9-9-99, 20 years on - Dreamcast 20th

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9-9-99, 20 years on - Dreamcast 20th

Post by F308GTB »

If not for the date of Dreamcast launch, I would have forgotten. It’s hard to believe that 20 years ago the Dreamcast launched in America. It is with a bit of irony that today I am on my way to Palmdale, California area for work, as exactly 20 years ago I had to go out to that area for work as well, albeit for completely different stuff. Then it was to support some flight tests of an experimental vehicle. I spent hot days under the wing of a B-52 helping to prep our vehicle for either captive carry or drop tests, and the nights filling time. One of those nights was 9-9-99, and as soon as I was done for the day at what was then the Dryden Flight Research Center, I hightailed it over to Palmdale and the nearest Best Buy just to see if they had any Dreamcasts in stock. Mind you, I had one on reserve back in Houston. I actually had been experiencing the joys of the Dreamcast for several months, having purchased a Japanese Dreamcast over the summer at a local video game store. On one trip to visit my family in Dallas, I happened into a shop and snagged an import copy of Get Bass and the fishing controller.

Despite owning the Japanese Dreamcast, coming back to the hotel with the American one in hand, along with NFL2K, Hydro Thunder, and a couple of other games, was awesome. I immediately hooked it up to the TV in my hotel room for a night of fun. When I got back home, it was more games to buy and years of entertainment. Subsequent trips to places like Japan always had me running to Tokyo to hunt for interesting Japanese games on the front and back streets of Akihabara. Or the night I drove home from work with a copy of Seaman and the “Sunkist Tuna” store display can. Both the game and can freaked my wife out, and to this day she has an expression for things she finds creepy – “man fish” (the term applies when she sees characters from "The Thunderbirds").

Even after all these years, I still turn to the Dreamcast now and again, as some games have stood the test of time. Emulators like ReDream have meant I can preserve the integrity of my US and Japanese DCs and play my favorites on the PC with no hitches. I see many years ahead still to enjoy with Sega’s failures.

Some of my favorite DC games:

Imports
1. Giant Gram – just a great wrestling game
2. House of the Dead 2 – none of this green blood crap, but just good old red blood and a light gun; it’s too bad I no longer have a tube television to play the game properly
3. Sega Rally II – this was one of the games I got when I purchased the Japanese DC in the summer 1999, and I was floored
4. Tokyo Bus Guide – strange, relaxing, completely Japanese. What’s not great about driving a bus around Tokyo?
5. Aero Dancing – this was Aerowings in the US, and it satisfied my thirst for a flight game. It was also one of the games I got with my import Dreamcast

Domestic
1. Crazy Taxi – One of the memories of my time out at Edwards AFB/DFRC was going to the EAFB Commissary and tossing a few quarters in the arcade Crazy Taxi machine. Was jazzed when it made it to my television
2. F355 – Another one with fond memories of playing the arcade version. On my first trip to Tokyo in 2001, there was a F355 machine in the bowling area of the hotel, and I was in heaven. I’ve actually been playing F355 a bit via ReDream, even using my Thrustmaster TS-PC, and despite modern PC sims blowing it away in terms of depth, there’s still something about the sounds of the game that keeps this one in a special place for me.
3. NFL2K – come on, who couldn’t be blown away the first time they played this?
4. Samba de Amigo – this was the point of entry for music games for me. At one point I had two sets of maracas, and still have one set.
5. Tokyo Xtreme Racer – fun, fun, fun. Sure the early cars handling was a bit wonky, but as you progressed through the game, the driving got tighter and more intense. It was one of those games, like the original Gran Turismo on the Playstation, that kept me up late at night wanting to do “just one more race”
6. Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram – fun mech fighter
7. Vanishing Point – another game with wonky driving physics for the early cars and trucks, but once you got pass trucks like the Ford Ranger (has the Ranger appeared in any other games?), things tightened up
8. Virtua Tennis – great game to play with the official Dreamcast joystick, which I have to this day. That stick is a fantastic peripheral
9. Metropolis Street Racer – at the time I thought it was just a fun racer. Who knew that it would spawn one of my favorite racing series of all time, Project Gotham. It is a shame Bizarre Creations is no more.
10. Gunbird 2 – I am a fan of shooters, and Gunbird 2 does not disappoint
11. Mars Matrix – another great shooter
12. Space Channel 5 – the visuals for this game were second to none, and the music had me hooked from the start. Years ago I was at a local Houston music store (Soundwaves), which back then was great for vinyl and CDs. Browsing through the bins was a new copy of a 12 inch “Space Channel 5 – Mexican Flyer”. Bought it on the spot and it still sits in my collection.

Happy 20th Dreamcast!

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Re: 9-9-99, 20 years on - Dreamcast 20th

Post by Wilk5280 »

A console ahead of its time and one that opened my eyes to games outside of the sports gaming genre.

Some of my favorites included:
- NFL 2K1 (first taste of online h2h against random opponents kept me up many a night)
- Jet Set Radio
- Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
- Phantasy Star Online
- Sega Rally II
- Daytona USA
- Crazy Taxi
- F355
- Soul Calibur
- RE - Code: Veronica

Can't believe it's been 20 years, that's just insane to me.
Last edited by Wilk5280 on Tue Dec 03, 2019 6:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 9-9-99, 20 years on - Dreamcast 20th

Post by dbdynsty25 »

Still my favorite console to date. By far the biggest jump in visual quality and it started the online gaming generation. RIP (tho I still have mine in the garage, because I can't get rid of it).

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Re: 9-9-99, 20 years on - Dreamcast 20th

Post by Zeppo »

“Welcome back, to the stage of History!” Soul Calibre was a revelation to me. Very different style of fighting game from the Street Fighter on the SNES we had played so much.

And Toy Commander! I probably put more time into that game than any other on the DreamCast, except maybe NFL 2K. Wow, it’s crazy it was 20 years ago.

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Re: 9-9-99, 20 years on - Dreamcast 20th

Post by AcemanPR »

I remember taking the day off work and waiting in line at 6am at Babbages to pick up that console. Definitely one of the best ever, also introduced us to online gaming. Phantasy Star Online caused me to be up past 3am on many nights! Speed Devils Online was so fun! Was blown away by Soul Calibur's graphics on launch day. Just a fun console that never got a real chance to take roots.

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Re: 9-9-99, 20 years on - Dreamcast 20th

Post by dbdynsty25 »

AcemanPR wrote:I remember taking the day off work and waiting in line at 6am at Babbages to pick up that console. Definitely one of the best ever, also introduced us to online gaming. Phantasy Star Online caused me to be up past 3am on many nights! Speed Devils Online was so fun! Was blown away by Soul Calibur's graphics on launch day. Just a fun console that never got a real chance to take roots.
Damn I completely forgot about Speed Devils. That game was sooooo awesome!

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Re: 9-9-99, 20 years on - Dreamcast 20th

Post by greggsand »

Seaman!!!
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Re: 9-9-99, 20 years on - Dreamcast 20th

Post by vader29 »

Seeing NFL2K running at a kiosk in Electronics Boutique in the mall is what sold me on the system. F355, Virtua Tennis and Ready to Rumble were my other favorite games from that system.
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Re: 9-9-99, 20 years on - Dreamcast 20th

Post by Rodster »

The Dreamcast had some of the most influential and memorable games on any console I can remember. Someone mentioned Seaman, Shenmue was another game on that list. One game that was overlooked was Aero Wings (becoming a stunt pilot).

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Re: 9-9-99, 20 years on - Dreamcast 20th

Post by Diablo25 »

Awesome console. Perhaps my most anticipated console launch ever. The only time I ever went to a midnight release was for my Dreamcast :D It was the first week of school at the school where I teach and it was my first year teaching. I remember standing in line at EB at like 11:30 thinking to myself, “ you are supposed to be an adult, with a job and responsibilities, and you are standing in line for a gaming console on a school night.” HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Loved it. NFL2K was the s***.
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Re: 9-9-99, 20 years on - Dreamcast 20th

Post by JOZ »

Add Sega Bass Fishing to the list of games already mentioned. This and NFL 2K are the reason I drove to the other side of town to pick mine up a day or two after it launched. Picked up the fishing controller as well, which I believe was a first for consoles.

As good as NFL and NBA were, the MLB games were awful. Which sucked since the MLB games for the Saturn were so good.

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Re: 9-9-99, 20 years on - Dreamcast 20th

Post by 10spro »

Oh the NFL2K game looked so good and played so smoothly didn’t it? At one point I thought the controller was out of space as if you were controlling a drone today but what a cool design. Played the heck of the Virtua Tennis series, along Crazy Taxi. Shenmue looked like the best looking game ever although it had a boring character and ‘Ready to Rumble’ were among my favorites.

Unfortunate that piracy killed the console. Good memories.

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Re: 9-9-99, 20 years on - Dreamcast 20th

Post by pk500 »

Still my favorite console. No machine or gaming library has blown my mind more. James' list of titles in the original post mirrors many of my faves, too.

The DC was so far ahead of its time. It was the Tucker automobile of consoles.
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Re: 9-9-99, 20 years on - Dreamcast 20th

Post by tjung0831 »

I've still got mine....there was a company still making games for it not that long ago.
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Re: 9-9-99, 20 years on - Dreamcast 20th

Post by Jimmydeicide »

No one is going to mention Nhl 2k? 2k2 was it wiith Bob Miller commentating which went on to be 2k3 on All new gen consoles , probably still the best hockey game ever.
Nhl 2k2 was a joy to play on the Dreamcast controller, both console and game where ahead of their time. Treyarch should never have passed it on.

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Re: 9-9-99, 20 years on - Dreamcast 20th

Post by Wilk5280 »

Pulled out the Dreamcast with the DCHDMI mod again recently. Somehow I never knew that there was a code that locked the framerate in Sega Rally 2 at 30fPS. The way the game shipped it would try to run at 60fps and constantly bounce between 30 and 60, slowing down and making for a not-so-great experience. Tried the code out, and while I remember enjoying the game back in the day, it's really a more enjoyable experience with the locked framerate.

I always enjoy going back with the original Crazy Taxi as well with its soundtrack.

Seems like the Dreamcast is the console that won't die. Every time I get all nostalgic I go running to the DC.

- Sega Rally 2
- Daytona
- F355
- MSR
- THPS2
- Crazy Taxi
- Jet Set Radio
- Sega Bass Fishing
- PSO
- VT

The list goes on and on it seems. I truly miss that generation and wish Sega would do a Model 3 collection for current systems
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Re: 9-9-99, 20 years on - Dreamcast 20th

Post by F308GTB »

Hadn't heard of the DCHDMI mod. Will have to think about it. I do have a VGA cable to play on an old 4:3 VGA monitor, but not all games are compatible. Those that are look great. What I really miss is a tube TV. I desperately want to play my light gun games.

Still have ReDream on my PC to emulate games, but with the Steam Deck I've taken my love of Dreamcast on the go. The emulation has been a godsend as it open up some shmups I hadn't played before.

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