Sega planning to cut remaining Dreamcast and Saturn support

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Apr 2nd 2007 at 11:09AM }

Where were you on 9/9/99? It's been almost 8 years since the Sega Dreamcast was launched in the United States, ushering in the "next" (and now previous) generation of gaming with the likes of Sonic Adventure, Power Stone and Soul "Is that intro in real-time?" Calibur. Despite a strong lineup, online gameplay (thanks, 56K modem!) and quirky memory unit minigames, the Dreamcast's momentum wasn't strong enough to halt the PS2's avalanche of hype. A few years into the system's lifetime saw Sega running out of steam and, more importantly, out of money.

Those still clinging to their Dreamcasts are advised to take good care of them now, with Sega's Japanese website announcing that malfunctioning systems will no longer be accepted for repair after 28 September 2007. The hilarious machine translation of the page also points out that the Sega Saturn will suffer a similar fate, shortly before spewing forth an incomprehensible "understanding it receives, the fish you say to ask." Fish? Is that like a "fix a man's system and he plays for a day, but teach him how to fix it and he'll play for years" sort of thing?

Though it's tempting to lapse into eulogy at this point, the Dreamcast will be around (and thinking) for as long as people still enjoy it. Sega might be hammering the final nail into the coffin, but the system inside is still alive and kicking... and screaming.

[Via CVG]

Tags: Dreamcast, Nights, Saturn, Sega, Sega Dreamcast, Sega Saturn, SegaDreamcast, SegaSaturn, Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog, SonicTheHedgehog

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Phranctoast @ Apr 2nd 2007 11:25AM

MS should take a note from Sega and support the xbox a little longer then 3 years.

umm....hello??? @ Apr 2nd 2007 11:28AM

still have my dreamcast...one of the best NES emulators to date!!

AirIntake @ Apr 2nd 2007 11:36AM

The DC was awesome. Mine still works too, which is great.

PhrawzT @ Apr 2nd 2007 11:36AM

Dreamcast had the best fighting games ever. They had Marvel vs. Capcom 2 for two years before it was released on the other systems, not to mention Soul Calibur, Project Justice and Powerstone.

DirtDevil @ Apr 2nd 2007 11:44AM

anybody knows where I can can The DC-X game importer for Dreamcast? I wanna play some import games before they are gone.

DirtDevil @ Apr 2nd 2007 11:46AM

I mean where I can get the DC-X?

Daniel @ Apr 2nd 2007 11:50AM

Joystiq needs someone on the staff who an read Japanese.

Criminallyinane @ Apr 2nd 2007 11:52AM

Segata Sanshiro won't be happy.

UpIrons @ Apr 2nd 2007 11:56AM

Might this be a sign that they are preparing to allow DC and/or Saturn emulation with upcoming Virtual Console support?

Maybe they decided that if they are going to support VC content now they can use the skeleton crew of personnel who have up to now been working on supporting the systems but can now be freed up to work in support of the VC... One can dream!

AirIntake @ Apr 2nd 2007 11:59AM

@UpIrons

I'd imagine it would be difficult to emulate a Dreamcast on Wii hardware and have it playable. The Saturn is probably very doable though.

Jonathan Tran @ Apr 2nd 2007 12:03PM

@9

-NiGHTS
-Guardian Heros
-Panzer Dragoon

Jonathan Tran @ Apr 2nd 2007 12:04PM

@10

Actually it's my understanding that the Saturn is not at all easy to emulate. Hell, try to find a working Saturn emulator. I think even the CDs themselves were encoded "backwards" or something

Daniel @ Apr 2nd 2007 12:08PM

AirIntake: The saturn is a complicated system with an odd multi processor configuration.
The best emulator I can find is barely playable for most games on my athlon 64 3000+.
I doubt the Wii would have much luck with a saturn emulator.

Of course that doesn't prevent them from porting Dreamcast and Saturn games to Wii and releasing them on VC.

I'm waiting for Bangai-O for VC (either the N64 or Dreamcast version, or both).

mushiking @ Apr 2nd 2007 12:08PM

@12

i don't know where you've been, but there's quite good Saturn emulators now.

Ludwig Kietzmann @ Apr 2nd 2007 12:12PM

Daniel, what makes you think we don't? :)

LongshotX @ Apr 2nd 2007 12:18PM

"The parallelism of the multi-CPU and multi-GPU of the Saturn heavily prevents even the best programmers from making a decently optimized Saturn emulator. Considering just that limitation, it'd actually be more likely that Dreamcast games would come, not Saturn, because the Dreamcast, although more powerful, is much easier to emulate, because it operates more like regular single-CPU/single-GPU systems do. I'd be happy to see games from either system because I've never got to play NiGHTS Into Dreams, although I own a Saturn and should buy a copy (Model 1 woes, non-moddable)...

And don't ever get your hopes about putting in a Dreamcast or Saturn disc, the Dreamcast used a proprietary GD-ROM format, and the Saturn's only verification method involves reading an extra ring of data on the edge of the disc outside normal CD-ROM space, so Nintendo wouldn't have any way to verify you have legal copies. Plus, the whole "they don't make profits" part of that."

Someone summed it up very nicely why the likelihood of DC or Saturn games appearing on VC is unlikely.

AJB @ Apr 2nd 2007 12:25PM

Probably one barrier to releasing Dreamcast games on the Wii Virtual Console is the constraining size of the Wii's internal memory. DC games are big, some spanning multiple discs. And it does seem possible (but unlikely) that Saturn games could be ported to the VC in some fashion.

Some DC games are available on GameTap, though not the great games.

Sniff . . . I miss the Dreamcast . . . Sniff.

sheppy @ Apr 2nd 2007 12:29PM

My favorite memories with DC have been with Cannon Spike, Marvel vs. Capcom, Project Justice, Power Stone 2, and Tech Romancer.

God how I wish we had that Capcom back....

lionzub @ Apr 2nd 2007 12:39PM

I still love my Dreamcast and 4 controllers. I brought it out just the other day for a little Bomberman Online, PowerStone 2, and Worms World Party with a bunch of people. You can't beat that!

LongshotX @ Apr 2nd 2007 12:46PM

When I look at the variety of DC games and how fun they where it makes me ask "why did it fail"? I guess the Playstation brand was just too much, and people just got tired of Sega jumping ship on a failing console. I think the 32X, Sega CD, and Saturn left a bad taste in many gamers mouths. Although I still love both my Saturn and Dreamcast, I feel like the Xbox 360 is what the Dreamcast would have evolved into if a continuation were made. I think thats why a lot of people feel like it is the unofficial spiritual successor to the Dreamcast.

LongshotX @ Apr 2nd 2007 12:46PM

bearxor @ Apr 2nd 2007 1:01PM

I remember where I was on 9.9.99. I was in line at FuncoLand acros the street from Willowbrook Mall in Houston, TX! Ahhh, the memories...

I agree that if Sega had the money to continue on that whatever followed the Dreamcast and whatever followed that would probably be close to the XBox 360.

Tomas @ Apr 2nd 2007 1:14PM

Everyone has a thing or two to learn from the Dreamcast. And i'm not talkin' about mistakes to avoid, but about TRUE gameplay, third-party support and constant innovation.

and i'm still waitin' for someone (*coughs* Sony EyeToy *coughs*) to give credit to Sega for the Japan-only DreamEye(tm).

Jake @ Apr 2nd 2007 1:42PM

Man, I used to love my Dreamcast. NES emulator and some great games. Drinking Vodka and having all night loser passes Soul Calibur deathmatches in my dorm room. Ah, memories.

ProfStevie @ Apr 2nd 2007 1:46PM

In the U.S., for quite some time Sega has contracted with sega-parts.com for system repair. They replaced my Dreamcast just last year (with a unit that looked brand new!). I wonder if this Sega Japan announcement will affect sega-parts.com at all...their website doesn't seem to have any announcement along these lines.

sheppy @ Apr 2nd 2007 2:13PM

Umm, the dreameye functioned as a digital camera. That's the alpha and omega of it. It was not interactive, it did NOT sense motion, it took pictures and created backgrounds. Associating the DreamEye with the EyeToy just shows a severe lack of knowledge about the products.

Having said that, I really want to know where this idea of Dreamcast to Xbox came from. Sega has always pushed the ideas to the forefront of their gaming concepts. In other words, Dreamcast was fun because companies were creating games that WERE fun without having to try and sell people on the concept. Xbox isn't exactly the kind of environment that would foster Samba De Amigo or Seaman. To associate the two seems like horseshit to me. Majority of 360s endeavors have been about the truly huge and expansive experiences, Crackdown and Fuzion Frenzy being the only amalgams to this. The spirit may be comparable, but I have yet to see the kind of reckless abandonment that produced Jet Set Radio or Typing Of The Dead.

Eric Draven @ Apr 2nd 2007 2:32PM

sheppy,

Excellent point!

Couldn't have said it better myself.

aznfury @ Apr 2nd 2007 4:53PM

My Dreamcast is ... still thinking! :)

Brian @ Apr 2nd 2007 5:26PM

I truly miss my Dreamcast. I had an incredible library of first-party titles, as well as a lot of the best from third-party publishers.

I hated to see the thing fall short of its potential sales-wise, but it's still one of my favorite consoles, and I've had most of them from the 2600 on up to the current generation.

AoE @ Apr 2nd 2007 7:18PM

@sheppy,

Most sega fans (myself included) see a connection because of the early love sega showed the Xbox, the fact that Sega and MS were obviously in bed together (remember the Dreamcast's OS is a modified version of Windows CE) and the Peter Moore connection. Personally I believe the connection between the two companies, at the time at least, may have been deeper than that too in light of the timing when Sega bowed out of the console race. My memory is fuzzy, but I seem to remember the official announcement of the xbox, and the announcement of the end of dreamcast production came within a few days/weeks of each other. Also, compare MS controllers to Sega controllers and you'll find a lot of similarities in design sensibilities; much moreso than if you compare MS controllers to what Nintendo/Sony have been doing in this generation and the last.

There are many more reasons to list, but long story short... for many hardcore sega fans (myself included) the Xbox/Xbox 360 are the closest thing to "home" since the DC, even if the game library isn't 1/10th as amusing. Hell, Sega made up my mind for me when they announced JSRF as an xbox exclusive.