Again the dreamcast surprises me.

[IcKy99]

I would have loved to see what would have happened if the Dreamcast had a DVD player.

it might have lived a little longer, being a game/dvd player for 199$ even less if they dropped the price down to 99$ like they did

[RCBH928]

Can any one explain why did a failing console that lived like only two years had so much support and so much good library.
Lets be honest, by this time, the wii lived just as much as the dreamcast
and it sold like what? quadruple the units? but the dreamcast library is STILL better.
Compare, failing system after two years to highly successful system on top after two years...but the failing system has better games.

I know wii has some good games, but not as much as the dreamcast!

[Jayson]

I bought one in 2000 (lol right before they dropped the price) and played the hell out of the dozen or so games that I had. Then the new and shiny XBOX came out it got pushed to the back burner. I ended up selling off the DC to help fund a PS2 purchase a year or so later so I could play GTA3 and I regretted it ever since.

I just bought another one from Flak Beard and am having a great time with it. So many games I missed out on back in the day, dirt cheap too. I am amazed how well these games hold up today.

I agree with some of the other posts about the inclusion of a DVD player making or breaking the system once the PS2 hype started but for a solid year, it's library was leaps and bounds better than what the PS2 offered.

[Jayson]

Can any one explain why did a failing console that lived like only two years had so much support and so much good library.
Lets be honest, by this time, the wii lived just as much as the dreamcast
and it sold like what? quadruple the units? but the dreamcast library is STILL better.
Compare, failing system after two years to highly successful system on top after two years...but the failing system has better games.

I know wii has some good games, but not as much as the dreamcast!

The Wii has some really good games as well, it's just that the ratio of shovel ware to AAA titles are way higher than what the DC had then. Sega also had a shitload of (at the time) stellar internal development houses that more than made up for the lack of it's 3rd party support. Now a lot of those put out the shovel ware

I would also argue that if it had the 3rd party support at the time that Sony and Nintendo have now, it would have eventually seen it's fair share of crap titles and it wouldn't be talked about in such a high regard now.

[Ack]

Infighting between the Japanese and American branches of the company, mostly stemming from the Japanese side not willing to do what was necessary to appeal to the American market.

It's interesting you should mention that. I think that's not as much a factor as some people think. That was more of a problem with the Saturn. The Dreamcast actually did quite poorly in Japan and did decently well in the US until Sony's FUD hit its peak. There were lots of American and European developed games.

True, but I think part of the problem was also that their corporate structure stateside was just plain tired, and some of the best people they had left due to the Saturn problems. After all the trouble in the mid-90s, Dreamcast looked like Sega's best bet...and then everybody else announced their machines. The PS2 doubling as a DVD player, as well as the Xbox(if you were willing to shill out the money for the remote)...it was tough competition for the little machine, and Sega was already too battered to keep up the fight.

[DCsegaDH]

The PS2 wouldn't done that good if people have known how crappy the DVD player in it was until later on.My PS2 doesn't even read DVDs anymore and my other one I had to open it up and modify it to read DVDs and PS1 games.I Perfer the DC over other systems,it hardly loads on fighters and their is a great mix of 2D and 3D games.