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Why is the Dreamcast so revered?
- Thread starter gryz
- Start date
wandering goat
Member
I have to agree. I'm simply amazed there's so much love for the Dreamcast. The N64 was five times the system it was and although many people do have fond memories of it, it still gets brushed aside most of the time as not being a very good console unlike the Dreamcast.
Yeah, I don't consider Dreamcast GOAT either (overall I still place both SNES and PS2 over it) but it certainly was had probably the densest concentration of classics and extremely memorable games in its short lifespan, and in the end just had too much going against it (people burned out by Sega's previous efforts looking like "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks", the looming threat/promise of the PS2 which had much better brand recognition/following by then, and I think there were some weird/just bad financial decisions going on at Sega at the time as well or at least I recall hearing).
Thinking more about it though I would say that the Dreamcast is somewhat my "ideal" console though: Well designed, forward thinking/ahead of its time, open, and with incredibly diverse and "fun first" games without compromise for the most part. It seemed to have all the right "ideas" behind it, from a gamer perspective.
Red Blaster
Member
if it makes you feel any better you can say my favorite games are garbage too
of course you'd be incorrect but i'm a nice guy
goldenpp72
Member
I don't entirely think that is true. Shenmue is an amazing experience for those who were able to enjoy its strengths (like myself). It is however not very good as a game either. You run around aimlessly talking to people constantly asking where X thing is until you find the right person (this is called detective work, but it's pretty piss poor), the controls are weird and clunky for movement, the horrible pop in and frame rate issues, on top of the bad voice acting.
Whenever I imagine a Shenmue remake, I imagine a game with normal controls, better fluidity between combat and normal situations, and a much more advanced detective system along with obvious graphical/tech enhancements.
In my mind, Shenmue as a game is like a 6, but as a charming story with an amazing mood and tone, it's still unforgettable to me. I do think Shenmue 2 is the superior game, but also not quite as good tone wise. I don't consider it controversial to love or hate Shenmue
gutter_trash
Banned
N64 had minimal arcade and fighting game representation
how can you go from SF2 on SNES to nothing on N64?
goldenpp72
Member
Because Sega was basically going through Bankruptcy at the time, and while the hardware was doing well enough for a time, the software was tanking on an abysmal level (many chalk this up to piracy)
Had the system been the follow up to the Genesis (but weaker obviously) it probably would have survived an entire life span.
KojiKnight
Member
I'll quote again what you said...
That isn't debating... that's trying to take a cheap shot at someone because they don't like the same game as you.
The Dreamcast had motion gaming before the Wii struck it big
A camera before Eye Toy or Kinect
Memory cards that were almost a portable console unto themselves before anyone (pocketstation was post VMU no?)
Usable online gaming before Live
It was just an amazingly ahead of its time console.
A camera before Eye Toy or Kinect
Memory cards that were almost a portable console unto themselves before anyone (pocketstation was post VMU no?)
Usable online gaming before Live
It was just an amazingly ahead of its time console.
TaroYamada
Member
I took a cheap shot at his argument, not him. You'll note that at no point do I address him as a person only his "views" held within that post. Sorry if you see something different.
Nikkuthulu
Member
..Longs that you didn't import it like I did. Ugh that sucked. To even unlock the characters you had to take the VMU to arcades.. play it there, earn the points there, then unlock it. Terrrrrrrriiiiiiibble.
Luckily I was able to use my friends dreamcast to hop onto that dial-up and download the save data. That way I was able to everything unlocked.
For me, I walked into the system knowing full well I was going to be importing a lot of my games like I did with the Saturn. Great Port of MvC1? Check. MvC2 (Check), some other great arcade fighters, TechRomancer? Yep, and Project Justice / Rival Schools? ...I know it was only in the JP version but that create a character board game.. I dunno how many hours my friends and I sunk making characters, seeing how they'd turn out and that feeling of desperation to land on that square that essentially randomized your character 100%
Let's not forget some of the other good stuff, like Code Veronica (before it finnnaaaallly got ported over to the PS2), Capcom vs SNK 1/1.5/2, the Shenmue series, DoA2, Rent-a-Hero, Fatal Fury Garou, Ikaruga, JoJo, many KoF games, Last Blade, Sakura Taisen and so much more like Sonic Adventure 1 and 2. Granted some of the games of course got ported over to other systems down the line, but it may have been questionable if the DC versions of the games didn't succeed as well as they did.
Hidekazu Yukawa was also pretty funny in the commercials, and I still got the box with my DC on it. It's a hyper specialized system really, kinda like the Saturn was and 2D games, just it was an arcade monster, and I liked the idea of the VMU.. even if the vmu game batteries died so fast. It's a not for everyone console, definitely. Nor would I go as far to claim it's the best system ever. But it was a great system for my tastes, plenty of fighting games, quirky imports and some games with good budgets spent into them.
The one thing I can recall that I think was dreadfully awful that the Dreamcast did was that embarrassingly bad rom disc that they put out. Had like.. a few genesis games on it and the sound on it was disgusting.
Overall for me, it was a fun system. Had a lot of things I look for in games, good experiences, great ports, reliable. I don't think I'd rate it as best system ever or anything. But will always be up there on my personal lists of favorite systems.
wandering goat
Member
Yeah, guess it depends on genre. Sports, RPGs, and fighting games weren't represented well at all on the 64 compared to the Dreamcast.
Manmademan
Member
Eh, I dunno about all that. The N64 had some clear shortcomings that the DC didn't. Expensive carts and lack of significant third party support being the most glaring.
Nintendo could have avoided that by backing down on the "CD is shit" rhetoric- but those NES and SNES era cart royalties were too much to ignore, I suppose.
The DC on the other hand was probably Sega's best system and extremely well rounded all things considered. Everything they could have done right, they did. All relevant genres were well represented, and they had first party exclusives just as good as Nintendo's and FAR better than Sony's at the time- if a bit quirky. They even sent EA into a state of panic by releasing NFL2K at a budget price on day 1 and cutting into Madden Sales.
Storage medium wasn't an issue, the controller was solid, it had integrated online play and Seganet was actually stable and a lot of fun for the titles that supported it.
All things considered, the console had no real shortcomings- it just couldn't compete with the massive hype machine that was the PS2, and Sega's pockets weren't deep enough to ride out losing money for the rest of the generation to compete with them like microsoft with the Xbox, or Nintendo after cutting the GC to $99. Had sega made better choices during the tail end of the Genesis and throughout the Saturn era, they might have stayed healthy enough to see the DC outsell the GC and Xbox and come in second.
N64 was also following up the SNES, which was the last time a Nintendo home console had real industry wide third party support. In comparison, the N64's library looked anemic. Especially by 1999 or 2000.
Supermanisdead
Member
Ikaruga IKARUGA
IIIIIIKKKKKAAAARRRRRUUUUUGGGGGAAAA
IIIIIIKKKKKAAAARRRRRUUUUUGGGGGAAAA
.la1n
Member
Oh yeah? How old is GAF exactly because last I checked NeoGAF was a forum and not a single person. Thanks for the wonderful contribution to the discussion.
Real answer, Sega finally released a stable console with great first party and third party sport. They struggled since the Sega CD / 32X fiasco. Graphics were also ahead of the competition at the time. Great sports titles too with the 2K line. Unfortunately it was too late financially thanks to the Saturn's financial failure.
Also my personal favorite game, Ikaruga
Leon Belmont
Member
The Dreamcast was a truly amazing console, and it had a bunch of good games like:
Sonic Adventure 1 and Sonic Adventure 2, Shenmue, Hydro Thunder, Resident Evil Code Veronica, Zombie Revenge, Daytona, Soul Reaver, Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare, Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, etc.
I loved it, I will never forget those happy hours that I spent with my Dreamcast :')
Sonic Adventure 1 and Sonic Adventure 2, Shenmue, Hydro Thunder, Resident Evil Code Veronica, Zombie Revenge, Daytona, Soul Reaver, Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare, Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, etc.
I loved it, I will never forget those happy hours that I spent with my Dreamcast :')
Me and my friends were big Street Fighter fans back around the time of the Dreamcast so it was the perfect system for that. You could play Marvel vs. Capcom and switch characters unlike the shitty PS1 version. Also Ikaruga still holds up today as being my favourite bullet hell game. And REZ is probably one of my favourite rail shooters of all time.
Hayama Akito
Member
Fuckin' A man.
Phonomezer
Banned
I think it would be even more revered if most of its best games hadn't been rereleased in HD on XBLA.
Storm Chamber
Banned
Well...there you go! lol
Project Justice, Tech Romancer, Speed Devils, RUSH 2049 etc....have never been released on XBLA
Phonomezer
Banned
Never played those aside from Tech Romancer, which I wasn't too fond of.
There are a good number of arcade games that are still best on Dreamcast of all home options (emulation included). Cannon Spike, Power Stone 1+2, Cosmic Smash, Zero Gunner 2, Crazy Taxi, Dynamite Deka 2, House of the Dead 2, Outtrigger, Project Justice, Border Down, the list goes on.
biggersmaller
Banned
Agreed. I loved the system more back then than I do today, and I LOVE the Dreamcast still today.
The masses were justifiably waiting for the PS2, instead of gambling on a follow-up to the SCD/32X/Saturn without Madden.
biggersmaller
Banned
Typing of the Dead. My Dad loves that shit.
Karak
Member
I have rarely felt a system deserves as much praise as many get. However, the Dreamcast is solidly not in that category. It was a phenomenal system with a number of advancements and a library of stellar games from almost every party. It was a culmination of Sega where hardware met software with impressive results. It is also one of the only systems that I see many fanboy warrior, even those solidly in other camps, gather together and rue its demise.
In a weird way I feel that Sega felt their own doom and threw everything..everything into it. A company that wasn't worried about the future as much as the present because they might have felt they had no future.
Glorious system.
The hours of Rogue Spear 4 player co-op and Quake 3 deathmatch is pretty much unrivaled except maybe Halo across both Xbox's so far for our lan group. We still get together once a month to play random systems and the DC is always played.
In a weird way I feel that Sega felt their own doom and threw everything..everything into it. A company that wasn't worried about the future as much as the present because they might have felt they had no future.
Glorious system.
The hours of Rogue Spear 4 player co-op and Quake 3 deathmatch is pretty much unrivaled except maybe Halo across both Xbox's so far for our lan group. We still get together once a month to play random systems and the DC is always played.
I loved my Dreamcast. I think for me it was because I finally owned pretty much perfect ports of Street Fighter Alpha 3, Street Fighter 3: Third Strike, Capcom Vs SNK, Sega Rally, Virtua Fighter 3, House/Typing of the Dead and Rush 2049. For a system that was only two years old there really were a ton of releases on the thing. Playing it today it's not the powerhouse it once was but at the time it certainly was amazing to see on my mom's trinitron. I had around 70 games for the damn thing. Biggest collection I've ever owned for one system and I'm not a big game collector in the first place.
I thought of it, but omitted it because the PC version is pretty much just as good.
Great game, though.
SonicMegaDrive
Member
It had a couple games ported to the Gamecube, like the Sonics, Phantasy Star, and Ikaruga, but I would certainly not say 'most of'.
code veronica, skies of arcadia , crazy taxi . shenmue to xbox . what major games wernt ported somewhere ?
Xv Elite vX
Banned
Dreamcast was an awesome gaming machine. Any of you ever play Record of Lodoss War?
There has been no re-release of the DC Soul Calibur. No mission mode = different game.
post 441 for some great games, whether they count as "major" is up to you
richman555
Member
The Dreamcast launch was so awesome and memorable.
Soul Caliber and NFL2k where sooooo good (and the soul still burns).
Soul Caliber and NFL2k where sooooo good (and the soul still burns).
encephalon
Member
But if you listed JRPGs for PS2 it would probably recognized that it had more than 2.
Lionheart1337
Member
The last console that had........VIDEO GAMES.
SonicMegaDrive
Member
I don't think Shenmue was ported anywhere, was it? I know Xbox got the sequel, but I don't think the original ever got ported.
Though it does beg to wonder why Capcom has never ported Tech Romancer, Project Justice, Cannon Spike, or Mars Matrix to anything. The Power Stone games got a re-release on portables only, for some reason.
Phonomezer
Banned
XBLA version doesn't have Mission Mode? :/
Yeah it pissed quite a few people off around here back then. I sunk so many damn hours in it on my DC
Edit: I guess it was due to the strict size requirements back then