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Golden Axe

Comedy Central Announces Golden Axe Animated Series

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In an exciting development for fans of animated entertainment and old school video games, Comedy Central has unveiled plans for a brand-new animated series based on Sega’s 1989 seminal side-scrolling beat’em up / hack’n slash video game, Golden Axe. Set to captivate audiences with its unique blend of humor and adventure, the announcement has already sparked widespread anticipation among viewers eager to witness the comedic prowess of the show’s talented cast and crew.

Led by the Emmy-winning actor Matthew Rhys, known for his remarkable performances in “The Americans” and “Perry Mason,” alongside the beloved actor Danny Pudi, recognised for his role in the hit series “Community,” Golden Axe promises to deliver a fresh and entertaining experience for audiences of all ages.

Just like the video game, Golden Axe is set in the medieval fantasy world, Yuria, filled with magic, mythical creatures, and epic quests, with the animated series following the exploits of Ax Battler, Tyris Flare and Gilius Thunderhead, a group of unlikely heroes as they embark on an adventure battling the evil giant Death Adder and his minions. With Rhys and Pudi at the helm, viewers can expect a delightful blend of wit, charm, and comedic timing as the characters navigate the perils of their quest with hilarity and heart.

Speaking about his involvement in the project, Matthew Rhys expressed his excitement, stating,

“I am thrilled to be part of such a fun and imaginative series. Golden Axe is a truly unique and exciting project, and I can’t wait for audiences to join us on this epic journey.”

Equally enthusiastic about the upcoming series, Danny Pudi shared,

“As a longtime fan of animation, I am honored to be working alongside such a talented team to bring ‘Golden Axe’ to life. The world we are creating is full of humor, adventure, and heart, and I can’t wait for viewers to experience it.”

With Comedy Central’s reputation for delivering groundbreaking comedy and innovative storytelling, Golden Axe is poised to become a standout addition to the network’s lineup. As viewers eagerly await its premiere, the animated series is already generating buzz and anticipation, promising an unforgettable adventure filled with laughter, excitement, and plenty of golden moments.

The Complete History of Sega World

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Ah, Sega World Sydney – wish we had visited! Image source: Sega World Sydney Memoriam

If there is one regret we have, it’s that we didn’t get to visit Sega World in Darling Harbour (Sydney) before it was closed down.

The next best thing was to find Badnik Mechanic’s awesome video on the history of Sega World. Sega had planned to revolutionise arcades forever with their new arcade / theme park concept. Unfortunately Sega failed, but the story of Sega World’s creation needed to be told.

Sit back for the next quarter of an hour and take in some 1990s Sega goodness – you may learn something new too!


source: Badnik Mechanic

 

Review: Sega Mega Drive Mini – Welcome to the Next Level!

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Casting our mind back to November 1990, we recall walking into our local family run Home and Entertainment Centre with our hard earned money (from pushing trolleys at our part-time job) to be faced with a dilemma of what new gaming console to buy for the new decade. This decision wasn’t taken lightly, as we had been 8 and 16-bit computer gamers till that point. We remember paying $399.99 for the Sega Mega Drive (Altered Beast pack-in) that day and another $100 for Golden Axe. Let’s just say that it was the best decision we ever made. We instantly fell in love with Sega’s 16-Bit console and that love affair is still as strong as ever.

Fast forward to the present day and the excitement of bringing home a mini version of Sega’s venerable console feels just the same as it did almost 29 years ago! Cracking open the box, we found a super cute shrunken Mega Drive Mini console, about 55% the size of the original Model 1 Mega Drive, two 3-button USB controllers, one HDMI cable and one USB to Micro-B power cable.

Being a genuine made Sega product, everything feels high quality. You can tell that Sega took a lot of care and poured their heart and souls into crafting this sleek and miniaturised Mega Drive. We love the attention to detail, like the cartridge flaps retracting, but obviously they are there for aesthetics, so you can put away your game carts. The headphone volume slider feels the same, albeit on a smaller scale, as do the reset button and on/off switch – it all feels very familiar, which is a good thing. The 3-button controllers are identical to the ones we had in 1990, except these are USB, not D-Pin connected. On that front, it would have been great if Sega had included 6-button controllers so that we could play games like Street Fighter II right out of the box. But don’t dwell on this, as you can use the Retro-Bit® 6-button controllers on this Mini.

Once the Mega Drive Mini was fired up, we were keen to start playing one of the 42 pre-loaded games (full list of games further down). The menu we were presented with was quite easy to navigate, with an awesome catchy tune created on the YM2612 sound chip by legendary composer Yuzo Koshiro (Streets of Rage and Beyond Oasis). Knowing that the pre-loaded titles from both first-party and third-party development teams were all handled by the premier developer, M2 (SEGA AGES and SEGA 3D Classics Collection), a team renowned for high attention to detail and accuracy, we knew the games ported to the Mega Drive Mini were in good hands – the M2 team should be commended for their brilliant effort. Oh yeah, both Tetris and Darius make it in the overall games list, which means the Mega Drive Mini is the only console where you’ll be able to play these two newly published Mega Drive games – how cool is that?!

Just like in 1990, the first game we fired up was Golden Axe. The hit of nostalgia was purely intoxicating. Our muscle memory didn’t let us down, so playing the game was just as fun as it was back then. However, unlike back then, we could now save our game at any point to come back to it later – so no more pesky pausing for 24 hours and running a high power bill. The game playing experience felt authentic, even if playing on a modern television. Having said that, there are settings available to change the aspect ratio (4:3 or 16:9) and for those of you that want the same visual experience from three decades ago, there is a CRT filter, which adds scan lines and adjusts the colour of the display to emulate the look and feel of a CRT television (see photos of this further below) – it’s pure magic.

Lovingly crafted from the ground up, the sleek and miniature SEGA Mega Drive Mini is for all retro gamers, especially those that have fond memories playing the original 16-bit console back in the day. Sega have truly delivered a high-quality, plug-and-play, collectable version of their awesome console. As their famous slogan once said, and it still rings true now, “To be this good takes AGES, To be this good takes SEGA.”

If you want to see the Sega Mega Drive Mini in the flesh, we will have it available in our Classic Gaming area at PAX Aus 2019. The Sega Mega Drive Mini will be released on September 19 at a retail price of AU$139.95.

The Mega Drive Mini 42 pre-loaded titles:

1. Sonic the Hedgehog
2. Ecco the Dolphin
3. Castlevania: The New Generation
4. Space Harrier 2
5. Shining Force
6. Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
7. ToeJam & Earl
8. Comix Zone
9. Altered Beast
10. Gunstar Heroes
11. Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse
12. World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck
13. Thunder Force III
14. Super Fantasy Zone
15. Shinobi III
16. Streets of Rage 2
17. Earthworm Jim
18. Sonic the Hedgehog 2
19. Probotector
20. Landstalker
21. Mega Man®: The Wily Wars
22. Street Fighter II’®: Special Champion Edition
23. Ghouls ‘n Ghosts®
24. Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
25. The Story of Thor
26. Golden Axe
27. Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium
28. Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball
29. Vectorman
30. Wonder Boy in Monster World
31. Tetris®
32. Darius
33. Road Rash II
34. Strider
35. Virtua Fighter 2
36. Alisia Dragoon
37. Kid Chameleon
38. Monster World IV
39. Eternal Champions
40. Columns
41. Dynamite Headdy
42. Light Crusader

Disclosure: The Sega Mega Drive Mini was kindly provided by Five Star Games for this review.

Nintendo Switch Review: SEGA Mega Drive Classics

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Woohoo, the iconic retro collection Sega Mega Drive Classics has landed on the Nintendo Switch™ and boy, it is a ripper! We thought the PS4 version was awesome (which it is!), but you can’t take your PS4 on the train with you to play these classic Mega Drive games.

Sega Mega Drive Classics on the Nintendo Switch is the largest collection of retro classic games in one pack. There are 50+ classic Sega 16-bit games to satisfy almost every genre under the sun, from arcade action, adventure, pinball (sort of), shooters, beat ‘em ups, fighters, puzzlers, hack’n slashers, tactical RPGs to everyone’s favourite, platformers – and there are lots of platformers (which isn’t a bad thing)!

These old favourites aren’t just dumped from their cartridges and thrown in this package, no sirree, they have had a raft of cool modern features injected into them including mirror mode, rewind (for when you slip up), controller customisation, online multiplayer and achievements, optional emulation enhancement filters like pixel scaling and save states to save your game at any time, meaning players – both old and new, should find revisiting these retro games an absolute blast.


source: Five Star Games

Once we loaded Sega Mega Drive Classics we were totally impressed by the opening title sequence, which we will leave as a surprise (Ed: Unless you have already experienced it on the PS4/XBone), but we can tell you this much, it’s pretty darn awesome – either that or we are too easy to please. Anyway, once you stop drooling from the title sequence you are greeted by the menu system where you can access the 50+ Sega Mega Drive games and various other options. The menu resembles the bedroom of an early nineties Sega fan, which is a great throwback, with dynamic time-of-day conditions, retro SEGA paraphernalia, a shelf full of the aforementioned 50+ Mega Drive games, and of course, a CRT TV with the sexy Mega Drive console underneath it.

When selecting a game to play, its corresponding cart is removed from its case and then inserted into the Mega Drive console – pure nostalgia overload. On top of the already mentioned modern conveniences and features jammed into this package, the most important thing we can tell you is that the emulation of the games is spot-on. The word ’emulation’ may trigger negative connotations, but we are here to tell ya that this is as close as you will get to playing Mega Drive games without forking out for the console on eBay and then fishing around for the game cartridges.

A lot of you may already know this, but for the peeps that don’t know, we aren’t much of adventure or RPG fans, so we stuck to Sega’s arcade conversions, platformers, beat’me ups and puzzle games in this collection. After playing a lot of Sonic, Ristar, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, Columns, Comix Zone and the Shinobi games, we can say that we definitely felt like we were back in the early 90s – good times!

Before we go on, here is the full list of games included in this package:

  • Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
  • Alien Soldier
  • Alien Storm
  • Altered Beast
  • Beyond Oasis
  • Bio-Hazard Battle
  • Bonanza Bros.
  • Columns
  • Columns III: Revenge of Columns
  • Comix Zone
  • Crack Down
  • Decap Attack
  • Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
  • Dynamite Headdy
  • ESWAT: City Under Siege
  • Fatal Labyrinth
  • Flicky
  • Gain Ground
  • Galaxy Force II
  • Golden Axe
  • Golden Axe II
  • Golden Axe III
  • Gunstar Heroes
  • Kid Chameleon
  • Landstalker
  • Light Crusader
  • Phantasy Star II
  • Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom
  • Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium
  • Ristar
  • Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi
  • Shining Force
  • Shining Force II
  • Shining in the Darkness
  • Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
  • Sonic 3D Blast
  • Sonic Spinball
  • Sonic the Hedgehog
  • Sonic the Hedgehog 2
  • Space Harrier II
  • Streets of Rage
  • Streets of Rage 2
  • Streets of Rage 3
  • Super Thunder Blade
  • Sword of Vermilion
  • The Revenge of Shinobi
  • ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron
  • ToeJam & Earl
  • Vectorman
  • Vectorman 2
  • Virtua Fighter 2

The problem with a pack like this is that players will concentrate on all the games there were left out. Granted, they probably could put the entire Mega Drive catalogue on the cute little Switch cards and flog it for $90.00+, but then we would find something else to complain about. The games that are included are solid, bar a few questionable titles, however, just because we don’t like adventure and RPG titles, it doesn’t mean they should be excluded. Same goes the other way, if you loathe platformers, beat’em ups and puzzlers, it doesn’t mean these genres should be thrown out for more RPGs. Actually, if there was a driving game like Super Monaco GP or a motorcycle-racing-bashing one like Road Rash, then we could say that most, if not all, genres are well represented. Come to think of it, a few more shoot’em ups, like Truxton and Thunder Force would have rounded out this already pretty awesome package. Ah, we can speculate all we want, but we have to give it to Sega, they have tried to cater for the majority and we reckon they have done an admirable job.

After waffling on about this Sega Mega Drive Classics package on the Switch, the ultimate decision to buy or not buy is yours, but we’ll leave you with this little nugget – if you want to get your Sega 16-Bit gaming fix on your modern console and also play it on the go, then you can’t go too wrong with Sega Mega Drive Classics.

Review System: Nintendo Switch
Release Date: December 6 2018
Format: Nintendo Switch, Xbox One & PS4
Price: $48.99 on Nintendo Switch (via OzGameShop)

Disclosure: Sega Mega Drive Classics [Nintendo Switch] download code was kindly provided by Five Star Games for this review.

 

Getting Our Nostalgic Fix on the PS4 with Sega Mega Drive Classics

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Let’s get this out of the way, if you are still enjoying the Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection on previous systems, then stop reading this review (even though you will be missing out!). If on the other hand you are yearning to play some classic 16-bit Sega games on your PS4, then read on. Oh yeah, Sega Mega Drive Classics is also available on Xbox One, but we don’t have a XBone, so there you go.

Now, should we connect our Sega Mega Drive console and compare the games side by side? Actually, if you are lucky enough to have a working Mega Drive console connected to your TV with all the titles that are in this Classics pack, then you know what, you should stop reading too!

Ok, we are glad we got that off our chest! Wow, two paragraphs in and we still haven’t started telling you about the games and the other bells and whistles in this nostalgia inducing package.

Sega Mega Drive Classics on the PS4 is the largest collection of retro classic games in one pack. There are over 50 classic Sega 16-bit games, ok we counted them all, there are actually 53 games (and that’s not counting the games that have region specific variants) to satisfy almost every genre under the sun, from arcade action, adventure, pinball (sort of), shooters, beat ‘em ups, fighters, puzzlers, hack’n slashers, tactical RPGs to everyone’s favourite, platformers – and there are lots of platformers!

These old favourites aren’t just dumped from their cartridges and thrown in this package, no sirree, they have had a raft of very cool modern features injected into them including mirror mode, rewind (for when you slip up), controller customisation, online multiplayer and achievements, optional emulation enhancement filters like pixel scaling and save states to save your game at any time, meaning players – both old and new, should find revisiting these retro games an absolute Sonic 3D Blast (Ed: Oh dear, that was terrible!).

Upon loading Sega Mega Drive Classics we were totally impressed by the opening title sequence, which we will leave as a surprise, but we can tell ya this much, it’s pretty darn awesome – either that or we are too easy to please. Anyway, once you stop drooling from the title sequence (unless you hit X!) you are greeted by the new-look menu system, developed by d3t, from which you can access the 53 Sega Mega Drive games and other options. The menu resembles the bedroom of an early nineties Sega fan, which is a great throwback, with dynamic time-of-day conditions, retro SEGA paraphernalia, a shelf full of the aforementioned 53 Mega Drive games, and of course, a CRT TV with the sexy Mega Drive console underneath it.

When selecting a game to play, its corresponding cart is removed from its case and then inserted into the Mega Drive console – pure nostalgic nirvana. On top of the already mentioned modern conveniences and features jammed into this package, the most important thing we can tell you is that the emulation of the games is spot-on. The word ’emulation’ may trigger negative connotations, but we are here to tell ya that this is as close as you will get to playing Mega Drive games without forking out for the console on eBay and then fishing around for the game cartridges.

We touched on this earlier, but we’ll elaborate – each game has additional options, some more than others, like region specific versions (L3), modifications (Y) and extras (R1) like target milestones that earn you specific trophies.

As we aren’t much of adventure or RPG fans, we stuck to Sega’s arcade conversions, platformers, beat’me ups and puzzle games. After playing a lot of Sonic, Ristar, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, Gunstar Heroes, Columns, the Wonder Boy and Shinobi games, we can say that we definitely felt like we were back in the early 90s – good times!

Before we go on, here is the full list of games included in this package:

  • Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
  • Alien Soldier
  • Alien Storm
  • Altered Beast
  • Beyond Oasis
  • Bio-Hazard Battle
  • Bonanza Bros.
  • Columns
  • Columns III: Revenge of Columns
  • Comix Zone
  • Crack Down
  • Decap Attack
  • Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
  • Dynamite Headdy
  • ESWAT: City Under Siege
  • Fatal Labyrinth
  • Flicky
  • Gain Ground
  • Galaxy Force II
  • Golden Axe
  • Golden Axe II
  • Golden Axe III
  • Gunstar Heroes
  • Kid Chameleon
  • Landstalker
  • Light Crusader
  • Phantasy Star II
  • Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom
  • Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millenium
  • Ristar
  • Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi
  • Shining in the Darkness
  • Shining Force
  • Shining Force II
  • Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
  • Sonic the Hedgehog
  • Sonic the Hedgehog 2
  • Sonic 3D Blast
  • Sonic Spinball
  • Space Harrier II
  • Streets of Rage
  • Streets of Rage 2
  • Streets of Rage 3
  • Super Thunder Blade
  • Sword of Vermilion
  • The Revenge of Shinobi
  • ToeJam & Earl
  • ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron
  • Vectorman
  • VectorMan 2
  • Virtua Fighter 2
  • Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair
  • Wonder Boy in Monster World

The problem with a pack like this is that players will concentrate on all the games Sega left out of the mix. Granted, Sega probably could put the entire Mega Drive catalogue on one Blu-ray and flog it for $90.00, but then we would find something else to complain about – you just can’t please everyone. The games that are included are solid, bar a few questionable titles, however, just because we don’t like adventure and RPG titles, it doesn’t mean they should be excluded. Same goes the other way, if you loathe platformers, beat’em ups and puzzlers, it doesn’t mean these genres should be thrown out for more RPGs. Actually, if there was a driving game like Super Monaco GP or a motorcycle-racing-bashing one like Road Rash, then we could say that most, if not all, genres are well represented. Come to think of it, a few more shoot’em ups, like Truxton and Thunder Force would have rounded out this already pretty awesome package. Ah, we can speculate all we want, but we have to give it to Sega, they have tried to cater for the majority and we reckon they have done an admirable job.

After waffling on about this Sega Mega Drive Classics package on the PS4, the ultimate decision to buy or not buy is yours, but we’ll leave you with this little nugget – if you want to get your Sega 16-Bit gaming fix on your modern console, then you can’t go too wrong with Sega Mega Drive Classics.

Review System: PS4
Release Date: May 29 2018
Format: Xbox One & PS4 (sorry Nintendo Switch owners)
Price: $49.95

image source: Mega Drive Classics

Disclosure: Sega Mega Drive Classics [PS4] download code was kindly provided by Five Star Games for this review.