One of the biggest announcements from The Game Awards this past week was SEGA’s reveal of multiple IP revivals. Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Golden Axe, Shinobi and Streets of Rage were all confirmed to…
Cautiously optimistic about this. Obviously there is a good chance that none of these games will end up being good, but at least Sega is trying to do something new with their old IPs rather than just letting them gather just until they decide to do another "greatest hits" collection.
This is a better link, this one actually has the trailer with gameplay footage.
Crazy taxi, jet set radio future, shinobe, streets of rage, and golden axe.
In my opinion none of them look too great from the trailer except jet set radio, but it’s small clips, so I’ll wait for longer trailers to get a better opinion.
I think I saw some co-op in the Golden Axe. If they lean into the multiplayer I could see it being good fun as a co-op soulslike without the oppressive grimdark atmosphere that tends to define the genre.
Shinobi looks cool, but there are enough amazing pixel-art platformers out there already.
No interest in Streets of Rage.
Crazy Taxi looks like Crazy Taxi. Which is neat but I don't really have nostalgia for that.
I'm mostly disappointed they missed how awesome Armored Core 6 was and didn't jump onto that bandwagon with a new Virtual On game.
“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.”
Powerstone 2 was basically a Super Smash Bros-style 4-player fighting party-game but with the 3D-platformer gameplay of a Wrestlemania game. Instead of Smash Balls, there were a set of "Stones" where you'd get an ultimate if you got 3 of them. Very fun party/fighting game, much like Smash.
I have some great memories of sega games.
The genesis was the console I had for ages, and I had a cable subscription to a cartridge thing that had a huge (and regularly updated) library of games. It was awesome.
Golden Axe was my friend groups jam when I grew up.
But "IP renewal" strikes me as a "we have no new ideas. Our investors want something, we are stagnating. We are going with something safe".
I hope the renewed IPs either bring something that expands the existing IP significantly, or absolutely nails the loved aspects of the old IP.
If it's just "remake for the sake of the remake/sales", then I'm going to be hugely disappointed!
I mean, fans have been screaming at them for years to bring this stuff back. I, for one, am excited for it.
That being said, I hope that the creative mentality that brought us these games in the first place is rekindled and we see some original stuff with the arcade flare that made these titles so good
Undeniably there has got to be the allure of known, but Sega also knows the string of fumbling a beloved game series, so I hope they will be careful. Also, there are seasoned developers and designers who grew up playing the original Sega games, so I imagine it would be a real crowd pleaser within the company, too - to get to work on something you can get excited about (hopefully)