Best SEGA Genesis Mini deal

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SEGA Genesis Mini + Innex six-button USB controller | $89.99 (save $10) (opens in new tab)
As well as getting the retro console itself and its heap of games, this offer nets you a remake of the newer six-button controller.

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As we mentioned in our review (opens in new tab), the SEGA Genesis Mini is “a system that’s been painstakingly recreated almost exactly as it was, only better. The hours of enjoyment you’ll get from it will vary depending on your history with SEGA, of course, but it’s easy to appreciate even if you’re coming in fresh”. The extensive library of 42 games helps the Mini win players over, but it’s the little things that mean it truly excels. The console features historical facts and figures about the classic games you’re about to play, and composing legend Yuzo Koshiro (whose credits include Streets of Rage and ActRaiser) has returned with a new menu theme that’s been put together using tech from the 16-bit era. What’s more, the console itself even features a cartridge slot you can open and blow into to get rid of imaginary dust. Cool, isn’t it? Subtle touches like this make the experience feel so much more special.

I’m not sure how long this offer will last for, so it might be a good idea to get on this sooner than later to avoid any disappointment.

For more retro goodness, check out our review of the PlayStation Classic (opens in new tab) and our coverage of the SNES Mini (opens in new tab).  

The post Save 50% on a classic 6-button Genesis controller with the SEGA Genesis Mini appeared first on Game News.

So it was no small amount of enjoyment that we engaged in a lengthy chat with the first of said men last week, mid-way through our first playthrough of the game. We covered a whole lot of ground with Ron Gilbert, taking in The Cave, the secret of balancing horror and laughs, how he wants to make the real Monkey Island 3, and why gaming is currently in its best health in years. Read on. There are many words to get through, and they’re all good.

GamesRadar: The Cave is quite a bit more disturbing that I was expecting. I don’t know if I was just playing it too late at night. Is that what you were going for?

Ron Gilbert: [laughs] Yeah, you know I always wanted it to be kind of a dark game in some ways, with a kind of dark humour. That was definitely intentional. I mean not to scare you at night…

GR: That’s probably my own fault. Rather than the cave setting itself, the feel comes more from the characters themselves and the sense of never really knowing who you’re playing and what their motives are. And the way The Cave talks to the player directly as a separate entity from the characters, making you feel complicit in their actions rather than letting you comfortably inhabit them.

RG: Right. That was kind of the goal, to have these seven characters but not be completely sure why they were here. At the beginning The Cave introduces the characters in those quick little sentences, but that’s not really why they’re there. And so it’s just kind of to add a little bit of mystery to that.

That was one of the main reasons I didn’t want the characters to talk. Because I think when they don’t talk it just makes them a little bit more uneasy, because they’re not saying anything when you’re going through and doing this stuff.

GR: Well I’ve got The Twins in my party…

RG: Oh yeah, well they’re particularly… [laughs]

GR: They terrify me but I love them. But yeah, the fact that they don’t speak creates a great meta-narrative where you mentally sketch out the relationships as you watch them help each other out. It felt really wrong making the Knight help them to [spoiler removed]. Like “He’s not a great guy, but he shouldn’t be doing this!”

RG: [laughs] Well you know I think all of those characters are just a little bit broken. And I’ve always been interested in characters in movies or in books or in anything where the characters are just a little bit broken. I always found those to be very interesting characters because as a writer and as a person who creates things it’s always been fascinating to me how you can create a character who is at some level a bad person but also needs to be engaging to the person playing the game or watching the movie or the TV show. They have to be a character you like and are engaged with, but they can still be a little bit off and wrong.

GR: And it can actually make them a bit more relatable. Most people don’t think they’re that great a person, or are aware of their own flaws. But a lot of games aim for badass heroic empowerment instead. How did you strike a balance?

RG: A lot of that balance came from The Cave himself. He was always the person who could provide a little bit of sanity to what’s going on. Because you felt in some ways as you work through the game that “Okay, he’s a little bit in control here. These people are doing really awful things but I kind of feel okay because I think The Cave is in control. The Cave is going to make sure nothing horrible horrible happens” So really he became that character who could make you feel a little bit safer in a way.

And also the humour. I think if you do something that’s got a little bit of dark humour to it, that eleviates a little bit of the tension.

GR: In a way The Cave is like the Willy Wonka figure.

RG: Yeah, that’s a good analogy.

GR: Knowing that you were going dark, what was your limit? Was there anything you had to cut along the way?

RG: Well you know I didn’t want to have anything that was very visceral or bad or bloody or gory. I think the only blood in the entire game is just in [spoiler removed]. And you never see it actually happen. I wanted any of that stuff to be stuff you didn’t necessarily witness first-hand. I mean the Twins [spoiler removed], but you don’t see them [spoiler removed]. You see five seconds after it’s happened. So one thing was to really keep it a little bit removed from what was happening.

GR: And it’s funnier that way.

RG: Yeah it is, because it’s more of a shock.

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The post The Caves Ron Gilbert: The big GamesRadar interview appeared first on Game News.

As a quick history lesson, Model 1 was the arcade board that powered Virtua Racing and Virtua Fighter, ushering in the polygonal 3D era. But that could only do flat-shaded polygons, so the Model 2 board was created. This could do texture-mapping, allowing polygons to have realistic textures painted onto them. The result was 3D computer imagery that suddenly looked incredibly lifelike. And that’s when modern gaming really took off. These are the games that gave birth to pretty much everything you’re playing now.

There appears to be a fighting theme with the first batch of releases, which will be heading to PSN and Xbox live, for 800 points apiece on the latter. Virtua Fighter 2, Fighting Vipers and Sonic The Fighters are due this year, with one-on-one mech fighter Virtual On following next year, along with the slightly dodgy kickabout Virtua Striker.

Here’s hoping this means floodgates are opening on all the Model 2 games. We’ve already had a stupendous HD version of Daytona USA (opens in new tab), but we still haven’t had the original Sega Rally (opens in new tab) on current-gen, nor Virtua Cop. And we’d love to see an arcade-perfect House of the Dead too. And Manx TT, and Sega Touring Car Championship… Suffice to say there are a lot of great Model 2 games.

While the games have only been officially announced for Japan, a Western release is surely on the cards. Sega is doing a great job of re-releasing its back catalogue right now, with a wonderful port of Crazy Taxi (opens in new tab) currently doing the rounds on iOS, Jet Set Radio (opens in new tab) tagging 360/PS3 and NiGHTS into Dreams HD (opens in new tab) eating up far too much of our time. The sky is looking pretty blue right now.

The post Sega announces Model 2 Collection, bringing its best era of arcade games to 360 and PS3. First trailer here appeared first on Game News.

The post Yakuza 5 TGS 2012 video demo – Punching and kicking our way through Japan appeared first on Game News.

At a special fan gathering at the San Diego Comic Con this weekend,Sega (opens in new tab)treated fans to a rather exciting announcement regarding the Sonic series. Sonic Adventure 2, one of the last great 3D Sonic games will be getting the HD treatment in a re-release for XBLA and PSN.

Sonic Adventure 2 was a notable entry in that it was the last Sonic game for the Dreamcast, and also because it introduced Shadow the Hedgehog. Which was the beginning of a new-character trend that would eventually drastically expand the cast of characters beyond Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails.

Previously, Sonic Adventure 2 has been ported to the Nintendo Gamecube in 2002 as Sonic Adventure 2: Battle. Sega has not yet announced a release date, but has said that it will be coming later this year. They also have said that it will include HD-ified graphics, leaderboards, and support for achievements and trophies.

The list of games we still want to see ported (opens in new tab) from the Dreamcast and Sega Saturn (opens in new tab) is growing smaller by the month, but we’ve still got quite a few on our list. Let’s hope we’ll get more of these types of announcements in the future.

The post Sonic Adventure 2 HD re-release announced by Sega appeared first on Game News.

The Rhythm Thief in question is Phantom R, a high class, gentlemanly thief who’s pilfering the art world of Paris. When R isn’t evading the constables, his alter ego Raphael is researching a centuries-old conspiracy that leads back to the mysterious disappearance of his father and an equally enigmatic orphan girl named Marie. We were quickly invested in the rich mystery of the plot, thanks in no small part to the title’s gorgeous rendering of Paris, France. In both the gameplay and impressive anime cutscenes, The City of Light looks spectacular.

If you think the plot sounds like it’s from the same mold as Layton, the game’s structure is even closer. You walk around the open world of Gay Paree finding people in need of help or clues that lead to the apparent resurrection of Napoléon Bonaparte. The key difference between Layton and Rhythm Thief is that you progress through the city not by completing increasingly dense logic puzzles, but by solving problems via the art of dance. Unlike the brain-bending conundrums of Layton, Thief challenges an entirely different set of skills as you do your best to keep the beat in melodic minigame.

The great variety of minigames at your disposal in Rhythm Thief is the portable title’s strongest asset. Sometimes you’re dancing, other times you’re throwing steaks to your dog, and occasionally you’re fighting your way out of the hidden catacombs of Paris. That level of diversity applies to how the minigames take advantage of many 3DS features, too. Inputs fluctuate between tilting the system, tapping the touch screen, or using the face buttons. The amusing unpredictability of what you’ll be asked to do next keeps you on your toes.

There are dozens of different songs to play along with, the challenge escalating with each chapter of the story. Players that can’t keep a beat shouldn’t worry too much, as the bar for completing a song is pretty low and you can spend in-game currency before every song on items to make things easier. However, even when we knew that we could get away with less, we often were so engaged that we pushed ourselves to get at least an A on the standard difficulty, whether the first time around or when we chose to replay from the menu.

The songs themselves are enjoyable when you’re experiencing them but mostly forgettable other than a few standouts. We loved select tunes like the Rhythm Thief theme and Moon Princess, but many others left our ears as fast as they entered them. Of course, occasionally Rhythm Thief really surprised us with a taste of that old Sega magic, as our crusty hearts were warmed by stages that gave tribute to Samba de Amigo and Space Channel 5. It was endearing to see Rhythm Thief recognize its musical Sega heritage with flourishes of fan service.

Outside of a mostly unmemorable soundtrack, our only real complaint about Rhythm Thief is its overreliance on fetch quests. The campaign is long enough without them, but about once per chapter, we hit the speed bump that forced us to transport an item from one side of Paris to the other. We enjoyed running around the city in search of hidden items and other extras, but the overreliance on fetch quests to bulk up playtime felt more and more contrived with each instance.

One can complain that Rhythm Thief and the Emperor’s Treasure isn’t all that new, but it often takes the portable puzzle-adventure genre to new heights via an abundance of addictive minigames. The cute aesthetics and animation that borrows heavily from the films of Studio Ghibli are a great way to convey a collection of musical diversions that can be played in big chunks or on a leisurely bus ride. If you’re looking for that type of portable entertainment – or are a Sega fan that misses the developer’s heyday – you’ll want to visit Rhythm Thief’s Paris ASAP.

The post Rhythm Thief and the Emperors Treasure review appeared first on Game News.

In case you’re unfamiliar with Sega’s little jester, NiGHTS into Dreams came out in 1996 on Sega Saturn. It was the game that Sonic Team made instead of making a Sonic game for the new hardware. Its flowing movement was programmed by Yuji Naka – the man who programmed the original Sonic The Hedgehog, which is why it’s so fluid – noticeably so when compared to the Naka-less Wii sequel.

The game is short in terms of length, with only seven unique levels (all of which are here in this HD release), each split into four sections followed by a boss – the designs for which still stand tall among videogame’s greatest:

Above: The new HD version of NiGHTS. Look at the high-res textures… not Puffy’s boobs

But in terms of its scoring system and the depth afforded by essentially very simple controls means that there’s years’ worth of depth if you want it. But what are we getting? Is it really an all-new remake with cutting-edge graphics as suggested by that teaser?

Well, no. The new version of NiGHTS appears to be an HD port of the Japan-only PS2 version of the game. To its credit, that iteration was itself a full remake of the original with new 3D models for the main characters, 3D enemies instead of the old 2D sprites, as well as improved textures, frame-rate and special effects. And videos on YouTube of that game running through an HD emulator made us wish Sega would HD it up and release it as a digital arcade title. And hey – that’s exactly what they’ve done!

Above: Splash Garden now has proper transparency effects. Mmmm… watery

The great news is that a port of the Saturn version is going to be included as well, as it was in the PS2 release, although it’s been put through a modern filter to smooth off some of the rough edges that you may not remember if you only played it in 1996. I loaded up the original last night (trying to find the exact spot that teaser screen (opens in new tab) was taken from, but to no avail) and I must say, on my 40-inch HD TV, it’s starting to look mighty rough.

Above: The original next to the new ‘Saturn’ mode in the HD game, with the fully polygonal HD remake underneath

The other good news is that, assuming all the content from the PS2 remake is going to be included, Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams (a two-level free demo that we still play sometimes) will likely be included if you can get an A grade on every level. That hasn’t been confirmed, but it makes sense – it’s already in the code. The Saturn version already supported widescreen output, which has naturally been preserved – as has the close-in camera angle.

Above: Stick Canyon, looking great, but not quite as good as that teaser image implied

So. Is this going to be enough to keep notoriously hard-to-please Sega fans happy? Yes, thank you very much. Those who went out of their way to import a PS2 copy are basically going to buy anything released with the NiGHTS name on it and online high score tables will be enough to keep this fresh and exciting for them. Everyone else will get the graphically superior version of a modernised iteration of one of the best games ever. And if it sells well, maybe Sega will rethink their stance on another sequel.

Above: How crisp does this look?! Probably bewildering if you’ve never played it, mind

And after all, this is genuine NiGHTS into Dreams without a hint of Kinect, PS Move or anything new to detract from one of the best-designed scoring systems ever conceived. No stupid voice acting, no ‘Mindsight’, no weird touching to “du-al-iiiiise”. Just Sonic Team’s most creative game ever. If you want to read more about it, I already wrote three pages about it in our Classic Game Appreciation Section (opens in new tab).

Here’s hoping Sega Rally HD is next on the list. Oh, and seeing as somebody at Sega apparently is listening to fan requests… can we have a Vita port too, please? Ta.

The post NiGHTS into Dreams HD is real, beautiful and coming to PSN, XBLA and PC. First trailer inside appeared first on Game News.

For the past week, the principle designer behind one of Double Fine’s upcoming adventure games, Ron Gilbert, has been postingcryptic pictures (opens in new tab)of characters on his blog. Characters that will one day populate an adventure game, though not the now-famous Double Fine Kickstarter game.

The images he posted appeared in a jagged outline pattern, and now we know why. Those jigsaw character pictures fit perfectly into a landscape that publisher SEGA released (opens in new tab) today, leaving little doubt that some sort of collaboration is now underway between the two companies.

Unfortunately, both companies are still quiet on the issue and have not doled out any information about what this might entail, though it seems quite likely that SEGA will be lending its publishing muscle to support Ron Gilbert’s endeavors while Tim Schafer is hard at work on the Kickstarter game.

Right now, we’re hearing that SEGA will have more to say on the matter on Thursday, though beyond that, we have no idea what they might have to say.

The post Double Fine working with Sega on upcoming adventure game? appeared first on Game News.

Shenmue HD, which Sega teased earlier this week in an interview with Game Reactor, has been “finished for well over a year,” according to GZ’s source – “as is Shenmue II HD.” However the company, wary of rekindling enthusiasm for the ill-fated series, is waiting until it has a better idea of where the series may eventually go.

This January, the online Shenmue World was cancelled, while series creator Yu Suzuki outlined ideas he has for a third installment and confirmed the possibility of obtaining the IP rights from Sega. Which is to say, if Sega does want to know where Shenmue will go before making a move on the series, it can head to the back of the line…

The post Shenmue HD has been ready to go for well over a year [Rumor] appeared first on Game News.

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You most likely knew Casino Night Zone was coming: the level was a pre-order bonus for GameStop customers. The Sonic 2 stage has been reinvented for Generations in the style of Genesis spinoff Sonic Spinball, which would have been a pretty great game if it had cost somewhere around $5. Japanese players are paying 320 MSP for the stage, which means it’ll probably run you $4 when it comes to America, which technically makes it a pretty great value.

Above: We’re so scared right now

Also available are avatar costumes that will make your XBLA avatar look pretty darling. Slap some thick glasses and badges for a couple of indie bands on that Amy Rose outfit and boom, instant hipster chick. Of course, it also comes with a furry hedgehog cowl, as do the Sonic and Super Sonic varieties – which, if you’re that terrified of people thinking you might be a fur-fetishist, could put you off paying 240 MSP for it. But it shouldn’t, because they’re delightful.

Finally, there are themes for XBLA and PlayStation 3, which are commanding prices of 240 MSP and ¥200 ($US2.50) a piece. These all ought to hit Western consoles soon, so start saving up your real money for digital goodies!

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