'Sega Forever' Brings Classic Games To iOS, Android Devices For Free

The Japanese gaming firm Sega will be releasing a collection of classic games for iOS and Android devices called “Sega Forever.” The bundle is free, ad-supported and all the games will be playable offline.

“Above all else SEGA Forever is a celebration of nostalgia. It’s about allowing fans to reconnect with past experiences and share them with family and friends in an accessible and convenient way,” Sega’s western Mobile Division CMO Mike Evans said. “Join us on a journey of rediscovery as we roll out two decades of classic games free on mobile.”

The “Sega Forever” bundle will include five titles, “Sonic the Hedgehog,” “Altered Beast,” “Phantasy Star II,” “Kid Chameleon” and “Comix Zone.” Some titles will be official emulations, while others will be official mobile ports. The looks and feel of the games will remain faithful to the originals, while being completely playable with touchscreen controls.

“Sega Forever” games will let users save their game progress, will have global leaderboards and will support compatible Bluetooth controllers. The games will also include iMessage sticker packs for users on iOS devices.

“Sega Forever” will be available to download from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store starting tomorrow. The five games that will be initially part of the bundle are all Mega Drive and Genesis titles, but it looks like Sega wants to bring most of its back catalog from past consoles as part of “Sega Forever.”

Sega says that it plans to add more classic titles in the next 24 hours, and that the company wants to release a game every two weeks. “We’re going to have two decades of classic games that span every Sega console,” Evans said. “We are trying to take classic gaming mainstream, and mobile is a great place to start.”

Since all these games are free-to-play, it will have some ads. However, for those who don’t want to be bother by pesky ads, they can always pay $1.99 per game to enjoy ad-free gaming. However, “Sonic the Hedgehog” still carries a $2.99 price tag since that game has been available for mobile devices for years now, as pointed out by Polygon.

Sega says that all “Sega Forever” games should only be available for $1.99, and this includes titles joining the program in the future. Pricing for “Sonic the Hedgehog” should change when “Sega Forever” becomes available tomorrow.

“It’s a very easy conversion to take those games to free,” Evans told GameIndustry.biz. “We’re just bolting in the advertising support model and a single in-app purchase that can disable those ads.”

Since Sega appears to be committed to its new classic games program, “Sega Forever” will include titles from the Sega Saturn, Game Gear and even Dreamcast consoles. Sega did recently release “Crazy Taxi” as a free-to-play title just last month, and it also came with an option to pay $1.99 to remove ads. It’s likely that that “Crazy Taxi” and other fan-favorites will become part of “Sega Forever” in the near future.