2020 (for all its sins) marks 60 years since the mighty Sega was founded, and the company’s western arm has announced it’ll be celebrating the occasion with a range of activities, including the release of four free retro-styled mini games on Steam, inspired by some notable franchises.
Company of Heroes developer Relic Entertainment will, for instance, be offering up top-down shooter Armor of Heroes, which features four-player PvP couch co-op, destructible environments, nine games modes, and more. Endless Space and Endless Legend studio Amplitude, meanwhile, is melding its sci-fi universe up with Sega’s Fantasy Zone, delivering the “small, fast-paced” shoot-’em-up, Endless Zone.
The freebies continue with developer Empty Clips Studios’ Streets Of Kamurocho – a side-scrolling beat-’em-up that blends Sega’s classic Streets of Rage 2 with Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s Yakuza series – and conclude with Golden Axed, something of a lost relic.
SEGA’s 60 Days of Celebrations! Watch on YouTube
It’s a playable prototype of the long-cancelled Golden Axe Reborn, an attempt by Sega Studios Australia to reboot the company’s legendary action title for modern audiences. The project and studio were regrettably shut down in 2013, but a small portion of the work done will finally see the light of day as part of Sega’s 60th birthday celebrations.