The Dreamcast is a bit of an odd beast. Coming on the heels of the unpopular Sega Saturn, the Dreamcast was meant to be a simple console built with off-the-shelf parts. The PlayStation 2 was already tough competition, and ultimately the Dreamcast fell out of the public eye as the Nintendo 64 was released with incredible fanfare. In some sense, it’s a footnote in console history.
But despite not achieving the success that Sega hoped for, the Dreamcast has formed a small cult following, because as we know, nothing builds a cult-like following like an untimely demise. Since its release, it has gained a reputation for being ahead of its time. It was the first console to include a modem for network play and an easy storage solution for transferring game data between consoles via the VMUs that docked in the controllers. It had innovative and classic games such as Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Phantasy Star Online, and Shenmue. Microsoft even released a version of Windows CE with DirectX allowing developers to port PC games to the console quickly.
We see our fair share of console hacks here on Hackaday, but what is the ultimate legacy of the Dreamcast? How did it come to be? What happened to it, and why did so much of Sega’s hopes ride on it?
I missed out on the Dreamcast, but I’ve always been deeply fascinated by it, and on many an occasion I’ve come close to pulling the trigger on eBay. What always holds me back is the knowledge that most likely I’ll buy it, mess around with it for a few days, and then rarely look at it again. To any Dreamcast owners among our readership – would any of you say the Dreamcast and its most prominent titles are still worth it in 2021?
I loved my Dreamcast. It was really cute. As a piece of technology it missed out on a few tricks such as constrained graphics memory and missing out on DVD playback, and was unfairly sabotaged by Playstation. I bought mine when it was discontinued so it was really cheap. I bought it to play Shenmue which was an immersive experience of an idealised Japan and a really interesting experience. I bought Shenmue II later and played it most of the way through. I did acquire some other games but never played them beyond a quick look. One was Jet Set Radio. Another was a traditional top down arcade shooter. I hated the idea of binning it and luckily Ebay’d it the other year.
I think the Dreamcast was special. It was mainly an aesthetic or emotional thing. The design and quality of games game the Dreamcast a tilt different to the more aggressive platforms like Playstation or later X-Box. I have no idea to this day what attracted people to the N64.
“I have no idea to this day what attracted people to the N64.”
Zelda and Mario.
GoldenEye
Shenmue and Shenmue 2 are fun. I sold my Dreamcast a while ago to fund buying an iPad for iOS development.. I think Shenmue and Shenmue 2 paid for most of the iPad. They are very sought after, especially Shenmue 2.
I much prefered the saturn library. it had much more variation and exclusives. And the dreamcast has no game that i know of comes close to the shining force 3 titles on the saturn.
Out of all the consoles that I own the Dreamcast is definitely the one that gets used the most.
So many high budget, high quality games, and also many crazy and bizarre but unique games.
The Dreamcast had perhaps the best port of Marvel vs Capcom there ever was, as well as mostly unknown gems like Sword of the Berserk: Gut’s Rage, which was the first game that was a “souls” game with QTEs, before the more known one that popularized those, and also a gem, Shenmue.
YES. Marvel vs Capcom was absolutely the best on Dream Cast. There was a hack via the serial port that allowed people to make copies of disks ( non standard Game roms? ) into cd’s and play them. I had a few of those for obscure titles, but mostly they games were $5 at gamestop at that point. My taste for consoles pretty much stops there, I’m not into modern longer playing console or even pc games.
I hate that you missed out on it Thom. It was hands down my favorite console back when I was big into console gaming, and its death is actually what made me give up on consoles and focus on PC gaming. Granted, I was (and am) in the US so I was able to get all the goodies like the SegaNet dialup ISP, official keyboard and mouse, and the VGA adapter, giving me a PC-like gaming experience on it. At one point I was even running NetBSD on it.
I actually kept my Dreamcast and all my games and accessories until my ex-wife took them in the divorce over a decade ago. I’ve thought about trying to replace it all over the years, but like you I feel that I’d play around a bit then push it to the closet never to see the light of day again. My favorite games were Phantasy Star Online which of course wouldn’t work in 2021/2022, and Shenmue which can be had on Steam (as well as PSO2 which I never played).
There’s actually a number of publicly accessible private servers running
In my very subjective opinion 😀 the Sega Dreamcast is the oldest console with 3D graphics that still holds up today. The Dreamcast is special to me because it was the first time it really felt like an arcade experience in the home.
I do have a Dreamcast console and a few favorite games. I’ve played through Space Channel 5 and Jet Set / Grind Radio. I occasionally enjoy playing around in Shenmue, GigaWing, and Mr. Driller. I don’t take the console out much, but I do most of my gaming on a computer or emulator nowadays, just for convenience. Space Channel 5 is not only my favorite Dreamcast game, it’s one of my favorite games of all times!
Is it worth getting and playing in 2021? I don’t know… I think a lot of it is nostalgia for when I first tried it out during a trip to Japan. And Sega isn’t shy about porting the games to other platforms, so it’s not too hard to play some of the best Dreamcast games in other ways. I think I lean towards “yes”, with the admission that it’s most like due to nostalgia. XD
The
DreamcastSega Genesis is special to me because it was the first time it really felt like an arcade experience in the home.Fixed it for you, cub.
Would have chosen Neo Geo, but I digress…
I agree with a lot of the comments here. For anyone who wants to relive the experience without the effort and expense I recommend watching longplay gameplay videos. Speedruns and “no death/no kill” runs can be interesting too. You can get the experience without the click, dodge, jump tiresomeness.
I find too many games with good gameplay and atmosphere still have action on rails about them. There’s no lingering or exploring. All that artwork and texture of experience is wasted. Or maybe I’m getting old and find walking in the rain or sitting under a tree more interesting. It just seems more real and connectable.