Sega Dreamcast Console

Who can forget this sensation of a system? The ads were everywhere, on Television, in print, on billboards, and even in movie trailers. In fact, the system itself was the official sponsor of nearly every show and event on MTV from 1999 to about early 2001. These post-modern approaches to video game advertising featured almost ominous, apocalyptic ads, promising a major change to occur on September 9, 1999 (9.9.99). With all this buzz building for the system, it's hard to believe it only lasted the good part of two years! I could go on and on, but this isn't a review of the history of the Dreamcast, it's a review of the system itself, so let's get on with it.

The best thing this system had going for it was its ports of Arcade games, specifically fighters from Capcom and SNK. It didn't have quite the volume of ports that, say, the Playstation had, but each port released was not only closer to the actual experience than you'd ever get at home, they were also filled to the brim with special features. I will contend that the Sega Dreamcast is the greatest arcade console of all time. However, it didn't do too much else that well. Stellar first-party titles, but almost zero solid third party support (much like the N64). Add that to the fact that the Playstation 2 was right around the corner, with backwards compatibility and a cheap way to bring a DVD player into the home, and the Dreamcast was doomed from almost the start.