26th January 2015, 4:19 PM
Share all your memories of Dreamcast in this thread.
Back in the day, I was a Nintendo-head. I loved N64 with such a loyalty that any competition was met with suspicion. When I heard about the Dreamcast, I didn't like it. N64 was getting its butt kicked by Sony as it was. More competition could only hurt. I remembered the SNES vs. Genesis days with still-fiery acrimony. Why was Sega was always such a dick? "We do, what Nintendon't?" Good sir, remove your hat and coat and let us finish this battle with the fisticuffs.
The most vivid thing I remembered in the early days was the graphics. They were so crisp and smooth, 60fps holy crap. Every time I saw a 3D model move on screen, it was just different than N64. More alive. Sega was always very strong at game design, and they brought us all those lush beautiful games with booming cities and wide open skies of azure. Sonic Adventure, Crazy Taxi, Shenmue, they all seemed so expansive and real.
I was at a kiosk at a GameStop with my friend. "We have GOT to get this system," I told him. But it was only for show. My undying heart would go to Nintendo, I would never betray the kingdom that nurtured my inner-gamer child! But eventually, even I was turned around. September 9th, 1999, here it was.
I loved Sonic Adventure, its ethereal worlds, its booming soundtrack. It brought the same fast-paced eye candy of Genesis. Here was Ecco the Dolphin, I would live my dream of being a marine animal going on adventures with all sorts of creepy underwater creatures. Crazy Taxi kept me occupied for hours, my buddy and I went through all the missions and trials and it was the good old days when you could play a game for hours and never get bored.
I even subscribed to Official Dreamcast Magazine, what a defector! Every month would bring news for games, and even better, a demo cd. Here is how I learned about Jet Set Radio. It's style and sensibility were hip, something Sega was always great at capturing. What an innovative title, you would zip around a city on rocket-skates and tag walls with graffiti. The soundtrack was a mix of j-pop and hip-hop, the perfect background noise for your character's headphones. The game is narrated by Professor K., the DJ of the pirate radio station Jet Set Radio. He tells you like it is and fills you in on the rival gangs. He is perhaps most cartoony of all, large dreadlocks and a prominent nose ring as his puppet jaw flapped around and joked about the city's antics.
Most fascinating of all was it's graphical style: every model had a thick line drawn around its Z axis. It gave the appearance of all its characters being drawn in a comic book come-to-life. You'd have to run from The Man, and got to meet a whole assortment of cool new dudes and dudettes for your spraypainting posse. (Hey, give me a break, I'm trying to capture the late 90s here).
The demo was great, and I bought the title on it's launch date. And it still holds up to this day. Each component – sound, character design, gameplay – blends so well together that you can play it and see how clear a vision its creators must have had. Much kudos to SmileBit for this wonderful game.
I even wrote a review it for my high school paper. I wish I still had it, I would post it here. :D I recall a line of it saying "Those wacky Japanese game devs are at it again!" and someone underlined it with a red marker and wrote down, "Appropriate??" Fair game, phantom editor. Though, it ended up making the cut. I was told later that a token Asian person was present, and asked for counsel. They shrugged and said they weren't personally offended.
Have some songs from the soundtrack!
One game I never played back in the day is Shenmue. Naturally, I ordered it. Today, I got this message...