SEGAbits Swingin' Report Show podcast interviews SEGA tournament champ and former Capcom employee Chris Tang

This past weekend was the culmination of SEGA Week at Galloping Ghost Arcade in Brookfield, IL. The week consisted of ten tournaments on new (well, new to the arcade) SEGA arcade machines as well as other special events which were held on SEGAbits Saturday. One big happening on the big final day was the reveal of Strike Harbinger, a very early look at an upcoming indie title from HitSparks Games which is led by competitive gamer and developer Chris Tang.

In the past, Chris took part in the historic 1990 Nintendo World Championships and was the winner of SEGA's Sonic & Knuckles Rock the Rock competition in 1994. Since then, Chris has worked on games at Atari and Capcom, including Gauntlet IV, Primal Rage, Street Fighter III, Rival Schools, Tech Romancer and Power Stone. Now, Chris is hard at work on a new game inspired by classic SEGA titles like Space Harrier and Phantasy Star. The game, titled Strike Harbinger, combines the fast paced forward flying gameplay of Space Harrier with the RPG and combat elements of Phantasy Star while utilizing a unique control structure that evokes Virtual On.

I had the pleasure to meet Chris and the game’s Senior Artist Kiyoshi Okuma, whose past work includes Gauntlet: Legends, World Series Baseball 2K2, The Sims 2 and Darkspore. I also had the honor to be the first member of the public to play the game, and following that experience I chatted with Chris about his life as a tournament gamer, his career, and his plans for Strike Harbinger.

I wanted to share this episode on the 'Yard as I thought fans of Capcom's Dreamcast titles would enjoy some of the stories Chris shared. So give it a listen and enjoy!

More ways to listen:
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SEGAbits Swingin' Report Show feat. DCJY

At the risk of totally bombarding you with even more podcast content, allow me the liberty of sharing SEGAbits' latest episode of their Swingin' Report Show here at the Junkyard. This is particularly relevant because this edition of the show features me (Tom) speaking to Barry and George about all things Dreamcast, the DCJY Ultimate Collectors Guide and the resulting drama, upcoming Dreamcast games from the indie scene, Dreamcast Deluxe and the state of Sega collecting at present.

Thanks to SEGAbits for inviting me onto the show - be sure to check the site (I'm sure you're aware of it already) and if you're not a fan of listening to podcasts via YouTube you can grab the episode on iTunes or as a regular MP3 download.

The entire archive of the SEGAbits Swingin' Report Show can be found here too, so be sure to fill your red and white boots!