Quote Originally Posted by gbpxl View Post
I agree with most of that but also remember that the Dreamcast competed with the PS1 from 1999 to the PS2 launch (Oct 2000). And Nintendo really didnt release much for the 64 after Xmas 2000. Dr. Mario, Mario Party 3, a couple others. They were focused on the GameCube at that point.

If you look at the number of games released for the 64 versus the PS1, the PS1 had around 4x-5x the amount of games. It didn't really have many more titles than the Dreamcast, Saturn, Wii U, consoles that are considered "failures"
While the Dreamcast technically competed directly with the PS1, the consensus at the time with gamers were that many were waiting for the PS2 to come out, giving them not only access to the new PS2 games BUT the ability to play their PS1 games as well. On top of that, the PS2 was also the cheapest DVD player on the market at the time, given the total capability of the system (PS2 + PS1 + DVD=WIN!). I remember reading an article (IGN?) where someone asked a room full of Japanese gamers if they had a PS2. Then they asked how many played games on it-and not many raised their hand. Finally they asked how many used it as a DVD player and a majority, if not all, raised their hands.

Dreamcast was very capable and had a stable of awesome games from the get-go. However it also didn't help that it was a Sega system (people burned by them before, at least in the States) AND the PS2 release was very close. I bet if the PS2 launched earlier in the US, the Dreamcast would probably might not have had the impact it had here.