As part of Sega’s latest financial results report, the company had something of a public awakening, realising that after years and sometimes decades spent sitting in the archives, covered in dust, it might be worth bringing back series like Jet Set Radio, Shinobi and Crazy Taxi.
As you can see on this presentation slide, spotted by IGN, Sega got to talking about utilising their “globally recognised IP” in the months and years to come, and listed a whole bunch of “dormant” series that could benefit from either a “remaster”, “remake” or “reboot”.
On that list is pretty much everything a long-suffering Sega fan would ask for: Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Panzer Dragoon, Shinobi, Virtua Fighter, even Altered Beast and Nights made the cut (Alex Kidd is presumably missing because it’s getting a new game this year).
Of course this is all just speculation, but even word that Sega is thinking of this stuff will be fun for fans, who haven’t seen a proper Crazy Taxi or Jet Set game since 2002 or a new Altered Beast since 2005.
Then again, Jet Set fans are at least being catered for externally when Bomb Rush Cyberfunk (which even features Jet Set’s composer, Hideki Naganuma) comes out next year.