All three are perfect Sega racers – slam the accelerator, flip out the back end and drift lazily around every corner. It’s an extremely Sega way of doing things, and always evokes a timeless and sublime joy. Sega Rally 2007 mixes things up by introducing an extremely advanced track deformation system that moulds under your tyres as you drive, leaving troughs and mud pools in key places. It’s a brilliant idea and to me represents the biggest advancement in the rally genre since it began. I’m sure it’ll make its way into Codemasters’ next rally effort and everyone will go ape over it. 

Sega Rally 2 on Dreamcast is the only weak link here, its beautiful arcade origins marred by a rushed conversion and inconsistent framerate, but it’s a good stab at a meaningful single player career mode, and the ability to upload your best times online as well as carry them in your VM was a generation ahead of its time. In the arcade it was a complete revelation for me, its handbrake so tempting and satisfyingly solid when you used it to pivot and peel away from a hairpin.

I played Race Driver: Grid recently and was appalled when my attempt to powerslide around the first corner resulted in an embarrassing crash, but I was more appalled when people complained the game was “too arcadey”. No wonder Sega Rally 2007 didn’t sell, although the other day at work a couple did buy a copy for each other, which for me is every bit as good as the exchanging of rings.

Sega Racing Studio’s passing was a sad day for any Sega Rally fan - their version of the franchise was every bit as good as the original and perfectly captured the Sega Rally feel, and I can’t help but feel that theirs may have been the last entry in the series we ever see. If that’s the case, you couldn’t hope for three more enjoyable rally games that scream Sega with every powerslide and hairpin.

Probably the pinpoint space-time coordinates Tetsuya Mizuguchi went from accomplished racing game producer to avant-garde music entertainment weirdo. Space Channel 5 is a rhythm action game that doesn’t rely on a novelty controller - a novelty in itself - and with no display to help you gauge the timing it’s not as accessible as it could be. 

With enough practice you’ll get into the swing of things and soon be grooving, shooting and saving hostages with the power of dance. Michael Jackson liked it so much he put in an appearance, and Ulala became the premier 60s-styled Sega sex symbol. In fact, Ulala’s appearance was so eye-catching the lead singer from Dee-Lite (of Groove is in the Heart fame) tried to sue Sega for stealing her look. She was unsuccessful.

Full of catchy music and nice touches – the music detunes if you’re bad – Space Channel 5, and its sequel Part 2, are two of the most inventive entries in the dance genre. Dripping with style and confidence, it shows Sega’s willingness to break conventions - it could so easily have become another anodyne dance mat game, but instead it’s about character and panache, two of Ulala’s best traits.

Ulala’s recent reappearance in Sega Superstars Tennis confirms reports she’s still defending us from the Morollians, so I hope you’ll sleep a little more soundly tonight.

As a youngster I wrote to Sega almost as often as I update this blog. If there was a game I liked, a question I had or a design I’d thought of - I’m still waiting to hear back about "Rocky the Mountain Hare"! - I got out the pen or typewriter and let them know about it.

They always replied. Stephen Wombwell and Mark Maslowicz became familiar names (there were others I’m sure!) and they always gave good answers, and sometimes cool gifts too - Sonic 3 pinbadges, a t-shirt (that I still wear sometimes!), a Sonic and Knuckles LCD watch, signed Sonic R artwork (drawn by me!) and even my prized possession, a silver pre-production copy of Sonic Jam. Awesome!

This series of posts, then, is my latest love letter to Sega. Over time I’ll be posting my thoughts and feelings on what I believe to be the fifty greatest Sega games of all time. I’ve tried to keep multiple entries from the same series to a minimum, but naturally there’s more than one Sonic, Shining and Shinobi. Only the top twenty are in any sequential order, and some might be contentious entries, but they’re all amazing games that were either developed by Sega, Sega console exclusives or ones I primarily associate with Sega.

For all my years of Sega fandom, I still find it impossible to pin down that Sega je ne sais quoi. This project is my attempt to figure that out once and for all.

Yes, welcome to a newly stripped-down version of the Carnival of Video Game Bloggers! It’s no coincidence that David Herbert’s Pariah’s Guild site has recently gone down for maintenance, but I’ll take my victories where I can!

Before we go on, I’d like to extend an open invitation for a reader to host next month’s Carnival - it’s extremely straightforward and boosts your traffic, so if you’re interested then leave a comment or email me at carnival@prosody.co.uk!

Kicking us off in style this month is David Wornica, with his post Console Wars over at 8-Bit Memoirs. David’s flickery, two-colour sprite sums the site up best: “8-Bit Memoirs focuses on the revolution of the video game industry from the pixilated games we know and love to the incredible modern day mega-games that have given birth to the next generation of gamers. In addition to previews and reviews, this blog offers readers the opportunity to relive their gaming past”. Bleep bleep blorp, David! (Don’t take this the wrong way - I love 8-bit stuff! I only recently got a Game Gear, my new baby!)

Dan Wright is up next, sharing with us two short but sweet posts from his website The Video Games Blog. First up is a snappy review of Kung Fu Panda, and the other outlines the appearances of Darth Vader and Yoda in Namco’s Soul Calibur IV. I know they’re not the most revelatory of posts to the hardcore gamer but I’m glad Dan submitted them, and I know next time he’s going to show something even better. Welcome aboard, Dan!

Steve DaSilva has a very tempting proposition for you all now - would you like to learn more about Video Game Testing? Then look over to his site, Testing Video Games, and he can tell you much more about it. I’ll be honest - there’s more than a whiff of advertising about this post, but I know we’ve all dreamed of getting paid good money for our hobby, so it might be worth a look.

Sticking with the game development theme (albeit very briefly!) Blake Delaney shares his post Persistence and the Art of Game Development, which needs next to no extra description from me as it’s a fine article in its own right!

Now, when I think of a website that bills itself as the “Largest Final Fantasy Resource Online“, I think they’d be providers of quality content, supplying the Final Fantasy series’ dedicated fanbase with a high standard of news and insight. If that’s what you think of too, you’ll want to check out what Azar submitted this month, Final fantasy is coming on both PS2 & XBox. The title is a clue to what you can expect.

An old friend from a few months back, Creep Colony has returned with a post on “The different damage types of Starcraft units“, over at Starcraft II Information. I’m sure that with the game’s release creeping ever closer, Creep Colony is going to be an even more invaluable resource for Starcraft fans, so make sure you keep checking and I hope Creep Colony will keep submitting to the Carnival to keep us informed!

Speaking of old friends and triumphant returns, Eclipse is back! Not only back, but back with a Sonic boom, posting a very cool glitch that lets you fly as Super Sonic in Sonic 2! You can read how to buzz around Metropolis Zone in his post Glitch: Super Sonic Flying in Metropolis Zone Act 2 in Sonic 2 over at Gaming My Way; I’ll be digging out one of my dozens of copies of Sonic 2 to give this one a go later on!

One thing I love so much about the Carnival of Video Game Bloggers is the sheer variety of posts I get every month. From gaming’s beautiful past to its brilliant future, there’s so much to celebrate and the stranger, the better in my eyes. That’s why my favourite post this month is from Mr Sands, and his celebration of Winning Eleven’s Japanese commentator Jon Kabira. Even if you’ve never heard of Mr Kabira, I urge you to read the site and listen to the samples at the bottom - they’ll make the UK commentators Jon Champion and Mark Lawrenson sound even more lifeless, if you can imagine such a thing. Mr Sands gets double points for naming his site Nippon the Bus. Great stuff!

Lastly, because it really wouldn’t be a Carnival without him, it’s old-wizard with more (mildly) controversial lists, countdowns and that sort of thing. First up it’s Top 13 Scariest Games, featuring some golden oldies for you to dig out with Hallowe’en just around the corner.

Secondly for once it’s not a Top X, it’s an article investigating a serious topic, Violence in Video Games, as part of the OW Investigative series. Is it yet another flame-baiting write-up that mocks its own audience, or a genuinely sensitive approach of an argument that divides gamers and non-gamers? I’ll leave you to decide.

I know it’s a severely cut-down Carnival compared to usual, but I’m guessing nobody ever read all 70-odd articles anyway. At least now you can take a more leisurely trip through the Carnival, and there are a few articles that should take only a few seconds out of your life, so give them a read and let the warmth of the Carnival spread throughout the world (wow, never drink before lunch..!)

I’m very pleased to announce that next month’s Carnival will be hosted by Eclipse at the superb Gaming My Way site. At the time of writing (October 30th) BlogCarnival.com seems to be experiencing some difficulties, but if you still want to submit you can email your post’s link to me at this address, and I’ll pass them on. Keep trying the Blog Carnival submissions link though, it might come active at any time!

To Sonic Chronicles‘ credit, it dismisses the often-lengthy introductions seen in RPGs, and you’re guiding Sonic around the Green Hill Zone within seconds, just as things should be. The whole game is stylus-controlled, with characters following your pen to run, fly, climb and smash their way around the map, but the real control innovations are found in the game’s battle scenes.

Each character has access to several Power Moves, each of which has a different method of activation - some require you to drag your stylus along paths, others are more timing-based and have you tapping targets in rhythm. The added interaction makes the battle system much more interesting, particularly as you can also counter enemy Power Moves in a similar fashion, keeping your attention at all times. There are similarities to classic Sega RPGs as well - veterans of the Phantasy Star series as well as Skies of Arcadia and Shining the Holy Ark fans will feel right at home with the turns-based, squad-of-four fights.

The story so far hasn’t kicked into high gear yet, but it references various stories, mainly focusing on those since Sonic Adventure, as well as more obscure plots such as the Emerl situation from Sonic Battle. Pleasingly there’s an in-depth Codex that explains any characters or events that may be unfamiliar, but there are also unexpected cameo appearances from characters along the way to fill in any blanks. I’m reserving judgment on the story until I’ve got past Chapter Two, but so far it’s done its job and kept me playing past the introductory levels.

As you progress through the game, you encounter Chao, which you can “bond” (equip) to your character, giving you bonuses such as a free revival or elemental attacks. Each enemy has different elemental resistances, so it’s important to change Chao to water if you spot a robot enemy on the world map, for example. These Chao can be traded with friends to increase their power - initially this was advertised as a Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection feature, but it is only available via local multiplayer, sadly. It’s not a huge loss as Chao aren’t that important, but considering the best way to discover and maximise all Chao is to trade with completely different people you might struggle unless you have a large circle of DS-owning, Sonic RPG-craving friends.

Graphically the game is very well-presented, with beautifully drawn environments and characters, which take their cues from the Sonic Adventure and Sonic X versions of the characters, which is fine by me. Some textures are rough and occasionally items and character portraits have a blocky white line around them, which lets the overall polished feel of the game down, although this could just be me not being used to the DS (having been a PSP owner for the past eight months). The sound quality is good, with new themes sitting alongside remixes of classic Sonic tunes very nicely, as you’d expect from any game blessed by the touch of the one and only Richard Jacques.

I’ve got a few gripes with the game though, the main one being its sometimes confusing terminology and statistics system - characters have both Defence and Armour attributes, yet the differences aren’t fully explained. In fact, characters with low Armour often have increased Defence, making you wonder quite what the point is. There’s also a huge range of status problems, including Weakened, Empowered, Sluggish, Fortified and Vulnerable, most of which are caused by Power Moves. Although the in-game help explains these effects, it isn’t available mid-battle, often leaving you unsure of the effects of your Power Moves.

As I said earlier, I’ve only spent a few hours on the game, which is an achievement in itself as it’s not officially released in Europe until tomorrow, and next Tuesday in the US! I won’t give it a score yet, but I will say that it’s a very enjoyable mixture of extremely fast-paced battles and Sonic Adventure-style exploration and skills-based gameplay. The real joy for me will come when the rare weapons and items begin to show up, and each character begins to play a more important role in battle - early RPG battles are almost always simply a case of everyone attacking at once!

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood is definitely worth buying if you’re a Sonic fan, or even just a DS owner after a good-looking and substantially different RPG that eschews the usual dungeon plod in favour of a good helping of action.