This week in iOS gaming was dominated by a single thing: The unveiling of the "Sega Forever" program that Sega first started teasing around a month ago. The original announcement came with practically no details beyond Sega was doing something with its massive back catalog of games, which in turn caused speculation to run wild. Eventually the internet decided Sega Forever was going to be a Netflix-like service for classic Sega titles, which turned out to be totally incorrect.
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Instead, Sega Forever is five mobile game ports, with more on the way. Each game is free to download, and can be played for free forever with ads. There's also a one-time $1.99 unlock inside each game to permanently disable ads. The initial batch of Sega Forever titles include:
- Sonic the Hedgehog [App Store Link]
- Altered Beast [App Store Link]
- Phantasy Star II [App Store Link]
- Kid Chameleon [App Store Link]
- Comix Zone [App Store Link]
Unfortunately, our first impressions of these were not great. The quality of the emulation is subpar, performance is bad (even on recent iOS devices), and the games lack any of the configurability options that have become standard in both emulators themselves as well as iOS games in a general sense. There are no options for screen filtering or screen stretching, and you can't even adjust the virtual controls, which is a particularly baffling omission as they often block vital on-screen components in these games.
Our own Shaun Musgrave, who is basically the TouchArcade equivalent of Encyclopedia Brown, spent a ton of time playing these new ports, and discovered among other things that when Sega first released some of these games back in 2009, they performed better than these "new and improved" Sega Forever titles.
Needless to say, this has really left us scratching our heads. The one exception to these bad ports is Sonic the Hedgehog, which isn't emulated but instead was re-built from the ground up by Christian Whitehead back in 2013. Whitehead is also responsible for the amazing Sonic CD remake that has was released on the App Store a few years ago. Regardless, Sega has plans to constantly release new Sega Forever titles, so we'll have to wait and see if their emulation wrapper improves at all or if this is the new normal. If you want to hear even more about Sega Forever, check out this week's episode of our podcast.
Watch on YouTubeIn other news, Rocketcat Games released a new trailer for its upcoming Death Road to Canada update. The game itself leans on a lot of roguelike tropes with randomized encounters, surprise party members, and more. This latest update adds more structure to the progression of the game, shifting things slightly away from total randomization and instead allowing players to buy persistent perks and abilities. When it's released, the price of the game will rise from $8.99 to $9.99, so if you want to save a buck be sure to grab Death Road to Canada now. Watch on YouTube
Top Rated Comments
Get over it man - you make yourself look foolish
(Altered Beast)