"Destined To Be The Bright Spot Between Two Sony Juggernauts... And Minty Fresh Too!"

The Dreamcast will probably go down in history as an underrated console, much like the Sega CD, another Sega product. Notice a trend here? A system is released to great fanfare by Sega, only to be killed due to a lack of support. It's then on to the next big thing. Except in the case of the Dreamcast, since it was the last big thing.

Why will it be known as an underrated system? Well, there's more than a few great titles available for the Dreamcast that are exclusive. Games like Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Skies of Arcadia, and the entire lineup of Sega Sports games are standouts. In addition, the Dreamcast provided a good testing ground for some of the better series out there, such as NBA2K, Crazy Taxi, and Shenmue.

The Dreamcast also gets points for being the first console to make a strong effort in the area of online gaming. It was the first console to offer online gaming with a built-in modem (the X-Band modem was an add-on for the SNES and Genesis, not a standard device, and only in limited areas). It also oversaw the launch of the first successful online-only game for a console, Phantasy Star Online.

With all these things going for it, why did the Dreamcast fail? There's several reasons. First, many consumers were saving up for the Playstation 2. Much like when the 32X was released, many gamers were unwilling to spend money when they knew something better was looming on the horizon.

A lot of people were also turned off by Sega's past history. They had a history of supporting systems well at the beginning of their lifespan with a bevy of ads and games, until finally trailing off and abadoaning it in favor of the next big thing. This happened with every system Sega released - the Genesis, Sega CD, Game Gear, 32X, and Saturn. And then finally, the Dreamcast.

Sega also didn't seem to realize that they weren't even a player in the next war of systems, the post-Playstation era (i.e. Playstation 2, Gamecube, and X-Box). The Dreamcast was a very late participant of the Nintendo 64 and Playstation 1 battle. They picked up the ball of second wheel to Sony when the Nintendo 64's sales continued to falter. Sega should have concentrated more on cutting into the Playstation 1's user base then trying to compete with the vastly superior Playstation 2 head-to-head.

The Dreamcast can currently be found cheap, fifty bucks brand new at Toys R Us. However, most of the better games (Skies of Arcaida and Marvel vs. Capcom 2) cost more than the system itself. Despite this, the price of Dreamcast gaming is worth it. There's a lot of gems in the Dreamcast library.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/15/02, Updated 04/15/02