Sega Bringing Two Dreamcast Gems to Xbox Live Arcade and PSN

The first week of October will see two classics make a return on both downloadable services. The first of them being Sega Bass Fishing. 

And the other is Space Channel 5: Part 2. A musical rhythm game with a cute pink haired space hottie. 

Oh and it has Space Micheal Jackson. 

Super Monkey Ball Vita Confirmed

Sega is bringing a new Super Monkey Ball title to Sony's new handheld early next year. 

Radiant Silvergun Coming to Xbox Live Arcade

It will hit at least Japan on September 15th of this year. The price will be $15, and feature online play and HD graphics like most XBLA games. Even though this Sega Saturn shooter never made it out of the land of the rising sun, fans have a lot of praise for this Treasure game. 

Things I Hate: Nights: Journey of Dreams

This one came out of nowhere since the original game came out at least a decade before it and the poor-selling Sega Saturn. 

Speaking of Nights Into Dreams, I never did play the game. I've heard some legendary things, however I kinda wondered what was so great about flying through a bunch of rings. 

I don't know if Journey of Dreams is a true sequel or not, but it has rings I guess. 

Besides flying through rings, there really isn't much else to do. It's not a bad game through technical means, however it's just plain boring and vanilla. If the Sega Saturn "classic" is about as good, then it's one of the most overrated games of all time.

Things I Hate: Nokia N-Gage

This came out an awkward time. People could afford cell phones pretty cheaply, and they could also buy a Gameboy Advance without much trouble. Despite how much success smart-phones made with gaming in the past 2 to 3 years, this was a dumb idea. 

The hardware was ugly and clunky, you had to remove the battery to change a game (seriously), and the only games that were on it were pissed down ports of other games like Sonic N which was Sonic Advance with worse graphics. 

They made a better model shortly after, but it was too little too late. 

Sonic CD Confirmed for XBLA, PSN, iOS, and More

One of the best Sonic games ever will be coming out to XBLA, PSN, iOS, and some other devices. Can't wait to replay this gem of a game. 

Sonic CD Headed To Xbox Live Arcade?

Apparently that Major Nelson dude from Microsoft confirmed it will be at PAX this year. Which is pretty sweet considering it's one of the best Sonic games of all time. It's a shame not too many people have played it since it was only re-released on Sonic Gems Collection for GameCube. Hope they add the option for Japanese music. 

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 Won't Come Out Until 2012

Pretty lazy considering the first episode came out almost a year ago. I really wished they hadn't cut the game up into episodes. I thought the gaming community learned a few harsh lessons from Half-Life. 

Fatal Fury Special (Sega GameGear) Review

The Fatal Fury series hit many platforms and the GameGear was no stranger to the series. 

In honesty, it's not that bad of a game. Plays very similar to the Fatal Fury games, but with a simpler control system and move-set. 

Fatal Fury was never the greatest fighter out there, but this version is surprisingly well done given hardware limitations. However it simpleness does catch up with it, and that's what kinda ruined the game a bit for me. 

Score: 6 out of 10

Virtua Fighter Animation Review

Virtua Fighter was a huge success for Sega back in the day, and they needed to milk that cow for all it's worth. The GameGear was not discriminated against when it came to Virtua Fighter.

They did a fairly decent job "De-making" Virtua Fighter. Most of your favorite fighters are here, and play similar to their 3D incarnations. 

The graphics are a bit laughable, but it's surprisingly deep for what I expected. Then again I didn't expect very much from it. Some of moves transfer over to the GameGear version, but the fighting is far less detailed and complex. It's a admirable try for such a limited hardware system, but it's not that great of a game. 

Score: 3 out of 10

Jeopardy! (Sega Game Gear) Review

I love my Jeopardy games apparently. Had to try out the old Sega Game Gear version of the classic game show. 

The graphics are quite a bit better than the NES version, even though it looks like I'm playing as Willie Tanner from ALF. There's only one other contestant though, whether you're facing the CPU or a human.  The sound is also horrid when they try to put in verbal sound clips from the show itself. The Sega Game Gear was not powerful enough for that. 

While the game-play moves a bit slow, and the questions are dated (of course) I liked most of the answers that they asked. Decent mix up on the categories, even though I stink at a few of them.

In short, it's really not a bad version. Could be better, but I could hope all day and never get anything. If you're a Jeopardy! fan I'd give it some consideration.

Score: 7 out of 10

Virtua Fighter (Sega 32X Version) Review

The Sega 32X was a unique console. Not only was it a bad idea, and a mess of a hardware system, but Sega soon left it out to die after release. However there were a few games for it, one such being Virtua Fighter. It's actually pretty close to the Arcade and Sega Saturn versions than you'd might expect. 

Obviously the graphics do take a swift punch to the face, but they're defiantly 32-bit. Frankly if you had to get any version, this would probably be dead last on your list. 

It plays rather decent, but the controls are too simple and floaty at times.There's also very little content besides a regular single-player and multi-player mode. It's an impressive effort for a awful system like the 32X, but it's still a bad game. Laughably this is probably the best game the console had to offer.

Score: 4 out of 10 

Things I Hate: Sega Superstar Tennis (Xbox 360)

I got this one for a few bucks, and I wasn't very impressed. 

It's an okay tennis game, but there's little to keep your entertained. 

Even the little mini-games and extra modes are kinda lame. 

Ghouls N' Ghosts (Sega Genesis/Megadrive) Review

The Ghosts N Goblins series is known for it's frustrating difficulty, and it's legion of hardcore fans. 

You really do have to be hardcore to enjoy this game. It's brutally hard. The first level on easy is still harder than most games out there. 

You really only have about 2 chances not to die. Once with armor, and then in your boxer shorts. Once you fall into one of the many traps, there's not much time left. Game over. 

I can understand why so many people like the game. However I can't stand putting myself through so much pain. Games are suppose to be fun, not claw into your head and rip your soul in half. I like challenges, but I don't like impossible tasks. This was originally an arcade game, and I'm sure Capcom made so much money sucking up quarters with such an daunting adventure. 

Score: 4 out of 10

Panzer Dragoon Mini Review

The Panzer Dragoon series have had their fans over the years. It's never been as successful as the StarFox games, but among critics it's very comparable. Sega actually made a Panzer Dragoon game for the Sega GameGear back in the day, but only for Japan. 

The game requires no knowledge of Japanese (what little is written is in English), so there's no language barrier to hold you back. The graphics do look simple, but it plays remarkable well for what a Panzer Dragoon on GameGear might sound like. You can still fly around and dodge, shoot, and even lock-on enemies. 

The game consists of five stages, and most of the time you have a slew of land and air enemies, a mid boss, more enemies, and then the stage boss. I had a good time playing through each stage, and despite the technical limitation of the system it's actually well put together. 

Granted it's a very short game, those five stages won't last for long, but it's a short and sweet experience for sure. Some great boss fights I might add as well. Don't spend too much to obtain this small gem, but if you get a chance to play it, don't pass it up. 

Score: 7 out of 10

Ninja Gaiden (Sega Game Gear) Review

Like the Sega Master System Ninja Gaiden, this is another "lost" Ninja Gaiden game. Many people remember the recent ones, and the NES trilogy, but the Game Gear got a unique version of it's own. 

The graphics are simple, but the gameplay is bit more Shinobi than NES-Gaiden. I frankly like it since I thought platforming was the worst part about those games. 

The levels are mostly hack and slash, but I really liked the troll boss. It was bit hard to figure if he was taking damage or not, but then I got the hang of it. 

The 2nd boss I find almost impossible to beat. So I basically got stuck right there. Oh well, it's kinda hard for the sake of hard, not for the sake of challenging skilled players. I like the idea, but they could have made a much better game out of it. 

Score: 5 out of 10 

Ninja Gaiden (Sega Master System) Review

I'm very fond of the Ninja Gaiden series. I loved the Xbox game, Dragon Sword, and the first two NES classics. However there was a Sega Master System NG that was developed by Sega not Tecmo. I was always interested to see how it played. 

It looks a lot more colorful than the NES games, and the gameplay is pretty similar. However it does have a much faster pace to it, which I think is more it's downfall than it's advantage. Jumping around is floating, and you will fall into many unwanted places. 

Speaking of unwanted places, see those two pits? You will fall into pits like that a lot. Hit by a bomb? Death. Hit by other Ninja Guy? Death. Misjudge your jump? Death. 

After some frustrating trial and error, I managed to make it to the first boss. I really liked Mr. Sumo man a lot, since he was hard, but wasn't impossible when I found out his moves and how to defeat him. 

The rest of the game jumps up in difficulty after that. The next stage is Toyko or something, and apparently Yakuza, those fucking eagles, and Japanese cameramen hate you worse than Hitler. It's a decent try by Sega, but I think it's unworthy of it's series legacy. 

Score: 5.0 out of 10

Things I Hate: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz

The Super Monkey Ball series kinda hit a slump after the first two games. I was hoping the Wii game would be a revival of a great game, but not so much. 

I like the graphics, and the stages are decently designed, however there is one big problem. 

You can only use motion control, and like Mario Kart Wii (which gives the option) you'll be longing to go back to the traditional joystick.