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Why is there so much love for the Sega Dreamcast? For a video game console that was discontinued after just two years and actually sold less units worldwide than the Sega Master System? Well, beyond the fact that it remains one of the most resolutely popular consoles amongst, quote-unquote, hardcore gamers, it also happens to be my favourite console of all time\u2026..and by quite some distance I might add. It might have only been around (officially at least) for a couple of years, but this is a console that left an undeniably lasting impression on me, and above all else, represented everything that I (and so many others) had ever wanted from a video game console (up to that point anyway). Of course, the goal posts have been moved rather dramatically since then, but up to that point, the Dreamcast felt like the realisation of what many hoped a home console could become.<\/p>\n
Despite previous claims during the preceding console generations, other than perhaps the exorbitantly expensive Neo Geo AES of the early 90s, the Dreamcast was the first home console to deliver genuinely perfect arcade visuals. It wasn\u2019t without its faults of course, but as a brave combination of ambition, creativity, naivety and ultimate execution, I\u2019m not sure if there is another console out there can match it. Yes, there have been consoles with bigger libraries, and in the grand scheme of things, there aren\u2019t all that many Dreamcast games that would make it onto anyone\u2019s list of \u2018greatest games of all-time\u2019, but again, as a complete package, as a marriage of hardware to software, and more often than not, software to bat-shit crazy peripheral, the Dreamcast was something special, something indisputably unique. Most importantly though, it was something fun.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s why it would make the perfect mini console. The Sega Mega Drive Mini (or Genesis if you\u2019re from over the pond),\u00a0might not be out yet,\u00a0but all signs point\u00a0towards Sega finally taking their legacy seriously, and in doing so, appear to have created an exceptionally polished product. Now, imagine that level of polish, that level of care and attention applied to a mini Dreamcast. Man, that could be something special. Not only because of the eclectic nature of the console\u2019s library, but because, thanks to the arcade-centric style of many of the games, from both a visual and gameplay perspective, many of the Dreamcast\u2019s best games have aged beautifully. Not only that, but many, due to a lack of sequels and subsequent improvement via gradual iteration, still feel as fresh and unique today as they did at the turn of the century. Crazy Taxi, Virtua Tennis, Power Stone, Jet Set radio \u2013 nearly 20 years later and there is still nothing quite like them.<\/p>\n
Whatever you think of Sega\u2019s final shot at home console glory, whether it be fond memories or vague awareness, I can tell you this much for sure – there will never be another console like it\u2026\u2026..Ever. This was a console of its time, a console built as much upon Sega\u2019s failures as it was upon their previous successes; a unique console for a unique time. It was a brave last stand, a final roll of the dice. Financially it was a failure, it sent Sega crashing out of the hardware market and was arguably the last time that Sega truly felt like, well, Sega, but despite what might have happened since, despite where Sega are now, the Dreamcast will always have a special legacy and a unique place in the pantheon of home video game consoles. Some might argue that its legacy is viewed with rose tinted glasses and driven by the vocal minority who still sing its praises so fervently, but upon returning to the console, to its wild and eclectic library of both games and peripherals, I can say without any sense of misplaced idolisation that the Dreamcast remains something special \u2013 a console worth remembering and celebrating. Is it the best console of all time? No, it\u2019s not. Its library of games is ultimately too slight to make such an outrageous claim, but for many, myself included, it is the most memorable. There is something almost intangible about the Sega Dreamcast, that special something that you can\u2019t quite place that elevates it beyond its individual elements and components. That might sound like idealistic fan-boy hyperbole to many, but for anyone with a genuine love for Sega\u2019s final home console, that elusive something is there, an undeniable part of a console whose mythology has become so much greater than its limited shelf life should have ever allowed. Simply put, you can\u2019t judge the Dreamcast based solely upon the hardware and software, upon the base components that made up its architecture. Everything about it needs to be considered in context, to be considered in line with Sega\u2019s history and the state of the market and the industry\u2019s mind-set at the start of the 21st<\/sup>century. I don\u2019t want to say that you had to be there, but you know what\u2026..you kinda did. Still, even if you weren\u2019t. has there ever been a stronger case for a mini console to exist? I think not.<\/p>\n It\u2019s easy to forget when looking back, but upon its initial release, the Dreamcast really did feel like a console from the future. From the gentle roar of the processer upon start-up to the sublime aesthetic design of the console itself and the wacky Tamagochi-esque visual memory units, everything about the Dreamcast screamed next-gen from the moment you opened up the box. Released over a year before Sony\u2019s PlayStation 2 hit the market and essentially at death\u2019s door by the time Nintendo\u2019s, GameCube and Microsoft\u2019s Xbox decided to show up to the party, despite being considered by most to be a 6th<\/sup>\u00a0generation console (thanks largely to its technical capabilities), the Dreamcast actually spent a large proportion of its lifespan on store shelves alongside the original PlayStation and Nintendo\u2019s, N64. Next to what we were used to from those ageing consoles, early Dreamcast games looked absolutely phenomenal. The fog was gone, the terrible clipping wasn\u2019t there \u2013 the Dreamcast specialised in crisp clean 3D gaming and is arguably the first predominantly 3D console that can be revisited without a sense of the disappointment that often permeates the return to the early days of polygon-based video games and subsequently without the need for an especially strong pair of rose tinted glasses (beyond the fact that Sony made an absolute mess of the PlayStation mini, many of those games are very hard to go back to). In fact, just try and go back to the console of the mid to late 90s, whether it be the PlayStation, Saturn or the N64 games of your youth, sure, gameplay ultimately wins the day and games such as Super Mario 64 remain as entertaining today as they were back in the mid-90s, but for the most part, 3D games on those consoles are just plain ugly by today\u2019s standards. The Dreamcast has its fair share of stinkers of course and some of the games have inevitably aged better than others, but for the most part, those big, bold, arcade-inspired visuals that the Dreamcast was famous for have aged incredibly well.<\/p>\n Many gamers have very fond memories of Sonic\u2019s first truly 3D adventure in the aptly named, Sonic Adventure, but for the vast majority of early adopters, it was the arrival of Namco\u2019s, SoulCalibur that truly cemented the Dreamcast\u2019s place as a genuinely next generation piece of hardware. There have been plenty of games that have pushed the industry forward on a technical level, from Mario\u2019s move to 3D and Halo\u2019s undeniable proof that first person shooters could work on home consoles, but few have had as dramatic an impact as Namco\u2019s exceptional, and at the time, outrageously gorgeous 3D fighter. It might not have pushed the genre forward and did nothing genuinely new in terms of its core mechanics, but man, wasn\u2019t that a pretty game. It\u2019s no great shakes by today\u2019s standards, but back in 1999, SoulCalibur was a tour de force in terms of both its technical and artistic ambitions. More importantly on a personal level, and perhaps something that goes a long way towards explaining the Dreamcast\u2019s ongoing popularity, SoulCalibur felt like the first arcade port that was totally uncompromised. There had already been plenty of decent ports released before then (some on the Dreamcast itself), bet never before had a console version not only matched its arcade equivalent on every level, but in many respects, actually trumped it.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve thought long and hard about what made the Dreamcast so special, the reason why I and so many others continue to love in quite so much. I don\u2019t think there is any easy, single answer to that question, but I do think the fact that the Dreamcast felt like the zenith of what video games appeared to be striving towards in many gamers\u2019 youths does play a major role. While the motivations of the industry have since moved on, become more complex and arguably much more ambitious, it could be argued that back in the 8-bit and 16-bit days, gaming had different, more humble goals. Games released in the subsequent years between the SNES\/Mega Drive era and the release of the Dreamcast inevitably moved the goalposts, but ask 10 year old me what I would have wanted from a video game console in the future and I might have described something akin to what Sega put on store shelves back in 1999. Needless to say, for many, the Dreamcast was the holy grail of gaming consoles \u2013 an arcade machine in your home that delivered more than any single coin-op machine could ever hope to achieve.<\/p>\n