My Dark times with the Dreamcast

 

 

Like most gamers this week I'm more than happy to wish the the Sega Dreamcast a Happy 10th Birthday. I loved things my Dreamcast did for me like giving me some true next gen graphics, online play and a true hardcore gamers line of titles. Unfortunately not everything was all fun and games at times ……

I can remember taking the day off of work to pick up my new Sega console. Everything was pre-ordered and paid for all I had to do was go get it. After picking my Dreamcast I stopped on the way home to pick up some lunch because I didn't want to game on an empty stomach of course.

So I popped in Soul Calibur and was blown away instantly,I knew I had something special here. Things got even more impressive after playing my first game in what was to become the series to dethrone the almighty Madden.  NFL 2K1 was a master piece on both sides of the ball. Hey but what was the deal with not being able to call a timeout if you were the second player though ?

Now I'm ready to get into some serious boxing action with Ready 2 Rumble. Oh wait what's this ….its not working ???? Lets try it again. Nope nothing, lets give it one more shot its sure to work now……again nothing. Well I think we can all remember when The Dreamcast launched there were a few games that just didn't work properly or at all. No biggie I just took it back and got myself another game instead. Well my fellow gamers that was “strike one” for the Dreamcast for me.

I almost hate to admit this but I don't think I had my Dreamcast tens days and I returned after getting a few games that didn't work and was really just not happy with the whole situation that I dealt with. I figured Id buy some games for my PS1 and some new duel analog sticks. I walked out my locale game store was a ton of new PS1 stuff and said to myself “hey the PS2 will be out in a year, I can wait”. Pretty drastic I know .

The fact that I was a Sega Fanboy at the time didn't make long before I had gone out and purchased another Dreamcast a couple months later with a new batch of game. I do need to mention that the Sega Saturn and Sega Rally Championship is the reason I am the gamer I am today. I was Hooked on Sega Rally and played it for hours on end. Fast forward back to the Dreamcast and you can imagine my excitement when Sega Rally 2 finally shipped after many delays here in the states. Honestly I would never need another game after this. That was until I played it anyway. Long story short, I was less the pleased with one aspect of the game and that was the split screen play. My friends and I played the heck out of the first game this way and to find out that Sega Rally 2 was just unplayable this way due to the horrible frame rate in split screen. I was not happy, neither were most of my friends.  “Strike two”.

One thing I realize today is not to try and relive your past gaming experience in sequels or remakes. Take Sega Rally for the Xbox 360 and PS3. While not a bad game it still doesn't measure up to the first game back on the Saturn. This of course leads me to “Strike Three”. Sega’s World Series Baseball franchise “was” and I stress “was” the best in the business at the time until it came out with literally uncontrollable outfielders. Yep it was all up to the A.I. not you. Anyway you can see why this would be my “Strike Three”.

Don't get me wrong here folks I still loved that little white console with the swirl logo and red light on it. I can never forget the first time I played Shenmue. Or going online the for the very first time in NFL 2K1 and Phantasy Star Online. The list goes on with Test Drive Le Mans, Resident Evil Code Veronica, Sonics Adventure, Virtua Tennis and more. So while I may have had some issues in the past with the Dreamcast, deep down inside I still wish to this day  that it had become successful  from a business stand point. For now I just want to say Happy Birthday Dreamcast !

-TX