M2 - the development team behind the Sega AGES line - is currently busy bringing Sega's retro line of games across to the Switch. Sega itself even ran a poll not long ago asking fans what games they wanted to see added to the series in the future. Surprisingly, the Dreamcast classic Jet Set Radio topped the list - this doesn't necessarily mean it will happen but the Japanese company is certainly looking into it.
While there's obviously interest from both sides to see Dreamcast games up and running on the Switch, it turns out M2 has recently been researching other Sega technology. In an interview with Game Watch, courtesy of Nintendo Everything, M2 President Naoki Horii and Sega AGES Producer Kagasei Shimomura revealed the team had been looking into releasing games from the Sega Naomi arcade board which was first demonstrated in 1998.
Here's what the pair had to say:
Horii: We’re actually in the middle of researching SEGA NAOMI’s* titles as opposed to those on Dreamcast, to put it precisely. Truth be told, there’s a NAOMI game that we’re working on at present just because we wanted to play it. We’re actually presenting it because it’s a title that has stuck with Shimomura-san – one way or another we were going to release it.
Shimomura: The Nintendo Switch can already run NAOMI titles, that much is certain. I want to make sure that SEGA AGES Vol. 1 is a hit.
*The SEGA NAOMI is an arcade board that shares a common “architecture” with the Dreamcast.
Horii: The Nintendo Switch is a console that can serve as a portable system – that being said we can still have the games run at a high resolution and run well.
As is explained in the interview, the Naomi arcade board shares a common architecture with the Dreamcast - with games like the original Crazy Taxi title appearing in both the arcade and on Sega's home console at the time. There are plenty of other releases utilising this board as well. The Sega staffers are certain that Dreamcast games will be part of the AGES line at some point.
Would you like to see Sega Naomi titles added to the AGES line? Tell us below.
[source nintendoeverything.com, via dualshockers.com]
Comments 68
They need to prove this by releasing NAOMI ports of Crazy Taxi, Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, The House of the Dead 2, and Samba de Amigo for Switch otherwise I won't believe them.
Rhythm Tengoku (Rhythm Heaven) was also on SEGA Naomi. while it would be Neat, im not sure if Nintendo will let SEGA put it on the switch though.
By "sharing an architecture" they mean it's double the RAM and a slightly higher end GPU. Emulating a Dreamcast gets you 80% of the way to NAOMI outright.
You're not going to see Alpha 3, MvC2 because those are Capcom titles. They're doing ONLY Sega stuff.
@retro_player_22
I'm already disappointed that capcom didn't have SFA3U on the collection, it's a whole lot better than the vanilla Alpha 3 on the collection.
Sega games from that era were some of the best ever
Tokyo Bus Tour?
House of the Dead series would be nice, i miss Goldman voice acting.
...If it can run NAOMI 2 as well I need Virtua Fighter 4 Final Tuned. Somebody answer this wish.
Then..., Cleopatra Fortune Plus please?!, PLEASE?!!!, PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEE?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@retro_player_22 Street Fighter and Marvel Vs Capcom are Capcom properties, so those won't happen. HOTD and Samba would require some work making the joycons act as lightguns/maracas but not sure how possible that is.
Crazy Taxi would be the most likely, though sadly it probably won't have the original music and certainly not the store brands (KFC, etc.). A pity, I'm sure when everyone thinks Crazy Taxi, they also think "YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH!" XD
Just want to see two games: MvC2 and Capcom v SNK 2.
Two of the best fighting games ever released.
However I know that will extremely difficult to be done due to licensing issues.
Long shot, but now I wanna see Border Down on the Switch.
@SakuraHaruka sorry, but that’s a TAITO game so won’t be in SEGA AGES
Whether Dreamcast or Naomi, we should at least be getting Crazy Taxi. Whatever they go with, if we get Shenmue on Switch, I'll be a happy gamer.
Definitely the original Monkey Ball!
I NEEEEEEEEEED that!
I want to see any NAOMI title that has never seen a home release before (if possible)
As much as I LOVE crazy taxi it’s widely available. The iOS port even has the original soundtrack...
I'd like for them to release arcade games that were never ported to consoles, like Scud Race. Whatever the board. That would be useful. Or maybe the first two Virtua Fighter, which were ported to consoles that couldn't match the arcade visuals.
I whould love to see this happening.
I wonder what that Naomi game they're definitely going to release will be? Looking at the list of games the big ones are
Crazy Taxi
Virtua Tennis 1&2
Virtua Striker 2
House of the Dead 2
Samba de Amigo
@Moroboshi876 I think with Virtua Racing now confirmed, the original Virtua Fighter is a certainty. I would bet on it being one of the remaining 4 titles,with another being the Naomi game they've been working on.
I have some slight fears the upcoming genesis collection may cannibalise potential sales for SEGA AGES. I want all the SEGA AGES titles as they add new features etc and the emulation is excellent.
Just have this feeling it may get overshadowed by the genesis collection even if they offer different things.
This may impact on future SEGA AGES releases.
Anyone else feeling this way?
The Wii U could easily run Gamecube titles (via Homebrew Channel in the hacked Wii startup disk), they just never did it. Because money scares them
@telepathy2000 Grabbing the Genesis Collection for sure and holding out on AGES entries unless Sega can port arcade versions and titles not on the comp
@Ryu_Niiyama Super Monkey Ball arcade was Naomi 2! That technically never came home. So, it would be like getting a new, good, Monkey Ball lol. Must...keep...calm...
@Aozz101x Nintendo are being much friendlier with their IP these days. I'm sure it could happen.
Scud Racer, Indy 500 and Le Man please.
@GrailUK Well you keep hope for me and I'll keep hope for you!
@YANDMAN All of those were Model 3 games, not Naomi.
Crazy Taxi was crazy fun.
The Sega Hikaru board would be a more interesting target over Naomi and Naomi 2. The Hikaru has a few big games which never came home - chiefly Planet Harriers (sequel to Space Harrier), Star Wars Racer Arcade (unrelated to and far superior to the N64 pod racer game), Virtual On Force (sequel to Virtual On), and Brave Firefighters.
This is great news, but let's not get ahead of ourselves... I want some Model 2 and Model 3 games first!
Capcom has oft worked with other companies, including Sega. Sure they would both have to come to an agreement! But may not be impossible to see some games pop over. For instance Capcom nes games are on switch online as well as some on retrobit's systems.
Skies of Arcadia please! Still one of my all-time favourite jrpgs. I've been rooting for a port for ages but it seems like I need to plug in my Dreamcast again if I want to play it again.
@telepathy2000 The only Ages releases that are on the Megadrive Collection are Sonic 1 & 2. Those and Thunderforce IV are the only Megadrive titles of the 11 announced so far. The other 8 are 2 Master System games and 6 arcade games. Sonic and Thunderforce IV are already out so won't have been affected by the Megadrive collection. The only one that may suffer is Sonic 2 whenever that comes but a remastered version of Sonic 2 should still do alright,regardless of the collection.
@Ryu_Niiyama Deal! (Although I would happily take a VF too lol)
There's going the extra yard and there's going the extra mile and there's going however far M2 go.
@telepathy2000 if the price is right in down to buy it all up...
The nostalgia factor is immense for me.
Huge Dreamcast fan here...
I'd like to see Virtual-On Oratorio Tangram.
Um, didn’t Zero Gunner 2 run in Naomi? So, we, uh, already know Naomi runs on Switch?
SKIES OF ARCADIA, POWERSTONE 1&2...ONLINE, and oh yeah, SKIES OF ARCADIA.
@Jimgamer8 They called it 'Zero Gunner 2-' as it was remade rather than a perfect emulation of the original. That's why they had various issues at launch where people complained certain elements weren't accurate to the original and I think it got patched.
Please. Just give me that Arcade port of VF2. Please.
@BionicDodo hmm, i thought it was a straight port of Zero Gunner 2 arcade, which itself appeared on Dreamcast
Its mainly the shm’ups that appeared on there that interested me but since they already released Under Defeat last gen and Zero Gunner 2 (in its own form) this gen; I would like to see a look at the Saturn Era shm’ups making their way over.
Although there are a few I hear where the PS1 releases were superior like Donpachi.
Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram, Virtua Tennis, Cosmic Smash and Outrigger! Make it happen, Sega. Make it happen.
@Jimgamer8 "Much of the data from the original game was lost, so we decided to rebuild it from the ground up. To show our respect to the original and so not as to diplease the die hard fans, we therefore added the '-' to the end of the title."
Would love to see some Capcom games here & Virtua Cop series too.
Oh awesome! I'd love to dig into the dreamcast library a bit, its such a pain to find games for and then hook up my dreamcast, and it looks terrible on all my TVs
i'd like to see them bring tokyo highway battle over. that game was a fixture in my dreamcast for a long time.
I just want to be able to play Skies of Arcadia without paying approximately 3 small fortunes. And Sonic Adventure 1 and 2. I don't care how poorly they've aged, I still love 'em.
Again Sega does what Nintendon't. :B
Though, in all seriousness, I'm hyped.
Cya
Raziel-chan
All I have to say is if I could get Power Stone 2 AGES with Online, I could die the happiest man ever.
Is it strange that this excites me a lot more than what was revealed in the Smash Bros. Direct?
@MeloMan It would be awesome if Power Stone got rebooted!
That's good news!
Seeing as there doesn't appear to be large demand for it, I'm not holding my breath...but I'd REALLY love to see them port FIGHTING VIPERS to the Switch. Such a fun fighting game. Basically, VF with breakable armor, character specific weapons, and interactive arenas. Had a blast with it on Saturn years and years ago. Not sure if it was Naomi, but there was an arcade version of it I remember playing at Sega City the same time VF3 was a spectacle.
@ramu-chan If it runs Naomi it will run Model 3 and seeing as my weak PC runs model 3, it will run model 3.
@onex No it came much earlier as was obviously on the Saturn. Model 2.
Sonic Adventure 2 on the go.
Count me the [cue obvious expletive] in.
Just give me anything Sega!! Console or arcade!
Hype levels through the roof!
@YANDMAN Ah ok, that makes sense. Was Model 2 the same engine used for VF2?
Now i hope it's Dynamite Deka EX Asian Dynamite!
While the licensing might be an issue, Spawn in the Demon's Hand would be great on the Switch.
@onex yes.
Wait a mnute. Zero Gunner is already on Switch and is a Naomi game.
Thats great, but the real gold is in the Am2 titles a generation earlier, Daytona USA1+2, Sega Rally, Scud racer, Virtua Cop, Hotd, or any Model 1,2 3 Game.
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