iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Wait... So Miho Hayashi did an illustration, then someone GEnAIfied it? Or did the AI-generated image serve as a reference?

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Historian Onitama on the release date of OutRun (the 40th anniversary of which is being celebrated by some today): the game was presented to the press on September 22, then 2 weeks later at the AM Show on October 7. It seems unlikely that it was put into service on September 20 x.com/onionsoftwar...

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Persona 30th anniversary illustration (the first episode was released 30 years ago today). An exhibition will be held starting in January 2027, along with another event or announcement that is still being kept under wraps. news.denfaminicogamer.jp/news/2609203j

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The Hidden Palace @handle.invalid · 20/09/2026

Another case of "oh, you redrew the whole artwork?!"

Front box of Odama with a slightly different composition

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A really cool find from Discord member gageiro: A custom Mega CD BIOS made especially for Sonic Team's creative director Kazuyuki Hoshino! Check it out in action below!

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John Andersen @johnandersen.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Several years ago I was able to get in touch with former SEGA executive Hideki Sato. He originally joined SEGA in 1971 to work in R&D. He agreed to answer a couple of questions via email, one of which had been on my mind for a while: Who at SEGA designed Heavyweight Champ released in 1975? (1/4)

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Chris Kohler @kohler.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Symphony of the Night design documents on display at the Konami booth at TGS. The mock screenshot is incredible

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VGDensetsu @vgdensetsu.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Korean video game shops in 1992, featuring Famicom cartridges on a table, Japanese magazines and a Mega Drive / Super Aladdin Boy corner with games officially published by Samsung. Via @gamingalexandria.bsky.social archive.org/details/the-...

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Jack Yarwood @jackgyarwood.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

UPDATE! As I expected, since making this live, I've had someone come forward with more info. I'm currently reaching out to more people, but it seems a case was filed and dismissed in 1995.

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VGDensetsu @vgdensetsu.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

The NeoGeo is so timeless that it, too, is entering the era of box art created by GenAI. (with an illustration this detailed, a human artist wouldn't have let such shoddy-looking rivets slide)

Picture of a Zero Wing box taken at the Plaion booth by Yosuke Okunari.

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VGDensetsu @vgdensetsu.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

And it’s still the best Sega game on the N64. (or to be more precise: it’s a game that could easily have been part of AM2’s gameography)

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VGDensetsu @vgdensetsu.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Vampire Savior / Darkstalkers 3 vinyl illustrated y Raita Kazama / 風間雷太. x.com/kazamaraita/...

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VGDensetsu @vgdensetsu.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Naoki Horii has asked the developers of the fan-made Mega Drive adaptation of GG Aleste 3 to stop their work, adding that M2, the rights holder for the series, is currently considering an adaptation of the game for a machine with FM sound (presumably the Mark III or the MD). x.com/hor11/status...

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VGDensetsu @vgdensetsu.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Resident Evil 30th anniversary illustration by Hinanana / ヒナナナ:

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VGDensetsu @vgdensetsu.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

At Sega CS1, during the development of Golden Axe II (1991). The man standing is planner Kazuma Fujii. The person seated in front of a Digitizer System III is graphic designer Hiroyuki Kawaguchi. x.com/rew_w/status...

2 men in front of a Digitizer System III

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VGDensetsu @vgdensetsu.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

3 Sonic games in the top 15.😐

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Mat Piscatella @matpiscatella.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Happy 25th to the Nintendo GameCube! Here are top 20 best-selling GameCube games in the US, ranked by unit sales. Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Mario Sunshine and Mario Kart: Double Dash!! lead the list. Source: Circana Retail Tracking Service

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VGDensetsu @vgdensetsu.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

This week, Akihiro Hino (Level 5) and Takaya Imamura (formerly of Nintendo) were criticised by the public for using IAGen – or at least, mainly in the West. Japan seems to be realising that some in the West are opposed to the use of IAGen, but quite a few veteran developers are in favour of it.

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Dave Gilbert @wadjeteyegames.com · 13/09/2026

We are aware that Steam has classified Nighthawks as an adult game and has excluded it from searches (and delisted it entirely in certain countries). We are working on it. Valve is under the impression that this game is way sexier than it actually is.

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VGDensetsu @vgdensetsu.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

2001 was a busy year for Nintendo, with the GBA and the GameCube (which is celebrating its 25th anniversary today in Japan) being released just a few months apart.

Photo of a purple GameCube and its controller

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VGDensetsu @vgdensetsu.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Comix Zone box art by the late Tony DeZuniga:

Un personnage sort d'une case de bande dessinée. Au premier plan, la main d'un reptile tient un stylo.

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VGDensetsu @vgdensetsu.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Original artwork used for the cover of the soundtrack of Comix Zone (presumably an early version of the game's box art drawn by the late Tony DeZuniga): www.reddit.com/r/SEGAGENESI...

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VGDensetsu @vgdensetsu.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I was wondering if there was a precise release date for Outrun. Segaretro lists September 20, 1986, but the source it cites (the Feb. 1992 issue of Mega Drive Fan) just says "September 1986". However, according to VGL (a reference site/book for Japanese arcade game release dates), it's September 25.

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VGDensetsu @vgdensetsu.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

40 years ago today, Takahashi Meijin no Bōkenjima, AKA Adventure Island, was released on the Famicom. Based on the first Wonder Boy, which had been released in the arcades just 5 months earlier, Hudson Soft’s series ultimately featured more instalments than Westone’s. Box art by Susumu Matsushita.

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VGDensetsu @vgdensetsu.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

In a joint interview with composers Hiro and Ippo, they explain that it was common practice for the music for games that Sega outsourced to be created in-house, but that the composers generally had very little information about the games in question and did not even know their titles.

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Jason Schreier @jasonschreier.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

This week, PlayStation announced that it had pulled out of publishing Hideo Kojima's next game, Physint. But the company didn't give a reason. So I made some calls. Here's why PlayStation bailed and why Xbox snapped Kojima right up: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

bloomberg.com

PlayStation Ditched Hideo Kojima’s ‘Physint’ on Budget Concerns, Missed Deadlines

The legendary Japanese creator of ‘Death Stranding’ will take his new game to Xbox

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VGDensetsu @vgdensetsu.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Metal Slug planners Kazuma Kujo and Meeher, after realising that SNK is going to release the tank-only version of Metal Slug: "er, that’s a bit embarrassing".

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GSK | ALL CITY SLOP SHOP (ETA SOON) @allcityslopshop.com · 11/09/2026

from last night's ACA stream with ex-DECO planner Shunichi Ii, the precise origins of Karnov's chara design: the director was inspired by a fire breather in a specific commercial—ii thought it might've been Mandom, but I think was this specific Suntory CM www.youtube.com/watch?v=hy-z421FwGQ

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VGDensetsu @vgdensetsu.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

All the news about translation patches over the last few months be like: News: “X has been translated” Update: “The translation of X was done by AI”.

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Facts About Banjo-Kazooie @factsaboutbk.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Someone claimed to have uploaded the SNES prototype of Project Dream that they had in their personal collection on Archive.org. This is footage by OlieGamerTV. We don't know if its authentic but it works.

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Gekisha Boy cover illustrated by Shinji Kubota: x.com/Kubota_4nz/s... vgdensetsu.net/shinjikubota/

Front box of the PC Engine game Gekisha Boy

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Sonic Adventure concept art by Kazuyuki Hoshino x.com/KazuyukiHosh...

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Regarding the Tank only version of Metal Slug 1 included in the new compilation, there have been previous examples, notably Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 25: Gunstar Heroes Treasure Box, which included a development version of Gunstar Heroes. t also sometimes happens that a compilation is released...

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Kamui Fujiwara recently explained that the box art for the SFC version of 46 Okunen Monogatari (EVO: The search for Eden) was never returned to him and that he has been unable to trace it. The same applies to the cover art he drew for a Zelda novel. x.com/kamuif/statu...

Cover art for Zelda no Densetsu: Kuroki kage no hakushaku

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VGDensetsu @vgdensetsu.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

It is often said that Hideki Sato and other Sega employees were opposed to the merger between Sega and Sammy (Sato apparently favoured Namco), as pachinkos (the sector in which Sammy had made its fortune) were supposedly regarded as inferior to video games. However, according to Kazuhiko Hamada, ...

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Valis III 36th anniversary illustration by Kobayashi / 小林, AKA Boban Kajiwara, who designed these 3 characters with the late Victory Endo for the PC Engine CD version. x.com/0884_game/st... www.mobygames.com/person/13295...

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VGDensetsu @vgdensetsu.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

A background drawn by Shinta Kameoka for Seiken Densetsu 3: x.com/ShintaKameok... x.com/ShintaKameok...

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Tom, Legally Certified Date Simmelier @iiotenki.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

As usual, this is a great thread you should read if you haven't already. One tangent I'll add is that while you may be familiar with some of the board variants of Sega Tetris, including the Master System-based System E, one you'll likely never see in official retellings is this: Taito's own "port."

An arcade PCB of the largely forgotten Taito H System version of Sega Tetris. Aesthetically, aside from the large number of Taito logos spread across various chips, the biggest difference between it and the official Sega PCBs is that it's all contained on one unified board, rather than a main motherboard and a daughter board that houses the actual game data, as is the case with Sega Tetris "proper."

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I asked the producer of Namco's Smash Court, Hideo Yoshizawa, if he knew who had drawn the game’s box art, but he told me he thought it had been outsourced. I know the visual style is reminiscent of Eizin Suzuki’s, but given his fame, I think he would have been credited if he’d drawn it.

Front box of the Japanese version of Smash Court.

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Not enough is said about the fact that Dracula owns several properties, including Neuschwanstein Castle and Mont-Saint-Michel, and that he presumably leaves all or some of them vacant between resurrections.

Ad for Dracula Densetsu II for Game Boy.
Scan by Gaming Alexandria
https://archive.org/details/the-super-famicom-1991-07-12-number-15-volume-2-issue-12/The%20Super%20Famicom%20-%201991-07-12%20-%20Number%2015%20-%20Volume%202%20-%20Issue%2012/page/n1/mode/2up

US front box of Castlevania Symphony of the Night

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In the articles he wrote for Beep21 about Sega arcade games, Zenji Ishii sometimes mentions their computer adaptations and even gives a handful of examples of stores in Tokyo that sold Western games for the Amiga, Atari ST (SDI), and Commodore 64 (Alien Syndrome) in the late 1980s.

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