Return of the Dreamcast ... sort of [update 1]

78 Comments by Ross Miller May 31st 2006 3:25PM
Filed under: Culture, Retro, Business

Alright, kids, sit down and let us give you a history lesson. A long time ago, all the way back in 1999 (9.9.99, to be exact), Sega launched what would be their final console, the Dreamcast. It was an impressive console for its day, with a built-in modem and a controller with a memory card that you could use as a separate game unit. It was even priced to move, at just $200. Unfortunately, frequent lulls in title launches and the launch of Sony's PlayStation 2 six months later all but killed Sega's system, and the company left the console market.

IGN has relaunched their Dreamcast site, and has promised to look back at all 243 titles released in the US. Every title will be reviewed again, with new screens and videos, current prices, and all 243 titles will be ranked in terms of sheer awesomeness. Only one title is up right now, San Francisco Rush 2049, ranked as the number 4 best Dreamcast game of all time (and it only cost them $12 to buy). We'll be sure to keep an eye on how they rank our favorites. Right now, you can pick up a Dreamcast for easily less than $100 -- not a bad price at all for a console with an awesome library of games.

[Thanks, Ryan and Rob]

[update 1: $100 is the going price for a new Dreamcast, but as many have pointed out you can get one for much less -- sorry to make anyone distraught.]

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

ronnie: May 31st 2006; 3:35PM

I always thought piracy killed the dreamcast. I never owned one, but I remember people could burn an Iso to a standard CD and the games would work, no modchip needed.

Chris: May 31st 2006; 3:35PM

this was too far ahead of it's time.

Everything they did would be a smash hit now (7 years later)

ALH: May 31st 2006; 3:36PM

$100? Wow.You guys are getting ripped. You can get dreamcasts over here for an average price of oh...£18?

I got mine for £10,with 2 VMU included, and most of the games i got were under £8.Rumble packs and new controllers? also £1. Dreamcast was a fantastic investment :).

jaemz: May 31st 2006; 3:37PM

Looks like a bad week for the web, between ign's site acting weird, engadget not allowing comments, cinematical and xbox360fanboy giving epobirs 30 bonus stars and several other sites that are down... I am getting concerned.

Anyone else having probs this week, or is it just on my end.

Sorry Sega Dreamcast, you are but a ghost now.

gzsfrk: May 31st 2006; 3:38PM

$100 for a Dreamcast? That's ridiculous.. you should be able to pick one up used most anywhere for

Ritz: May 31st 2006; 3:38PM

(It's thinking)

I want one :(

Thomas Werewolf: May 31st 2006; 3:41PM

It's really too bad Sega is no longer in the hardware business. While it's nice to have them developing for the other consoles, it would be awesome to have a modern console that's backwards compatible with Saturn and Dreamcast discs. I just don't have the room to keep my DC connected, unfortunately. Hopefully, Wii'll meet again, Sega!

cyborgver666: May 31st 2006; 3:41PM

what the hell,$100.00? We sell them at my store for $30 and can't even get rid of them. Seriously, is that misprint or what?

epobirs: May 31st 2006; 3:41PM

243? More than I thought. I'll have to check to see what I'm missing. Except for those genres I have no use for (professional sports sims for one, which eliminates a good number) I thought I had a pretty complete US Dreamcast collection.

http://gamedude.com/dremcast.html
These guys come up with a slightly larger count. Perhaps I still have some Dreamcast shopping left.

Jdoki: May 31st 2006; 3:41PM

Ah the memories. I still plug in the Dreamcast now and again to experience some awesome games.. Powerstone 1 & 2, Daytona, Seaman (unfortunate name, unusual game), Shenmue 1 and 2, Sega Marine Fishing, Red Dog, Crazy Taxi, Skies of Arcadia, House of the Dead 2... the list goes on and on...

It's amazing how good the games look - significantly nicer than the PS2.

Shame the controller was horrible!

Jon Speed: May 31st 2006; 3:41PM

100 dollars? try like 25 dollars

Gonzo: May 31st 2006; 3:42PM

This was the first thing I ever bought on ebay and damn it was fun. I actually got it for $80 a little while after the ps2 came out.

Best games for it: Phantasy Star Online, Seaman, Sonic Adventure, and of course Rez.

jron: May 31st 2006; 3:43PM

I paid $50 at EB for one and it came with a controller, two memory units and 4 games. (this was 3 years ago)

jron: May 31st 2006; 3:45PM

* Actually it came with two controllers

VaultedCeilings: May 31st 2006; 3:48PM

Don't forget Jet Grind Radio, possibly one of the best non-RPG games on that system. (Skies of Arcadia was the best RPG)

JodyAnthony: May 31st 2006; 3:49PM

i was trying to sell mine recently when hard on cash for $20 with 4 controllers, and noone would buy it.

im kind of glad though. i love that little thing. i even painted mine up

http://www.jodyanthony.com/junk/dc01.jpg
http://www.jodyanthony.com/junk/dc02.jpg
http://www.jodyanthony.com/junk/dc03.jpg

I am such a nerd

Sabre: May 31st 2006; 3:49PM

$100 bucks? pfft...where? You can buy em on ebay for $50-85 and that includes multiple controllers, VMUs and games.

Redbeard: May 31st 2006; 3:50PM

I can go get a DC for $39.99 at my local Vintage Games store.

leveled_up: May 31st 2006; 3:50PM

By the end of 2001, you could get these things brand new for $50 - that's how much I paid for mine. After the holidays that year they became hard to find. Not surprising since it was a cheap alternative to the PS2, Xbox, and GameCube which at that time were priced $200-$250. Controllers were cheap too, only about $10-15.

amog: May 31st 2006; 3:53PM

I remeber the strange, strange joy of Seaman all too well. It haunts my dreams...

OyoyoY123: May 31st 2006; 3:59PM

i got mine for free..
seriously!.

I moved into this apartment and the owner was gonna throw it away!!!!!!!!!!

SuicideNinja: May 31st 2006; 4:00PM

"It's amazing how good the games look - significantly nicer than the PS2."

That can't be true. Sony makes the most amazing machines ever. The faultless Emotion Engine jacks you right into the Toy Story Matrix. Those jaggies and pixelated graphics aren't an eyesore. They are artistic!

Ahem.

Yeah, I still need to pick one of these up. It would seem to make more sense to emulate one though.

Ibere: May 31st 2006; 4:08PM

Dreamcast was an awesome game, my favourite of all times, in fact. It's good to see a mainstream site such as IGN revamping their DC section.

joba: May 31st 2006; 4:14PM

Great system! NBA 2K rocked!! I remember countless nights my roommates and I stayed up with pizza and beer playing DC! If a third party would design a smaller controller sans the VMU, I would pick a DC ASAP!

Twist: May 31st 2006; 4:16PM

If the broadband adapter was a bit cheaper and easier to find I wouldn't mind picking up a DC for all the neat homebrew and emu stuff it can do.

unimental: May 31st 2006; 4:18PM

I still have mine from the original launch, though I'm ashamed to admit that it hasn't been powered on in years. The expectations for that thing were so damn high, and would have been met had there been 5x more software in that critical first year.

That's why everybody ended up walking around saying "playstashone" real fast (remember those commercials, eh?).

kevinski: May 31st 2006; 4:18PM

There were 248 Dreamcast games available in the U.S., not 243. *sigh*

Jason W: May 31st 2006; 4:19PM

I love the Dreamcast. I still have the unit i bought on 9/9/99 set up on my hdtv at home. I also rebought a sports edition a few months ago on ebay just because I always thought the black Dreamcast looked kind of cool.
This system was so far ahead of its time. Games like Alien Front Online were great with online ingame chat before the days of broad band gamming became the norm. I hear some still play the DC online with online video game services. It was a sad sad day when the DC was no longer playable online. Sad Sad Sad day.

Some great games that come to mind in the Dreamcast days
Ready 2 Rumble
Sonic Adventures 2
Power Stone 1 & 2
Soul Cal
Phantsy Star Online 1 & 2
NFL 2k Series (GOD I MISS THIS ONE)
EVEN BLEEMCAST WAS GREAT

CYRiX: May 31st 2006; 4:28PM

i so no a place around me that sells dreamcasts for 15 bucks each :D

Sabre: May 31st 2006; 4:28PM

So they were off by 5...woop-de-freakin-do. There were more then 5 crap titles for the system anyways so it's a fair trade off.

Luke: May 31st 2006; 4:30PM

Am I the only one insulted by the whole "sit down and let us give you a history lesson." phrase?

Especially considering the misinformation and just plain stupidity that comes from most of the Joystiq bloggers...

Little too confident, aren't we Mr. Miller?

ThatDamnDave: May 31st 2006; 4:33PM

My Dreamcast is easily the best $80 I ever spent. Before my recent Xbox 360 purchase, I probably played it more than any of the other systems I own. Crazy Taxi, Capcom vs. SNK, Jet Grind Radio, the 2K sports series, all were fun, engaging games to play.

I highly recommend picking one up. I think it will be fun to follow IGN's trip through the Dreamcast. Admittedly, I'm a big fan already going in, but it'll be interesting to see where games fall in line and to see what I may have missed the first time around.

que: May 31st 2006; 4:38PM

piracy killed the sega dreamcast.

Sabre: May 31st 2006; 4:42PM

Partly...but already having 5 failed systems/major add-ons was the biggest part of the failure.

Harri: May 31st 2006; 4:45PM

To all the people saying that you can get one cheaper than $100 - try reading the article again, you might see the words "Right now, you can pick up a Dreamcast for easily less than $100" less than $100 being any amount under $100. That's right, they already said it.

I love my dreamcast, you can pick up the games dirt cheap (or the isos if you're that-way inclined), hit your local second hand games store, grab a light gun, a couple of VMUs, rumble packs and some CR2032 batteries for your VMUs and you've got months of entertainment right there. Dreamcast isn't dead just because nobody writes about it anymore.

ozymandias: May 31st 2006; 4:54PM

POWER STONE #1

The New Revelation: May 31st 2006; 5:07PM

I remember reading an EGM Buyers Guide for the Christmas season of, I don't know 2001/02/03? They rated each system and their potential forecasts out of 10. The PS2 got a 9/10 and the Dreamcast got -9.5/10-!

I love my Dreamcast, and when I got my HD TV I bought a VGA adapter for my Dreamcast (my tv has 2 vga ports) and now I'm loving my dreamcast all over again in 50" 480p.

Daytona USA Championship Edition, Seaman (!), Tony Hawk 2 (the best TH on any system), Giant Gram 2000, Fire Pro D, Jet Grind Radio, Virtua Tennis 2k2, Mars Matrix, Samba De Amigo, Shenmue, RE: Code Veronica, Crazy Taxi... that's not say nothing of Dreamcasts awesome list of fighters VF3 TB, Soul Calibur, SFA3, SF3, DOA 2:LE, Powerstone 2, Marvel v. Capcom 2, Last Blade, Mark Of The Wolves...

We have Typing Of The Dead and god damn fishing rod for the system!!!

Such a good system. Had such good games.

With all this PS3/360/Wii clusterf--k, I've more than once wished Sega would get back into the console business. Please Sega please. :)

que: May 31st 2006; 5:13PM

wow power stone was awesome.
i'm looking forward to this:
http://psp.ign.com/objects/811/811807.html

ResidentGamer.com: May 31st 2006; 5:20PM

Dreamcast was the shit!!!!!! Spawn was my favorite game and Marvel vs. Capcom 2.

The ZeroCorpse: May 31st 2006; 5:21PM

At one time I had a Dreamcast and damn near every game.

But I rarely played it. It was sort of boring. People have all these fluffy-nice memories of the thing, but the reason it failed was because the games were typical, with very little to differentiate them from the PS2 lineup. Another issue was pricing being so unstable. I paid $60 for Seaman when it was released, and about two months later it was going for $20 new... So I stopped buying games when they were newly released, knowing they'd be in the Toys-R-Us bargain bin within a few months.

That can't have helped Sega's bottom line.

Sure, there were some good games, but all in all, the selection was weak and old-fashioned. A lot of shooters, side-scrollers, and other Sega staples. Honestly, I had more fun with the MAMECAST on the DC than I did with the first and third-party games.

Tomas: May 31st 2006; 5:35PM

Dreamcast did everything before everyone did anything.

from the VMU to the maracas to the fishin' controller and DreamEye... Sega sure had a vision.

I'm kinda happy that Nintendo is in a way reliving Sega's innovative strategy with the Wii. But bummed because Sega never got credit for anything. Xbox claims that online console gaming thing, and Sony thinks they're hot shit cuz they came up with EyeToy. Sega had DreamEye almost 2 years before we even heard of EyeToy. They even stole part of the name for cryin' out loud.

Sega and DC needed so much more props than they ever ended up gettin. it's sad. =/

Guillermo: May 31st 2006; 5:38PM

Another thing that I used to love about the Dreamcast was free internet access tru Netzero. I saved a lot of money at the time on internet access when I switched from ATT to Netzero. For a long time I used the Dreamcast for web surfing and I was very happy with it.

Markster: May 31st 2006; 5:47PM

I got mine way back on 9/10/99 (that's Sept 10th, for clarity)

And man, I have a big stack of games. I am definitely not the reason why it failed. Heck, I only discovered the piracy *after* Sega stopped making games! And of course, piracy is the only way to find good games these days.

Now, if only I can get my hands on an NTSC copy of Rez...

Korexz: May 31st 2006; 5:51PM

I think this is the precursor to an announcement by Nintendo...

Anybody else think that is another reason the Virtual Console has not be fully revealed?

Anyone else think that Dreamcast might be one of the last big secrets the Big N is keeping for release?

Imagine the possibilites...!!!

Dave: May 31st 2006; 5:55PM

I spent the most time on Dreamcast since Nintendo, by far. No other system existed in my world. It really was ahead of it's time. It was the only system, besides Neo-Geo, that could faithfully reproduce entire arcade games to 99% accuracy. And Sega was the king of innovative gaming.

porpentine: May 31st 2006; 5:58PM

i gave mine to charity a long time ago.... now i'm sad and want it back.

Sabre: May 31st 2006; 6:03PM

"And Sega was the king of innovative gaming."

Umm...sure buddy.

Sol Dowdal: May 31st 2006; 6:21PM

I still play DC
[:

Big Ed: May 31st 2006; 6:36PM

Ahh yes, sweet, sweet, memories. The DC still has better graphics than the PS2

Xerone: May 31st 2006; 6:37PM

I actually just picked up a Dreamcast at EB Games on Monday. (I'm into collecting Vintage Games and Consoles...) Got it for $15. And a VMU for less than a buck.

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