Browsing Tag

Wii

Community, Site News

Sonic Unleashed Preview Build Released

bpcl
Sonic Unleashed is seen as one of the biggest 3D entries in the history of Sonic. Whether you like the werehog or not, it brought a massive overhaul to the game design philosophy of Sonic working in the third dimension. The beautiful environments based on real-life locations, fast gameplay and a unique lighting engine all housed under the “Hedgehog Engine” helped achieve a major milestone for fast-paced 3D platformers. Fast forward towards the end of the downer year that is 2016, it has brought us one thing that can shed some meaningful insight on the development of Sonic Unleashed; the release of an Xbox 360 preview build.
unleashed_preview360

At least, the first disk.

Forum user N!NJA released the build two days ago and already there has been several discoveries thanks to the efforts of others data mining information, uploading screenshots, videos and more. In addition the build also comes with debugging tools that highlights NPC and enemy behavior status, camera direction and gameplay control modifiers. While you can run the build on a modified Xbox 360 console, it is recommended to use a dev kit as you may run into crashes forcing you to shut down the console.
Some of the notable differences include…

  • 60fps! …but not very stable, lots of screen tearing and drops
  • Unused level and object layouts
  • Placeholder graphics
  • Old menu system seen in early E3 previews
  • Old GUI, especially for the Sonic the Werehog stages
  • …and more!

N!NJA promises to release builds for other Sonic titles in the near future. If you want a quick look at the preview build, hit the jump to check out some links! Stay up to date with the discoveries thread to see what all has been unearthed from the preview build thus far or take a look at the build for yourself in the discussion thread.
[Source: Sonic Retro Forums]
Continue Reading

by
2
Opinion, Podcasts, Reviews

Multiplayer Showcase looks at Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing


Multiplayer Showcase is the review show where you get to see me and some friends of mine play multiplayer games that have been long forgotten and give it a proper analysis by sharing our opinions on the game in a roundtable discussion to see how things have held up for gaming’s past brightest stars and lowest points.
This episode compares the boxing gloves to the green shells with the Mario Kart-inspired Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing. I never got to play this game much with friends locally. I’ve certainly played it online some time ago, but as you might recall, there are limitations added when playing online, so playing with a group of people with everything unlocked lets everyone dig in for some four player action coupled with SEGA nostalgia.
Continue Reading

by
2
Game News

NIS America Bringing Yuji Naka/Prope’s “Rodea the Sky Soldier” to the West


Before we get to the announcement here, let’s go over the history of this game’s development cause chances are you might want to know whatever happened to it: So four years ago, Yuji Naka and Prope revealed a game called Rodea the Sky Soldier for the Wii and 3DS. Since then, it’s undergone some pretty big changes as their collaborator, Kadokawa Games, seemingly took their sweet time publishing and advertising the game. While Yuji Naka said that the Wii version was finished, Kadokawa hadn’t given any updates on when it’d come out aside from them giving more information “in the near future” and the 3DS version supposedly still being worked on.
It wasn’t until late last year when the game was re-revealed that we’d actually get more information. It turned out that Kadokawa and Prope had pretty much been making an entirely new game for Wii U and 3DS, with them also releasing the original Wii game in a bundle with the Wii U version. As for the differences between the new and old versions: it seems like the original game is more arcadey and score-based, while the new game has a bigger focus on adventure and story. Both versions will be released in Japan on April 2nd.
So now that we know that the game is still being made and coming out soon in Japan, the question was if western countries would get the game as well. This is where NIS America steps in, as they announced today that they’ll be bringing the Wii U and 3DS versions of game to the US and Europe this fall. As for the original Wii game, there’s no confirmation yet but an NISA representative did tell Nintendo World Report that they do want to release it as a pack-in with the Wii U game like how it’s being sold in Japan. So, you know, hopefully that happens.

by
4
Podcasts

Vidya Retro Streaming Feature of House of the Dead


Watch live video from VidyaRetro on TwitchTV

With the release of Typing of the Dead Overkill on Steam, we get to take a look at it along with other games in the House of the Dead series.

Update: Our livestream is over, but you can expect the Retro crew including Bartman3010, DavidTL, Overlord, Perfect Chaos Zero, GeneHF and Guess Who looking at several titles including The House of the Dead III, The House of the Dead 4, Zombie Revenge, and several random mobile games as well as The House of the Dead Overkill – Lost Reels, and the horrors of the mine cart in Sonic 4 Episode 1. 

by
1
Game News

Yuji Naka’s Rodea the Sky Soldier is Still Alive

Have you been wondering what Yuji Naka has been up to since leaving Sonic Team besides making a bunch of small and kinda neat games? Well, a new action adventure game called Rodea the Sky Soldier was announced for Wii and 3DS, publisher Kadowaka Games released a trailer which can be seen above. So why is it being released for Wii? Well, this trailer was released a little more than two years ago, after which the publisher never spoke of it again. Yuji Naka gave an update a few months later saying that the game was finished, but that they were waiting for Kadowaka Games to publish it. After a while everyone who did know about the game either forgot about it or assumed that it was scrapped.

Now we finally have an update on the title. Yoshimi Yasuda, the president of Kadowaka Games had said that they were having trouble adapting the control scheme to the 3DS version, which is being handled by the publisher. Yasuda said that the version is about 70% finished and that there will be more information in the near future. Maybe it’ll get a re-reveal at TGS 2013? We’ll see.

Prope also released a Digimon RPG called Digimon Adventure for PSP earlier this year in Japan, a western release doesn’t seem likely for this game though.

[Via: Destructoid, Source: Nintendo World Report]

by
14
Game News, Game Secrets, Interviews

Retro Interview: Steve Lycett on Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing

All Stars Racing Transformed is only a little over a month away at this point. With this close to release, a number of people may be looking to retire their copy of Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing. Comparing the two is almost like comparing apples to oranges. That said it still acts as an important stepping stone that deserves an honorable mention. Before it becomes overshadowed from it’s upcoming sequel, we rattled the memories of Executive Producer at Sumo Digital Steve Lycett in an E-mail interview regarding development for Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing and what it’s sequel has benefited from their efforts.

 

Continue Reading

by
8
Game News

Sonic Games Being Removed From Japanese Wii Virtual Console

This is bound to set off those of you against digital download services. Over in Japan, developers are beginning to pull games down from Nintendo’s Virtual Console service on the Wii. On top of WiiWare titles from the now-defunct Hudson and Irem’s library, Sega is pulling several Sonic titles from the service.

According to a report by Japanese website Inside-Games, these titles include the Mega Drive’s Sonic The Hedgehog, Sonic The Hedgehog 2,  and Sonic & Knuckles, as well as the Master System version of  Sonic The Hedgehog. The titles are expected to be off the service by the end of the month. It’s currently unknown if other titles will disappear as well or if they will remain up for a while longer.

This development certainly begs a few questions: for those that bought the games and aren’t privy to the homebrew side of the Wii, will they be able to access the titles for redownloading? More importantly, will such a move make its way over to Western shores? It’s too soon to say, but the move is no doubt very discouraging for Virtual Console supporters.

[Via Nintendo World Report]

by
22
Game News

Plumber and Hedgehog Visit a Royal Palace… Again

Last November SEGA released a couple of TV commercials for the release of the Wii version of Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Now that the 3DS version has been released as well another pair of advertisements come with it, again with each having their own gameplay clips and ending.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvQndquqxrY

In this commercial Mario and Sonic get a tour around a royal palace while they try not to act like their usual selves. Above is Sonic’s version, after the jump you can view the version with Mario’s ending and the launch trailer for the 3DS edition.

Continue Reading

by
8
Game News

Mario and Sonic Visit Some Familiar Places

If you played Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, you may remember the dream events. If you didn’t, they were basically the normal Olympic events mixed up and put in stages from various Mario and Sonic games. For example, there was one where you snowboard through Radical Highway. These events return in Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, with events taking place in Sonic levels like Windy Valley or BINGO Highway and levels themed after Mario games like Super Mario Galaxy. You can see them in action in the new trailer below:

The game is out now for Wii and a 3DS version will be released early next year.

by
12
Game News

Wii Virtual Console Receives Second Online Enabled Mega Drive Title

Wii owners in Japan this month will receive it’s second Virtual Console Mega Drive game that can be taken online: Super Street Fighter II – The New Challengers. The first being Puyo Puyo. Little is known about this version, but Japan Wii owners can expect a release to land for the month of November at the standard price point of 600 Wii Shop Points. The Super NES version will not obtain this feature, despite it already being released. No announcement has been made for other regions. You can check out the teaser direct from Sega’s Youtube channel below.

Credit goes to Nintendo Life for pointing out this release.

by
4