that there are no further plans to remove Shining Force videos uploaded to Youtube by users living in North American and European territories. Additionally, if you live in these territories and your video was removed, please get in touch with us at communityteam@sega.com so that we can look into it for you.”
Our rather lovely affiliate Project Phoenix Productions (previously The Community Spotlight) have expanded their content to include Let’s Play videos.
Titanscreed has been uploading World of Warcraft challenge videos and has now returned to SEGA content with a new Let’s Play of the original Shining Force. Check it out:
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