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Sega AGES games on the Switch

Kazza

Member
Sega Says The Sega Ages Games Are Doing Better Than Expected Outside Of Japan

“the excitement of everyone abroad was higher than expected.” In particular, Sega Ages Sonic the Hedgehog, Sega Ages Out Run, and Sega Ages Alex Kidd in Miracle World were cited as being especially popular in Europe. Kodama went on to confirm this, saying people in western countries seemed to really appreciate them. Again, she noted, “… Out Run and Alex Kidd in Miracle World are so popular in Europe! I was surprised by that.”

However, the situation in Japan is a bit different. When it came to discussing the Japanese sales figures, Shimomura noted that the “sales in Japan have been more frustrating.” He acknowledged that these games are part of a niche market. In his response, he also noted these titles were selling half as well as the Nintendo 3DS Sega 3D Classics line of games M2 had created for Sega.

There are two logical responses to this information:
1. Since the games are selling better in the West, please hurry up with the Western ports instead of making everyone wait
2. Maybe start releasing games more attractive to Japanese audiences, for example games from Sega platforms that were actually popular in Japan (hint Saturn hint)
 

cireza

Banned
Why not give up on Japan ? I am so, so tired of all these Japanese devs that can't see larger than the Japanese market. Stop thinking primarily of Japan, make games for the rest of world. Or do they need another 30 years to understand this ?
 

DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
Why not give up on Japan ? I am so, so tired of all these Japanese devs that can't see larger than the Japanese market. Stop thinking primarily of Japan, make games for the rest of world. Or do they need another 30 years to understand this ?
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Vawn

Banned
Why not give up on Japan ? I am so, so tired of all these Japanese devs that can't see larger than the Japanese market. Stop thinking primarily of Japan, make games for the rest of world. Or do they need another 30 years to understand this ?

Idk. I am a big fan of Japanese games originally geared toward the Japanese market. I find when Japanese studios start trying to make what they think western gamers want they miss the mark, ala Final Fantasy.
 

cireza

Banned
Final Fantasy
I find Final Fantasy games pretty awesome and don't feel like they are particularly aimed at the West. What's the point of making very Japanese games if the market is niche there and they won't even bother about the game ? In the end, you get a game that does not sell well in Japan, and that is difficult to sell in the West if it is really too "hardcore Japanese". There is a middle ground to be found I believe.
 
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Bullet Club

Member
Sega Ages Wonder Boy In Monster Land "Coming Soon" To The Japanese eShop

Another classic

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It appears Sega has begun preparing for the release of the next Japanese Sega Ages game – Wonder Boy In Monster Land – by opening its official webpage and listing it as "coming soon" to the local eShop for 925 Yen.

In addition to this, there's also new information about what this particular version of the game will offer. For starters, the arcade game's "Joystick Rattle" trick can now be performed with a single button:

The “Joystick Rattle,” an old arcade trick in which the player vehemently rattles the joystick to increase the amount of gold obtained at certain points on the map, can be executed with a single button in the Sega Ages version.

The new "Money Hungry Mode" locks-off the above-mentioned feature and forces the player to play the game how the designers originally intended. There'll also be the same online leaderboards that were included in previous ports of Wonder Boy In Monster Land. Here are some examples of what you can expect:

Sphinx Challenge – Challenge the battle against the Sphinx, which players normally tend to skip.
Monster Castle Challenge – A time attack on the game’s final dungeon.
Fireball Challenge – A challenge in which you can only use fireballs (infinitely) and die in one hit.

And last of all, we have a round-up of in-game screenshots:


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Source: Nintendo Life
 
Why not give up on Japan ? I am so, so tired of all these Japanese devs that can't see larger than the Japanese market. Stop thinking primarily of Japan, make games for the rest of world. Or do they need another 30 years to understand this ?

It has been the mindset for awhile now.

SEGA in particular seem to be the worst in this case and being a fan of SEGA in the West makes it painful.

Hopefully they start seeing the bigger picture now that they see the sales!

Being worse than 3DS is very interesting. I wonder it is has to do with the Install Base?
 
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Dr. Claus

Vincit qui se vincit
Played through and beat both Phantasy Star and Sonic the Hedgehog Ages releases and I have only bolstered my opinion that these need a physical release, badly. These are fantastic, but I would rather have it on a cart than taking up valuable space on my memory card.
 

Bullet Club

Member

The Ultimate Port, Even Further Evolved Than the 3DS Version

Sega Ages: Space Harrier retains the appeal of the arcade version while also including the additional features of the 3DS version, such as widescreen support, the addition of the home console version-exclusive final boss Haya Oh, and more. There is also a wallpaper and CRT-style screen display that mimics the atmosphere of an arcade cabinet. Further more, the new game mode “Komainu Barrier Attack” has also been added. By befriending powerful allies, even users who are not good at Space Harrier can play with ease.

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New Mode: Komainu Barrier Attack

A new mode in which Komainu, who normally provides protection for the Stage 17 boss Wi Wi Jumbo, for some reason provides protection for Harrier throughout the game instead. Komainu creates a barrier around Harrier’s left and right sides to protect him. With the exception of bullets, the barrier protects Harrier from all enemies and obstacles. Now you can proactively destroy obstacles and invincible enemies like Binzubins by ramming into them, which normally had to be avoided other than when riding Uriah. However, if Komainu himself is attacked, the barrier will disappear for a fixed period of time.

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The Arcade Atmosphere Somewhat Returns with Joystick Controls

The game features a “Joystick Mode” in which you can hold the Joy-Con vertically to reproduce the joystick-based controls of the arcade version. It is but a taste of the arcade atmosphere.

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TwiztidElf

Member
Insta buy for me.
The only improvement I hope they make over the stellar 3DS version is that the options allow adjustment of the sound mix of music and sound effects.
On the 3DS version, using auto fire, the constant sound of the shooting washed out the music just a little too much.
 
Although people here often like to big up the Dreamcast, the Saturn actually beat it in sales and was around for longer, plus it was much more successful in Japan (Sega's most successful console in fact).
I wonder what kind of world we would live in if Sega of America wasn't run by a bunch of idiots back in the days, if the Saturn had held its own at least against the N64 in therms of sales... Obviously they had made a few major mistakes leading to this (32X - despite its surprisingly good library, the emphasis on full motion video on the Sega CD are the most egregious to me).
 

Kazza

Member
I wonder what kind of world we would live in if Sega of America wasn't run by a bunch of idiots back in the days, if the Saturn had held its own at least against the N64 in therms of sales... Obviously they had made a few major mistakes leading to this (32X - despite its surprisingly good library, the emphasis on full motion video on the Sega CD are the most egregious to me).

This is quite a timely video:

 

nush

Gold Member
I wonder what kind of world we would live in if Sega of America wasn't run by a bunch of idiots back in the days, if the Saturn had held its own at least against the N64 in therms of sales... Obviously they had made a few major mistakes leading to this (32X - despite its surprisingly good library, the emphasis on full motion video on the Sega CD are the most egregious to me).
It wasn't SOA that were the problem, I think you should read up a bit more. It was SOJ being butthurt at Americas success and cockblocking SOA so they looked better.
 

The Snake

Member
I wonder what kind of world we would live in if Sega of America wasn't run by a bunch of idiots back in the days, if the Saturn had held its own at least against the N64 in therms of sales... Obviously they had made a few major mistakes leading to this (32X - despite its surprisingly good library, the emphasis on full motion video on the Sega CD are the most egregious to me).

The Saturn has an amazing library, and it's a shame that most of it didn't make it over here.

A lot of it is quite Japanese or has an anime aesthetic, which American publishers were resistant to it seems like. They really could have been on the cutting edge as that sort of stuff was just about to hit it big in the US.

Another issue is that much of the Saturn's gems (though definitely not all) were 2D games, which was a big no-no in the US in those times. I mention it a lot but I still have a game magazine that gave Street Fighter Alpha 2, which is pure gold in the fighting community, a negative review because it wasn't 3D. The same issue makes fun of Symphony of the Night previews for not being 3D. It was a weird time.
 

cireza

Banned
I said "much of" which could be half or even hell, 30%.
You are presenting this as if it was a problem back then, so you can't be implying that the vast majority of the Saturn good games were actually 3D by saying :
Another issue is that much of the Saturn's gems (though definitely not all) were 2D games
because it makes no sense and does not serve your argument.

I also doubt that you can use "much of" to imply a minority. You would use "some of" in that case.
 
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SirTerry-T

Member
It wasn't SOA that were the problem, I think you should read up a bit more. It was SOJ being butthurt at Americas success and cockblocking SOA so they looked better.
Yep, Sega Of America, especially under Tom Kalisnke's tenure made some good calls.
I think it was a mixture of SOJ's pig headed stubbornness and Bernie Stolar's time in the SOA driver 's seat that ultimately did Sega in.
 
The Saturn has an amazing library, and it's a shame that most of it didn't make it over here.

A lot of it is quite Japanese or has an anime aesthetic, which American publishers were resistant to it seems like. They really could have been on the cutting edge as that sort of stuff was just about to hit it big in the US.

Another issue is that much of the Saturn's gems (though definitely not all) were 2D games, which was a big no-no in the US in those times. I mention it a lot but I still have a game magazine that gave Street Fighter Alpha 2, which is pure gold in the fighting community, a negative review because it wasn't 3D. The same issue makes fun of Symphony of the Night previews for not being 3D. It was a weird time.
Magujc Knight Rayearth was one of the first game for saturn in japan and it became one of the last in usa
 

The Snake

Member
Magujc Knight Rayearth was one of the first game for saturn in japan and it became one of the last in usa

Yeah! I feel lucky that we got some of those games (as well as all of those other Working Designs titles). I always loved that stuff as a kid and would have loved to see more like them.
 
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It wasn't SOA that were the problem, I think you should read up a bit more. It was SOJ being butthurt at Americas success and cockblocking SOA so they looked better.
While I agree that there may have been some level of jealousy on the Japanese site, they made all the good games after all, and they found little success at home.

You have to take into account the way SOA handled some decisions: there were almost no Japanese FMV game, the push certainly did not come from there either, Sega wasted tons of resources on this effort.
Same for the 32x, the americans insisted on having an addon "transitional" console because they didn't like the idea of an upgraded Genesis (both ideas were not so great - but I think the 32x was worse).

I think these factors did hurt Sega's reputation as a platform holder.

SOA was nothing without SOJ's games, and hardware, pretty much all the games developed in the America and Europe back then were horrible excuses to push pixel on the TV (except, maybe, for some sports titles).

Not only that, but they did not bring in a lot of really good games from Japan.

I had a Genesis before Kalinske took over Sega, that was a great period to be a gamer.
 

Sleepydays

Banned
The lack of clarity on Virtua Racing's release date was pretty frustrating, and I ended up buying off the Japanese eShop. There seems to me absolutely no reason there should be anything other than single worldwide release dates on these games.
 

Poppyseed

Member
The lack of clarity on Virtua Racing's release date was pretty frustrating, and I ended up buying off the Japanese eShop. There seems to me absolutely no reason there should be anything other than single worldwide release dates on these games.

Agreed. I was close to buying it but figured I would wait. I was browsing the USA eShop last night and saw Virtua Racing as today and flipped out.

Played it a ton today after picking it up.
 

Komatsu

Member
I had a Genesis before Kalinske took over Sega, that was a great period to be a gamer.

Michael Katz's SEGA was a bit player. It was Kalinske and his team that made SEGA a world player and a household name. Kalinske and Al Nilsen pushed more SEGA consoles than all SOJ presidents put together. Japan's decision to scuttle the SONY/SEGA deal was disastrous, as was their decision to completely ignore SOA's input when it came to designing the Saturn.
 

Kazza

Member
Power Drift. Feed it to me.

We already got a Power Drift on the 3DS. I think they've already done too many on Switch which have been before on 3DS (Space Harrier, Outrun, Sonic). I hope they focus on never-before-ported arcade games. For example:

Outrunners
Golden Axe: Revenge of Death Adder
Daytona 2
 

DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
We already got a Power Drift on the 3DS. I think they've already done too many on Switch which have been before on 3DS (Space Harrier, Outrun, Sonic). I hope they focus on never-before-ported arcade games. For example:

Outrunners
Golden Axe: Revenge of Death Adder
Daytona 2
Heck, I'd even take better ports of already-ported arcade games like SEGA Rally, Rad Mobile, and Sky Target.
 

Kazza

Member
Heck, I'd even take better ports of already-ported arcade games like SEGA Rally, Rad Mobile, and Sky Target.

I just know the next set of announcements will be SoR2, Shinobi 3 etc. Great games, and I suppose there are folks who didn't get a chance to play them on 3DS, but I would still be a little sad.

The Sega Ages option they included in the Phantasy Star port (where XP etc was doubled, so decreasing the need fro grinding) was great, and I hope they can do this for other RPGs (especially Saturn ones). Still, I think arcade ports are a great fit for Sega Ages (quick 5 minute blasts on the go). We are getting arcade Shinobi. I hope there will be more.
 

Solo Act

Member
It's shocking to me that we have never gotten a "Sega Racing Collection" released to console. I'm not talking about to new consoles or through this Sega Ages program, but "ever"; it should have existed on the PS2.

I've never understood why Sega doesn't release something like that. There's nothing really licensed in the games, and whatever small things there are can easily be removed or replaced. Fingers crossed that Sega Ages gets to those games one day. Virtua Racing is a fantastic start, but we're a long way from Daytona 2 or Sega Rally at the current pace.
 

dirthead

Banned
It's shocking to me that we have never gotten a "Sega Racing Collection" released to console. I'm not talking about to new consoles or through this Sega Ages program, but "ever"; it should have existed on the PS2.

I've never understood why Sega doesn't release something like that. There's nothing really licensed in the games, and whatever small things there are can easily be removed or replaced. Fingers crossed that Sega Ages gets to those games one day. Virtua Racing is a fantastic start, but we're a long way from Daytona 2 or Sega Rally at the current pace.

What blows my mind is that Sega literally made a Daytona USA for the arcades using PC hardware, accidentally released the full game as a patch for arcade operators, the game already completely works on the PC, yet there isn't a Steam/PC version.

........
 

Bullet Club

Member
Alex Kidd In Miracle World is also discounted, at least in AU/EU. I grabbed it last night, along with Virtua Racing (which isn't discounted).
 
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