The Video Game Critic

I've noticed something very encouraging, over the past couple of years. Since Sonic Mania, it seems that Sega is actually working towards rehabilitating their brand. Whereas, only a few short years ago, the market was overrun with mediocre (at best) 3D Sonic games, I think the last one to come out was for the Wii U. They are no longer carelessly dumping subpar Sonic games onto the market.

On top of that, they stopped allowing AT Games to manufacture their awful mini consoles, instead handing the emulation reigns to M2 and releasing a mini console that stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the SNES Classic (in some ways, even surpassing it). They also released the Astro City Mini, which I have heard mostly good things about (shame they released them in such limited quantities in the West).

On the games front, Sonic Mania is probably the best Sonic game since Sonic 3, Streets of Rage 4 is every bit as good as Streets of Rage 2, the recent remake of Panzer Dragoon is solid, and they even have the remake of Zwei on the horizon.

Even the Sonic movie was a quality family movie, when it could have been a complete disaster.

It seems that, after nearly two decades of tarnishing their brand, they are slowly inching their way back towards respectability. Am I wrong?

Afaik, their own studios still need some work with how mediocre Sonic Forces was (even though their Yakuza games are pretty damn good.) But handing Sonic, Streets of Rage, and Panzer Dragoon to other devs was a good choice and hopefully whoever is handling the House of the Dead remake will do it justice.

Does Sega even HAVE a brand? In the 90's Sega was the premiere video game maker. Not only did they have the #1 console, but also a long line of popular franchises.

I think there's still an opportunity to capitalize on these, especially with the success of Sonic Mania and Streets of Rage 4.

Of course Sega has a recent history of turning down easy money in favor of languishing in obscurity instead.

It's kind of funny what happened. Sega makes the best NFL game of all time NFL 2k5 and the best college basketball game of all time in College Hoops 2k8, and now they're not doing much. With NFL 2k5 they were just starting to scratch the surface on what a great dynasty mode can be. When I think about them losing the NFL rights, I don't just think of NFL 2k5. I think of what the next few games would've been like, NFL 2k6 and NFL 2k7. Sega was onto something really special. And if they didn't muck it up, the next few games in the series could've been utterly amazing.

I sure hope so. They were an amazing player back then and hopefully still can be.

VideoGameCritic wrote:I think there's still an opportunity to capitalize on these, especially with the success of Sonic Mania and Streets of Rage 4.

Of course Sega has a recent history of turning down easy money in favor of languishing in obscurity instead.

I don't understand that logic at all. "Obscurity as opposed to easy money"? Before it was "they only concentrate on Sonic and don't care about the rest".

But Yakuza, Phantasy Star Online 2, and Persona are making much more money and sales than any Sonic game in the past decade, Streets of Rage 4, and any other retro revival they've made recently like the Panzer Dragoon remake, Chu-Chu Rocket Universe, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD, the Space Channel 5 VR game on PS4, and pretty sure Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX (coming out in June) isn't gonna be very commercially successful either..

So... Which one is it?

The stuff that you describe as "obscure" is what's making them the most money (it's not small pocket change either), and it's not for lack of quality from the nostalgia bait games.

Vic,
You have some good points. I'm sure Sega does just fine on the strength of their online and mobile offerings. Let's face it - that's where the big bucks are.

However, I think their classic catalog could mean a lot more in terms of name recognition. In the 90s Sega was a household name. Now you rarely hear it mentioned. I'm not sure if Sonic Mania or SOR4 made much money, but I think it excited the customer base.
VGC

VideoGameCritic wrote:Vic,
You have some good points. I'm sure Sega does just fine on the strength of their online and mobile offerings. Let's face it - that's where the big bucks are.

However, I think their classic catalog could mean a lot more in terms of name recognition. In the 90s Sega was a household name. Now you rarely hear it mentioned. I'm not sure if Sonic Mania or SOR4 made much money, but I think it excited the customer base.
VGC

You should give Yakuza a try, if you haven't already. It's one of the few AAA style games that hasn't forgotten it's roots. And it shows more respect for Sega's history than Sega does.

The newest one's an RPG, but all the previous were action brawlers inspired by Shenmue. (But with better pacing, acting, and character writing.)

And let us not forget who owns Atlus and the Shin Megami Tensei series, which... makes money? Not sure, as the SMT (and Atlus, for that matter) are a very niche audience).

Of note, Sonic Mania was awesome, and NOT developed directly by SEGA. It also came out... how long ago? And what has SEGA done with Sonic since?

Other than the Sega Genesis Mini, I can't think of many recent Sega properties that caught my eye as being interesting or worth purchase. And no, I do NOT count the Alex Kidd game that is coming up...

On a side note, where is the Golden Axe Collection that also includes obscure releases, like the Saturn fighter?