Why Do People Love The Dreamcast?

[AzrealMaximillion]

[
Finally a guy who knows what he is talking about...
b]
It did also sell 10 million units worldwide and had the best launch of any console up to that point. People tend to forget about that a lot when they talk about the Dreamcast.

The Dreamcast had the best launch for a console for about 6 months, then the PS2 came out. Sorry, but as great as the Dreamcast was, I have to say that its success was very, very[/] short lived. The Dreamcast broke console sales record in its first week sure, but the PS2 broke every record and them some on its first day.

Also, 10 million worldwide is really a joke and not much to be proud of as a final tally. The original Sega Master System (the one that came out around the NES era) sold more.

Don't get me wrong, the Dreamcast was ahead of its time.

For about a year.

Then they discontinued the console in 2001.

1999(1998 in Japan)-2001. That's not a timeframe to be proud of for a console.

Let's not act like it was more successful than it really was here. While it did have some great games, they came out in such a short period of time and were eclipsed by the massive amount of epic hits on the PS2.

And to be frank, the best of the Dreamcast's games didn't arrive until the PS2 was released.
The Dreamcast as a console was amazing.
The Dreamcast exclusives were ones to remember.

But from 1998-2001, it put out 68 exclusives.
It just did not have the catalouge compete with the PS1 or the killer apps to compete with the PS2.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Umm... it was no longer sold in North America after 2 years and Europe after 3, but the console lasted 8 years in Japan. And it did have a large continued library for it. It may have failed here but it didn't fail in Japan.

The Dreamcasts sold in Japan after 2001 were mostly refurbished versions. The DC actually sold twice as well in North America.

 

[wintercoat]

Umm... it was no longer sold in North America after 2 years and Europe after 3, but the console lasted 8 years in Japan. And it did have a large continued library for it. It may have failed here but it didn't fail in Japan.

And quantity (in this case, duration) or lack thereof does not remove quality.

The console had several new features:
- 4 controller ports
- built-in modem
- controller with proper triggers

The problem is it was in the half-generation timing area and that hurt it, as did the ease of piracy and lack of North American support on the console other than 2K games.

The N64 was released 2 1/2 years prior to the Dreamcast and had 4 controller ports. Just needed to mention that.

OT: The Dreamcast had some really good exclusives on it. Like, really, really good. That's pretty much why. The measure of a console is in the games it plays, after all, commercial flop or not.

 

[ThunderOne]

Dreamcast really was new stuff!.. I don't think it were the consumer's fault of it's downfall though.

 

[aceman67]

People call Dreamcast good because it was.

If it had a DvD player/DvD based games, I think the console wars between PS2, Xbox, Game Cube would have been a whole lot different. I think the DreamCast would have lasted longer then it did and would have taken a chunk of the market away from Sony and Micro$haft.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Shenmue 1, one of my favorite games of all time, Dreamcast only... They ported 2 for Xbox with a recap of 1 in video format, but it just didn't play/feel right without the Dreamcast controller. Also the UFC game was one of the best "real world" fighting games I've ever played. Very technical, and competitive.
It was a system with great potential but it seemed like it was SEGA's mismanagement of years prior that did it in. SegaCD and Saturn were probably two of the worst ideas in the history of bad ideas. Sad really, SEGA could have been a contender.

 

[Hero of Lime]

I never played it, I went from N64 to Gamecube, without even knowing about the Dreamcast. Even if I don't see much of the appeal of the Dreamcast or its games, I can see it was important to so many people on the forum.

 

[Spoonius]

So many fond memories.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

The Dreamcast never made it to Argentina. People just assume it was crap because of that. And that Sega jumped ship right after that.

 

[FalloutJack]

People call Dreamcast good because it was.

If it had a DvD player/DvD based games, I think the console wars between PS2, Xbox, Game Cube would have been a whole lot different. I think the DreamCast would have lasted longer then it did and would have taken a chunk of the market away from Sony and Micro$haft.

I'm going to assume you mean the ability to play DVDs and such? (Seems to recall Dreamcast using discs.)

 

[piinyouri]

Spoiler: Because of this.

Also it wasn't a bad console. Actually it was ahead of the curve by quite a bit.
It was it's marketing that mostly killed it.
It's popularity continued partially because it's so easily hackable.

 

[StupidNincompoop]

I think it was just ahead of its time. Like other people said, it was the first console to have online capabilities, it also had a few decent games such as toy commander.

In my opinion, the controller and the intro for the console actually looked really good, it's probably the most aesthetically pleasing console. The controller was unfortunately sort of difficult to use though because of that. I think the buttons and analogue sticks and such on the controller were quite well made too, if i remember right. (i haven't actually been on my dreamcast in years now because the scart lead sort of broke on it..)

 

[Jazoni89]

Spoiler: Because of this.

Also it wasn't a bad console. Actually it was ahead of the curve by quite a bit.
It was it's marketing that mostly killed it.
It's popularity continued partially because it's so easily hackable.

Is Omikron any good, i just got it for my Dreamcast recently, but haven't played it yet.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Spoiler: Because of this.

Also it wasn't a bad console. Actually it was ahead of the curve by quite a bit.
It was it's marketing that mostly killed it.
It's popularity continued partially because it's so easily hackable.

While Omikron was a stellar game (simply because it had David Bowie), It came out on the PC about a year prior.

 

[Oly J]

as it happens I plugged my Dreamcast in the other day, I'm playing Shenmue right now, which to this day is my favourite game, I fully intend to look on ebay for more Dreamcast games, I'm resisting the urge to start harping on about Shenmue so I'll just say that it, along with Sonic Adventure, and Mortal Kombat Gold are some of my best gaming memories, also the memory unit had a screen, that fit into the controller, but didn't hamper gameplay at all, ever, Dreamcast was doing things right that other consoles are still in danger of screwing up even today

 

[tilmoph]

My favorite thing about the Dreamcast was the little video screen memory cards. Can't remember what I did with them, but I remember they were a fun, neat little idea. Also, Crazy Taxi. Never got around to playing Shenmue for some reason.

Not sure why it's held in such esteem. I get their exclusives were rather neat. It was a technically impressive and innovative bit of hardware. I do wish Sega had managed to make a better showing against the PS2 and it's competitors (and let's be blunt, that gen was the PS2's), just because I want a Genesis 2, but it failed for a reason. Dunno what it is, but it can't just be Saturn sucked. Hell, when I was 8 I knew the Saturn sucked. Didn't understand all the technical reasons, but I caught the jist that the Saturn was shit. I still played my genesis. Hell, I'd sometimes go ahead and buy a Genesis game instead of a PS1 game, just to add to my library for that. So it can't just be bad press from the Saturn.

I get the sense that this is more of a vindicated by history thing. It's big innovations, like online console play and multi-device interfacing, have/are slated to be big things in current console gaming, which makes the Dreamcast seem like it was a visionary system, and in a sense that's true. The problem was that, when it came out, console gamers by and large weren't all that into the ideas it was presenting, so it failed.

 

[Jazoni89]

Spoiler: Because of this.

Also it wasn't a bad console. Actually it was ahead of the curve by quite a bit.
It was it's marketing that mostly killed it.
It's popularity continued partially because it's so easily hackable.

While Omikron was a stellar game (simply because it had David Bowie), It came out on the PC about a year prior.

So... if you take all of the console/pc ports into account, you could say the xbox and xbox 360 library is not even worth mentioning. While it may be available on GOG now (luckily), it's a old game thus you are going to have a hard time making it work on a modern OS if you have a disc version. It's the same with the other PC games that the dreamcast got, one of them shockingly enough was Starlancer, how they made those complex controls work on a DC pad is pretty much incredible.

This is slowly becoming a thread of "stop liking what i don't like" rather than a thread talking and discussing about the strengths and weaknesses of the system.

 

[alphamalet]

This is slowly becoming a thread of "stop liking what i don't like" rather than a thread talking and discussing about the strengths and weaknesses of the system.

That wasn't the intent, but my opinion hasn't changed much. It does make you wonder what would have happened if Sega didn't screw up the Saturn so bad. Would they have continued making hardware of the Dreamcast was a success? Would Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony still all be in the hardware business if Sega had continued making hardware?

 

[piinyouri]

Spoiler: Because of this.

Also it wasn't a bad console. Actually it was ahead of the curve by quite a bit.
It was it's marketing that mostly killed it.
It's popularity continued partially because it's so easily hackable.

While Omikron was a stellar game (simply because it had David Bowie), It came out on the PC about a year prior.

Hmmm, I was unaware of that. At the time we didn't have a PC either.

 

[faefrost]

Why is the Dreamcast so fondly remembered? I can't speak for all, but I still love mine. It was a robust, powerful and well designed system. It was sort of in that same niche that Nintendo often falls in today. The overall game selection isn't as great as some competitors, but what games there were were simply fantastic. The Dreamcast controllers remain one of the all time standards of great truly comfortable and responsive game controllers (The XBox controllers basically evolved from them.) The Dreamcast was quite possibly the best piece of hardware that SEGA ever put out, and it was truly revolutionary for it's day. It's a shame that SEGA was pretty much gasping for air at that point due to a ton of bad releases and had very little ability to market vs the Sony and Nintendo juggernauts.

if you ever have an opportunity to play one for awhile I strongly suggest you do so. Even though many of the games were eventually released for other systems, some just were not ported well. Grandia II is a great example. On the PS2 it was a meh and bugy look alike JRPG. In it's original form on the Dreamcast it is one of the best RPG's ever made. The differences are that striking.