Ten years ago today, the US received the gift that is the Dreamcast. Swan song of a gaming giant, Dreamcast inspires among its fans simultaneous ferocity and sadness. Melancholy at what might have been, anger at those who would malign the beloved little box, sadness at the reduction of a heavy-hitting behemoth to another third-party shovelware outlet, and resentment aimed (arguably justifiably) at Sega themselves for the missteps that led to the earliest demise yet for any of Sega’s typically already short-lived consoles are common reactions from fanboys.
But that’s not what we’re here for today. Today is a celebration. Today is a day to remember why we love the little box that could.
For me it was Crazy Taxi. Crazy Taxi isn’t the only reason I love the DC now, but it was the sole reason I bought one. Yes, that’s a dead giveaway I didn’t get mine at launch. Sue me, I was broke. Doesn’t matter though, because no single game has ever, ever been reason enough for me to invest in a console until Crazy Taxi. I played it often at a bowling alley I frequented, and when I found out I could play it at home all I wanted, I started saving my nickels and dimes right away. I played it so much that to this day I can’t get that god-damned Offspring soundtrack out of my head. I never got good at it, never even a little. But I never got tired of it, either. I still keep my DC hooked up at all times, and when I feel like playing it, Crazy Taxi is generally my first choice.
My second choice is usually Rez. Granted, it never came out in the US, but much like TurboDuo fans, importation was not much of a deterrent to DC gamers, and unlike TurboDuo fans, neither was piracy. So we all have Rez, right? No, seriously, I know you have a burned copy of it somewhere. The only question is whether you have the NTSC-J version or the PAL version, ‘cause I don’t believe for a second you never illegally acquired Rez. I also don’t believe at all that you wouldn’t have bought it if it had been released for DC in the US, because it isn’t just one of my absolute favorite games ever, it’s pretty high on the list of nearly every gamer I’ve ever spoken to who actually tried it. Rez is amazing, and though I tend to enjoy heated debates and to encourage discussion of differing ideas, anyone who says Rez isn’t amazing is just wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. No more talking, wrong.
This is where my opinion begins to get pretty far out from everyone else’s.
Floigan Bros. episode 1. I know, right? You either haven’t played it, or you hate it. Here I won’t say you’re wrong, but I disagree wholeheartedly. Emphatically even. I loved the Floigan Bros. Sure, in retrospect it was kind of a tremendous miss considering its target was to be an interactive version of golden age cartoons (I may have just made that up). In fact, in retrospect it might not even be that much fun. I don’t know, the last time I tried to play it was nearly three years ago and I was half asleep. When it came out, though, I played it a ton and loved every moment of it.
Jet Grind Radio. I’m going to go ahead and assume I’m in the minority in liking this one even though it’s always touted as one of the greatest DC games. Sure, it’s a popular title, and I’ve met lots of people online who love JGR, but I have yet to meet one solitary person in real life who likes it even a little bit. I am the only person I actually know who enjoys it. That said, I enjoy it a lot. Jet Grind Radio is great. Play it. If you are a pirate, though, buy this one anyway, because the sound on the most common rip is so bad that at one point I honest-to-god thought I had blown the speakers on my TV because of the horrible distortion from the shit downsampling.
House of the Dead 2. Play the import version since Sega disabled light gun support in the US version as a reaction to Columbine (that may also be made up). Loads of fun for pretty much the entire…what, 45 seconds I think? Yeah, probably 30 or 45 seconds. Fun for the whole time it takes to finish it.
Hydro Thunder. Sure you could play it on PS2, but you won’t, because you have a soul.
Soul Calibur. I loved this game because it made me feel like I was good at fighters. I played it on easy because I was bad at fighters, then I button-mashed for about 20 or 25 minutes, then the game was over. First try, under a half-hour, I beat it. Disappointing? Sure, a little. Ego-boosting? You bet.
18-Wheeler: American Pro Trucker. Big, stupid fun, the way arcade games should be. Also a blast in two-player head-to-head. I used to play this game against my sister every chance I got.
Sega Rally 2. This game is another of my all-time favorites. Tremendous head-to-head fun, and great single-player as well. My middle brother doesn’t like many video games, but he’ll play this one with me, and if I let him get a feel for the tracks the first couple go-rounds, he’ll put up a good challenge for a while, then just hand my ass to me.
Bomberman Online. Almost my entire family will play this game together. One of my sisters-in-law absolutely dominates this, and I’m pretty sure she only plays DDR. It can take up hours, and frequently preempts Guitar Hero.
There are more games, certainly, but this has become much longer than I originally intended. I should have taken the time months ago to write up a proper history/retrospective/love letter to DC like I intended to, but what can I say. Life gets in the way and whatever other excuses are necessary here.
Happy 10th birthday, Dreamcast. I hope in 10 more years, I still have a few working Dreamcasts in my closet, a handful of GD-ROMs on my shelf, and a ton of CD-Rs in a folder next to the Dreamcast that’s hooked up at the moment.
Bomberman Online image hijacked from pwned.com, all other images stolen from videogameobsession.com, Sega enthusiasm borrowed from the part of me that still watches with wonderment the Saturn promotional VHS from time to time.