I remember when the Dreamcast launched, the graphics were super impressive compared to the consoles that were out at the time. I had a cousin that got the Dreamcast when it launched, and always had a blast playing it over his house. I ended up with a PS2 myself. But then just a short time later, the Dreamcast was discontinued. It seemed like anyone that had a Dreamcast was ditching it for another console. My above mentioned cousin ditched his Dreamcast for a PS2. So Funco Land (a chain of stores that bought and sold video games) had Dreamcast hardware and software for really cheap. Cheap enough that I decided to get one for myself, even though I already had a PS2.
I'm struggling to remember my early Dreamcast games. That is, the very first games I got when I first bought the console. I can only remember 2 (maybe that's all I got?). Sonic Adventure (1) and Mortal Kombat Gold. I sunk a lot of hours into Sonic Adventure. It wasn't nearly as good as a 3D platformer as the heavy hitters I've already played on the N64, but it was still fun enough. I think the soundtrack really helped that game out a lot. I never got Sonic Adventure 2 on the DC, but I ended up getting Battle on the Gamecube. And I definitely sunk some time in with Mortal Kombat Gold. I've always been a huge MK fan, mostly MKII. But I skipped MK4 for whatever reason, so MK Gold was a brand new game for me.
I can remember not long after getting my DC, getting some more games for super cheap from Funco Land. There was Fighting Force 2, which is some sort of 3rd person shooter, but kind of top-down. It seemed cool at the time, but I have no idea if I'd still like it today. it's not a heart pounding button masher like Contra or something, it's more slow paced. And I got Sega Smash Pack Volume 1, which I primarily got for Virtua Cop 2. I had 1 light gun, and I played a lot of Virtua Cop 2 with my brother (I used the light gun and he used a standard controller). I also picked up Confidential Mission at some point, but I can't remember when.
And I scored a used copy of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (1) from Blockbuster. I use to rent the game for the N64, I never had enough money to buy my own copy but I always wanted it. So getting it on the Dreamcast was awesome. Not only did it have better graphics, but there was more content in the game compared to the N64 port. This might actually be the DC game that I put the most time into. I have a save file that I got all tapes and gold metals for each character. I can't remember when I got it, but Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX is another game that I definitely spent a lot of time with.
I might have had a few other DC games in my early days with the console, but those were the ones that I really spent time with. But unfortunately, that first Dreamcast that I got started acting up. It would occasionally have issues reading discs, and it would happen more and more frequently. I ended up trading away my Dreamcast and games to Funco Land, probably when I got my first Gamecube. I actually have a thread (
here) that I go into detail about the various technical issues I've had with Dreamcasts. But long story short, not long after I traded away my first DC, I ended up getting another. This was still the early days of eBay, when it was mostly just people (not businesses) selling their old junk. You could get retro games for super cheap. So I bought another Dreamcast, and all of the games I had, and then even more games!
A friend of mine told me about Skies of Arcadia, so I picked that one up. I played it for a while, I think I got up to the second disc, but stopped playing for whatever reason. It's not that I lost interest in the game. I've been wanting to start it over, and hopefully beat it. But then there's the question: Dreamcast or Gamecube?
Some years back, Hobie posted that an eBay seller had sealed copies of The Typing of the Dead for a good price, so I picked one up. I ended up getting two keyboards and a mouse. I had a blast playing that game, and it was especially fun to bust out when I had people over. It was definitely a real novel thing to people. "Whaaaaaa?" was the usual reaction LOL. Everyone always ends up having a good time with it, whether they're playing or just watching.
Since I had a keyboard and mouse, I checked out a few FPS games that took advantage of them. Which brings me to the controller...
I actually like the DC controller, but it definitely helped in hurting the DC in my opinion. And in two ways. One, it traded Sega's classic 3x3 button layout for the diamond button layout. Which is great for many games, but a huge step back for Street Fighter games. And those types of games are huge on the Dreamcast. But that's more minor, and not every one would agree anyway. But not having a second joystick really hurt the console. When the Dreamcast launched, maybe it didn't matter so much. But FPS on consoles really blew up, and the PS2 controller could properly support them. There was just no good way to play these games on the DC controller. People always cite the PS2 having DVD, and also the huge piracy problem the DC had, which of course were huge problems for Sega. But the controller not being able to support a huge genre of gaming, I feel like that was a problem on the same level. Even outside of FPS games, two sticks were already standard for 3D games (one stick to move, one stick to control the camera). Even if the DC had a dual stick controller, would it still have failed? Maybe. But it's fun to imagine what could have been if it did.
So right now I have a stock Dreamcast with a working optical drive, and another Dreamcast in a transparent blue shell with a MODE installed. I also have a quiet fan installed in the DC with the MODE. I still have to finish setting it up fully, and figure out what I'm doing for AV cables.
![Image](https://i.imgur.com/tLYDe1w.jpg)
Here's my physical DC collection (I might have sold some of these, I can't remember LOL).
Atari Anniversary Edition
Bust-A-Move 4
Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX
Fighting Force 2
Mortal Kombat Gold
NFL Blitz 2000
Razor Freestyle Scooter
Sega Rally Championship 2
Sega Smash Pack Vol. 1
Skies of Arcadia
Sonic Adventure
Sonic Adventure 2
Time Stalkers
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
Typing of the Dead, The
I haven't played much DC in recent years, unfortunately. But damn, that start up splash screen, I always thought it was so cool. And it definitely evokes nostalgia for me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHmwksG_98YOh, I almost forgot... I haven't tried many indie games for the DC, but I did purchase Xeno Crisis (also on the Genesis) and have been having an absolute blast with it!