Sega is currently celebrating its 60th anniversary by opening up its vault and sharing some interesting internal experiments and homages with its fans. Three new titles have been unveiled, including a prototype for a cancelled Golden Axe reboot, a Yakuza/Streets of Rage 2 mash-up, and an Endless Legend-themed homage to Fantasy Zone.
The three games will each release a day apart, and while none of them are full-blown games, they’re interesting freebies. The highlight for many will likely be Streets of Kamurocho, which takes the characters of Yakuza and puts them into the gameplay of Streets of Rage 2. It’s adorable.
We’ve rounded each one up below.
Each game will only be available until October 19 at 10 AM PT, so if you want to check them out, make sure to do so before then.
Endless Zone
Release: October 16
Steam
This shooter homage to Fantasy Zone features 3D visuals that are a far cry from Fantasy Zone’s gorgeous visual style, but as a mash-up starring the Opbot from Endless Legend, it looks like fun. Despite the name, the game will not actually be endless–you can complete it.
Streets Of Kamurocho
Release: October 17
Steam
Streets of Kamurocho lets you play as Kiryu and Majima, and brawl your way through various thugs. It’s got a lovely chunky pixel art style, and while it doesn’t feature any blood, you can pick up weapons around each level and beat your enemies up with them. Streets of Kamurocho is developed by Empty Clip Studios, which also created Dead Island: Retro Revenge.
Golden Axed: A Cancelled Prototype
Release: October 18
Steam
Golden Axed is a real Golden Axe follow-up prototype, which was in the works at Sega Studios Australia before it was shuttered in 2013. As you can see from the trailer below, it didn’t get very far along in development, although the environments look quite nice. It also supports up to four players, although you’ll only have one day to play it.
Sanatana Mishra, who was in charge of the original prototype’s design and later founded Assault Android Cactus developer Witchbeam, was surprised to see his work seeing the light of day.
WTF sega is releasing the golden axe prototype @ironicaccount and I made (with the help of several talented artists). Please be aware this was roughly two weeks work and our weird bosses wouldn’t let us spend more than a day on combat design https://t.co/JUGkfFoVtW
— Sanatana Mishra (@SanatanaMishra) October 14, 2020
As part of Sega’s birthday celebrations, you can also claim free copies of both Sonic 2 and NiGHTS Into Dreams on Steam.
