Console of the Month (Feb 2023): Dreamcast

[Ack]

Man, the Dreamcast was a survival horror fan's dream console. Multiple amazing ports of Resident Evil games along with Dino Crisis. Unusual imports and bizarre finds like Illbleed and D2. Schlock to laugh about with The Ring: Terror's Realm. Pushing the boundaries of what constitutes survival horror with Blue Stinger. I enjoyed my Dreamcast collection immensely.

[Syndicate]

...the Dreamcast is easily one of my favorite consoles and the only system that I've ever picked up on launch day. I still remember skipping my afternoon classes in college to roll out to EB w/a friend to pick our systems up. As a Sega fan, even though I was disappointed to see the Saturn's time winding down in the US, I was still super geeked to see Sega's next console. I still think that no console launch has matched the excitement of that day on 9.9.99 or all of the awesome games available day one. I picked up my Dreamcast with a copy of Sonic Adventure, Soul Calibur, and Hydro Thunder. I had a blast playing Sonic Adventure all day and night once I got back to my dorm. Soul Calibur was a better than arcade translation and being able to enjoy Hydro Thunder w/my gf (I eventually bought her own Dreamcast so she could she play Crazy Taxi) w/o hitting an amusement park was a very welcome plus.

...much like my time w/the Saturn, a weekend didn't go by where I didn't add to my Dreamcast library. I even picked up a copy of NFL 2K b/c my roommate and even my dad kept asking about the new football game everyone heard was amazing. I got stomped by roommate every time we played NFL 2K, but it didn't matter b/c I was still having a blast and then we just pop in Power Stone go a few rounds where things were much more evenly matched. I especially enjoyed all of the awesome fighting games that the DC received, from KoF Dream Match '99 and Soul Calibur all the way to the legendary MvC2 and 3rd Strike, the DC is what cemented a growing love for fighting games that started w/the Saturn and ended up w/me way down the fgc rabbit hole. On top of all the awesome fighting games I still had a blast w/all the awesome games on the DC. From Skies of Arcadia, Bangai-O, Zombie Revenge, Jet Grind Radio, Crazy Taxi, and Code Veronica. When I wasn't spending hours in the lab working on my MvC2 and 3rd Strike combos, I spent hours upon hours playing Phantasy Star Online with friends. I just have so many memories working on different character builds and just playing through game a ton of times and when we needed something a little different Alien Front Online let us mix things up.

...the Dreamcast was great, but like some others mentioned it did have some annoyances like the VMU beeping that happened when the batteries died, the curiously loud system fan, or even now days trying to figure out to get a decent video signal out of it. Until I had access to a more modern tv my Dreamcast stayed in regular play right alongside my NGC, XBOX, and PS2. It shouldn't be a surprise since I'm a member here that I'm still actively tracking down those games that slipped by me like Gundam Side Story and Dynamite Cop in addition to some of the newer releases like Bang Bang Busters and Captain Tomaday. Once I finally get my DC hooked back up, I can't wait to get some Power Stone or Chu Chu Rocket in w/my kids or see if I still have it Alpha 3 or Soul Calibur.

[marurun]

The Dreamcast did something very strange re: 3D fighters. When it came out Virtua Fighter 3 TB was the best looking, best playing 3D fighter in arcades. The Dreamcast got a VF3TB port (oddly unimpressive) but it was completely overshadowed by Namco’s incredible remastering of SoulCalibur (which was still in the arcades in ugly low-res) and Team Ninja’s sophomore 3D fighter Dead or Alive 2, which was also smooth and awesome and had interesting and sometimes dynamic terrain. Even disregarding the plethora of 2D fighters on the system, Capcom helped round out the 3D fighters with Plasma Sword, Tech Romancer, and even Rival Schools: Project Justice. Capcom also worked on a new take on fighters with Powerstone and Powerstone 2 (full disclosure: I played a lot of arcade Power Stone in Japan and was actually decently competitive). Taito released Psychic Force 2012. And Sega finally made up for VF3TB with Fighting Vipers 2.

More than any previous or future console, the Dreamcast was the arcade at home. And the decline of the arcade meant it really couldn’t happen again.