Sega is home to many classic and modern gaming franchises that it's hard to keep track of all of them. The company has a few franchises still going strong, such as Sonic and Yakuza, but many Sega franchises have unfortunately been lost to time. With Sega making a resurgence of sorts lately, gamers are hoping that some of their favorite games can come back and soon make a return.
Sega made a huge dent in the video game industry with the original Sonic the Hedgehog and the Sega Genesis, becoming even more successful than Nintendo at one point in time. But soon after, the company wouldn't be able to reach the same heights with uneventful sales of the Sega Dreamcast and Sega Saturn. Nowadays, gaming veterans, newcomers, and old fans look back at past Sega hardware with nostalgic fondness as the consoles hold a healthy library of unique and cult-classic titles. While it's reported that some of these games are being rebooted for the modern era, it's hoped that none of these classics will be forgotten.
Crazy Taxi
Much like Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Crazy Taxi is a game that screams nostalgia. Crazy Taxi is the embodiment of simple arcade fun, as players drive from location to location, dropping off passengers at their destinations as quickly as possible while also pulling off incredible stunts. In the last few years, the developer Roll7 has done a great job of replicating this simple, "rack up the most points" fun with games like Rollerdrome and OlliOlli World. It'd be great to see if Roll7 could also possibly take this forgotten franchise and update it for the 2020s.
Virtua Fighter
Created by Yu Suzuki, the director behind another beloved Sega franchise, Shenmue,Virtua Fighter is often labeled as the progenitor of 3D fighting games. It is also described as being extremely simple, but equally hard to master. It would later go on to be eclipsed by the series that took inspiration from it, Tekken. With the growing popularity of the genre, the two can coexist as Tekken could offer a more stylized and hyper-eccentric fighting game, while Virtua Fighter could offer something more straightforward, yet refined. Virtua Fighter 5 did receive a recent facelift with changes made to Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown, so hopefully, that's a sign that Sega is gearing the series back up for a comeback.
Alien: Isolation
Alien: Isolation is unlike Sega's other forgotten titles in that it is a relatively new game, released on October 6, 2014. Eight years later, however, there's no sign of a sequel to what some would call an underappreciated gem that deserves a comeback. Developed by Creative Assembly and published by Sega, the game is a very faithful recreation of the influential Alien movie. At the moment, Creative Assembly is working on the Total War franchise. Lackluster sales and underwhelming review scores for the game meant an Alien: Isolation sequel would be unlikely. Yet, the attention to detail in recreating Ridley Scott's vision of the Alien franchise, down to mimicking the movie's art design, technology, and atmosphere, make this a must-play for fans of the Alien franchise and deserving of a sequel.
Jet Set Radio
Probably the most requested Sega game to make a comeback is the beloved hip-hop, graffiti-spraying Dreamcast classic Jet Set Radio. With a soundtrack composed by meme-loving Hideki Naganuma, the composer behind Sonic Rush and Lethal League Blaze, Jet Set Radio became an instant cult classic whose influence can still be felt. The combination of funky music, unique traversal, and counter-culture messaging make this a cult gaming classic that still holds up even today. Sega fans can remain optimistic about the future of Jet Set Radio as it's been rumored that Jet Set Radio and Crazy Taxi reboots may be in development.