What are your fondest memories of the Dreamcast?

SEGA
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With the Dreamcast turning 25 today, what are your fondest memories of Sega’s final home console?

I’d have to say mine would be:

  • Playing Sonic Adventure at launch, or at least close to launch. The console launched later in New Zealand (November 30, 1999), and there was no first party software available until a number of days later. So I had to wait even longer, but it was certainly worth the wait.
  • Soul Calibur - I was never a huge fighting game fan, but was very impressed by the “eight way run” system, fluid gameplay, and epic soundtrack at the time. The latest game in the series (VI) feels like a callback to this Dreamcast title which is nice.
  • Skies of Arcadia - my favourite Dreamcast game. I put many hours into completing this, and by the end it really felt like going on an epic journey of discovery.
  • Playing online - ChuChu Rocket and eventually Phantasy Star Online. I even had the Dreamcast keyboard for PSO, although communication worked surprisingly well with just the selection system. I also played Bomberman Online later on. Online was a bit of a fiasco in New Zealand and they eventually ended up refunding owners since online was never officially made available here, so I used the funds to get a modded console from the US which worked with that version of PSO.
  • Ikaruga - since I got a modded Xbox, I was able to import this game from Japan. A highly innovative take on the classic top down bullet hell shooter, although a very difficult game.
  • Shenmue - a highly immersive world to explore, unlike anything we’d played before. Many modern games still lack the incredible detail found in Shenmue. I hope we’ll see a conclusion to the story within the next 25 years.
  • Jet Set Radio - an innovative game with it’s graffiti and grinding systems, along with cell shaded graphics, that showed what Smilebit were capable of. I’m looking forward to trying Bomb Rush Cyberfunk when I have some spare time.
  • Rez - Panzer Dragoon like gameplay in a virtual world, lots of fun, although I didn’t play it properly until the Xbox 360 release.
  • Grandia 2 - another good RPG for the Dreamcast that I enjoyed, with a nice story twist near the end. I remember the way that video clips were overlayed over the battle for spell special effects was unique.
  • Ecco: Defender of the Future - it was incredibly impressive seeing Ecco brought into 3D at the time. One of the best looking games on the system, and who doesn’t like dolphins?
  • Resident Evil: Code Veronica - it was impressive seeing this series become fully 3D (it still used the set camera angles, but the environments were no longer pre-rendered). When is Capcom going to remake this?
  • Crazy Taxi - a fun arcade style game that I picked up for cheap, but like many titles on the system felt fun and innovative.
  • Sonic Adventure 2 - while it lacks the adventure sections of the original, this was peak 3D Sonic for a long, long time in terms of the Sonic action stages (I have not played Frontiers yet, but nothing that I played before that suprassed it).

Those were the main games that jump out for me in terms of fond memories. I also remember trying and enjoying lots of other games such as Trick Style, Powerstone, Hydro Thunder, Metropolis Street Racer, and many more. The Dreamcast had a catalog that was unparalleled for such a short lifespan.

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My own best memory of the DC was going online console gaming-wise for the very 1st time. I imported Quake 3 and one could enter their one ISP details. It was truly incredible.

I also have to say REZ Aera 5 was like an out-of-body experience and Code Veronica marked the age of proper facial animation and skeleton models

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Also, the DC represents some of my happiest gaming Christmas memories ever.

I remember talking to Lee on the phone (the boss of my import shop) with him and his brother telling me how amazing Sonic Adv was and how he was sending the game out via Special Delivery on the 23rd to make sure I got it for Christmas. It was so amazing to play that game over Christmas the adventure aspect was handled so good you really felt like you were globe trotting and the music just captured what was happening on the screen so perfectly, you really felt like you were in S.America with the Lost World music

D2 in Christmas 1999 was so very special too. That game really set the bar for facial and finger animation with its facial animation and skeleton models. The setting of the game was so wonderful and the graphics and sound of D2 captured the snowy wilderness so perfectly that you almost felt cold playing the game The best memory though was when I was down at my best mate’s house (at the time lived 2 doors down from me) on Christmas Eve 1999 with my DC and D2.

Me, my best mate and his bother were playing D2 while his parents were having a drink in the kitchen and we fell in love with the hunting part and started to play a drinking game where if you missed a shot, you had to hand the pad over and then drink a double shot of whiskey or rum

So you then had us missing more shots at the hunting as we were drunk and the more times you missed the more we drunk. In the end, we were all totally pissed and his parents were also drunk in the kitchen and laughing at the three of us all sleeping totally pissed with the game still playing in the background at like 3 Am in the morning.

It was the perfect Christmas gaming day.

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I was a Nintendo kid growing up, so I only recently bought a second-hand Dreamcast. Reaching the climax of Skies of Arcadia has to be one of my favorite gaming experiences. All the twists and sacrifices occurring as Vyse led his fleet against Galican’s forces. After I beat the game, I spent the next few days curious if I’d experience such a satisfying climax again.

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Speaking of Dreamcast it’s 25 years to the day since I got my Import DC off Lee along with VF3 and Pen Pen. How time flies when you’re having fun

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Playing Sonic Adventure at launch. That’s what I got it for! Then later Sonic Adventure 2.

Later Shenmue 1 and 2. Had to import Shenmue 2. The series was the first of its kind and revolutionary for the time. As today we are completely spoiled with the amount of quality open world games.

Berserk. An underrated gem. Good story music and characters for a hack and slash game.

And lastly, Skies of Arcadia of course!

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