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Features« Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (360) | Features Home | Impressions: Spore (PC) »  2008 looks to be a very cool year for the SEGA Genesis. A new title for SEGA Genesis, Legend of Wukong, will be released by Super Fighter Team before the end of the year. Super Fighter Team is run by Brandon Cobb and is the same team that released the very cool RPG (and funny) Beggar Prince in 2006. I would say that based on how the end product of Beggar Prince turned out, I'm hoping for big things with Legend of Wukong. Before I go into it, here's some quick details to clear up any confusion: Is this a cartridge based game that will play on my Genesis or just a remake of a Genesis title for a different system? The game is NOT just a remake of a Genesis title made only for some other system or emulator. The game is a Genesis cartridge playable on an actual Genesis (and has the notch for the cartridge lock systems and Mega Drive). How is the product quality? The game is NOT just a typical homebrew/homemade job by a guy printing covers on an inkjet and using recycled parts, boards, and cases. The product has been professionally produced with original artwork and all new cases and factory new materials. Does the game have issues on any certain models of Genesis/Mega Drive or combinations? The bug (like certain early Genesis releases had) in the original Taiwan release has been fixed so the game will play on any model and region of Genesis/Mega Drive, including the 32X and Nomad with any combination of Genesis, 32X and SEGA CD. Is the game licensed by SEGA? No, the game is not officially licensed by SEGA Will I be able to buy the game at any retail store? No, you most likely aren't going to see the game in major retail outlets like Toy's R Us. Maybe if you have a very cool independent game store in your town otherwise you can order it directly from Super Fighter Team's website and have it sent to your door worldwide. Legend of Wukong is originally a Taiwan release that never saw an American or English release until now. The game is more than just a translation however, as the game has had extensive reprogramming to fix various quirks and bugs in the original gameplay. Other things changed just to make the game much smoother. Myself growing up on the Genesis, I'm used to the bugs in many of the early generation Genesis titles. But the production time put in I'm sure is good for very opinionated game players nowadays that expect a much more polished product to be released. Another very classy touch is the packaging artwork that matches the first generation black with grey box grid stripes packaging and emblem style Genesis/Mega Drive logos - which I always did like. Thankfully, they didn't go with SEGA's later change to a more modern look of red packaging with broad diagonal stripes and bolder logo font. Ick.
Yeah, that's a pretty looking box and label... The story in Legend of Wukong is about Wukong, who is a young student.  Wukong's neighbor is a brilliant inventor, Dr. Tang whose latest invention is a time machine. As the story goes, Wukong being mischevious goes in and plays around and ends up zapping himself back in time to ancient China! With the help of some friends that Wukong will meet, he must journey across China and India to find the time machine to get back home. And meanwhile, battle monsters and demons that find out about the machine and are looking for it too. In addition to Wukong and Dr. Tang, other characters include: Pigsy, who was born with human's body but pig features.  Wujing, whose mother was killed by demons as a child - so she has trained herself to fight and magic, waiting for her chance on revenge.  When I first heard about Legend of Wukong, I noticed the pig character and the journey across China and India self-discovery type story - so it reminded me first thing of Saiyuki Journey West, based on a Chinese folk story. I'm not sure if that is just coincedence, but if Legend of Wukong resembles Saiyuki Journey West at all, I would be very pleased as it is one of my fave Playstation games. The gameplay of Legend of Wukong is classic turn based RPG with weapons and magic. Legend of Wukong sounds to be just another classic Genesis RPG that SEGA nuts like me will cherish to have in their collection. Back when Beggar Prince came out, I was trying to find someone who would trade the game to me (this is after the first printing had sold out, and the later printings were not announced yet) - and of the few friends that I knew did have the game, the game was basically untradeable. You almost never see Beggar Prince on people's available game trader lists. So just like that release, I would expect Legend of Wukong to do the same and only keep its value and be worth much more than the original price later on. Few games actually keep their original value nowadays, with the overprinting of most titles out there - so you know that's a big deal. For anyone who will buy this game, I hope that they actually do play the game and not keep it under glass - but just saying for anyone who grew up with the Genesis or overnight sessions of RPG's on NES, Genesis and SEGA CD, Legend of Wukong really is a must get title for us looking a new title to remind us of the days... Some screenshots:                    As I mentioned - 2008 looks to be a very cool year for the SEGA Genesis - in addition to Legend of Wukong, another new never before released title is coming out on Genesis at the same time that I also have been keeping track of. Pier Solar, an RPG developed ground up by WM Development, from the ideas of various members of Eidolon's Inn, probably the oldest SEGA fan/historical website out there. My preview page of Pier Solar will come soon, so be sure to check back for it! Links: Authors
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Comments (6)
Creston said,
It isn’t really my cup of tea.
But it’s really cool nonetheless; Genesis games don’t come out a whole lot nowadays. And it looks like they did a very good job.
.......
Zaku (one of the other games they’re working on) looks cool, it’s got the same kind of strangeness that Alien Hominid has.
Posted by Creston | October 3, 2008 2:02 PM
Brian Moy said,
Oh, I understand.
The game (and news of the game) definately has more of a niche/specialty audience. If you are used to the new school type RPG's and games with instant gratification, then really this is basically "just another old game". But for people like me that like the crusty stuff (when I say crusty, I'm being affectionate), this is really a very big deal.
Genesis games almost NEVER come out anymore! A new release (professionally produced and manufactured) for a 10+ year old system is really cool news. For the homebrew/independent/retro culture, its important to support the publishers that release these games to encourage future game development on retro systems.
Posted by Brian Moy | October 3, 2008 2:27 PM
Creston said,
IMO the game isn’t niche, there are many people who like turn based games (a lot of them younger than myself), its only niche because it came out for Genesis, if it came out for DS it would sell very well.
I just can’t bring myself to play turn-based games even Fallout, which has a setting to die for.
Posted by Creston | October 6, 2008 12:35 PM
I'm going to have to definitely think about picking this up. A new Genesis game after all this time. That is just awesome.
Posted by Josh Parr | October 6, 2008 5:21 PM
Brian Moy said,
Believe me, the game isn't mainstream as you WON'T be seeing it for sale at any retail outlets like Kmart, GameStop, etc. The only way you can get the game is thru Super Fighter Team's website. Most people aren't going to pay attention to the game being a Genesis/MegaDrive release - and an indy release at that. SEGA unfortunately doesn't have the rep that Nintendo does. If it was even a N64 or SNES game, I'm sure more people in general would care as those systems are still in demand currently. Its got nothing to do with the game style.
I'm pretty certain you aren't going to see it released on any modern systems as realistically, those companies aren't going to take the time to reprogram a ten year old game that no one in USA has heard of to a modern game console. If it came out on the Nintendo DS "as is", it would be a ten year old game ported to a modern system so would look out of place.
For example: Beggar Prince is great - but it does play/look like an early Genesis release. I don't think its fair to compare it to a DS game because of all the technology advances of new systems.
Posted by Brian Moy | October 11, 2008 4:51 PM
Just got this game a few days ago, it was pretty good from what I played of it anyway.
Hopefully it sells well and they continue to bring over more games that never made it to the US.
In a way I'm sort of glad Pier Solar was delayed because now there will be 2 Genesis games released over a span of a year instead of coming out at the same exact time.
Posted by Justin Redmond | December 8, 2008 11:24 PM