"Bzzt! Sega, your fifteen minutes are up. Please come again. PLEASE!"

OPENING STATEMENT
We all know they tried. Sega gave it their best shot, trying to return from the debacle known as the Sega Saturn. And before that, they tried to recover from the debacle known as the 32X. And before that, Sega tried to recover from the debacle known as the Sega CD. You see, it was just a whole series of missteps that lead to the demise of the Dreamcast, and not one of them was Sega’s fault after the console launch. They were fragments of the past, coming back to haunt the consumers, causing their confidence with Sega to plummet. And with that confidence, went profits, and ultimately, Sega’s era as a console manufacturer.

GRAPHICS AND SOUND
Graphically, the Dreamcast will be viable for quite a while. It can handle two-dimensional games better than any other console ever created, and it does a far better job of destroying those evil anti-aliasing problems that make PlayStation 2 titles obsolete. So, lucky for everyone else, the jaggies that detracted from Ridge Racer V on the PS2 cannot distract viewers from Metropolis Street Racer. The Dreamcast’s graphics will probably not look obsolete until at least 2003, and perhaps not even until the 256 Bit consoles are released, depending on how far the GameCube and the X-Box can go. I did not mention the PlayStation 2’s graphics in that last sentence because I feel that the Dreamcast has the capabilities to have better graphics than the PS2, and the games to back up the claim.

The sound, though, is not as clean as the DVD-Roms of the PlayStation 2. Apparently the GD-Roms work well for graphics, but leave a little bit to desire in the department of sound cleanliness. Granted, the songs and sound effects themselves are spectacular, and developers like Overworks and Namco had no problems including full orchestra in their hit Dreamcast titles. I am just saying that you may hear a few fuzzy tones, here and there, and they are not problems with your speakers. You just cannot really do a lot about it. The problems are not really even all that noticeable, but if you listen very carefully, in some games in particular, you can hear it.

CONTROLLERS, MEMORY CARDS, AND OTHER PERHIPERALS
The Dreamcast really did not have a long enough shelf life to get any of the innovative perhiperals that appeared on more popular consoles such as the original Nintendo, the Super Nintendo, and the Sony PlayStation. Most of these add-ons were made by Sega themselves. First of all, Sega’s much-ballyhooed light gun really did not see a lot of action. Only two games were made compatible with it, and one of them was released at launch. The most interesting controller of sorts that I have seen for the Sega Dreamcast, would be the maraca controllers for the music game Samba de Amigo. Unfortunately, these were very, very expensive, and since they were only used with that one game, ultimately, unsuccessful.

The most successful controller for the Dreamcast, beyond those four normal Dreamcast controllers that you can, and should, pick up, were the arcade sticks. Arcade sticks are basically designed for tournament fighting games, and the Dreamcast certainly has a wealth of them. While the normal Dreamcast controller does a fine job with this genre, if you have seventy-five bucks to pick up one of these, or better yet, three hundred bucks for four of them (for games like Power Stone 2), you will be treated to the best that the Dreamcast has to offer. Too bad they cost so much.

The most talked about add-on for the Sega Dreamcast would be the Visual Memory Unit. The VMU, had a tiny little LED screen that fit right into the empty space for the memory card in the Dreamcast controller, so it could always be seen by the player. This is very useful for calling plays in games like NFL 2K, and it always says what game you are playing, in case you forget. The VMU also had a battery, so you could download mini-games from Dreamcast games into it, and play them on the go. The most famous of these mini-games is still Chao Adventure from Sonic’s Dreamcast offerings. But many Dreamcast games came with mini-games in them, some as codes, some as something to be unlocked, and others to add more gameplay elements to the parent title. That may be the Dreamcast’s legacy as time goes on; but only that aforementioned time will tell.

GAME LIBRARY

TOURNAMENT FIGHTERS
The tournament fighting genre is one of the most popular in the world, but most consoles have very few successful tournament fighting games on them, let alone good tournament fighting games. A prime example of this alarming trend was the Nintendo 64. Luckily, the Dreamcast bucked this trend with style and flair. At launch, three tournament fighting games were available, Capcom’s Marvel vs. Capcom and Power Stone, along with one of the best Dreamcast games ever, Soul Calibur, Namco’s only Dreamcast game. Throughout the life of the console, we came to know Tecmo’s Dead or Alive 2, a half-dozen to a dozen more spectacular hits by Capcom, most notably Street Fighter Alpha 3, Capcom vs. SNK and Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Sega themselves made a quite good tournament fighting game, Virtua Fighter 3tb. This genre is by far and away the Sega Dreamcast’s strongest, and if you buy a Dreamcast, get at least two or three tournament fighting games for your collection.

ROLE-PLAYING GAMES
I believe that this was another reason for Sega’s lack of success marketing the Dreamcast to the common gamer. The Dreamcast really only had two good role-playing games, Grandia 2 and Sega’s own innovative Skies of Arcadia. This is, of course, not including the very popular Phantasy Star Online that requires online play so it was not as easily accessible as the other games that I mentioned. There are a handful of decent Dreamcast RPGs as well, mainly the Evolution series by Ubi Soft but they could have used a lot of work still.

STRATEGY AND PUZZLE GAMES
The Dreamcast was certainly a weak console in this regard. The only real strategy game for the console was Railroad Tycoon II an utterly boring PC port of a game that was far better on the PC. Puzzle-wise, the only real releases were an update of the Bust-a-Move series, which I dearly love, and a port of the Nintendo 64 puzzler, Wetrix that I do not.

SPORTS AND RACING GAMES
The Sega Dreamcast would have really been strong in this genre, if only Electronic Arts had supported the console. But, they did not, so Dreamcast owners were deprived of many great sports games. Luckily, Sega came through, making many new series of their own, including (in order of greatness) NFL 2K, NBA 2K, and NHL 2K, and all of their respective sequels. Basically, any sports game not made by Sega on the Dreamcast was unsuccessful, with the exception of Midway’s NBA Showtime, a NBA Jam-esque take on the sport of basketball. Of course, Sega also flopped once, with the awful World Series Baseball 2K, a game that did not even allow you to control your own fielders. Lastly, for those of you who like a good time on the boat, you have some of Sega’s fishing titles, Sega Bass Fishing and Sega Marine Fishing at your disposal.

In the racing department, the field is a bit more wide open. Wait, never mind. Once more, all of the great racing games on the console were released by Sega. Daytona USA 2001: Online Edition is an update of the arcade, and Sega Saturn classic, racing title. Sega Rally 2 is the sequel to another great Saturn racing title. Sega CART Flag to Flag, Sega GT, and Metropolis Street Racer are other fun racing games published by the little first party company that almost could, but could not quite get over the hill.

ACTION AND ADVENTURE GAMES
Well, of course I need to mention the overrated Sonic Adventure, here, as well as it’s quite good sequel that lives up to the hype, Sonic Adventure 2. Super Magnetic Neo was an interesting take on this genre as well, and it is probably worth playing. But, really, beyond these titles, the Dreamcast did not have a lot to offer in this genre.

SHOOTING GAMES
Well, the much-publicized Dreamcast light gun really did not pan out, because only two games were released that were compatible with it, House of the Dead 2 and Confidential Mission, both arcade ports without a lot of extras added. Well, actually, the former had really no additions, but at least the latter added a school mode of sorts. And, basically, beyond these two light gun titles, normal shooting games do not exist. A port of KOEI’s Winback is all that I recall in the systems short, but eventful, life.

MISCELLANEOUS GAMES
Hey look! We have hit the jackpot! Sega really went for innovation on the Dreamcast. All of the following titles were developed by Sega’s in house teams, were published by Sega: Jet Grind Radio, Samba de Amigo, Crazy Taxi (and it’s sequel), Space Channel 5, and Eighteen Wheeler: American Pro Trucker. These titles really can open the doors for new genres down the line, so to see where these genres down the line will have begun, you will need to get a Dreamcast, now will you not?

PROS
*Greatest console for tournament fighting games on the face of the earth.
*Graphically can still compete with the PlayStation 2, X-Box, and GameCube.
*The birthplace of many new genres that may prove to be immensely popular in the long run.

CONS
*Not enough third party support.
*Avoided sequels to games like NiGHTS and Virtua Cop.
*Too many fanboys were biased against the Dreamcast from the start.

CLOSING STATEMENT
Sega tried their hardest. They really deserved to succeed. Nothing they did could correct those eventually fatal mistakes of their console past. But, even though they may have lacked the third party support from everyone, with the exception of Capcom, they gave it a go, and the go was good enough to warrant a purchase, even if the casual gamer remained a Sony fanboy and waited for the PlayStation 2. Do not miss out because popular opinion attempts to force you to do so. Sega broke the mold, and you can to.

OVERALL--8

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/05/01, Updated 07/18/01