Take to the streets with Streets of Rage II for the iPhone

Hey kids, I'm back! After a busy few weeks I have returned to the Nomad Junkyard to report on iPhone ports and post the occastional SEGA Nomad related post. In iPhone news, Streets of Rage II has arrived on the iPhone for $2.99. I've yet to buy it myself, and probably won't unless a 99 cent sale rolls around. Gaming news website GamesRadar makes mention of audio problems, specifically distortion. Hopefully SEGA patches this ASAP.

In other news, there is a strong chance that I will film part 2 of my Pier Solar video tomorrow. Part 1 can be seen in the post below, and if you watch until the end, part 2 is said to feature the game being played on the SEGA Nomad. Ooooh!

Pier Solar Reprint Edition for the SEGA Genesis Unboxing

The Nomad Junkyard Youtube channel rises from the dead with an unboxing of the brand new indie release for the Genesis (and Nomad), Pier Solar!

SEGA Handheld Happenings - Racing and Game Gear go mobile!

Quite a lot has happened in the past week when it comes to SEGA handheld games. Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing has been announced for iOS devices. Here's hoping my old first gen iPod Touch can play it. Also, is has been announced that the 3DS will have Game Gear titles available to purchase over the Virtual Console service. Pretty cool, though I'd prefer a Sonic Game Gear compilation. The titles available will be: Sonic Triple Trouble, Sonic Drift 2, Shinobi, Dragon Castle and Columns. Here's hoping for a solid framerate and while they're at it, why not a little 3D effect? It is a 3D device, after all.

Rumblings have started about a Sonic Anniversary title coming to the 3DS. So far, rumors have proven to be false, but one never knows what SEGA has up their sleeves...

I'm calling it now: Sonic Anniversary announced next week for the SEGA Nomad.

SEGA in the Media: Game Gear in the Bronx

While most SEGA fans don’t have to go far for a glimpse of something SEGA (just look over at your game shelf or under your tv), spotting something SEGA on television or in a movie is far more difficult. In the past we’ve spotted Virtua Tennis 2009 on the Inbetweeners and a MadWorld poster on Weeds. Today we’re heading to the Bronx, where a certain Jackie Chan had quite the rumble. I think the movie was called The Spy Next Door. No wait, it was Rumble in the Bronx.

Click here to read more!

Check It Out! SEGASHIRO PODCAST - 3DS and NGP Round Table Edition!

Fellow SEGA Network website SEGASHIRO recently released a great podcast focusing on modern SEGA handheld gaming. The SEGASHIRO writers talk about everything from SEGA's upcoming handheld titles for the PSP2 and 3DS to their SEGA handheld game dream releases. it's a great listen, so CHECK IT OUT here.

Until the next gen handhelds release, I'll be playing Snatcher on my Caanoo. Heck, I'll even be playing it after they release.

Shinobi III and Virtua Fighter 2 Genesis release on iOS

I think it should be assumed by now that SEGA will be continually releasing Genesis games to iOS devices from here on out, It seems we're getting one or two a month. Think of it as the "Genesis Game of the Month Club". The latest two games to hit the device are Shinobi III and Virtua Fighter 2 Genesis, priced at $2.99 and $1.99 respectively. Early reviews cite spotty controls, TouchArcade goes into detail as to why the controls for Shinobi III are so difficult:

Like other Sega iOS releases running in their emulator, there is both a full screen and a windowed view. The fullscreen mode, with its larger image, is the most desirable play mode, I would say, but it suffers from the fixed arrangement of the onscreen D-pad and three action buttons; very often a thumb on either completely obscures your character, making gameplay highly awkward. This can be avoided by using the windowed view which renders the game at it's native resolution (fullscreen is a scale-up, not the other way around) with D-pad and buttons below, but on a screen with a pixel density as high as any iPhone or iPod touch device, it's a strain to behold. It's possible that an option to reposition the touch points would help matters but, frankly, I can't imagine an arrangement that would be truly acceptable. As is, the gameplay will leave you longing for your old Genesis.

At this point, I think SEGA should stick to releasing RPGs and slower paced games to the Genesis emulator. Shining Force was extremely fun on my iPod Touch, running smoothly and retaining the graphics and sounds of the console versions. Meanwhile, faster games like Sonic 2 have trouble on the emulator and suffer from imprecise touch controls. Here's hoping the complete Phantasy Star and Shining Force series make it to iOS before faster paced action games hurt SEGA's App Store cred.

Aaron Webber: Say My Name, Say My Name

To thank those who bought multiple versions of Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1, Ken Balough (Digital Brand Manager, Sonic 4) and Aaron Webber (Community Manager, Sonic 4) issued a little thank you video. As a nice surprise, they revealed that the public thanking would not be limited to those who bought three or more versions of the game. Instead, they would thank every single person who put their name into True Blue initiative. At 1:35 you’ll see and hear Aaron Webber saying my name as he looks deeply into the camera. No doubt hoping that I heard his thanks. Well Aaron, your thanks has been heard. And in return I say: thank you too!

I know Aaron and Ken got some (okay, a LOT) of flack from the community for asking fans to buy more than one copy, but c’mon guys, do you really blame them for telling people to buy a product produced by a company that they work for? How dare they! On top of that, the whole thing was optional and was effortless to get in on. It only took a forum post. Considering I had already planned to get the iPhone and 360 versions, putting my name in was no trouble at all.

Indie game Pier Solar offers up a white SEGA Nomad

Pier Solar, and indie RPG developed for the Genesis and Mega Drive, is offering up a unique prize in their photo contest: a custom white SEGA Nomad! Owners of the game are encouraged to photograph their copy of the game, as well as any of the included goodies (stickers, poster, etc) in the craziest situation and location that they can think of. My ideal crazy location: Miyamoto playing the game (while crying) sitting atop the Great Pyramid of Giza.

You can order the game, necessary to enter the contest, as well as view the contest details at the official Pier Solar website.

Another Sonic Title Joins the iOS Family

Sadly, it ain't Sonic CD, Sonic 3 or Sonic and Knuckles. Rather, SEGA has released Sonic Spinball for iOS devices. If I sound unenthusiastic about it, I apologize. It's just that I would much rather see the aforementioned Sonic games be released first and that I recently got into the handheld emulation scene via the Caanoo and see no point in spending $2.99 on a game when I can play a superior version for free.

Despite this, I should point out two cool aspects to Sonic Spinball for the iPhone: The app icon is pretty sweet, featuring artwork from the Japanese Mega Drive box, and that the game offers up two soundtracks: the US version and the slightly different Japanese version. Pretty cool! Also, SEGA has released Altered Beast for $2.99. If you have fond memories of Toxic Caves and and rising from graves, check these out.

Waahoo! The Caanoo!

 

Back in 2009, South Korean company Game Park Holdings released the awesome GP2X Wiz handheld video game console. The Wiz was awesome for a number of reasons, but the cheif reason was that it was an open-source device, meaning anybody could develop just about anything for it. While the system does have a number of original developed games, such as the great Wind & Water Puzzle Battles (also available on the SEGA Dreamcast), there is also a massive scene of console emulators that make the device a home entertainemnet system on-the-go. Imagine having everything from the earliest home computers through to the SEGA CD and 32X on one handheld, and then imagine just about every handheld through to the GBA as well. Awesome.



In August of this year, Game Park Holdings returned with an upgrade to the Wiz, the Caanoo. The Caanoo offered a larger, better touch screen, an improved control pad, increased RAM and Wi-fi support. Even better, the Caanoo was priced the same as the Wiz. So after months of waiting, Christmas has finally arrived (almost) and I caved and bought myself a Caanoo! While I don't have it yet, I look forward to adding it to the Nomad Junkyard family of handhelds (which also includes the Game Gear, iPod Touch, GBA and obviously the Nomad). Maybe I'll even review it?

SEGA drops prices on all iOS games permanently

From the SEGA of America blogs comes a cool piece of news: SEGA has decided to have the prices of their iOS games drop permanently! This is great for those who missed out on the past few sales and were waiting for the next one to come around. Now it's like there's a sale all the time! Check out all the deals:

• ChuChu Rocket: Now: $2.99 (was: $4.99)
• ChuChu Rocket HD: Now: $4.99 (was: $6.99)
• Ecco the Dolphin: Now: $0.99 (was: $2.99)
• Football Manager 2010: Now: $4.99 (was: $7.99)
• Golden Axe: Now: $0.99 (was: $2.99)
• Gunstar Heroes: Now: $2.99 (was: $4.99)
• Phantasy Star II: Now: $2.99 (was: $4.99)
• Shining Force: Now: $0.99 (was: $2.99)
• Super Monkey Ball 2: Now: $2.99 (was: $5.99)
• Super Monkey Ball 2 Sakura Edition: Now: $4.99 (was: $7.99)
• Sonic The Hedgehog 1: Now: $4.99 (was: $5.99)
• Sonic The Hedgehog 2: Now: $4.99 (was: $5.99)
• Sonic The Hedgehog 4 Episode 1: Now: $6.99 (was: $9.99)
• Streets of Rage: Now: $0.99 (was: $2.99)

I personally have to recommend ChuChu Rocket, Shining Force and Sonic 4. Three great games for $11!

Chu Chu Rocket gets 100 more puzzles!

Not even a month has passed since Chu Chu Rocket released for iOS devices, and already SEGA has updated the game! Besides the usual bug fixes that come with an App update, Chu Chu Rocket will also be receiving 100 more puzzles created by Europe, Japan, and USA fans for the original Dreamcast release. Most interesting is how SEGA refers to this as "the first update" and stated "we definitely have more planned for the game", meaning more updates are to come and perhaps we can expect more puzzles in the future as well as the inclusion of a puzzle edit mode. Check out the full blog post at the link below, and buy the game if you haven't yet!

[Source: SEGA of America blog]

Recent Happenings in the Nomad World

What a wild past couple of weeks it has been! Of course there has been some major game and hardware releases, but more importantly I proposed to my girlfriend and we are now engaged! (Insert Nokia N-Gage'd joke here)

In the gaming world, I've been up to my neck in Kinect games. A few months back I preordered the Johnny 5-like device, and just three days ago it arrived at our door. So far I've played six of the launch titles, some were demos, and overall I've been quite impressed. Check out my impressions here! I'm looking forward to trying a few more titles, including the cute overload that is Kinectimals.

In the portable world, I've been playing a lot of Chu Chu Rocket and Sonic 4 on my iPod Touch and recently discovered the digital crack that is Virtua Tennis for the GBA. I never would have thought I'd be making giant sandwiches in a tennis game. Once I get some free time, I hope to give more of the Game Boy Advance titles some attention here at the 'Yard. Sonic's Handheld Adventures Part 1 needs a Part 2!

Oh, and my SEGA Nomad is still doing well. Thanks for asking!

Chu Chu Rocket for the iPhone and iPad RELEASED!

If you own an iOS device, buy this awesome game NOW! The iPhone/iPod Touch version sells for $4.99 and the iPad version sells for $6.99, adding HD visuals and local multiplayer. Still not convinced? Check out my first impressions.

I downloaded the game this morning for my iPod Touch and played it for a good thirty minutes on the ride into work. Upon booting it up, I was greeted by the classic “Sonikku Chimu” intro. Awesome. Graphics and music are much more in line with the Dreamcast version than the Game Boy Advance version, which really makes the game feel like the real thing rather than a portable approximation.

Controls are surprisingly better than the Dremacast original and the GBA version. Rather than moving the cursor to a spot and pressing the arrow buttons, one can simply tough and swipe a square in the direction they want an arrow to go. Fast, simple, easy and I’m amazed that a ten year old game has actually found a control method that beats the original. I’d assume things are even slicker on the iPad, as the squares themselves would be larger. Even so, I never found myself tapping a square that I didn’t mean to tap.

The game features online multiplayer via wi-fi, 100 puzzles, 26 challenges (think real-time puzzles) and a few cool unlockables (pians and chao return). The one omission is a puzzle edit mode, which may turn away some fans. However this is not to say that SEGA couldn’t release this mode in a free update, as they did in releasing additional mini-games to Super Monkey Ball 2. I’m sure that if the game proves popular, SEGA will introduce puzzle creation and trading to increase the lifespan of the game.

Sonic 4 Unboxing and Chu Chu iPhone Dated!

Sonic nut and NJY reader Scott put together this deceptive unboxing video for Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1. Pay close attention to his actions. Did he "forget" to turn the TV on, or was he up to something else? Was the Sonic hat meant to draw your eyes away from other happenings on the screen? Also, stay tuned for the finale in which he makes a boat appear out of thin air. Truly magical. Great job, Scott! Anyone can make the box! All they need is this stuff.

In other news, Chu Chu Rocket for the iDevices has been given a release date of October 28th! The game will be released in two versions. One for the iPod Touch and iPhone and another for the iPad which will feature 4-player local play. No price has been given yet, but I assume it'll be between $7.99 and $9.99. Killer space cats eating space mice, just in time for Halloween!

[source: SEGAbits]