Right now, Sega is in the midst of some big plans for its Sega Ages program on Nintendo Switch. Phantasy Star is set to release sometime this month, followed by Space Harrier, Virtua Racing and other games. But the team is also considering Dreamcast and Sega Saturn games; and now it appears that some arcade favorites could be on the way.
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During a recent interview with the team at Game Watch, the team at M2, who have been handling the Sega Ages conversions, noted that it’s managed to get arcade boards up and running on the Switch, including the Naomi and the earlier Model-1 system. That means good news for ports that could potentially come to the console, though the team has a dream one in mind.
The producers confirmed that one of their dream projects is to bring Star Wars Arcade to the Switch, although they would obviously need authorization to get the job done. Not to mention a likely deal with Electronic Arts, since they have the rights to produce Star Wars games.
Star Wars Arcade, not to be confused with Star Wars Trilogy Arcade (though we’d definitely take a port of that), originally came out in arcades back in 1993, bringing with it some excellent shooting scenarios based on the hit film.
The only home port that the game got was a release for Sega 32X in 1994, and while it did a serviceable job recreating the arcade version’s graphics, the sound was horribly lacking, with Admiral Ackbar sounding like he was coming down with a severe cold. So, yeah, a direct-from-arcade port would be ideal for the Switch.
For the time being, however, the developer is hard at work on the current projects, with Virtua Racing, which was announced earlier this season, being the highlight. Past that, however, 2019 could bring big things to the brand, including potential Dreamcast and Saturn releases like Jet Set Radio and NiGHTS Into Dreams, among countless others. We’ll let you know as soon as future entries in the series are announced.
In the meantime, there’s a lot to look forward to, including Space Harrier, Gain Ground and the ones mentioned above. Not to mention Sonic the Hedgehog and Thunder Force IV, which are available now.
So if classic gaming is your thing, be sure to check out the Sega Ages brand. And save room for Sega Genesis Classics, which is coming to the Nintendo Switch this December!
(Hat tip to DualShockers for the scoop!)