A great day in gaming, 14 years ago today

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Jerome36

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14 years ago, today, the best gaming console* was released in North America. I don't know about you, but I will celebrate by playing a few titles tonight. I probably have around 40 titles, so I'm not sure what I'll play. Perhaps some Crazy Taxi, San Francisco Rush 2049 and maybe even an NFL2K game, for a little sports nostalgia. I actually haven't played my Dreamcast in quite some time, despite having a few games I have yet to complete. I suppose I could work on one of those too.

Anyway, Happy Birthday Sega Dreamcast! Anybody else still playing their's, or even have it hooked up?

* this is not opinion, it's a well known fact. :)
 
Yar, it was a good system. PSO and Grandia 2 were the standout titles for me.

And there was a great little Sega community on their web/chat service.

My Dreamcast is currently sitting in my closet, I really wish I hadn't traded my VGA adapter for a PC soundcard, otherwise I for sure would be hooking it up right now to celebrate.
 
I think I'm going to buy one. There were some great games on the system.
 
I remember the spin up and with that beautiful sounding logo and then the err ann erre erre annn erre ann of that noisey as fuck disc reader :D
 
I actually bought my Dreamcast two days after the launch. I was in college at the time, had no vehicle, and waited until the weekend (the 11th). I remember I bought the system, a VMU, and a copy of Sonic Adventure. There was that demo disc, included in the box, and it had a video of NFL2K. Needless to say, after seeing it, I went out and got that maybe a week or so later. That got a lot of play time in our dorm room (along with Soul Calibur).

SeymourGore said:
My Dreamcast is currently sitting in my closet, I really wish I hadn't traded my VGA adapter for a PC soundcard, otherwise I for sure would be hooking it up right now to celebrate.
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I wish I didn't sell my ethernet adapter on eBay. My wife and I had moved to a new state, were living paycheck to paycheck for the first year or so. At the time, if I remember correctly, they were sometimes going for around $150 bucks. Once I got rid of the broadband adapter I then sold my keyboard and PlanetWeb web-browser 3.0 disc, as a bundle.
 
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One of the best ever
 
so why was there never a Dreamcast 2?...everyone seems to rave about how great it was
 
Sega could no longer compete in the hardware space. For starters, I don't think they had the deep pockets to try another console. You usually lose a lot of money initially, and hope to make things up with software sales. I don't remember what their financial situation was at the time, but I think they had suffered several consecutive loses in revenue.

Another reason was the Dreamcast suffered a very premature death. They announced they stopped manufacturing new consoles on January 31, 2001. Less than two years after launch they weren't making any more! Another year later they shipped the last new game, in N. America (NHL 2K2 in February of 2002). With the struggles the Saturn faced, and what happened with the Sega CD, 32x, etc., I think they also knew full well a lot of gamers weren't going to buy yet another Sega console. Especially after the Dreamcast lasted only a few years.

The only way Sega could survive was to become a third party developer, and leave the hardware to Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony.
 
Jerome36 said:
Sega could no longer compete in the hardware space. For starters, I don't think they had the deep pockets to try another console. You usually lose a lot of money initially, and hope to make things up with software sales. I don't remember what their financial situation was at the time, but I think they had suffered several consecutive loses in revenue.

Another reason was the Dreamcast suffered a pretty premature death. They announced they stopped manufacturing new consoles on January 31, 2001. Less than two years after launch they weren't making any more! Another year later they shipped the last new game, in N. America (NHL 2K2 in February of 2002). With the struggles the Saturn faced, and what happened with the Sega CD, 32x, etc., I think they also knew a lot of gamers weren't going to buy yet another Sega console, after the Dreamcast lasted only a few years.
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Here's the thing though, Sega still makes hardware.

All of Sega's consoles were nothing more than a version of their arcade hardware. In the case of the Dreamcast it's nothing more than an Atomiswave or Naomi lacking a bit of RAM. Which is one of the reasons Sega's consoles arcade "ports" were so good, in many cases it wasn't a port at all and the exact same thing running on the exact same hardware.

Sega bailed on the console because third parties were sitting around waiting for the PS2 release instead of pushing through on the Dreamcast. While they still make hardware, they have said they have no intention of converting it into a console.
 
I think Sega is ran by the Handy incapable. They mismanage everything.

The more you like sega the more you also dislike sega for not succeeding and failing at everything they do.

The future of Shining Force was killed by Sega's poor business decisions so I'll always hate them for that. And they postponed the US release of Phantasy Star online 2 without even saying they were going to do it. They also provided no information as to when it would be released.

DreamCast was an awesome console...but I wish it was released by Nintendo so someone with a brain could have worked with it.
 
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I've still got mine in like new condition sitting in the original box. Might break it out someday.
 
Damn it. I'm so full of nostalgia again, this one really struck me today seeing this thread... I remember everything surrounding me taking that beauty out of the box for the first time. Playing Sonic Adventure was one of the most liberating and greatest moments in gaming ever. Everything about the Dreamcast was cool. You could get online, play games, play music cds, had a interactive menu, a visual memory unit you could take and play when the console was off. I remember how awesome it was sending and retrieving those little guys in Sonic Adventure to and from the VMU. It was almost like a tamagachi or something...

The second greatest moment in gaming I ever had was when I first playing Resident Evil Code Veronica on the Dreamcast for the first time. Graphics and the scare factor blew me away and to date is still my favorite Resident Evil game.

The only other gaming system that rivaled the Dreamcast when it comes to "gaming moments" is when I first powered up my Nintendo 64 for the first time to play Goldeneye.

The Dreamcast was a fantastic system with great games... that to this day can't rival the fun I had with those games back then. And honestly, some of the games still look. pretty damn good.

As far as the system failure goes, well... read my sig. Quoted that from someone here years ago. At least 6 years ago.
 
I refused to buy one. After getting burned by the 32X, Sega CD, and Saturn I swore I'd never buy another Sega system. When the PS2 was announced not long afterward, that cemented it.
Just like their previous systems, Sega had something great and managed to screw it up.
 
Sp33dFr33k said:
I've still got mine in like new condition sitting in the original box.
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Post pics! I have always wanted to buy a complete Dreamcast system, and look on Ebay every once in a while to check for Dreamcasts in "New" condition.
 
I loved my Dreamcast, however...I will always have a place in my heart for the Genesis as my fav console. Nothing like playing NHL hockey on that thing.
 
Sp33dFr33k said:
I've still got mine in like new condition sitting in the original box.
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Post pics! I have always wanted to buy a complete Dreamcast system, and look on Ebay every once in a while to check for Dreamcasts in "New" condition.

Domingo said:
I refused to buy one. After getting burned by the 32X, Sega CD, and Saturn I swore I'd never buy another Sega system. When the PS2 was announced not long afterward, that cemented it.
Just like their previous systems, Sega had something great and managed to screw it up.
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I can understand your frustration, but if you missed out on the Dreamcast games I highly suggest finding one used and stocking up on a couple games. Some are simply classic and never get old.
 
Domingo said:
I refused to buy one. After getting burned by the 32X, Sega CD, and Saturn I swore I'd never buy another Sega system. When the PS2 was announced not long afterward, that cemented it.
Just like their previous systems, Sega had something great and managed to screw it up.
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At least it wasn't the hardware or the games that got screwed up. Just the financials.
 
Dreamcast was the best console ever. I bought mine used maybe 7 years ago with a bunch of games, and Soul Calibur on DC is just as good IMO as any fighting game today. It was years ahead of its time, it inspired the controller on every console today, had the VDU which was again years ahead. The poor DC died because of many reasons, but a big one was Sony marketing the PlayStation brand which killed it.

So many iconic games on DC - Shenmue, Crazy Taxi, JSR. Last year I remember one of the online retailers was selling DC's for ~$50 and it was a great deal.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
At least it wasn't the hardware or the games that got screwed up. Just the financials.
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That's kind of their MO. Even going back to the Master System, Sega always had pretty good hardware and games. The just never seemed to know how to market anything and they were notorious for making awful decisions. Sometimes I think the Genesis succeeded in spite of Sega's best efforts.
I had friends with the Dreamcast so I got plenty of playtime with it. At this point a good chunk of the games are available on various collections so I have the ones I really liked.

Still, I have no love loss for Sega. The fact that they've let a few of their own beloved franchises get butchered in recent years reinforces that.
 
Best first year console ever. So many great classics

Jet Set Radio
Sonic Adventure
MSR
The original IKARUGA
DAYTONA USA (Online FTMFW!)
Crazy Taxi
Space Channel 5
Ecco The Dolphin
Shenmue
Giga Wing
Quake 3 Arena with the Keyboard and mouse on SegaNet (Keyboard was free for signing up to SegaNet)
Crazy Taxi.....

Great memories
 
LeviathanZERO said:
Best first year console ever. So many great classics

Jet Set Radio
Sonic Adventure
MSR
The original IKARUGA
DAYTONA USA (Online FTMFW!)
Crazy Taxi
Space Channel 5
Ecco The Dolphin
Shenmue
Giga Wing
Quake 3 Arena with the Keyboard and mouse on SegaNet (Keyboard was free for signing up to SegaNet)
Crazy Taxi.....

Great memories
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Some of my favorites (which also includes most of the ones you mentioned) also include:

NFL 2K1
Phantasy Star Online
Power Stone
San Francisco Rush 2049
Skies of Arcadia (my favorite DC game to date)
Toy Commander
 
Mine's hooked up. I might play some Blue Stinger, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure and some co-op Dynamite Cop.
 
This was my first release day console; and it was easily the best. I need to hook my dreamcast up and play some of the classics; I had more multiplayer time logged with friends on the dreamcast than the N64 back in the day.

Quake 3 Arena, NFL blitz and finally NBA on NBC were some of the most played local multiplayer games. Blitz and NBA on NBC were perfect arcade ports.

The Dreamcast really had such an awesome original library as well. I wish Powerstone would be remade; that game was a ton of fun.
 
Quicksilver_ said:
Oh yeah, I need to play Segagaga too. Best idea for a video game ever.
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You know, I've heard the name before, but knew nothing about it. I finally looked it up on Wikipedia and you weren't kidding:

When the director of Segagaga, Tez Okano, first presented the game's concept to Sega management, it was misconstrued as a joke. When he requested funding a second time, Sega's president, Hisao Oguchi, gave Okano a development budget. Okano subsequently spent two years developing the game in secret, fearing that "anything could have happened" if it was revealed.

Okano estimated the game's budget at "less than a hundredth" of Shenmue, with Toei Animation giving him a discount for animated footage.

Okano marketed the game himself, receiving a budget of about $200. He spent more than half of the money on a wrestling mask to hide his identity. Setting up signing events at four locations in Akihabara rewarding fans who visited all of them. Sales of the game online at Sega Direct were initially high, leading to a store release, and, later, a budget version.

Full Wikipedia Article
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They give him $200 bucks to go market the game and he spends more than half of it on a wrestling mask? LOL! I love it! It's a shame it was only released in Japan.
 
I have a collectors edition of it :D There's a few tricks to make Dreamcasts region free without mods or bricking the system.
 
People complain about piracy today, but piracy is what killed the dreamcast. You could get every game before they were released.
 
I keep hearing about Grandia II I'm thinking about giving it a try. I hear it doesn't run well on PC, is that still try with modern PC? Or is it better to play it on a DC emulator?
 
silk186 said:
I keep hearing about Grandia II I'm thinking about giving it a try. I hear it doesn't run well on PC, is that still try with modern PC? Or is it better to play it on a DC emulator?
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The PC port sucks. While it is possible to get it to run, all the FMVs use a super old version of QuickTime that is incompatible with new versions. So even if you get it to run on the PC you miss out on a large chunk of the story. Either play the DC version or the PS2 version of the game.
 
Domingo said:
That's kind of their MO. Even going back to the Master System, Sega always had pretty good hardware and games. The just never seemed to know how to market anything and they were notorious for making awful decisions. Sometimes I think the Genesis succeeded in spite of Sega's best efforts.
I had friends with the Dreamcast so I got plenty of playtime with it. At this point a good chunk of the games are available on various collections so I have the ones I really liked.

Still, I have no love loss for Sega. The fact that they've let a few of their own beloved franchises get butchered in recent years reinforces that.
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It wasn't marketing at all.

Upgradable consoles and console add-ons are just fucking dumb. They've never worked for anybody. Sega gave it a harder try and push and advertised the hell out of them, which was even more dumb. They should have just bailed faster.

The Saturn was a cluster fuck of a system in terms of how it handled 3d and harder to make games for. Combined with Sega being stupid enough to push upgradable consoles it had problems.

Those two failures really hurt the Dreamcast.

This all goes back to the obvious, upgradable consoles are stupid.
 
acerbic said:
It wasn't marketing at all.

Upgradable consoles and console add-ons are just fucking dumb. They've never worked for anybody. Sega gave it a harder try and push and advertised the hell out of them, which was even more dumb. They should have just bailed faster.

The Saturn was a cluster fuck of a system in terms of how it handled 3d and harder to make games for. Combined with Sega being stupid enough to push upgradable consoles it had problems.

Those two failures really hurt the Dreamcast.

This all goes back to the obvious, upgradable consoles are stupid.
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Sega also lost a lot of third party support for the Saturn when they announced at E3 1995 that the console would release that day without even telling the publishers or developers ahead of time. Sometimes Sega did try to be innovative or try a marketing stunt no one else would attempt, but it didn't work out very well for them.
 
Quicksilver_ said:
I have a collectors edition of it :D There's a few tricks to make Dreamcasts region free without mods or bricking the system.
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Cool. Unfortunately, with everything being in Japanese, there's just no way I could play it.

silk186 said:
I keep hearing about Grandia II I'm thinking about giving it a try. I hear it doesn't run well on PC, is that still try with modern PC? Or is it better to play it on a DC emulator?
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I never played the PC version, but Derangel probably summed up things pretty nicely. Definitely check out the game though, because it's pretty good. It's my second favorite RPG on the Dreamcast (Skies of Arcadia being first).
 
Grandia 2 was the shit for sure, best RPG I've ever played. The combat system was amazing with its mix of turn-based and real time.

I never played Skies of Arcadia. Still have my Dreamcast just need to find a copy of the game.
 
[QUOTESkies of Arcadia. Still have my Dreamcast just need to find a copy of the game.][/QUOTE]

Still goes for 30-60.00 on Ebay for a complete copy I still have yet to pick on up :-(
 
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