Sega Heroes

SEGA Heroes
Developer(s)	Demiurge Studios Sega of America
Publisher(s)	Sega
Platform(s)	Android, iOS
Release	July 29, 2018 (soft launch) November 14, 2018
Genre(s)	RPG, Puzzle
Mode(s)	Single-player, player versus player

SEGA Heroes: Puzzle RPG Quest, better known as just SEGA Heroes and formerly SEGA Legends, was a free-to-play 2018 strategic mobile game published by Sega and Demiurge Studios. It was a role-playing puzzle game, featuring various Sega characters from multiple franchises and video games, including Phantasy Star, Jet Set Radio, Super Monkey Ball, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Altered Beast. It was the first mass-crossover Sega video game to not feature Ulala as a playable character.

The game received mostly positive reviews from critics, many praising the strategic gameplay but criticizing its difficulty and the reliability of in-app purchases. It was one of the most successful mobile RPG and matching games for nearly two years until the game’s cancellation.

On 16 April 2020, it was announced that SEGA Heroes would be discontinued due to Demiurge Studios becoming independent from Sega. The discontinuation lead to additional bonus content in order for players to finish the game before the servers closed permanently. The game's servers were fully shut down on May 21, 2020.

Gameplay

SEGA Heroes was a "match-3" game, where the player must have matched three or more tiles/shapes of the same color to score points and defeat enemies on the field. There were five different colored tiles, and four of them that could control a character's actions and abilities. The player must’ve selected four characters of different colors (blue, green, red, and yellow) in order to battle enemies in an event. Depending on the color of the character, the tiles that were matched determine if a character attacks an opponent. If the player matched 3 or more tiles of the same color together, it would result in the hero gaining energy and attacking an enemy of choice. The tiles come in four separate colors (for each color-type); red, green, yellow, and blue, as well as purple for boost. Matching purple tiles together would increase the multiplier, resulting in the selected heroes becoming stronger. Matching four tiles together created a star tile, while matching six tiles together created another type of Star tile that explodes a piece of the board and activates a different ability. The MAX ability triggered a character’s special move.

Campaign and plot

Dremagen, dubbing herself as the "Master of a Thousand Dimensions", uses her power to take over the universes and timelines across time and space. Dremagen is able to clone any existing being at will, which she uses to her advantage by cloning heroes and villains she deems worthy to be part of her ultimate army. However, Amy Rose finds Ax Battler and asks for his help, of which he refuses at first, feeling too weak to take on Dremagen. Amy is able to convince Ax and the two decide to find Dremagen and defeat her before she takes over the whole universe.

Along the way, Amy and Ax befriend Blaze Fielding and AiAi the Monkey. Later, they befriend former villain Death Adder, who feels he has no choice but to fight Dremagen for the better than worse. Other heroes, specifically Big the Cat, Beat, Sonic the Hedgehog, Ageha, Joe Musashi, and Cream the Rabbit, all join Amy and Ax's quest along the way. During the climax, it is revealed Doctor Eggman and his robots are helping Dremagen take over the universe with her clone army.

After the defeat of Dremagen, the heroes feel incomplete as if it were too easy. After some reconciliation, they discover that Dremagen will not ever be truly defeated and they need to keep their guards up.

Playable characters

The game featured over 50 playable characters, all of which were categorized by color. A team must have included a character from each color; a red, green, blue, and yellow hero. Characters were also organized by rarity; common, rare, epic, legendary, and captain.

Characters featured in the game are Sega-licensed, including those from Jet Set Radio, Phantasy Star, Golden Axe, Shenmue, Sonic the Hedgehog, Yakuza, Super Monkey Ball, ChuChu Rocket!, The House of the Dead, and others.

• Adam Hunter
• Ageha
• Agent G
• AiAi
• Akira Yuki
• Alicia Melchiott
• Alis Landale
• Amy Rose
• Ax Battler
• Axel
• Axel Stone
• Baby
• B. D. Joe
• Beat
• Big the Cat, Froggy, & Orca Whale
• Blaze Fielding
• Captain Onishima
• Charmy Bee
• ChuBach
• ChuBei
• Chuih
• ChuPea
• Cream the Rabbit & Cheese the Chao
• Death Adder
• Dr. Curien
• Ebitan
• Espio the Chameleon
• Gena
• Gilius Thunderhead
• GonGon
• Goro Majima
• Gum
• Gus
• Hibana
• Hotsuma
• Joe Musashi
• Kage-Maru
• Kazuma Kiryu
• Knuckles the Echidna
• Largo Potter
• Lassic
• MeeMee
• Mr. X
• Neff
• Pai Chan
• Professor K
• Ren of Heavens
• Rolf Landale
• Rouge the Bat
• Ryo Hazuki
• Sarah Bryant
• Selvaria Bles
• Silver the Hedgehog
• Shadow the Hedgehog
• Shenhua
• Shun Akiyama
• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Taiga Saejima
• Tails Prower
• Thomas Rogan
• Tom Johnson
• Tyris Flare
• Vector the Crocodile
• Welkin Gunther
• Werebear
• Weredragon
• Werewolf
• Wren

Reception

Reception

Aggregate score

Aggregator	Score
Metacritic	70/100

The game has received mostly positive reviews from critics, many praising the character roster and strategic gameplay. Three critic reviews on Metacritic all hold mixed or positive reviews, averaging out to a 70 of 100. Andrew Duncan for GameGrin gave the game a positive review, writing: "The characters on offer are from the following game series: Sonic the Hedgehog, Shinobi, Super Monkey Ball, Phantasy Star, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, Jet Set Radio and inexplicably Crazy Taxi. It’s certainly an interesting selection, especially since you can unlock certain villains such as Golden Axe’s Death Adder."

Unlike the core gameplay and storyline, the characters and designs were well-received.

Video game journalists liked how the game did not force players to buy in-app purchases, or rely on them to complete the game.