Dreamcast

[SilentScreams]

I've been on a sort of retro gaming trip lately, so when I saw a Dreamcast going cheap on Ebay I decided to buy it on a whim.
I never owned one back in the day. I never even played on one. I bought it out of curiosity as much as anything.
Anyway, what games would you guys recommend picking up?
It came with a few, namely:

Sonic Adventure
Unreal Tournament
Maken X
Soul Calibur
Virtua Fighter
Shenmue

What should I add to the collection?

[Dukefrukem]

Resident Evil: Code Veronica

[violent]

Grandia 2
Skies of Arcadia

[Gorvi]

Skies of Arcadia
Zombie Revenge
Seaman
Hydro Thunder

[Commissar Rob]

Typing of the dead!

[Karak]

I get all warm inside thinking about the glorious times I had on this system. For me, I would second all those that posted before me.
But I would add one, Shenmue 2.

[axion]

Power Stone is fun, as is NFL Blitz.

[Adam Blue]

Toy Commander
SA2
Crazy Taxi
Air Force Delta
FF: Mark of the Wolf
Rez
Space Channel 5
Chu Chu Rocket
So many more...

[total]

Grandia 2
Skies of Arcadia

Exactly what I would recommend. Skies is slightly better than Grandia IMHO but both are amazing games. Grandia's battle system was top notch while Skies was just an extremely well rounded RPG. Both would be in my top 5 for RPGs. Of course, none of the Final Fantasy would make it in my top 5 so take it as you will.

With all the SF4 love going around I would definitely recommend picking up Marvel VS Capcom 2 if you like fighting games at all. My buds and I used to play that for hours on end.

Sega Bass fishing and Sega Marine fishing are loads of fun but somewhat of an investment. Gotta have the fishing rods.

Oh and get a VGA cable for that thing and crank it up to 480p. Some of the games really shine with one. There are still games on the DC that I think look better than most Wii games. Note that not all games will work with a VGA cable, but a vast majority of them will.

[Purple Santa]

9/9/09. It's coming ;)

[LiquidRain]

To add a new suggestion: San Fransisco Rush 2049. The definitive version of Rush, and an incredible arcade racer. Better than Hydro Thunder, and both were excellent.

To echo others: Skies of Arcadia and Grandia 2 if you're into JRPGs, though Skies hasn't aged very well. (insane number of random battles [reduced for the Gamecube version] and a bit of a slow pace)

Get a VGA cable/box too.

[EternalGamer]

I assume you want single player experiences and cool "pick up and play" stuff. So I'm going to exclude great multiplayer stuff (ChuChu, Powerstone) and longer RPG like games (Shenmue, Skies of Arcadia). So here are a few that shows why Dreamcast is awesome (note there are many, many more):

1) Jet Set Radio - Possibly my favorite Dreamcast game. I actually think it has gotten better with age. Great soundtrack, original gameplay style. It does take some getting used to, though.

2) Seaman- Fucking weird and awesome.

3) Rayman 2- Great 3D platformer.

4) Typing of the Dead - Ok, it does require you to hunt down at least one keyboard (two if you really want to have fun co-op) but this game is worth it.


5) Super Magnetic Neo - This game is hard as balls but it's a solid platformer. It's also less heard of and you could probably find it cheapl

6) Zombies Revenge: Double Dragon with Co-op, Zombies, and shotguns.

7) San Francisco Rush 2049 - As someone mentioned, this really is the best Rush game. The 4 player modes are also a lot of fun.

[J Arcane]

Mmmm. Dreamcast.

Only system I can think of that I miss more is my N64.

Get yourself some Quake 3 son. It's the fuckin' win. Probably one of the finest console ports of a shooter ever made, so goddamn accurate it actually was the first game to have cross platform play with the PC. There's STILL servers up for it, if you're willing to track down a DC network adapter to play on them.

The sports games are also fantastic. The original 2K sports series on DC is pretty much the pinnacle of sports gaming, it all goes downhill from there. Fucking goddamn hard though.

I'd recommend PSO, but the servers are long since shut down for that one, and it's really not as much fun offline because it means a HELL of a grind to get anywhere. Still, it's a pretty fun little Diablo clone if you can handle the repetition.

[total]

Ok I went and looked at my collection and have some more. Jet Grind Radio, Cosmic Smash, Sword of the Berserk: Gut's Rage and the Sonic Adventures games. If you want to play Rez and haven't I would say avoid the Dreamcast version and go straight to the 360 one. Assuming you have a 360 of course.

[PathMaster]

Find a copy of Soul Caliber is a PITA, at least when I have searched. Skies can be hard as well.

[Philonious]

I've never touched the Dreamcast: Why does it get so much love? This is an honest, non-trolling question. I took a hiatus from gaming between the SNES and PSOne... My friend sucked me back in with FFVII so I sort of missed the DC. (Or wait, the DC was Sega's answer to the PS2... Then i was in gradschool and too busy to go multiplatform.)

[J Arcane]

I've never touched the Dreamcast: Why does it get so much love? This is an honest, non-trolling question. I took a hiatus from gaming between the SNES and PSOne... My friend sucked me back in with FFVII so I sort of missed the DC. (Or wait, the DC was Sega's answer to the PS2... Then i was in gradschool and too busy to go multiplatform.)
It had one of the finest game libraries of any system ever made, some truly impressive visuals that frequently still hold up to this day, and a lot of truly innovative features like the VMU and online play.

[Adam Blue]

I've never touched the Dreamcast: Why does it get so much love? This is an honest, non-trolling question. I took a hiatus from gaming between the SNES and PSOne... My friend sucked me back in with FFVII so I sort of missed the DC. (Or wait, the DC was Sega's answer to the PS2... Then i was in gradschool and too busy to go multiplatform.)

Because the games we mentioned are good, and most aren't found anywhere else. It really pushed online gaming, and tried taking gaming forward, unlike Sony who was fine making money and not innovation.

[total]

I've never touched the Dreamcast: Why does it get so much love? This is an honest, non-trolling question. I took a hiatus from gaming between the SNES and PSOne... My friend sucked me back in with FFVII so I sort of missed the DC.

It had some truly outstanding games and outstanding visuals for it's time. Some games that came out on it and than later on other systems (Rez is the real stand out here) weren't even close to what they were on the DC. I would say that it is still the most played system I've owned. I have more games and accessories for the Dreamcast than I have for both my PS3 and 360. Hell I still fire that machine up quite a bit. I actually have it hooked up to my PC monitor.

Oh and it had more amazing shmups than you can shake a stick at.

[EternalGamer]

I've never touched the Dreamcast: Why does it get so much love? This is an honest, non-trolling question. I took a hiatus from gaming between the SNES and PSOne... My friend sucked me back in with FFVII so I sort of missed the DC. (Or wait, the DC was Sega's answer to the PS2... Then i was in gradschool and too busy to go multiplatform.)

1) Because Sega took a lot of risks and made a ton of games that were just plain fucking weird and great. A game where you type to kill zombies, A graffiti roller blading game, a maracas playing game, a game where you do nothing but talk to a giant fish, etc.

2) Because it had absolutely fantastic arcade ports. Anyone who loves fighting, racing, and shoot em ups from the era will love this system. From Virtual Fighter and House of the Dead to Marvel vs. Capcom and Sega Rally 2.

3) Because it had great multiplayer games. Me and my friends spent more time playing Chu Chu Rocket, Power Stone 2, Rush 2049, Zombies Revenge, Gauntlet and others than on any other consoles.

It was also a system way ahead of its time in a lot of ways. It had funtional online BEFORE the PS2 came out (a system that never had functional online gaming). Phantasy Star online was a landmark in consoel gaming. It had also had a keyboard, the ability to hook up to a computer monitor for HD output (again even before the Cube and PS2 came out--neither of which did real HD). It was truly a system that, in many ways, failed because it was too ambitious and too far ahead of its time.

[total]

Find a copy of Soul Caliber is a PITA, at least when I have searched. Skies can be hard as well.

I think Soul Calibur was my launch title purchase. Wait it might have come out right after launch. None the less it is one of my oldest games. I actually had to buy a new copy of Skies because my second disc died at the hands of a small child (who almost lost his fucking hands).

[divinechaos]

Looney Toons Racing. It's Mario Kart but with Bugs Bunny. Awesome.

Oh, and I have a copy of Soul Calibur I could do without... For the right price!

[J Arcane]

It was truly a system that, in many ways, failed because it was too ambitious and too far ahead of its time. No, it failed through a combination of brand prejudice, deceptive Sony marketing practices, and games media complicity.

It actually sold damn well despite these initially, but couldn't compete with Sony's marketing machine and the wangrods who lapped up all that horseshit about the "Emotion Engine" and every other load of codswallop that came out of Sony's mouth at the time.

The funny thing is? When the goddamn PS2 finally came out, it actually wasn't really any more powerful or capable than the DC, and cost over twice as much, but by then the DC had largely been buried and the fanboys had no place left to go.

I maintain that if it had been given a fair break, the DC had the muscle to last just as long as the PS2 did.

[total]

It had also had a keyboard, the ability to hook up to a computer monitor for HD output (again even before the Cube and PS2 came out--neither of which did real HD). It was truly a system that, in many ways, failed because it was too ambitious and too far ahead of its time.

Well technically none of them did real HD. The Dreamcast definitely did 480p better than the PS2, GC and to an extent the Wii.

[total]

I maintain that if it had been given a fair break, the DC had the muscle to last just as long as the PS2 did.

Longer I'd say. Shit there were still Japanese shmups coming out in 2007 for the damn thing.

[total]

Oh and Mars Matrix! That is one addicting shmup right there. I probably spend a good 15-20 hours unlocking everything in that game. Can you tell I love the Dreamcast?

[UnderHero5]

Oh and Mars Matrix! That is one addicting shmup right there. I probably spend a good 15-20 hours unlocking everything in that game. Can you tell I love the Dreamcast?

You and me both, man. Mars Matrix is probably my favorite shmup of all time. I wish they'd release an XBLA version of it.

I loved my DC. I bought the system for Crazy Taxi, and never looked back. I don't know how well that game holds up today (not very well, I'd guess) but it was awesome when it came out.

I have to say, though. Since you won't be contributing any money toward the devs of the games anyway... you should know that, as long as you have a CD burner, you can play "backups" on any Dreamcast. No mod chips or anything required. I don't think it's going to hurt any ones bottom line at this point.

[EternalGamer]

Fuck, how did I forget Mars Matrix. That game is fantastic.

[SilentScreams]

Wow, ok. So it turns out there are more good games for the DC than I imagined.
I'll get to work finding them next weekend probably.

[LiquidRain]

I can't believe I missed recommending JSR. Probably my favourite game of the Dreamcast era. Its sequel is the only Xbox 1 game I own.

[Troggles]

I suggest both Power Stone games. Too much fun to be had.

[KamaItachi]

See if you can find Toy commander, and Virtua Tennis, they were good fun.

[H.Bogard]

KOF Dream Match 99
Capcom vs SNK 2
SF: Third Strike
Guilty Gear X
Ikaruga
House of the Dead 2

[Purple Santa]

DC threads are to depressing for me. I'm like everyone else, I could throw love and flowers of the memories that came from playing my DC. As much as I still enjoy gaming, it can't compete with that time of my gaming life. That game library was just fun. Pure fun to play.

Like Toy Commander. I never tired of playing that game. And 2k football was the last football game I bought and really enjoyed. It was easy to play but it took time to master. I've played almost all the games mentioned but it's sad to think that my gaming now, there is here and there that "magic" moment all those games had for me. But on the DC it was constant, now it's just so...rare if ever at all. Sega truly died when the DC died.

[yeti]

Samba De Amigo. A million times better than the travesty of the Wii version. Still my favourite R&A game to this day. Just be prepared to lay down some serious bucks.

[Primus]

If you can get a few of your buddies into a retro mood, Power Stone 2 is great.

[mightbe]

I'm going to second Typing of the Dead as one of the MUST HAVE games for DC. It's great two player with two keyboards. The humor and challenge packed in this seemingly simple game is just wonderful.

I think Marvel vs. Capcom 2 was my favorite title on DC.

The other two games that I played a shit ton on the DC are the UFC game and Bangai-O.

Other suggestions:
Cannon Spike
Skies of Arcadia (GET A VMU! Pinta's Quest is badass.)

[Gorvi]

I've never touched the Dreamcast: Why does it get so much love? This is an honest, non-trolling question. I took a hiatus from gaming between the SNES and PSOne... My friend sucked me back in with FFVII so I sort of missed the DC. (Or wait, the DC was Sega's answer to the PS2... Then i was in gradschool and too busy to go multiplatform.)
It was a good system, but remembered far too fondly for what it was. It failed because SEGA did a shit job with everything they touched after the Genesis, so a lot of people just ignored the DC not wanting to get burned by SEGA again. It does have a good library, but I have to wonder what some people are smoking when they say it had one of the best ever. Very good, especially for it's short life, but a lot of it was very niche as well.

[Inverarity]

I'd add to the list:

Tech Romancer - a robot fighting game that does a great job of capturing the feel of different anime series (there are stand-ins for mecha from Mazinger Z, Macross, Evangelion, etc.) It's a bit silly and a lot of fun.
Crazy Taxi/Crazy Taxi 2 - in my book, among the best pick-up-and-play arcade conversions ever. Friends of mine who never played games would get hooked on these.
Starlancer - better and prettier than the PC version, and perfect for getting your not-quite-Wing-Commander fix.
Looney Tunes Space Race - a well-done kart racer which captures the look and feel of Looney Tunes far better than any of the more recent attempts.

Oh, and be sure to get a VGA adapter. Dreamcast games still hold up well visually when played through the adapter, even on my 67" screen. Man, I wish the DC had made a better showing in the console war - it really deserved better than it got.

[J Arcane]

It was a good system, but remembered far too fondly for what it was. It failed because SEGA did a shit job with everything they touched after the Genesis, so a lot of people just ignored the DC not wanting to get burned by SEGA again. It does have a good library, but I have to wonder what some people are smoking when they say it had one of the best ever. Very good, especially for it's short life, but a lot of it was very niche as well.
And this is exactly the sort of person I'm talking about when I say brand prejudice.

Lemme guess, you never even owned a DC, because you were one of the one's holding out for the magical font of blowjobs the Emotion Engine would surely issue forth, when it ever got around to releasing.

[Wraith]

Skies of Arcadia
Jet Grind Radio (Jet Set Radio)
Shenmue II


Here in the states, we never got the Dreamcast release of Shenmue 2, even though it had already been released in Europe. I remember seeing the UK version being sold at Software Etc. here, but I didn't buy it because it was a bit more money than I wanted to spend, and you had to buy the special disc that let you play import titles. I did eventually play the game when they ported it to the Xbox. But I would have liked to have played the Dreamcast version, too.

[Wraitheist]

I'm sure someone mentioned this already, but Cannon Spike is an oft-overlooked title. Awesome, awesome game.

[Gorvi]

And this is exactly the sort of person I'm talking about when I say brand prejudice.

Lemme guess, you never even owned a DC, because you were one of the one's holding out for the magical font of blowjobs the Emotion Engine would surely issue forth, when it ever got around to releasing.
Are you an idiot or just blind? I posted earlier in the thread suggesting good games for the system. I bought one before it died and enjoyed it, but I didn't care for a lot of what was on it either. I always hated the Jet Grind (Set) Radio games, was not a huge Soul Calibur fan (having already played Soul Blade to death), and didn't care for a lot of SEGA's quirkier games like Space Channel 5 or Samba de Amigo. I, however, adored Skies of Arcadia, Crazy Taxi, and really liked Seaman. Unfortunately, I never got into PSO, or else I'm sure I would have enjoyed that as well.

Honestly, if a company releases consoles like the SEGA CD, 32X, and Saturn in succession, what am I supposed to do, just blindly buy their next offering saying "Please, SEGA, screw me over again with even more hardware?". Yeah, no.

The Dreamcast was a good console, asinine controller design and all, but it gets remembered more fondly than it probably deserves because it was cut down in it's prime. It certainly deserved to go on longer than it did, that's for damn sure.

[J Arcane]

Honestly, if a company releases consoles like the SEGA CD, 32X, and Saturn in succession, what am I supposed to do, just blindly buy their next offering saying "Please, SEGA, screw me over again with even more hardware?". Yeah, no.

A console should be judged on it's own merits, not arbitrary brand loyalty.

Had I the money, I'd buy a PS3 right now, even though I though the PS1 and PS2 both outright sucked, because overall I think it's a great system that's really built up some neat features and an interesting library. Sony finally got it right this time, and for that, I'd love to give them my money, it just isn't in my budget right now and won't be for a while.

By contrast, despite loving the Xbox 1, I wouldn't touch the 360 with a 100 foot pole. I'm not about buying consoles with greater failure rates than the original NES, that's just not fucking acceptable. Combine that with a dull game library, and the bullshit mess that is the Live system, and I have about as much interest in the 360 as I do in having 8 inch nails driven straight down my urethra.

[Gorvi]

A console should be judged on it's own merits, not arbitrary brand loyalty.

Had I the money, I'd buy a PS3 right now, even though I though the PS1 and PS2 both outright sucked, because overall I think it's a great system that's really built up some neat features and an interesting library. Sony finally got it right this time, and for that, I'd love to give them my money, it just isn't in my budget right now and won't be for a while.

By contrast, despite loving the Xbox 1, I wouldn't touch the 360 with a 100 foot pole. I'm not about buying consoles with greater failure rates than the original NES, that's just not fucking acceptable. Combine that with a dull game library, and the bullshit mess that is the Live system, and I have about as much interest in the 360 as I do in having 8 inch nails driven straight down my urethra.
You and I have very different opinions on a few consoles and I think it's best to just leave it at that. We're coming from two different places entirely.

[Young Al Capone]

Internet remains serious business I see...

Either way,

To add a new suggestion: San Fransisco Rush 2049. The definitive version of Rush, and an incredible arcade racer.

This, this and this. I spent obscene amounts of time with that game, and hate myself for ever getting rid of my Dreamcast and that game.

[total]

The Dreamcast was a good console, asinine controller design and all

You take that back! I absolutely love the DC controller. The dpad is still unrivaled in my book. And fucking VMUs man! VMU!!!

[Gorvi]

You take that back! I absolutely love the DC controller. The dpad is still unrivaled in my book. And fucking VMUs man! VMU!!!
VMUs were freaking awesome, but the controller itself was just... bulky. If they could have shaped it better it would've been great.

[total]

VMUs were freaking awesome, but the controller itself was just... bulky. If they could have shaped it better it would've been great.

Yeah see I'm basically a shaved ape (6"3...massive hands) so I enjoy the bulkier controllers. I'm one of those that preferred the general on the Xbox 1. I can understand your distaste for the controller, it isn't an uncommon knock on the DC.

[Inverarity]

The size of the controller suited me well, but my hands just couldn't get settled with it- I'd grab it at funny angles and end up cramped. Eventually I picked up a MadCatz Dream Pad, which is much more comfortable.