Hell yeah. Keepers of the mighty hedgehog SEGA are re-releasing a shitload of their old console games to iOS and Android for free, meaning you can carry a readily accessible injection of nostalgia with you wherever you go.
Sure, they’ve experimented with classic games on mobile before – Sonic the Hedgehog, for example, has been on mobile for years now. But this is the first time they’re releasing stuff for free, and they’re going well beyond everyone’s favourite inexplicably speedy spiny mammal.
They’re launched under the SEGA Forever brand, and the launch includes five titles: Sonic The Hedgehog, Phantasy Star II, Comix Zone, Kid Chameleon and Altered Beast. All of those games I remember renting from the local video store. I remember Altered Beast particularly because it was so hard it short-circuited my child brain and probably made me into the man I am today.
I had a poke around on the Aussie App Store and I could find all of them save for Phantasy Star II – but that might pop up a little later on. They’re free, but have pre-roll ads before you play the game. You can chuck in two bucks for a totally ad-free version.
They’re not stopping with five, though – SEGA plan to release new games every two weeks for the platform, moving between generations and including both ported and emulated games. Here’s the extremely lame trailer for the new platform:
Check out their website for updates. You can even send in suggestions for games you want to see next, but I’m not gonna pretend they’re reading every single one of your suggestions to bring back Toejam & Earl.
Photo: Sonic the Hedgehog.
