This one… This one hurts.

On Friday, SEGA fans all over the world mourned the loss of a time-honored SEGA icon, Danica Patrick.* Patrick had long, storied career with SEGA, making appearance in both Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing Transformed and the Sonic Universe comic tie-in for Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing Transformed.

Danica Patrick will also be remembered for her contributions to the marketing world, revolutionizing commercials in sexy fashion for Internet hosting company, Go Daddy. She would also be remembered by SEGA fans for her knocking Toejam & Earl out of the roster for Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing Transformed, but she was roundly forgiven on account of her being smoking hot.

You may notice some diehard SEGA fans having a rough time dealing with this, so please be kind to those in the broader SEGA community who are coping with such a shocking, devastating loss. It’s never easy to say goodbye. Sometimes it’s even very, very hard. Like rock hard…

*UPDATE: Upon further research, it was actually announced Friday that Danica Patrick was, in fact, only retiring from NASCAR, not that she had died. At least now I can feel less like a necrophiliac when I pay tribute to all my screencaptured Go Daddy commercials. To the printer!

Source: The Washington Post

New to the list this month are Genesis/Megadrive classics Altered Beast and Comix Zone, as well as the SEGA-published adventure game, The Cave.

There are a couple of other SEGA-ish notables on the list, namely Frogger (the original arcade game was distributed by SEGA-Gremlin), and Double Dragon Neon, which is an excellent reinvention of the Double Dragon franchise – one which landed quite a few installments on retro SEGA platforms like the Master System and Genesis. Mini review: Double Dragon Neon is great and I highly recommend it if you enjoy retro-brawlers.

Other non-SEGA related games added this month are Galaga Legions DX, Ghostbusters Sanctum of Slime, and Rayman Origins. All pretty good, right? (Stay away from Ghostbusters! Stay away!)

If you own digital copies of any of these games, you can access them in the “Ready to Install” section of your Xbox One. If you own them on disc (Rayman is the only on-disc game in this announcement) then all you have to do is drop the disc in your system, silly!

Source: Tech Raptor

Altered Beast art by malphasbcs. More of malphasbcs’ art can be found here.

Throughout its more than 10-year run, SEGA would go on to release some of the very best titles to appear on Microsoft’s system and dive into digital gaming like it never had before, with the release of several great new and retro digital games.

Join us for this roundtable as we look back at many of the SEGA titles in the Xbox 360 library that we consider the best, worst, underrated and more.

Köpke

Best Game: Bayonetta

Sadly it went underrated in terms of sales. But its memory left such a good impression that it became a cult game for the console.

Best Digital Release: Rez HD

Thank you SEGA for allowing Q-Games and Mizuguchi to bring this to a new generation. The amazing Synesthesia rhythm shooter looked specatacular on HD.

Worst Release: The Golden Compass

Nuff said.

Worst Digital Release: Happy Tree Friends False Alarm

Again, Nuff said.

Import I wished for: Virtual On 4 Force & Virtua Striker (AM2 digital pack)

How much I wished for Virtual On 4 Force to arrive here, but sadly was not done. Even more sad is that SoA is in charge for the Latin America region and thus does not consider the big impact of Virtua Striker series or football is for the region or even know what this is.

Favorite Game: Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed

This title was packed with fan service, it was awesome and challenging.

Most Underrated release: Gunstar Heroes

This port was amazing, having the chance to play this again was a great experience. Sadly, people in Mexico are very ignorant regarding the Saturn and not many got the game.

Graham

Best Game: Vanquish

This was a painful choice. There’s more top SEGA games than you realise, but I’ve gone for Platinum Games’ brilliant Vanquish. The game just didn’t get the credit it deserved at its release – but it’s an awesome fast-paced (no, seriously it’s FAST) third-person action shooter. With an over-the-top story line, even more over the top acting and possibly some of the most impressive set-pieces I’ve ever seen in a game.

Best Digital Release: NiGHTS into Dreams

I was so close to picking Jet Set Radio here, but the release of NiGHTS into Dreams on Xbox Live Arcade was such a treat that I had to choose it. While I was sad to see some of the awesome bonus extras from the Saturn version of Christmas NiGHTS missing (like playing as Sonic!), I was so grateful for SEGA bringing this to a new audience and keeping the game mostly intact.

Worst Release: Iron Man 2

I own the Golden Compass and Iron Man 2 is waaay worse!

Worst Digital Release: Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (Eps I & II)

Controversial, I know. Many people thought that Sonic 4 was a return to glory for Sonic and SEGA, but I just don’t get it! It looks pretty, but the auto-attack lock and level designs just ruin that classic Sonic gameplay I long for. Go play the Mega Drive classics (also available on XBLA).

Import I wished for: None –

I think all the SEGA Xbox 360 games I wanted came out in Europe. Thanks SEGA! I would also like to take this time to tell everyone to go play Viking: Battle for Asgard. It’s awesome.

Favorite Game: Condemned (franchise)

Words can’t explain how much I freaking loved the two Condemned titles. If you want a scary game that also incorporates some badass and brutal combat, plus an engaging story, then look no further. I’ve never been so scared of mannequins in my life…

Most Underrated release: Binary Domain

Seriously people! Why Gears of War (a game I love btw) gets tons of praise by the gaming world and Binary Domain doesn’t, it’s a bloody crime! Binary Domain takes the ‘cover-based shooter’ genre and makes it so much more. A brilliant storyline with great characters, excellent gameplay and choice system that works. But no one bloody bought it!

Marcin

Best Game: Sonic Generations

Like Graham and Köpke, this was a difficult choice for me. When you look back at the library of SEGA games that the blue brand had unleashed on the Xbox 360, there were surprisingly a big number of games that were fantastic. Sonic Generations was SEGA’s pièce de résistance for the Sonic franchise on the Xbox 360, where they combined the classic and modern gameplay of the series. The music, levels, and nostalgia demonstrate the Sonic franchise at its finest.

Best Digital Release:  Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown

Virtua Fighter 5 FS was the definitive edition of the game. Revamped fight mechanics, new characters, and a bunch of other bells and whistles like costumes and games modes made this fighter a blast to play. Out of any fighting series, Virtua Fighter is definitely the hardest one to master.

Worst Release: Thor: God of Thunder

I will take your Golden Compass and Iron Man 2, and raise you a Thor: God of Thunder! Bland graphics and frustrating controls made the easy-cash-in-because-movie-came-out really obvious.

Worst Digital Release: Crazy Taxi

One issue that I had with a majority of the Dreamcast re-releases on Xbox 360 was the little effort that was put into each port. I was expecting some sort of visual upgrade, but Crazy Taxi and others like Sonic Adventure were a straight port. What made the Crazy Taxi release worse was its lack of music from The Offspring and Bad Religion. I guess SEGA didn’t want to shell out the money to renew the licenses for the game, but it does feel different when you have some other bands replacing the great soundtrack from the original version.

Import I wished for: None

I honestly can’t think of one that comes to mind, although I did wish there was a PORT of Shenmue I and II….

Favorite Game: Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed

Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed took what was great about the first titled, and tripled (Get it? because there’s THREE transformations!) the fun. We get all of the great nostalgia that made the first one great and can now knock other SEGA characters off their rockers in the sky and waters. You can’t mention Transformed without talking about the Race of AGES track! This particular track was packed with nostalgia and featured a fantastic remix of the Space Harrier theme song.

Most Underrated release:

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (Eps I & II) –  I will take the opposite opinion of Graham’s and say that Sonic the Hedgehog 4 was an underrated title in my opinion. I honestly don’t see the hate that these two get. Sure, it’s not like Sonic the Hedgehog’s 1-3 , but I believe that SEGA still managed to pull off a great game, despite people’s apparent issues with its physics.

Jayson

Best Game: Bayonetta

As much as it might have initially been considered a generic Devil May Cry ripoff, Bayonetta quickly proved that notion wrong and was easily one of the most kick-ass games SEGA published for the console. Seriously, one of the best character action games of that generation right here, including some SEGA fan service, After Burner music and all.

Best Digital Release: Daytona USA

What more could be said about this classic? The 360 version included online multiplayer, an arranged soundtrack and a couple new modes to an already arcade-perfect port. This is easily the definitive version of Daytona.

Worst Game: Dreamcast Collection

A repackaging of four Dreamcast titles from the XBLA. Come for the Sonic Adventure and Space Channel 5, don’t stay for the SEGA Bass Fishing and a version of Crazy Taxi without its memorable original soundtrack. They could have at least added an exclusive title or two.

Import I wished for: (Complete) SEGA AM2 Collection

It would have been nice to have all the Model 2 games that were released for the 360 in Japan. As much as we got the key titles,would have made a great collection. Sadly, only a few were released here.

Favorite Game: SEGA Rally Revo

A re-worked version of SEGA Rally 3 somewhat,and one of the earliest rally games I can think of for the console. A great car selection, a damn fun handling model, and the amount of content on display make this my favorite. Spent countless hours with this one.

Most Underrated Release: Full Auto

One that not many people mention, Full Auto was an early combat racing game from SEGA released around the launch of the 360. Since then,it has become one of the most fun combat racers I have ever played, and to be honest, one of the only ones that comes to mind for the console. It may be dated these days, but is definitely one to pick up to see SEGA’s start on the Xbox 360. The multiplayer is a rollicking good time as well.

So there you have it, folks. Let us know what your fondest SEGA Xbox 360 memories are in the comments below!

As many of you know, on April 24 GameStop launched a pilot program in select markets to begin buying back retro consoles and games. I’m sure many people are out there wondering how much GameStop will give us cash-strapped retro gamers to buy our childhood memories. Since the GameStop website is not yet providing these answers (though it may any day now), I called one of the pilot programs stores in New York to do some digging. Here’s how it went…

The Requiem: Hi. I lost my son to cancer several years ago, and he left us with a bunch of his stuff like old games.

GameStop Employee: Oh, I’m very sorry to hear that sir.

The Requiem: Thanks, I appreciate that. I really do. Anyway, I heard that GameStop has just started buying retro video games again. I have several I’d like to get estimates on… if it’s not too much trouble?

GameStop Employee: No, not at all. Which games were you looking to sell?

Of course that “dead cancer kid” story was a lie, but as the greatest crack reporter SEGA Nerds has on staff, I felt it necessary to keep the New York GameStop employee’s sympathy on my side, because I had a lot of questions and I was going to get the answers I wanted, goddammit! Straight dope!

Well, here are those answers, in tabular form.

Let me interpret the above table a bit. You’ll see both the cash and in-store credit trade-in values from GameStop, and for comparison, I added the trade-in value for a loose cart from another retro gaming reseller, eStarland. I asked GameStop about both a SEGA Genesis and Dreamcast console and several key games. And if you’re a good SEGA fan looking to unload some of your gray Nintendo games for babies, I asked about a couple of them, too.

Interestingly, though GameStop has a well-deserved reputation for paying pittance for your used games, their trade-in prices are consistently quite a bit higher than eStarland’s prices. The only exception is the original Super Mario Bros. on NES, which GameStop told me they “would not accept for trade-in.” (Because it sucks, no doubt, right?)

There were also many other games I asked about, but I was told that these games weren’t in the GameStop system for whatever reason. These included Genesis games like Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle, John Madden 94 (Genesis), MUSHA, Splatterhouse 2, The Punisher and Mutant League Hockey. Dreamcast games not in the system were Mars Matrix, Project Justice, NFL 2K and Skies of Arcadia. Nintendo garbage not in the GameStop system was Stadium Events for NES and both Earthbound and Ninja Gaiden Trilogy on SNES.

See the pattern? Most of those unlisted games are either rare games or sports titles, with a few exceptions. My guess is that GameStop is worried about buying up the rarer games like MUSHA, Project Justice or Ninja Gaiden Trilogy for fear that they may inadvertently buy back bootleg copies instead of genuine ones. That’s not to say that they won’t eventually add these games to their catalog at some point, but that may depend on how GameStop ultimately deals with commonly bootlegged games. If you owned a store filled with generally untrained teenagers, would you want them offering hundreds of dollars for a copy of Stadium Events which you had no way to determine was genuine? Narp.

Not all of those games are high-dollar rarities, though. Splatterhouse 2 or Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle? Sure, Splatterhouse 2 is slightly in demand, but I’ve never seen anyone trying to sell a bootleg repro cart of the game. As for the sports games, though? Well, it’s possible that games like NFL 2K and Madden 94 will never be accepted as trade-in, because GameStop will likely have very little to show for it in the end considering how low demand is for them.

The Flip Side

How much will GameStop be selling these games for? There’s no way to know for certain, yet, as they won’t be up for sale via the GameStop website for a couple more months. Still, I decided to speculate wildly (like any good video gaming journalist would) and come up with a completely unscientific process to predict their final sale price.

Looking at two modern games, Ninja Gaiden II on Xbox 360 and Call of Duty: Black Ops II for PlayStation 3. I ran some maths-magic and found that their trade-in to sale ratio was between %16 and %20, meaning that the final sale price is roughly 5X-6X the trade-in price. However, seeing as how very few gamers in their right minds would pay over twenty bucks for a loose cart of Sonic the Hedgehog or $200 for a loose disc of Cannon Spike, I’m going to give GameStop the benefit of the doubt and go with just an increase of 3X.

For comparison purposes, I listed the current loose price of each game according to PriceCharting.com, which lists an average of sales across a variety of online selling fronts. Not a perfect measure, to be sure, but it at least provides an idea. Even multiplying the trade-in price by three, many of GameStop’s prices look to be pretty steep compared to the Price Charting average. Many of GameStop’s prices look to be nearly twice as high, so it looks like I could have over-estimated with my predicted selling prices. However, it’s interesting to note that Black Ops II for PS3 has a Price Charting average of $14.00, while the current actual GameStop price is $25. Maybe I’m not so far off after all. What do you think?

Personally, I think GameStop may be offering a higher trade-in price right now at the beginning of their pilot program to build up stock, and that these prices will come down at some point. When Target entered the used game market, they offered some pretty high trade-in prices as well, so there is some historical case studies to suggest GameStop is perhaps doing something similar.

That’s that, nerds. Keep in mind, the only SEGA consoles GameStop is currently buying back are Genesis and Dreamcast, so no Master System or Saturn trade-ins. So, if you’re looking to make a few spare buck selling retro games and you live in either of the two test markets (New York City and Birmingham, Alabama), I suggest you do it sooner than later before GameStop realizes that four bucks for a loose copy of Sonic the Hedgehog won’t leave them much of a profit margin. Besides, if you’ve got a copy of Cannon Spike lying around, I’d be happy to give you $45 for it. Okay, maybe $46. I can do PayPal.

I don’t really have a favorite series per se, but there is one fighter that quickly rose the rankings of great fighters in my opinion – the original Persona 4 Arena. I love fighters made by Arc System Works, and P4A is no exception. To think that a simple, four-button fighter could get you into a series of great RPGs is an awesome thought.  P4A was the reason I started getting into the Persona series as a whole.  Pretty crazy, but true. With the effect that the original P4A had on me, I had high hopes for its sequel – Persona 4 Arena Ultimax.

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax was released in North America on Sept. 30th, 2014, two years after the original P4 Arena. It seems like a long wait, but with all the stuff Atlus crammed in there, the wait was worth it. P4AU is available for both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, in both digital and physical forms. There was also a somewhat limited pre-order edition that came with a couple bonus items if you bought the game at certain American retailers. Atlus does this thing a lot it seems. But enough about that, on with the game!

Sweep the leg!

P4AU and its predecessor both play alike. You have a simple, four-button layout, with two attack buttons (weak and strong) and two Persona attack buttons. There is also a couple of different combination attacks done with certain buttons pressed at the same time. The three most common examples I can think of are Furious Actions, All-Out attacks, and Sweeps.

Furious Actions are more or less some type of rising uppercut/high attack, depending on the character. All-Outs are a type of combo attack, that uses button mashing to raise the amount of hits, and also can result in launching the opponent in the air, or also knocking them back towards the wall.

Sweeps are simple variants on a sweep kick of sorts, depending on the character as well. P4AU evokes that normal ArcSys type of gameplay that seems slightly easy to start with, but difficult to master completely. There is also a simple, auto-combo system in place, used by repeatedly tapping the Weak attack button, which results in a small combo ending with a super.

But what about the story?

Being based on the Persona series of RPGs, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax  does not fall short when it comes to the storyline. P4AU has a pretty deep story mode, consisting of three or four different storylines to play through, depending on  if you purchase the DLC. If not, you’re stuck with the basic two, covering both the Persona 3 and Persona 4 casts. The story mode is very good regardless, with some great voice acting and a couple animated cutscenes added in, for good measure.

There’s also a couple of different choices within this mode, mostly in dialogue, and with a choice of character depending on fights. There is a slight party type system in place here, with you selecting who to fight, between a small group (usually three to four) of fighters to use in certain matches. All in all, story mode is damn good.

Who are the combatants?

The roster here definitely got a decent boost in P4AU. An additional eight characters have been added to the original game’s 12, rounding out to an even 20 characters, with three being DLC. The non-DLC characters that have been added to the game are callbacks to Persona 3/Persona 4, respectively.

The returning characters from the P3 side are Junpei Iori, Yukari Takeba and Ken Amada. The P4 cast’s new additions are Rise Kujikawa, Tohru Adachi, Marie and Margaret, with the latter three being the DLC characters. An entirely new character was made for P4AU as well, in the form of Sho Minazuki, who is a central plot point in the story mode, and in some aspects; the boss of the game. There are also Shadow types of the original Persona 4 Arena cast, which play just like they did in the original game.

Let’s get down to the basics

Your basic fighting game modes are here: Training, Versus, Network Battle, you know, the usual stuff. There is also a Lobby mode, which is basically where you can sit and wait until you find random, unranked matches. Also included is your Ranked/Player matches and a Challenge/Tutorial mode.

The Challenge/Tutorial mode is the way to teach you the basics of P4AU and learn key combos with every character in the game. It can be time consuming, but it’s worth it if you want to get good. In all, there aren’t many modes, but for a fighting game, that’s kinda common.

The netcode for Versus matches is very stable, which is good for a fast fighter like this. I actually play this online almost daily, and have yet to experience random disconnects (minus the damn rage-quitters!). There is also a very active community playing on the PS3 version, while I’ve heard there’s not so much on the Xbox 360 version. I have a group of players that have been my training buddies and rivals ever since I first got Ultimax.

How does it look?

Presentation wise, P4AU pulled out all the stops. The visuals and sounds live up to the series’ great reputation, and the new stages and hand-drawn sprites look marvelous, as well. With a large music selection of original tracks, and the best of P3 and P4’s backlog of music, you’re in for a great soundtrack. I still find myself listening to it randomly, P4AU just has a damn good selection of music to fight to. The characters also look better in P4AU compared to its predecessor, which is great to see.

Summary

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax is a very good fighter that’s easy to hop into and play. With a very flashy presentation and an amazing soundtrack, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax might be my pick for best fighter of the year, and it’s definitely worth the pick-up. Even if you’re not a Persona fan, this game is sure to please any fighting game fan.

PROS

• The presentation is very well done
• Easy to pick up and play
• Great well-rounded roster (minus DLC)

CONS

• All the DLC should just have been included (Sorry ArcSys, but your DLC prices are a little excessive)
• The only way to experience the story of the original P4A is to either buy the add-on for story mode or buy the original game

What makes it special? Oh, nothing really, except that we have an exceptionally awesome guest this month. Commemorating NiGHTS into Dreams being our Game of the Month for December, I have with me none other than the star of that game, NiGHTS itself. Thanks for being with us, NiGHTS!

NiGHTS: Wow, I’m very happy to be here! I’m a really big fan and happy holidays to you and all your readers!

The Requiem: You’re too gracious there, my friend. Far, far, too undeservedly gracious. I hate to say it though, but I expect that this is going to be a shorter interview, because there’s really only one thing that I want to know.

NiGHTS: Really? What’s that?

The Requiem: I’ll just cut right to the chase, then. What kind of plumbing to you have down in your basement?

NiGHTS: Excuse me?

The Requiem: Is there a snake hiding in your bushes?

NiGHTS: I’m not following you…

The Requiem: Oh, come on! In the original Saturn version of NiGHTS into Dreams, you can either play as Claris, a girl, or Elliot, a boy, both of whom eventually possess you like the demon from The Exorcist. What the world wants to know is, does Elliot get the chop or does Claris sprout a boomstick?

NiGHTS: …

The Requiem: NiGHTS…

NiGHTS: Yes?

The Requiem: Are you a man or a woman?

NiGHTS: Oh!

The Requiem: Do you have boobs?

NiGHTS: Uh…

The Requiem: DO YOU HAVE PENIS, NiGHTS!? Geez, it’s not that tough.

NiGHTS: Well, I exist in the dreamworld of Nightopia, and in your dreams, I can be anything you want!

The Requiem: Oh, well, in that case I want you to be a totally nude Bettie Page in her prime. And… GO!

NiGHTS: It doesn’t quite work like that. 

The Requiem: Well, just go ahead and pull down your pants, then. You’ve got to have something down there, one way or the other.

NiGHTS: Hah! This is silly. Are you always aware of whether you have a penis in every single one of your dreams?

The Requiem: In all of my good dreams…

NiGHTS: Touché. Let’s discuss something else, like maybe my appearance in Sonic All-Star Racing Transformed or the HD re-release of NiGHTS Into Dreams on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3? 

The Requiem: Well, I’m here to get the scoop on one thing and one thing alone, NiGHTS. But fine, I’ll play along. How do you feel about, uh, NFL cheerleaders?

NiGHTS: I respect the athleticism it takes for cheerleaders to do what they do.

The Requiem: Uh-huh. And let’s say you’re at a steak house. Do you order a 20-ounce rib eye or a chicken Caesar salad?

NiGHTS: I know what you’re trying to do, but I’m actually a vegetarian.

The Requiem: $#!+!!!! Look at you! You’re androgynous as hell! What is with all of you flying, mirthful, spritely characters? It’s Peter Pan syndrome all over again! It’s creepy and it just confuses the hell out of people!

NiGHTS: Uh… huh… Elaborate. This should be interesting. 

The Requiem: You know, Peter Pan! Even though he’s supposed to be a 12-year old boy who never grows up, they always cast some super-hot woman to play him. Did you see the Peter Pan Live show on NBC a few weeks ago? Allison Williams is friggin’ hot! It’s no wonder that crazy sickos all over the country are so confused over why it’s wrong to be attracted to little boys! They see her dressed as “the boy who never grew up” and it screws with their heads, dig? It’s just plain wrong!

NiGHTS: Oh mercy me. 

The Requiem: So pull down your pants and let’s get this over with.

NiGHTS: No, I’d rather not. 

The Requiem: I’ll give you a dollar.

NiGHTS: Sorry.

The Requiem: I’ll give you two dollars.

NiGHTS: Still no.

The Requiem: Dammit! I am a crack reporter, NiGHTS! The world of SEGA fans demands the truth and I will deliver!

NiGHTS: I think I’ll just go now.

The Requiem: Wait! Wait… How about… three dollars?

NiGHTS: …

The Requiem: Eh?

NiGHTS: Yeah, alright.

The Requiem: Really! Sweet! (*Hands NiGHTS 3 dollars*) It’s a SEGA Nerds exclusive, folks! NiGHTS’ gender finally revealed! Godd@mn, I am a GOD of a crack reporter!

NiGHTS: Anyway, here we go… (*Pulls down pants*)

The Requiem: …

NiGHTS: There you go.

The Requiem: It…

NiGHTS: Well?

The Requiem: It’s…. so…. beauuuutifuuuulll….

Happy New Year, SEGA Nerds!

Note: I’m reviewing the console version first, and then immediately below I will cover the important points of the mobile version.*

I’ve always had a soft spot for After Burner. It wasn’t the first SEGA Master System game my family owned as a kid, but it was the first game that seemed really special. It was After Burner after all, the arcade mega-hit squeezed into a tidy, 4-megabit cartridge. And while over the years I’ve come to realize the limitations of the Master System port of that game, SEGA wasn’t done re-releasing and refining After Burner over the years, and this has all culminated in After Burner Climax, a beautiful, masterful reworking of SEGA’s legendary arcade classic by developer AM2.

After Burner Climax is really more of a remake than a sequel. The third-person air combat remains as fast and intense as ever, and between your vulcan cannon and lock-on missiles, AM2 has added the new “climax” meter into the mix, which slows down time and allows you to target several enemies at once and build up your point multiplier. It’s a pretty neat addition, and it feels naturally integrated into the game, although it’s not exactly revolutionary.

The visuals of the game really do look great. There are beautiful blue skies reminiscent of SEGA games of old, sweeping canyons, stunning sunsets, and vast underground bases to infiltrate. Every stage brings a slightly new environment, and there are also branching paths along the way prompting multiple play-throughs to check out all the stages. If you do well enough and succeed in your primary missions, you’ll be sent on bonus secret missions as well.

The music? No need to worry about that. An arranged version of the original six After Burner themes is one of your musical options from initial take-off, and it sounds awesome. There are also new rock tracks available as the default, and while my nostalgic ears don’t prefer them, they still are more than adequate in providing the auditory backdrop to fast-paced gameplay.

One of the greatest things about the home ports of After Burner Climax is the ability to unlock new abilities and customize your game to your liking. There are many in-game challenges which unlock new options once you complete them (and satisfy some very easy achievements/trophies along the way). These options include powering up your weapons, removing the smoke trails from missiles fired, upping your number of lives and continues, even turning off the enemies’ ability to shoot at you.

Needless to say, these options can make the game incredibly easy to complete if you turn them all on, but enabling them is entirely under your control, and players can only post to the leaderboards using the default options, which keeps the online playing field level.

“I can’t shake him, damn it!”

If there are criticisms to levy against After Burner Climax, one has to be that the game is short. It’s an arcade game after all, and you can complete the game from beginning to end in less than twenty minutes or so. That may be a deal-breaker for some of you, and I get it, though I never once played through it and thought “Wow, I really wish this game was at least five hours long,” and if it was much longer, I would be more likely to knock it for overstaying its welcome. Besides, being so short, you can still play through with different planes, take different paths, and unlock new options to customize the game to your liking, so it’s not as though it’s a one-and-done. There’s also the aforementioned leaderboards to compete on as well.

I should also mention that despite the very pretty updated graphics and the addition of the “climax mode” mechanic, there isn’t really too much new in After Burner Climax over the 1987 arcade original.

To be fair, it’s not as though we’ve been inundated with After Burner sequels over the years. Prior to Climax, the last game to share the After Burner name was After Burner III on SEGA CD, and even that was technically a sequel to G-LOC: Air Battle branded under a different name.

The only gameplay snag I ever really experienced is that sometimes it is difficult to see oncoming enemy fire due to the amount of action on the screen, especially from behind the smoke emanating from your own rocket fire, so you may take a cheap hit or two. However, as I mentioned above, you can unlock an option to turn off the smoke with relative ease, so that shouldn’t hold you back after just a couple of quick plays-through.

Final Take-Off?

I hope that the rumors of its delisting are wrong and that After Burner Climax remains available for a long time to come, but for those who missed out on Out Run Online Arcade (which also was removed a couple of years ago due to an expiring license), I’d hate for yet another SEGA arcade classic to disappear into the digital-only ether and for any SEGA fans to miss out. If you’re still on the fence (and have an Xbox 360, at least), you owe it to yourself to at least try out the free demo, ASAP. Remember, the rumored date for it to disappear forever is December 24.

Being short but sweet, I understand that it may not be worth ten bucks to every single player out there, but everything in the game is executed nearly perfectly, and I expect that the developers at AM2 managed to accomplish everything they intended to.

After Burner Climax is possibly the perfect realization of the original After Burner vision. Play it before it’s too late.

PROS:

+ Replicates the rush of the arcade original
+ Lots of unlockable customization options
+ Cheesy yet rockin’ tunes
+ Easy achievements/trophies

CONS:

– Not terribly innovative
– Short
– May be considered too easy
– A few cheap hits

The Mobile Difference

The mobile version of After Burner Climax attempts to cram all of the goodness of the console versions into a convenient, pocket-sized port, and to a large degree, it succeeds. I won’t bore you with rewriting too much of what I’ve already droned on about in the console version review. The mobile version has pretty much all of the gameplay and options of its console counterpart, including all the great tunes, multiple planes and pathways, and the unlockable customization options.

Let’s get a couple of things out of the way quickly: the game looks good-though the visuals are a slight step down, the smaller screen size makes enemies harder to hone in on, there are no in-app purchases-so the three-dollar asking price unlocks the game in full, there are slower load times, and the game crashed on me once in my several plays-through.

I’m sure what most of you want to know is: Does the game still play well with mobile controls, or does it control like crap? Well, I can say definitively not like crap, but not ideally either. The mobile version of After Burner Climax offers 2 different control schemes, full-touch controls and accelerometer. Both require that you press virtual buttons to fire missiles, change your speed, and enter climax mode (I turned on an option for the vulcan cannon to auto-fire almost immediately). With auto-fire turned on, I rarely had issue with the button layout, although it’s pretty easy for your thumb to accidentally slip onto the climax button, causing you to climax before you’re ready. (*Snick!*)

Of the two schemes for controlling your plane, I’d say I prefer the accelerometer over the touch option. There isn’t an onscreen thumb pad in the latter, so you can slide it and place it anywhere you deem most comfortable, and to some degree it works okay. I just seemed to run out of room on my left or lower limits when I tried to move too far in either of those directions, so I moved on to the accelerometer.

Tilting your phone allows for much faster reactions than the touchscreen, and spinning my phone actually got me into the game more than I expected. It’s definitely the most responsive of the two control schemes, but there’s a snag. Once calibrated, all seems well, until the calibration slowly starts to go off course. I’m not sure what explains this, but the developers knew it was an issue as they threw in an option to recalibrate during the load times between each stage. If the calibration takes perfectly, it’s great, but often it took me a couple of trips to the pause screen to lock it down tight, and even then it only held firm for a stage or two. It doesn’t break the game, but it hurts it.

If you want a cheaper version of After Burner Climax, the mobile version really isn’t bad. Honestly, the short length of the game lends itself very well to the mobile platform, and it’s still a fun, pretty game with killer tracks and decent replay value. It’s too bad that there wasn’t a more elegant solution for controlling your plane, but After Burner Climax is still playable despite the limitations of the platform.

PROS:

+ Gameplay mostly holds up
+ Same customization and unlockables
+ Short gameplay well-suited for mobile
+ No in-app purchases

CONS:

– Touch controls aren’t perfect
– Suffers from smaller screen size
– Accelerometer requires constant readjustment
– It crashed once

*Xbox 360 and iOS versions were played for the purposes of this review.

You can still snag several deals from last week on Gamers Gate, such as discounts on Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing Transformed and The Typing of the Dead: Overkill Shakespeare DLC. If you are a Panzer Dragoon fan, have an Xbox One and still haven’t picked up Crimson Dragon, jump on it.

Nintendo is running a month long series of sales promoting the new Smash Bros. games, and as a part of that, several games starring characters from Smash Bros. are getting weekly sales. Sonic is part of the mix this week, though the only game on sale is the Game Gear version of Sonic the Hedgehog on 3DS Virtual Console at 33% off. Better than nothing? Technically, yes.

The Amazon highlight for the week is for those nostalgic for some Dreamcast action following this past week’s 15th anniversary of the console’s US launch. The Dreamcast Collection has four games included: Sonic Adventure, SEGA Bass Fishing, Space Channel 5: Part 2 and Crazy Taxi, all for less than $13 on an Xbox 360 retail disc, which ain’t too shabby.

PSN

Nada

Xbox Live

Crimson Dragon (Free with Gold Account, expires 30 September)

Nintendo 3DS eShop

Sonic the Hedgehog ($3.49, Game Gear Virtual Console)

Gamers Gate

Sonic & All-Star Racing Transformed ($19.95)
Aliens: Colonial Marines + Season Pass ($49.99)
Golden Axe ($2.99)
The Typing of the Dead: Overkill Shakespeare DLC ($1.02)
Crazy Taxi ($7.99)

Amazon

Dreamcast Collection (Xbox 360, $12.60)

As always, we strive to keep these as current as possible, but we can’t guarantee that these deals will last. That’s about it, I guess, so until next-

???: Wait, Requiem! You’re forgetting the best part!

Requiem: What the-?! Oh, sh-t, it’s Randy Pitchford. What the hell are you doing in my house, Randy?

Randy Pitchford: You neglected to mention that Borderlands games are the Deals with Gold this week on Xbox Live, duh!

Requiem: That’s because they’re not SEGA games, you f-cking retard!

Randy Pitchford: Of course they are! They were both financed by SEGA’s Colonial Marines money, so if that doesn’t make them SEGA games, I don’t know what does! Who’s the retard now? 

Requiem: Get lost, Pitchford! Get out of my g-ddamn house!

Randy Pitchford: I’m going! I’m going! Buy Borderlands kids!

Requiem: God, I f-cking hate that douche bag.

Now, where can you save some SEGA money this week? First and foremost, you can relive that glorious moment of sport and international unity just prior to Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine with a great deal on Sonic & Mario at the Sochi Olympic Winter Games for Wii U (We put Sonic’s name first here at SEGA Nerds).

Playstation gamers should check out some Shin Megami Tensei deals on PSN. Also, Dragon’s Crown is free this month for PS Plus members, so don’t be a retard by passing that one up.

Xbox One gamers with an Xbox Live Gold account can snag Crimson Dragon, the spiritual successor to the Panzer Dragoon series, free of charge.

Steam has a great deal on Total War: Shogun 2- Fall of the Samurai, so strategy gamers should be set for the weekend. The sale runs through August 18.

Atlus is also having another sale on 3DS titles in the eShop. Don’t go just yet, though. That sale won’t start until August 18 and will last until the end of the month.

SEGA Nerds bitten by the Genesis nostalgia bug can also grab a copy of Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection on PS3 and Xbox 360, both of which are hovering around $15 right now Amazon, and are pretty much the best retro gaming deals on either system.

Steam

Total War 2: Shogun- Fall of the Samurai
Standard Edition ($7.99)
Complete Collection with DLC ($9.99)

PSN

Dragon’s Crown (Free with PS Plus)
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES ($4.99, $2.50 with PS Plus)
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment ($3.99)
Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga ($7.99)
Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 2 ($7.99)
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne ($7.99)
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 ($7.99)
SMT: Devil Summoner 2 Raidou Kuzunoha Vs. King Abaddon ($3.99)
SMT: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha Vs The Soulless Army ($3.99)

Xbox Live

Crimson Dragon (Free with Gold Account)

Nintendo eShop (Sale begins August 18)

Code of Princess ($19.99, 3DS)
Etrian Odyssey Untold: Millennium Girl ($29.99, 3DS)
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner Soul Hackers ($29.99, 3DS)

Groupon

Sonic & Mario at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games ($19.99, Wii U)

Amazon

Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection ($14.77, PS3; $16.79, Xbox 360)

Remember, all deals are only as current as this post, so if you go all clicky-clicky and find that what I have here is in error, don’t blame me. I’d shake my fist at God and blame him for cursing you with slow internetz. Don’t feel bad about it; He’s still the same God that put you in an existence where the Dreamcast failed.

This is the first time I’ve put this up on the site, so honest feedback is also very much appreciated! Now go forth and do damage… to your wallets!!

Space Harrier  –  After Burner  –  Hang On  –  Out Run  –  Thunder Blade

Can you tell which thing is not like the others by the time I finish my song? (Pretend I’m singing a damn song)

Too late. Song’s over. What do you think?

If you guessed Thunder Blade, you’re correct. Why? Well, they are all SEGA arcade games from the ’80s right? Hm, and they all used the “super-scaling” technology to simulate a 3D effect…  Okay, yes, Yu Suzuki wasn’t really directly involved in Thunder Blade, but that’s not what I’m going for.

What I’m going for is that while the four former series have all been celebrated by sequels and re-releases with high production values, Thunder Blade, and its direct to console follow-up, Super Thunder Blade, have been largely forgotten.

Super Thunder Blade may be a pretty big reason why.

Blah, blah, blah. Shoot. Shoot. Shoot.

Everyone comes to the table of an old, arcade-style rail shooter looking for a deep, engaging plot, right? So I’m going to let the master wordsmiths at SEGA tell it like nobody else can (meaning I’m pretty much pulling directly from the game’s manual).

“Weathered and damaged, Thunder Blade returned victorious from its last mission against the renegade troops. But, this was not to be its last flight.” (SEGA Nerds translation: this is a sequel)

“Reorganized with mega amounts of devastating military electronics and weapons (“military electronics” is not a typo), the renegade troops have once again focused their sights on dominating the free world. From a secret power base in the East, they unleash their deadly troops who will take land, sea and air powerfully armed.” (SEGA Nerds translation: It’s pretty much the Russians)

“But so are you. From the cockpit of this remodified bird, you’ve got a state-of-the-art defense system at your… (yap, yap)… shoot straight, be brave and just maybe you’ll get your wings out of this mission. The free world as we know it, depends upon you.” (SEGA Nerds translation: this particular video game is a shooting video game)”

Now that we all know just what’s at stake here, let’s move on to the tofu and ‘taters that make up this manly, gunly game!

Hooah Tech Specs and Whatever…

A little something for all you gun dorks military aficionados out there. Your new Super Thunder Blade can travel at speeds up to 523 kph (that’s roughly 325 mph for all us God-fearing ‘Muricans), and it’s equipped with a limitless supply of air-to-surface AATM missiles and a 20 mm Gatling Gun which fires up to 4,800 shots per minute! Wow, so, none of that matters in the game, but it’s nice to kill some trees and include that information in the manual, now ain’t it?

You and you alone will fly through four meaty stages ranging from an occupied city, desert caves, and over open ocean, all the while dodging obstacles and shooting down your legion of an adversary. The stages themselves are mostly rearranged stages from the arcade game, so if not for the thin plot separating it from the original Thunder Blade, Super Thunder Blade could almost be considered Thunder Blade 1.5.

Each of these stages has a unique look to them and range from looking quite interesting for 1989 (stages 3 & 4) to an overambitious near-eyesore (stage 2). I’m especially fond of the color palette used in stage 3 simulating the sunset over the ocean. Combined with all of the war and death, and its quite romantic. As far as audio is concerned, the sound effects and music in the game are adequate, though when compared to other SEGA fare at the time, the tunes fall short of their typically ear-catching qualities.

The super-scaling 3D effect of the arcade game missing due to the Genesis lacking sprite scaling capabilities. Instead, the effect is approximated by generating sprites of increasingly larger size, which is used to varying degrees of success in Super Thunder Blade. The obstacles such as the surrounding buildings are therefore just flat façades, and the arcade’s 3D effect in the overhead sections was dropped altogether. It certainly never comes close to reaching the visual heights of its arcade prequel, but for a Genesis launch title, it blew away anything Nintendon’t didn’t do… no, wait… Yeah, never mind. That works.

Each level has two distinct sections: the 3D behind the back perspective followed by a 2D overhead perspective. Seeing as how Super Thunder Blade was not made to suck in quarters like its arcade counterpart, the developing team wisely deviated from the pattern of the original and put the 3D segments at the beginning of each stage. If you’re looking to sell a new game system, you’d want that killer mode right up front the second you hit start, don’t you think?

During the 3D segments, your chopper doesn’t do a whole lot of animating, and neither do the enemies. Everything just sort of enlarges as it flies at your face (sounds like a dream I had last night- a very different kind of dream). You fire both your Gatling Gun and rockets simultaneously with a single button press, which frees up your thought processes as you dodge and weave obstacles. It’s a welcome feature for anyone who has nearly sprained their thumbs constantly rocking them over the rocket button in an After Burner game. These sections each also have a relatively impressive boss fight smack dab in the middle, including a massive tank, submarine, and mechs (Huh. My spell check is telling me that “mech” isn’t a word- that’s dumb. It’s totally a word).

Another keen feature of the game that set it apart from other 3D rail shooters at the time is the ability to stop and hover in place. This allows you to progress a bit more meticulously if you are having trouble navigating certain areas or if you want to try and clear out a group of enemies before moving forward. The trade off is that your final score at the end of the stage is dependent on your time in completing it, but if a high score doesn’t matter to you, then hover away!

The overhead sections play a bit like like a vertical shooter, although your chopper can only slide from left to right at the bottom of the screen and your fire is directed down toward the surface while automatically scrolling upward and onward. The hover button also changes to a “move slowly backwards” button, which is pretty worthless until you are forced to use it in the very final battle of the game.

The goal in the overhead areas is largely to survive a deluge of attacks from the surface, and if you just keep moving, doing just that is a pretty easy task. So easy in fact, that the first few times I played through them I thought they were bonus levels. It made sense because your HUD (head-up display, didn’t want to assume) disappears altogether and you therefore have no clue how many lives you have left in reserve. But you can, in fact, die enough times to fail in these areas, so don’t be too reckless.

“Go! Get to da Chop- Chop- Choppah!”

So where does Super Thunder Blade fail? Right out of the hangar you will notice the choppiness of the 3D effect. It may have been the home console standard to beat in 1989, and it was quite a bit better than the Master System version of the original, but it’s a rough ride 25 years later. It’s not terribly disorienting at all times, though. Cruising through stage 1, you’ll find that the effect is quaint, but it doesn’t really affect your ability to play the game.

Then you will reach stage 2, the desert caves. The ugly, frustrating desert caves. This is where the design of the game starts to fall apart. Throughout the stage, you will pass through a pair of archways leading into and out of these giant caves. Even when I stopped my helicopter and carefully lined it up with the center of the entrance, the scaling is so wonky that I still snagged the edge of the cave as I crossed over and crashed to my death. The only way to ensure that you avoid this death trap is to line yourself up and crawl through by gently pressing and releasing the hover button, every single time.

Once inside the cave, it just gets worse. Visually, it is a flat, dark space with columns spread throughout for you to dodge and, of course, tanks and other helicopters for you to blow up. Here is where I noticed a very fundamental flaw in the game. Let’s say you stop and hover on the screen and try to take out some tanks camping out behind a couple of columns. Well, your weapons neither destroy the columns nor do they penetrate through them. That wouldn’t be too much of an issue except that your enemies can shoot through the obstacles. So don’t try taking cover behind a stalagmite or a column, because a shell is likely to go right through and deliver with it a fiery death. This also means that you can be flying through a stage, and not be able to see an enemy at all if they are behind an obstacle, and just as you approach the obstacle to pass by, you are suddenly shot down by a rocket or shell that you also couldn’t see until it was far too late. This leads to a lot of cheap deaths, especially given the slightly laggy controls of your helicopter.

It also becomes painfully obvious in stage 2 that it is very difficult to know exactly where your right and left limits actually are. In both stages 1 and 4, t here are usually buildings lining both sides of the field of play so you generally know where to move.In stage 2, especially inside the cave where the backgrounds are so non-descript, it’s difficult to know whether you can go around a particular pillar on the outside or if you will be limited by an invisible wall and crash. Requiem pro tip! I found that you can always pass on the outside, but this seriously limits your field of fire and I was frequently met with one of my afore-mentioned sudden deaths by hidden tank shell, so that strategy doesn’t always work.

After much to-do, I eventually escaped the desert caves and made it to stage 3, the open ocean, where I only crashed once. In a game with only four stages, why on earth would the second one also be the second hardest when the third one is so damn easy? Sure, it was nice to get a break before the final level, but I still feel bad for 8-year old little Billy, a hypothetical SEGA-fan who bought Super Thunder Blade day one with his Genesis back in 1989. He may very realistically never have seen anything past that damn desert stage. That’s $50 he’d never get back (over $95 when adjusted for inflation). A simple fix like the ability to choose your starting stage (similar to Space Harrier II) might have helped a bit. At least little Billy would have seen more than just two of the game’s environments (I’m guessing he played quite a bit of Altered Beast).

Once you complete your vacation cruise through stage 3 and arrive at the final stage (which only sorta kinda resembles a refinery), another odd design flaw rears its ugly head. In addition to ill-defined right and left limits, you now have to mind your limit at the bottom of the screen. Why? Because you land unexpectedly, essentially freezing in place, if you even tap the ground below. Needless to say this means many more cheap deaths as you try to fly below some very low-hanging obstacles in stage 4. If the player is already in full control of when the helicopter stops with the press of the hover button, then why include the mechanic of landing, which more often than not, is done completely by accident? If I had a nickel for every time I died as a result of an unexpected landing while trying to pass under an obstacle and dodge a phantom rocket at the same time, well, I wouldn’t be wasting my time writing this bloated retro review!

Closing

It’s more than past time to wrap up this review before it becomes longer than the actual game (if this took you more than 20 minutes to read, it is longer). As a launch title, I’m sure that Super Thunder Blade did its job. It made good on SEGA’s promise to deliver an arcade-like experience at home, and it was quite a showpiece when put up against comparable NES rail shooters like 3D World Runner or the Tengen port of After Burner. Even when put up against Space Harrier II, its peer launch title, Super Thunder Blade is a measurably weaker game.

Super Thunder Blade is still playable, to say the least, and it can still be enjoyed to some degree and very much appreciated if approached with the right perspective. But even for this SEGA Nerd, it is very difficult to recommend that you track down a copy and spend your retro dollars on it. It is available on the Wii Virtual Console for 8 bucks, so the price of entry there isn’t too bad.

However, I do suggest that if you are interested in playing Super Thunder Blade for yourself, grab a copy of Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection on PS3 or Xbox 360. It regularly goes for less than $20 on Amazon, and Super Thunder Blade is included along with tons of other, better Genesis titles.

It really is a shame that Super Thunder Blade and the Master System port of the original are so rough because their flaws seem to have tainted the retrospective appreciation of the arcade original, which is a much better game.

Here’s hoping that Thunder Blade in its original form will eventually emerge on a digital service like Steam or, even better, a full 3D Classics re-release on 3DS à la Galaxy Force II.

PROS:

+ Unique mechanics for a rail shooter
+ Some stages still look pretty good
+ Decent boss fights
+ Succeeded as a showpiece for its time

CONS:

– Design flaws cripple the experience
– 3D effect is choppy as all heck
– Cheap deaths
– The caves, I tell you! The caves!