Features – Page 153

Forgotten Franchises: Streets of Rage

September 11, 2004 by Ken Horowitz 1 comment

It would seem like a no-brainer that Streets of Rage would be brought back for another installment, doesn’t it? Not to the company that released it. Time and time again, hope for another sequel has been crushed by the corporate boot. Even the game’s creators have tried to resurrect it and were unsuccessful. The company just doesn’t seem to want to be bothered with the series any more. So where did Streets of Rage go wrong? How did it fall from a first rate series to forgotten franchise? There’s some history to that, so read on and prepared to get pissed.

Classic Interviews, Features

Classic Interview: Victor Ireland (Founder of Working Designs)

September 5, 2004 by Zach Meston & Doug Arnold 0 comments

Sega-16 concludes its tribute to WD with an intact reprinting of the interview with Victor Ireland that originally appeared in the Sandwich Islands Publishing strategy guides for Lunar: The Silver Star & Popful Mail. The interview was conducted in 1993 and 1995.

Editorials, Features

Sega CD’s Finest Hour: The Lunar Games

August 28, 2004 by Ken Horowitz 0 comments

Working Designs led the RPG charge by releasing four awesome games. Popful Mail was an incredible side scrolling action/RPG that needs to be re-released and Vay, though frustrating with its random battles, was a neat little romp with one of the first character deaths on console (Phantasy Star II beat them to it). Their greatest achievements, without a doubt, have to be the two Lunar games.

Features, Many Faces of Genesis

Many Faces of Genesis: JVC X’Eye

August 19, 2004 by Ken Horowitz 0 comments

In 1994 JVC released a console that combined a Genesis and a Sega CD into a single unit. While it wasn’t successful due to overpricing, the X’Eye (Wondermega in Japan) is now being snapped up by collectors at every opportunity. Read all about it in the first installment of our series The Many Faces of Genesis.

Features, History Of

History of: Phantasy Star

August 14, 2004 by Chris Montgomery 1 comment

There were many factors that allowed Phantasy Star to be so innovative in every respect. Sega did manage to develop some very capable systems early in console development. That, coupled with great designers, led to very technologically advanced games. However, Sega’s business practices and general corporate attitude toward the game designer teams are what affected the game development most. In fact, Sega’s success (or lack thereof) with each game seems to parallel changes in the company’s business practices. The changing corporate attitude of Sega can be seen in the quality of the stories and the marketing used for each of the Phantasy Star installments.