Sega Dreamcast |OT| It's Still Thinking

Video Games
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gonna borrow a bit from my man Seik here:

Release Date:
Japan: November 27, 1998
North America: September 9, 1999
Europe: October 14, 1999
Australia: November 30, 1999

Features:
-4 controller ports for awesome multiplayer action.
-The VMU, the Dreamcast’s official memory card equipped with a screen, D-pad and buttons.
-Outputs a outstanding resolution and beautiful image quality for its time when equipped with a VGA box. (640x480)
-Contains massive doses of hype, its just all over it. Just look how fucking beautiful the thing is.
-Uses GD-ROM format for its game discs, these can contain up to 1.2Gb and these are a unique kind of disc that are only usable on a Dreamcast.
-Loads of arcade-ish awesome games, many games running at 60FPS.
-Shenmue

The DC remains one of gaming’s biggest tragedies: Sega (of America or Japan, there’s entire discussions to be had here) really screwed things up with the Saturn despite what a lovely system that was, and put everything they had into this last-ditch effort at a home console. In just about 2 short years, they managed so very much:

  • Fully transitioning the best aspects of arcade gameplay to home consoles
  • First real go at online integration (I literally missed a midterm in college cause of PSO…)
  • Allowing Yu Suzuki & team to continue their decades-long efforts at iconic simulations & take that to an entire world via Shenmue 1 & 2
  • Innovate at every corner, from VMU’s to broadband adapters and beyond
  • A huge US release on 9/9/99 with a launch lineup still yet to be topped
  • i swear to god shit was crazy man like they had a whole segment on MTV about Space Channel 5

They were clearly firing on all cylinders & putting out some of their finest work ever, despite heavy hitters (konami, square, EA etc) entirely abandoning them. Capcom held it down with arguably their finest output in a single generation, but let’s not forget:

  • Rez (still a top 10 game for me)
  • Jet Grind Radio - a game so fantastic, it had an HD release that a lot of modern gamers didn’t even like
  • Skies of Arcadia - one of the finest RPG’s out there, just great lighthearted fun
  • Chu Chu Rocket - another great puzzle game to end friendships…and online too!
  • Crazy Taxi - YAH YAH YAH YAH YAHHHHHH
  • Dynamite Cop - the world needs more Die Hard
  • Soul Calibur - I mean, i thought Tekken 3 stepped things up, then this happened. I’ve run through story mode just unlocking things too many times in my life
  • Giga Wang - this library (especially postmortem) has a slew of fantastic SHMUPs: Mars Matrix, Ikaruga, Radirgy, Stormwind, Under Defeat etc
  • Typing of The Dead - i will never understand why this isn’t in every word processing classroom
  • Phantasy Star Online - I was in a clan. i bought a keyboard for this game.
  • Samba de Amigo - so great, and you played it with MARACAS how dope is that
  • Sword of the Berserk - i think i played this before even watching the anime/reading the manga/crying
  • Spider-Man - like Soul Reaver & so many other PSX games, it was better here
  • Record of Lodoss War - the best non-diablo Diablo
  • Space Channel 5 - SUCK IT PARAPPA but yeah we never got the sequel over here

i could go on & on & on here (Zombie Revenge, Toy Commander, Virtual On etc) but yeah, we had the best Resident Evils.

some great resources:

Get your dreamcast back online with raspberry pi!
Dream Explorer - unlock VMU space & game DLC!

more to come, Seik is way better with Null_DC/emulation stuff, i’m just here to celebrate this masterpiece & remind anyone who thinks that DVD would’ve saved it how very wrong they are

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I fucking love this picture

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i legit forget if it was IGN or wherever i jacked that back in late 2000 but my heart wants to say it was UKResistance

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It’s amazing.

So I control + F’d SoulCalibur and it wasn’t listed in the OP. Surely there must be some mistake? That game blew my fucking mind-hole when the system launched.

Anyway… amazing OT as always, Irish. Where would we be without you, dude?

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The Dreamcast was amazing. I don’t think it had quite as many classics as some of Sega’s other systems but it also had a shorter lifespan and always had something new and exciting to try while it lasted. The Shenmue games, Jet Grind Radio, Phantasy Star Online, Code Veronica, and others had a huge impact on me.

Some of those reviews bugged me. So many idiots complaining that they actually had to use skill to time jumps instead of having Uncharted-style auto-platforming.

I really need to find where I put my copy of Gunlord since I last moved. It’s a great Turrican meets Neo Geo and ported to DC thingy.

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BALLS how did i forget SC, my mind did that thing where i pretended acknowledging all the fighters/etc capcom did somehow covered that base

added, but god knows we could do a whole thing on just Cannon Spike, Power Stone 1/2, Rival Schools, SF III/Alpha, Garou, so much stuff being left out here

wanted to add Cosmic Smash but not sure if anyone else dug that for a drunken game like i do

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I fucking love Cosmic Smash. The music is dope and the gameplay is great.

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Yeah, I have a soft spot for Breakout games from playing Atari stuff at a young age. Cosmic Smash was like having a futuristic version.

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Great post OP but it need more RE: Code Veronica, DOA, Seaman, Bass Fishing, NFL 2K, VF3, etc, etc, etc hype. :wink:

In 1999, after owning only an N64 previously, I was foaming at the mouth to own a top tier 3D fighting game and the DC delivered in spades with Soul Calibur, DOA, VF3 and even Power Stone.

It really was amazing how plentiful and varied this sytem’s library was given its short lifespan. Simply unheard of at the time as other systems needed a few more years to build up an abundance of must play games.

Might I suggest adding some aftermarket stuff into the OP such as GD-EMU?

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RE: CV is like the only classic one i never finished, so nuts to that! Seaman is amazing, and ive been wanting to buy a fishing hat to go with my booze & rod controller for bass fishing and the other one, that’d be a great day haha

and by all means: if you do a GD-EMU writeup, ill happily toss it in there & cite it!

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I’ll post some nice pics of my blue shell DC soon-ish. I spent a looooooooong time looking for reasonable prices shells.

Yeah It was UKR.

I actually think UKR is an integral part of DC culture to me lol. Still up if anyone wants to read dry salty history:

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Nice. Dreamcast will always be one of my favorites. I bought a stack of games earlier this year that I’ve been saving up for a rainy day. Actually kinda forgot I bought them. That should be fun, whenever the time is right.

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I got a Dreamcast in 2013 and I wasn’t really feeling it. Then I got the DC Arcade Stick and now I love the console.

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long live UKR #BLUESKIESFOREVER

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I finally got a Dreamcast in 2015. I definitely need to play it more. I don’t have many games for it though. Perhaps I should look at Amazon or Ebay a bit more. In Chicago, I know only one Retro shop. I swear it only has sports games and Sonic for the Dreamcast.

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Want

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Was completly off gaming since 1995 and the jaguar disaster . My best friend came to my house in 2000 with the Dreamcast , 2 controllers and Soulcalibur / MvsC2 / Crazy Taxi and Powerstone -> i bought a DC 2 days later …:star_struck:

A_s

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I really wish HD retrovision would show some progress on whatever was going on with those experimental DC component cables. Also I still need Power Stone 2 (and Blue Stinger for the hell of it).

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The Dreamcast might well be the greatest console ever. Sega were at the height of the creative powers, putting both Nintendo and Sony to shame with the sheer breadth of their output. Magnificent.

Phantasy Star Online is the greatest!

What could have been if only it had done better in the marketplace…

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Any particular advice to someone who’s willing to buy a Dreamcast today? Better/preferable models/editions, important things to look at or be aware of?

Some of you guys may remember it from RetroGAF times, but I had a pretty awful history with DC consoles, in the past, as I had both my unmodded NTSC-J and PAL machines die all of a sudden, in a very short time. Bought new, kept like so, used regularly with original games only… One night I was playing just fine, next day they were busted (self-reset to no boot with the Japanese system, flat-out dead the PAL one).
All this happened more than a decade ago, and since then - even though I kept all my collection intact - I never felt entirely comfortable to buy another one. Until now, basically. :smile: