Sega Dreamcast is 17 years old ( 9/9/99 - 9/9/16 )

[Darth InVaders]

Today is Sept 9, 2016, Dreamcast was launched Sept 9, 1999 - so that is 17 years. Can't believe its been that long since Sega was a respected game publisher that was considered highly innovative and Sonic was a first class IP.

Did You Know The Sega Dreamcast Still Gets New Releases?

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/sega-dreamcast-new-releases/

[Linkabel]

Man, I was completely clueless that the Dreamcast was going to come out back in the day. I actually moved to the U.S 2 days before 9th.

I was kind of bummed out cause I missed my old home so my mom decided to take me to Toys R Us to cheer me up. Imagine my surprise when I saw these wall scrolls in the window and a big Sonic Adventure poster.

Till this day the Dreamcast is still my favorite console of all time.

[shdowhunt60]

Oh man. The Sonic Adventure wall-scrolls are pretty sick, I would love to have one.

This is my favorite one. 3D artwork is just so rare back in those times, and the promotional stuff for Sonic Adventure is pretty unbelievably high quality given the era.

Back on topic though, my Dreamcast was my second console when I was just a small thing, and it was absolutely one of my favorite consoles of all time. I had both Sonic Adventures, Crazy Taxi, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2, Power Stone 2, and a few others. But I think I easily spent my time on the Adventures the most. I was so mad when my little brother dropped my dreamcast, and it landed on the disk drive first. It was an absolute screamer and was unbelievably noisy, but I still loved it all the same.

[Big Panda]

The Dreamcast is 18, not 17. People seem to completely ignore the fact that it came out in Japan a year before.

[DaddlerTheDalek]

17 years old already...

[Fletch]

5 hours ago, Ernest-Panda said:

The Dreamcast is 18, not 17. People seem to completely ignore the fact that it came out in Japan a year before.

True, but I think the OP is simply focusing on the North American Dreamcast here. A lot of people like to focus more on the North American release of the system because of the whole 9-9-99 marketing it had going on, which was pretty cool and is still very well remembered. 

[TCB]

I thought this would be in the Video Games subforum but ok

Definitely top three of favorite consoles of all time, but my favorite for what it did in its short life span. Truly the height of SEGA's software ingenuity, many great and varied titles titles on the system. Power Stone, Jet Set Radio, Metropolis Street Racer, Phantasy Star Online, Sonic Adventure 1&2 (duh), Crazy Taxi, some of the finest arcade ports seen in that generation, and one of my favorite games of all time, Shenmue. I was fortunate to grab a DC last year after reading all about it many times over for the past four years, felt good man.

[TheOcelot]

When it comes to console names "Dreamcast" is one of the nicest.

I've never owned a Dreamcast. I didn't actually get to play SA & SA2 until they were ported to PSN a few years back. Both impressive games (they have their flaws of course) which came from this highly regarded piece of tech.

It's a shame it's life-span was cut short. If it hadn't been then we probably would have gotten a proper Sonic Adventure 3 sequel to SA2.

I was kind of half-joking in the statuses yesterday when I said I'd love a Mania 2 inspired by Dreamcast-esque graphics, but I think a new game based on Dreamcast graphics would be pretty cool!

[Mr Loopone]

Oh the Dreamcast. It was special since it was the last console from the 90s and personifies the millennium with its hope and promise. Out of the various consoles that are out there, its not my favorite (since I don't really have one, the Mega Drive was close) but it is one of my several favorite systems. Personally the Dreamcast was my last glimmer of hope before my life started to get worse with high school. I was there from its start all the way until the end when Sega became a 3rd party developer.

It was the first console to me where the arcade ports were either exactly like the arcade (e.g. 18 Wheeler, Confidental Mission), even better with more modes (e.g. Soul Calibur, Virtua Tennis, Crazy Taxi) or good but could be a little better (e.g. Sega Rally 2). Not just one or two titles but most of the NAOMI output are like the first two unlike previous systems where there were good arcade ports but usually something had to be compromised unless if it ran on the same hardware. The arcade ports were what got me the Dreamcast in the first place since the arcade were still big and I liked those games (plus Sonic Adventure only not as big). If only Star Wars Trilogy Arcade got ported, I'll be still playing on the console today. Also it was the first PAL 60 console so Europeans can have games that are exactly like US/Japan for the first time instead of having a mixed bag and worrying that a good game could have a bad conversion, so that was great.

The graphics were better than any other console at the time and also ran better too. It was a next gen jump and the largest one out of the 3D era. Sure there are some retrospectives saying that they were hi-rezed PS1 games however it isn't exactly true since they were either ports of the PC release or at least touched up in a remastery way. Some Dreamcast games were better graphically than early PS2 games even though it caught up quickily.

It has a selection of great games. I've had a great time with Sega Rally 2, Rayman 2, Daytona 2001, Sonic Adventure, MSR, GTA 2, Chu Chu Rocket, Confidental Mission, Soul Calibur and perhaps my most played game Virtua Tennis. Thanks to the DC, it developed a guilty pleasure love for the series. I even played and sort of like Sega Bass Fishing! Shenmue while I'm not as keen on as a lot of people are, it was an experience to play and mainly to spend playing Space Harrier/Hang-On. Also has Looney Tunes Space Race, an obscure licensed game that I've played and played a lot of demos due to not having many games for the console. Got to play Rush Rush Rally Racing, Crazy Taxi 2, Jet Set Radio, San Francisco Rush 2049, House of the Dead 2 and Sonic Adventure 2 elsewhere that I've enjoyed. There are a few that I would happily try out such as Le Mans 24 Hours and Ferrari F355 Challenge however because of the cultness of the system, the games seems a bit pricey and I don't trust the boot disc method. Some like Skies of Arcadia, I will never have the chance of playing the full game.

It wasn't all rosey though, the console is unreliable and my first one broken down just by accidentally pressing a button a second before Windy Valley popped up. So I'm on my second that has a few problems, this was 15 years ago since I last used it. The 6 billion players advert was all hooey especially when many games cut their online support out of the game plus with no EA support on the system meant that it missed out on the FIFA games. Good for players now but definitely bad back then when having a FIFA game determines whether your console is successful or not. Crazy Taxi seems to be a problematic game on the system to get working correctly and had to take it back despite no scratches on the disc...

It was cut very short of its life, I remember when some games were considered such as Colin McRae Rally 2.0 (would have been the only console version close to the PC release), Half Life, Max Payne (before the PS2/close to PC Xbox release) and a leaflet with various games that some ended up on the Xbox such as Jet Set Radio Future and ToeJam & Earl 3. I have a fair amount of the Official Dreamcast Magazine from back in the day (from Issue 10 until the end) and while it promised a Sonic Adventure 2 review, the magazine seemed to have died before the game was reviewed even though it did have plenty of coverage and preview stuff. Well unless someone has that last issue...

Only problem with the Dreamcast now is because much of the library has been ported or were ports that there isn't as many games in the library that are desirable as an exclusive so they get ignored such as the prequel to Project Gotham Racing, Metropolis Street Racer with great music or the half remake/half sequel Daytona USA 2001. I believe Sonic Shuffle is still an exclusive. Shenmue is one of the few exclusives that people want on the system, even then that might have a chance of a remaster. A lot of the games and the games that have an interest to people can be played elsewhere, even indie Dreamcast game Rush Rush Rally Racing got a port on WiiWare.

[TCB]

I also want to go on the record as saying the Dreamcast controller has one of the most comfortable feels of a video game controller ever.