I liked this console more than everything else that was around at that time. I still have one, too... I just don't have the AV or power cables for it. 😩
Best graphics, very unique games for the library even though it didn't live very long at all, free online multiplayer, the VMU was just dope as shit being able to play games directly on it (not good games but as a kid that didn't matter lol), first system to do the speaker in the controller (technically it was on the VMU but the VMU plugged into the controller and provided sounds as well as a screen for certain menus functions)..
On the vmu, you could pick your plays on football games. So your cheating friend couldn't see what you were doing.
Recently tried to get mine working that's been stowed away for a while but it's not ready discs at all anymore.
We used to have to do the turn it on it's side trick but I think it was just stuck in a dark dank basement for too long. Kinda want to rip it apart and try to fix but we shall see.
My college suitemates had one and I loved powerstone and others. First hand experience. Had an Xbox and PS2. Still didn't buy one of these.
at some point "retro" consoles got popular on GameStops website and I invested in a Dreamcast, 3 controllers, and memory cards. it was all under around $80. so god damn worth it since I can just "find" games online for it. I didn't grow up with it but it's definitely been a fun console
You know, I haven't thought about burning CDs for my Dreamcast before. Is it pretty simple these days?
It was easy like 15 years ago, now you just get a expansion card to hook up a usb thumb drive and have the entire catalog on it.
Dreamcast was a shit show.
I loved the games things and think it's the greatest system ever released with so many bangers under it's belt. It was Sega's arcade dna distilled into a console. And the home style games were amazing to boot. Jet Grind, Phantasy Star, Sonic Adventure. Plus all the Capcom love.
But I would have never bought one and gotten to experience it if it wasn't discontinued and clearance priced. I wish they gave it a second chance.
But it didn't fail :)
This motherfucker right here had ONLINE PLAY. You could spin up Phantasy Star Online: Episode 1 & 2 and actually have other people join your game, drop duplicated items, and destroy your droprate. It was fucken sicc.
Pipe me bro.
"Dreamcast" is probably the single best gaming console name of all time, too.
Retro Sega systems stand out with their cool, mystical/sci-fi sounding names: Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast.
They were unique and felt like they were telling customers that we'd be in awe when using their consoles.
(Master System and Sega CD were pretty boring though)
Most other big systems' names seem so utilitarian and uninspired:
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GameCube and Xbox are little boxy devices on your shelf that play games.
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The Nintendo Switch can switch between handheld and docked.
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All the PlayStations are stations that you play games on.
Yawn
Turbo Grafx was pretty cool tho.
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I still regret selling mine.
Lots of people feel the same about the TurboGrafx-16.
TurboGrapfx was cool because you could play on the console AND they had a game oh-like portable that could also play the games. It was BADASS!
I mean the PC Engine lived a full, and popular life. It's a shame they couldn't replicate the same success with the turbo. But at least there's tons of games to go back and play.
The Dreamcast on the other hand was so short lived, even in Japan. We never got to see it's full potential.
Also PS Vita. It was better than anyone (even Sony) realized. And the few who DID like it obsessed with the memory cards and the actual insanely amazing console it is was forgotten and overlooked.
I still play mine today. And yes there are tons of great games on it beyond Persona, even though you wouldn't know it among the usual Vita fans.
I never gave the vita a chance but I miss my modded psp
I had buttons get stuck on mine that I tried to fix but couldn't.
That damn thing had some of the most fun games ever.
staying up way too late every night playing pso though
Why in the hell did Sega not put up any sort of anti pirating safeguards on this thing? Even my buddy who was always talking about how dreamcast was the best system, had a stack of all the Dreamcast games copied, because the Dreamcast would read and play copied games.
It was killed by its own fan base and lack of anti pirating
I don't think any consoles had decent anti piracy back then. Dreamcast had some, but got beaten. They were routinely being chipped for piracy up to the Xbox 360 era. I remember that well because people at work laughed at me for buying games, and then MS banned them all on one day and they had to buy new ones to be able to carry on playing online.
It was killed by the PS2. That thing was a juggernaut, and Sega just couldn't compete. Xbox and Gamecube hadn't even launched before Sega threw the towel in. They just couldn't get any traction and got out of the console market before they went bankrupt, selling at ever more unsustainable losses.
They're still around, so it was probably the right decision in hindsight.
The PS2, bad third-party relationships, and a limp Western market strategy. Even with competent management it's quite possible, even likely it still would have been the last console Sega produced, but it could have gone a full generation with better support.
I remember original Xbox being the first console that banned people for modding their console. I and everyone I knew had modded PS1 and PS2.
Oh but it did, first the GD-ROM that had 1GB and the only way to get the games into a CD was to cut the assets making it a worse experience and... playing recorded CD-ROMs on a Dreamcast was a very efficient way to destroy its drive.
Bernie Stolar was also to blame because he was the reason a majority of the Dreamcast library was not localized outside of Japan
And all because the PS2 could play DVDs and the Dreamcast couldn't. Fucking DVDs. As ridiculous as that sounds today, people went apeshit over DVD playback capabilities back in the early 2000s.
But to be fair I also think Sega was their own worst enemy. In the 90s alone they released the Sega CD, 32X, the Saturn and the Dreamcast. Not to mention the Genesis 3 and CDX as well. If they would have slowed their roll and stopped cannibalizing their own sales, they might have done alright. The addon idea could have worked out better if done right. Hindsight is 20/20, so if they had a crystal ball they should have done something like this, and they'd still be making consoles today:
- Delay the Sega/Mega CD to allow themselves more time to rewrite the graphics ASIC to include 3D rendering capabilities.
- Cancel the 32X and Saturn; they were never even announced. The Sega CD is the next gen console.
- Sell it as an addon for $199, and cut the price of the base Genesis to $50. Release in 1994, along with bundle deals for $249 with an included game (for people who don't already own a Genesis), and proceed wipe the floor with Sony before they even get a chance to compete.
Sega was their own worst enemy
Arguably they still are today. Can't stop being a fan though!
I had an entire binder of pirated Dreamcast games back when this came out. I can't remember if I actually owned a genuine copy of a game (it was too easy to run pirated game discs).
I have good memories of the console though.
Haha I also had a giant binder full of pirated games. The other thing I remember about it was how loud it was reading the discs
Didn't the pirates find out that they could copy the games onto regular CDs using some backdoor from the format of Karaoke CDs? You just need that famous loader CD to swap discs.
I've heard the pirates soon optimised the layout of the data on their versions so that there was less strain of the drive.
We all had binders of pirated Dreamcast games...
I think I'm starting to see why it died.
Louder on pirated games than official ones IIRC. The laser worked harder to read them.
So did many! It was so easy!
Too soon...
What makes me happy though is the Dreamcast is still going strong today with fan translations, indie games (and more) and online play.
Wii U too. Two consoles with a whole extra screen on your controller. Brilliant and cool features. Misunderstood or poorly timed?
Misunderstood for sure, I think. The Wii U suffered from what was probably the worst marketing campaign of any game console, ever. I didn't even know it was a new console and not yet-another-Wii-addon until halfway through it's life cycle and I think that was a pretty common misunderstanding.
The way I felt about the Wii U was probably similar to how adults felt about the Dreamcast back then.
It seemed really cool, but it didn't feel worth the money while there were other great consoles already. I was still getting a ton of use out of my original Wii.
My Friend: Did you hear? Sega cancelled the Dreamcast.
Me: ...
Me: ... (still waiting for the punchline)
Sega was already in dire financial straits after the Saturn, so they panicked during the Dreamcast and ended the console’s life cycle very early making developers abandon it within just a couple years.
I’m not sure if there’s anything they could have done differently to be honest. Sony pushed them over the edge with the price war during the Saturn, which was very inefficiently built in comparison making their production costs way higher than that of their competitors. If I remember correctly they were losing about $100 per unit before PSX did its first (very early) $50 price drop and they had to keep up, so that became -$150/ea before the console was even a year old. It was disastrous.
They released 32x, Sega Genesis, then Sega Saturn so freaking close to each other that really left a bad taste in everyone's mouth.
Dreamcast came out with Sonic, Shenmue, Power Stone and then the most perfect version of Marvel Vs Capcom 2 and started to become attractive.
Then everyone discovered how to pirate Dreamcast games. Like it was so stupidly easy. People in my campus started giving copied Dreamcast games away.
I remember nobody trusting Sega to not abandon yet another console after a year like all the others so a lot of people stopped buying their brand.
Wasn't the deeper story on this a bit more sad? I thought Sega made a bunch of rash idiotic decisions with their product lines, not originally because of Nintendo and Sony, but because of NeoGeo?
They were so convinced NeoGeo was going to be the be all end all of gaming, both home and arcade, so they shotgunned a bunch of ideas out then panic killed several of them?
Sega was too early with several innovations like online game downloads, which meant they weren't profitable enough. Technically however they were ages ahead of the competition who later gladly absorbed their knowledge.
The Sega Saturn is a prime example of how that was not the case. They brute forced it and it cost a fortune as a result. Sony essentially matched it with generic parts for cheaper and developed it in a shorter amount of time along side them, the Saturn build did not directly inform its development.
Edit: in one of the books I read on this subject - I think it was either Replay or Console Wars, there is a great account of how when the Saturn dropped somy was very nervous because it was out well before the PlayStation was released. They immediately grabbed one and disassembled it, only to discover the monstrosity under the hood that made them feel very secure in their decisions. The two dedicated chips getting 3D to work right out the gate drove the cost up immensely. They knew they didn’t need to beat Sega to market because they were bleeding cash at an unbelievable rate. The game sales would never cover that.
It was the best.
Be me, stuck in rural nowhereville, wandering around in Shenmue imagining what real life must feel like
Do you know where the sailors are? I'm looking for some sailors.
Be me, not allowed to have pets, and having a VMU with a Chao on it
I remember being blown away by some of the games back then, and also disappointed that it wasn't a more popular console.
The games not only looked amazing but the VMU was icing on the cake. Resident Evil with the ammo counter on the controller. Dreamcast was mind-blowing. 9.9.99
I used to play the maze puzzles for quake 3 arena to unlock cool shit like unlimited ammo, low gravity. My dreamcast was in use for many years being taken to parties where we played quake 4 player with crazy game options like that. That vmu got passed around to the point we were mapping out the maze on paper. Those were great times.
*cries softly into Seaman microphone
Huh, never thought I'd see a reference to Don McLean in the wild that wasn't American Pie.
I thought it was a NOFX song for years
dont cum in your dreamcast
Well there goes my plan to make new baby Dreamcasts
