There’re some intriguing new clues as to what other classic games Sega is looking at bringing back, including Alex Kidd and Eternal Champions.
Arguably the most exciting announcement at The Game Awards is that Sega is looking to bring back many of its classic 80s and 90s era franchises. The problem is that absolutely no details were offered about how it’s going to work or when any of them are going to be released.
Almost the only thing Sega did say was that more games beyond the initial five – Jet Set Radio, Streets Of Rage, Shinobi, Golden Axe, and Crazy Taxi – are planned, and now we may have an idea of what they are.
A series of trademarks has recently been registered in Japan, several of which include games already announced, while others seem like exactly the sort of titles Sega might try next.
The new titles are: Altered Beast, Eternal Champions, Kid Chameleon, Alex Kidd, After Burner, The House Of The Dead, OutRun, and Super Monkey Ball.
As before, they’re a mix of older Dreamcast era titles and earlier Mega Drive and arcade titles but they’re pretty much exactly what you’d expect, with the exception of the more obscure Kid Chameleon (a so-so platform game) and Eternal Champions (an equally mediocre fighting game).
The obvious thing to say here is that Sega has to keep renewing their trademarks all the time, or they lose them, but doing this particular set at this moment in time seems like more than a coincidence.
You might also add Virtua Fighter to the list, since it’s not only been rumoured but actively hinted at by Sega themselves.
What’s also interesting is that all these games are relatively simple arcade style games and there’s no sign of any role-playing titles or other more complex games, such as Phantasy Star or Panzer Dragoon Saga.
It seems like Sega is very purposefully trying to revive its arcade heritage, literally and figuratively, and it’s going to be interesting to see not only how these games are handled but whether they have any overarching branding or hub game from which to access them.
