Crazy Taxi, Golden Axe, Jet Set Radio, Shinobi and Streets of Rage Are Back

Sega are going big. The Japanese company are bringing back Crazy Taxi, Golden Axe, Jet Set Radio, Shinobi and Streets of Rage for a new audience. The trailer released during The Game Awards offers a tiny peak at the return of each franchise, each of which has had a pretty serious glow up from when we last saw them.

While there have been no announcements on when we can expect each game, the short video, which we’ve embedded below, is strong on the nostalgia with various nods to each franchise. Probably the best loved out of all of the titles is Jet Set Radio, Sega’s spin on the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater franchise that was popular at the start of the century but fell into obscurity during the PS3/360 era.

We’ve used SEGA’s official summary of each franchise below but needless to say we’re excited to see each one for various reasons. Crazy Taxi for instance is a madcap racer where players have to ferry passengers from point A-B as quickly as possible. Extra tips can be earned for shortcuts taken and near misses.

• Crazy Taxi – A whacky, high-octane driving adventure series where players must weave through traffic in an open play environment to deliver passengers to their destinations before time runs out.
• Golden Axe– A “hack and slash”-style series with close melee combat set in a fantasy world of beasts, swords, and magic.
• Jet Set Radio– This franchise combines action packed traversal around vibrant Tokyo-to with skating, self-expression through graffiti, street culture and rebellious themes.
• Shinobi – A series that utilizes ninja shuriken, ninjutsu, special attacks and more to defeat enemies in a mix of side-scrolling action and challenging environments.
• Streets of Rage – A “beat ’em up”-style series that pairs fast-paced fist fighting with fresh music set in a lawless urban environment.

Streets of Rage, Golden Axe and Shinobi are all Mega Drive/Genesis classics in their own right. Golden Axe appears to be another 3D entry and the last time this happened, the results were… less than stellar. Streets of Rage looks to adopt a 3D view, but with the success of 2020’s SoR 4, we’d assume that the third dimension will only apply to the visuals rather than the beat em’ up’s gameplay.

Shinobi seems to be the game that is playing close to it’s roots. The last time we saw the ninja sidescroller was in 2011 on the Nintendo 3DS and while Shinobi received an OK reception, it didn’t set the world on fire. Now though, it looks as if Sega are attempting to mix beautiful cartoon graphics with the tough gameplay we’re used to seeing. Lets hope that in a world with Souls games, Shinobi finally gets the recognition it deserves.

Each of the games will be officially announced at a later date, but we’re still excited!

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