Five of Sega’s most beloved games are making a comeback, including Shinobi and Crazy Taxi – with even more promised beyond that.
For decades, fans have been dreaming of the day that Sega would remember it used to make some of the most popular games in the world and would once again publish new titles other than Sonic The Hedgehog and PC strategy games. That day has now come… or at least it’s been announced.
One of the most exciting reveals at The Game Awards was the news that Sega is making new games based on Jet Set Radio, Streets Of Rage, Shinobi, Golden Axe, and Crazy Taxi.
The problem is that it didn’t say anything more than that, and it’s not clear who’s making the games, what they actually are, and when they’re out.
The implication was that it’ll take a while before all five are released, even though there was a tease of ‘more’ than just this initial selection.
Some of the games, particularly Jet Set Radio, may be straight remakes, whereas others, such as Streets Of Rage and Golden Axe, are clearly entirely new games.
Sega has revived a few classic franchises in recent years, most notably 2020’s Streets Of Rage 4, but only via third party indie developers, who were basically left to do their own thing.
The question here is whether Sega is taking the same approach again or making the games in-house (if they even have enough experienced developers left to make that sort of game).
Some of the titles certainly look quite low budget, but then some games, such as Crazy Taxi, are so intrinsically shallow it would be hard for anyone to justify spending a lot of money on them.
What seems clear is that none of them are one of the ‘super games’ that Sega has repeatedly talked about in recent years, but never revealed or explained.
Unless, that is, all five titles are part of a larger package, but if that was the case you would’ve thought Sega would just say that.
Update:
Sega has added a little bit of extra context to the annoucement, with Sega’s Shuji Utsumi stating that, ‘In recent years, Sonic the Hedgehog has forged new paths for Sega, bringing the franchise to life and reaching new audiences in ways we had only dreamed of in the past. Building off that success, we are digging into our legacy and reimagining several franchises to bring these games to more audiences around the globe.’
‘Today’s announcement is just the start of our initiative. First and foremost, our ambition will be to create great games with memorable characters and worlds. We hope fans of all ages will look towards our future with anticipation as we release these projects in the coming years.’
That almost implies they’re doing it just so they can sell off the movie rights, given the success of the Sonic films, but whatever gets the job done.
Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter.
MORE : A Sega Mega Drive watch is about to be released – but it’ll cost you
MORE : ‘We are thinking of reviving other classical Sega IPs,’ says top exec
MORE : ‘We want to surpass Mario with Sonic,’ says Sega exec
Follow Metro Gaming on Twitter and email us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk.
To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.
For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.
Sign up to all the exclusive gaming content, latest releases before they’re seen on the site.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
