For a lot of diehard Dreamcast fans, 2001's SEGAGAGA ranks as one of the most unique and fascinating titles released for the console.
Typically described online as "a role-playing simulation", it sees players step into the shoes of Sega Taro, a young boy tasked with reviving Sega's fortunes and helping it withstand competition from its evil rival, DOGMA — a parody of the PlayStation manufacturer Sony.
Crammed with plenty of references to Sega's impressive library of games as well as lots of hilarious and often bizarre jokes about the business of game development, it has gone on to generate a sizeable cult following online, despite only ever being released in Japan, and has ended up making a minor celebrity out of its director Tez Okano.
As a result, we recently reached out to Okano to chat about a number of topics related to his 30-plus-year career in the games industry, including asking him for his extended thoughts on the ongoing fan efforts to translate SEGAGAGA into English.
It was during this exchange that Okano let out an interesting titbit, stating that "a number of overseas developers" have offered to help him get permission from Sega to make a sequel and he's "praying that their efforts pan out".
Here's his response to our question in full:
"Personally, it makes me happy to know that people love something I worked on. But also, as someone who neither works for Sega nor holds any rights over Segagaga, I don't want to inconvenience Sega by taking any sort of action because I was one of the developers. Both of these feelings are mixed together, so I don't want people to misunderstand me. I'm an active game developer, so I can help with a Segagaga translation or remake at any time as long as it's an official project. On the other hand, I have no intention of being involved in anything that infringes on Sega's rights. A number of overseas developers have said, "We want you to make a sequel; we'll get permission from Sega for you to do it" so I'm praying that their efforts pan out."
Unfortunately, during our conversation, Okano stopped short of mentioning who these companies actually were, but it's comforting to think that these avenues are being explored to try to give the game a second life.
We only hope that, if a sequel is produced, the original game also benefits from becoming more widely available outside of Japan in an official capacity as well.
You can read the rest of our interview with Okano here.