Sega Dreamcast, a console ahead of its time

The dreamcast in my opinion was one of the best consoles released, and it is ashame it didn't become a huge success. At the time of its release, I feel it was really the first console to truely bring the arcade gaming experience to home consoles. Games like Soul Caliber, Daytona USA, House of Dead, Sega Bass Fishing(and this list could go on and on) played and looked just like their arcade counterparts. it tried to break into the online gaming scene, however, I think the reason it did not succeed was due to high speed internet technology not being as afforable and available back then as it is today.

Some of my best gaming experiences where on that console. Sonic Adventure and Sonice Adventure 2 were very successful in taking the sonic series into 3D gameplay. My friends and I spend hours competing against each other in games like Sega Rally 2 and Daytona Championship. Marvel versus Capcom 2, what an incredible 2D competetive fighter, my friends and I used to have tournamnets against each other on the weekends.

Does anyone else feel like the Dreamcast was one of the best consoles released to date? Anyone else feel it was a console ahead of its time? What are some of your favorite dreamcast gaming memories?

The Dreamcast was the first system I ever bought with my own money. The first thing I played on it was the
demo disc. I was instantly hooked. Sonic blew my mind I had never seen anything like that before.
The speed along with the amazing graphics made me want more.

So I went out the next day and bought Sonic, house of the dead with the gun and NFL 2k all three to this
day are amazing games.

Then came the day that changed my life (as far as gaming goes) forever. The day my friend let me borrow
his copy of Shenmue. I will never forget my first play-through of Shenmue. It was surreal. The game itself
is in my top ten all time games. Then I got NHL 2k series and the NBA 2k series and how could i forget
SEGA BASS FISHING! lol

I love this system it was way ahead of its time, It sucks it didn't catch on but maybe the fact that it didn't
catch on makes the system more special.

Dreamcast was indeed a good system , some of my favourite games on it are Dead Or Alive 2, Virtua Fighter 3tb , Shenmue 2 and Resident Evil Code Veronica.

it also has the best versions of Resident Evil 2 and 3.

the only issue for me is the controller, I hate it, its bulky, and the D-pad sucks, at least for fighting games.

and Im not sure if its common or just in my Dreamcast, but the CD drive is very loud and sounds like a small jet fighter taking off, I have to turn up the volume on the TV a bit just to hear it better because of it.

The dreamcast in my opinion was one of the best consoles released, and it is ashame it didn't become a huge success. At the time of its release, I feel it was really the first console to truely bring the arcade gaming experience to home consoles. Games like Soul Caliber, Daytona USA, House of Dead, Sega Bass Fishing(and this list could go on and on) played and looked just like their arcade counterparts. it tried to break into the online gaming scene, however, I think the reason it did not succeed was due to high speed internet technology not being as afforable and available back then as it is today.

Some of my best gaming experiences where on that console. Sonic Adventure and Sonice Adventure 2 were very successful in taking the sonic series into 3D gameplay. My friends and I spend hours competing against each other in games like Sega Rally 2 and Daytona Championship. Marvel versus Capcom 2, what an incredible 2D competetive fighter, my friends and I used to have tournamnets against each other on the weekends.

Does anyone else feel like the Dreamcast was one of the best consoles released to date? Anyone else feel it was a console ahead of its time? What are some of your favorite dreamcast gaming memories?

TheRaiderNation

I think it was one of the best consoles ever released. My cousin and I used to play it all the time.

The Dreamcast was the first system I ever bought with my own money. The first thing I played on it was the
demo disc. I was instantly hooked. Sonic blew my mind I had never seen anything like that before.
The speed along with the amazing graphics made me want more.

So I went out the next day and bought Sonic, house of the dead with the gun and NFL 2k all three to this
day are amazing games.

Then came the day that changed my life (as far as gaming goes) forever. The day my friend let me borrow
his copy of Shenmue. I will never forget my first play-through of Shenmue. It was surreal. The game itself
is in my top ten all time games. Then I got NHL 2k series and the NBA 2k series and how could i forget
SEGA BASS FISHING! lol

I love this system it was way ahead of its time, It sucks it didn't catch on but maybe the fact that it didn't
catch on makes the system more special.

JopaGeri

The dreamcast also was the first system I bought with my own money (well sort of my own money, mainly money I got from Christmas).

I remembering one of my friends convincing me to buy Shenmue, and I could not stop playing that game once I put it into my system. I was felt like I was a part of the game's atmosphere when I was playing through it the first time.

I loved both Sonic Adventure games, I had never played such fast paced, high-octane 3D games in my life.

The NFL 2k series was the most realistic football game I had ever played up until that point and I was amazed by the graphics as well as the great presentation.

I loved the SEGA fishing games. I spent hours playing Sega Bass Fishing and Sega Marine Fishing, the gameplay was just so solid and fun.

Well it certainly was the most attractive console in 2000, despite the hype PS2 was getting.

Soul Calibur actually looked better on the DC than in the arcades and the console pioneered console online gaming (if not started).

Games like Shenmue were really good and innovative too.

Suposedly, Sega ran out of money to compete with the PS2 and went third party.

[QUOTE="TheRaiderNation"]

The dreamcast in my opinion was one of the best consoles released, and it is ashame it didn't become a huge success. At the time of its release, I feel it was really the first console to truely bring the arcade gaming experience to home consoles. Games like Soul Caliber, Daytona USA, House of Dead, Sega Bass Fishing(and this list could go on and on) played and looked just like their arcade counterparts. it tried to break into the online gaming scene, however, I think the reason it did not succeed was due to high speed internet technology not being as afforable and available back then as it is today.

Some of my best gaming experiences where on that console. Sonic Adventure and Sonice Adventure 2 were very successful in taking the sonic series into 3D gameplay. My friends and I spend hours competing against each other in games like Sega Rally 2 and Daytona Championship. Marvel versus Capcom 2, what an incredible 2D competetive fighter, my friends and I used to have tournamnets against each other on the weekends.

Does anyone else feel like the Dreamcast was one of the best consoles released to date? Anyone else feel it was a console ahead of its time? What are some of your favorite dreamcast gaming memories?

jakandsig

Arcade graphics and online gaming.

[QUOTE="TheRaiderNation"]

The dreamcast in my opinion was one of the best consoles released, and it is ashame it didn't become a huge success. At the time of its release, I feel it was really the first console to truely bring the arcade gaming experience to home consoles. Games like Soul Caliber, Daytona USA, House of Dead, Sega Bass Fishing(and this list could go on and on) played and looked just like their arcade counterparts. it tried to break into the online gaming scene, however, I think the reason it did not succeed was due to high speed internet technology not being as afforable and available back then as it is today.

Some of my best gaming experiences where on that console. Sonic Adventure and Sonice Adventure 2 were very successful in taking the sonic series into 3D gameplay. My friends and I spend hours competing against each other in games like Sega Rally 2 and Daytona Championship. Marvel versus Capcom 2, what an incredible 2D competetive fighter, my friends and I used to have tournamnets against each other on the weekends.

Does anyone else feel like the Dreamcast was one of the best consoles released to date? Anyone else feel it was a console ahead of its time? What are some of your favorite dreamcast gaming memories?

jakandsig

I feel the console was ahead of its time in that it tried to introduce online gaming to the console market. While it was not successful in doing this, it set a blue print for what online gaming is today. It tried to bring the Quake III Arena onlineexperience to the console market. Alienfront online featured the use of headsets for chatting during gaming. Downloadable content was even offered to some online games. None of this took off at the time, but as I mentioned before, I blame a lot of this on the fact that high speed internet was in its infacy, it was largely not thataffordable or available to the core gaming community at the time.

I think the Dreamcast was also one of the first consoles, to reallyt bring the true arcade gaming experience into a home consoles. Games like Soul Caliber, Sega Fishing, Daytona were very close to what was offered in the arcades at that time.

Well, I wouldn't really say it was ahead of it's time, but its potential was astounding. problem is, horrible marketing, poor availability of products, and inconvenient timing destroyed sega. If only the previous couple sega consoles had not been flops, it might still bea four way battle today. I would have to say that the DC was geared towards comic/arcade graphics which were rendered beautifully, but the specs were not ahead of the time, just very up to par.. :P

It was definetly ahead of it's time. Superior graphics, perfect arcade-ports, online gaming, and such a cool physical design. Many of the games were unique and had the distinct Sega style to them, something that is sorely missing in gaming nowadays (yeah Sega still makes games, but they rarely think outside the box anymore). And I just love the VMUs. They're just so cool looking and I wish more games would have used the LCD gaming on the go potential it had.

Unfortunately, Sega was already struggling when Dreamcast came out and the rest is history. What could have been if Sega wasn't hurting so bad from 32X & Saturn. It was Sega themselves that killed Dreamcast.

I feel if Sega hadn't done dropped support, Dreamcast could have still competed in the modern market. The games were unique enough, and the graphics looked just as good as any other early PS2 game. Yeah, the Dreamcast didn't have DVD-playback like PS2, but I REALLY don't feel like that alone would have buried Dreamcast like everyone says. Sega's exclusives were always enough to draw fans before, they still could have. And from what I've heard, Dreamcast did really well in the first couple of years.

im tired of all this ahead of its time bull..

its came out 1998... ps2 came out in 2000

its 2 years ahead of its time....big deal.

the console pioneered console online gaming (if not started).nameless12345

I personally think the Dreamcast was great for its time. Sega could have done much better if they hadn't lost so much money from the Saturn (outside of Japan) and stupid moves like the 32X. The loss of support from third parties like EA certainly didn't help either.

im tired of all this ahead of its time bull..

its came out 1998... ps2 came out in 2000

its 2 years ahead of its time....big deal.

KBFloYd

PS2 didn't have online gaming, at least not for quite a while. Dreamcast was still ahead of PS2 in that regard. Sega was on the online thing during Saturn, and even on the Genesis with the Sega Channel.

It was definetly ahead of it's time. Superior graphics, perfect arcade-ports, online gaming, and such a cool physical design. Many of the games were unique and had the distinct Sega style to them, something that is sorely missing in gaming nowadays (yeah Sega still makes games, but they rarely think outside the box anymore). And I just love the VMUs. They're just so cool looking and I wish more games would have used the LCD gaming on the go potential it had.

Unfortunately, Sega was already struggling when Dreamcast came out and the rest is history. What could have been if Sega wasn't hurting so bad from 32X & Saturn. It was Sega themselves that killed Dreamcast.

I feel if Sega hadn't done dropped support, Dreamcast could have still competed in the modern market. The games were unique enough, and the graphics looked just as good as any other early PS2 game. Yeah, the Dreamcast didn't have DVD-playback like PS2, but I REALLY don't feel like that alone would have buried Dreamcast like everyone says. Sega's exclusives were always enough to draw fans before, they still could have. And from what I've heard, Dreamcast did really well in the first couple of years.

Emerald_Warrior

It was definetly ahead of it's time. Superior graphics, perfect arcade-ports, online gaming, and such a cool physical design. Many of the games were unique and had the distinct Sega style to them, something that is sorely missing in gaming nowadays (yeah Sega still makes games, but they rarely think outside the box anymore). And I just love the VMUs. They're just so cool looking and I wish more games would have used the LCD gaming on the go potential it had.

Unfortunately, Sega was already struggling when Dreamcast came out and the rest is history. What could have been if Sega wasn't hurting so bad from 32X & Saturn. It was Sega themselves that killed Dreamcast.

I feel if Sega hadn't done dropped support, Dreamcast could have still competed in the modern market. The games were unique enough, and the graphics looked just as good as any other early PS2 game. Yeah, the Dreamcast didn't have DVD-playback like PS2, but I REALLY don't feel like that alone would have buried Dreamcast like everyone says. Sega's exclusives were always enough to draw fans before, they still could have. And from what I've heard, Dreamcast did really well in the first couple of years.

Emerald_Warrior

Completely agreed that SEGA ruined itself. SEGA took a blind leap of faith that no other company wanted to take, the technology was there, and leave it to sega to take the leap... lol

Well, with the way they were already struggling from previous failures, marketing "new" technology was not a good move in my opinion. The consumers all knew they tried and failed a couple times before... 3rd strike your out.

And of course SONY, Microsoft, and Nintendo did what everyone seems to be doing these days... wait it out and pounce when something works.

I do agree that some of the games were very new, and imaginative (which I love) all the linear gameplay and thousands of clones make me sick with this generation of consoles. With that being said though sega took way to many chances with the actual consoles they produced.

If only they would have waited it out.... if only...

[QUOTE="ohthemanatee"]the Dreamcast receives too much praise where were all these Dreamcast praisers when Sega needed it?Darkman2007

agreed, back then people ignored the dreamcast completly

now they over-praise it

[QUOTE="ohthemanatee"]the Dreamcast receives too much praise where were all these Dreamcast praisers when Sega needed it?Darkman2007

That's funny, I also thought PS2 was way better back then despite costing nearly double the price of the DC and the launch PS2 games having horribly jaggy graphics :P

It was definetly ahead of it's time. Superior graphics, perfect arcade-ports, online gaming, and such a cool physical design. Many of the games were unique and had the distinct Sega style to them, something that is sorely missing in gaming nowadays (yeah Sega still makes games, but they rarely think outside the box anymore). And I just love the VMUs. They're just so cool looking and I wish more games would have used the LCD gaming on the go potential it had.

Unfortunately, Sega was already struggling when Dreamcast came out and the rest is history. What could have been if Sega wasn't hurting so bad from 32X & Saturn. It was Sega themselves that killed Dreamcast.

I feel if Sega hadn't done dropped support, Dreamcast could have still competed in the modern market. The games were unique enough, and the graphics looked just as good as any other early PS2 game. Yeah, the Dreamcast didn't have DVD-playback like PS2, but I REALLY don't feel like that alone would have buried Dreamcast like everyone says. Sega's exclusives were always enough to draw fans before, they still could have. And from what I've heard, Dreamcast did really well in the first couple of years.

Emerald_Warrior

I agree with you there, the failures of the 32X and Saturn, really hurt the support given to the dreamcast by sega down the stretch. From what I heard the Saturn really hurt Sega finacial, the company suffered huge losses.

Perfect-arcade ports were rare at that time. I was amazed at how many near perfect arcade ports sega produced with the Dreamcast. I always loved the nature of arcade games. They were about dazzling graphics, an adrenaline rush, and fun gameplay.

Also you bring up a very good point. Sega exclusives!! Sega sports, Soul caliber (at the time of its release), the sonic games, house of dead, shemue, and this list could go on and on and on. Sega exclusive games are the reason I went with the dreamcast as my next console purchase. Sega exclusives are the reason I begged my parents to get me a Saturn for Xmas the year it was released (even though the system failed commerically, I enjoyed my years with the saturn as a kid)

[QUOTE="Darkman2007"][QUOTE="ohthemanatee"]the Dreamcast receives too much praise where were all these Dreamcast praisers when Sega needed it?ohthemanatee

agreed, back then people ignored the dreamcast completly

now they over-praise it

I have to agree with you regarding its lack of overwhleming support. At the time, I don't think the dreamcast got all the support and praise it deserved, the PS2 launch overshadowed this system from its inception.

I wouldn't call it over-praise, I think in hindsight, alot of people have now realized the potential this console had.

[QUOTE="Darkman2007"][QUOTE="ohthemanatee"]the Dreamcast receives too much praise where were all these Dreamcast praisers when Sega needed it?ohthemanatee

agreed, back then people ignored the dreamcast completly

now they over-praise it

I did enjoy the Dreamcast back in its day, I had one back in 2000, however I do see your point. I remember having a dreamcast and PSX at the time and I remember my friends telling me to ditch the Dreamcast and stick with the PSX or ditch the dreamcast and wait for PS2. Now everyone praises it for some reason. I donot know if you guys remember from over a year ago where websites such as this one Gamespot had tenth anniversary dreamcast features, but back then I doubt they even really supported the console. Great points!

[QUOTE="ohthemanatee"]

[QUOTE="Darkman2007"] my opinion exactly , back then people dismissed it because "the PS2 will be better", I can remember , yet now, its the best thing since sliced bread apparentlyTheTrueMagusX1

agreed, back then people ignored the dreamcast completly

now they over-praise it

I did enjoy the Dreamcast back in its day, I had one back in 2000, however I do see your point. I remember having a dreamcast and PSX at the time and I remember my friends telling me to ditch the Dreamcast and stick with the PSX or ditch the dreamcast and wait for PS2. Now everyone praises it for some reason. I donot know if you guys remember from over a year ago where websites such as this one Gamespot had tenth anniversary dreamcast features, but back then I doubt they even really supported the console. Great points!

[QUOTE="TheTrueMagusX1"]

[QUOTE="ohthemanatee"]

agreed, back then people ignored the dreamcast completly

now they over-praise it

Darkman2007

I did enjoy the Dreamcast back in its day, I had one back in 2000, however I do see your point. I remember having a dreamcast and PSX at the time and I remember my friends telling me to ditch the Dreamcast and stick with the PSX or ditch the dreamcast and wait for PS2. Now everyone praises it for some reason. I donot know if you guys remember from over a year ago where websites such as this one Gamespot had tenth anniversary dreamcast features, but back then I doubt they even really supported the console. Great points!

Exactly, well put. All three of those consoles are in the same class as the dreamcast, and in some case I think two of them in particular have better games. I love the Tg16 to death but no one in the mass gaming media seems to care about it anymore. It is always SNES or Genesis this or that. The TG16 may not be as known as those two, but it had its own amazing library. And the Saturn was a truly an amazing console, which people donot give enough credit too.

[QUOTE="Darkman2007"][QUOTE="TheTrueMagusX1"]

I did enjoy the Dreamcast back in its day, I had one back in 2000, however I do see your point. I remember having a dreamcast and PSX at the time and I remember my friends telling me to ditch the Dreamcast and stick with the PSX or ditch the dreamcast and wait for PS2. Now everyone praises it for some reason. I donot know if you guys remember from over a year ago where websites such as this one Gamespot had tenth anniversary dreamcast features, but back then I doubt they even really supported the console. Great points!

TheTrueMagusX1

Exactly, well put. All three of those consoles are in the same class as the dreamcast, and in some case I think two of them in particular have better games. I love the Tg16 to death but no one in the mass gaming media seems to care about it anymore. It is always SNES or Genesis this or that. The TG16 may not be as known as those two, but it had its own amazing library. And the Saturn was a truly an amazing console, which people donot give enough credit too.

[QUOTE="TheTrueMagusX1"]

[QUOTE="Darkman2007"] its ironic, the DC gets a 10 year anniversary feature on every games website. where is the TG16 anniversary feature? where is the Gamecube anniverary feature? where is the Saturn anniversary feature?Darkman2007

Exactly, well put. All three of those consoles are in the same class as the dreamcast, and in some case I think two of them in particular have better games. I love the Tg16 to death but no one in the mass gaming media seems to care about it anymore. It is always SNES or Genesis this or that. The TG16 may not be as known as those two, but it had its own amazing library. And the Saturn was a truly an amazing console, which people donot give enough credit too.

That sounds good to me and I can be playing Xenogears on the PSN(For me read the Newest thread I just posted here on Legacy gaming).

[QUOTE="ohthemanatee"]

[QUOTE="Darkman2007"] my opinion exactly , back then people dismissed it because "the PS2 will be better", I can remember , yet now, its the best thing since sliced bread apparentlyTheTrueMagusX1

agreed, back then people ignored the dreamcast completly

now they over-praise it

I did enjoy the Dreamcast back in its day, I had one back in 2000, however I do see your point. I remember having a dreamcast and PSX at the time and I remember my friends telling me to ditch the Dreamcast and stick with the PSX or ditch the dreamcast and wait for PS2. Now everyone praises it for some reason. I donot know if you guys remember from over a year ago where websites such as this one Gamespot had tenth anniversary dreamcast features, but back then I doubt they even really supported the console. Great points!

Interesting you mention this. I remember the day I bought my DC, a lot of my friends were telling me I should have waited for the PS2 to come out. Not many of my friends went with a DC at the time. I even remember one of my friends bought a DC, but sold it a few weeks before the PS2 came out. I did eventually get a PS2, but not until 2002, well after sega cut its support for the Dreamcast. I remember when it first came out, support for the DC was very high, but its dropped as the PS2 launch got closer. Hardly anyone praised the DC when it was out

On a side note, the same exact thing happened when I got the Saturn for Xmas, a lot of my friends were telling me I should have my parents return it for a Playstation.

In regards to the Dreamcast not being popular at the time, I often wonder if the Dreamcast had appeared in an environment like we have now whether it would've done far better, these days everybody is on the internet all the time, many argue all the tech details, websites do high quality video comparisons of every minute detail, archives of reviews are collated all over the place with average critic score etc, I think all these things probably would've diffused the hype for the PS2 to some level.

Back in the day most people honestly thought that the PS2 was hugely superior to the Dreamcast tech wise, 70 million polygons vs 3 million LMAO, these days there'd be an internet argument, followed by a link to some comparison on a website showing PS2 jaggies and missing shadow and lighting effects in multi-formats, and a lot of peope would've possibly changed their minds.

because the Mega Drive and N64 were not very popular in Japan as far as I know. oh wellDarkman2007

[QUOTE="TheTrueMagusX1"]

[QUOTE="ohthemanatee"]

agreed, back then people ignored the dreamcast completly

now they over-praise it

TheRaiderNation

I did enjoy the Dreamcast back in its day, I had one back in 2000, however I do see your point. I remember having a dreamcast and PSX at the time and I remember my friends telling me to ditch the Dreamcast and stick with the PSX or ditch the dreamcast and wait for PS2. Now everyone praises it for some reason. I donot know if you guys remember from over a year ago where websites such as this one Gamespot had tenth anniversary dreamcast features, but back then I doubt they even really supported the console. Great points!

Interesting you mention this. I remember the day I bought my DC, a lot of my friends were telling me I should have waited for the PS2 to come out. Not many of my friends went with a DC at the time. I even remember one of my friends bought a DC, but sold it a few weeks before the PS2 came out. I did eventually get a PS2, but not until 2002, well after sega cut its support for the Dreamcast. I remember when it first came out, support for the DC was very high, but its dropped as the PS2 launch got closer. Hardly anyone praised the DC when it was out

On a side note, the same exact thing happened when I got the Saturn for Xmas, a lot of my friends were telling me I should have my parents return it for a Playstation.

Exactly, thats how it was back in those days. Its funny as you have people proclaim the Dreamcast as the greatest game console ver made, but you go back ten years ago and those same people would of dogged on it. I always loved the Dreamcast, but its odd how people ahve changed their tune on that console completely. Unfortunatley the Saturn never got that treatment, and I feel in some regards it deserves it more than the Dreamcast. Dare I say that??/

not only was DC a great console but its launch titles were better. 2 games is all i need to answer NFL2K and POWER STONE.mvzqs

How can you bring up the Dreamcast's launch titles without mentioning Soul Calibur or Sonic Adventure? :roll:

In regards to the Dreamcast not being popular at the time, I often wonder if the Dreamcast had appeared in an environment like we have now whether it would've done far better, these days everybody is on the internet all the time, many argue all the tech details, websites do high quality video comparisons of every minute detail, archives of reviews are collated all over the place with average critic score etc, I think all these things probably would've diffused the hype for the PS2 to some level.

Back in the day most people honestly thought that the PS2 was hugely superior to the Dreamcast tech wise, 70 million polygons vs 3 million LMAO, these days there'd be an internet argument, followed by a link to some comparison on a website showing PS2 jaggies and missing shadow and lighting effects in multi-formats, and a lot of peope would've possibly changed their minds.

[QUOTE="Darkman2007"]because the Mega Drive and N64 were not very popular in Japan as far as I know. oh wellDomino_slayer

I didn't realize the Dreamcast was unpopular. Me and all my friends had one. Quake III: Arena, Unreal Tournament, Marvel vs. Capcom, and Shenmue were enough to convince us to snatch those suckers up. We played the heck out of the first 3 with each other, then went home and played Shenmue.

I didn't realize the Dreamcast was unpopular. Me and all my friends had one. Quake III: Arena, Unreal Tournament, Marvel vs. Capcom, and Shenmue were enough to convince us to snatch those suckers up. We played the heck out of the first 3 with each other, then went home and played Shenmue.

Emerald_Warrior

I didn't realize the Dreamcast was unpopular. Me and all my friends had one. Quake III: Arena, Unreal Tournament, Marvel vs. Capcom, and Shenmue were enough to convince us to snatch those suckers up. We played the heck out of the first 3 with each other, then went home and played Shenmue.

Emerald_Warrior

How could i have forgotten about Quake III: Arena I love that game... so many hours put into it

In regards to the Dreamcast not being popular at the time, I often wonder if the Dreamcast had appeared in an environment like we have now whether it would've done far better, these days everybody is on the internet all the time, many argue all the tech details, websites do high quality video comparisons of every minute detail, archives of reviews are collated all over the place with average critic score etc, I think all these things probably would've diffused the hype for the PS2 to some level.

Back in the day most people honestly thought that the PS2 was hugely superior to the Dreamcast tech wise, 70 million polygons vs 3 million LMAO, these days there'd be an internet argument, followed by a link to some comparison on a website showing PS2 jaggies and missing shadow and lighting effects in multi-formats, and a lot of peope would've possibly changed their minds.

[QUOTE="Darkman2007"]because the Mega Drive and N64 were not very popular in Japan as far as I know. oh wellDomino_slayer

You raise a good point. I too often wonder if the hype machine was debunked more if the results would be different. I can remember back then that on these forums everyone was drinking the kool aid talking about CGI PS2 graphics and great online play.

DC was ahead of its time because of

competitive online play

downloadable content

first console rhythm game

movie player

VMU interactivity

web browsing on a console

[QUOTE="Domino_slayer"]

In regards to the Dreamcast not being popular at the time, I often wonder if the Dreamcast had appeared in an environment like we have now whether it would've done far better, these days everybody is on the internet all the time, many argue all the tech details, websites do high quality video comparisons of every minute detail, archives of reviews are collated all over the place with average critic score etc, I think all these things probably would've diffused the hype for the PS2 to some level.

Back in the day most people honestly thought that the PS2 was hugely superior to the Dreamcast tech wise, 70 million polygons vs 3 million LMAO, these days there'd be an internet argument, followed by a link to some comparison on a website showing PS2 jaggies and missing shadow and lighting effects in multi-formats, and a lot of peope would've possibly changed their minds.

[QUOTE="Darkman2007"]because the Mega Drive and N64 were not very popular in Japan as far as I know. oh wellsayyy-gaa

You raise a good point. I too often wonder if the hype machine was debunked more if the results would be different. I can remember back then that on these forums everyone was drinking the kool aid talking about CGI PS2 graphics and great online play.

DC was ahead of its time because of

competitive online play

downloadable content

first console rhythm game

movie player

VMU interactivity

web browsing on a console

as they say in mma it was pound for pound the best system ever released. no better hardware could've been acquired for the prize of the dreamcast. also it had quantity/quality wise the best game library on any console. also it was the biggest step graphically ever in any new generation of consoles. the dreamcast leap over psx/n64 and saturn was crazy. I will never forget and neither will anyone who had one back then of how amazing it lookded. I remember reports from people at tokyo game sow 99 after a demo release of shenmue and journalists just said this can't be in game graphics what we saw.

[QUOTE="jakandsig"][QUOTE="TheRaiderNation"]

The dreamcast in my opinion was one of the best consoles released, and it is ashame it didn't become a huge success. At the time of its release, I feel it was really the first console to truely bring the arcade gaming experience to home consoles. Games like Soul Caliber, Daytona USA, House of Dead, Sega Bass Fishing(and this list could go on and on) played and looked just like their arcade counterparts. it tried to break into the online gaming scene, however, I think the reason it did not succeed was due to high speed internet technology not being as afforable and available back then as it is today.

Some of my best gaming experiences where on that console. Sonic Adventure and Sonice Adventure 2 were very successful in taking the sonic series into 3D gameplay. My friends and I spend hours competing against each other in games like Sega Rally 2 and Daytona Championship. Marvel versus Capcom 2, what an incredible 2D competetive fighter, my friends and I used to have tournamnets against each other on the weekends.

Does anyone else feel like the Dreamcast was one of the best consoles released to date? Anyone else feel it was a console ahead of its time? What are some of your favorite dreamcast gaming memories?

TheRaiderNation

I feel the console was ahead of its time in that it tried to introduce online gaming to the console market. While it was not successful in doing this, it set a blue print for what online gaming is today. It tried to bring the Quake III Arena onlineexperience to the console market. Alienfront online featured the use of headsets for chatting during gaming. Downloadable content was even offered to some online games. None of this took off at the time, but as I mentioned before, I blame a lot of this on the fact that high speed internet was in its infacy, it was largely not thataffordable or available to the core gaming community at the time.

I think the Dreamcast was also one of the first consoles, to reallyt bring the true arcade gaming experience into a home consoles. Games like Soul Caliber, Sega Fishing, Daytona were very close to what was offered in the arcades at that time.

what do you mean it was not succesful in doing this?? phantasy star online was played online by over a million players worldwide, totally unheard of at that time.

the Dreamcast receives too much praise where were all these Dreamcast praisers when Sega needed it?ohthemanatee

it's like vincent van gogh was ridiculed in his time. geniuses will get approval, often only much too late. just look at the ebay prizes for many of the top saturn games nowadays

I didn't realize the Dreamcast was unpopular. Me and all my friends had one. Quake III: Arena, Unreal Tournament, Marvel vs. Capcom, and Shenmue were enough to convince us to snatch those suckers up. We played the heck out of the first 3 with each other, then went home and played Shenmue.

Emerald_Warrior

it wasn't. dreamcast had by far the most succesful launch of any console in history at that time. dreamcast games were dominating the vg charts until the summer of 2000 when dreamcast got hacked in hong kong because sega was stupid enough to remove their copy protection(as it was too hard to hack and sega felt it would never be hacked they removed it). within 2 months the dreamcast piracy scene became bigger than that of the psx and when ps2 was released it hurt, although mostly in japan. dreancast really took a dive when in march 2001 sega announced they had stopped manufacturing dc's and would not restart anymore.

[QUOTE="TheRaiderNation"]

[QUOTE="jakandsig"] Ahead of its time? In what way?bultje112

I feel the console was ahead of its time in that it tried to introduce online gaming to the console market. While it was not successful in doing this, it set a blue print for what online gaming is today. It tried to bring the Quake III Arena onlineexperience to the console market. Alienfront online featured the use of headsets for chatting during gaming. Downloadable content was even offered to some online games. None of this took off at the time, but as I mentioned before, I blame a lot of this on the fact that high speed internet was in its infacy, it was largely not thataffordable or available to the core gaming community at the time.

I think the Dreamcast was also one of the first consoles, to reallyt bring the true arcade gaming experience into a home consoles. Games like Soul Caliber, Sega Fishing, Daytona were very close to what was offered in the arcades at that time.

what do you mean it was not succesful in doing this?? phantasy star online was played online by over a million players worldwide, totally unheard of at that time.

I was unaware that phantasy star online had such a huge following at the time. You are right that was unheard of at the time. Unfortunately at the time I got the dreamcast, I still had a dial-up connection. While it did work for some onlines games, it was not reliable and I would often time out. A good friend of mine had high speed connection and we used to play Quake III arena all the time.

as they say in mma it was pound for pound the best system ever released. no better hardware could've been acquired for the prize of the dreamcast. also it had quantity/quality wise the best game library on any console. also it was the biggest step graphically ever in any new generation of consoles. the dreamcast leap over psx/n64 and saturn was crazy. I will never forget and neither will anyone who had one back then of how amazing it lookded. I remember reports from people at tokyo game sow 99 after a demo release of shenmue and journalists just said this can't be in game graphics what we saw.

bultje112

I disagree with the bold. I think the graphical jump from SNES to N64 was much bigger than from Saturn to Dreamcast. Just compare Super Mario World graphics with Super Mario 64 graphics. Even if we include Donkey Kong Country and Star Fox, the jump from SNES to N64 was still huge, and not just in a graphical way.

I do agree, however, that Dreamcast was the first console with actually pretty 3D graphics. There were some good attempts on the 5th gen consoles, but it was the DC that really showed what modern consoles could do.

To give a better idea of the graphics jump:

SNES to N64:

Saturn to Dreamcast:

The dreamcast was the premature baby of the 6th generation. It came out way too early, only just had better gfx than the 5th generation no DVD player, not a great games library, and then it died :( .

It did have online though .. it gets 1 point for that.

[QUOTE="bultje112"]

as they say in mma it was pound for pound the best system ever released. no better hardware could've been acquired for the prize of the dreamcast. also it had quantity/quality wise the best game library on any console. also it was the biggest step graphically ever in any new generation of consoles. the dreamcast leap over psx/n64 and saturn was crazy. I will never forget and neither will anyone who had one back then of how amazing it lookded. I remember reports from people at tokyo game sow 99 after a demo release of shenmue and journalists just said this can't be in game graphics what we saw.

nameless12345

I disagree with the bold. I think the graphical jump from SNES to N64 was much bigger than from Saturn to Dreamcast. Just compare Super Mario World graphics with Super Mario 64 graphics. Even if we include Donkey Kong Country and Star Fox, the jump from SNES to N64 was still huge, and not just in a graphical way.

I do agree, however, that Dreamcast was the first console with actually pretty 3D graphics. There were some good attempts on the 5th gen consoles, but it was the DC that really showed what modern consoles could do

there was never a jump from snes to n64. before that we had 3do,psx and saturn and 2 years later n64. the graphical jump from snes to psx/saturn was huge, but not as huge as psx/saturn n64 to dreamcast imo. the dreamcast was the first console on which you would have trouble to see whether it was real or game. maybe seem laughable today bit it was back then.

to me it was the first and only generation switch in which your jaw would be attached to the floor for months. dreamcast surpassed in terms of graphics any high end pc at that time. I remember an interview with yuji naka asking him wether there would be a pc port of sonic adventure and he said no, no pc can handle these kind of graphics yet. nec graphics chip was better than anything voodoo could do at that time.

[QUOTE="nameless12345"]

[QUOTE="bultje112"]

as they say in mma it was pound for pound the best system ever released. no better hardware could've been acquired for the prize of the dreamcast. also it had quantity/quality wise the best game library on any console. also it was the biggest step graphically ever in any new generation of consoles. the dreamcast leap over psx/n64 and saturn was crazy. I will never forget and neither will anyone who had one back then of how amazing it lookded. I remember reports from people at tokyo game sow 99 after a demo release of shenmue and journalists just said this can't be in game graphics what we saw.

bultje112

I disagree with the bold. I think the graphical jump from SNES to N64 was much bigger than from Saturn to Dreamcast. Just compare Super Mario World graphics with Super Mario 64 graphics. Even if we include Donkey Kong Country and Star Fox, the jump from SNES to N64 was still huge, and not just in a graphical way.

I do agree, however, that Dreamcast was the first console with actually pretty 3D graphics. There were some good attempts on the 5th gen consoles, but it was the DC that really showed what modern consoles could do

there was never a jump from snes to n64. before that we had 3do,psx and saturn and 2 years later n64. the graphical jump from snes to psx/saturn was huge, but not as huge as psx/saturn n64 to dreamcast imo. the dreamcast was the first console on which you would have trouble to see whether it was real or game. maybe seem laughable today bit it was back then.

to me it was the first and only generation switch in which your jaw would be attached to the floor for months. dreamcast surpassed in terms of graphics any high end pc at that time. I remember an interview with yuji naka asking him wether there would be a pc port of sonic adventure and he said no, no pc can handle these kind of graphics yet. nec graphics chip was better than anything voodoo could do at that time.

The jump from 16-bit console to 32 and 64-bit ones was bigger because it was the jump from 2D to 3D. So yeah, there were a few 3D games on the 16-bit consoles too, but they were all very simple and slow. Mario 64 was a small revolution when it came out. Sonic Adventure could have worked on the Saturn too if they used less polygons while Mario 64 would be simply too much for any 16-bit console.

It's also not true that PC couldn't compete with Dreamcast. A high-end PC from 1999 could produce better graphics than Dreamcast.