Nick Fernandez / Android Authority
A selection of nine vintage SEGA games are now available for free on Android, sans advertisements, but they will soon lose official support. These titles, which include favorites like Crazy Taxi Classic, Shining Force Classics, and Streets of Rage 2 Classic, can still be downloaded and will likely remain accessible in your account indefinitely.
SEGA has a well-established reputation for supporting its retro games, with many titles adapted for Android and iOS under the SEGA Forever initiative. However, the company is set to withdraw support for almost all of its existing mobile ports, encompassing iconic games such as Sonic, Crazy Taxi, and Shining Force.
While it is unclear how long these games will remain on the Google Play Store, the bright side is that they are currently offered for free. Previously, most of these titles were priced at about $2 or were available for free with in-app purchases to eliminate ads.
The announcement regarding the discontinuation of support wasn’t formally released but instead appeared through an in-game notification in the affected titles. The message states: “Support for this game will be discontinued, but you can continue playing offline! If you’d like to learn more about great SEGA games to play, please click the link below.” This directs players to the SEGA homepage.
This communication indicates that players who have already claimed these games will still be able to enjoy them after they are removed from the Play Store, similar to the fate of earlier SEGA Forever titles that were discontinued a few years ago, such as Phantasy Star Classics and Vectorman Classic.
Unfortunately, the loss of support for these games was anticipated. The SEGA Forever program concluded in late 2023, with the last game port made available for Android in 2019. Although these ports may not always have matched up to emulation standards, they offered comprehensive controller support and some enjoyed tens of millions of downloads.