Dreamcast turns 18 today

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SomeGuyWithASega
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Dreamcast turns 18 today

Post#1 » Sat Sep 09, 2017 9:56 pm

One of my favourite game systems, the Sega Dreamcast, turns 18 today. Although it was originally released on 27 November 1998 in Japan, 9/9/99 is the more memorable date, so I go by that.

The Dreamcast started strong in the last quarter of 1999, but shortly had been tied to the tracks of the PlayStation 2 hype train, losing a significant amount of its appeal. Even with a great library of titles and unique and pioneering features, Sega discontinued the system in March of 2001, not even 18 months since its release, and switched to being a third-party company releasing games for the competing consoles.

Despite its failure in the market, the Dreamcast gained a cult following thanks to new developers making independent homebrew games for it and keeping it alive, even to this day. PC Magazine names it as the greatest console of all time, and IGN names it the 8th best console in their Top 25 list.

Now, do I think it's the best? Well, no, but certainly in the top 3 for me. I've had many great experiences with the system, like raising Chao in Sonic Adventure, trying to get the high score in Crazy Taxi, making unrealistic teams in 2K1, raging at the sheer difficulty of getting A ranks in SA2, and crashing planes in AeroWings' free flight mode. I never got online with it though, since nobody used phone lines when I got it (2014). Now that there's things like DreamPi, I might get online someday.

Even if I never get online or do anything really cool with it, I will always remember the Dreamcast and thank it for all of the great times it's provided over the years, for me and many others.


"Many hardware manufacturers have come and gone, but it's unlikely any will go out with half as much class as Sega."

-Travis Fahs, IGN

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Bob Dobbs
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Re: Dreamcast turns 18 today

Post#2 » Sat Sep 09, 2017 10:57 pm

The Dreamcast has been in my family since my children can remember. Starting with the year my wife made me buy it as a Christmas gift for Radkin (former moderator here at DC-Talk). She loved it so much as a single digit kid that she pulled me into the console with her enthusiasm. Later, this became her first access to the internet as I did not want to give her a PC at her age yet. My other 'younger' children never had a day in their life without seeing a Dreamcast somewhere in the house (it's in four rooms including two in the living room). As PC Mag said, 'it was the best console ever made for any one generation' (can't beat the use we still get out it today and check out the value of the VMU when playing Sonic Shuffle or NFL2k2 with others). Let's face it, in short, the Dreamcast made the other consoles step up their game (except maybe Pretendough, lol)!

I thought I'd never like any other console since the innovative Mattel Intellivision (I had the modem dial-up option in 1983 to connect to bulletin boards and download games, gotta love that voice module - ahead of it's time like that other console).
Regards,
Bob Dobbs

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