---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ~ S E G A F A N S W E E K L Y ~ ~ ISSUE #1 - FEB 12 2006 ~ copyright 2006 segafans.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A Message from benstylus ~ Page 1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to the inaugural edition of SegaFans Weekly, sort of a spiritual successor to the legendary Sega World Weekly. That's a big legacy to live up to, and I hope that this newsletter can fill those shoes. There's a lot to cover in this issue, but let my start by first addressing the format of this newsletter. Yes, it's plain text. It's easy to read, and is about the smallest file size available. It's as true in writing as it is in video games - fancy graphics don't make for great content. By leaving out the fancy graphics, we're forcing ourselves to focus on the quality of our content. And hopefully you'll appreciate that difference. At any rate, it's best viewed in a fixed-width font like courier. If you use Windows, you can open it in Notepad and it will look just like it was intended. SegaFans is dedicated to covering the past, present, and future of everything Sega, and we're out to spread the gospel of Sega to as many folks as want to hear it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents ~ Page 2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 - A Message from benstylus 2 - Table of Contents 3 - Top Story - Shadow the Hedgehog (yes it's bad) 4 - Weekly News Roundup 5 - SegaFans Forum Digest 6 - Mailbag 7 - New and Upcoming 8 - Game of the Week - Gale Racer (Saturn, Japan) 9 - Links 10- Credits / Contact Information ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Top Story - Shadow the Hedgehog (yes it's bad) ~ Page 3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Been a lot of talk about Sonic Rush which is good because I'm assuming many people got it, but not so much about Shadow the Hedgehog which I'm assuming to mean many people avoided it. Those of you who remember Sonic Adventure 2 may recall the whole "save the world... or conquer it?" advertisements. Well, it turned out not to be the case in Sonic Adventure 2, since the dark side storyline eventually ended up with saving the world. I don't know about the rest of you, but after seeing all those ads offering a choice, I felt a bit cheated to find out there was none. Shadow the Hedgehog does not make that same mistake. Each level generally offers you two or three ways to complete it - the Hero way, the Dark way, and the neutral way. And your choice actually affects the outcome of the game. Depending on what you do, the next level you go to will be different. The branching storylines based on your actions works quite well, and there are quite a few endings. However, the actual goals in the stages do not seem to work quite as well. One stage has a Dark goal of activating Eggman's fortresses defenses, a Hero goal of finding Cream, and a neutral goal of just getting to the end of the level. While these may seem like simple objectives (and they are among easier the simpler objectives you'll find in the game), Sega has seen fit to make the levels branch quite often too, which would lead to a lot of backtracking if you took the wrong way and missed Cream for example. Sega did see this problem and made an attempt to address it - each of the level's checkpoints also act as teleporters to any other checkpoint you've touched. In addition, when you're teleporting, you can see how many checkpoints were missed and their approximate location, so you can transport to the one before that. Unfortunately, it seems that the teleporters were Sega's solution to sloppy level design. To be fair, some of the levels are quite well designed, but others are frustratingly mediocre. My favorite level of the dozen I've played so far has been the "cyberspace" level. Probably the worst part about the levels is that there are two kinds of enemies on each stage - both dark and hero enemies. Well, you'd think that if you were on one side, they wouldn't attack you unless you pissed 'em off first... such is not the case. Sega opted for the very simplest type of AI for the enemies - thus everyone is out to kill you, no matter whose side you're on. This was a significant disappointment to me. You just save a bunch of soldiers from certain death at the hands of the bad guys, and they offer their thanks by shooting at you. What's worse is every now and then you'll have a familiar character (Sonic, Amy, etc.) tagging along with you to help you out, and they will only attack the evil enemies. So while Sega knows how to program it, they opted not to for most of the enemies. Each of the enemies gives you points based on the type of enemy - bopping an evil enemy will give you hero points and slaying a good enemy will give you dark points. And yes, these points are used for a grading system, and if you didn't like the one in Rush, you'll absolutely loathe the one in Shadow. If you complete the hero objective in a stage, any Dark points you earned will be subtracted from your total and lower your grade. Another annoyance is that most of the enemies don't go down particularly easily, often taking 3 or more hits before finally being beaten. Since many of them will be shooting at you, it is quite often that while you're bouncing on them for the several hits they may take, you will get hit at least once. And once again, Sega saw this problem and chose to try to simply mask it instead of correct it. In prior sonic games, when you would get hit, you would lose all your rings. If they did that in Shadow, the game would end pretty quickly. But, no, Sega's solution to the cheap shots from the enemies is to make you lose only 10 rings per hit. Speaking of getting hit, it seems that 90% of the time when you get hit or die (usually by falling), Shadow says a naughty. I can see a lot of parents getting upset over such a thing. And while such things are certainly par for the course in an E10+ rated game, it still feels like the swearing was just added to make the game more "cool." But isn't that what the guns were for? Ah yes, the guns. Generally speaking the guns work pretty well. You shoot things enough times and they die. The ammo you get for each weapon is usually fair, and if you pick up another of the same type of weapon that ammo gets added to your total. You can only carry one weapon type at a time, though, so if you've got a machine gun with a couple hundred rounds and someone drops a bazooka, you're gonna have to make a choice. Do you keep the machine gun or do you get the bazooka with 8 shots in it? The melee weapons like swords and poles are pretty much useless - they're slow, underpowered, and you generally get about 4 swings with them before they break. More often than not, you'll find yourself just using the standard jumping attack instead of the weapons. But the fact of the matter is that Sega made a huge hoopla over the fact that the game was gonna have guns - you'd think they would have done a better job implementing them. I'm glad I rented it instead of blindly purchasing it. Sega was trying to make a darker, meaner Sonic game, and I guess in some senses they got it... but the very first scene from the intro movie threw away any shred of credibility the game may have had for me. What is this magical scene? Close up of Shadow's big poofy cartoony glove as he's loading a magazine into a machine gun. I almost died laughing. All the so called 'maturity' in the game just seems tacked on and artificial. I think that's where most of the problems with the game are - too many things just seem tacked on for show without anyone really knowing how they're going to make it work. And for the bigger problems, they addressed them by simply trying to cover them up instead of solving them. If you're really into Sonic games, you may want to consider it, as it's not a terrible game, just not particularly good. -benstylus ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Weekly News Roundup ~ Page 4 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Feb 07 - Sega Europe announced they will be bringing Sonic Mega Collection Plus and Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg to the PC. They're scheduled for release on March 31. Those of you who missed out on Billy Hatcher because you didn't have a Gamecube will soon have another way to play this underrated gem from Sonic Team. - http://www.sega-europe.com/en/NewsStory/1019.htm The March 2006 edition of Gamepro has an 8-page article (well, technically 6 because there is a 2-page title spread) on the upcoming Sonic games (including Sonic Riders and the not-yet-titled Sonic game for PS3 and Xbox 360). The article also features some other cool tidbits like Sonic Cameos, a timeline of the past Sonic games, and a listing of the Gamepro issues with Sonic on the cover. Know of any Sega news from a reliable source? Come to the SegaFans forums and post in the news section when it happens, and we'll try to include it in the next newsletter! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SegaFans Forum Digest ~ Page 5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For those of you who like reading web forums but don't have time, or if you've only got access to usenet at work, here's a brief rundown of the action for the past week on the SegaFans forums. The Bob kicks off the week by linking us to Sega's new Beena system - which is pretty much the Pico 2. For those of you who don't remember the Pico, it was Sega's try at an "edu-tainment" console. It wasn't so hot here in the states, but I guess it must have done all right in Japan if they're making a new one. - http://www.segafans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1646 Bortumer gives us the rundown on the new Sega Rally 2006 for PS2. In his own words: "The gameplay isn't too bad, it's feels tighter than the old Sega Rally, maybe a tad closer to a sim. The good thing though is that it's really fast. It's good, but nothing mind blowing... The tracks are BLAND, really bland. There's enough pop-up to rival a Saturn game, and the texture are atrocious." - http://www.segafans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1647 The Bob brings his complete lack of class into Steve's topic about setting up a game room in his home. How does the rest of the community respond? Read and find out! - http://www.segafans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1645 Steve decided to hop back onto the Genesis bandwagon and asks for some advice on some good games... what do we recommend to him? In addition to the "standards" of Sonic the Hedgehog and the like, a few less commonly mentioned games are thrown in the mix - including Chiki Chiki Boys, Greendog, Flicky, Soldiers of Fortune, and Zoom! - http://www.segafans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1644 Steve brings a bit of a brag to the forum with his Genesis haul from four Game Crazy stores... 17 Genesis games (including some really good ones) for $40! - http://www.segafans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1650 IcePak posts a topic he found at Sega-Spetznaz about (Try to control yourself, Eiji) whether or not the Dreamcast could have handled Resident Evil 4. It's an interesting read to say the least. - http://www.segafans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1659 Icepak is at it again, this time linking to an article from 1up about some of the behind the scenes stuff with Saturn and Dreamcast. Most Sega Fans have already read most of the information elsewhere, but it's nice to have it brought up again. And of course, the article uses the word "ill-fated". - http://www.segafans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1660 And finally, Bleedingblackthornedrose is selling her sealed Sega CD Popful Mail. Here's hoping it gets a good home. - http://www.segafans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1665 Remember, the forums can be found at http://www.segafans.com/forums - come give us a look! Registration is free and only required if you want to post. You don't have to be a registered member if you just want to browse! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Mailbag ~ Page 6 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Here we answer questions that you submit to us. We take questions via e-mail (see the contact info at the bottom of the newsletter) or you can just use our handy contact form at segafans.com If you've got a question about Sega you're just dying to ask, then ask us! For privacy purposes, we will not publish your full e-mail address - just the part before the domain name. ---===>>>From: parasarora DC is better console than PS2 for what reason PS2 was able to beat the sales of DC? Are there new game title launch for dreamcast after trizeal? <<<===--- Whoa, slow down there, turbo - one question at a time. First off, I don't think you can reasonably argue that the Dreamcast as a console is better than the PS2. Each has their strengths and their weaknesses. At the very best, you could make the argument that they are comparable. However, as a Sega Fan, it is your god-given right to believe that the Sega system is superior to its competitors, so I can't really fault you for that. Why was PS2 able to beat the Dreamcast saleswise? Probably a combination of factors. When PS2 was released, DVD players weren't particularly cheap. It has a built-in DVD player, so people could buy the system and play DVDs on it too! That was a major selling point for a lot of people. Also, some of the key developers in the gaming business (such as Electronic Arts and Squaresoft) deigned not to develop for the Dreamcast. I'm not saying Madden football or Final Fantasy could have won the war by themselves, but they could have helped. PS2 was also backwards compatible, where Dreamcast was not. This didn't mean a whole lot for people who already had a Playstation 1, but people who bought a PS2 at launch would have a library of over 700 games in addition to the (admittedly meager) selection of PS2 games. And finally? Hype Hype Hype. Sega has a VERY bad marketing team. In addition, magazines and websites all predicted failure. Sadly, the average gamer is often greatly influenced by the media, and nobody wants to bet on a losing horse. Those factors (combined with others) are why the Dreamcast didn't get the sales it deserved. As for new Dreamcast games after Trizeal, well, there are two new shooters that are now scheduled for release on the Last Great Game Console(tm) - Rajirugi from Milestone (the makers of Chaos Field) and Under Defeat from G-Rev (the makers of Border Down). Both games look to be pretty decent! -benstylus ---===>>>From: daveharris Hello, Can you play Sega Saturn games on a Dreamcast ? <<<===--- Believe it or not, I get asked this question quite frequently. The short answer is no. The long answer is no you cannot. -benstylus ---------------------------------------------------------------------- New and Upcoming ~ Page 7 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Here's a list of Sega's recent and upcoming releases (within 2 weeks of this newsletter) in case you accidentally missed them. This list covers games developed by Sega, published by Sega, or on Sega systems. RECENTLY RELEASED - USA ----------------------- The Rub Rabbits! DS 02/07/06 UPCOMING GAMES - USA -------------------- Rome: Total War Gold Edition PC 02/14/06 Full Auto 360 02/15/06 Sonic Riders GC PS2 XB 02/21/06 Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll DS 02/21/06 RECENTLY RELEASED - EUROPE -------------------------- Rome: Total War Gold Edition PC 02/03/06 Full Auto 360 02/10/06 The Rub Rabbits! DS 02/10/06 UPCOMING GAMES - EUROPE ----------------------- Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll DS 02/17/06 RECENTLY RELEASED - JAPAN ------------------------- Shining Soul (Value Selection Re-release) GBA 02/02/06 Shining Soul II (Value Selection Re-release) GBA 02/02/06 Mr. Incredible ~Kyouteki Underminer Toujyou~ DS GBA GC PS2 02/09/06 UPCOMING GAMES - JAPAN ---------------------- Rajirugi DREAMCAST! 02/16/06 Initial D Street Stage PSP 02/23/06 Sega Ages #22: Advanced Daisenryaku PS2 02/23/06 Sega Ages #25: Gunstar Heroes Treasure Box PS2 02/03/06 Sonic Riders GC PS2 XB 02/23/06 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Game of the Week - Gale Racer (Saturn, Japan) ~ Page 8 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Many families vacation in places like Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, Hawaii, or sometimes even Europe. Not so with my family. Our annual trip was to visit our relatives in the exotic jungle known as Salt Lake City, Utah. We kids would explore the vast expanse of Albertson's grocery store. We would bravely walk through the local shopping mall with our aunt promising to buy us an ice cream cone if we were good and didn't touch anything. Even at eight or nine years old, we knew we were getting a bum deal. But being bored to death and getting ice cream beats being bored to death with no ice cream. Not having access to a vehicle or money would severely limit the fun we could have if we were to make a break for it. Plus, this was Utah. Fun doesn't exactly grow on trees in Utah. One year, when I was thirteen or fourteen, we were going through the same routine, but instead of being bullied into submission by means of an ice cream cone, my aunt offered to take us to the arcade if we behaved. I turned to my brother who had turned to me - I could tell by the look on his face that he had heard the same thing, and so we weren't crazy. At the very worst, it was a shared craziness. We silently spoke to each other with our eyes. Did she say ARCADE? That's what I heard, too! With video games? I hope so. Do they even have those here? I don't know. Let's find out! After a long day of feigning interest in the things our aunt was buying, she was finally done. We got into the car, and she told us that we were quite well behaved and so she would take us to the arcade... ...tomorrow. We were a little bit let down, but not too much - after all, we had survived a boring trip to the mall - at least when we got back to her house we could watch TV to help pass the time. After a long night of lying awake thinking about the arcade, tomorrow finally came. We were dressed and ready before seven o'clock. Naturally, my aunt didn't wake up until almost noon. After waiting an additional two hours for her to get ready, it was finally time to go. We arrived about fifteen minutes later, and discovered that it was a nickel arcade. Instead of the tokens or quarters that most arcades used, the machines here were operated on nickels. Our aunt (in what scholars would later recall as the most generous moment of her life) paid the dollar admission fee and handed each of us a $2 roll of nickels, advising us that she would like back anything we did not use. She then sat down in one of the chairs at the front, and pulled a book out of her purse and began reading. My brother and I looked around - this was a real arcade, with real games... including Mortal Kombat II (which was brand new at the time). The line took about 4 or 5 minutes each time, so we each got about 5 plays before my aunt came looking for us and asked if we were ready to go, but meaning that we were going to be leaving and she'd like the rest of her nickels back. Yep - apparently a half hour is more than enough time for kids to spend in an arcade. But what can you do, you know? We relinquished the remainder of our nickels, and headed out of this electric oasis and back out into the cement desert of Utah. When I got home from that summer's trip, I began to wonder whether there were any nickel arcades in my home town, but didn't find any. Of course, not having a car, my search radius was quite limited, and eventually I forgot about my quest. Several years later, when I was in college, I was heading down to Schlotzky's for a pastrami sandwich on rye bread when I noticed a sign I had not seen before. It said "5 CENT GAMES." I was intrigued, and made a mental note to come back up here as soon as I got my sandwich. Upon finishing my pastrami, I wiped my face for any stray crumbs and immediately headed back up the street to the lure of "5 CENT GAMES." I stepped inside and beheld my surroundings. Yes - it was another real arcade, with quite a few of the new releases - including Hydro Thunder, Daytona USA 2 Power Edition, Dance Dance Revolution Solo Bass Mix and Virtua Tennis. I paid the admission fee with a five dollar bill and asked for my change in nickels. The cashier smiled and complied with my request. I played a few rounds of Daytona (that spider alien leaping down at you is still one of the greatest moments ever in a racing game) and then wandered to see what else they had. Towards the back, I stumbled across a game called Rad Mobile. It was a sit down racer that actually tilted left and right as appropriate when you played. The graphics weren't all that hot - seemed to use the same sort of scaling as games like Space Harrier and Power Drift. But I decided to give it a try anyway. Upon sitting in the seat I noticed a button for lights and a button for wipers. Not quite sure what to expect, I popped in two nickels and began to play. I'll be the first to admit that I probably looked pretty goofy. I'm 6'4" (just over 190cm to the rest of the world), and I was sitting in a little car designed to fit a Japanese person. It was a little uncomfortable to say the least. Nevertheless, I persisted, and through the course of the game I was dodging oncoming traffic, chased by a trucker, being pursued by dozens of police cars, and at one point even driving along a railroad track trying to outrun a train, all the while with a Sonic the Hedgehog figurine dangling from my rear view mirror. The lights and wipers had their purpose too - some stages were dark, others were rainy. Eventually, I ran out of time and was forced to admit defeat. With a little difficulty I managed to get out of the car. I was amused at the whole concept of the game. I played it four more times that day. When I got home, I decided to see if there was a home version of the game, and was unable to find any information on it. Then by chance a few months later I discovered that the Japanese name for the game was Gale Racer, and so I looked to see if perhaps it was available under that name. By that time I was no stranger to importing Saturn games, and had even gone so far as to get my Saturn fitted with a region switch when I purchased the King of Fighters collection. I found one eBay auction for Gale Racer, and the price was $10. I bid and won and a couple weeks later, I finally had the game in hand. I popped the game in, and eagerly skipped past the intro so I could get to the game. Unfortunately, the game, which was not particularly impressive to look at to begin with, had been downgraded a bit more for the home port. The draw distance looked to be about 60 to 70% of what it was in the arcade, which would make the game more difficult. After several minutes playing and grumbling about the graphics and how the Saturn really ought to be able to handle it, I realized that I was still having a blast despite the visual downgrade. While it was not arcade perfect, it was certainly good enough. What's more, they had even added a versus mode to the game, which I found to be quite enjoyable (mostly because I usually won). Recently a friend of mine was selling all of his worldly possessions because he was moving out of state. I bought a few Dreamcast games from him, and he thanked me. He also gave me a Sonic the Hedgehog key chain. It now dangles from the rear view mirror of my 1996 Plymouth Neon coupe as an homage to him and to Gale Racer. Hey turbo, here's hoping to success for you in Wisconsin. And now a link to a two-minute video montage of Gale Racer in action. - http://www.segafans.com/gotw/sat_gale_racer.wmv -benstylus ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Links ~ Page 9 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SegaFans: Covering the past present and future of everything Sega - http://www.segafans.com Sega of America - http://www.sega.com Sega Europe - http://www.sega-europe.com Sega of Japan - http://www.sega.jp Game Tribute: Provides ad free hosting to quality game fan sites - http://www.gametribute.com Whip Ass Gaming: A very hip gaming site run by BelPowerslave - http://www.whipassgaming.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Credits / Legal / Contact Information ~ Page 10 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Issue #1 was created in its entirety by benstylus, with some creative consulting from BelPowerslave. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- All original content copyright 2006 segafans.com. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You may redistribute this newsletter under the following conditions: 1 - You will not add, remove, or change any part of this newsletter. 2 - You will not charge for this newsletter. If you run a subscription-based website, this newsletter must be in a non- subscription area of the site. 3 - You will provide proper credit and a link to www.segafans.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- All games featured are copyright their respective owners. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Would you like to subscribe to the free SegaFans Weekly newsletter? Just send an email to: sfw.subscribe@segafans.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Tired of receiving the newsletter in your email every week? If you want to cancel your subscription, send an email to: sfw.cancel@segafans.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Got any comments, suggestions, complaints, or even submissions (hint hint)? Just e-mail: sfw@segafans.com Make sure to put SEGAFANS WEEKLY in the subject header! Do not send file attachments without my approval - unsolicited e-mail with files attached will simply be deleted. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ~SEE YOU NEXT GAME~