Sega - What would you like to see from their past?

[Shou]

Last night, I had dinner with one of Sega's execs and had him over at my place where we talked about Sega history and current business plans. I showed him a # of arcade pieces which they actually no longer have in physical or source code form anymore and he asked me if there is anything that I'd like to see so I'd like to put this out to the community to hear what their Sega holy grail is.

Off of the top of my head, I asked for the Fighting Vipers 2 Java Tea Event ROMs and Spikeout update ROMs that Nagoshi had on his personal site back in 99 for my arcade collection but obviously Saturn VF3 is quite appealing too. What would you like to see? 1 answer per person please and do keep in mind that they really didn't archive things from the 80's well.

[GaijinPunch]

What would you like to see?

Yu Suzuki get his job back... leash-free style.

[Shou]

Yu Suzuki get his job back... leash-free style.

LOL, we know that ain't happening! Let's just say that stating Shenmue-gai is a failure would be an understatement but we knew that already...

[Knuckles500]

A sonic 1 prototype!

That'd be cool if they had a few of those around.

[GaijinPunch]

LOL, we know that ain't happening! Let's just say that stating Shenmue-gai is a failure would be an understatement but we knew that already...

So is this going to be arcade-centric? I know where your forte is, clearly. Sega's arcade division seems to be... well... dwindling. There's a ton of stuff I'd like to see, but it's mainly just crap from the 80's. I thought the goodies on the Fantasy Zone II Collection were excellent. Pixel for pixel sketches on graph paper? Awesome.

A shame about Shenmue-gai (I've not been following it at all) as that will definitely not help Shenmue 3 ever get made.

Honestly, I'd most like some solid data: games that were scrapped at any phase during part of the planning or development phase. Interesting loke-test changes, or of course, 1-off ROMs like the FV2 roms you mentioned.

Something maybe even easier: How many developers from the 80's are still employed by Sega? Surely that's not too hard to figure out. :)

[Bramsworth]

Saturn Shenmue. I doubt he's going to be releasing prototypes for us though, is he? =p

[Shou]

Saturn Shenmue. I doubt he's going to be releasing prototypes for us though, is he? =p

Nope, at best, pics and movies.

[GaijinPunch]

Did you ask him specifically on any canned arcade titles from the glory days? Wouldn't mind seeing some pics of obscure hardware -- proto dedicated cabs, and whatnot. Good luck w/ that one. :)

[Shou]

I think the 80's stuff will be lost on him since he entered Sega around the end of the MD era. I'm going to ask him about the Looney Tunes System 32 game next time we meet up.


We did talk about some MD stuff like production #s for The Ooze and Comix Zone as well as the Sega MD Tetris (apparently they have cases of them in storage).

[Getta Robo]

Any canned games, from the pre dc era, such as Sonic games would be great. I always wanted to find out more on Sonic-16 (http://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic-16) / Sonic Mars (http://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_Mars).

[Yakumo]

It's got to be Saturn Shenmue hasn't it! More videos and screens. there are so many more I'd like to mention but since we are limited to one I'll stick with Saurn Shenmue.

[angelwolf71885]

ide like to see detailed blueprints for the DC GD-rom drive the DC zip drive and the DC lan adapter also the source code for the DC bios would be nice too :-)

[Shou]

ide like to see detailed blueprints for the DC GD-rom drive the DC zip drive and the DC lan adapter also the source code for the DC bios would be nice too :-)


Do be realistic. :fresh:

[Shakey_Jake33]

but obviously Saturn VF3 is quite appealing too.

If that's actually realistic, then I can't imagine anything that would be more awesome to see. Saturn Shenmue would be awesome to see of course, but we do already have footage of that, so my vote would go towards Saturn VF3 seeing as we've never seen it.

[Alchy]

Saturn Shenmue, anything Sonic pre-DC.

[Segafreak_NL]

Anything Saturn.

[Consumed]

Anything NiGHTS related for either Saturn or DC.

[Max_XX_ou]

I want to see Hidekazu Yakuwa's commercials !

[LeGIt]

Pretty much builds of stuff cancelled for one system but released on others.

For example, Saturn Shenmue and Model 3 Scud Race which people want but I'm not as bothered about.

What I am more bothered about are Jet Set Radio Future, GunValkyrie, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Shinobi (2002), The House of the Dead III, Toejam and Earl III, Virtua Fighter 4 oh and the completely unreleased Dee Dee Planet on Dreamcast <3

Oh and Opa-Opa and Alex Kidd - WTF happened to them after Sonic? DId they ever get prototype gmes which were not released?

[A. Snow]

Any pics of early system mock-ups would be nice. Sketches are nice but I'd like to see what they were close to actually producing.

[Aydan]

Wow that's incredible you got the chance to have a meal and talk with a SEGA exec! :)

For me it would probably be Saturn Virtua Fighter 3 (Since it has been proven to have been completed and just cancelled from being sent to the presses) OR Sonic World (AKA Sonic Saturn before being ported to Dreamcast).

We've seen Shenmue footage on Saturn so why bother voting for something we've already had the chance to actually see in motion? More pictures won't give you anything you haven't gotten from the already released trailer.

[slayer2k8]

anything to do with Fighting Vipers 2
Why was this chosen to be ported?

[pedrot16]

Virtua Fighter 3 Saturn is the ultimate holy grail...

Sonic Adventure and Sega Rally 2 Saturn would be interesting too

[dreamcast_zone]

In general more Black Belt informations, pictures, games. It's such mysterious ....

If I had to choose only one, than VF3 Saturn.

[GaijinPunch]

I wouldn't mind knowing what happened to SPEC (https://www.gamengai.com/bn_ix.php?type=book&l=e&s=40). It was a rockin' little thingy, and a lot of the stories unfortunately never finished. If Rie Kodama is still there, I would assume she'd be the best to ask.

[Scarred Sun]

My personal holy grail would be the Service Games docs pre-Rosen Enterprises merger, but knowing how completely unrealistic that is, I would say the Dreamcast games original dev'd on Saturn. (Shenmue/SC5 in particular)

[Anthaemia.]

In addition to the obvious and predictable Saturn Virtua Fighter 3, I'd also love to see the last known build of Shenmue Saturn Version along with whatever had been completed of Sonic Adventure while it was still an active 32-bit project. By the way, to my knowledge there were never any real plans for a Saturn port of Sega Rally 2... though an early Model 3 prototype of SCUD Race featuring a (supposedly) inferior handling system was finished and due for release until Yu Suzuki made some last-minute suggestions to improve the drifting mechanics so the end result played more like a spiritual successor to Daytona USA than being a realistic high performance driving simulator. That's certainly another I'd be interested to see, and surely I can't be the only one even remotely curious about the various stages of evolution that ultimately led to the creation of Rez? Along with the leaked Vibes beta, there's footage of a much earlier work-in-progress copy dating from when the game was still known by its codename of K-Project that looks rather interesting, especially if this one really does have Saturn roots!

[Cyantist]

ide like to see detailed blueprints for the DC GD-rom drive the DC zip drive and the DC lan adapter also the source code for the DC bios would be nice too :-)

I don't think Sega has those:lol:

I'd like to see documents RE: Them splitting Sonic 3 & S&K up. Would be interesting to see how the idea was pitched.

[DCharlie]

mentioned it on friday, but :

there was apparently two other Xbox Panzer Dragoon games - a spin off action game and an RPG, but neither saw the light of day. Probably only mooted internally but curious in case something more concrete actually happened.

Rez - there were several different prototypes at the Rez event, including stages with Underworld music before they dropped out from the project. Would love to see those !

[C-Kronos]

o.O Although the community is in the process of getting it working, how about Geist Force or at least some information on the uniqueness of Geist Force?

[takeshi385]

its hard to say but saturn shenmue or sonic xtreme complete.

[Yakumo]

Rez - there were several different prototypes at the Rez event, including stages with Underworld music before they dropped out from the project. Would love to see those !That version has actually ben released :nod: Some kind soul released it here a year or so back.

Yakumo

[derekb]

Saturn Shenmue

my sentiments exactly



That version has actually ben released :nod: Some kind soul released it here a year or so back.

Yakumo

the k-project dump?

[Yakumo]

Yes, i can't remember who released it now though.

[Druid II]

Bare Knuckle 3 prototypes (not Streets of Rage 3 - we already have protos of that, and its just various phases of the english bastardization of the game. I'd like to see actual pre-release stuff from the original japanese version.)

[Shakey_Jake33]

sonic xtreme complete.

Given Sonic Xtreme was a Sega USA project, and Sega Japan seemed to be actively going out of their way to kill the project, the guy might not be able to help there. That said, given the game was actually completed on the PC (after Sega officially canned the project, some remaining members of the team finished the PC version in their own time), I'd love to know if that is known to exist anywhere. The videos on YouTube would suggest so.

[Jamtex]

I am sure me and the other Sega collectors would love to know what games on the Megadrive, Mega CD and Game Gear were penciled in for release (and have a G number) but were not released...

[Anthaemia.]

Given Sonic Xtreme was a Sega USA project, and Sega Japan seemed to be actively going out of their way to kill the project, the guy might not be able to help there. That said, given the game was actually completed on the PC (after Sega officially canned the project, some remaining members of the team finished the PC version in their own time), I'd love to know if that is known to exist anywhere. The videos on YouTube would suggest so.

Unlike the main "Project Condor" development team - led by Chris Coffen - behind Sonic Xtreme, the breakaway duo of Chris Senn and Ofer Alon managed to get their own vision for this game running on the PC as a working four-level demo they pitched to management in the US. However, since the Sega PC division was only interested in releasing ports of existing arcade or Saturn titles (and considering the console edition had already been cancelled in favour of a quick conversion of Sonic 3D), the concept was not taken further.

Senn has said on various occasions that he'd love nothing more than to arrange a way fans can play this particular build, though he won't go against Alon's wishes so for now the best we'll ever get is assets from it trickling out via the Sonic Xtreme Compendium he personally launched, along with a few videos plus a few leaked elements I can imagine neither being too happy about!

Despite being their original plan, does anyone else fear the PC code simply couldn't be reworked to play on the relatively underpowered home console? I realise some programmers were doing amazing things with Sega's 32-bit machine, but fish-eye camera lens effects, detailed polygonal worlds and a solid frame rate just seems a little unreasonable to me, even if Ofer Alon really was a genius and later responsible for creating Z Brush.

Sorry, but I've always seen the whole Sonic Xtreme fiasco as hype and promise over any real substance. While the PC prototype does seem to be quite advanced, there are still far more worthy examples of unreleased software from around the same period that I fear have a much lower chance of ever surfacing, even though they deserve to. I won't name any names, but you all know me and should have a good idea of certain titles I'm hinting at here...

[/2¢]

[Druid II]

Sonic Xtreme could've been at the very least memorable, if Sega wouldn't dick with STI at every possible chance. Those guys could work wonders when they were allowed to.

The only version of the game I want to see dumped is that full-3d Saturn version that hxc posted pictures of once, he got them (the pictures) from one of the ex-programmers, but I'll be fucked if I remember who.

[Anthaemia.]

I take it you're referring to the game known as Sonic Saturn based on its title screen? If so, this was actually a spin-off (pun not intended!) from the "Project Condor" team's work on Sonic Xtreme. I seem to recall this particular concept using real time generated polygons for both the levels and character models, with the bonus section later being pitched for Sonic 3D yet ultimately rejected in favour of Sonic Team's own 3D remaking of the special stages from Sonic 2. This so-called Sonic Pool idea was created by Peter Morawiec, though I'm not sure who was responsible for the main game... Chris Coffen's name has been mentioned in the past, though - can anyone confirm this?

[Ground Zero]

GunValkyrie for Dreamcast

[Lossl]

official list by sega of dreamcast games, cancelled ones in particular, including their respective scheduled product numbers (i.e. Geist Force: HDR-0008)

[xmog123x]

some kind of segata sanshiro memorabilia, I guess?

[Eviltaco64]

Toe-Jam and Earl vs. Shenmue: The Panzer Dragoon Saga Chronicles of Golden Axe.

It would be a good fighting game, but no one would buy it.

[Druid II]

some kind of segata sanshiro memorabilia, I guess?

... good call. I'd love to get DVD quality videos of all the commercials. Heck, a definitive list of all the different commercials would help too, so I know how accurate the list is on my segata site.

As far as I know, the best quality videos were released on the Choujin Densetsu pc/mac cd, but those were telecined.

[Shou]

Thanks to some of you for the constructive feedback. I'll be going to Sega HQ sometime in the near future and will report back my findings.

For those that didn't closely read my posts, anything from the 80's and early 90's especially projects developed outside of Japan have little chance of being in SOJ archives. While my contact may know of them personally since he was at SOA and SOE for some time, there is little chance of getting anything concrete for you to see.