Cognition Dissemination: I’m Optimistic About This New Sega Initiative

There were plenty of nice gaming-related announcements and reveals in the last week, primarily from The Game Awards, though several at that event came at the expense of developers and their achievements going unacknowledged and underacknowledged. The one that’s stuck with me the most came from Sega, who was not kidding in their intent to make a special announcement. Sega still makes and funds games, but most are of the Sonic the Hedgehog and Yakuza/Like a Dragon variety outside Atlus’ content. That’s about to change.

Sega undersold this, because they actually announced five games. All of them are new installments in franchises they’ve either used sparingly over recent years, or not at all. Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Shinobi, Streets of Rage, and Golden Axe are all receiving either new titles or reboots as part of a “power surge” on the company’s part. The trailer and currently-light side details show how these are new interpretations of older titles being made for modern audiences, young and old. They’re, presumably, not launching on new Sega hardware.

There’s already plenty of pessimism out there for this initiative, and I understand where some of it is coming from. It’s not cynicism for cynicism’s sake; it’s fine to ask whether the developers chosen, whoever they are, will be best for the specific jobs. I’m choosing to be more optimistic here. Not entirely, though.

I sometimes have a tough time remembering that the Jet Set Radio series only received two installments, thanks to its pedigree. Jet Set Radio and Jet Set Radio Future were it, released for Dreamcast and Xbox, respectively. It explains why a vocal audience has been asking for a new installment for years now. The remaster of the Dreamcast title and indie-developed spiritual successor Bomb Rush Cyberfunk were both nice, but it’s nicer that a real sequel is coming. Members of the old development teams being involved here is enough for me to be optimistic about it, and the more realistic art style isn’t enough to temper my enthusiasm.

The Crazy Taxi game is a risk, though. For as fun as the arcade game and its subsequent home ports were, the concept is thin. The gameplay segment shown suggests that this will be remarkably similar to the old games. Unless they’re hiding some potential features, the chances of its success will very heavily depend on the release strategy and pricing.

The Shinobi title has me intrigued the most, a new side-scrolling installment that looks reminiscent of The Revenge of Shinobi and especially Shinobi III. This will be the first installment since the underrated Shinobi 2011 3DS title from Griptonite Games, one of the last few games the studio worked on before they were acquired by Glu and turned into Glu Mobile, with their work shifting to the kinds of games you’d expect from that new name. The best part here is how the art style bears a hell of a resemblance to LizardCube’s previous titles, especially fellow Sega sequel Streets of Rage 4. Several fans mentioned how they wanted the studio to develop a new Shinobi game not too long ago. Considering that and one of their most recent tweets, I’d be shocked if this wasn’t their work.

On the other hand: The new Streets of Rage title worries me the most here. Unlike the aforementioned Streets of Rage 4, this is a 3D brawler that looks awfully reminiscent of Fighting Force and fellow Sega brawler Zombie Revenge. If LizardCube has all hands on deck for the Shinobi game, something I would bet money on being the case if I wasn’t broke, it makes sense that they can’t handle a direct sequel right now. 3D brawlers were never as common as their 2D counterparts, something that’s applied even among the indie world. But I certainly hope this will be a quality product despite the footage itself looking early and the attacks shown feeling unimpactful.

Lastly, the Golden Axe title looks to be another 3D actioner, though one with cooperative play on par with the older games. Sega, I assume, is watching the game’s progression with a careful eye to ensure that it won’t be anything close to a Golden Axe: Beast Rider-level misfire. I really don’t know what to think about this one, so I’ll remain neutral.

The trailer notably includes the words “and more,” and I certainly hope there’s far more where these are starting from. Sega has a treasure trove of franchises they’re not using, perhaps the company with the highest number of unused and underused IP next to EA. It’s been so easy to imagine what a new single-player Phantasy Star title could resemble for so long that it remains baffling that a new installment hasn’t happened by now. The same applies to Shining Force, a franchise that isn’t even receiving mediocre action-based spin-offs with questionable artwork anymore. Not to mention the other franchise I’d love for them to use again. There’s also Virtua Fighter, which I would have bet on this Sega announcement being before they made it. See? I’d be in debt if I did betting.

It’s nice that these are happening, and even nicer that Sega is handling publishing and funding duties for these themselves instead, contrary to their approach to titles like SoR4 and Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX.

I’ve got my fingers crossed (figuratively — I’m not that crazy) that these will all turn out well. Sega’s third-party efforts have garnered mixed results, generously speaking. But I want to believe in them. Realistically, I think at least three of these titles will turn out very well, and impress longtime fans. When they do, I hope they’re serious about this only being the start of this new start.