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To be this good takes Ages…
PSII remake delayed · Mega Drive original to be included

The Japanese release of the Sega Ages Phantasy Star Generation 2 remake has been delayed. The game was originally supposed to hit Japanese stores on February the 24th but will now be delayed by one month to March the 25th.

Sega Japan have not provided any reasons for the delay. They have, however, announced that the update will include an emulated copy of the Mega Drive original, allowing players to fully appreciate the new enhancements.


^ Re-live the original game

A video of the game has also been released on Sega Chan, SoJ’s Internet Broadcast Network. The video is just under a minute long and showcases some of the new additions. It is available in both broadband and narrowband streaming media formats.

That's pretty cool, they should do that with all of the Sega Ages remake games.

Are any of these going to be released in Europe?

I want to play Golden Axe again. And no matter how shite it is, does anyone know what happened to Altered Beast?

Cancelled for the USA (and probably Europe?), but apparently it's still being released in Japan.

I read somewhere that they made Altered Beast so bloody for the american audience, but I guess it's a wasted effort since it's not coming here.

Crazy Penguin wrote:That's pretty cool, they should do that with all of the Sega Ages remake games.

I think all Sega games should include a few Mega Drive and Game Gear Roms. It wouldn't cost Sega anything and would make a great unlockable bonus. ^_^

big_smile wrote:It wouldn't cost Sega anything

Except time. And since Time=Money, well... hey.

Psxphile wrote:

big_smile wrote:It wouldn't cost Sega anything

Except time. And since Time=Money, well... hey.

Not really. One of the few blessings of the Mega Collection series is that it has provided Sega with Mega Drive and Game Gear emulators for all three console platforms. All they need to do is add the ROMS.

^_^

Now all we have to do is to harass Sega to stop being so damn lazy and actually make a decent Sega CD emulator, so all of the misguided fanboys can play the "supposed" masterpiece known as Sonic CD. That reason Naka said about "lack of disk space" is garbage. It was laziness, sheer and simple, and if they really wanted to please their fans, they would have given it to them by now.

Besides, Jam owns the Mega Collection in the extra's stakes.

That weirdo before me wrote:That reason Naka said about "lack of disk space" is garbage. It was laziness, sheer and simple, and if they really wanted to please their fans, they would have given it to them by now.

Wrong × 1½. They tried to put Sonic CD in ithe game, but they were having problems with the SEGA CD emulator. There's a video somewhere that shows that Sonic CD was one of the choices on the game menu screen.

All that video shows is that some guy who worked on the menu system thought Sonic CD might be included. Anyone who says they know why he thought that and why he was wrong are just speculating, aren't they?

I'm assuming Spazz, that the video in question that you are referring too was from Sonic Cult, which I have indeed seen. I know that the overrated Sonic CD was most probably meant to be originally included, but Sega couldn't be bothered to fix the emulaton problems. I mean, come on. They were the ones who made the game, and if they were able to port from Sega CD to PC, then logically it should be completely impossible to port it to the Gamecube (And Xbox/PS2 for the Plus nonsense).

Naka and the team just couldn't be bothered. Plain and simple. As Psxphile said, Time = Money.

Sonic CD isn't overrated, it really is that good.

Granted, it is a good Sonic game, but even Sonic 1 tronces it in coherent level design. Half of the time it is impossible to keep good speeds for the fact that you will most likely meet an incoventiently positioned spring that bounces you in the opposite way (Palmtree Panic, Collision Chaos and Wacky Workbench especially), but there were definately some good zones (The race against Metal Sonic was awesome). I'm just annoyed at how most of the fans think it's the messiah of Sonic games. At least it's better than Heroes, but that's not saying a whole lot.

Half of the time it is impossible to keep good speeds for the fact that you will most likely meet an incoventiently positioned spring that bounces you in the opposite way (Palmtree Panic, Collision Chaos and Wacky Workbench especially),

It depends on what time period you play in. The Past Stages generally have a classic sort of Sonic 1 design. Some speed and some obstacles. The Present stages have a ton of obstacles. The Bad Future Stages are murder. The Good Future stages are a smooth blast of speed to the end of the level.

True, but the time travel feature is difficult to use in that you have to maintain a high momentum for a few seconds to take into effect, at which point you have probably meet another obstical causing you to slow down. I guess there's always the level select cheat.

I'm just annoyed at how most of the fans think it's the messiah of Sonic games.

I don't think that's the case, it's more like a vocal minority. I happen to be part of it *cough*, but the vast majority of Sonic players never even played it, and even from the ones who did (just ask our own GreenGibbon!) and a good number the ones who later discovered it via emulation/PC port came away considerably less impressed. It does have enduring mystique thanks to superficial values like the anime opening and ending, Metal Sonic, and the aforementioned fact that nobody played it.

True, but the time travel feature is difficult to use in that you have to maintain a high momentum for a few seconds to take into effect, at which point you have probably meet another obstical causing you to slow down. I guess there's always the level select cheat.

The time travel is supposed to be difficult to use. That's why the levels are built the way they are. You're supposed to roam all over them, exploring, experimenting, and playing around trying to find good places to warp (the very existance of the Future stage variations just goes to show that you were just intended to play around in them, since they are 100% optional). It's designed entirely contrary to the Sonic 2 (and moreso 3) ideology, where the emphasis was placed more on speed (rather than the careful control over your speed) and easy loops.

Sonic CD is one of those cases where you get more out of it the more you put in, but if you retreat to cheat codes before you've discovered how to enjoy the game then you've missed the point entirely.

I'm just annoyed at how most of the fans think it's the messiah of Sonic games.

Boy, no shit. It's still a great Sonic game, definitely one of the top 5, but Sonic 3 / S&K surpasses it on almost every level.

I'm glad that someone holds to my views on Sonic CD (yes, I'm the weirdo now offically joined this loving community of vindictive Sonic freaks), but even so, it is still quality Sonic in that the basic mechanics are still good, and the level design occasionally allows the player to really speed along at full speeds, but the stop-and-go pace really got to me. In my opinion, Sonic is about speeding through zones with excellent level design to accomodate, not slowing down or even being punished for reaching such speeds. It's the antithesis of what Sonic is about.

And G. Silver, you need not worry about cheating ruining the experience for me. I had already finished the game (with all the time stones) before going to the land of save states.

About ages, Vol 11: Hokuto no Ken has the original Hokuto no Ken on Master System, and... I have not played it yet the same will hapen with the original PS2...

About Altered Beast, it is out on Japan, and in europe it will be out on february 25

Green Gibbon! wrote:Boy, no shit. It's still a great Sonic game, definitely one of the top 5, but Sonic 3 / S&K surpasses it on almost every level.

He speaks the truth. Music and storage media is probably the only real advantages Sonic CD has (70+ stages, and you'll probably only ever play half that number at any given playthrough). Let's face it, CD audio trumps the FM synth every time, but the fact that S3&K's tunes can hold their own is a testament to the composer's genius.

Sonic CD had better art direction, too, IMO. But that's just a personal preference thing.

I agree. Sonic CD has an artistic style that sets it apart from all the other Sonics.

I further the motion. I also thought the level design was superb. There was plenty of unique, interactive terrain in each zone, secret doors and hidden things to be found (like the gold Robotnik statue in Wacky Workbench), and at least 2 paths to the finish excluding the last zone. There's so much to explore that the game takes much longer to get old than other Sonics.

The weirdo before Spazz wrote:They were the ones who made the game, and if they were able to port from Sega CD to PC, then logically it should be completely impossible to port it to the Gamecube (And Xbox/PS2 for the Plus nonsense).

Assuming you meant to say "possible":
It's generally much easier to port just about any game to PC, considering most (or all) games are developed on PCs. A console like the Gamecube doesn't nearly have the same type of file system format as a PC, so they have to completely recreate an emulator program from scratch that would be accordant to the GCN's format. Also, just because they <i>made</i> that game doesn't mean that it should be easy to port it to another console. They don't even have the coding for Sonic 2 anymore, just the ROM.