Sega is resurrecting classic games including Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi , and Golden Axe.
The "new era" is quite similar to the old one.
Sega promised a new era at The Game Awards and revealed five games to look forward to. Well, “new” is a big deal: The company announced new titles based on Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Shinobi, Golden Axe , and Streets of Rage.
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Depending on your age, these titles may mean different things to you. Golden Axe and Shinobi have their roots in the arcades of the 80s, while Streets of Rage is a Genesis. Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio both came out during the Dreamcast (with Crazy Taxi originally debuting in the arcades).
These Sega fighting game creators received physical invitations from Sega to attend The Game Awards, with rumors circulating that a Virtua Fighter was part of the company's plans for the event. Unless Sega has another trailer in store, it looks like these creators will be leaving a little disappointed.
Sega's parent company, SegaSammy, has been reluctantly talking about a "Super Game" project since 2021. The term was actually defined as a game capable of making hundreds of millions of dollars for Sega. In the same presentation to investors, the company openly considered the possibility of reviving "dormant" properties like Virtua Fighter, Jet Set Radio, and Crazy Taxi through remasters, remakes, and reboots.
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Other game series mentioned for revival by Sega, such as Space Channel 5, Panzer Dragoon and Streets of Rage, have already seen some action. Space Channel 5 received a remastered VR port, Panzer Dragoon a remake and Streets of Rage an excellent new numbered chapter, Streets of Rage 4, developed and published by third parties under license from Sega.
Four of the new titles, from the brief glimpses in trailer , appear to be big-budget 3D games. The revived Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio appear to be shiny HD versions of the games they're based on, while the Golden Axe reboot, in particular, is a nod to the 2D scroller it's based on. Streets of Rage also appears to be going full 3D. Only Shinobi looks somewhat familiar, using a 2D style akin to Dotemu's Windjammers 2 and Streets of Rage 4.
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The Sega of today is a very different company from the one that created the originals. At the turn of the century, Sega was struggling through a multi-stage midlife crisis, searching for a new identity. The Dreamcast was about to be overtaken by Sony's PlayStation 2, leading Sega to exit the console business in 2001.At the same time, the arcade revival of the 1990s, which saw Sega become a leader in technology, began to wane.
After a few missteps in the early days of third-party publishing and an acquisition by pachinko maker Sammy, Sega began to find its footing. In the mid-00s, the Yakuza series was released , and the company has made several major acquisitions since then, including Sports Interactive (Football Manager) , Creative Assembly (Total War) , Relic Entertainment (Warhammer) , Atlus, (Megami Tensei/Persona), and, most recently, Rovio, the creator of Angry Birds . It has also found success in the cinema with its Sonic the Hedgehog films .
Source: engadget.com
