Right now there isn’t a whole lot of information, other than Sonic, Thunder Force IV, Phantasy Star, “…and more” will be coming to the system.

But it seems this was just a little teaser announcement, as SEGA went on to reveal a Mega Drive Mini and Shenmue I & II would be coming to PS4, Xbox One and PC – which would no doubt be more exciting to a lot of SEGA Nerds out there.

Instead, SEGA has confirmed on Twitter that more information would be announced tomorrow at the ‘Classic Game Stage’:

さらなるラインナップ発表などの「SEGA AGES」追加情報は、明日4/15（日）15:40より配信予定の「クラシックゲームステージ」にて発表いたします。会場にお越しいただけない方も、YouTube LIVE／Periscopeにてご確認ください！ https://t.co/vrcALAJIvS #セガフェス #SEGAAGES

— セガ公式アカウント (@SEGA_OFFICIAL) April 14, 2018

Translation:
“Additional information such as “SEGA AGES” will be announced at the “Classic game Stage”, which will be delivered from 15:40 (Sun) tomorrow at 4/15. If you are not able to come to the venue, please check with YouTube LIVE/periscope! http://segafes.sega.jp/stage/ #セガフェス #SEGAAGES”

So stay tuned for more information on SEGA AGES on Switch!

Sam Dyer, founder and graphic designer of Bitmap Books, is working very closely with SEGA to help bring it to life. This will make it the first “official” compendium in the company’s history.

The Kickstarter will begin on May 7th.

Source: ComicBook

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.

While we were big fans of M2’s brilliant work on 3D Fantasy Zone and 3D Fantasy Zone II, we can’t help but hold out hope that SEGA will port it the Switch!

What are some of your favorite Fantasy Zone memories, and which version do you personally enjoy the most?

Ruiz’s game is titled Silver Valley and is inspired by games like Castlevania and Wonder Boy, to name a few. There’s over 60 stages to play through, and seven bosses that will surely give you a challenge.

There’s a TON of gameplay crammed into this Master System game, which is quite impressive to say the least. You can click here to download Silver Valley and try it out yourself. 

Via SMS Power 

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?

All SEGA Forever titles are free to download (with ad-support), but you can also purchase the game to remove adverts. If you had previously bought the game on iOS, you can simply restore your purchase from within the game, to remove adverts.

[Source: SEGA PR]

The VMU-boy is the work of Giles Burgess (aka Kite). Running off the RetroPie system, the device is able to play tons of retro games, though it is (obviously) limited to some older games, or titles like Sonic that require few controls, due to the fact it only has two gameplay buttons – so don’t go expecting to play Dreamcast games, or most of the Mega Drive’s catalogue.

But still, it’s an incredibly impressive piece of kit by all accounts, a proper pocket gaming device that every SEGA Nerd needs. What’s more, Kite has confirmed that he will be selling the VMU-boy around early/mid 2018, he just needs to work out some kinks and refine the model. Check out the video above for a quick look at the VMU-boy prototype in action – the model in the video doesn’t have sound, but Kite has confirmed that sound does work on his latest model.

If you’re interested, he has setup a Pre-order Sign Up page, here. There’s no commitment, just a way for him to gauge how many people want it and for him to be able to reach out to those who do want it. You can also find out more technical details on the VMU-boy, here.

[Via: The Dreamcast Junkyard]

The Genesis Flashback will ship to retailers on Nov. 10 with a $79.99 price tag. The Flashback looks like a Model 1 Genesis and will have 85 pre-installed games, 2.4ghz wireless controllers, a cartridge slot, controller ports compatible with legacy Genesis controllers, scan-line filtering and a save/pause/rewind feature.

AtGames has sent us the latest version to review, and while we can’t give our final opinion until mid-October when the embargo is lifted, we can say this is a much higher quality system than previous AtGames products. We’re hoping to begin sharing live-stream footage in the next week but are awaiting confirmation from AtGames.

You can see the full list of pre-installed games below:

SEGA GENESIS

Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
Alien Storm
Altered Beast
Arrow Flash
Bonanza Bros.
Chakan: The Forever Man
Columns
Columns III
Comix Zone
Crack Down
Decap Attack
Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
ESWAT: City Under Seige
Eternal Champions
Fatal Labyrinth
Flicky
Gain Ground
Golden Axe
Golden Axe II
Golden Axe III
Jewel Master
Kid Chameleon
Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat 3
Mortal Kombat II
Phantasy Star 3: Generations Of Doom
Phantasy Star II
Phantasy Star IV
Ristar
Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi
Shining Force II: The Ancient Seal
Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intention
Shining in the Darkness
Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
Sonic & Knuckles
Sonic 3D Blast
Sonic Spinball
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Super Thunder Blade
Sword Of Vermilion
The Ooze
Vectorman
Vectorman 2
Virtua Fighter II

SEGA MASTER SYSTEM

Alex Kidd in High Tech World
Alex Kidd in Miracle World
Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars
Assault City
Astro Warrior
Dragon Crystal
Fantasy Zone
Fantasy Zone The Maze
Kenseiden
Kung Fu Kid
Ninja, The
Phantasy Star
Psycho Fox
Snail Maze

GAME GEAR

Baku Baku Animal
Defenders of Oasis
Sonic Chaos
Sonic Drift 2
Sonic Triple Trouble
Super Columns
Tails Adventure

BONUS GAMES

Adventure in the Park
Air Hockey
Bomber
Bubbles Master
Cannon
Checker
Cross the road
Curling 2010
Fight or Lose
Hexagonos
Jack’s Pea
Jewel Magic
Memory
Mr. Balls
Naval Power
Plumbing Contest
Snake
Spider
Wall-Breaking

1. Tetris

One of the earliest marquee video game franchises, Tetris nonetheless remains one of the most simplistically compulsive games of all time. Manipulating a random sequence of square shapes may seem easy, but the game can quickly get away from you if the blocks don’t crumble in your favor, or you take your eyes from the prize.

Interestingly enough, there have been many Tetris releases on SEGA systems, beginning with an System 16 arcade port developed and published by SEGA of Japan in 1988. There were also ports for the Master System and Genesis/Mega Drive, although legal issues prevented this version from being widely distributed, and it remains as one of the more rare SEGA games to this day.

2. Street Fighter 2

The greatest beat ’em up franchise of all time captured gamer’s hearts with Street Fighter 2, which deceives with a simple and easily learned gameplay style that belies the depths of the gaming mechanics at play. Between learning zoning and frame data to gleaning reads on your toughest opponents and finding the character that best fits your play style, there’s never been such an iconic multiplayer game to strive to get better at.

Like Tetris, there were also several notable SEGA ports, including a Master System release in Brazil by TecToy, which only had eight of the 12 fighters available due to the Master System’s size limitations. We can’t vouch for its quality, but the arcade and Genesis/Super Nintendo versions of Street Fighter 2 will definitely live on as one of the true great fighting games of all time.

3. Demon Souls

You might not think one of the most notoriously difficult single player games ever made would qualify as addictive, but that’s exactly what keeps legions of players faithfully returning to Atlus’ RPG/Action game year after year. There’s a certain prestige attached to beating bosses at vinnarum casino in these games that calls back to the old school difficulty spikes of the pre-32-bit era. No matter how much punishment they seem to dole out, these games remain beloved of seasoned gamers who want a challenge they can’t find from meeker games elsewhere.

4. Phantasy Star Online

Mention Phantasy Star Online on social media or any video game forum, and you’re bound to hear SEGA fans seethe with anger over SEGA not releasing Phantasy Star Online 2 in the West, despite multiple reassurances it would do so. The series began life on the Dreamcast and was the first game to bring a massive multiplayer online experience to console owners. 

The game had you traverse a series of dungeons and outside levels either solo or with a group of fellow adventurers, where you battled against a range of enemies, like Rag Rappies, Boomas and slimes. Similarly to games like Destiny, collecting new equipment was a core part of what made this game so addictive. Sonic Team created an innovative communication system that allowed players from all over the world to connect and play together on a dial-up connection.

5. World Of Warcraft

You don’t even need to have ever played Warcraft to realize Activision’s MMORPG is a problem. Lampooned by dozens of pop-cultural touchstones, this fantasy multiplayer game thrives on the excitement of cooperative dungeon raiding giving players a social thrill akin to what many people feel in real-life situations. Play at your own risk, as the game could end up occupying the lion’s share of your free time.

6. Destiny

Developer Bungie had a lot of expectations on it’s shoulder after breaking away from being Microsoft’s marquee first-party developer after creating the seminal Halo series for the Xbox family of home console platforms. Loosed from those tethers, they went on to realize the ambition of creating a truly massively multiplayer online first person shoot ‘em up. Something of a dearth of content plagued the franchise through the first year of its development. But with the sequel just on the horizon, Destiny has started to match the initial promises.

7. Pokemon

Nintendo’s world-conquering RPG has remained one of the most profitable video game franchises in the world by sticking to its original formula: a bouncy quest story wrapped around a solid turn-based combat system wedded to the compulsive collectability of the eponymous Pokemonsters. Beating gym trainers and real world combatants retains a thrilling unpredictability that many games would love to replicate.

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