In at least a few time zones, today is 09/09/09. Aside from being the same day that Apple
holds a keynote on the left coast, Leica
launches something and
The Beatles: Rock Band encourages gamers everywhere to call in sick, today
also marks the ten year anniversary of Sega's iconic
Dreamcast. Looking back, it's hard to believe that the always-Thinking console was only in production for two years, but even today it holds an oh-so-special place in our hearts. We still maintain that the defunct VMU could eventually be the next coming of the Tamagotchi, and there's still zero doubt that the designer of
Seaman was on copious quantities of LSD during the conception process. Any particularly touching stories as we celebrate a solid decade of The Swirl? Share 'em below -- tissues are on us.
posted Sep 9th 2009 7:23AM
what was that game called where it was 3d fighting around rooms, loved that
Are you thinking of Powerstone?
I think you mean Power Stone: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Stone. And yes, it was an awesome game!
Dreamcast is long DEAD. It was killed off by Playstations children.
Played that game so much back in the day.
Twitter: #therealsept9 @segadreamcast :D
One of the best consoles ever... I miss my Dreamcast
crazy taxi, tony hawk 1 and 2, capcom vs snk, giant gram 2k, jet set radio, dead or alive, great sonic games... this console has an awesome lineup as fun as anything on the market today.
I broke out my Dreamcast yesterday to celebrate... and it still works great! Although the graphics sure seemed better on my tiny TV instead of my big-screen HDTV... hahaha!
No kidding. Mine was stolen and I still miss it. I think I can get pretty much the same games elsewhere but its not the same.
Marvel vs. Capcom 2 FTW
I remember playing it on the day the rain turned into snow....
Agreed. Definitely one of the best but yet contradictorily it didn't survive which of course, we'll all agree was unfair and unjustified.
I'll always have fond memories of it. I'll never part with it like ALL the consoles that I grew up with. They're all neatly packed away in the original boxes that they came in. Yes, I was a hardcore gamer who was formerly a console fanboy till I fell in love with PC gaming so now it's one love-console and PC gaming get equal love from me;)
I still have mine that I bought on 09-09-1999. I worked at a video rental store and the owner let me reserve the first one off the truck. He wouldn't let me buy or open it until release day though. These days, the kids play it all the time; they love Rayman 2 and Shenmue. I'll even get on it now and then for kicks.
If you want better quality video pick up one of the vga boxes. I got one and it is soooo awesome. Sure it doesnt make it look like a newer system, but on an hd projector it looks pretty damn nice and beats the rca and svideo outputs
I loved mine too. I recently went and bought another one to replace my original, which I had given away a while back. It's just one of those consoles that gives good memories and for some reason makes me happy to be a gamer when I see it.
One of the loudest consoles ever, the lens motor on that thing was insane, if I didnt turn the TV up really loud it would drown out parts of the game. All my controllers had a button (not the same button) which had to be pressed really hard for it to work, I had to choose which controller to use based on the game and the buttons I would press the most. And a lot of my friends games wouldnt work on my DC but would work on his, and some of my games would work on mine but not on his. Wtf? I cant say I have fond memories of the DC, Shenmue was one of my favorite games (would have been more enjoyable if the lens motor didnt go nuts during the talking sequences) but the hardware kept letting me down.
Oh the day I miss playing Phantasy Star Online untill the wee hours of the morning only to get PK'd and pissed off.
Remember the boot disks allowing you to play "imports" and the emulator-discs with every nes/snes/genesis game on them?
Man I love Dreamcast. I still have a stack of games and my old dreamcast with a VGA-box just to play Marvel VS Capcom 2 and various other great games every once in a while :) Dreamcast had a great translation of MVC2, and Shenmue is still awesome! (damn toy collecting is addictive!)
I guess I'm the only one here that had two pairs of official Japanese Sega Samba De Amigo maracas...
I'll never forget how utterly overjoyed I was when I got a Dreamcast.
[Flashback]
It was the Christmas of ’99. My parents knew I wanted a Dreamcast that year, but I never pushed getting it because I simply never expected to get it. Christmas came. I started opening gifts as usual, and when it came to the last gift it was a small box. It certainly wasn’t going be a Dreamcast. Opening the box there was a card.
“Read the card”, my father said with a smile
“Check the laundry room,” the card read.
I rushed to laundry room and open the doors to find a Dreamcast sitting on the washer. I was shocked, and in awe my parents got me it. I was truly surprised and was one happy kid.
[/Flashback]
The Dreamcast has so many great titles and lesser known ones that are truly one a kind:
Soul Calibur has to one of the best 3D fighting games that ever came out during that era. Capcom vs. SNK2, Last Blade 2, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and a slew of other 2D fighting games which are simply fantastic. JetSet Radio, the first game that utilized cell shading which lead the way for other games like Legend of Zelda, Wind Waker. Other games like Taxi Driver, a crazy fun driving game, albeit a repetitive one. And the Dreamcast had direct arcade game ports of SHUMPS (2D flying shooting games) like Border Down & Ikaruga which no other console has done since.
Although my Dreamcast sits less than a 2ft from me and is rarely played as much as it used to be, it has been an awesome console, even if it stupid loud when reading discs. Props to SEGA for making a fine console! Although it was short live, it's still one of the best consoles ever made
No system before or since Dreamcast has had so many great wildly creative games released in such a short period of time. The system was only on the market for 17 months before being canceled and yet the list of great Dreamcast games goes on for pages.
For a couple years solid, DC was my fighting game console of choice. Soul Calibur, MvC 1 and 2, all 3 revisions of SF3, SF Alpha 3, Vampire Chronicles, JoJo's Adventure, Viruta Fighter 3TB. Wow. Not to mention DC hits like both Sonic Adventures, Samba de Amigo, Armada, oh man it goes on. I love my DC, it does look dated in the age of HD, especially since my HD set doesn't have VGA out.
Best console ever and I'm a Sony Fan
It had too many GOOD games released in a very short time, it didn't live long but when it was alive it was Awesome!
I've been a gamer since my dad brought home an Atari 2600, but those couple of years with my Dreamcast were some of the greatest times in my gaming history. It was a normal weekend to invite 10-15 people over, load up Soul Caliber, Virtua Tennis, Crazy Taxi or MvC2 and keep it going for hours. Sure it bred rivalries and nerd fights but that was part of the fun.
PS. I feel old
Terrific machine. Bought it very late and played Soul Calibur und Ikaruga till my eyes bled. Especially SC looks so good on this thing.
Taki was seriously wounded but the soul still burns...
Blood... darkness... come unto me!
Headhunter and Jet Set Radio are the two games and deserve remakes (I know JSR had one on the Xbox) but for the 360/PS3 imagine how good it could look now...
Sadly, the team that created both versions no longer exists (SmileBit).
Headhunter got a port to the PS2 in 2002-- it was the only version North America got. Unfortunately I don't think it was handled very well... then again it's been over seven years since I've played it.
You wanna know what DC game I wish would get a port/remake? I-Spy/Espionagents. It wasn't great, true, but it had a good concept that was just executed really poorly. Failing that, a port of Grandia II that doesn't suck ass would be nice.
That sucks they no longer exist surely someone can get the IP's ?
of course I forgot Headhunter got a Port on the PS2 (So long ago) It didn't handle very well and I definitely remember that vehicles and aiming. But I did love the missions and storyline although if it had been more of a sandbox it could have been a classic. I never owned that game but often played it round a friends it was executed poorly but I definitely agree the concept was brilliant.
Another game I'm thinking of now is Chu Chu Rocket :P what a game that was (1st game I ever played online)
The only reason why I remembered Dreamcast turns 10 was because I was watching Naruto Shippuuden and the spiral on Naruto's back is similar to the Dreamcast logo. *lowers his head in shame*
This box is ten years old?! All my memories of three-dimensional Sonic and endless hours spent playing Soul Caliber are ten years old?!?
I'm old. :-(
No shit...I was in high school when this thing came out. It seemed so cutting edge at the time, those awesome controllers (that xbox ripped-off) w/ memory cards w/ led screens. Sega why did you have to leave the game...I miss you come back soon.
I feel the same way. I used to play my friend's DC on a projector at my parents' office. We'd get 5-10 gawkers stopping by every time we did it. They would try to talk to us -- "Hey, what's this, it looks like a real football game!" (My friend had the madden edition.) We were too busy being incredibly entertained. I hope Sega makes another amazing quirky console in the future.
Do you guys know any sailors?
No, but I hear that they like to hang out in bars...
[to the kitten] You and I have a lot in common, our parents died on the same day.
Crazy Taxi marathons, Soul Calibur and Dead or Alive 2 matches, Puyo Pop Fever and Mr. Driller, Virtua Cop and Virtua Tennis. I shouldn't have given my away last year :(
Puyo Pop Fever... HELL YEAH. The GC port works well enough, but that's a game that just feels right on Sega hardware.
Loved Virtua Tennis and Crazy Taxi.. what a machine. Had a modem built in since way back then.
Virtua Tennis !!!!!!!!!!!!
Char-lie?
I don't know anyone named Char-lie.....?
The DC came out during the dot.com boom, back when you could buy ANYTHING online for far below retail. I remember there was a site called dreamcastdeals.com, and just like its name, it listed all the deals you could find online for the dreamcast. I ended up pre-ordering my DC from no-name site that was offering them for $150. Eagerly awaiting my system, I went ahead and bought an extra controller, Sonic Adventure and Soul Calibur. I sat there twirling that controller for three months before my console finally arrived.
But hey, it got here, right?
Shenmue was an awesome game! I still have my dreamcast sitting in a box in the basement, I wonder if anybody on ebay would buy it, I really don't want it to end up in a landfill.
what you want for it and what do you have with it i will buy it email me @ alienicecooler@gmail.com
vanshlanger@gmail.com
i'm interested too.
I'll dig it out of the basement this weekend and will get back to both of you...
my favorite game ended up being "Shadowman" for this console. This console was so ahead of its time it made my brain explode.
IT HAD A MODEM FOR CHRIST SAKE!
PHANTASY STAR ONLINE?! OMG!
Grandia II, Virtual On, Chu Chu Rocket, JSR, Space Channel 5, Skies of Arcadia, Daytona...the list just goes on and on. Of all the systems I've owned, had the most fun with this one.