Season 5

Listen to KC's thoughts on Yakuza: Like a Dragon, the latest entry in the popular Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio series in this long overdue review of the game.

This week, I'm joined on the Lounge by the amazing Tom Campbell. Radio presenter, part of the Cultaholic Wrestling website and YouTube channel and, most importantly I'd say, Sonic the Hedgehog fan. As you probably know, everyone's favorite blue hedgehog is turning 30 next year and Tom decided a good way to celebrate that was to put together an audio documentary about the games, the cartoons, the comic books and the fans that make the blue blur such a beloved character. This has been one of the best times I ever had recording an interview and that's saying a lot so I do hope you enjoy getting to know the legend that is Tom Campbell.

This week, I'm thrilled to be joined by Scott Strichart, localization producer of the Yakuza series at SEGA of America. If you listened to our bonus summer episodes, you may remember a talk I had with Scott back in 2018 on another show, which you should definitely go listen to if you want even more detail into his video game experiences. This time, however, it was great to have him on for the full Lounge experience. Listen as he discusses working closely with RGG Studio and the process behind localizing Yakuza: Like a Dragon and much more. We'll also find out if he is indeed worthy of his Twitter bio title of "Patriarch of the Yakuza Localization Family" in another challenge that is not for the faint of heart.

This week, I’m joined on The SEGA Lounge by Riku Rose, chairman of The Tojo Dojo, a recent but great resource for all your Yakuza and Shenmue needs. Created earlier this year, it’s grown in support on social media and has been sharing memes and news related to, mostly, the Yakuza franchise. It was really nice to get to know Riku Rose and put his love for SEGA to the test in another hard as nails challenge.

This week, I'm incredibly honored to be joined by the current co-owners of Shenmue Dojo, the most prominent online resource for Shenmue news, info and more, and also the most active community. The Dojo turned 20 years old earlier this month, which is in and of itself an achievement, but when you add to that the importance of its community (and others, of course) to the evolution of the Shenmue series, it's an even bigger deal. I've had the pleasure of sitting down with James Brown, aka SkillJim, and Matt Oliver, and what follows is a longer than usual episode of The SEGA Lounge, but also one that was certainly a pleasure to record as it's not very often that I get to have fellow Shenmue enthusiasts on the show. They also address the ongoing, yet already funded, Kickstarter project for Shenmue World, a fanmade magazine focused on Shenmue. I hope you enjoy listening to this as much as I enjoyed recording it.

This week, I'm joined by Jord Odell, E-commerce and Social Media Manager at SEGA Shop Europe, which includes both the UK and European storefronts. Jord is the marketing wizard that connects the fans and Numskull, the people running the shop. She kindly agreed to have a chat with me about her career and her love for video games and was also kind enough to let me put her through another brutal edition of The SEGA Lounge Challenge.

In the distant year of 2013, I had the pleasure of interviewing Scott Davies, a programmer, SEGA fan, and the creator of RetroAchievements, a project that intended to add achievements to old games. This week, I'm joined on The SEGA Lounge by Meleu, a staffer over at RetroAchievements. We talk about the site's inception, Meleu's work with the RA community and what's in store for the future. Do you love collecting trophies or achievements in modern games? Ever wished you could get achievements in your favorite retro games? Keep listening to find out how you can make that happen thanks to RetroAchievements.

This week, I'm proud to be joined on The SEGA Lounge by three members of the Victory Heat Rally team. If you're not aware of it, Victory Heat Rally is an upcoming retro-style, super scaler, arcade racing game, that is heavily inspired by classic SEGA arcade racers and is currently looking for funding on Kickstarter. I sat down with Ian and Aidan from Skydevilpalm and our old friend RoBKTA, one of the soundtrack composers, to discuss the project. And we also play a musical game. I hope you'll give it a shot as well while you're listening.

This week's episode is focused on another big Sonic community event: the Sonic Hacking Contest 2020, taking place between Monday, October 26th and Sunday, November 1st. Spanner of the SHC team joins me on the show this week to discuss the history of the event and what we can expect from both the Contest and Expo sides of it this year. If you're into playing Sonic hacks and mods, keep listening.

This week's guest is the amazing Bex Trista, aka TristaBytes. Presenter, interviewer, gamer, voice actor... You name it, she can probably do it. Trista hails from the UK and is well-known for her YouTube and more recently Twitch channels and she is a very entertaining person. Whenever you drop by her Twitch streams you'll be greeted with tea, biscuits and stickers and she's a delight to watch as she covers everything gaming, comic book, movie and TV related. And much more. Listen to this episode to find out more about her journey and see how she fares against one of the most brutal SEGA Lounge Challenges to date.

My guest this week is Casey Corrigan, editor of the upcoming "ToeJam & Earl's Funky Fresh Foods of Funkotron Cookbook". It's currently being funded through Kickstarter and it's exactly what it sounds like: a book filled with recipes inspired by the ToeJam & Earl series of video games. How did this happen and what is it all about, you ask? Find out by listening to my chat with the awesome Casey. Be warned: this week's challenge is a culinary one... in a way.

This week's guest is Mikael Tillander, the Swedish developer behind a fairly recent Mega Drive game called Tänzer. It's a blend of different genres, the most notable ones being platformer, hack 'n' slash and shoot-em-up. A fast-paced action game with an amazing soundtrack that you can get for your Mega Drive or Genesis in physical format. I talk to Mikael about his hobby as a video game developer, his newfound love for the SEGA Mega Drive and what to expect from him in the future. Check it out.

Celebrating International Podcast Day in advance, this week's guests are James and Dan, aka The SEGAGUYS, a couple of veteran SEGA fans who host The SEGAGUYS RetroPod. I had a great time recording this interview and learning about the guys' love for SEGA and how they got together to start the podcast. I also learned a lot about how playing Sega Rally can be a meditative experience. Listen to the episode if you want to know more about this awesome SEGA podcast.

This week's guests are two members of the team behind Dormiveglia, one of my favorite games of this year's Sonic Amateur Games Expo. Dormiveglia is a 2D Metroidvania style game starring Quinn, the young whip-wielding hero of Spring Plaza. After their village is ransacked by the mysterious Somnia, Quinn quickly sets out to chase after her. Since the game is currently on Kickstarter trying to get funding for its completion, Darkonius Mavakar and Awesome3475 are here to tell us more about the origins and future of this project.

My guest this week is a fellow Portuguese who's been working at SEGA of Europe for six years now and is currently a Senior Designer. She is also a Twitch streamer in her spare time, and a very entertaining one at that. We talk about her gaming experience, how she got a job "making pretty pictures for the interwebs", and a stupidly hard SEGA Lounge Challenge gives Marta a run for her money... or is it the other way around? Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Marta, Marta Camilo.

The SEGA Lounge has officially reopened for business. This week, and it's a Lounge tradition already, we're covering SAGE, the Sonic Amateur Games Expo 2020. It's a special one, not only for the sheer amount of fan games and indie games that will be showcased, but also because it's the event's 20th anniversary. So you can definitely expect it to be bigger and better than ever. SAGE 2020 takes place from September 5th to September 12th, and it's a pleasure to have Carson, aka Neo Hazard, on the show to discuss it. Stick around for some interesting points regarding what makes this year's event so unique, what Carson thinks of the evolution of SAGE throughout the years and a crazy challenge, as always.

Welcome back to The SEGA Lounge! This week's guest is Andrew Dickinson, author of the upcoming Dreamcast: Year Two book

Welcome back to The SEGA Lounge. After a break of two weeks, we're back with Maciej Baron, of Good Praxis and lead dev and composer of ASAP PLZ, a new game for the Mega Drive. Find out more about Maciej's history, including his love for Sonic and hacking Sonic games, as well as the story behind this free 16-bit that centers around office work.

Patrick Hickey Jr., author of the series of books The Minds Behind the Games, joins KC for a chat on The SEGA Lounge. Learn more about this multi-talented man and his future projects, including a Genesis book.

This week, we're focusing on the Race For Good 2020, a community event ran by friend of the show Andrew 'TheBritishAndy' Wilson and Pete 'TitansCreed' Nethercote. This is the third edition of the streaming event that aims to raise money in support of Special Effect. The event is taking place this weekend, ie, June 19th to June 21st.

Welcome back to our conversation with legendary SEGA composer Howard Drossin. In this second part of the interview, we talk Virtual Sonic and its "Metal Sonic" song, discuss Howard's current projects, and he shares some advice for wannabe vgm composers. Oh, and there's The SEGA Lounge Challenge in there somewhere!

On the week of SEGA's 60th anniversary (#GOSEGA, #SEGA60th), it's an honor to welcome legendary composer Howard Drossin to The SEGA Lounge. We've had such a great conversation that it had to be split into two parts. Listen to this week's episode for the first as Howard shares his beginnings as a musician and some interesting facts behind his time at the SEGA Technical Institute in the 1990's.

It's time to welcome our second YouTuber in a row! This week's guest St1ka, host of "St1ka's Retro Corner" on YouTube and a man with an interesting background as a gamer. Learn more about his channel and find out if he's got what it takes to earn The SEGA Lounge Seal of Approval.

Following up on our SEGA Heroes episode, it's a pleasure to welcome Genesis VII, last week's 'lost' guest, to discuss his interesting history with SEGA games and how a mobile game published by the company ignited the spark to create a YouTube channel, and led to a partnership with SEGA themselves. Plus, his feelings and thoughts on SEGA Heroes (RIP).

SEGA and developer Demiurge recently announced the discontinuation of mobile hit SEGA Heroes. The servers will be deactivated on May 21st. With one week left to play the game, KC sat down with massive fans Kori-Maru (SEGA Bits) and Ravsieg (RadioSEGA) to discuss what was great about it and what they would like to see in a potential future sequel or similar game.

We're going old school this week with Daz and Taggsta, hosts of Aussie-based show, Arcade Perfect Podcast. Learn more about their search for the best and worst arcade game conversions and find out if they can get an arcade perfect score of their own in our challenge.

Happy #SOR4DAY, everyone! Celebrating the release of Streets of Rage 4, KC interviews Cyrille Imbert (Dotemu), Executive Producer, and Ben Fiquet (Lizardcube), Art Director, on Streets of Rage 4. Why not listen while you play the game which is, by the way, out now?

It is finally time to welcome The Saturn Junkyard to The Lounge. This week, Brian and Simon join KC for a chat about their blog and community and play a technically troubled edition of The SEGA Lounge Challenge. Tune in to find out the winners of our Space Channel 5 VR giveaway.

Welcome to a very special episode of The SEGA Lounge. A conversation with two of the people behind one of your host's favorite series: Space Channel 5. Straight from Japan, this week's guests are Mineko Okamura, CEO and founder of Grounding Inc., Takumi Yoshinaga of SEGA of Japan, and Takako Sakuma of Grounding Inc.

The wonderfully talented Johnny Gioeli is back! Four years later, KC catches up with Johnny and learns more about his past and present works and, perhaps more importantly, makes him sing children's songs...

Welcome to a very special episode of The SEGA Lounge - our very first truly LiVE show for the season that aired originally on RadioSEGA on Thursday, April 2nd, 2020. KC is joined by GreenViper8, Rik and Ryan, to discuss what's been going on in the land of SEGA and what they all expect of the company's 60th anniversary, which is apparently not too much.

Another returning guest joins KC this week, as he sits down with Cédric Biscay, president and CEO of Shibuya Productions, and discusses Shenmue III in a very candid interview with the co-producer of the game.

As part of RadioSEGA's celebration of 10 years of LiVE shows, an event aptly named 'RadioSEGA: 10 Years LiVE', this episode of The SEGA Lounge is a special round table bringing together three iconic show hosts.

This week's guest is Adam Welch, of Second Dimension Games, and project lead of Eyra the Crow Maiden, an upcoming game for NES, SNES and Mega Drive/Genesis. Learn more about this Kickstarter project and stick around until the end for some exciting news!