What went wrong with Dreamcast?

[SuperEliteGamer]

Did it fail cause of all the mistakes Sega did in the 90s?
Not enough third party support,and the DC easy to hack?
Fear of PS2 beating it>?
All of the above?

[o.pwuaioc]

All of the above.

[PreZZ]

I strongly believe that if the dreamcast had a DVD drive, it would have survived and get a huge chunk of the ps2 market, and piracy would have been harder for a couple of years since dvd burners werent common in 99 and too pricey. Sega did everything right with the dreamcast, except maybe for the controller's lack of buttons, but it's reputation wasnt too good after sega cd, 32x and saturn all failed commercially and abandonned quickly by sega.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Of the many reasons, the most damning was the PS2. Sony was a stronger brand than Sega was, and the PS2 outclassed the Dreamcast in nearly every way. More powerful hardware (although I shudder to think the words "powerful hardware" and "PS2" in the same thought) a better controller with more buttons and a second analog stick, more third parties producing meaningful games right from the get-go, and yes, the fact that the PS2 was a dvd player at a time when a lot of people still didn't own a standalone DVD player.

Outclassed, the Dreamcast had to try to make the first party games strong enough to fend off the competition. It didn't help at some of the highest profile Sega games like Shenmue met such a mixed reaction, with some people either not getting it or outright hating it.

In the end though, what killed the Dreamcast was that it simply ran out of steam. As every PS2 release from 2007 on showed, outclassed hardware can still be successful as long as there are games being made for it that people will want to play. That didn't happen with the Dreamcast, and while it technically lived on in Japan until 2007, that was because it was on life support form a pretty steady stream of low budget third party anime themed tate vertical bullet hell shooters that Japanese gamers love more than anyone.

[zakthedodo]

The lack of a DVD drive was a problem, back then DVD players were still relatively expensive.
The Mid to late 90's Sega shot themselves in the foot with the 32 X.

I remember seeing a Dreamcast at a movie rental store and the graphics were indeed impressive, good in house titles and it was ready to go with online support.
It was a combination of things and Sony proved to be capable of making a dependable system with a large library focusing on 3D games over 2D.
If I remember correctly it was at Sony's request that Mega Man be made into a 3D game.

I think Sega tried to use the same strategy as the Mega Drive.
Be the first console out there with better graphics for maybe a full year before any other system had launched.
Also I have to wonder that outside of computer gamers, No one had really succeeded with a suitable online experience for a game console.

[Rickstilwell1]

It also didn't help that Dreamcast didn't have Saturn BC while PS2 had PS1 BC. A lot of Saturn gamers were pissed that their console was killed off with only 4.5 years of US life when some people had just finally bought one in 1997 or 1998.

[drwily008]

While the Dreamcast launch was real strong many casual gamers had the "waiting for the PS2" approach. I worked in a major game store and it was detrimental to sales of the Dreamcast. Many sales that I would have made were just there to preorder the PS2. Most diehard fans bought the system right away.

Also, the above comment was true. The Dreamcast really needed a DVD player. So many people were using that as a cheap alternative to get into the quickly expanding medium.

Sega pissed me off in the end, I and my staff were Dreamcast nuts, and we sold TONS of units and games. When they pulled the plug publicly and announced they would no longer support the system, they betrayed their loyal fan base. Developers cancelled projects left and right, games got pushed back, and attitudes towards the system became sour quickly.

[rob black]

The lack of a DVD drive was a problem, back then DVD players were still relatively expensive.


But DVD was coming to DC

http://youtu.be/JmgI3bpd51o

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Is that a joke? Seriously, not trying to troll you, but please tell me you're kidding about that.

He said in other words,
"until a hypothetical point when it would be cost effective for us to add DVD functionality into the Dreamcast, it ain't happening."

And considering that point didn't occur until around the middle of the decade, that had no chance of ever happening for Dreamcast.

[wiggyx]

It also didn't help that Dreamcast didn't have Saturn BC while PS2 had PS1 BC. A lot of Saturn gamers were pissed that their console was killed off with only 4.5 years of US life when some people had just finally bought one in 1997 or 1998.

Seeing how poorly the Saturn did in the US, that was probably for the better. I'm sure SOA wanted to forget about the Saturn and I'm pretty sure they wanted their customers to do the same. The Saturn has often been partially blamed for the Dreamcast's lack of success in the US :(

[IrishNinja]

yeah, all of the above is tragically a good answer. my personal answer is Sega was hemorrhaging money for years and had no other revenue streams (beyond whatever meager funds Segasoft brought in), and of course, like the GC & xbox soon after, simply wasn't a PS2 in that era.

[FrankSerpico]

more third parties producing meaningful games right from the get-go
^They had more third parties, but at launch Tekken Tag and Madden 2001 were really the only things close to a killer app they had, and it wasn't until late 2002 when the DC was already dead in the US that the PS2 had anything near a comparable lineup of good to great games. If the PS2 lacked the DVD player and had to sell itself on software alone, it would have been a very different story.

[fahlim003]

While the Dreamcast launch was real strong many casual gamers had the "waiting for the PS2" approach. I worked in a major game store and it was detrimental to sales of the Dreamcast. Many sales that I would have made were just there to preorder the PS2. Most diehard fans bought the system right away.

This is quite accurate. I was definitely in this camp as were many of my classmates at the time. Dreamcast wasn't looked at unfavourably but the hype machine for PS2 was a "get in or get left behind" mentality. Comparing the launch line-up of games between DC and PS2, it's clear DC was far superior but the PS2 had the value added with the DVD capability even considering the price point difference. I wouldn't say Sega made a mistake not including DVD functionality but not having it certainly gave Sony the edge and made for a huge installed base over the first year of the systems life with very few good games to compliment.

As for backwards compatibility it's a case of Sega wanting to forge a new identity hence the name "Dreamcast" being the most prominent aspect in marketing rather than "Sega" itself.

...the Saturn is not our future

I don't believe in the "ran out of steam" argument as for a system that lasted only 18 months in North America it turned out a tonne of great software but the problem is the type. The Dreamcast didn't have as much console exclusive content, Sega was an arcade first company and it shows in the Dreamcast being a match to the NAOMI arcade hardware and to games developed for the system. Personally, I quite enjoy the library and I'm partial to the great amount of arcade conversions but popularity of these types of games had been waning for some time. Contrary to kicking off widespread online gaming with NBA 2K1, NFL 2K1, and Quake III Arena it just wasn't enough of what people really wanted. In looking back on the Dreamcast line-up only a couple RPGs come to mind Grandia 2 and Skies of Arcadia and they eventually weren't system exclusive.

For me, Sega made many moves before the Dreamcast came out that ultimately cost them a position as a hardware maker and that's why I don't place as much directly wrong on Dreamcast itself versus Sega as a whole.

[o.pwuaioc]

In looking back on the Dreamcast line-up only a couple RPGs come to mind Grandia 2 and Skies of Arcadia and they eventually weren't system exclusive.
Skies of Arcadia was. It wasn't released for the GameCube until after the Dreamcast was pulled. Also, I'm not so sure the RPGs are the system seller, if you look at the top 10 console and PC games for 2001, you'll notice a distinct lack of RPG titles except Pokemon for a handheld in Diablo II, which is minimally an RPG, and definitely not a turn-based JRPG:

1 Grand Theft Auto III PS2 Rockstar Games
2 Madden NFL 2002 PS2 Electronic Arts
3 Pokémon Crystal GBC Nintendo
4 Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty PS2 Konami
5 Super Mario Advance GBA Nintendo
6 Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec PS2 Sony
7 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 PS2 Activision
8 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 PS1 Activision
9 Pokémon Silver GBC Nintendo
10 Driver 2

1 The Sims Electronic Arts
2 RollerCoaster Tycoon Infogrames
3 Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone Electronic Arts
4 Diablo II: Lord of Destruction Vivendi Universal
5 The Sims: House Party Electronic Arts
6 The Sims: Livin' Large Electronic Arts
7 The Sims: Hot Date Electronic Arts
8 Diablo II Vivendi Universal
9 Sim Theme Park Electronic Arts
10 Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings Microsoft

It definitely needed Tony Hawk 3 and Grand Theft Auto III, only the former of which it could have gotten.

[Tanooki]

As I remember Sega was already financially floundering once the DC arrived thanks to a lot of ignorant moves from the 32X-SCD-Saturn run and gun jumping around and killing the other platform, plus it didn't help the Saturn was $100 over the PS1 and wasn't even a 3D system aside from going with software engines to do it (just like the GBA did years later for its 3D games.) Though what really helped it was their asinine policy to cancel all systems, even the still ok Gamegear and Genesis that was still for sale in one big swipe of the pen to usher in the DC. Then the system itself compared to the PS2/GC era stuff was kind of like the Wii being nice looking but underpowered so that didn't help. And of course as Sega put it out those assclowns at Sony started running a heap of gamer media campaigns in print and online how the PS2 was coming, a price, and what to expect right as the DC hit the market to scare away sales basically putting that last nail in the coffin.

Sega just screwed themselves stupid and hard repeatedly until they couldn't afford to stay in it anymore basically committing financial seppuku.

[BlastProcessing402]

Reputation. People (particularly in the west) were wary of Sega after the abject failure of the Saturn (pulled in the west over a year before Dreamcast even launched) and the abortion that was the 32x.

Hardware. The stock controllers were awful. And while VMU's were a nice idea, the tech just wasn't there to do it right yet, leading to gimmicky overpriced memory cards that annoyingly beeped at you when you turned on the DC after the batteries died (which was all the time). They were trying to be forward thinking with all the online stuff, but again, the tech wasn't really there yet, making for a disappointing experience too often.

Software. Too many games were pretty arcadey, without much depth to them. Those that weren't were often ports from other systems. Yes, there were many games that you could list that did have depth, but enough weren't that it added to the perception of the system.

Competition. A lot of people were much more interested in the PS2, and willing to wait for it and its DVD player and backward compatibility.

One thing I don't think really contributed to its demise (at least not to the degree it often gets blamed) is piracy. Yes, it was easy as hell to play backups on a Dreamcast, but actually getting ahold of such things was still pretty tricky back in those days. Most people were still on dialup, so even downloading a single game could take days, and there weren't things like torrents or file lockers where people could get easy access to ISO's. Piracy was actually much more rampant on the very successful PSX, where yeah, you needed either a mod chip or a parallel port "game enhancer" to play copies, but getting copies was as simple as renting a game at Blockbuster and popping it into your PC. You couldn't do that with Dreamcast GD-ROM discs as PC's wouldn't read them, and hardly anyone had the hardware (or patience, it was a slow process, or so I hear) to dump them from the Dreamcast

[Rickstilwell1]

The other important thing the PS2 had over the Dreamcast in terms of backward compatibility is memory card storage. So what if you didn't buy any of the new PS2 games, with the system's BC and just one of those memory cards which is massive in comparison to a PS1 card, you could store insane amounts of save files. You no longer had to buy 20 PS1 memory cards to keep all of your mastered save files for good. You could transfer the saves over for storage and play even more games. For a late PS1 adopter such as myself this feature alone was a system seller.

It's the exact same reason I bought the PS3 first when all of last gen's systems were out. It could do the same thing and I could have nearly unlimited PS1 and PS2 save file storage. I mean what the hell was a Dex Drive back in those days? No game store around me ever carried those things. I didn't have a good computer back in the PS1/PS2 days even if they did carry it.

I sure didn't need PS2 games to be happy with my PS2 when I first got it. Luckily I did get a Dreamcast as a gift the year before so I could still appreciate its nice exclusives at the time. I had a blast with Sonic Adventure and Crazy Taxi.

The first PS2 game of my own I got was Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. That game was so fun and addictive it blew me away. There wasn't anything like it on Dreamcast that I was aware of. It was a sign that the consoles were becoming more like PC's in terms of game genres they could play. Then the next one to really interest me was Dragon Ball Z: Budokai. Having just gotten into the anime a year before, this game was imagination come true. Especially after having to go to the extent of buying a swap disc and import of the PS1 games before. It finally proved the employees at that game store wrong about there being no common DBZ games coming to the US. Budokai was the series' popularity in America fully realized.

By this time I had awesome PS2 games, it made Sonic Adventure 2 seem more like "oh, another one? Cool." But I didn't have quite the excitement as the first one and I wasn't even interested in buying it or trying it until I started getting the Sonic games for Gamecube.

[fahlim003]

Skies of Arcadia was. It wasn't released for the GameCube until after the Dreamcast was pulled. Also, I'm not so sure the RPGs are the system seller, if you look at the top 10 console and PC games for 2001, you'll notice a distinct lack of RPG titles except Pokemon for a handheld in Diablo II, which is minimally an RPG, and definitely not a turn-based JRPG...
Both G2 and SoA were re-released after the Dreamcast was gone, my point is those two come to mind while there are others out there I didn't mention (albeit not a whole lot). Additionally, I didn't say RPGs were the system seller back then rather they are one component of console first games of which the Dreamcast may have been lacking on. If you look at the timing regarding FF8s release relative to the Dreamcast these were important/popular/prolific games that shifted units.

[SparTonberry]

The other important thing the PS2 had over the Dreamcast in terms of backward compatibility is memory card storage. So what if you didn't buy any of the new PS2 games, with the system's BC and just one of those memory cards which is massive in comparison to a PS1 card, you could store insane amounts of save files. You no longer had to buy 20 PS1 memory cards to keep all of your mastered save files for good. You could transfer the saves over for storage and play even more games. For a late PS1 adopter such as myself this feature alone was a system seller.


A PS2 can only save PS1 saves to a PS1 memory card.

[Rickstilwell1]

A PS2 can only save PS1 saves to a PS1 memory card.

Duh, I know that! But you can copy them over to the PS2 card like crazy. Then just copy them back when you want to use them again.

[JSoup]

Duh, I know that! But you can copy them over to the PS2 card like crazy. Then just copy them back when you want to use them again.

This was the great thing about that PS2 harddrive that was required to play FF11. Basically a huge ass memory card. A friend of mine got one turned it into a museum of save files for his rather extensive PS1 collection.

[wiggyx]

Duh, I know that! But you can copy them over to the PS2 card like crazy. Then just copy them back when you want to use them again.

Would rather own a zillion PS1 cards than go through that BS over and over.

[buzz_n64]

Duh, I know that! But you can copy them over to the PS2 card like crazy. Then just copy them back when you want to use them again.

Holy crap! I never knew that! Good to know, but a little late now. lol

[JSoup]

Would rather own a zillion PS1 cards than go through that BS over and over.

How often are you moving PS1 saves that it's that big of a deal to use a PS2 card as long term storage?

[GhostDog]

I imagine this was because of SEGA's past mistakes that cost that company millions and by the time Dreamcast arrived there was no more room for their mistakes. No DVD drive probably also contributed as people said and Sony was promising so much with the PS2 that it caused most people to wait it out for Sony. Can you blame them? PS1 was great and here is the PS2 that will have all of these great games, and it will be even more powerful than the Dreamcast. Sure the Dreamcast graphics were great as were the games but people believed Sony would offer so much more. Backwards compatibility, DVD drive and awesome first party and third party support made people turn their loyalty towards Sony. Sony never pissed off gamers as much as SEGA at that point.

[SparTonberry]

Holy crap! I never knew that! Good to know, but a little late now. lol

I did not know that. Hence my comment.

[wayultratech]

Just curious if yall know exactly what made Bernie Stolar leave SOA right before the US launch? I've heard (and his Wikipedia page seems to confirm) that it was over his decision to price the DC at $200 vs $250, but I was curious if anybody has any other details regarding his dismissal from Sega. It seemed like he knew what was up from a business standpoint, and it seems his influence had a positive impact on the launch and initial sales of the system.

[wiggyx]

How often are you moving PS1 saves that it's that big of a deal to use a PS2 card as long term storage?

I'm NEVER moving saves, because that's more headache than I want to deal with. Like I said, I'd rather just have a handful of PS1 cards. Not to mention that I am still able to load saves on a PS or PSone if I want, which is nice when you have the PSone with the LCD attachment.

[PreZZ]

why keep old save games? I dont care if i had a save of ff7 with level 99 experience, if im going to play it again i'll start over, not continue an old save game.

[Rickstilwell1]

why keep old save games? I dont care if i had a save of ff7 with level 99 experience, if im going to play it again i'll start over, not continue an old save game.

With one memory card you can in some games make saves in 15 different areas on one memory card. It works pretty well as a makeshift level select for later play. At least with PS3 you can make tons of cards and even do this for games that don't allow saving in all 15 slots.

[IrishNinja]

anyone seriously thinking they were gonna put DVD in there in '98 is crazy - that'd be extra royalties, production, up-front cost & risk that they didn't need, and Sony was uniquely immune to. it wouldn't have worked.


Software. Too many games were pretty arcadey, without much depth to them.

i really wish this meme would die.

[Greg2600]

The Dreamcast could have been the absolutely perfect game system, it still had no chance. SEGA ticked off so many developers, media, and customers in the preceding 5+ years it simply had no shot. That was with the PS2 on the horizon. There were polls taken back then, and it's actually staggering the percentage of American customers who were looking forward most to the PS2. That's with the Xbox and GameCube on the horizon as well. Something like 2/3 of respondents!

Now if you were to ask me about flaws, the controller is horrible, one of the worst since when they had numbers on them. As mentioned, the memory card system is terrible, to where you need so many of them to play your games due to low capacity. The beeping sound EVERYTIME you turn it on because the damn battery is dead. The disc drive is the noisiest I've ever heard on a console, too.

With all that said, I think it's a decent game library for a system that didn't even last 2 years, and many many more games were due out on it's cancellation. SEGA botched the launch somewhat, with defective discs that had to be returned, but they didn't have the finances to compete with Sony and Microsoft. They squandered that somewhat on the Saturn, but also on all but discontinuing the Genesis in 1995, while Nintendo continued to make good money on SNES for another 5 years.

[MidnightRider]

i really wish this meme would die.

Indeed. Even if you could say that, I'd wager good arcade games have more depth to them than a lengthy adventure.

[Koa Zo]

I'll wager the arcade/Dreamcast game Radirgy has more "depth" than any game BlastProssecing402 can name.

[wiggyx]

@Greg - Ugh, that controller. Really a miserable thing for about 95% of the games for the system. With so many awesome Capcom fighter ports, I was sooooo happy when the ASCII pad arrived.

[Tanooki]

i really wish this meme would die.

Damn dude totally agree. Dreamcast was NOT an arcade box, it has arcade games, quite a few sure, but there was far more to it than quarter munchers, but when you're already on the I hate Sega hate train, or just slobbing some Sony knob in that era, you just believe what you wish to see.

I didn't buy the DC up front, but close enough three weeks into it. I had to convince myself to bite, but I did and I never did regret it. Just to name a few that aren't arcade games -- BangaiO, Blue Stinger, Chu Chu ROcket, Evolution 1&2, Grandia II, NBA2K and other sports(baseball, football Sega Sports titles), Pen Pen Tricileon, Phantasy Star Online 1 and 2, Re-Volt, Sega Rally Championship 2 (I think it wasn't, still had lots to do), Shenmue, Sonic Adventure 1&2, Super Magnetic Neo, Tomb Raider 2 or 3 of them, Skies of Arcadia, Typing of the Dead, Donald Duck Goin Quackers, Sword of the Berzerk, Fighting Force 2, Evil Dead, Jet Grind Radio, Legacy of Kain, MDK2, Nightmare Creatures 2, Railroad Tycoon 2, Rayman 2, all those Resident Evil upgrades (1-3&X), 3 Star Wars games, 2 Tom Clancey titles, Tony Hawk PS1 and 2, Maken X and Record of the Lodoss War come to mind.

I had a lot of these, not all, but I remember them without going to hunt for names. None of these are brainless arcade quarter munchers and some have a lot of hours involved and depth.

[mercuryshadow09]

Did it fail cause of all the mistakes Sega did in the 90s?
Not enough third party support,and the DC easy to hack?
Fear of PS2 beating it>?
All of the above?

The Saturn was very hard to develop for because it ran dual processors, Sega had already messed up with the Sega CD and 32X then tried to fix all of it with the Dreamcast, people had already spent copious amounts of money on the other addons that were thought to be new systems and were disappointed didn't want to get "taken" again!

[mercuryshadow09]

While the Dreamcast launch was real strong many casual gamers had the "waiting for the PS2" approach. I worked in a major game store and it was detrimental to sales of the Dreamcast. Many sales that I would have made were just there to preorder the PS2. Most diehard fans bought the system right away.

Also, the above comment was true. The Dreamcast really needed a DVD player. So many people were using that as a cheap alternative to get into the quickly expanding medium.

Sega pissed me off in the end, I and my staff were Dreamcast nuts, and we sold TONS of units and games. When they pulled the plug publicly and announced they would no longer support the system, they betrayed their loyal fan base. Developers cancelled projects left and right, games got pushed back, and attitudes towards the system became sour quickly.

And this factor!

[mercuryshadow09]

The Saturn has often been partially blamed for the Dreamcast's lack of success in the US :(

Well of course it is, "Oh wait, we messed up that expensive piece of hardware, here's another really expensive piece of hardware to replace that one you've already paid so much for"!

[jdb67]

people had already spent copious amounts of money on the other addons that were thought to be new systems and were disappointed didn't want to get "taken" again!

There's the answer, I went from Master System>Genesis>Sega CD>32X>Game Gear> Saturn, and after so many let downs, support dropped early, and wasted potential, especially with the Sega Cd and 32x, a lot of Sega fans felt kind of ripped off and saw Sony as a company that actually stood behind their products. I remember checking out Dreamcast when it first came out at EB, and loved it, but figured Sega would find a way to F*** it up somehow, so figured I would just stick with my Playstation, as a lot of Sega fans were done with Sega's BS by then..

[gunswordfist]

I strongly believe that if the dreamcast had a DVD drive, it would have survived and get a huge chunk of the ps2 market, and piracy would have been harder for a couple of years since dvd burners werent common in 99 and too pricey. Sega did everything right with the dreamcast, except maybe for the controller's lack of buttons, but it's reputation wasnt too good after sega cd, 32x and saturn all failed commercially and abandonned quickly by sega.

That reminds me, I'm not a fan of the one analog stick. I use that argument whenever someone says DC is better than PS2. LOL

[Neb6]

From the perspective of someone who wasn't paying attention to any of the console wars at the time (and unbiased when it comes to SEGA versus SONY), I actually didn't even know about the Dreamcast when it was released. However, I was aware of the Playstation 2 even prior to the PS2 release. I had stopped tracking things after the Sega Genesis, so I hadn't been burned by the 32X or the Saturn.

It seems that Sony had a really aggressive (and early) marketing campaign going on. So much so that even people 'out of the loop' were aware that something from Sony was on the horizon.

It was much later that I first saw the Dreamcast (long after the PS2 had been released), and I was still impressed with the DC.

As for the Dreamcast controllers: I'm not sure why there are so many complaints about them. They're essentially the same as an XBOX controller, but without the second analog stick. If I were to ask for a feature to be added to the DC controller, it would be the right analog stick for FPS games. Other then that, I have no problem with it.

If I had seen a Dreamcast running at the time it was launched, I likely would have purchased one right there and then.

[MetalFRO]

I don't get all the hate on the DC controller either, but then the Saturn 3D pad is one of my favorites, and since that was the basis for the design of the DC controller, it stands to reason I'd be ok with it. My biggest hangup with the DC pad, other than the lack of a second analog stick, is that there are 2 less buttons than the Saturn pad, and to a lesser extent, the weird backwards cord thing which automatically eliminates 6 inches of usable controller cable. That was just a silly design on Sega's part. The system did have some issues, like the loud disk drive, as has been mentioned, along with issues reading disks leading to all sorts of "hacks" to fool the machine into thinking the lid is down, etc. Piracy didn't help, though at the time, the ISO files were still big enough to be out of reach of most internet users. But I think the main thing that has been said over and over is that Sega's milking of the Genesis, the Saturn's major failure in the US (due to factors already mentioned), and the lack of features as compared with the then-impending PS2 are really what led to the downfall. I wanted one at launch but couldn't afford it. I played one at a kiosk and thought it was awesome, and later got to see some guys playing one in a home and still felt like I wanted one for my collection, but still couldn't afford one. It wasn't until much later when the DC was discontinued that I finally picked one up at a garage sale, sans AV cable, for all of $5. One of the best console purchases I've made, because I've had tons of fun on it. I just wish games were cheaper to acquire CIB in the aftermarket. Stuff is still kind of expensive.

[wiggyx]

Well of course it is, "Oh wait, we messed up that expensive piece of hardware, here's another really expensive piece of hardware to replace that one you've already paid so much for"!

Huh? Are you saying the DC was expensive?

[Tanooki]

The only real problem with the DC controller is simple, the triggers up top have strong springs that wear your fingers out when they were consistently gripped like in a racing game. A second analog isn't much of a gripe, at least a fair one, because outside of a full 3D platformer or a FPS game they're really fairly irrelevant to making gaming any better off. The other legit issue was those VMUs you had to use as they had the worst battery life ever and once those went they'd bitch and whine consistently when you use the system to remind you of the dead battery and the cost on CR2032's add up. Keeping in mind of the time frame it did exist and was developed, FPS games weren't even really a thing for console games yet as it was a PC gamers world of Quake 2 (soon to be 3) and Unreal which did find their way onto the DC in fine form. The issue with the system itself inside I suppose the big one would be the lame ass GDROM as those are just normal overly compressed discs I do recall them being fairly picky about scratches which sucked, and on the whole Sega didn't put the most impressive hardware in there knowing all well Nintendo and Sony had stuff in the pipeline but they wanted to get it out there.

Sony wanting to really choke the life out of Sega and finish them off got smart with it. When Sega announces their release, what the system is and capable of, and a date (9/9/99) they go ahead and start feeding early visuals, basic tech data, capabilities of the system including DVD playback. They basically ran this big old media slam and awareness campaign basically saying it would be retarded to buy a Sega which does this meh stuff when you can pay an added hundred and get a top of the line DVD player in a system that can do all this stuff highlighting Ridge Racer and can run movies and the PS1 library too. They basically had the coffin Sega lined up for themselves and just started putting in the last few needed nails to finish it.

[mercuryshadow09]

Huh? Are you saying the DC was expensive?

If you've already shelled out for a Sega CD, 32X and a Saturn yes!

[wiggyx]

Well, it WAS another piece of hardware to buy, no argument there, but $200 was a killer price!




The only real problem with the DC controller is simple, the triggers up top have strong springs that wear your fingers out when they were consistently gripped like in a racing game. A second analog isn't much of a gripe, at least a fair one, because outside of a full 3D platformer or a FPS game they're really fairly irrelevant to making gaming any better off. The other legit issue was those VMUs you had to use as they had the worst battery life ever and once those went they'd bitch and whine consistently when you use the system to remind you of the dead battery and the cost on CR2032's add up. Keeping in mind of the time frame it did exist and was developed, FPS games weren't even really a thing for console games yet as it was a PC gamers world of Quake 2 (soon to be 3) and Unreal which did find their way onto the DC in fine form. The issue with the system itself inside I suppose the big one would be the lame ass GDROM as those are just normal overly compressed discs I do recall them being fairly picky about scratches which sucked, and on the whole Sega didn't put the most impressive hardware in there knowing all well Nintendo and Sony had stuff in the pipeline but they wanted to get it out there.

Sony wanting to really choke the life out of Sega and finish them off got smart with it. When Sega announces their release, what the system is and capable of, and a date (9/9/99) they go ahead and start feeding early visuals, basic tech data, capabilities of the system including DVD playback. They basically ran this big old media slam and awareness campaign basically saying it would be retarded to buy a Sega which does this meh stuff when you can pay an added hundred and get a top of the line DVD player in a system that can do all this stuff highlighting Ridge Racer and can run movies and the PS1 library too. They basically had the coffin Sega lined up for themselves and just started putting in the last few needed nails to finish it.

I actually prefer the R/L buttons and the super long throw they have. The d-pad just sucked so badly for me.

[Tanooki]

I see your point, but after hitting Sega Rally, Crazy Taxi, or others for an hour+ my tendons in the fingers/hands would start to hurt and I'd have to switch to the middle finger to keep going. That's why I brought it up as I wish it was just less tense on the push back.

[jammajup]

I agree with a lot of what is being said here although I simply think that people were simply stung from Sega previously having many devices out at the same time (Gen+CD,32X) ,the latter two were not quite fulfilling expectations and then the Saturn came which was killed off fairly quickly by Sony. I like the Dreamcast and still play it today despite a dead internal battery but all three Saturns I own are wrecks so I think this is testament to the Dreamcast designers,it was a fine machine.
Strangely enough having too many similar systems out is a mistake not learned by rival Nintendo who at this time also seem to be very slowly putting a noose around their own video game neck.

[wiggyx]

The build quality of the DC is leaps and bounds beyond any of Sega's previous hardware offerings, no doubt. It has weak points, but it was well put together. My launch JP console has just started to have some disc read issues, and it has a LOT of hours on it.

[SparTonberry]

Nintendo only really has 3DS and Wii U out. The problem is that Nintendo isn't realizing it's philosophy of designing its consoles around relatively cheap, easily-profitable hardware isn't really working anymore.

[Gamevet]

From the perspective of someone who wasn't paying attention to any of the console wars at the time (and unbiased when it comes to SEGA versus SONY), I actually didn't even know about the Dreamcast when it was released. However, I was aware of the Playstation 2 even prior to the PS2 release. I had stopped tracking things after the Sega Genesis, so I hadn't been burned by the 32X or the Saturn.

It seems that Sony had a really aggressive (and early) marketing campaign going on. So much so that even people 'out of the loop' were aware that something from Sony was on the horizon.

It was much later that I first saw the Dreamcast (long after the PS2 had been released), and I was still impressed with the DC.

As for the Dreamcast controllers: I'm not sure why there are so many complaints about them. They're essentially the same as an XBOX controller, but without the second analog stick. If I were to ask for a feature to be added to the DC controller, it would be the right analog stick for FPS games. Other then that, I have no problem with it.

If I had seen a Dreamcast running at the time it was launched, I likely would have purchased one right there and then.

Outside of Japan, I don't think the PS2 having a DVD player was all that big of a deal. I had a Sony DVD player that I had purchased for @ $140, before I had finally bought my PS2 in 2001.


Sega caught lightning in a bottle with the success that the Genesis had in North America, and to some extent Europe. The rest of Sega's history with consoles/add-ons has been pretty much lukewarm at best. Sony entering the videogame console market not only killed off Sega's consoles, it also put a major dent in Nintendo's console sales as well. Nintendo's N64 would have been a flop, if not for the 18 to 20 million units it had sold in North America and the Gamecube sold even worse. We are now seeing Nintendo starting to reel, because of the impact the Playstation brand has on the market, as well as Microsoft's Xbox brand.

People may hate that Sony and MS have taken over the home console market, but they bring legitimacy to a segment of the market that was once thought of as kids toys. I don't think the home console market would be as big is it is today, without those 2 companies being there.