Sega’s recent purchase of Roviohas opened the doors for a new wave of Sega games on mobile. This isn’t just speculation either; Sega confirmed in the press release that the justification behind the purchase was to bring its existing IPs to mobile.
So while we’ll have to wait to see how this acquisition plays out, we have plenty of time to speculate. Here are the Sega games we hope to see on mobile, from extensions of existing franchises to sequels of classic games.
1Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
Few Sega games are as suited to mobile as Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine. A falling object puzzle game involving characters from the Sonic franchise, its original release in 1993 means many people don’t know this game existed.
We expect many Sonic mobile spin-offs to emerge from Sega’s purchase of Rovio, and while we imagine the blue hedgehog to be present for most of them, sequels to some of the older spin-offs like Mean Bean Machine would be excellent to see on mobile, especially if there’s online play involved.
There are plenty offantastic simulation games for Android, and we think a new Shenmue game would fit right in there. In 2010, Shenmue City aimed to fill this niche on mobile, but it was short-lived, shutting down in December 2011. Resurrecting the franchise with a new mobile game would be an excellent start for Rovio.
A new Shenmue City game for mobile would be great to see, but regardless of the method, we think Shenmue’s relatively slow-paced gameplay would be perfect for mobile.
Inspired by Shenmue, yet with far greater success, a new Yakuza game would probably be the most likely franchise to receive a new mobile port from Rovio (barring a new Sonic game). The shift from real-time fights to turn-based combat in Yakuza: Like a Dragon would suit mobile platforms well.
Since the Yakuza series has transitioned into spin-off games, it’s prime time for a new mobile Yakuza game. The only mobile game we’ve seen so far is Ryū ga Gotoku Online, a collectible card game released only in Japan.
4Crazy Taxi
Yeah, Crazy Taxi: City Rush was a thing, but a lane-based runner isn’t really what we wanted. Maybe Rovio could throw out the restrictive gameplay and bring us a Crazy Taxi game that offers us the open-world experience of the classic.
This isn’t to say we want a port (there already is one) but a game that lands somewhere between Crazy Taxi and Crazy Taxi: City Rush would be perfect. Just this time, leave out the oppressive microtransactions.
5Jet Set Radio
A high-definition port of Jet Set Radio was available on iOS and Android from 2012 to 2015, when it was delisted due to compatibility issues. While these ports are still present on PC and consoles, we think that there is plenty of room for an original mobile game by Rovio based on the themes in Jet Set Radio.
Jet Set Radio’s cell-shaded graphics would look great on the small screen, and we could easily see the gameplay being shifted to a 2D plane while focusing on the core gameplay mechanics. Maybe we could even see a remake ofTyping Jet?
What else can we expect from Sega and Rovio?
The most likely outcome from the acquisition is a wave of Sonic games, but we hope that we see Sega delve deep into its catalog to bring us games from neglected franchises. Who knows, perhaps some will become one of thebest games on Android?
