This is how Sega should bring its classics to a new era -.

As we know, a few years ago Sega announced their intention to once again become the Japanese giant that so many of us grew up with. Since then, we have seen them rapidly deliver games of towering quality, while the company’s attitude is slowly beginning to return.

I grew up with a mixture of fear and respect for Sega in high school because they delivered much cooler games than I had for the NES and later the Super Nintendo. Ironically, it wasn’t until Dreamcast that I really got a chance to immerse myself in Sega’s crazy ideas, unique games and willingness to always go their own way, all marinated in a sense of Japanese arcades with gameplay at the forefront.

The games were not always the biggest, best or most beautiful…. But they were the most original and created memories for life. Since then, I’ve loved Sega and tried to catch up with their history, collecting mostly Mega Drive games. As we know, they have already released the Shinobi comeback Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, and they got it just right.

But will they do it again next time? I don’t know, but here’s how I hope Sega will tackle some of my favorite series that have been confirmed to get a new life.

Crazy Taxi

This is one of Sega’s biggest successes ever, and it brought in huge sums of money in arcades. The Dreamcast game also sold very well, and it felt obvious that it would be one of the titles that would be brought back to life. The point is that Crazy Taxi was actually a very simple arcade game. You could accelerate and brake, perform superstarts and drift, and that was about it. In the sequels, Sega tried to add more gameplay refinements, which ruined the formula more than added to it (I still shudder at the jumping cabs).

It is exactly this brilliant loop that Sega needs to find its way back to. There is no need for more gameplay refinements, only less or nothing. However, the world can be large, open and alive with advantage. There you have to fight with other drivers for customers, and you can imagine the importance of being first on the scene for important customers. Keeping the race going requires bonus items, perhaps the ability to deliver food and surprises of all kinds. Then you should be able to get something to drive with cash, such as the ability to buy new vehicles, unique graphic decorations, new drivers, who can get different skins, and so on, so that you are constantly encouraged to play more and better. I also think Sega has a delightful title that can be enjoyed in portions, perfectly suited for today’s gamers who can spend maybe 15-30 minutes on a game on a weeknight.

Ecco the Dolphin

There were several things that made Ecco unique at the time, not the least of which was the fact that it took place entirely underwater, starred a realistic dolphin and was fairly free of frenetic action. All of this is something Sega should build on. In short, make Ecco look like a dolphin – albeit now of course in three dimensions – let puzzles and mystery permeate the atmosphere and add a really interesting ocean for a good story.

We should be able to swim around freely in all directions, interact with other animals and have a speed reminiscent of flying games at the fastest moments. Of course, there should also be dangerous animals, perhaps with the occasional escape scene. This requires a living sea floor with ancient mysteries to tackle, and there must also be traces of humanity’s destruction below the surface.

Ecco the Dolphin for Mega Drive was stunning, and of course we need impressive graphics here as well, with bioluminescent caves, deep canyons and colorful coral cities pulsing in time with ocean currents. All this while the light realistically breaks through the surface of the water, giving an almost spiritual tone. It would also be a good idea to allow co-op, so two people can swim through this mighty adventure together.

Golden Axe

At the time, this was a brutal arcade beat ’em up with market-leading graphics, and it’s clearly something that fans want a direct sequel to. But a simple beat ’em up designed this way would have been prohibitively expensive to develop. The genre doesn’t allow for particularly long games, nor is it overly popular anymore.

What Sega should do instead is look at Castle Crashers in particular, but also Towerborne, and make a slightly more role-playing game-inspired beat ’em up. That said, I don’t think they should go for a cartoony style; Many games in the genre these days feel a little too Flash -designed, which often comes across as cheap. I think that authentic, ’80s-inspired rawness of Golden Axe comes across best with a more lavish look, which can be zoomed out slightly so four people can play at once, while also saving some money on graphics (whether you can see the pores on the skin or not doesn’t matter if you move the camera backwards). Then it’s just a matter of throwing in fantasy monsters to kill, fun riding animals and spectacular bosses, and continually expanding with DLC.

Add to that the ability to design your warrior and have armor and other items actually visible as you play, and we have a spiritual successor to both Golden Axe and Castle Crashers that is sure to become an instant modern classic.

Jet Set Radio

This one is a bit trickier, but maybe not for the reason you think. Jet Set Radio was ahead of its time in so many ways, not the least of which was the ability to create your own tags and even download those of others. Added to that was a wonderfully stressful gameplay loop and perhaps the most distinctive soundtrack in gaming history (I still have several songs on my playlist). But it wasn’t all peace and joy. The game’s controls just weren’t what they should have been. This was before Halo, and the concept of controlling the camera with the right analog stick was not standard, and was made even more difficult by the fact that the Dreamcast didn’t have one.

In many ways, what is needed in the case of Jet Set Radio is much simpler than for other Sega games. Namely, it needs a good remake. Everything that makes for a really good game is already there, except the controls. It’s just time for cell-shading 2.0 (Jet Set Radio is usually credited for making this popular) and then deliver a greatly updated version of the original, perhaps supplemented by a new character and a few levels, with a few newly written songs by Hideki Naganuma, and then Sega will have a full house to treat us to.

Panzer Dragoon

One of my favorite games of all time is Panzer Dragoon Orta. I absolutely loved the epic action scenes, the obscenely beautiful graphics, all the beautiful spiritual mumbo jumbo and the Japanese fantasy premise. And there are few things I dream of more than reliving something like that today.

But. I hope Sega doesn’t do that. It would be fun, but it would also be the death of Panzer Dragoon. The series has never sold well and wouldn’t today. Rail shooters are just too niche. Nor do I think we should have free flying or anything like that. Instead, the recipe is to take a cue from the spin-off Panzer Dragoon Saga. Japanese role-playing games today are hotter than they’ve been in 25 years, maybe even hotter than ever before, and they have a completely delightful fantasy world with lots of history at their disposal, filled with dragons and savagery. This is the beginning of something big, so create a lavish and stylish role-playing game in the traditional Japanese style, preferably with expertise from Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. Great success!

Streets of fury

I was a bit surprised when Sega announced that Streets of Rage was one of the games that would be revived. The fact is that a new Streets of Rage was not released until 2020 from Lizardcube (who recently made Shinobi: Art of Vengeance). But. maybe that’s also an indication of what Sega has in mind? Streets of Rage 4 was a slightly cheaper project, and since they want to revive the series, I interpret it to mean that they want to do something new with the brand.

Beating people up together is always fun, and perhaps this Sega classic could have the same setup that the Yakuza series had before Ichiban Kasuga turned it into a turn-based adventure. While I prefer the latter, I know many people miss the action part, and it would have been gold to explore a big world with a well-written story and people to beat up on classic Yakuza premises along with Axel Stone and Blaze Fielding. With co-op support, of course, so that you and at least one other person (but preferably three) can visit the same town and fight your way through it.