Sega is celebrating their 60th anniversary this week, and the staff of Destructoid has marked the occasion with a look back at some of their favorite games from the publisher.
The list is pretty evenly split between Sega’s halcyon days as a consolemaker and their current status as a premier third-party partner to Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. There’s even a few fond memories of Sega’s brief tenure as an arcade powerhouse.
CJ Andriessen kicked things off with a loving ode to The House of the Dead: Overkill, Sega’s grindhouse-inspired light gun game that launched for the Wii in 2009 (and was eventually re-released over the years for the PS4 and PC). Overkill was a great pick to start this retrospective, as everyone loves just how over-the-top and nasty it is, and for how it’s a fitting finale to the House of the Dead franchise… even though, chronologically, it comes first.
The rest of the staff each highlighted a different game from Sega’s history, and with each one falling into a different genre
Like Nintendo, Sega never let themselves be pigeonholed into a specialized niche, and their wide-ranging library includes titles that fall into every genre and subgenre, and the rest of the Destructoid staff picked games that reflect the company’s penchant for trying anything once:
▶ Jonathan Holmes selected Panzer Dragoon Saga, one of Sega’s epic RPGs from the Saturn era.
▶ Adzuken got behind the wheel of Out Run, Sega’s sunny arcade racer.
▶ Anthony Marzano confessed his love for Crazy Taxi, Sega’s kooky chauffeur simulation.
▶ Jordan Devore opened up about Yakuza 0, Sega’s sixth gangland tale from Japan.
▶ Josh Tolentino picked Sakura Wars, the first game in Sega’s anime-inspired strategy series.
▶ Patrick Hancock got colorful with Jet Set Radio, Sega’s dystopian graffiti game.
▶ And Chris Moyse stepped inside the circle for Virtua Fighter, Sega’s first attempt at a 3D fighter.
But as I said, Sega’s library is large and full of unique treasures. So be sure to dip into the comments at Destructoid for even more suggestions to celebrate Sega’s anniversary.
Eurogamer’s staff and contributors did a lot of looking back in 2019. The site’s video team traveled to PAX East last Spring to host a debate to determine “The Best Games of the Last 20 Years.” And just before the end of the year, more than 15 contributors highlighted a variety of unconventional titles as the “Games of the Decade” in a series of personal essays.
The Xbox Series X|S and the PS5 are steamrolling their way towards store shelves this November, and earlier this month, GameSpot became one of the first outlets to produce a retrospective of the generation we’re about to leave behind. Or are we? With cross-platform compatibility more important than ever, and the Switch still going strong, the upcoming generation will probably look a lot like our current one.
