the dreamcast lives again?

June 2, 2006 1:54 PM

IGN relaunches IGN Dreamcast, and plans to re-review every Dreamcast game ever released. Why?
posted by reklaw (37 comments total)

Well, it's totally out of character for a bunch of video game nerds to be obsessive...
posted by you just lost the game at 2:01 PM on June 2, 2006

Hah, that's excellent. The DC may not have been the biggest financial success, but it really did play host to some amazing games - Jet Set Radio, Samba de Amigo and the almighty Space Channel 5 come to mind, but there are hordes more. It had some very... erm... Sega ideas attached to it (the VMU, for one), but we honestly haven't seen anything like the level of innovation and quality from Sega Sammy that we did when they had a console of their own to support. It's a shame.
posted by terpsichoria at 2:03 PM on June 2, 2006

hey, sure why the fuck not? Next lets relaunch IGN Atari 2600, followed closely by IGN Jaguar and IGN TurboGrafix 16. That'd be hot.
posted by Parannoyed at 2:03 PM on June 2, 2006

Well, I can't remember the last time I visited an IGN site before this stunt, so that might be why.
posted by ulotrichous at 2:10 PM on June 2, 2006

I always expected more to come from the emulation scene.
posted by togdon at 2:11 PM on June 2, 2006

The first thing that came to mind was that the new Nintendo console will include emulation for it. (In addition to the NES, TurboGrafx, etc.)

But I've decided that's foolishness.
posted by Luciferous at 2:14 PM on June 2, 2006

I dunno, this is kind of bizarre, but it's also a really cool, fun idea. As someone who proudly preordered a Dreamcast and picked it up on 9/9/99, this will be a great trip down memory lane, all the way back to those heady Clinton years.

Remember 1999 everyone? A few facts you may have forgotten.

1. Everyone still blamed Jake Lloyd and Ahmed Best for ruining Star Wars, not George Lucas

2. Unleaded gasoline? A dollar a gallon!

3. Y2k, Kosovo, Napster, and Lewinsky!

Please join me as IGN takes us back to a safe, happy time. A time of the Matrix still being good, shitty gameshows like Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, and, erm... Columbine. It will be great!
posted by incomple at 2:22 PM on June 2, 2006 [1 favorite]

I always expected more to come from the emulation scene.

Are computers powerful enough to emulate Dreamcasts well? (Not trying to be snotty, I don't know and I'm curious.) I thought that N64 was the most advanced system that has been more or less successfully emulated.
posted by danb at 2:31 PM on June 2, 2006

danb, I think togdon is referring to emulation ON the Dreamcast. (NesterDC rocks my world).

And this is awesome. Thanks for posting. I love my Dreamcasts. (Yes, I horde them).
posted by Otis at 2:43 PM on June 2, 2006

The Dreamcast was fantastic. Soul Calibur is more fun and looks better than some games coming out now, and it was a freakin' launch title.

That being said, I really don't understand what IGN is up to, but it's a fun idea, I guess. Who's up for some Power Stone?
posted by Sibrax at 2:48 PM on June 2, 2006

I guess they must have some free time on their hands during the release-free summer. Good on them. Dreamcast rocks!
posted by graventy at 3:05 PM on June 2, 2006

Otis: Oh. Yeah, that makes sense. Never mind. :)

I kind of miss the Dreamcast. I think I still have mine in the closet somewhere...
posted by danb at 3:06 PM on June 2, 2006

I got a dreamcast after it died for like $20 and its a pretty great system. It's really funny that the PS2 was treated as though it was a quantum leap beyond dreamcast when it's difficult to notice the difference between most PS2 games and Dreamcast games. I guess people were desperate for a crippled DVD player. I find it remarkable how little console graphics have advanced during the last 6 years.
posted by I Foody at 3:17 PM on June 2, 2006

Jet Grind Radio (Jet Set Radio) was one of the best games I ever played.
posted by bitdamaged at 3:20 PM on June 2, 2006

I got my Dreamcast out last weekend when I had the cold. God damn there are some amazing games on it. REZ! Shenmue's not really a game, but I like wandering around and playing in the arcade.

And Sonic Adventure is great for a sonic fan, even if it is very on rails. The 3D version of Green Hills zone .... ooh, if only I could get there.
posted by bonaldi at 3:36 PM on June 2, 2006

Does this have something to do with 6/6/6 ?
posted by unmake at 3:46 PM on June 2, 2006

Dreamcast came out 9/9/99. That system was the bomb. I remember playing NBA2K and NFL2K online in college. Man, that was fun.
posted by b_thinky at 3:58 PM on June 2, 2006

Wii still has secrets...

plz nintendo & sega tia
posted by Dreamghost at 4:09 PM on June 2, 2006

Soul Calibre on the DC was fun, the craziest thing about the dreamcast is how (apparently) easy it was to pirate the games. I've never owned pirated games for any other system, but I had about 25 DC games.
posted by cell divide at 4:13 PM on June 2, 2006

My copy of Shen Mue's signed by Yu Suzuki :P
posted by nthdegx at 4:22 PM on June 2, 2006

AWESOME. My home page just changed back.
posted by subaruwrx at 4:27 PM on June 2, 2006

I bought one a couple of months ago. I got it because of the great shooters like ikaruga, mars matrix, psyvariar 2 and loads of others you can play on it. it is now wired to my japanese style arcade cabinet and rocks hard.
posted by namagomi at 4:40 PM on June 2, 2006

House of the Dead 2 on the DC with authentic Japanese DC Lightguns continue to be the reason why the DC is still hooked up to my entertainment center.
posted by linux at 4:50 PM on June 2, 2006

I bought my third Dreamcast (the previous two died of overuse, uh) last month after playing the Project Gotham Racing 3 demo on the Xbox360 and becoming horribly nostalgic for Metropolis Street Racer.

Then I realised that Mario Kart (DS) has completely ruined me for proper driving games.

It's not how fast you drive, it's how you drive fast.
posted by hugsnkisses at 6:23 PM on June 2, 2006

Samba De Amigo: most fun ever.
posted by Hogshead at 6:36 PM on June 2, 2006

there does appear to be a Dreamcast emulator (something on Windows that emulates the old hardware): Chankast. I haven't tried it, so I have no idea if it works. Looks like it hasn't been worked on much or lately though.

I never had a DreamCast, but it always looked like a pretty cool system at the time.
posted by inthe80s at 7:42 PM on June 2, 2006

Your Dreamcast died from overuse? I have 1000+ hours logged on Phantasy Star Online and mine is still working fine.

Can't say the same about myself, though.
posted by tumult at 7:47 PM on June 2, 2006

tumult: not that I'm suggesting that hugsnkisses is up to anything improper, but it is my understanding that games burnt to disc cause a lot more wear than press copies. Or something.
posted by absalom at 10:35 PM on June 2, 2006

I was pretty sure I'd get another system when I finally became bored of MSR. Hasn't happened yet. I had some time between doing contract work and starting a new ful ltime job where I was 'properly' unemployed and I turned the DC on for the first time in about a year, still hooked up to the TV..

I sprained my thumb playing Street Fighter Alpha 3, definitely not the game for a smooth transition back to playing videogames.
posted by Space Coyote at 5:29 AM on June 3, 2006

Ah, good times.. seconding the love for Jet Set Radio, as well as MDK2, Crazy Taxi, and *swoon* Samba de Amigo! Truly, gaming elysium.
posted by Drexen at 5:30 AM on June 3, 2006

Hmm. I think I might just have to dig my Dreamcast out of the attic. I hope it still works! I too have excellent memories of Samba de Amigo, Soul Calibur and Crazy Taxi. My boyfriend and I played Tony Hawk for the first time on that system, placing the disc into the tray in the evening and then staying up until long after the sun came up playing epic games of Horse. I don't think my hands have ever hurt so bad. I had similar experience with Samba de Amigo, when I went to bed after playing that one, my arms hurt so bad I was shaking. My only beef with the Dreamcast was the controller design. That thing made my hands curl up in pain after a few hours of gameplay. Crazy Taxi was the worst for that.

There was also this very weird adventure game called Blue Stinger for the Dreamcast that I really enjoyed (it maybe was just me). And Shadowman, and Soul Reaver, and Chu Chu Rocket, and...

I kind of love IGN for writing about the Dreamcast again. I doubt that Sega will ever venture into the console world again after the bloodbath they took on the Dreamcast, but one never knows. The console market is pretty different now from what it was at the time the Dreamcast came out, and it will be wildly different again after all of these new consoles come out and the dust settles and a winner is declared.
posted by pazazygeek at 7:03 AM on June 3, 2006

I got it because of the great shooters like ikaruga, mars matrix, psyvariar 2 and loads of others you can play on it.

It's a shame that the genre seems to have died along with the Dreamcast.
posted by omarr at 7:29 AM on June 3, 2006

I almost bought a DC just for the Slave Zero.
Something about that game just made me smile.

I ended up getting it for PC, though.
Consoles don't really do it for me.
Maybe they're just not reclusive enough.
posted by Busithoth at 8:25 AM on June 3, 2006

Your Dreamcast died from overuse? I have 1000+ hours logged on Phantasy Star Online and mine is still working fine.

I also used mine as a CD player. Try 8+ hours a day, every day for 3 years. The next one I got was second hand and a little bashed up.

I might try and take more care of the third one, but for £15 a pop it hardly matters now.
posted by hugsnkisses at 4:10 PM on June 3, 2006

They are making new games for the dreamcast too.
posted by visual mechanic at 7:27 PM on June 3, 2006

Ah, the Dreamcast. I really enjoyed Skies of Arcadia, Grandia 2, and Shenmue. Lotta time spent playing those with my girlfriend. She has since moved on, yet the DC remains. Sega4life!
posted by ktoad at 1:02 PM on June 4, 2006

Weirdest DC 'game' ever--Seaman. True story: My BF and I had hatched a nicely developing, typically creepy and cranky seaman creature. I go away on a business trip. Seaman has learned to converse with BF. Seaman asks BF if he's cheating on me while I am away. BF stunned. I return. BF strangely no longer interested in game, it's been put away. Seaman had guessed correctly, though I don't find this out for months. That's some strange software.
posted by tula at 6:50 PM on June 5, 2006 [3 favorites]