Topic: SEGA New Era - SoR, JSR, Shinobi, Golden Axe, Crazy Taxy

Very interested and super afraid of any of these particular titles turning out to be mediocre or worse. In modern times I’ve felt Sega’s classics were better left to independent devs motivated by Classic Sega fandom (Sonic Mania, SoR4, etc.), but maybe Sega’s taken enough notes from those efforts to finally take control of their back catalogue. But who knows. I don’t have faith in Sega management when it comes to Sega legacy IP.

Now that the bitterness has subsided some, I am interested in Shinobi (or Nightshade which I would like to see come back) as it is my favorite sega franchise after VF, but honestly I enjoyed the last revival if not the art style so I sorta expect one game and for the franchise to go dormant again.

It isn't enough to just make a new entry, I feel, SEGA has to invest in their franchises. Instead of hoping for one mega hit from franchises that have to compete with both irrelevancy and nostalgia. I do hope they find a way to push these franchises forward.

Shinobi in particular keeps hopping protagonists but it also hops settings (and game play) so the series overall feels very disjointed. I think they need to nail down the modern gameplay approach if they are going to keep changing everything else.

And I still await VF6....

I'm cautiously optimistic and only interested in Jet Set Radio. Bomb Rush Cyberfunk was great, so no loss there.

Shinobi, Crazy Taxi, and Jet Set Radio looked good.

3D iterations of Streets of Rage and Golden Axe?

Ehhhhhhh...not so much.

Crazy Taxi looks like an online multiplayer game. Streets of Rage looked more like an Arena fighter. Shinobi looked great but some of the animation looked a little stiff to me, Golden Axe's camera was all over the place but looked solid enough and Jet Set Radio looked stellar. I'm not saying they are back quite yet, but man I am excited.

I've only gotten to play Jet Set Radio for the first time when it launched on Steam 10+ years ago, but it became an instant favorite of mine. Really looking forward to this new one. Just hope that the music is at least just as good as the original...

The most interesting thing about these is that I'm taking from this is that I'm fairly certain, with maybe the exception of Shinobi, that all of these are closer to a proof of concept rather than the definitive direction they're going. I'm not an expert on most of these games but there's enough stuff re-used from past games that people have brought up that it feels clear these exist to show that these games are back and that in reality, the final games will all likely be different. It's like what Nintendo did with Zelda for Gamecube and Wii U.

I'm thrilled. 90s Sega was so cool, even as someone who didn't grow up with their consoles, and I'm all in on game companies actually remembering half of the IPs people like from them. I've stated many times that I hate the modern gaming trend of making as few new games as possible, so anything that goes the opposite direction of that I'm strongly in favor of.

Showing everything together in very short clips did make for exciting marketing from Sega. But once they show some of these games on their own they’ll need to show they’re playing with a full deck, as anyone unfamiliar with these titles isn’t going to see the big deal about another ninja sidescroller and a dwarf lumbering with an axe..

The SEGA in me is gushing that Jet Set Radio returns, along with Crazy Taxi, the freaking perspective shift that SOR 5 is in perspective and Golden Axe right now (will it go Dynamite Cop and Golden Axe take some notes from the cancelled Xbox Live Golden Axe).

But the cynic in me is betting at least one of these is being canned and or turn out a mess and that Snowboard Kids (Atlus owns Snowboard Kids) isn't in the bunch.

Apologies for being a cynic right now.