Earlier this month, Sega announced five new franchise revivals in the works: Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Shinobi, Streets of Rage, and Altered Beast. The news came as a pleasant surprise when it was announced at The Game Awards, given the fact that these franchises have basically been dormant for years. Sega has been hinting that these won’t be the only franchises making a comeback, and some newly filed trademarks could offer a hint at what else is in store. As reported by Gematsu, Sega filed for trademarks for several other games this month, including Super Monkey Ball, Outrun, Alex Kidd, House of the Dead, and After Burner.
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Gematsu shared links to the trademark filings, which can be found in the Tweet embedded below.
Remakes Leading to New Games
While Super Monkey Ball, Outrun, Alex Kidd, House of the Dead, and After Burner haven’t had new games in a while, several of them have had remakes over the last few years. A remake of Alex Kidd in Miracle World was released in 2021, and the original House of the Dead got a remake the following year.
A new Super Monkey Ball certainly wouldn’t be surprising. Sega has been priming the series for a comeback for years now, with an HD remake of Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz in 2019, and the release of Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania in 2021. Banana Mania mostly featured content from the first two games in the series, but with Sega putting a big focus on its underused franchises, it might be time for a brand-new game!
The Sega Revival
Sega has a large number of beloved franchises, but the company has largely focused on three of them over the last few years: Sonic the Hedgehog, Persona, and Like a Dragon (formerly known as Yakuza). In a recent interview with the Washington Post, Sega co-COO Shuji Utsumi noted that the success of these three “pillars” is the reason that we’re currently seeing other franchises getting a chance to return.
These new trademark filings all seem legitimate, but there’s simply no way of knowing if (or when) this new batch of revivals will actually come out. Plans are constantly changing in the video game industry, and until we see some kind of announcement from Sega, readers should take this news with a grain of salt. The one thing we can be sure of is the fact that Sega is clearly looking to give some franchises a second chance at finding an audience. There are few companies in the video game industry with a stable of IP as strong as Sega, and it will be interesting to see if those games can show newcomers why they became so beloved in the first place.
Which of these franchises would you like to see get a revival? Are you happy to see so many old Sega franchises getting so much attention? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!
