Sonic has overshadowed Sega so much that it’s hard to remember their other franchises. Total War and Puyo Puyo pull in millions in profits. The House of the Dead received a remake that took many fans back to the good old days. Then old school classics like Outrun, Space Harrier, Fantasy Zone, and Super Hang On still hold up today as arcade aces.
Still, for every Golden Axe or Altered Beast, there’s another game that fell by the wayside. It happens to every company, and Sega’s had a few faltering franchises that still found fans. Here are a few Sega games that didn’t catch on with the masses but found love with a devoted few.
8 Master Of Darkness
Nearly every game on the Sega Master System could count for this list. Sega’s 8-bit machine didn’t receive much success beyond European and South American shores. Some of their games did catch on in those areas though. Alex Kidd did better than his failed mascot status would suggest. One game that got a cult audience on this underrated machine was Master of Darkness.
Designed by SIMS and published by Sega, it was basically a Castlevania clone. Gamers would play as Dr. Ferdinand Social, a psychologist investigating the Jack the Ripper killings. Ultimately, he discovers they’re part of a plot to resurrect Count Dracula. It was released in the US as Vampire: Master of Darkness exclusively for the Game Gear. Only Europe got the Master System version, and it’s regarded as the best version. Unless some players really like the Game Gear’s screen crunch!
7 Alien Soldier
Treasure Studios’ entire library is full of cult classics. Guardian Heroes’ RPG/side-scrolling beat ‘em up mix was a great Sega Saturn entry. Mischief Makers lit up the Nintendo 64. Ikaruga’s color-switching mechanic made it a must-play for the Dreamcast. They hit their best stride on the Genesis with Gunstar Heroes, Dynamite Heddy, and McDonald’s Treasure Land Adventure.
The most cult of their cult classics would have to be Alien Soldier. Like Gunstar Heroes, it was a run & gun adventure game. Unlike that game, players would navigate a short, enemy-filled section of level before encountering boss fight after boss fight. It was meant to be difficult, and it was difficult, which might be why it didn’t get much attention. It was only available in the US via the Sega Channel cable service back in the day. Now it can be bought on Steam and is perfect for those who relish challenging games.
6 Comix Zone
In an alternate universe, Peter Moriawiec’s Comix Zone would be one of the last, lingering entries for the ailing Commodore Amiga computers. Instead, it became one of the tiny bright spots in an otherwise dark year for Sega. The game came out for the Genesis in 1995, when the 32X died and the Sega Saturn flopped on arrival. Comix Zone is a single player side-scrolling beat ‘em up that sees comic artist Sketch Turner trapped in his own comic.
He has to stop his own villain, Mortus, from taking over the world both in print and in reality. The comic-style visuals were top-notch, with Sketch smashing enemies through panel borders and out of the pages. Unfortunately, it didn’t make a big splash profits-wise. However, there are plenty of ways to get reacquainted with the game. For example, it’s on the Sega Vintage Collection and the Sega Genesis Mini.
5 Burning Rangers
Want a third-person shooter about firefighters tackling fires? Sonic Team thought so when they made Burning Rangers for the Saturn. It was even directed and produced by Sonic the Hedgehog creators Naoto Ōshima and Yuji Naka, respectively. The game has a simple story: the Burning Rangers are a team of firefighters taking on fires across a futuristic Earth.
Players choose between protagonists Shou Amabane and Tillis, then tackle a variety of missions across four stages. They generally involve putting out fires and collecting crystals to save civilians. The crystals even keep Shou and Tillis alive à la rings in Sonic. It got high reviews back in the day, despite control and collision detection issues. Maybe they could’ve been ironed out in a sequel. Unfortunately, it didn’t bring in enough bucks to do that.
4 Panzer Dragoon
This is another case similar to Master of Darkness. Panzer Dragoon did well enough on the Saturn to get a sequel and a rare but lovely RPG spin off in Panzer Dragoon Saga. It even got revived for the Xbox in Panzer Dragoon Orta, then remade for the PS4, Switch, Xbox Series X/S, PC and more. That’s not to mention its mid-90s OVA too.
It was a fun enough shooter with quick gameplay. But it never really expanded beyond its niche. Maybe it didn’t quite have the charm Starfox or other shooters did, or it only offered shooting when other games were focusing on stories and more in-depth game mechanics. Either way, it seems Panzer Dragoon was born to be a cult classic from the start.
3 Rez
Released on the Dreamcast in 1999, Rez was produced by Tetsuya Mizoguchi, the guy behind Lumines and Tetris Effect. Like those games, Rez is a musical game with trippy effects. There is a plot about a hacker using an avatar to get into an AI, but it’s essentially a rave music version of Space Harrier; float around, shoot enemies, beat the boss, move on. It was a simple yet addictive formula, mixing hypnotic visuals with catchy beats.
The tunes would even sync with the attacks and the controller vibrations, as the game was trying to combine different senses together. As nice as the Dreamcast version was, it didn’t sell well. An improved version with 60FPS speed was ported to the PS2 but didn’t set the world on fire there either. Nonetheless, it was an unforgettable experience for gamers. There’s even a VR version available now for those who really want to lose themselves to the music.
2 Shenmue
Yu Suzuki was perhaps the closest figure Sega had to a Shigeru Miyamoto. Like Nintendo’s legendary producer, many of Sega’s top arcade games were made by Suzuki. Then, by the mid-1990s, he began his biggest project yet: Shenmue. Starting off life as a Virtua Fighter RPG for the Sega Saturn, it ended up being a Dreamcast game about Ryo Hazuki as he went after the man who killed his father.
It was ahead of its time, pioneering the open-world genre that would dominate the following decade. Unfortunately, Shenmue cost so much to develop that it could never return on its investment. It didn’t jettison the Dreamcast the way Grand Theft Auto 3 did with PS2s. Still, it produced a generation of eager fans who still recall the QTEs, combat, and sailor memes.
1 Yakuza
If Suzuki’s magnum opus didn’t work out, maybe his Shenmue co-producer could make one that would. Toshihiro Nagoshi’s Ryu Ga Gotoku (Yakuza) was similar enough to Shenmue's to draw comparison. They both had Japanese protagonists wandering around a realistic depiction of a city district, fighting bad guys, playing arcade games, and engaging in QTEs. They even had their own colognes!
Yet it succeeded where the Dreamcast game faltered. The gameplay was tighter, and the characters were more engaging. But it still didn’t sell well outside of Japan. Each sequel improved the formula, but not the profits. Despite that, the few who got it loved its combo of crime drama and funny charm. Now it’s become one of Sega’s Top 10 biggest earners thanks to Yakuza 0. Though without those early fans, every game after Yakuza 2 would’ve stayed in the East.