Those now-infamous words that SEGA of America President Tom Kalinske uttered during the company’s E3 press conference in May 1995 not only shocked the journalists in attendance but also many of SEGA’s retail partners, who weren’t expecting the Saturn to launch for several months.

Of course, this was only one of the many bad decisions SEGA would ultimately make with the Saturn that would derail much of the momentum it had gained during the 16-bit era against Nintendo. The Saturn would cede SEGA’s market share to the PlayStation, and Sony would go on to rule the video game industry for a long time.

But while SEGA’s failings with the Saturn have been well documented, it certainly wasn’t all bad, and Tyler at iRetroGamer has just published a new video showcasing some of the system’s good aspects, like being a 2D powerhouse and having a great library of import games.

It’s a shame SEGA so poorly managed the Saturn, but this video is a cool trip down memory lane. Be sure to give it a watch and comment below on what you thought of the Saturn!

The good news is that the service is certainly not dead and SEGA is still committed to bringing its back catalogue of retro goodies to smartphones and tablets, but the team is shifting focus slightly. It looks like SEGA Forever will now concentrate more on games that are natively coded for iOS and Android, rather than emulated, as the team explained in a post on its mobile page:

“Over the past eight months we’ve been observing how SEGA fans have been playing the 18 SEGA Forever titles that have been released so far.

“While we originally intended to focus largely on emulated titles, we have observed that our native ports are the most played games (Sonic The Hedgehog, Sonic The Hedgehog 2, Sonic CD, Crazy Taxi, and Virtua Tennis Challenge).

“Therefore, we’ve decided to make some changes to appeal even more to the audience that is most interested in this project. While we will continue working on emulated titles – with a surprise or two that you haven’t been expecting – our plan this year is to focus on porting titles natively.

“As a result of these changes, the cadence of releases will reduce. However, the next SEGA Forever title will be rolling out soon!

“The mobile team wants to thank fans from all around the world: in only eight months SEGA Forever titles have been downloaded more than 40 million times. This is only the beginning!”

I think it’s going to be interesting to see where this will take SEGA Forever. On the one hand the idea of emulated games sounded decent enough, as it could allow SEGA to publish games relatively quickly (not needing to code them specifically for the devices), but in practice SEGA Forever’s emulation hasn’t always been well received, with several issues particularly in the early weeks/months of its launch.

So, perhaps concentrating on native ports of retro titles could be the best thing for the service. From what’s been said, it looks like we won’t be seeing any Saturn or Dreamcast titles in the near future (sadly), but I’m sure looking forward to the “surprises” mentioned above.

That strange few years in the mid-to-late ’90s were some of the worst for build quality for video game cases with both Sony and SEGA using the plastic, long-box style jewel cases, while Nintendo used cheaply-made cardboard boxes for its Nintendo 64 games.

Fast forward to today, and its a virtual nightmare for collectors to buy complete-in-box SEGA CD and Saturn games, bet on ladbrokes, with cases that aren’t broken.

Thankfully, our friends at Limited Run Games have plans to start manufacturing replacement SEGA CD, Saturn and PlayStation 1 cases that are to exact specifications as the original.

No word was given on when these would become available to order or for how much, but we hope they’re more sturdy than the originals so we can finally toss those sad, broken cases in the landfill where they belong!

This time, Moon is hoping to fund a SEGA Saturn replacement power supply through Indiegogo. The Saturn PSU is compatible with all versions of the Saturn, and helps reduce heat in the system. A power brick is not included with the PSU, but you can find them pretty cheap on sites like Amazon.

The project needs $8,000 and it is currently sitting at $4,980. If you would like to grab one yourself and help fund his project, click here to do so.

However, the speculation about a Dreamcast-mini, or similar console has resurfaced and this time it is down to things that both SEGA and Retro-Bit have been hinting at on social media and, apparently, what has been said to some people on the floor at CES today.

Firstly, one of the videos that came out today by RGT 85 mentions that Julius, the person at the CES show who sent him the screenshots and information, apparently spoke to the team at Retro-Bit about systems and had this to say: “Retro-Bit is planning to do systems as well.” – See the video below 4:24 mark

Now, as exciting as the thought of that is, like going to Betfair promo code, that alone wouldn’t necessarily be enough for us to start the rumour mill going. But something else has been going on today with SEGA’s Twitter account, which made us pause for thought.

If you haven’t seen, SEGA Europe posted out a poll today, asking fans to comment on which of SEGA’s home consoles they like playing the most and their favourite games:

How about a fun mid-week nostalgia fuelled poll? Which SEGA home console did you love playing the most? What game was your absolute favourite? #SegaMemories

— SEGA Europe (@SEGA_Europe) January 10, 2018

Again, alone this isn’t necessarily a definite indicator that SEGA and Retro-Bit will be releasing a console. I mean, SEGA puts out polls quite regularly. But then Retro-Bit sends out something of a teaser tweet in response:

I don’t know about you guys… but I’m interested in so SEGA updates

— Retro-Bit (@RetroBitGaming) January 10, 2018

Now, we’re not sure – but it sounds like they are referring to the previous tweet from SEGA here. And then, a little later in the day they add another tweet about how “It’s only the beginning for SEGA and Retro-Bit…”

It’s only the beginning for #SEGA and @RetroBitGaming – #SegaGenesis Adapters and Cables. Stay tuned because there’s so much more to come this week at #CES2018 pic.twitter.com/gIOo9RnDRh

— Retro-Bit (@RetroBitGaming) January 10, 2018

We don’t want people to get all crazy and start expecting a Dreamcast-mini or a Saturn-mini, but from what we’ve heard was (apparently) said on the show floor at CES and with these two tweets from SEGA and Retro-Bit, it’s hard not to imagine that some sort of ‘new-old’ SEGA console might be in the works.

And it makes sense too. SEGA just needs to look at the success Nintendo has seen with the NES and SNES-mini consoles – when done right, they can be huge sellers.

So, for now, until we hear anything more official, we’re going to be treating this as a rumour – but one we really hope will come to fruition.

What do you all think? Are we reading too much into this? And which, if any, SEGA-mini systems would you like to see in store shelves?

Well, during this week’s CES 2018 in Las Vegas, some images and videos of Retro-Bit’s offerings have been revealed. We’re still waiting on any official images or press announcements from Retro-Bit, so for now we’re relying on photos and videos taken by members of the public at the show.

But, so far, it’s all good stuff – as it looks like Retro-Bit has made good on its promise to bring new Bluetooth controllers to the Genesis/Mega Drive and (excitingly) the Dreamcast and Saturn! Plus, it looks like the company will be releasing a whole batch of new cables for SEGA consoles, including S-Video and power cables.

The Genesis has seen some wireless (infrared) controllers in the past and the Dreamcast has also seen some fan mods to create wireless controllers, but this is the first time all three consoles will see wireless Bluetooth technology controllers. And judging from the videos and images, the quality looks pretty damn good for these devices.

We’re hoping to find out more juicy details from Retro-Bit soon enough (like price and availability), but for now, here’s some photos and a couple more videos!

[Via: RIGG’d Games, Madlittlepixel & RGT 85]

But, before you all get too excited about the prospect of a brand new Saturn or Dreamcast console, calm down!

Right now the full details of what this new partnership entails isn’t entirely clear, however, from reading the press release (full details below), it sounds more like this deal will focus on products like controllers or cables, rather than new consoles, as it highlights in this line in particular: “…a licensing agreement with SEGA of America to produce accessories for SEGA’s gaming platforms…”

However, this is still great news, as it means those of us with dying power chords for their Genesis’, or damaged Dreamcast controllers, will soon be able to replace them with officially endorsed products. What’s more, it sounds like these accessories will be given a modern upgrade, as they promise products such as controllers will feature USB for PC compatibility and Bluetooth technology (possibly for tablet and phone compatibility?).

Also, I wouldn’t necessarily rule out console manufacturing down the line. SEGA has worked with several third party companies in the past to bring new versions of their systems to life, such as Tec-Toy and ATGames (and some others), so maybe Retro-Bit might have new consoles on the cards at a later date. Fingers crossed!

While full product details haven’t been announced just yet, we won’t have long to wait, as they are set to debut at the Innex booth #21023 in the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center during CES 2018, in just a few weeks’ time!

Press Release

RETRO-BIT^® ANNOUNCES SEGA^® LICENSING AGREEMENT TO PRODUCE ACCESSORIES FOR SEGA GAMING PLATFORMS

First Products to be Officially Unveiled at CES 2018

POMONA, CA, December 19, 2017– Acknowledging the continual growth of the retro-gaming market, Retro-Bit, a premier publisher and manufacturer of classic gaming products, today announced a licensing agreement with SEGA of America to produce accessories for SEGA’s gaming platforms, including but not limited to the SEGA Genesis, SEGA Saturn and SEGA Dreamcast.

The first products and concepts under the agreement include several accessories that feature the same great quality as their original Sega counterparts like the original console port, but also with modern upgrades such as a USB^® port for PC compatibility and Bluetooth^® wireless technology. These new products are slated to debut in the Innex booth #21023 in the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center during CES 2018.

“With retro gaming on an upswing, we are pleased to offer officially SEGA licensed accessories in their original format as well as apply the innovative classic gaming enhancements that have become the hallmark of Retro-Bit,” said Titi Ngoy, President and CEO at Innex Inc. the exclusive distributor of Retro-Bit.  “We’re excited to unveil the first of these new products and concepts at CES, and do so alongside an exciting 2018 product catalog.”

To book an appointment for an exclusive tour and demo of the Innex Inc^® booth at CES 2018 visit: HERE.

[Source: Retro-Bit]

As of now, not a huge amount of details have been revealed, except that the release will be available for digital download, CD and vinyl, and it will contain 20 songs rearranged by Saori Kobayashi. Brave Wave also teased a date, Jan 29, 2018, which is either the release date of the soundtrack, or possibly a date where pre-orders might open, which what they did with their recent Sonic Adventure 1&2 soundtracks.

With Panzer Dragoon Saga being my favourite game of all time, colour me very excited for this news!

If you are a SEGA fan, you probably heard about Sonic X-Treme; The game that was in all magazines back in the 90’s and had one of the biggest hypes but never got released. Through the years, some prototypes have been found. The first one was made using the NiGHT´s engine, the second (the most known) was the fisheye version and lastly the unseen POV build. All three were made using different technology and it clearly shows that SEGA was struggling to get a decent demo. However in 2017, a fan named Maxime built a demo that is superior to any prototype made by SEGA. It looked so good that it was presented in one of the biggest European events about retro gaming, Retro Barcelona.

The demo itself is available to anyone who wants to try it in an emulator or on the real hardware. SEGA Nerds, however, needed to know more, so we decided to go after the man who created the game: Maxime.

[Original post] It’s amazing the number of unreleased and prototype games for old SEGA systems that fans seem to be able to get their hands on over the years. Now a chap by the name of ‘ke-drdar-l0epezmm38′ on eBay has put up a prototype of the unreleased SEGA Saturn game, Armed, for sale on the auction site. 

Armed is described as a side-scrolling action game, in a similar vein to Blackthorne, but with rendered characters and backgrounds. Now, I don’t recall Armed being mentioned in the gaming magazines back in the day, but evidently the game was mentioned in print, as ke-drdar-l0epezmm38 posted up scans of an article in a Saturn magazine back when the game was about 70% complete. He’s also posted up photos of him playing the game, as evidence it does work and is really a game on the disc (see gallery below).

The eBay listing does specify that the game still isn’t in a finished state and is a prototype, with missing audio and FMV – however, the seller says that he played the game from start to finish and the levels are all there and playable. So it could be your chance to bid on an incredibly rare game to add to your Saturn collection!

The downside is that Armed is currently listed at the whopping price of $2,500! So it’s most likely too steep for all but the most determined gamers/collectors out there. There are 22 days left on the listing, so maybe some people could find the funds in that time to win the auction. [Update] The listing has now ended and Armed has been sold!

Well, if any of you get your hands on the game, be sure to let us know how it is!

[Source: eBay, via RetroCollect & Saturn Memories]

Gallery