Sega Forever has finally launched after weeks of speculation, and sadly, it's not had the best of starts. Dogged by poor emulation, the games released so far may be free to download and play, but they're a long way from being the best way to experience such classic titles.
While Sega clearly has some work to do in order to bring the Sega Forever service up to speed, you can't fault the company's approach to PR. It has been cunningly teasing the retro gaming service via its social media channels for the past few weeks, and even went as far as to mail out cassette tapes full of classic Sega tunes to journalists.
Now, the firm has undertaken perhaps its boldest step yet when it comes to marketing Sega Forever: breakfast cereal.
A box of Sega Forever Gold Rings arrived at the Nintendo Life office today, and naturally we couldn't resist cracking it open to see if it softens the blow of disappointing emulation plagued by annoying adverts. The verdict? Well, opening the pack to discover a free gift inside certainly took us back to our childhood, although for additional nostalgia points Sega really should have placed the Mega Drive keyring inside the cereal bag itself, as was the norm back in the day. Remember when your parents used to go mad at you for opening another box of cereal simply to retrieve the cheap plastic bike reflector contained within? Good times.
Once the allure of the free item had passed we ventured onwards, tearing open the plastic bag and getting a good old sniff of the gold rings contained within. Disappointingly, they appear to be physically similar to your bog-standard Cheerio / Hoops variant available elsewhere; no matter how many mouthfuls we ingested we didn't get any extra lives, but at the same time, walking into hazards like brick walls or a busy road didn't cause us to magically drop all of the rings sloshing around inside our stomach, either. So it's not all bad.
After one bowlful of gold rings we couldn't resist eating another, because that's the kind of thing you do when you work from home and there's nobody else in. With each mouthful we were hopeful that some kind of magical Sega-style transformation would occur - like Sonic games actually being good again - but sadly all that happened is that we felt rather full and didn't want our lunch. We also noticed that each munch was accompanied by a pang of utter sadness from the knowledge that the Sega which created such classics as Golden Axe, ESWAT, Panzer Dragoon, Alex Kidd and Whip Rush (hey! Someone had to like it, right?) is no more, and that the Sega Forever service is nothing but a painful reminder of that depressing fact.
Sorry, but we're off to cuddle our Mega Drive for a bit and wait for the feeling of nausea generated by consuming vast quantities of gold rings to die down. Verdict? 7/10.
Comments 40
Cat in last picture - 8/10
@ThomasBW84 I'll pass that feedback onto my daughter, she will be pleased
Those cereals would probably taste better if they could pull off smooth, constant 60 fps...
They`re not STABLE enough... update?
Omnomnomnomnom...
90's Sega would have taken great pride in ensuring every Bit of cereal was blast processed before packing.2017 Sega,buys a cheap cereal,dumps it in a branded box,throws in keyring and calls it a day.
Gave my Genesis/Sega CD console some love after trying the dissatisfying forever apps
"Remember when your parents used to go mad at you for opening another box"
That made me laugh,I'd forgotten all about that.My mum was always on at me for doing that.Sometimes the 'Free Gift' wouldn't just be under the bag but actually inside the bag buried in cereal.You had to shake it and feel around for it.When you eventually did get it out,you'd play with whatever it was for a few seconds then never pick it up again.
"like Sonic games actually being good again"
Wow, dated reference. Aside from Sonic Boom, Sonic games have been good for a while now.
@RainbowGazelle Thank you. I was about to say the same thing.
@UnseatingKDawg @RainbowGazelle I knew somebody would bite at that! Do you guys not have a sense of humour?
Why is this news on here? How do cereal and crap cell phone games relate to Nintendo?
I'd rather have a bowl of Cocoa Pops.
Subliminal messaging.
"DIE SONIC"
Unless it's German. But then it would make more sense as "Der Sonic".
@Damo Well played...
Boots in the UK sells Sonic the Hedgehog Make up
http://www.boots.com/glamglow-sonic-blue-gravitymud-firming-treatment-15g-sonic-collectable-10233450
@Damo Zelda Amiibo Breath of wild and twilight princess re-stock released on official website
This was hilarious, and big props to Sega for actually DOING this. I'm pretty sure they spent more money on the custom cereal than they did on Sega Forever. The pictures of cuddling the Sonic plushie and the fully stacked Genesis/MD were funny enough with the review of despair......but when I got to the 7/10 I lost it
Also, you mean they DON'T put toys inside the cereal bag anymore? Why would anyone actually buy cereal? I feel old
@Damo That took courage to eat food randomly dumped on your doorstep, and twice as much courage knowing that food came from a company that primarily excels in selling barely-disguised poo.
@RainbowGazelle Isn't Boom the newest console Sonic? Fire & Ice was ok, and Generations was good because it was just a remix of stuff from the good games.
The upcoming two look good-to-great, of course, but they're not out yet so it doesn't date the reference
I'm disappointed the cereal is just basically Cheerios. When I imagine golden rings, I envision a honey flavor (ala Captain Crunch).
@Link41x Let's see:
A) They've already said the service could come to Switch
B) We've covered LOADS of Sega games in the past, as part of the Wii Virtual Console service, retail releases on Nintendo formats and the 3D Classic series on the 3DS
C) We got sent the cereal and decided it would be fun
Ah, Sega. . . .
Aaaarrrrggghhhh, Sega!
That cereal should be a thing though--proper in stores. Unless it actually is and I'm being a tool.
@RainbowGazelle - IKR? That's the only thing that stopped me from pressing the Heart icon for this article. :<
Leave it to Sega to screw up lol.
"I don't see the purpose of this." Sega forfeited their right to criticize Nintendo for the Switch (or anyone else in the industry, for that matter) when they decided to sell out for mobiles, which many if not most dedicated gaming enthusiasts HATE with a passion. But given how the company has been run into the ground since they abandoned console-making (by running Sonic into the ground instead of giving fans of their mountain of beloved IPs more of what we've been asking for), it's somehow fitting that the launch of their next callback to their glory days would reflect Sega's own tarnished brand.
Remember when emulators used to be good, you know, the unofficial ones, and the official ones usually sucked? Sega takes the cake.
Im not haveing any issue with PS II on my phone.
Oh I didn't realize this was already released.
This is such an over-reaction. Honestly, Sega can patch the bugs and call it a day.
This is the trouble with Sega. They spend ages hyping something up and then it's revealed to just be a bunch of carelessly emulated Megadrive roms again.
If they'd started with Saturn, Dreamcast and arcades boards like Model 1, 2 and 3, I would have been far more impressed.
@AlphaJaguar Oh definitely, I agree they can certainly patch them. But whether or not they actually will is another story.
Sheesh, just like in Capcom's case with the mobile Mega Man collections they already had these games on the iOS and Android stores years ago... and they worked just fine.
How do companies keep screwing up what didn't need fixing?
@SLIGEACH_EIRE
*Cocoa Poops
I wonder what would happen if Nintendo released a breakfast cereal themed after the Switch, where there would be little tiny wheaty rectangles, which would stand for Switch cartridges. They could flavor them with their famous cartridge flavor! They'll fly off shelves like the Switch itself!
Better yet, they could reinvent the food wheel, just like they reinvented the gaming wheel. They could release the first ever dinner cereal and name it "I wonder what's for dinner?".
It'll sell as if it was lamp oil, rope and bombs!
Yeah!
@mikegamer They clearly will. Sega paid top dollar to market and promote this, and they've been very critical with quality lately. Plus, new games will be released every two weeks.
The sad thing is Sega were in discussion with Retroarch to handle the emulation duties, but due to Sega making some unreasonable demands the talks failed.
What we have now is an utter joke.
I want that cereal.
Frig the cereal, where can I get my greasy paws on that rad cassette tape? My '99 Escort needs this.
@Damo those pics were absolutely hilarious. Over everyone of em'. 🤣
Wait, that was Damo? Hah! Yeah, that was funny. 7/10
Anyways, I'll gladly take the cereal over a mobile collection. While I'm sure it would've been nice for anyone who has controllers for mobile devices, I don't really need that stuff.
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