SEGA STREETS OF RAGE AND ALTERED BEAST ON TV

Variety have reported that Stories International has partnered with Circle of Confusion to produce adaptations of SEGA video games Altered Beast and Streets of Rage for film and television.

Tomoya Suzuki, president and CEO of Stories International, will produce with Circle of Confusion partner Lawrence Mattis and Julian Rosenberg. Evan J. Cholfin, head of development and production, will executive produce the projects for Stories International — the production arm and joint venture of Sega Group and Hakuhodo DY Group.

“These are some of the most well loved SEGA games, and we are thrilled to be working with Stories to adapt them into major film and television franchises,” Mattis said.

WHAT IS IT

Streets of Rage is a beat ’em up video game series developed and published by Sega exclusively for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis in response to Final Fight, an arcade beat ’em up developed by Capcom. The Streets of Rage series centers on the efforts of several heroes, including series mainstays Axel Stone and Blaze Fielding, to rid a troubled city from the rule of crime boss Mr. X and his syndicate. The first game in the series was released in 1991. Two sequels were also produced, adding various new characters and features.

Altered Beast  is a 1988 beat ’em up arcade game developed and manufactured by Sega.The game is set in Ancient Greece, and follows a centurion who is resurrected by Zeus to rescue his daughter Athena, and to do so becomes able to turn into beasts such as the werewolf with the use of power-ups. After its initial arcade release, it was ported to several home video game consoles and home computers, including the Mega Drive/Genesis, for which it was a pack-in game.

WHAT Versus Player HAS TO SAY

It’s an interesting choice to go for older SEGA franchises. While shows like Fear The Walking Dead and movies like American Ultra had decent production value I can’t help but feel that this will come off as a little silly. If the humor is targeted just right, it may have a B movie appeal which could work, count me cautiously optimistic.