10 Long years....

[equalsign]

I didn't pick up a Dreamcast until 2005.

Summer vacation had just started and I called up a local retro game store one day looking for Rez for the PS2. When they told me they only had the PAL version for the Dreamcast I was intrigued. I knew NOTHING about the Dreamcast. The closest thing I had had to an experience with the console was playing the Gamecube port of Sonic Adventure 2. Hell, my only Sega experience besides that was playing Sonic the Hedgehog on the Genesis once as a kid and hating it. Basically, I was a total Nintendo fanboy and didn't play anything older than current gen.

On a total whim I went to the game store, spent about an hour looking at the games picking out those that just looked cool to me (God knows I NEVER do that), and walked away with the console, 2 controllers, a VMU (which tripped me out), Rez, Shenmue, Grandia II, Jet Grind Radio, Power Stone 2, a boot disc at the cost of something like 150 USD (which was a helluvalot and literally EVERY dollar I had). To this day I couldn't tell you why I did what I did. I seriously knew nothing about these games or the console.

That night was MAGICAL.

That summer vacation was MAGICAL.

EVERYTHING WAS MAGICAL.

If the Nintendo 64 was the system that really got me into gaming, the Dreamcast is what made me love it.

I was so amazed at just how fun these games were. I was blown away that these games existed and I had heard NOTHING about them. From then on I couldn't stop researching a playing old games. That console made me a retro gamer, and for that I love it.

Happy birthday Dreamcast! Keep dreaming!

[DaGamingMonkey]

First experience

Friend of mine got one shortly after release. He was the friend you have that is really spoiled by his parents. I remember us all crashing at his house playing soul caliber like crazy. SOOOO much MT Dew consumed. SOOOO much arguing over people that used Maxi and Nightmare.

Great times.
Happy Bday DC

[J T]

Believe it or not, there is a new game coming out for the Dreamcast:

Rush Rush Rally Racing

[shallowgamer]

I guess I'm one of the "older" gamers here..

My wife bought me a Dreamcast as an engagement present about a month after it came out. I picked up Soul Calibur (the BUDGET title at the time!) and couldn't believe my eyes.

Followed up with House of the Dead, Sonic, Ready to Rumble, Hydro Thunder..I got so goddamn tired of that announcer's voice in Hydro Thunder..

One of the issues with the launch is that some of the initial pressings of games simply didn't load. I still have my bogus web browser disc, and I saved my apology letter from Sega explaining that they traced it to a single factory, yadayadayada.

Another hardware woe was that most of the sports games took up an entire VMU. And the third party light guns sucked. And the cords on the controllers were awkward. And they didn't release the twin sticks in the States..

Wasn't long before I soldered a mod chip in my unit so that I could play Rainbow Cotton...yeah, probably not the best reason to start rewiring a unit.. but Gunbird 2, Zero Gunner 2, Fire pro wrestling made up for it.

It's a bit sad, because I know that no system will ever excite me like that one. It's like a game company finally catered to the game enthusiast. I brought Crazy Taxi home and couldn't believe what I was playing. EGM called it the game that you MUST get a Dreamcast for. Back before EGM became a useless 20 page rag.

But I've amassed about 80 titles, all original, most bought during those first 2 years. So at least I can say I did my part.

My friends and I are giving the system a proper party on Saturday. I'll post the setup after the event.

[fast]

I remember I was leaving the mall when I saw a short line of people at the Software ETC trying to get the last few Dreamcasts they had in stock. I was in highschool and the Pokemon card game was still huge, so I had loose cash, but not enough, so instead I hedged my bets and bought something like 15 packs of pokemon cards, went to another store in the mall, sold off the rares at their values, and the rest at a bulk rate. Sadly I still did not have enough money (it doesnt help that they sold their last one aswell). But later in the year my cousin got one, with Soul Calibur, Marvel vs Capcom, NFL 2k, and Powerstone. One of my favorite New Year Eve's ever.

I got my first one by trading my PSX with three games and two controllers to a friend three years later for his Dreamcast with NFL2k and Blitz 2002. Its been traveling with me ever since. It was the only console I had with me at all times during college (I left the cube with my parents for parts of it so I could study). Sadly most of my friends the first two years didnt care about it since it wasnt a PS2 or Xbox but thats why I dont talk to them any more. Well not really, but they did value cheap beer over most everything else, that would explain why some of them are still in college...

Now I think I have three...

[h8b1llg8ts]

To this day I only purchase Nintendo launch systems but the Dreamcast was the closest to changing that. Sadly, I purchased my Dreamcast on the date of it's death, Jan 31, 2001. My friend, who had the Dreamcast since day one told me the system was done so I ran all over town trying to find it. I only wanted a brand new white one and all I could find was used systems.

That same day our refrigerator decided to take a dump and off to the local hispanic appliance store we go (best price for appliances in LA). And while walking in they had a brand new Sega Sports Edition for $99. I couldn't have been more happier. I went to there game desk and they had Crazy Taxi, Fur Fighters, Jet Grind Radio, Sonic Adventure, and Soul Calibur all for $10 each. Best $150 bucks I ever spent and I even had the guy throw in a brand new VMU for free.

You can bargin at these places ...

[Jrecee]

Dreamcast was the first system I ever got on launch day. I was 13 and had saved money for a while to preorder it. I got the system and Blue Stinger. . . I had already played sonic adventure when I rented a dreamcast in august from hollywood video's promo thing.

[Zeonik Freak]

I just remember playing Dead or Alive 2 in TRU when the they had a dreamcast display... and i got a boner from how hot Helena is.

I was 14 at the time, and you guys cant blame me for my lust of hot blonde video game babes. One of my cousins got the Dreamcast handed down to him from his uncle who got an xbox (this happends to be the same guy who works at Pixar, ive never meet him though), and of course my other cousin wanted to play DoA demo with me, why wouldnt we?

But aside from video game boobies, there was a game that i had to play that was the only reason i wanted a Dreamcast so bad, and that was Gundam Side Story. My cousin who got the game from his uncle, had a boot disk and a burnt version of that game, and at that time, i got back in to Gundam from a good friend in high school, and it was about a year since i was obsessed with Gundam Wing. When I popped it in, i thought this was the best thing ive ever played. So for about 2 years before i got a Dreamcast from a guy in High School, i wanted nothing more than to play that game. When i got the system, it as one of the first games i got on ebay, and i got at a good decent price for that time, 15 bucks.

That is my fond memories of that system, and of course more to come...

[aaron]

i thought this was going to be a thread about hatebreed's bad records.

[J T]

i thought this was going to be a thread about hatebreed's bad records.

Different bad band, but this just reminded me of this comic: