It appears that Ryo Hazuki’s inevitable appearance in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is about to finally happen. We learned it was probably going to happen when Yogscast accidentally livestreamed a non-public version of the game with Hazuki as a racer, but until yesterday, SEGA hadn’t officially confirmed it.
SEGA published an image showing Hazuki driving a Hang-On arcade machine attached to an inflatable raft with the words “Is it a boat?” and today featured another with Ryo piloting a flying Space Harrier cabinet with the words “Is it a plane?” Tomorrow will probably be the time when SEGA publishes the last image, assumedly with the words “NO! It’s an angsty, fatherless teenager who can’t take a hint from a cute girl!”
With SEGA’s timing, we won’t be too surprised if Hazuki becomes available on Jan. 1, 2014. What a way to start the year off, eh?
Do we have any confirmation to which platforms this applies? (I’m guessing at least Wii U owners are out of luck)
My guess as well. My pure guess as far as platforms go is we’ll more than likely see it on PC/Steam (since the Yogscast guys did reveal Ryo on their livestream by accident, I think it is a lock for PC/Steam) and maybe the Playstation platforms All-Stars Racing Transformed are on also (not sure if that one is on PS4 or not). Playstation is most likely going to be a future home for the Shenmue series if the serious campaigning to get Shenmue HD as well as Shenmue 3 onto PS4 is any indication, so that makes sense. Not sure Shenmue HD & Shenmue 3 would also come onto PC/Steam, however.
I think it may depend on whether this DLC will be paid or free. I think Steam is a no-brainer either way, but if its paid, Sony platforms make sense as PS Plus members just got the game for free, so Sega could at least get a couple of bucks from those folks. Wii U likely isn’t going to happen, but the wild cards are the 3DS and 360 versions (the latter of which is the one I own). I don’t know what the install base on those versions is, so who knows at this point.
Did everyone see the Shenmue 3 tease in the Outrun machine license plate? That’s just cruel, if you ask me.
Actually, the Wii U is likely. The prequel that was on the Wii wasn’t likely which is why they never saw the release of Metal Sonic. The sequel on the Wii U, this time around included Metal Sonic via disc. While DLC was an issue on the Wii, it isn’t anymore on the Wii U. You did mention the “install base”, is that why you took Wii U out? I don’t think that’ll be an issue.
What we don’t know is where it’s going to release. The PC, like you said, is a no brainer. The consoles are still in question of how it’ll turn out. It might release though, but who knows till they give information out.