Sega confirms five new retro revivals at The Game Awards including Crazy Taxi
Sega has announced five brand new entries in some long-dormant series' at The Game Awards, including Crazy Taxi, in what has to be the standout reveal of the show.
Sega was teasing a brand new game reveal for The Game Awards, so imagine my surprise when it gave us five in one announcement. Five classic Sega series' – Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Streets of Rage, Golden Axe, and Shinobi – all have brand new entries in the works, set to arrive within the next few years. The trailer gave us glimpses of gameplay for all five of them, but the standout had to be Jet Set Radio, which exudes just as much personality and energy from the small snippet, but with the power of modern technology to look even more gorgeous.
Shinobi looks to be a hand-drawn action platformer in the vein of... well... Shinobi. Streets of Rage is adapting the 2D brawler gameplay of the original series to 3D, while Sega's other classic beat 'em up series Golden Axe, seems to be heading in the direction of a 3D hack and slash in the style of something like Capcom's Devil May Cry. Finally, Crazy Taxi looks to be an online multiplayer-focused game. Each game only got about a five-second snippet each, but they all look promising.
Rumours of Jet Set Radio and Crazy Taxi reboots being in the works appeared earlier this year. With the rumour stating that the games are set to be a part of Sega Sammy's "Super-Game Initiative", however, the other three are a surprise. And, the trailer ends by listing the titles announced "and more", meaning this is only the beginning.
Genesis does what Nintendon't
It's very common nowadays to see companies that have incredible back catalogues and don't do anything with them. Capcom tried in the Xbox 360 era with series' like Bionic Commando and Mega Man, Nintendo rarely lets series' like F-Zero come out to play, and Sony will probably never make another Ape Escape or LocoRoco unless they can make them a gritty cinematic third-person action game.
Over a third of Brits don't know when World War II took place or what started itDespite how much I adore Like a Dragon and am happy to see it get so much love; plus the fact that Sonic is finally good again, I have missed some of those classic Sega franchises. A new Jet Set Radio has been a pipe dream for many since Jet Set Radio Future launched back in 2002, so this is a dream come true for any remaining funky dealers.