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Happy 10th Anniversary, Dreamcast
Brian Ambrozy
September 9, 2009 12:52 AM ET in Gaming
Alas, the system that could have been something. The Sega Dreamcast was an incredibly anticipated console back in September of 1999, and I remember clearly because it was the first console I ever waited in line for to get on launch day.
The Dreamcast was one of those ill-fated systems that was ahead of its time. Much like the Atari Jaguar before it, it was a feat of technical mastery that lacked competent support from corporate management. In other hands, the Dreamcast would have ensured that Sega was still a hardware company today.
There are dozens of explanations of where things went wrong, and they’re all mostly conjecture or conspiracy that range from corporate espionage by Microsoft, to rampant piracy, to lack of willpower on Sega’s part. I won’t bother with opinions, because in the end all that matters is that the Dreamcast is still a valid system that holds up ten years after launch.
“Gargoyle” brought Soul Calibur to the Icrontic Labor Day party this past weekend along with his Dreamcast VGA adapter, and we hooked my Dreamcast up to an LCD monitor and had a blast with it. In 2009, Soul Calibur still looks good. In 1999, it was Earth-shatteringly good. I remember gasping when I first saw it; it was as good as the arcade.
The good news is this: The homebrew community, along with fans worldwide, have kept the dream alive by releasing great homebrew software for it. In fact, you can still buy brand new Dreamcast systems, in box, over at Amazon, and there are companies releasing brand new games for it. I got a press release this evening announcing Rush Rush Rally Racing coming out this October.
If you have access to a Dreamcast, bust it out of its dusty box today to celebrate the 10th anniversary of what could have been. If not, and you have some spare cash, you could definitely spend it on worse things than a new Dreamcast. The game library is small, but incredibly fun.
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