What does Sega of Japan consider as their major products?

[Tad]

Thinking about it, I suppose as great as some of those games were, they do sit on the fringe a bit and I do agree, we'd probably have better luck asking the teams from my neck of the woods than the Japanese side. I do think there would of been a market for them though if they had tried what I once heard was called the "Nintendo approach." Basically, you design a game and if an already established brand fits into it well, they implement it as characters back story, world, law etc is already in place.

Take Golden Axe for example. Take out the extreme gore and bring the style GA had into it and you could make a pretty fun action-adventure hack n slash game. Perhaps even allowing 2 players that could use team based attacks for more points etc.

[Kuronoa]

Some of requested series don't have their developers anymore.  If they want to start doing more quality control on legacy franchises, it would take careful planning that gamers are growing impatient with.

But it would help if people actually buy what they do release.  Shinobi 3D is an example of a now bargain bin title that probably could have greenlit another entry by now.  And I would like another 3D Shinobi like the PS2 one.

[George]

The PS2 Shinobi game was absolutely hated when it came out, especially by retro fans at the time. Its funny how people are more forgiving on SEGA titles as time passes by. I remember a lot of people say Valkyria Chronicles looked like shit when it was announced and continued on the 'Its not as good as some game I grew up with' wagon.

Maybe that is the issue with SEGA fans, they aren't really 'SEGA' fans per say but a fan of a franchise. See 'plz make Shenmue new one plz' and 'JSRF NO SEGA" posts on their facebook.

[Tad]

Yeah, I do find that weird. I do wonder why it happened though. They probably won't, but if Nintendo decided to go third party too one day, it'll be interesting to see if they get similar treatment.

[Trippled]

Yeah, I do find that weird. I do wonder why it happened though. They probably won't, but if Nintendo decided to go third party too one say, it'll be interesting to see if they get similar treatment.

Nintendo has focused on its major selling franchises for a while.

[Tad]

Nintendo has focused on its major selling franchises for a while.

Of course, they've got hardware to sell and need to, but take that a way and I wonder if they'll fall into the same situation as SEGA. I personally feel as though Nintendo get an easy pass when it comes to their games already mind.

[Sharky]

Nintendo absolutely gets the easy pass, they're slow on the uptake of features that are standard in other publishers game for years before they implement it, and then it's half arsed... Like online play.

[Team Andromeda]

Nintendo absolutely gets the easy pass, they're slow on the uptake of features that are standard in other publishers game for years before they implement it, and then it's half arsed... Like online play.

I couldn't agree more mate . Why NCl get such good will is beyond me . Sure they make the best 3D platform games bar none but that's it . They make hardly anything new can hardly make more than 1 or 2 games a year and treat us all like the 6 years olds .
The only good thing I can say about NCL of late is that they never ship a game with a bad game engine or a game full of bugs : NCL must have the best Q&A dept for their In-House games there is

[Kuronoa]

The PS2 Shinobi game was absolutely hated when it came out, especially by retro fans at the time. Its funny how people are more forgiving on SEGA titles as time passes by. I remember a lot of people say Valkyria Chronicles looked like shit when it was announced and continued on the 'Its not as good as some game I grew up with' wagon.

Maybe that is the issue with SEGA fans, they aren't really 'SEGA' fans per say but a fan of a franchise. See 'plz make Shenmue new one plz' and 'JSRF NO SEGA" posts on their facebook.

Huh, I always really liked Shinobi.  The tate ability is still one of my favorite ninja tricks in gaming.  It was notorious for its difficulty, and lacked polish here and there.

I have noticed this with many post Dreamcast titles.  Billy Hatcher, Gunvalkyrie were also games of this gen that earned a cult following.  Somebody on the Sega forums was also asking for Altered Beast PS2 HD recently.

[Team Andromeda]

The PS2 Shinobi game was absolutely hated when it came out, especially by retro fans at the time. Its funny how people are more forgiving on SEGA titles as time passes by. I remember a lot of people say Valkyria Chronicles looked like shit when it was announced and continued on the 'Its not as good as some game I grew up with' wagon

.


Shinobi on the PS2 was a decent game just far too hard and let down by half ass tech . I know of no-one that thought VC looked like crap, most I knew didn't belive the 1st pictures of the game were the running on the engine that was it was all CGI.


The Canvas engine was fantasic and sadly underused by SEGA and took cel shanding (yes I know its not a real gfx effect)  to the next level 

[crackdude]

Sega fans are a myth.

As said, Sega games each have their own very very dedicated fanbase. This fanbase sees Sega as an evil entity that doesn't deliver new games on their favorite series, when in reality Sega simply stops investing in series that stop making profit (as it should).

Nintendo has dedicated NINTENDO fans because it still makes consoles.
You buy a Nintendo console and have the Nintendo games there. You'll easily become a Nintendo fan.

When Sega stopped making consoles, Sega franchises were spread out and so were the fans.

No one is an Activision fan or something.

[Radrappy]

Sega fans are a myth.

Sega simply stops investing in series that stop making profit (as it should).

Here's an insane thought.  Maybe certain series stopped making a profit because of how terribly they were marketed(Valkyria Chonicles) or how poorly the games were made(any recent sonic game that isn't gens/colors)?  Sega is crazy about the Aliens franchise because games affiliated with this mega popular brand will sell well regardless of how good they are.  Just look at Colonial Marines. 

You have fans via consistently producing a high quality product.  That's at least how Nintendo does it. 

[George]

I agree in some ways but I do feel there is potentiality in bringing back key franchises. I think one of the easiest ones would be something like Jet Set Radio, considering that the concept behind that game is still popular among fans and being a pack-in title with Xbox made it reach a new fanbase that they never capitalized on. I think Jet Set Radio as a franchise can totally have room to grow, for example having better custom tags in different graffati style, online play that has 'king of the hill' type multiplayer. LIke there are 3 map matches, the best of 3 wins (aka people running around taking bigger spray points, each one with their own point system). I think graffati art has grown way bigger than it was when JSR and JSRF came out thanks to people like Bansky and the such.

Its easy to see for that franchise.

I can even see Crazy Taxi being a popular game if handled correctly. Single player focusing on what made the original fun, with loads of customizable Taxis, tons of stuff to unlock and the like. An online play where you and other taxis drive aroudn trying to get the most money until the clock runs out will work so well for this franchise.

There is nothing wrong with doing Alien games, In my opinion that has nothing to do with the quality products released in Japan. SEGA Japan needs to improve their situation and actually make games of quality, the West is already making quality games for a western fanbase and there is nothign wrong with that (in the end of the day, that is their job, to cater to a western audience)

SEGA Japan just needs to be able to make a product that is of equal quality to the Western brand of games (Like Isolation) but with the style of a Japanese developer, I hope Satomi is right in what he said. While personally I rather see their first 'quality game' be a new franchise then slowly bring legacy IPs when they start having success not only in the quality of the game, but selling the fucking game in the west.

[Aki-at]

One thing to keep in mind is this is for a job recruiting website.

Not exactly going to say "Yeah you guys remember that franchise we made long ago? Yeah those were the good old days..." they're going to sprout multinational publishers with big sellers all over Japan etc please come work for us!

[Radrappy]

There is nothing wrong with doing Alien games, In my opinion that has nothing to do with the quality products released in Japan. SEGA Japan needs to improve their situation and actually make games of quality, the West is already making quality games for a western fanbase and there is nothign wrong with that (in the end of the day, that is their job, to cater to a western audience)

I think you took what I said the wrong way.  I'm not saying they should stop making Alien games; I'm saying that it's because they've lost the trust of consumers altogether that they need to rely on established(licensed) franchises like Alien to make a buck in 2015.