DREAMCAST DEATH: 4 YEARS LATER

[RCM]

January 31st 2001. Sega kills one of the most exciting systems to have come along ever. It's amazing that the system still receives official support. I urge everyone to play their favorite DC games tomorrow. The soul still burns on Dreamcast!

THE ONE, THE ONLY- RCM

[suppafly]

Agreed. The DC was a fine piece of hardware. I still think that DC games look way better than PS2 games.....

[dbiersdorf]

:(

I for one am proud not to have fallen into the PS2 hype machine, and remain happy for paying full price on my Dreamcast on 9/9/99. 8-)

[NESVIDIOT]

There are just way too many reasons why the DC is a far superior system than the PS2. Not to mention the fact I've never had to disassemble my DC to get it to work. The controller is more comfortable. The games look and play better in most instances, and you could actually surf the internet through online. DC was definately the BEST Sega system ever made!

[Big Shady]

The Sega Dreamcast, brought so much joy into my gaming life. I still play it on a regular basis along with my NEO GEO AES. I remember getting mine after the PS2 launch, cause I bought a PS2, sold it for $600 and got myself a DC with a slew of games: MvC2, NFL2K1, Soul Calibur, and Sonic Adventure. Great times in gaming :)

[yuppicide]

I hate any video game system Sega produces and have never liked them. I owned a NES, my friend got the Sega Master System for Christmas. Boy was that a mistake! I can't stand the name "Genesis" or the look of the system or it's cartridges. Sonic was too hard. I have to get all of them damn things in the bonus round?! You're crazy.

[MegaDrive20XX]

Yeah I recall my first Dreamcast, back in October of 1999. Was a birthday gift, good timing on release as well :)

As they said about Elvis going back to Memphis...

I'll say about Dreamcast..."DC Never died...they just went back home to Japan"

[GrayFox]

I hate any video game system Sega produces and have never liked them. I owned a NES, my friend got the Sega Master System for Christmas. Boy was that a mistake! I can't stand the name "Genesis" or the look of the system or it's cartridges. Sonic was too hard. I have to get all of them damn things in the bonus round?! You're crazy.

o.O

I could say so many things right now, but I'll refrain.

What I will do instead, is give my respects to one of the best systems of all time. I still have my 9/9/99 Dreamcast, and it gets plenty of playtime. Some days, I just need to play Sonic Adventure 1/2, or maybe a little Virtua Tennis, or a quick mission in Gundam Side Story, or a bout of Street Fighter 3, or maybe....my copies of MvC2 and Power Stone 2 that I got for $6 each. :)

Ah, Dreamcast. How I love Sega. One day, there shall be another Sega console, and the sun shall shine again.

[Richter]

got mine on 9/19/99, 10 days after launch. I left a bunch of notes all over the house telling them to buy me one. Even left "I want a Dreamcast" as the family computer's screen saver

[PDorr3]

I'm asshamed at how few DC titiles I own, but they sure are fun as hell!
Power stone, power stone 2, sonic adventure, HotD2
Long live the DC!
I still love argueing w/ friends that the DC was the lasy hardcore gamers system to be released.

[crazyjackcsa]

I love my DC, still play it quite a bit, however I always foound it lacking in really good platformers, there seemed to be a lot of action oriented titles.

A LOT of lost potential on the online aspect too. I never got a chance to play bomberman or ooga booga online and I would have loved to.

I think the PS 2 has passed it graphically but up too it's "death" there was nothing on the PS2 you couldn't do on the DC

[MegaDrive20XX]

I hate any video game system Sega produces and have never liked them. I owned a NES, my friend got the Sega Master System for Christmas. Boy was that a mistake! I can't stand the name "Genesis" or the look of the system or it's cartridges. Sonic was too hard. I have to get all of them damn things in the bonus round?! You're crazy.

Speaking of mistakes...

Did you even bother to read the opening statement in this thread? It's respect to a system that died...NOT let's bash Sega day....

[crazyjackcsa]

There is always a troll isn't there?

[NoahsMyBro]

I've only ever played/watched PS2's at various NJ Gaming Classics (NJ CLassic, South Jersey Classic), but I've never seen anything I thought looked any better than Dreamcast-level visuals. Realistically, usually the graphics appear to me to be worse than those on the Dreamcast.

What game(s) would you consider to display better graphics than the Dreamcast could do, in your opinion?

[SoulBlazer]

How about offering respect for the system but saying that its Sega's own fault why it died? :)

[Kid Ice]

What game(s) would you consider to display better graphics than the Dreamcast could do, in your opinion?

I haven't seen anything better since Soul Calibur.

[crazyjackcsa]

I think most of the games out today would suffer on the DC, Not to say I don't love my DC I really do. I just don't hink the PS2 games could be ported to the DC without Graphically hits. Not to say it couldn't be done. I think if there had've been a four system market (which I think could be done if #1 wasn't so huge) Then look at Soul Calibur 2 The GC/Xbox versions are slightly better than the Ps2 and I think the Dc would see a similar drop.

[MegaDrive20XX]

How about offering respect for the system but saying that its Sega's own fault why it died? :)

or would you say "SOA" fault? or Sega all together? I agree to your statement, but which one is to blame?

[kainemaxwell]

Dreamcast, one the best things I've ever won from a DP contest.

[slip81]

The DC is a fine machine. I didn't get min on launch, but I did get it a year later for $150 and was thrilled with it. the games and graphics are great, and there is no place better for fighters, both 2D and 3D IMO.

It's also great that I can play all my old games via emulator without the hassle of modding, and it has a pretty good homebrew thing going for it.

My only regret is that I don't own enough games for it...yet :)

[Raccoon Lad]

I got mine on the thanksgiving weekend blowout when Best Buy had them for $50.

Best $50 I EVER spent.

Now excuse me while I go back to playing Samba De Amigo and Crazy Taxi.

[NESVIDIOT]

What I will do instead, is give my respects to one of the best systems of all time. I still have my 9/9/99 Dreamcast,

So right you are Grayfox- I sold my stinking 386 for 300$ just so I could turn around and buy a DC, not only to play games, but also to surf the net- which I used my beloved little DC for. The funny thing was the 386 I sold crashed in Feb 00, never to be booted again! The only online problem I had in the beginning was sending email without the DC keyboard and mouse- but hey I was still online- I was even downloading music on it(albeit 1 song at a time) and dubbing it onto cassette.
I think the DC died because there was not enough trust from the general public in SEGA. Too many consumers felt burned after they bought ALL the Sega systems in the middle 90's only to be left high and dry with little support. Those same people ate up the Sony propaganda and deserted Sega. It was kinda Sega's fault, but with more consumer support, I think the DC would have lived a longer life.
I am a devout fan of Nintendo- but long live the original fathers of modern videogaming(after the market crash), Nintendo and Sega. We'll see in 25 years if the mascots of Microsoft and Sony are still household names..... wait a minute... who are their mascots anyways? :D

[Falcon]

I've always wanted a Dreamcast, and I used to cut out the picture of the console from the flyers and ask my mom to buy it for me, but she never did, and my brother told me to wait for the PS2 to come out, so thats what I did and I ended up buying the PS2 later on. But to my surprise, I was reunited with the machine that I had borrowed occasionally from a friend. I bought the Dreamcast from a friend about 3 months ago for $20 CANADIAN and Im loving it. Thanks for all of the memories Sega, because although I may only be 17, I have memories of each and every system that you have made for my enjoyment.

I dont know where I would be today if it were not for Virtua Tennis...

[Xexyz]

Yes, long live the DC. I've always beena Sega fanboy but after the N64 left a bad taste in my mouth, I swore to never buy a new console again. How stupid of me not to take advantage of the DC clearance days of 01... Owning one today, I must say it is an excellent machine. I only wish I could find some more games that aren't in garbage condition :(

[crazyjackcsa]

Something I really think is underappreciated by "casual" gamers is how technologically "interesting" The DC actually is.

It didn't render polys that the player couldn't see, used texture compression, had gobs of ram compared to the PS2. Supported a loading structure that would allow only certain parts of a given level to be loaded on the fly. All sorts of great things that were ahead of its time. I'm not to familair with current specs and the way the Cube and Xbox handle things but I know the PS2 isn't as innovative, emotion engine or not.

[Sothy]

Ya I waited in line and walked in the door midnight of 9/9/99 to buy mine.

I remember playing Counterstrike on PC the next day and the game just degenerated into everyone standing at the spawn point asking me questions about what the new Sonic game was like and if the controller was as good as this or that system etc...

RIP buddy. But to be honest the corpse has been rotting for awhile they just finally put some dirt on it.

[Mr Mort]

I waited in line at EB late at night so I could get mine at the stroke of midnight on 9/9/99. Not my favorite system of all time (that would be the Saturn), but it's one of my favorites, as there were tons of great games on the system. I remember playing countless games of Quake III, Worms, Alien Front Online, and Chu-Chu Rocket online.
I agree that DC games looked much better than first-generation PS2 games. It's a shame Sega pulled the plug on it, but I'm glad we were able to get the games out of it that we did.

P.S. Tekken 3 looks amazing when you play it on a DC with the Bleemcast disc.

[GobopopRevisited]

Never got a Dreamcast after seeing what SEGA did to Virtua Fighter with 3 and 3tb... boy did I miss out...

After SEGA decided to stop production and price dropped to 50 they were nowhere in site, The only games left over are those damn SEGA Sports 2k titles... I'd do anything to get my hands on a NEW Dreamcast... ANYTHING! :(

[drewbrim]

I still see new ones most of the time in my neck of the woods (sell for $50) but I usually stick to the used ($15 :P )

Now to the topic at hand. I play this system more that any of my others and it is fastly moving up my "all time" list. I play MvC2 and Bangai-O on an almost daily basis. But in reference to the 2nd or 3rd post on this thread, I always thought that the Dreamcast controller was pretty much the only bad thing about the system/setup, and I vastly prefer the Playstation controller. Any other fan of the DC feel this way? Or I am pretty much alone?

[Steven]

9.9.99 was some day for gamers and gaming history eh? The launch of the DC and the release of FF 8 (or was it 9??)

My first look at the DC was way before 9/9/99. I was at an import specialist store and they had the JP DC on display. Sonic Adventure blew me away. At that time though, I was just starting to be interested in the Saturn, and it took me several years later til I'd get anything DC.

I remember being a little bitter if you will, at the success DC was having while the Saturn was constantly being kicked on, but I know better now. Any success for Sega is a good thing.

I got a DC in 2003 for free from a contest a board member held (elsewhere). It was an egg hunt solving riddles. A member knew I was DC-less and he and I spent the better part of a Saturday night running around websites to find out the hidden word, which turned out to be "Gaiety"

I own about 25 games now, and while I don't see myself owning more than 40 DC games, that's OK. It's a great system and I agree, it was the last "hardcore" system. It's a different era now.

Genesis, Saturn and DC -- what great Sega systems! :D

[Tritoch]

I bought one on launch day, but to be honest the DC has never found a place in my heart. Maybe it's because I grew up a SNES man, or maybe it's because I only own six games for it: Grandia II, Skies of Arcadia, Shenmue, Silver, Sonic Adventure 2, and Resident Evil CODE: Veronica. I've owned more from time to time, but ended off selling a lot off out of disinterest/need. Of course I'm not a huge fan of fighting or schmups, which are obviously a large part of the system's appeal as well.

I don't regret the purchase (especially since playing a virtual season of NFL2K1 with a league of human players was about the coolest thing ever), but it lags behind most other mainstream consoles for me personally.


9.9.99 was some day for gamers and gaming history eh? The launch of the DC and the release of FF 8 (or was it 9??)

Final Fantasy 8...being a FF nut I saved up for months so I could get a DC, FF8, and NFL2K all on the same day. Sadly, FF8 was the biggest disappointment of the three. :(

[GrayFox]

Final Fantasy 8...being a FF nut I saved up for months so I could get a DC, FF8, and NFL2K all on the same day. Sadly, FF8 was the biggest disappointment of the three. :(

Heh, I had a similar experience. FF8 disappointed me, so very, very, very, very, very much.

[soniko_karuto]

Final Fantasy 8...being a FF nut I saved up for months so I could get a DC, FF8, and NFL2K all on the same day. Sadly, FF8 was the biggest disappointment of the three. :(

Heh, I had a similar experience. FF8 disappointed me, so very, very, very, very, very much.

whoo hoo! we're becoming a crowd.
<raises sign of "FF8SuX">
<hides in the crowd>

So i got my dc when it was price dropped to 50, in sears (talk about a strange place :p) Got home, had no games, went to a friend, lended me sonic adventure 2, and i was hooked on it. Also had to buy a couple of blue vmu's from best buy (they were around 4.99 i believe). Still, the dreamcast still kicks ass, i love how you can play imports with utopia, the freshness of their games, and the overall concept of being fun, not envolving.

[SoulBlazer]

Well, I loved FF8...... :D

But to get this back on topic, yes, they came out the same. I remember going into my local Wal-Mart on 9/9/99 looking to see if the game had come in and save myself a long trip (it had, I got lucky) and talked with a classmate in electronics while there. He said they had gotten in about 50 DC's to sell that morning and all of them were gone by the time I came in (early afternoon).

But they did'nt have any games due to the supply being delayed. :hmm:

[Lemmy Kilmister]

9/9/99 was a day of both extreme pleasure, as well as horrible pain. Why? Well the good part was I got a brand new dreamcast at bestbuy and was in gaming nirvana, but the bad part was it was the first day back at school that year and I also picked up.......Final Fantasy 8. :shameful:

[goatdan]

I am usually never one to get a system when it is new. The N64 is the closest I got, and I found one used for $50.00 when I bought it probably a year after it's release.

The Dreamcast changed that. I got my Dreamcast as a present in 2000, and I loved it. I only had two games for the longest time -- Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 and Rush 2049. I played the hell out of both of them.

I picked up NBA 2K1 early in 2001 and proceeded to play an entire season with 10 minute quarters. It took a long, long time but it was worth it -- what a great game!

When the price of the Dreamcast dropped, I started collecting for it. Now, it is easily my favorite system and my second "complete" collection. Although, I couldn't stop with it having the released games...

At the 2002 Midwest Classic, a Dreamcast homebrewer came and was giving away Dreamcast homebrew CDs. I had sort of seen the stuff from afar, but when I finally got to play my copy a week or so later, I was blown away by the quality of the homebrew scene. The developers were releasing darn near professional quality games.

I contacted some of them to see if anyone was interested in actually getting something published. Now, I'm in the middle of producing nearly a dozen more titles over the next couple years, and the quality is remaining just as high as ever...

And, just to note: You haven't seen anything yet! There are titles in development that will be fully 3D with tons of effects. The Dreamcast is far from dead, and I really do think it will live on through fans for a long time!

[CreamSoda]

Sega Dreamcast is the best system ever!

I didn't get the DC until the Summer of 2002(yeah I know thats pretty late), but I loved it so much, it was great back then when most of the online games were still playable online. Even though the DC was already pretty much dead, I had such a great time back then.

I feel so sad for missing out on most of the DC's life, but atleast I got to enjoy it before it was gone for a little while. Now however I still love my DC just as much, and Shenmue is my favorite game of all time.

[xaer0knight]

I recently got a DC several months ago. and ive been wanting one since i knew the King of Fighters, a tons of SHMUPs, and count less Emulators were for it. It was the best 30 Bucks i spent, Its a great system for 2-D fighters, SHMUPS, and weird/fun Import titles. I've been playing Psyvariar 2, Chaos Field, and King of Fighters 2001, FREAKING awesome, better graphics than a PS2 can pull out. I've always been a Nintendo Fanboy but this system is awesome. Kudos to SEGA and the Homebrew/Emulator Community.

-and i think the DC pad was built with the mindset of a Shmupaholic or a 2-d fightermanic. Best controls for Ikaruga as well.

[RetroYoungen]

I've actually hooked my DC back up in the past few days, and as I booted it up I wondered why I ever unplugged it in the first place. Capcom vs. SNK, Sonic Adventure, Giga Wing, Feet of Fury, and my newest purchase Tennis 2K2 have gotten me addicted once again, and dammit, I wish I could find more titles that I DON'T already have! (The Toys R Us near me has a handful of games still available for cheap prices, but they're like a combo pack with NFL 2K, World Series Baseball 2K1 and some other one, and I already bought the pack.)

I love thee, Dreamcast, yet I hardly knew ye. Even with the games like Shenmue and Carrier (which are really the only ones I didn't like) I still love ya.

[Nez]

I love the Dreamcast, it's the only system I care to get a complete collection for. Just soo many good games to play!

I purchased the system in early 2003 so it was basically dead. I paid 40 dollars for my first DC (then 15 then another at 10) and my first games were Shenmue and Grandia 2. I was hooked from the get go. Later I picked up Soul Caliber, I played that so much I nearly unlocked the whole gallery, untill my VMU broke.

Now I have 198 DC games and I play the system more then any other .

[NEOFREAK9189]

I got l my first Dreamcast back in October of 1999
Dreamcast one the best things from the 90s

[Nesmaster]

ahh good old dreamcast... i bought one about 2 1/2 years ago off of a school buddy for $30 which included about 12 games, 2 controllers, and 2 VMU's. Didnt think too much of the purchase initially, but as soon as i played some of the games i got that quickly changed :D. and jet grind radio quickly became my game of the month :P

[Iron Draggon]

If you read the story about it HERE (http://www.eidolons-inn.net/segabase/) at Eidolon's, it seems to be more the industry's own fault than anything else to me. They never really gave it a chance. Ever since day one, it was PS2 this and PS2 that, all anybody really cared about was God damned Sony and their piece of shit sequel to the piece of shit PS1! If only Sega had had enough money left to fight the Sony juggernaut, the Dreamcast would still be alive today, or at least it would've lived on a few more years before it died. So it wasn't just Sega & Sony, it was the whole stupid greedy industry.

[alexkidd2000]

I think I am going to cry.... The Dreamcast was the best console ever. There were/are so many great great games for it, spanning every genre. The online was so fun back then, well ahead of its time. Sega did everything right with the Dreamcast, it was just too little too late I guess. I really miss having a new Sega system to look forward to. Gaming just isnt the same anymore.

[YoshiM]

The Dreamcast was the last system to knock my socks off (aka the "wow" factor). Even though I didn't give it as much respect over the years and sold off my machine and another machine I quickly bought another after I "didn't know what I had 'till it was gone". Sega had everything on the console right but the company was too wounded to keep it going and the industry didn't seem to care.

[tuxedojoe]

I got my Dreamcast on launch day as well. I went home with Sonic Adventure and played the night away. I loved every minute of it! Like others said, I think that it was the last hardcore system. Unfortunately, when the Gamecube came out, I just HAD to have one, so I sold my DC for a few bucks to fund the purchase. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but hindsight is 20/20.

It's all good though. I now have two DC's and many great games!

[Jasoco]

Ah. The Dreamcast. Back in 1999 I was still a Nintendo fanboy. But had only had a small amount of playtime with a Genesis years before and had never played a PlayStation.

I remember the commercials for the Dreamcast being heavily pimped for weeks before its release and I was very impressed. At least by the commercials which starred Sonic and Tailes, the Crazy Taxi guy and some very realistic football players. Then the release date came. I watched the VMA's and got to see all the DC commercials as a bonus.

Now, since I was mainly a Nintendo person, it would take a few good games on the DC side for me to consider asking for one. (This was before the PS2 design had been shown off and the Cube was still the Dolphin and still in highly guarded secrecy. So I spent a lot of time looking at the DC in the stores and the still awesome to this day Crazy Taxi. But sadly, I never got a DC. At least not at that time. The PS2 was eventually shown off and I touted its failure (Wishful thinking.) and had my heart set on Nintendo's next system as really, there still wasn't a really good DC game that made me want to buy it. (I didn't fully get some playtime with CT until I started working at Family Toy. To this day I still have fond memories of that job whenever I hear that Offspring song.

The PS2 came. The Cube came. I bought the Cube. The DC was on its way out. Of course I didn't know that.

Fast forward to 2003. The DC is long dead. Games are cheap. Systems are cheap. So I jumped and bought one with Crazy Taxi (Even though I had previously owned CT on the Cube, one of the reasons I didn't get a DC earlier. I mean, why buy the system for the game when the game is available on a system you already have?) and haven't regretted it. Even though I now have High Roller on my Xbox and loaded a copy of CT into the PS2 kiosk at Kmart, I still like to play the DC version periodically. I should track down a copy of CT2 one of these days.

So sadly, I never got one when it was out, but if I could go back, I would have.

It's one of the few systems I still have hooked up. I decided to unhook a bunch of them a few weeks ago and the DC is one I decided to keep.

Here's to the Dreamcast. The little system that could.