With Sega’s announcement that the publisher is now ready to reconsider returning to its previous games and give them the popular remaster treatment, it’s easy to get excited about what’s on the horizon. Nostalgia sells when it’s done right, and old-school Sega fans would be delighted with the announcement.
Which games would make the cut and see a revival on current hardware? Only time will tell, but here’s our list of favourites; Our picks of ten Sega greats which we want to see remastered on PS5.
Sonic Adventure
Sonic Adventure needs no introduction. It’s the Dreamcast smash hit that not only pioneered Sonic the Hedgehog into fully 3D environments, but also introduced an element of exploration in hub ‘adventure fields’ and a richer, darker style of storytelling which would shape the future of the series.
An enhanced port of the game already exists in the form of Sonic Adventure DX, a director’s cut, featuring bonus content, new mini games, and plenty of graphical fixes and performance tweaks. Sadly, the game is stuck on older hardware, but could serve a good starting point for developers to build on for a newer remaster.
Panzer Dragoon Saga
Saga is the magnum opus of Sega’s Team Andromeda, the third and largest (by miles) in Sega’s quadrilogy of Panzer Dragoon games. This entry strips out the usual rail-shooter mechanics but keeps the huge sprawling levels, having us freely explore this gorgeous post-apocalyptic world at our leisure, now with random encounters and action-RPG combat.
It was a huge, narrative driven experience, spanning four discs on the Sega Saturn, yet the console’s decline saw the game released in limited quantities, becoming one of the rarest games of all time. With a proper re-release and a touch of modern polish, this could be as popular as it is spectacular.
Burning Rangers
An anime-heavy third-person shooter about a team of firefighters in space, set in the distant future, featuring off-world human colonies and A.I-run security systems. Rather than dive into its rich lore, the game adopted a more arcade style of gameplay, allowing the player to revisit levels to improve their score and rescue different survivors each time.
It was an immensely fun collectathon with stylish manoeuvres and cool characters, yet being one of the later games released on Sega’s struggling Saturn meant that the little machine would have a hard time managing those advanced graphics, level designs, and sound systems. Remastered on current hardware, this could be brilliant.
Shining Force III
The pinnacle of Sega Saturn gaming, Shining Force III is a tactical JRPG trilogy released in full in Japan only, and universally praised for its incredible storytelling and characters. Each of the three individual chapters of the game tell the story of a civil war from different perspectives and differing allegiances.
Synbios leads a Republic battalion in Scenario 1, while unlikely ally Prince Medion leads an Imperial army in Scenario 2, with underdog mercenary Julian leading a ragtag ‘Shining Force’ in Scenario 3. Save data, choices, and recruited allies would transfer from game to game, yet the west would only see the release of Scenario 1. Maybe it’s time to change that.
Sonic Adventure 2
Sonic Adventure 2 continued the stylish 3D gameplay of the previous game while also adding fun new tricks and stunts to make a visual spectacle of a game. It also saw the ‘adventure fields’ stripped out in favour of a world map screen to focus on the more traditional level-based gameplay.
The game once again introduces a plethora of quirky new characters who have withstood the test of time, including Shadow the Hedgehog who has a feature role in the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 movie. The game was a blast; an exciting and colourful treat for the senses. This one really needs to make a triumphant comeback.
Jet Set Radio Future
Part of Sega’s long-running partnership with Xbox, Jet Set Radio Future released as an original Xbox exclusive despite interest from other consoles. The game was both a sequel and spiritual successor to the original Jet Set Radio, set after its events but including revisions to the storyline and setting.
The game saw praise for addressing complaints with the original game, improving the visuals, expanding the character roster, fixing performance issues, and introducing a new mechanic where spray paint cans can be sacrificed for handy speed boosts. The quality-of-life improvements here were impressive, and could be again, if done right on modern consoles.
Fighters Megamix
Fighters Megamix is a huge fighting game crossover project. The game features 11 favourite characters from the Virtua Fighter series, and another 11 from Fighting Vipers. Additional characters can be unlocked from other Sega AM2 games, including Virtua Cop 2, Daytona USA, and Sonic: The Fighters, for a combined roster of well over 30 characters.
Upon release, it was hailed as one of the Saturn’s best games, with critics deeming its crossover mechanics a complete success. The game saw high praise from fans too, who loved the rewarding progression of steadily unlockable new characters, costumes, and artwork. Upscaled and maybe even expanded for new players, a revival could be incredible.
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Panzer Dragoon Orta returns to the series’ rail shooter roots in this fourth and final game in the series. Production of Panzer Dragoon Orta saw the previously disbanded developer, Team Andromeda, partially reform under the new name ‘Smilebit’ for the game’s development.
The story takes place decades after Panzer Dragoon Saga, and follows a young girl, Orta, who is freed from imprisonment by a dragon and embarks on a quest to prevent the abuse of ancient technology by the oppressive Empire which has risen from the ashes and resumed excavating ancient technology and creatures. The game was visually impressive, and could look even better with a modern revival.
Sonic Heroes
Essentially Sonic Adventure 3, Sonic Heroes rounds out the original 3D Sonic trilogy by expanding the playable roster of characters to an impressive twelve characters. The game splits these twelve into four teams of three, allowing each party to take advantage of each character’s personal skills in speed, power, or flight. Characters could be instantly switched out at any time.
While all four teams would unite against the threat of a very welcome returning foe, the groups would also tackle personal narrative arcs during the story which were introduced in previous games. This makes a very interesting and action-packed experience, and also one that looked great upon release, not needing much polish to look decent today.
Skies of Arcadia
Sega’s attempt at returning to the grand, turn-based JRPGs of their earlier years was nothing short of a triumph. Skies of Arcadia saw a sky-pirate-themed adventure across a fractured, floating world of multiple lands and cultures. The beautiful soundtrack, simple gameplay, fun characters, and breathtaking atmosphere made it a treasured Dreamcast classic.
The game did see a slightly buggy re-release as Skies of Arcadia: Legends, a director’s cut with extra content for the Gamecube, but the fans really wanted a more polished revival. An enhanced remaster on modern consoles has often been the request of many fans who have been petitioning Sega for well over a decade.
