My ode to the Dreamcast

When I was a young lad, I remember my brother and I went to this mystical place called "Blockbuster", along with a few other local rental places (does anyone remember when grocery stores had their own video stores in them?) to pick up these amazing arcade ports on NES, SNES, and Genesis. I'd sit there for hours in front of the TV playing these perfect ports of games like Street Fighter 2, NBA Jam, Joe and Mac, and tons of others. At the time, I thought nothing could ever get any better than that. You could practically play authentic renditions of the same games you would normally have to plop quarter after quarter into in your own home! Sure, maybe the graphics weren't quite as polished, they might have altered some of the sounds, but the core experience was the same! How could it ever get any better?



Things started to change once the move to CD-based consoles started. When the Sony Playstation launched, instead of playing these compressed arcade games, we were getting closer to replicating that very same experience without having to sacrifice nearly as much, thanks to the superior hardware and the increased storage capacity on CD's. Unfortunately, as with most changes in technology, there was a trade-off: insane load times. Mortal Kombat 3 on Genesis was the first time I really noticed how much less crisp its sound was compared to the SNES, along with the fact that the color pallet seemed lacking. The SNES version seemed to look closer but still lacked that definition that made it stand out in arcade. The PS1 port, however, looked and sounded JUST like its big brother. Enter the trade-off: due to the laser having to read data off the disc, whenever Shang Tsung morphed, the game would freeze for a few seconds as it loaded the new characters moveset, which kind of ruined the whole experience, not to mention the loading time between fights. As time went on, the Playstation would become the next home for arcade ports, but we were always forced to just deal with the loading. All of that changed on 9/9/99.



When the Dreamcast finally hit, we saw a significant difference between what had been available during the 32-bit era (Saturn and Playstation) in terms of graphics, sound, and the core gameplay experience. While previous consoles had to sacrifice something, Dreamcast benefited from being constructed on the same basic hardware as what was then available in arcades. This meant that everything you saw at the arcade was finally playable at home with no losses, going so far as to throw in tons of extra modes (Street Fighter Alpha 3 says "Hi"), allowing you to refine your skills at home without having to take frame rate or input differences into account.



As previously mentioned, this was not the Dreamcast's only strength. It definitely makes it easy to go back into if you feel like playing Capcom vs SNK 2 or Soul Calibur, but there were tons of amazing games that were exclusive to it that still hold up well today. Jet Set Radio is still a landmark title thanks to its introduction of the cel-shaded art style that games use to this day. Shenmue can be blamed for the origin of so many QTE events in games for years to come, even going so far as to be the primary control element in this years hit, Heavy Rain. While online console gaming technically existed years before thanks to the xband, Phantasy Star Online is the title people look back at and remember how excellent the netcode was, or that crazy night they jumped on to trade items with some guy from the other side of the world. With the creation of the 2k sports games, it felt like Madden and NBA Live had some serious competition, forcing them to seriously consider what their strategy was. Sure, there was NFL Xtreme, Game Day, NBA Shootout, and other franchises that tried, but none ever managed to really get the experience as refined as NFL and NBA 2k did, which also looked leaps and bounds better than anything we'd seen before. Last, but definitely not least, who can possibly forget their first time seeing the Ready 2 Rumble commercial?



I could go on and on forever about how amazing the Dreamcast was and still is, and there might be future posts nailing down specific experiences I had with the amazing, but for now, I'd like to bring this to a close. The Dreamcast is still my first choice for amazing 4 player split screen games and loading up amazing arcade ports, and while the PS2 is a close second, I really feel that this was the niche Sega carved out for itself in the hearts of gamers everywhere. The next time you hear that ridiculously loud beeping sound the VMUs made when starting up or hear about a new Cel Shaded game, or even when you're cursing out a game because of that damn QTE you missed, think of the Dreamcast and pour one out for Sega. Better yet, track one down if you don't already have one, get some friends, some controllers, and bask in the glory of one of the finest consoles of all time.