June 27, 2019
Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback! For me, the Dreamcast feels like an alternate childhood timeline that I sorely (and regretfully) missed out on. I was one of the kids that opted for the PS2 instead of the Dreamcast instead, but my decision was largely based on my older cousin's perspective, whom I looked up to all the time. He was my role model back then, so I wanted to do everything he thought was cool. He said that the PS2 was the better option, so naturally I took his word for it. Looking back on that decision now, I'm disappointed that I went that path, and I would've had a much better time with the Dreamcast.I got my Dreamcast on eBay, years after its commercial lifespan concluded. The lineup of games on this thing was absolutely stellar-- from Shenmue to the Sonic Adventure series, Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Chu Chu Rocket, and many more. The Dreamcast's library continues to grow to this day, thanks to the homebrew scene and the dedicated fanbase that it has. My childhood memories playing on the Dreamcast are very few and rare, just a couple times at my *other* cousin's house. They had Crazy Taxi, and I remember being strangely addicted to it, not wanting to put the controller down. I also remember going to school in 5th/6th grade and hearing my classmates talk about it. It always made me jealous, because I really wanted to play the newer Sonic games. Even when I had a PS2, I still gravitated to Sega titles on that platform. I also remember becoming frustrated with the PS2, and impatiently waiting for Sega to put out a new 3D Sonic game on it-- it seemed to be taking forever. When Sonic Heroes was finally announced, I was super ecstatic. That became the first game I ever started following online before the game was even released. But had I chosen Dreamcast instead, I would've certainly had my mind blown way more. I can assure you I would still have my Dreamcast today.Seeing Sega leave the hardware race sucked for me. I remember first hearing about Microsoft going into the console wars with the original Xbox, and I was immediately off-put by that prospect. They're a *computer software* company-- NOT a video game company. In my mind, they had no business doing a game console. To this day, I still don't have an Xbox console from any generation. I feel like people treated Sega a lot more harsh than they treated Nintendo, and that saddens me. It's nice to see that Sega's sort of making a comeback today though, and they're even dabbling in the hardware market again with the Genesis Mini (pre-ordered two of those :P), and the Retro-Bit controllers. I'll definitely be keeping my Dreamcast as long as I'm alive, and hopefully my kids will get to enjoy the system with me for years to come.