"Nine years old (at the time of writing this) and still an awesome system."

Ah the Dreamcast, Sega's final system unleashed onto the gaming world before collapsing was no doubt one of the finest things the company has ever produced. Unleashed onto the US market on the amazing date of 9/9/99, the Dreamcast started kicking ass and taking names in peoples houses and had a jump start on the next generation a good couple of years before the Playstation 2 came out. Unfortunately, the Dreamcast lived a short life span for multiple reasons, lack of support, the failure of the Saturn, and the Playstation 2 stomping more nuts than the Dreamcast ever could hope to achieve.

Despite failing to take off as planned, the Dreamcast still was a very solid home console. With something for everyone, as well as bringing some Sega innovation to the console that we've all come to love, the Dreamcast was able to earn the respect of many, as well as many more way after the system had been taken off life support.

It's thinking…..up cool ideas and slogans

The system design for the Dreamcast was pretty basic. The white CD based system had its power button and case opener on the top, located right below the CD drive. The console allowed for four controllers to be input at a time, allowing for four player action if you ever had enough people over to play some games. And new to game systems was the built in modem to allow for online play. Sure, a few systems in the past allowed you to purchase an adapter to connect to the internet, but the Sega Dreamcast was the first to do it straight out of the box (although limited to a phone adapter, since Broadband wasn't the way to go back then, or readily available).

I have the power…..to give you awesome graphics

Before 1999 all you had to offer you a 3D dose was either the N64, the Playstation, and the Sega Saturn (or the arcade which always looks better). All the graphics before the Dreamcast came forth were usually blocky as hell, had blurry textures, or had streaky textures to fill out the polygons. They weren't horrible (aside from first generation Playstation games which still are blocky as hell), but they weren't awesome looking. The Dreamcast was able to produce arcade like graphics on a home console, making people and other objects look like they should on a home console. The console had better looking graphics than the earliest of Playstation 2 games as well, but by that point the Dreamcast was starting to be phased out, mostly cause Sony could also advertise the PS2 as a DVD player, thus beginning the multiformated gaming console, and ending the lives of the game only consoles before it.

We're in control…..of a weird shaped controller

As much as I love the system, I got to knock a point off for the controllers design. The theory behind the controller was great, but the way it was executed leaves something to be desired. The controller is quite similar to the original Xbox controller, the one that was incredibly huge. The center of the controller was used to hold up to expansions, be it the Virtual Memory Unit (memory card/portable gaming system), the Jump Pack (rumble action), or the microphone for the game Seaman. The controller also featured two triggers on both the right and left side, allowing for easy access to the back two buttons instead of having shoulder buttons, but unfortunately playing for a long time can give the average person some cramps. The four face buttons were already a popular feature, used in every controller since the SNES days, as well as the D-pad, although a bit pointy on the left side due to the way the pad was slightly raised above the controller case.

And finally the worst part about the controller: the analog stick. Granted, this stick was the best made at the time, showing no signs of breaking any time soon (unlike the N64's fragile control stick). The only problem with the stick was the location, which was on an uncomfortable side of the left hand part of the controller. Reaching for the stick with your thumb was easy enough, although using it for more than a few seconds at a time made for an uncomfortable gaming experience in most cases. Fortunately a lot of games allowed for use of the D-Pad instead.

As an added bonus to take advantage of the internet, the console offered use of a keyboard and mouse. Nothing special about either, just the fact that they could plug into the Dreamcast controller port and allow for messages to be typed out instead of being selected one character at a time like consoles of today (I'm looking at you Wii and Xbox 360….unless you got a USB keyboard that is…).

I bring you…sound and stuff

The sound quality on the Dreamcast was very well done. Every game that made use of the capabilities ended up sounding very nice, leading to some great soundtracks and sound effects in multiple games. If there were any faults to the sound, it would have been due on the game's part and not the systems.

The games! They do something

The game library is what makes the Dreamcast such an awesome system. It didn't have as many main stream games as either the Playstation or the N64, but its own library was unique and something out of the ordinary that neither of the other two systems of the time could handle. If you were not into stuff that was out of the ordinary, then this was probably not the system for you.

Action

Like every good home console, you need to have at least one killer action title. Fortunately the Dreamcast had a nice selection of games for this category, ranging from the launch game Sonic Adventure, to the awesome shoot ‘em ups like Bangai-O!. Although hard to find nowadays, the action category does not disappoint.

RPG

Although not having Square, Enix, or any of those other companies that like to produce the same titles that everybody loves, Sega's system still had a few great RPG classics to keep you entertained hour after hour. While some were not as great as others (Evolution), some were good enough to get their own fan base (Skies of Arcadia). The Dreamcast even had its own online RPG, making use of its keyboard and mouse (Phantasy Star Online). Sadly after the console bit the dust, many titles were ported over to the Gamecube or PS2 in order for more people to experience the gold that was lost with the demise of the once great system.

Racing

Although not a big fan of racing games, the Dreamcast still had a nice library of games to please racing fans, ranging from Sega GT to a disk to allow people to play Gran Turismo 2 on their Dreamcast. With many a title to choose from, racing fans had no reason to feel left out.
Puzzle
Although not as large as other home consoles, the Dreamcast had a few puzzle games to keep people interested in the system, like the addictive Bust a Move 4 or even the classic Tetris. Then again, not having a large selection of puzzle games probably isn't appealing to everybody.

Fighting

If fighting games is your poison then this is the system for you. Featuring the superior versions of both the Marvel vs. Capcom games, as well as getting much love from Capcom as a whole, the Dreamcast is the system of choice for people who just love to combo their opponent into the ground. With many great titles ranging from Street Fighter 3, King of Fighters, Power Stone, Virtua Fighter 3, and Capcom vs. SNK, the Dreamcast had enough action to hold people over for days.

Survival Horror

Getting a few of its own unique titles (D2), as well as a bunch of ports from Capcom's awesome Resident Evil Series (as well as Dino Crisis), the Dreamcast was able to keep people either coming to the system for more scares or running away. Whichever works for them.

Sports

I totally don't care for sports games unless they're of the party variety, but the Dreamcast had quite a nice collection. There's even a limited edition Sega Sports version of the Dreamcast that comes in a nice black color offering two games with the bundle, which is still fairly easy to find today.

First Person Shooter

Again, not a whole lot going for it here, but with the keyboard and mouse the shooter fan who doesn't already have the PC version of Quake Arena, or Unreal Tournament (seeing how the controls were very awkward for Unreal on the Dreamcast, the Keyboard is probably the way to go.) Then again, shooters were better on the N64 and were improved when the Xbox came along.

Everything else

Being unique in the way that the Dreamcast featured many things that other consoles didn't, the collection of games in this category is quite large. Want to build your own sea creature with Leonard Nimoy's voice? Seaman is for you. Want to paint graffiti across town? Jet Grind Radio is the answer. Ever want to blast your way through aliens while dancing? Space Channel 5 is ready. With a wide variety of titles that were very rarely seen before the Dreamcast came around, the gamer with a taste for something new will enjoy this systems collection of oddities.

Where'd my thirty bucks go?
Into this amazing system of course. For a low price of 30 bucks or less nowadays, you can score a great console that has something for everybody (especially fighting fans) to enjoy instead of shelling out major bucks for a current generation console. You probably won't get on the internet with this thing nowadays, but then again, with controllers that sell for dirt cheap, you can just as easily get some friends together and have some fun (unless Phantasy Star Online was your bag, in which case you're screwed). With enough variety and awesome games not even mentioned in this quick review, the Dreamcast will continue to be loved nine more years down the road.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/11/08

Game Release: Dreamcast Hardware (US, 09/09/99)