---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ~ S E G A F A N S W E E K L Y ~ ~ ISSUE #4 - Mar 5 2006 ~ copyright 2006 segafans.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A Message from benstylus ~ Page 1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Here we are again at the start of another wonderful week, and that means it's time for you to read a new issue of SegaFans Weekly! As promised last week, we've got a detailed writeup on the new Dreamcast shootemup Radirgy, but we're never content to give just one article, so we're not going to stop there. Golden Axe III is this week's game of the week and we've got a big writeup on that one, including exclusive information on the back stories of each of the heroes! Well, technically, it's not really exclusive because it's in the game's manual, but as far as I know this is the first time this information has ever been translated into English and posted online! Pretty slow week as far as emails and the SegaFans forum go, so both those sections are out this week. And of course, I never take away without at least putting something in to replace them. The first feature is Strategy Corner - in it you'll find some pointers to improve your game the old fashioned way: without using codes. The featured game this week is Test Drive: LeMans on the Dreamcast. The second feature is SegaFuns, which is for fun Sega related activities for you to do. This week, you're treated to some Sega trivia questions! The answers will be published in next week's issue. Have a great week, everyone, and I'll see you next Sunday! -benstylus ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents ~ Page 2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 - A Message from benstylus 2 - Table of Contents 3 - Top Story - Radirgy: What's in a Name? 4 - Weekly News Roundup 5 - Strategy Corner - Test Drive: LeMans 6 - SegaFuns 7 - New and Upcoming 8 - Game of the Week - Golden Axe III 9 - Links 10- Credits / Legal / Subscription / Contact Information ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Top Story - Radirgy: What's in a Name? ~ Page 3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm going to set the record straight. It's Radirgy. I know there have been three different names floating around on the net - Rajirugi, Radilgy, and Radirgy - but it's Radirgy. It says so right on the side flap of the game's case. Any place that spells it Radilgy is wrong. Likewise, any place that spells it Rajirugi (unless it's written in Katakana) is also wrong. Why am I being so adamant about this? Because most of the websites talking about the game are still incorrectly spelling it with an L. As for the pronunciation - well it's not an exact science, but comparing Radirgy to the original katakana leads me to the conclusion that it is pronounced RA like the Egyptian sun god, DEAR like you might call your wife, and GI like the karate uniform (With a G sound, not a J). What does it mean? Got no clue. But at least you know what it really is and how it's pronounced. But I'm sure you're more interested in how it plays, and more importantly whether it's worth shelling out the bones required to own it. Well - yes and no. The cel-shaded graphics are going to be a big turnoff to a lot of people. One of the most common things I hear people say from the screenshots is, "It looks like a Flash game." On the other hand, it's certainly different than anything else out there in terms of graphics. It's a big step up in terms of quality from Milestone as well. Their previous shootemup Chaos Field was adequate, but nothing extraordinary. With Radirgy, Milestone had learned from many of their mistakes and corrected them, creating an exciting and very tactical shootemup. I'll give you a brief overview of how the game system works. This of course assumes that you have at least a fundamental knowledge of what a shootemup is - if Halo is the first thing to come to your mind, then you are in need of a refresher course. Here's a good place to start if you're not familiar with the shootemup genre: - http://www.shmups.com Now back to Radirgy's game mechanics. Throughout the game, you essentially have four different weapons. Your can choose between three different primary weapons when you start the game - vulcan fire, tracking lasers and bubble shot. Your secondary weapons are always the same - you've got a short range swipe attack, a frontal shield, and an ABS super bomb attack. The main weapon is used primarily to kill enemies and gain points. It's fast, has a decent distance, and you can power it up to cause even more damage. The swipe attack is a close range maneuver that can absorb some bullets as well as kill enemies. Connecting with your swipe attack will release blue energy that causes your ABS meter at the bottom of the screen to fill. If the swipe and the main weapon are engaged simultaneously, they will run at decreased power. The ABS super bomb can only be used when the bomb meter is completely full. The ABS radius surrounds you and converts everything it comes in contact with to green energy that causes your score multiplier meter at the top of the screen to fill. The frontal shield cannot be used with any other attacks - you have to stop attacking for about a half second before it will appear. This acts similarly to the ABS in that it converts things to green energy to fill your score multiplier meter. However, it only works from the front and leaves you wide open to attack from the rear. Now the score multiplier meter will decrease as you shoot, so if you are playing for score, you need to tread a careful balance between charging your bomb, maintaining your multiplier and shooting down enemies for points. But that's a very big if. First you have to be able to survive. Radirgy starts off easy enough but by the third level it starts to heat up. There are a lot of shooters that require you to precisely navigate through swarms bullets with almost zero margin for error. Radirgy tries this "curtain fire" style gameplay, but due to the game mechanics it isn't as successful as it could be. First off, it feels like they tried to throw too much on the screen in the form of different types of bullets, projectiles, and a smattering of point and powerup items, and the end result is that the game feels a bit cluttered. Secondly, there are sections of the game where you can literally have your ABS going almost continuously through the majority of the stage because it can be recharged while it's going. It takes a little bit of practice to get it right, but not an awful lot. It sort of feels like cheating, but since it's part of the game mechanics, it's not. The problem is it practically eliminates the challenge of survival during the stages, and really only gets difficult on the bosses. Thankfully, most of the bosses in the game are designed to avoid this extended ABS looping, so they are still a force to be reckoned with. Some of the bosses are quite difficult and will take a lot of practice to beat - especially if you're intent on earning a 16x multiplier bonus. It's this focus on score that is both the game's greatest strength and greatest weakness. All in all, there's a good game in there somewhere, but the game mechanics may be a bit too complex for their own good. It's not bad, but I don't think it will end up on anyone's list of top ten shootemups. I might recommended Radirgy for the shootemup fans that want something a little different, but it would definitely be a very bad choice for an early foray into the genre. -benstylus ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Weekly News Roundup ~ Page 4 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sega has opened up their website for their upcoming game World Football Climax (Soccer football, not American football). The game will feature over 7000 real players and 400 teams. One of the other unique features of the game is the "one on one" battle. When two players on the field get into a duel, the camera zooms in on those two to heighten the excitement, and tricks become easier to perform. - http://wfc.sega.jp/ Sega has also announced they will be publishing Full Spectrum Warrior for the Playstation 2 in Japan. The scheduled release date is June 29. - http://sega.jp/ps2/fullswar/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Strategy Corner - Test Drive: LeMans ~ Page 5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Who needs strategy for a racing game? You just drive faster than the other guys and you win! This insight may work for some games, but if you want to have a chance in Test Drive: LeMans on anything but the easiest difficulty setting, you're going to need to learn how to play it properly. LEARN THE CONTROLS One trigger is accelerate, the other is brake. Big Whoop. It's more than that - Pick a car and take it for a time trial run. Get a feel for how the car turns at different speeds. You'll also want to learn how to powerslide - you'll need to brake slightly as your make a hard turn, followed by accelerating to continue the momentum of the wheels and get you moving forward. You'll lose a little speed, but not as much as if you slowed down enough to take the curve without powersliding. ALWAYS QUALIFY WHEN YOU GET THE CHANCE Before you race on any track in a championship, you'll have the option to qualify. You are given two laps and your best lap time is used to determine your starting position in the race. You can choose not to qualify, but you will start the race in last place. Qualifying takes a bit of extra time, but you should ALWAYS take the opportunity to familiarize yourself with the track. Your first lap should be somewhat cautious, and you should take mental notes about the turns. Is it a wide turn? Is it a sharp turn? Make a mental note of the approximate angle - if it's a 90 degree right turn you'll need to go a lot slower than if it's a gentle 20 degree curve. What speed you should be going when you enter the turn? If you go at 120 MPH and spin out onto the sand, you know it was too fast and you should adjust accordingly. When do you need to start braking in order to reach the desired speed? The more familiar you are with your car, the easier this will be to judge. Is the course very twisty and curvy or does it have a lot of straightaways? Make a note of this and make changes to your downforce if necessary before the race. Higher downforce means more control, lower downforce means better top speed. Also take note of how much fuel you used on your first lap. Did you use a quarter of a tank? An eighth? On your second lap, take the mental notes from the first lap and try and incorporate them to get a good time. Check your fuel again as you're completing the second lap. PIT ONLY WHEN NECESSARY In most shorter races, taking a pit stop means you will lose. An unnecessary pit stop will usually cost you between 30 and 40 seconds. Meanwhile, the other cars that did not pit will be so far ahead you have little hope of catching up. USE OTHER CARS TO YOUR ADVANTAGE This would be a bad idea in real life, but since there is no car damage in Test Drive: Lemans, you can smash into other cars without much risk. Usually a collision will slow you down a bit, and may impede your handling for a second, but there is an upside as well. For difficult turns, most cars will slow down significantly prior to the turn. You can use this to your advantage by maintaining your speed, and use other cars as a cushion to prevent you from going off the course. It takes a bit of practice, but bouncing off of cars can be very effective in getting to the front of the pack. Once you're in the lead, though, you'll need to tackle the curves alone and follow the traditional rules of slowing down or performing powerslides. LESS FUEL = LESS WEIGHT The less fuel you have in your car, the faster you will go. Of course you want to make sure you bring enough fuel to complete the race, so it's important to know how many laps you'll be completing. Many of the early races are three laps, and you can often complete them with half a tank of fuel or less. If you have to guess, guess on the high side - it's better to have more than enough fuel than to have to pit, or worse - run out of fuel and be stuck. 24 HEURES DE MANS (THE 24 HOUR RACE) Yes, you read that right, one of the races you'll eventually need to complete lasts for twenty-four hours of real time. Infogrames is not cruel, however, and allows you to save your progress whenever you pit, so you don't have to do the race all in one sitting. Be sure to monitor your fuel and pit occasionally, otherwise you'll run out of fuel and lose the race. My only advice for this one is to take everything you've learned up to this point and apply it. And if you want to win, you'll have to pick a fast car. It doesn't matter how good you are with the Viper, the LeMans Race has a rather long straightaway which will be the downfall of the slower cars. Hopefully this will help you out as you try to complete this game! Good luck! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SegaFuns ~ Page 6 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Here we present for you a short quiz of ten Sega questions. The higher the number, the harder the question. Each question is worth a number of points equal to the question number (Question 1 is worth 1 point, question 2 is worth 2 points, etc.). 01. What name is SEGA derived from? 02. What is Segata Sanshiro's catch phrase? 03. Virtua Fighter 1, 2, and 3 debuted on Sega's model 1, 2, and 3 hardware respectively. Virtua Fighter 4 broke this tradition by appearing on which hardware? 04. What are the names of Sega's two hologram games? 05. Sega currently holds a Guinness World Record. What is this record for, and which game won it? 06. In Sega's Virtual On series, what does M.S.B.S. stand for? 07. In Clockwork Knight, what is the word on the wallpaper in Betsy's room? 08. What are the names of the two protagonists in Sega's arcade game Magical Truck Adventure? 09: In NiGHTS into dreams... how many places are set at the table in Puffy's area? 10: In the Dreamcast hit Jet Set Radio, What is the name of the donut shop in Benten-Cho? Come back next week to tally up your score and see how you did! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- New and Upcoming ~ Page 7 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Here's a list of Sega's upcoming releases (within 2 weeks of this newsletter) as well as recent games in case you accidentally missed any of them. This list covers games developed by Sega, published by Sega, or on Sega systems. These dates are direct from Sega, but sometimes they change em. So this should be considered a "rough estimate" rather than hard facts. RECENTLY RELEASED - USA ----------------------- Sonic Riders GC PS2 XB 02/21/06 Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll DS 02/21/06 UPCOMING GAMES - USA -------------------- None :( RECENTLY RELEASED - EUROPE -------------------------- None :( UPCOMING GAMES - EUROPE ----------------------- Sonic Riders GC PS2 XB 03/17/06 RECENTLY RELEASED - JAPAN ------------------------- 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 02/23/06 Sonic Riders GC PS2 XB 02/23/06 Doraemon Nobita no Kyouryuu DS 03/02/06 Tenkabit PS2 03/02/06 UPCOMING GAMES - JAPAN ---------------------- Sakura Taisen 1 & 2 PSP 03/09/06 Jissen Pachislot Hishhouhou! Ultraman Club ST PS2 03/16/06 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Game of the Week - Golden Axe III ~ Page 8 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- When people think of the Sega of old, one of the games that frequently comes up is Golden Axe. People have a lot of fond memories of playing it in the arcade and then the amazing Genesis port. And, on the Genesis version, when you were finished with the main game, you could try your luck in The Duel, a grueling gauntlet where you were tasked with knocking out wave after wave of progressively more difficult opponents on a single life bar. Golden Axe II on the Genesis continued the tradition of excellence with even better graphics and even more of the hack and slash gameplay that everyone loved, and let you select the power of your magic instead of forcing you to expel all your magic power in one single shot. Then Golden Axe III was developed. More than just a sequel, Golden Axe III took the basic elements from the first two and ramped them up. And with a new Golden Axe, Sega decided they needed new heroes, and a new villain. In fact, none of the original Golden Axe characters return, with the exception of the ever popular Gillius Thunderhead. Gillius, however, is now old even by Dwarf standards, and realizes he's no longer able to fight effectively, so he enlists the aid of four new heroes to stop the hordes of evil led by the aptly named Damned Hellstrike. Kain Grinder is a mercenary skilled with the broad sword. His closest friend was killed by Hellstrike's demons, and the rest of his clan was destroyed. When Gillius calls upon him, he does not hesitate in joining to bring vengeance down upon Hellstrike. Sara Burn is part of a dance troupe. When Hellstrike's forces slaughtered the rest of her troupe, she vowed revenge, and waited for the right time to come. She takes her father's sword, the Blade of Seiryuu (the Blue Dragon god), and joins Gillius. With graceful twirls and spins, she slashes her opponents to pieces. One of the new characters is Proud Cragger, a giant with the strength of four men. A former prisoner of Hellstrike's army, Cragger was freed by Gillius Thunderhead and fights to overthrow the corrupt Hellstrike. The other new face is Kronos "Evil" Rait, a man who tried to steal the Golden Axe and was cursed by Hellstrike to take the form of a cat- beast. Kronos' goal is to defeat Hellstrike and thus regain his humanity, so he is eager to join with Gillius to accomplish this goal. Each hero is blessed with a full arsenal of moves - standing attacks, close range attacks, throws, back attacks, and even some ranged special attacks. Each character also has three levels of magic they can use depending on how many pots of magic they have. Level 1 magic uses one pot, Level 2 magic uses 3 pots, and level 3 magic uses 6 pots. You will automatically use the highest level of magic you can, but will not use more pots than it takes. So if you've got 5 pots and use magic, you'll cast your Level 2 magic and have 2 pots remaining (which you could then use to case Level 1 magic twice if you so desire). Of course, the heroes realize they must learn to cooperate with each other in order to have any hope at all of destroying Hellstrike. And cooperate they do. Golden Axe III takes a page out of Revenge of Death Adder (the arcade only sequel to Golden Axe) and adds cooperative attacks into the mix. When the heroes are facing each other at close range, they will start to nod, indicating they are ready for the attack. In addition to cooperative attacks, you can also combine your magic to cast the most powerful spells. There's one super spell for each character. These spells do massive damage and will instantly kill nearly anything. The price, however, is a full ten pots of magic. Also introduced into the game is the ability to block attacks. This is an important tactic to success during some of the boss battles - the downside is that many enemies have learned to block as well. There are some attacks that are unblockable, but they are often difficult to hit with. In the first two Golden Axe games on the Genesis, the enemies would get faster as you progressed, but not much else would change. In Golden Axe III, the enemies learn different tricks and are quite a bit smarter than you'd expect. In addition, depending on the path you take, you'll have to go up against one or more possessed versions of the heroes - with all the moves intact. Did I say path? Another innovation from Revenge of Death Adder was the ability to take different paths to reach the end. There are several points where you'll be given a choice which way you want to go. All roads eventually lead to the castle, but the challenges you face along the way vary widely. Some paths have more difficult enemies (such as the four armed goat guys or the possessed heroes), and some have hostages that you can rescue in order to earn extra lives. Yes, boasting four different characters, branching paths, vastly superior AI, and an improved fighting system including team-up attacks, Golden Axe III was shaping up to be the best Golden Axe game yet. Sadly, the game was never released outside of Asia. What happened? One look at the graphics, and you just know some genius at Sega of America decided to pass on the game because it didn't look as good as the first two. It's a sad tale, to be sure, but in all honesty, there are some ways that Golden Axe III is inferior to the first two, and the first is in the graphics department. There seems to be a lot more small tile- based work in Golden Axe III compared to the more detailed backgrounds of the others. Also the characters have a more pronounced realism in the first games that's somewhat missing from this one. It's hard to describe exactly, but it just doesn't look as good. But I've never been one to harshly criticize a game simply because it doesn't have the same visual polish as its progenitors. The second problem is that the Duel mode has been replaced by a somewhat lackluster versus mode. You can pick one of the four heroes or the Birdman, and then you must go one by one to defeat the others. You get a new life bar with each fight, and it takes all of five minutes to complete. This could have been implemented a lot better. The other deficiency is the severely underpowered mounts. In Golden Axe or Golden Axe II, the Chicken Legs and Dragons you could ride served two purposes - they looked cool and did hefty damage too. Unfortunately, neither is the case in Golden Axe III. The majority of the mounts are sort of bipedal snail creatures that attack by popping their tongue out at their opponents. Even later in the game when you find a Dragon, the area is often too cramped to use it effectively, and you end up losing it. And honestly, you do more damage without them anyway, so they're sort of pointless. Fans of Golden Axe who didn't yet know about this game will be pleased to know that the import version is readily available on eBay and the game itself is completely in English. There are some caveats to keep in mind, however. Mega Drive cartridges have a slightly different shape to the casing than Genesis games, so they won't be able to fit directly into your Genesis. However, the actual contacts on the game are the same, so you need something to act as a spacer. Unfortunately, Sega also implemented region lockout in later revisions of the Genesis, so you still may not be able to play it that way. The cheapest (and probably easiest) way to play this game on your Genesis is to simply get a Game Genie. The Game Genie acts as a spacer, and you can enter a code to bypass the region lockout. For those of you who don't want to get into the dirty world of running Mega Drive games on a Genesis, Golden Axe III has also been licensed for play on the Gametap service (www.gametap.com). Gametap is a subscription based service currently priced at $9.95 per month, but they do offer a free 2 week trial. It's not the same as playing it on a real genesis with a real Genesis controller, but it's a great alternative. They've also got the other two Golden Axe games so you can compare them yourself, and hopefully you'll come to the same conclusion I did... Golden Axe III is without a doubt, the best console Golden Axe out there. And unless Revenge of Death Adder finally gets a home port, it looks like it will stay that way. And I wouldn't leave you without a video ;) - http://www.segafans.com/gotw/gen_golden_axe_iii.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 Cuddly Gamers: A forum where gamers are nice to each other - http://www.cuddlygamers.com Game Trading Zone: Buy, sell, or trade your games online for free - http://www.gametz.com 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 / Subscription / Contact Information ~ Page 10 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Once again, this issue was created in its entirety by benstylus. 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