Happy Anniverary to the Dreamcast in Japan

[ParaParaJMo]

On this day in Japan in 1998, Dreamcast launched with just a few titles, Virtua Fighter 3TB, July, Godzilla Generations and I believe Pen Pen. And with Virtua Fighter 3TB, came Project Berkley. I actually bought an import Dreamcast in May of 1999. I had a feeling like the Saturn, it would be an import gamer's console and in some way, I was right. But it is still my favorite console of all time.

[.:neuko:.]

The first time I ever saw a Dreamcast was in a rental video store. It was an import of course, but I certainly didn't care about that as I was mesmerised by the game running before me. Never had I been so amazed at such next-gen graphics since the launch of Nintendo 64.

Probably fed up of seeing me drool over his counter, the store owner let me try out the game in question. A few moments later, I was controlling a certain a well known character through the beautiful scene that was Emerald Coast, complete with graphics I could only dream about. But then I suppose that's why it was called the Dreamcast...

Anyways, it's funny how quickly the novelty of "next-generation" wears off. Looking back at Sonic Adventure (the game I was playing in that store), the Dreamcast version doesn't look quite so clean next to the later versions. And when I think of the very finest games on my (admittedly aging) Gamecube, I wonder just how I ever fell for a launch game that, great as it looked at the time, was in hindsight, clearly rushed and poorly tested. SA had some inexplicable pop-up, camera problems, and some unforgivable glitches, some of which would result in instant death for the protagonist. Yet at the time it didn't matter; SA still looked generations ahead of anything I had seen, and SA2, one the DCs last games was a marked improvement. Just when I thought the machine was beginning to show its technical limits, Sega released a game that technically improved on its predecessor in every way: SA2 was slicker and cleaner with double the framerate and significantly reduced pop-up--and apart from inheriting the prequel's stubborn camera it was virtually glitchless. From a gameplay perspective it wasn't the best Sonic game, but from a technical standpoint it was a marvel. It's not all about Sonic though. If anyone's lucky enough to find a well-conditioned DC from e-Bay I would certainly recommend these games.

Although I no longer own a Dreamcast, I still have much respect for the console. For its time it got an awful lot right; easy to program for, decent RAM set-up, and the idea of the memory card doubling up as a mini handheld was a bonus. It's just a shame that a history of "stop-gap" consoles from Sega themselves and Sony's (early) announcent (but relatively late launch) of the PS2 gave it an unfair reception and made its shelf life much shorter than it should have been.

[Xeyuzio]

Didn't the Dreamcast nearly bankrupt SEGA and the CEO donated a lot of money to save the company before he died?