Why The Dreamcast Was Ahead Of Its Time
The Dreamcast was the last console ever released by Sega. In an attempt to bring back the success they had with the Genesis/Megadrive and erase the failure of the Sega Saturn, Sega released one of the best gaming consoles ever.
The background
Sega launched their sixth generation console on November 27, 1998 in Japan. It was the the successor to the failed Sega Saturn that was released 3 years earlier.
The 128-bit console was a last attempt to bring back the former glory that Sega had during the 16-bit era.
The Dreamcast is a disc based console with a 200 MHz Hitachi SH-4 CPU and a 100 MHz NEC PowerVR2 GPU. The Dreamcast has 16 MB main RAM and can output approximately 16.77 million colors at a resolution of 640 x 480
The Dreamcast's main competition at the time was the Playstation 2
The Futuristic
There were a lot of things why the Dreamcast was considered ahead of its time.
The controller
Sega was always good at designing controllers. Their six-button genesis/megadrive and Saturn controller were among the best in the business. The Dreamcast controller was no exception. It featured a analogue stick on left side of the controller and had triggers instead of shoulder buttons.
The Dreamcast controller was revolutionary because it had a modular design. The controller has two expansion slots that can be used to insert add-ons like the VMU (Visual Memory Unit), Rumble pack or even a microphone.
The Dreamcast controller is rumored to be the main inspiration for the original Xbox controller.
The VMU
The VMU (Virtual Memory Unit) is memory unit with a LCD display that can also be used to play mini games without being connected to the Dreamcast. It shows information while playing, this is either in-game info or a logo of the game/game developer. Another feature is that you can connect two VMU's to exchange information. It is basically a mini gameboy that you can insert into your controller. Remember that this was introduced in 1998, the next console that had a similar function was the nintendo Wii U and that console was released in 2012, almost 14 years later.
Online Gaming
Nowadays online console gaming is more something we find very normal.
But back in 1998 online gaming on consoles was a novelty. This was the time of dial-up modems. Internet was done over telephone landlines and the cost for surfing the internet was high. DSL was not commonplace and very expensive. If you wanted to game with your friends, you had to invite them over to your house.
The Dreamcast came with a built in modem. The service for online gaming was called Seganet, you could use the service for online gaming but also web browsing. The most well-known game that offered online play was Phantasy Star online. Although the Dial-up was a 33k or 56k modem there was little to no lag when playing.
For most console gamers this was the first time they could play online with a gaming console.
In 2001 Sega released a DSL modem for broadband internet access. Sega was criticized for not including the modem at the initial release
The Games
This generation of Consoles was finally able to produce arcade quality graphics. The Dreamcast was no exception. The Dreamcast version of Soul Calibur was even better than the arcade version. The Dreamcast version added extra content and a Mission Mode.
The Dreamcast was innovating when it came to hardware but it was also innovating when it came to games. The most noteworthy innovating games were Seaman (where you interacted with your game character using the microphone) and Shenmue which was an open world game (again, remember that we are talking about 1999/2000!).
The list of great games for the Dreamcast is very long, Games like Soul Calibur, Street Fighter III, Silver, Power Stone, ShenMue 1 & 2, Crazy Tax, Capcom vs SNK 2 (the list goes on and on) are still fun to play to this day.
I often start up my Dreamcast to play some of these games and they don't feel dated. The only thing that really shows the age of the games is the 640x480 resolution.
The Failure
So if the Dreamcast was so great, why wasn't it more successful? Well, there were a couple of reasons why the Dreamcast did not do as well as it should have.
The competition
The mighty Playstation 2. Could any console have gone up against this console and come out on top? Basically, the Dreamcast never stood a chance.
In 2012 worldwide sales for the Playstation 2 totaled a whopping 155 million (That is 12 years after its initial launch!).
Piracy
It was really easy to copy games for the Dreamcast resulting in low sales for Dreamcast games. Ironically the roles were reversed with the previous generation of consoles (the Sony Playstation and the Sega Saturn). Then it was the Playstation that had Piracy issues.
In 2001 on March 31 Sega finally pulled the plug on the Dreamcast and announced that they were backing out of the console market.
The console is still very popular to this day and a lot of Sega enthousiasts are still hoping that Sega will reconsider their decision of never releasing another console. Every now and then news pops up on the internet claiming that Sega is planning to release a new console or that there are plans of releasing a Dreamcast 2
Related Posts
https://steemit.com/gaming/@xervantes/11-things-to-consider-before-buying-a-gaming-console
https://steemit.com/gaming/@xervantes/the-history-of-gaming-consoles
sources/links
http://bordersdown.net/content/400-Dreamcast-Peripherals-and-Hardware-List-with-photos
http://segaretro.org/Dreamcast_Controller
http://www.gamesradar.com/best-dreamcast-games-all-time/
The moment I heard about this console I desired to have it. It's a shame that this was in 2006 :(.
On the other hand, I don't know if it is posible for sega to come back to making consoles because, with the supremacy of PS4 going on, maybe they would live the same history. Instead, I hope to see a new revolutionary idea from any of the companies.
Great post.
Thank you. If the history of consoles teaches us anything, it is that nothing lasts forever. In time another company will come with a new comsole. Innovation comes from competition
If Atari manages it I suspect Sega will start making plans.
There is another post about Sega Saturn. I own both Saturn and Dreamcast, Dreamcast is still my most favorite Sega conole. In fact, I have to personally fly to Japan to get the machine when it was launched ( my Japanese friensld pre-ordered it, but still need to queue up the whole morning to get it for me).
I like Sega, too back that they are not in console business anymore, would love to have Sega back, maybe more active in the handheld game market!?
The chances that Sega is ever releasing a new console (even a handheld) are very slim. Their game division isn't doing very well. There was a project for the Dreamcast 2 (by fans) but it was scrapped: http://www.thedreamcastjunkyard.co.uk/2016/06/dreamcast-2-project-shuts-down.html
I am not hardcore enough, I didn't realize there was a fan blew Dreamcast 2 project. Too bad it is already terminated.
I played phantasy star online sooo loong
Yeah, I realized when I was writing the article exactly how long ago it was. Back in the daaaays...... :)
wow that's cool. Sega is my childhood video game console.
Mine also. Die-hard Sega fan here. I am still hoping that they will release a new console like atari. One can only dream.
The other issue worth adding is the actual development of games. For some reason sega decided it would be a good idea to put 2 OSs on the dream cast for devs to use. All it did was cause complete confusion and put people off trying to develop or port their games across.
Good point. Funny thing is Dreamcast fans are still making homebrew games for the console. There are some die hard fans out there.
I feel that Sega's problems with making a success out of the Dreamcast started years prior. I touched on them in this article (and plan to expand on them more soon).
https://steemit.com/games/@triverse/sega-saturn-what-the-hell-happened
Sega was their own biggest trouble maker and the biggest reason for their own downfall. They burned bridges with developers and gamers after the Genesis became a success. Sega simply did not understand how to handle success and it was their downfall.
I agree. I had already seen your post about the Saturn (good post by the way). Sega made some major mistakes, I blame it on arrogance. Their attempts to correct their mistakes were too late unfortunately. If only they had done things differently with the Saturn....
I think the launch of the Saturn burned the final bridges that the Sega CD and 32X poured the gasoline on (not to mention the Sega Activator for Genesis and the lack of support for the Menacer). Sega was quite out of touch with what gamers wanted and they weren't in the right mind to go back to what got them to where they were.
I am honestly surprised they launched the Dreamcast. I think they did it knowing it was a "hail Mary" move that simply did not pay off for them.
I think the reason the PS2 was able to squash it was two things. One, marketing. Sega should have learned from their Genesis days when they advertised HEAVILY. They showed they did not learn that lesson well (name three Saturn commercials you can remember airing on TV or three ads in mags that prominently featured the game). They continued this weird advertising with the Dreamcast (the whole "it's thinking" crap for instance).
Second, Sony's PS2 had a DVD player for under $300 (at a time when a basic DVD player was over $200). Buyers were basically presented with the idea of paying an extra $100 over JUST a DVD player and get a PS2 console. It was easy to see why the PS2 sold well. Sony positioned it quite well and surely took a loss to do so.
Sega and Nintendo are both "real" gaming companies. What I mean by that is that they sometimes lose sight of the business side of things unlike Sony and Microsoft. They made products that in hindsight were insane, I mean for gamers they were great but from a business standpoint insane. The Sega cd, the 32x and the 32x mega cd games would never have been greenlighted by Sony/MS.
True. Back then though, gaming was not "mainstream" yet. Up till Sony put the DVD drive in the PS2 it is arguable that gaming was just that, gaming. When Sony included the DVD drive in the PS2 though, they propelled gaming into the mainstream. It was no longer 'uncool' or 'childish' to have a gaming console, because it plays DVD's and those are totally not childish.
Sega and Nintendo during the 8, 16 and 32-Bit days only had to worry about gamers. Gamers knew they were going to get games. Sony proved they truly have no clue when they launched those UMD movies on the PSP for instance. They showed they were simply throwing it all at their platforms and seeing what stuck. They could do that though thanks to their sheer size. Sega would have gone under if they had attempted something on the scale of the PSP (and the failure it became).
I still have mine! I love it! Swirly Snake all the way haha
Me too, I really love that console. I recently bought a new controller for it to replace one that broke. You can still get those online :)
Ebay everything haha including the pins to replace on the Nintendo original system which I used to do often to resell.
Damn i miss having one of these.
Good article, nostalgia rich.
Upvoted. And following.
Thank you. It is fun bringing back those memories. and letting current generation gamers know what great consoles there were in the past. Dreamcast and the Neo Geo were consoles that were exceptional for that time.
Hahahaha. The hours spent playing Soul Calibur and Crazy Taxi! Still have mine in storage.
You should get it out of storage some time and play just to relive those old times. The games are still fun to play
Awesome
Thank you
Cheeersss mate 😎👍