Today, Sega is trying to make what they call the "Netflix of retro gaming" with their new service called Sega Forever, which launched today onto Android and iOS devices. The games are free, yes you heard right, free. Of course, they are going to have ads because of this, but they are free regardless. Games on older systems will be emulated while games on newer systems like Saturn and Dreamcast will get full on ports. Sega says they would like to release more games every two weeks, and there are already 5 titles on there available now. Are you looking forward to this? In my opinion, this is the way to go for retro games, not Nintendo's dumb way of doing things.

Source/More info: http://forever.sega.com/about

Dreamcast on mobile? Huh, you're gonna need something very powerful for that, and probably a couple of spare batteries

Nintendo is just remastering their old games, just like Sony is doing. I've seen several PSX and PS2 classics being remastered for PS4 or sometimes left as the original game was. This is basically the way of profit: we want cash over number of players.

Sega is nothing but a developer now, so their point of view is highly different, to the point it's actually the opposite. Maybe it's because Sega knows its better days have already passed by, and so they cling onto nostalgia and want players to remember them at any cost.

Anyway, let's see what this gets up to. Not sure if I could actually have any use for it, besides for the reasons specified at the beginning of the post, but I cannot deny it's an interesting idea.

This is pure genius. People are going to emulate anyway, and Sega just found a way to profit off of it. Well played, guys.

Stuff like this makes me think they should take a crack at hardware again -- they seem to be up to speed with gamers and the industry as a whole, plus they're intelligent and very good to their customers. Too bad they probably won't set up a server for this to allow it to run in the browser of a PlayStation or Xbox... I can dream, and I will. lol

Awesome work on catching this, man.

well its not all free, sonic game is restricted to japan only meaning the games that are free aren't free by licensing agreements.

EX Palen : Actually, this is a cap from Wikipedia of the Dreamcast's system specs.




Given that most mid-range phones have dual to quad-core processors running in the Ghz, these games should work pretty well, provided they're correctly ported and optimized. I haven't tried it yet since my iPhone 4 can't update past iOS 7.1.2, and my phone likely couldn't run it because of the really outdated and underpowered hardware, but a modern phone might very well be able to make it work.

m0ssb3rg935 : Well, you're kind of right. Being Sega itself who is behind the emulation, then they'll make sure those games are optimized and fully playable for a wide range of customers.

Still, I'd like to see battery consumption and possible overheating, I know my phone doesn't do good on the latter because a single anime episode nearly gets it on fire, and I'm sure it's not because of the model.

Eirinn : Imagine they start to produce controllers for phones just to keep this thing alive... Would that make them one step closer to manufacture Dreamcast II?

Seriously speaking, they did quite a good job here in an attempt to bring retro gaming to the newer generations. The fact you can ask for games to appear through social media is very clever as well, so hopefully they manage to keep up with the requests.

EX Palen : Well that controller thing is entirely possible given that there already are controllers made for gaming on a phone. I could definitely see that happening, especially since it would benefit the experience and Sega with controller sales.


m0ssb3rg935 : Those specs tho. lol Isn't it crazy that cutting edge game tech around 2000 is now outmatched by a cell phone?? xD

EX Palen : I would actually very much like to see some official Sega bluetoothe controllers with adjustable clips to hold the phone. Though, I don't know if any of the games they're re-releasing have controller support.


Eirinn : Yeah, I know. When I first looked it up, I busted up laughing.

m0ssb3rg935 :

All of the games they are releasing has controller support.

......oh.

Well, then, make us some friggen controllers, Sega. lol

thank goodness too because the reviews i keep reading say the controls are very bad like it covers your screen, it uses the very awful thumbstick control, and Unity problems like every Unity game out there.

It is actually funny that for once, Sega actually does what Nintendo doesn't.

I wonder how much people are thinking about how Virtual Console is a bit of a ripoff.

Of course Sega is basically giving their games away. At this point, they are hardly staying afloat in the video game industry... This is a good way for them not only to generate some ad revenue using their old IPs but also gain some good press in the meantime...

Reason why Nintendo doesn't do the same thing? Because they are able to sell their games in mass quantities and actually turn a profit as a corporation by selling VIDEO GAMES.

Additionally, I downloaded PS2 the other day and deleted it almost immediately once I noticed all the popup ads all over the place on the free version. They basically did nothing to optimize it for mobile, so yay for putting almost no effort into it?? LOL

This actually is a really smart move of Sega with how more and more games have been ported to the play store. Since emulators are now easily available on most devices, releasing them for free on smartphones is a pretty good idea. It allows them to possibly even gain back some of the people who would've otherwise emulated by offering a superior port. I've played quite a bit of Sonic The Hedgehog and Comix Zone and they have kept the ads pretty minimal by not having them suddenly appear while you are playing but in stead showing them after game overs and the ad free versions are cheaper than what you'd find on the VC.

Jordanv78 : Which is in part because Nintendo has been doing everything in their power to shut down any alternative ways of playing their games as well as major fan projects. Looking past that Sega is actually doing quite well in terms of non mobile games right now. While they're not operating on the scale Nintendo, they're definitely turning a profit, their revenues have been going up and with the exception of Sonic their major releases in the west have all been well received. Persona 5, Yakuza 0 and Total Warhammer all sold beyond expectations and there's a lot of hype for Sonic Forces and Sonic Mania.

Zlinqx : You're right Sega is turning a profit, but my point was they need to explore every opportunity to Sell their 1st party titles... They have a couple of decent current or upcoming releases, but people are not bending over backwards to buy most of their back catalog of games. I also have to disagree with there being "tons of hype" regarding any of their titles. Outside of the hardcore Sega fanboys I would say the hype is luke-warm at best. They don't have a single game that sniffing the top 10 in sales in 2017 and probably wont next year either. My main point being that they aren't in the same league as the top PC and console platform developers like Sega fanboys pretend they still are.

I played a couple of the mobile games, and found the ads annoying personally, but again it was an easy smart thing for Sega to do to make extra $, which at this point for the company is much needed. I'm sure their shareholders agree.

I will admit that the Crazy Taxi game emulates perfectly well on mobile but again this is just a straight emulator with no added features. That would be the main reason why I'm not singing Segas praises too much about slapping some ad-filled games on mobile platforms. Seems like a no-brain decision since they don't have their own platform to release games.

Jordanv78 : Actually I would say you're partly wrong there. Yes they can't really compare to a company like Nintendo anymore obviously, but their name still holds weight. Persona 5 is definitely one of the most major releases this year and while it might not be in the top 10 most sold it's not too far off, probably around the top 20. People have been clammering for it for a long time and the hype leading up to it was unreal, I should know being part of the people who preordered it. I will say that Sega owes a lot of it's weight as a publisher right now to acquiring Atlus, if it wasn't for that I'd be more inclined to agree with you. 

Looking at them as a developer Total Warhammer broke franchise records in terms of sales and the sequel will likely do even better. It was among the top 5 played steam games at release and looking at the numbers right now with only a little over a month left to the sequel coming out it is still is among the top 30 on steam. Yakuza is also huge in Japan and was at the top of the charts when it released. It could definitely be up among the most sold in that region. Less so in the west because it has seen the bare minimum work done on it in terms of localization, still having Japanese voices. Its western audience has been growing quickly though which can be seen by how it surpassed expected sales and has been getting a lot more coverage by reviewers.. It will likely continue to grow with the complete remake of the first game that's coming out very soon. Add to this that both of these franchises have extremely dedicated fanbases and there definitely is a lot of hype.

I guess we will agree to disagree about the ads. Like I've mentioned I only tried Sonic The Hedgehog and Comix Zone and both of those never showed ads during actual gameplay. That was what worried me and if it were the case then I would have agreed with you about it being too intrusive. I also did notice a time attack mode and new characters added to Sonic The Hedgehog so that probably differs between releases. On the whole it's nothing more than a neat little thing done by Sega but considering we're on a site that in large part owes its existance to emulation of these games, I don't find the praise too surpising.