5 Sega Series That Peaked With the First Game

April 10, 2026, 6:00pm

Sega is one of the most storied developers in video game history. The company has been putting out excellent games for several decades and was previously a major player in the console business. However, it doesn’t have a perfect track record. Every once in a while, Sega releases an exceptional first game, seemingly poised to kick off another massive series. While those follow-ups do come, none of them have been able to live up to the original.

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Here are five Sega series that peaked with the first game.

5) Altered Beast

Altered Beast launched during the thick of the beat ’em up craze. The arcade original had exceptional side-scrolling action, putting players into the shoes of two warriors fighting through Ancient Greece. Console ports of Altered Beast weren’t as strong, but that was mostly par for the course in the early ’90s, as consoles didn’t have the power to keep up with their beefier arcade counterparts.

Unfortunately, that drop in quality only continued as the series progressed. Guardian of the Realms was a middling Game Boy Advance game that lacked much real innovation more than a decade later. And the PlayStation 2 Altered Beast reboot was so bad that a North American port was cancelled. Supposedly, there’s a film in the works, so we might get another Altered Beast game someday, but we haven’t heard much about that project since 2016.

4) Valkyria Chronicles

The first Valkyria Chronicles game launched in 2008 for the PlayStation 3. It was a critical success, impressing with its mix of RPG and tactics. Sega also made strides in story presentation, helping it stand out from the crowd. Sadly, it didn’t sell as well, at least at first. An anime adaptation helped boost sales, and Sega decided to continue the series on the PlayStation Portable.

Here’s the thing, all of the Valkyria Chronicles games are solid. Well, that’s true as long as you don’t count Revolution. The less said about that spin-off, the better. Still, none of them has quite been able to capture the magic of the original. The good news is that sales have improved with each new entry, so there’s hope that we might see a future game take fans to a new level down the line.

3) Alex Kidd

Alex Kidd in Miracle World was originally planned as a licensed tie-in based on the Dragon Ball manga. Unfortunately for Sega, the developers couldn’t get the game out before the Dragon Ball license expired, so they had to switch gears and make Alex Kidd. Thankfully, it’s still a solid platformer with plenty of innovation for the time. It’s not quite Mario, but it was as close as Sega got before Sonic.

It’s a shame the rest of the Alex Kidd games are so forgettable. Sega, for whatever reason, decided to switch up genres quite a few times. Enchanted Castle is most like Miracle World, but the mix of floaty control and frustrating boss battles led to middling reviews from critics and fans alike. Even worse, the 2021 remake was filled with bugs, ruining the good name of Miracle World.

2) Super Monkey Ball

Super Monkey Ball is one of the more inventive puzzlers of all time. You’re seemingly playing as a monkey inside a ball, but that’s not actually true. Instead, you control the maze. As you tilt the maze this way and that, the monkey will roll around, letting you guide it to the finish line.

It was a nearly perfect game on the GameCube and arcade. Future games were also solid, but nothing could top that original game. Sure, added difficulty and fun mini-games are a blast, but there’s something special about that first time you saw those monkeys slowly work their way around a tricky corner.

1) Crazy Taxi

Crazy Taxi has a simple premise: you’re going to drive people around a wacky world, trying to make it to a destination quickly to earn a maximum fare. It works incredibly well and was the perfect encapsulation of late ’90s culture. No matter where you were playing Crazy Taxi, you were guaranteed to have a great time, but Dreamcast players had it best.

Crazy Taxi 2 is a solid follow-up that introduced more drivers, maps, and the Crazy Hop. It’s a great game in its own right, but it doesn’t quite do enough to improve on the original. From there, it’s mostly been disappointment with Crazy Taxi. Granted, as a big fan of idle games, I spent far too many hours playing Crazy Taxi Tycoon on mobile, but even I wouldn’t call that a good game. There is some hope on the horizon. Sega announced in 2023 that it’s working on a new Crazy Taxi game. We haven’t heard much since, but hopefully that changes soon.

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