Some classic SEGA franchises are finally making their long-awaited comebacks. Earlier this week, SEGA had been teasing a big announcement for Thursday’s The Game Awards 2023 broadcast. During the award ceremony, that announcement was finally revealed, as SEGA offered its first glimpse at a new initiative to release brand-new games from the publisher’s treasure trove of iconic game franchises.
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This included a new trailer release teasing new installments from some of SEGA’s best legacy franchises, including Crazy Taxi, Golden Axe, Jet Set Radio, Shinobi, and Streets of Rage. You can check out the trailer reveal, offering some snippets of new gameplay footage below:
SEGA Reveals New IP Initiative That Will Revive Classic Gaming Franchises
Under the newly announced initiative, SEGA of America unveiled plans to produce brand-new titles from the aforementioned classic franchises that have been reimagined for classic audiences. The trailer featured gameplay reveals for new installments of Golden Axe and Streets of Rage, boasting modern graphics and 3D gameplay. Also, while this is just the first crop of new announcements, it looks like SEGA has even more planned for the future.
While Golden Axe and Streets of Rage are opting for more modern, 3D gameplay mechanics, it looks like the new reimagining of Shinobi will maintain the franchise’s classic 2D action-platforming roots. However, it looks like it will utilize new dynamic, hand-drawn, manga and anime-style graphics. Jet Set Radio and Crazy Taxi haven’t had legit AAA releases in a while, so it’s nice to see those series make welcome returns as well.
Speaking on the announcement, SEGA Corporation Co-COO and SEGA of America CEO Shuji Utsumi stated, “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.”
Utsumi continued, “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.”
While it looks like the new updates for the classic games have new features and graphics, it looks like they are keeping the core gameplay mechanics for what made the original releases timeless classics intact. Crazy Taxi will enable players to experience high-active driving in an open-play environment to deliver passengers to their destination. Golden Axe is nice again a hack-and-slash, melee combat fantasy adventure in a world of beasts, swords, and magic.
Jet Set Radio will feature action-packed traversal around Tokyo-to with skating, self-expression through graffiti, focusing on street culture, and rebellious themes. Shinobi will feature classic ninja shuriken, ninjutsu, and special attack gameplay with side-scrolling action, challenging environments, and amazing enemy designs. Lastly, Streets of Rage will be a good, old-fashioned beat ’em up that pairs fist-fighting with amazing music in a lawless urban environment.
SEGA will release more details on the upcoming game releases later on. While the new games have been revealed, they still haven’t revealed their official titles yet and what platforms they will be available on. Interestingly enough, Streets of Rage was updated more recently with the throwback style beat ’em up, Streets of Rage 4, which was developed by Dotemu and initially released on platforms in 2020.
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However, while Streets of Rage 4 stuck with the game’s original side-scrolling beat ’em up format, the new SEGA title will be done in 3D, which is interesting. Will this be Streets of Rage 5 or a remake of the original series? Fans can check out SEGA’s website to stay up to date on the franchise revivals.
But what do you think of the news? Are you excited about SEGA’s new IP initiative? Are there any other classic SEGA franchises you think are overdue for a revival next? Let us know your thoughts and ideas about what should come next from the new game initiative on The Illuminerdi’s social media.
SOURCE: SEGA
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