Sega is developing new versions of fan-favorites including Crazy Taxi and Streets of Rage

[Shawn Knight]

What just happened? Sega is turning to its back catalog for future game development inspiration, but it's not Sonic the Hedgehog that'll be taking the lead this time. At The Game Awards 2023, the Japanese game company announced an initiative focused on creating new titles based on some of its most popular franchises from yesteryear.

Sega is working on five new games based on legacy IP:

• Crazy Taxi – A whacky, high-octane driving adventure series where players must weave through traffic in an open play environment to deliver passengers to their destinations before time runs out.

• Jet Set Radio – This franchise combines action packed traversal around vibrant Tokyo-to with skating, self-expression through graffiti, street culture and rebellious themes.

• Shinobi – A series that utilizes ninja shuriken, ninjutsu, special attacks and more to defeat enemies in a mix of side-scrolling action and challenging environments.

• Golden Axe – A "hack and slash" style series with close melee combat set in a fantasy world of beasts, swords, and magic.

• Streets of Rage – A "beat 'em up" style series that pairs fast-paced fist fighting with fresh music set in a lawless urban environment.

Choosing a favorite here is like asking parents to pick a favorite child. Each is unique in their own right, and probably elicits a different response based on your own experiences.

Of the bunch, I'm most familiar with Crazy Taxi from the arcade and Dreamcast era. Streets of Rage is also high on my list, but perhaps because I almost always get it mixed up with Final Fight (which I just now learned was set in the Street Fighter universe, and also that the boss character Andore was modeled after Andre the Giant).

Sega of America CEO Shuji Utsumi said Sonic forged new paths for the company in recent years by reaching new audiences in ways they had only dreamed of in the past. Building on that success, Sega is now returning to the vault to see if it can strike gold again.

Sega said the projects are now in development and will be arriving in the coming years.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/101132-sega-developing-new-versions-fan-favorites-including-crazy.html

 

[loki1944]

Crazy Taxi, Streets of Rage, and Golden Axe were awesome; though the latter two cost me a lot of quarters

 

[OortCloud]

The Shinobi remake looks great. Lovely art style while remaining a side-on scrolling platformer. Not so sure about 3D versions of Streets of Rage and Golden Axe...

 

[mbk34]

Crazy taxi appeals to me but it's £6 on Steam which is a lot for a game that's nearly 25 years old! It's also just a submission in GTA3 where you get get some great music to listen to and the rest of GTA3 to play. I'll skip.

 

[Jrfeimst2]

About time! I can’t believe it took this long for SEGA to give us the games SEGA fans have wanted for years.

 

[d5aqoep]

These companies are ideas-bankrupt and cannot come up with a new IP which can be a hit. Basking on past laurels.

 

[bviktor]

These companies are ideas-bankrupt and cannot come up with a new IP which can be a hit. Basking on past laurels.

What's wrong with new generations being able to enjoy the games we got to?

 

[amghwk]

What's wrong with new generations being able to enjoy the games we got to?

Why pay again for something that is still already playable? All these games have already been released as playable versions via in-house emulations officially, if you're not interested to play via 3rd party emulations. All the remakes I have seen actually detracts from the true experience.

I always play these games in Kega Fusion for Genesis and 32X and MegaCD games. Other systems, I use their own emulators.

I even have the original Genesis, but I prefer to play using Kega Fusion since I can play it anytime anywhere on my laptop.

 

[bviktor]

Why pay again for something that is still already playable? All these games have already been released as playable versions via in-house emulations officially, if you're not interested to play via 3rd party emulations. All the remakes I have seen actually detracts from the true experience.

You completely missed my point. New generations don't have those old games.

There are many bad remakes, but there are also many great ones. Just to name a few great ones:

- Diablo II Resurrected
- StarCraft
- Crash Team Racing
- Spyro
- The Last of Us
- Halo

Even if I had those "emulators" you talk about it, why would I bother? How is that more compelling to play an uglier game in a more difficult setup, with probably more bugs and poorer performance? Not to mention that in the case of console games, I'll also need a high performance PC, which is quite expensive, and very few people will have. Instead of sitting comfortably on my couch, with my controller, when I play console games, which is 90%+ of the time.

I always play these games in Kega Fusion for Genesis and 32X and MegaCD games. Other systems, I use their own emulators.

I even have the original Genesis, but I prefer to play using Kega Fusion since I can play it anytime anywhere on my laptop.

Cool. Most people don't have their Genesis. Me neither. And I don't want emulators. I want to play on my current console instead of keeping alive 10 aging ones, let alone a PC that's capable to emulate these games.

 

[ferrellsl]

Why pay again for something that is still already playable?

Maybe because some of us enjoy the updated visuals.

 

[amghwk]

You completely missed my point. New generations don't have those old games.

There are many bad remakes, but there are also many great ones. Just to name a few great ones:

- Diablo II Resurrected
- StarCraft
- Crash Team Racing
- Spyro
- The Last of Us
- Halo

Even if I had those "emulators" you talk about it, why would I bother? How is that more compelling to play an uglier game in a more difficult setup, with probably more bugs and poorer performance? Not to mention that in the case of console games, I'll also need a high performance PC, which is quite expensive, and very few people will have. Instead of sitting comfortably on my couch, with my controller, when I play console games, which is 90%+ of the time.

Cool. Most people don't have their Genesis. Me neither. And I don't want emulators. I want to play on my current console instead of keeping alive 10 aging ones, let alone a PC that's capable to emulate these games

You completely missed my point. New generations don't have those old games.

There are many bad remakes, but there are also many great ones. Just to name a few great ones:

- Diablo II Resurrected
- StarCraft
- Crash Team Racing
- Spyro
- The Last of Us
- Halo

Even if I had those "emulators" you talk about it, why would I bother? How is that more compelling to play an uglier game in a more difficult setup, with probably more bugs and poorer performance? Not to mention that in the case of console games, I'll also need a high performance PC, which is quite expensive, and very few people will have. Instead of sitting comfortably on my couch, with my controller, when I play console games, which is 90%+ of the time.

Cool. Most people don't have their Genesis. Me neither. And I don't want emulators. I want to play on my current console instead of keeping alive 10 aging ones, let alone a PC that's capable to emulate these games.

For one, Kega Fusion runs beautifully even in Intel Atom CPUs.


You too missed the point in the beginning that these classics are already playable with the Sega Genesis collections available everywhere, both on new consoles and Steam.

If you call these classics "ugly"... Well I'll leave it there.

 

[yukka]

As someone who put 10 pence pieces into the arcade versions of shinobi and golden axe in the late 80s/early 90s, played the sega megadrive version of streets of rage and streets of rage 2 with my younger brother, played crazy taxi and jet set radio on the Saturn, I am very excited to play the new versions.

Sega produced some cracking games. I’m happy to see them bring them up to date with complete remakes. Why the **** not.

All this negativity is hilarious. GROWLY GROWLY GROWL. Don’t buy them if you don’t want them.

 

[yukka]

For one, Kega Fusion runs beautifully even in Intel Atom CPUs.


You too missed the point in the beginning that these classics are already playable with the Sega Genesis collections available everywhere, both on new consoles and Steam.

If you call these classics "ugly"... Well I'll leave it there.

Not ugly. Dated. For good reason. If you didn’t get a tiny bit of joy seeing the words”golden axe” in that trailer, these aren’t for you and that’s fine.

 

[amghwk]

Not ugly. Dated. For good reason. If you didn’t get a tiny bit of joy seeing the words”golden axe” in that trailer, these aren’t for you and that’s fine.

Like how they bombed Golden Axe remake on the PS2 those days? Sigh...

 

[TheBigT42]

My wish is that someone remakes Interstate 76.