SEGA AGES devs apologize for delays, discuss future titles, a new collection, and how surveys drive game choices

A new mode designed to “get everyone playing together” is currently in development for the upcoming release of “SEGA AGES Virtua Racing”

–We spoke a bit about this earlier, but I’d like to ask some more about “SEGA AGES Virtua Racing”, a title you announced on stage at the Tokyo Game Show 2018. How are things progressing and what can you tell us about it?

Horii: Well, we’ve worked with SEGA’s 3D games since back on the PS2 with its “SEGA AGES” collection. Games like “Cyber Troopers Virtual-On”, “SEGA Rally Championship” and “Last Bronx” for the PS2. But now we’re working on the Nintendo Switch, which is a much more powerful console.

With “SEGA AGES Virtua Racing”, we still have to work on some particulars like how things are displayed, but from a technical point of view, we got it running on the console effortlessly.

–You got the SEGA Model 1 arcade board running on it?

Horii: Totally. I bet we could get all of the games that used that board to run just fine. I’d love to port SEGA’s “Star Wars” over! If only we could get the rights to it…

Shimomura: Yeah, that’d be great to work on “Star Wars”!

Kodama: We’ve been wanting to work on that game since… a long, long time ago. (Laughs)

Horii: We touched on this earlier today, but I want to say that we’re hard at work on adding a new feature to “SEGA AGES Virtua Racing”. It’s a “necessary addition that gets everyone playing together”, and it’s gonna be great.

You might hear this and worry that we’re gonna delay the game or something, but don’t worry. For the Nintendo Switch, we’ve prepared a system that’s like a lite version of the system we always use in the office. This is to ensure we have plenty of technical resources, and to recreate a satisfying visual experience for “Virtua Racing”.

–I’d like to ask about the results of the most-wanted games survey that fans filled out at the Tokyo Game Show. How will these results play into future releases?

Shimomura: We’ve received a lot of really passionate responses, and we’re taking that all into account. As we mentioned a little bit earlier, we’ve been discussing a second season of releases, so that may influence the lineup of games.

–I see. Wouldn’t you say that your current selection of “SEGA AGES” titles has been heavily influenced by fan surveys from when “SEGA 3D Reprint Archives” came out in 2016?

Horii: I’d say so. There are games that we’ve also wanted to work on over the years, games that used the SEGA Model 1 arcade board, and so on. “Virtua Racing” did come in second place on those surveys, but we at M2 also just really wanted to work on it ourselves. Same with “Gain Ground”.

Personally, the survey at Tokyo Game Show gave me the impression that SEGA wants to make something new and fresh. And if there are titles that we at M2 want to work on that SEGA does not already have planned, we bring that up in discussion and see if we can make it happen.

–Let’s talk a bit more about the second volume of releases that Shimomura mentioned.

Shimomura: Yes, well, if we’re successful enough that we can do another collection, all of those passionate responses will come in handy as we go head first into development.

Horii: I mean, we’ve already got the NAOMI board running on Switch, right? If I had to guess, I’d say that’s the direction we’d start off with. However, we should point out that just because we have the board running doesn’t mean there isn’t any testing and tweaking involved. “SEGA AGES” is all about adding features and reworking games, after all. And, of course, we stay well aware that the bigger the scope of work, the bigger the project will become.

–Very interesting.

Kodama: Also, I want to mention that we are very pleased with the survey results. As we expected, a lot of people voted for SEGA Saturn and Dreamcast titles. It appears that the most vocal voters have very fond memories of these particular games, and we really noticed that.

This survey was quite different in results from the last survey we did during the “SEGA 3D Reprint Archives” because we only surveyed those who bought the game. The Tokyo Game Show survey cast a wider net, and it’s been really good market research for us. If we get to do a second volume, we’ll have to change our thinking up. Games that we weren’t so sure about will be a sure decision next time around.

Translation provided by Oni Dino on behalf of Nintendo Everything

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