Sega has announced their brand new "free" (read: ad-filled) "service" Sega Forever, which offers classic Sega games on Android and iOS. Sega Forever will launch tomorrow (the 6/22) with some classic titles like Altered Beast, Sonic The Hedgehog, Comix Zone, Kid Chameleon, and Phantasy Star 2, but also promises games from every Sega console including the SG-1000, Master System, Genesis, and even the Saturn and the Dreamcast. SG-1000 through Genesis games are supposedly going to be emulated, but Saturn and Dreamcast games will be full mobile "ports", meaning we'll finally get some proper Saturn gaming on Android!

Each game also comes with "up-to-date" fetures, like cloud saves, touch controls and leaderboards, and Sega promises to add new games "Every two weeks". If you don't like ads, you can optionally get rid of them for a measily $2 in-app purchase, or you can just deal with the ads and enjoy some free Sega games.

Source

This is definitely some interesting news, the fact that Saturn and Dreamcast games may finally be easily playable on mobile devices without having to resort to emulation is pretty great news, and while touch controls are awful in most cases, the fact that these games will feature controller support means we'll have a great way to play those hard-to-emulate games on the go...as long as Sega ports the right ones (Panzer Dragoon series plx).

 

[Saiyan Lusitano]

Most of them are pretty junky IMO, stuff that on the playstore has like 1k downloads and such so it's not like it's 5k of quality. Maybe a good 100 of them are decent apps/games, the rest are just "filler junk" cuz everyone keeps making fun of Amazon's puny app store.

Unfortunately Amazon stopped taking new apps at the end of May though. They'll be shutting down Underground at some point in 2019, too.

Bummer. The apps will still work, right?

The MoodTools Depression Aid app is kind of useful but not all that much, imo.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

They did mention the apps will still work, but not if they'll still be available to install once it closes.

 

[jerbear64]

The emulation is awful.
I just downloaded all the games available and all have frameskip issues, frame issues and random lag. Also screen tearing as well. Really sad about this
Comix Zone runs like absolute trash. Guess i'll stick to my emulators

They're using Unity as a middleman. Why they thought Unity was a good engine to write an emulator in, I have no idea. It's because of Unity that these apps are 50 megabytes.

The only potential use that I see for this Sega Forever program is somehow grabbing the ROMs out of them, because the emulators themselves are trash. I tried Kid Chameleon and it ran at 30 frames per second, frameskipped. Genesis Plus GX happily ran it at 60, though. It reminds me of the Sonic Classic Collection that was on the DS, the Genesis emulator there also ran at 30 FPS and had some sound issues.

 

[Saiyan Lusitano]

They did mention the apps will still work, but not if they'll still be available to install once it closes.

Does backing the apks work or is there an account-licence issue with it?

 

[Pleng]

If they bring Sega Rally and Daytona (Dreamcast) and NiGHTS into Dreams (Saturn) to this then I shall probably never get any work done again, ever

 

[Xzi]

Ads. Every game has ads, and if you want to get rid of them you have to pay $2 per game. While there are some people using adblockers, I imagine the vast majority aren't, which will likely add up to a fair amount of cash in the end.

Hmm, I'd prefer to pay a lump sum (like $20) and remove the ads from all games. Until that's an option it's far more convenient to just run an emulator and not deal with the ads in the first place.

 

[zeveroth]

This is a great idea. It could only be better if it were offered on the eShop. 7.99 for Neo-Geo games and they sell pretty well. Sell them in play packs on the Switch. At least the Saturn and dreamcast games.

 

[Kamiyama]

Just $2 for shitloads of games without shitloads of ads? In my pocket?

SOLD!!!

Now gimme some all region Saturn and Dreamcast games, Sega!

Edit:

Oh, $2 per game. Time to activate my adblock, then. And learn to read an entire thread before posting.

 

[Pleng]

Not a good start... Downloaded Kid Chameleon and it doesn't work with the built-in controls on my GPD XD. They apparently feature cloud saves... If that's tied to your Google Play account and works cross-device then this could become a very nice little library once they sort the control issues out

 

[Viri]

even the Saturn

Oh! Dragon Force, when?

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

And the downpour begins, with Sonic 1, Phantasy star II and Comix Zone
One good game and one hard as ass game.

 

[BvanBart]

Most of the games have sound issues on iPhone 7. So not going to pay before that is solved!

 

[Justinde75]

They're using Unity as a middleman. Why they thought Unity was a good engine to write an emulator in, I have no idea. It's because of Unity that these apps are 50 megabytes.

The only potential use that I see for this Sega Forever program is somehow grabbing the ROMs out of them, because the emulators themselves are trash. I tried Kid Chameleon and it ran at 30 frames per second, frameskipped. Genesis Plus GX happily ran it at 60, though. It reminds me of the Sonic Classic Collection that was on the DS, the Genesis emulator there also ran at 30 FPS and had some sound issues.

Even old emulators like Gensoid work better than these. I never had any problems with any game I played on my Nexus 6.

 

[DinohScene]

Never really liked sega games :c

 

[SonicfanCEMUTesting]

So that means i can finally play Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 ON MY PHONE WITHOUT EMULATION?! THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST THINGS SEGA EVER MADE!!!

 

[ATofix]

Ad filled or not ima gonna play me some sanic!

 

[FAST6191]

Never really liked sega games :c

I don't think we can be friends any more.

So that means i can finally play Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 ON MY PHONE WITHOUT EMULATION?! THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST THINGS SEGA EVER MADE!!!

Why would you want to play Sonic Adventure?

 

[SonicfanCEMUTesting]

I don't think we can be friends any more.

Why would you want to play Sonic Adventure?

Because why not? What's your problem with Sonic Adventure?

 

[FAST6191]

They were generally iffy games when I played them on the DC and it marked the end of Sonic as something to take seriously.

 

[SonicfanCEMUTesting]

They were generally iffy games when I played them on the DC and it marked the end of Sonic as something to take seriously.

But it doesn't mean nobody should play it anyway.