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[The ninja farmer]

Crazy taxi and soul calibur won me over. It maybe the last sega console. But it went out with a load of amazing games. Some of which have aged like fine wine

And the laughs I had playing soul calibur with the bass fishing rods .

And the Dreamcast was the best place to play tony hawks 2 (even if the controller was designed for people with more than 2 hands )

 

[cyberheater]

Windows fucking CE.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

I find it hard to celebrate anything to do with SEGA Europe and the DC.

SEGA Europe was run by a clueless French footy fan, who cared more about wasting all of SEGA's Europe money on sponsoring every football team known to man, whilst not ensuring a quality football game of its own and that's before you move on the muppets running the PR ECT.

SEGA Europe killed any hope of the '8 billion' players going online in Europe by not allowing Pal users to enter their own ISP. You have some of the worst and most fragile game cases ever made, you had a massive advertising campaign on TV without showing any games running and not even the console you're trying to get people to buy, instead, you show people having a haircut and worst of all... Some muppet at SEGA Europe thought the best way to show off Soul Calibur (what was the best looking game around at the time) on prime time TV, not by showing the game being played, but rather by showing someone sending an e-mail.

I mean you couldn't make it up

The only good thing I can say about Sega Europe during Dreamcast’s life span was the monthly demo disc, they usually had some quality games on there too.

Demo pods in game shops (and other places like cinema foyers) was another good idea they replicated from Sony, I never saw a single Saturn demo pod.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

I find it hard to celebrate anything to do with SEGA Europe and the DC.

SEGA Europe was run by a clueless French footy fan, who cared more about wasting all of SEGA's Europe money on sponsoring every football team known to man, whilst not ensuring a quality football game of its own and that's before you move on the muppets running the PR ECT.

SEGA Europe killed any hope of the '8 billion' players going online in Europe by not allowing Pal users to enter their own ISP. You have some of the worst and most fragile game cases ever made, you had a massive advertising campaign on TV without showing any games running and not even the console you're trying to get people to buy, instead, you show people having a haircut and worst of all... Some muppet at SEGA Europe thought the best way to show off Soul Calibur (what was the best looking game around at the time) on prime time TV, not by showing the game being played, but rather by showing someone sending an e-mail.

I mean you couldn't make it up

The early internet days are so weird to look back to now lmao.

 

[SweetTooth]

Well for starters you confuse 60fps with 60hz.

True, I stand corrected

 

[RetroGamingUK]

True, I stand corrected

One interesting thing about 60Hz

I’ve always done most of my game playing in a dimly lit room.

Now that I’ve got an OLED, I never notice the PAL borders on retro games anymore.

 

[Team Andromeda]

The only good thing I can say about Sega Europe during Dreamcast’s life span was the monthly demo disc, they usually had some quality games on there too.

Demo pods in game shops (and other places like cinema foyers) was another good idea they replicated from Sony, I never saw a single Saturn demo pod.

SEGA Europe was a joke. Though to their credit they brought REZ out for the DC in Pal land and I did like Dreamaera, Planet Ring. Which was trying to get a community going long before the days of social media

The early internet days are so weird to look back to now lmao.

It was just SEGA Europe. SEGA America to their credit was getting so much right with slick PR and also allowing users to enter their own ISP details in, which was a GOD send for me given I was Freeserve and had free calls and just paid a monthly fee, unlike the bastards BT who charged Pal DC users by the minute

 

[RetroGamingUK]

SEGA Europe was a joke. Though to their credit they brought REZ out for the DC in Pal land and I did like Dreamaera, Planet Ring. Which was trying to get a community going long before the days of social media


It was just SEGA Europe. SEGA America to their credit was getting so much right with slick PR and also allowing users to enter their own ISP details in, which was a GOD send for me given I was Freeserve and had free calls and just paid a monthly fee, unlike the bastards BT who charged Pal DC users by the minute

I was going to ask if Rez was the final PAL game, I looked it up myself and it turned out it was Cannon Spike.

Considering Capcom were one the only major publishers to take Dreamcast seriously I find that quite fitting.

 

[Team Andromeda]

I was going to ask if Rez was the final PAL game, I looked it up myself and it turned out it was Cannon Spike.

Considering Capcom were one the only major publishers to take Dreamcast seriously I find that quite fitting.

I think that was Evil Twin mate

 

[Davevil]

So how would you guys rank and rate the launch window games? For me…


14) Sega Bass Fishing - 6

I’d give the rest 5 or below, lots of crap

Sega Bass Fishing - 11 ....

only for this beauty

 

[SkylineRKR]

I think that was Evil Twin mate

In April of 2002 there was a sudden wave of DC releases; Evil Twin, Cannon Spike, Heavy Metal and Conflict Zone. Heavy Metal I already played before, like Cannon Spike it came out way earlier in other regions. All these were released on April 26 2002, according to wiki.

Evil Twin was a truly new game though. Those others were already out elsewhere. Evil Twin was a piece of shit. Cannon Spike was very solid, I did own the PAL copy.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

Still pissed Shenmue 2 showed up there before finally hitting NA on the Xbox.

 

[Daniel Thomas MacInnes]

Dreamcast is still more fun to play than anything on the scene today. Obviously, I’m biased towards an era of arcade games that is now all but extinct. Sega, Midway and Capcom were firing on all cylinders.

Why Sega hasn’t spent the past decade porting all their Saturn & DC titles to modern platforms is a mystery for the ages.

 

[Shin-Ra]

PSO only lasted me a few weeks before the first phone bill arrived… all the hacked/duplicated high level weapon drops had broken the online economy (even if you resisted using them, others didn’t) anyway and refighting the final level and boss got old fast.

 

[cireza]

PSO only lasted me a few weeks before the first phone bill arrived… all the hacked/duplicated high level weapon drops had broken the online economy (even if you resisted using them, others didn’t) anyway and refighting the final level and boss got old fast.

Still playing this game offline in Ultimate religiously.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

Good podcast going really into depth on the UK launch

Apparently someone got stabbed on launch night for a Dreamcast… in Croydon

 

[Alexios]

Windows fucking CE.

It's generally panned, largely due to Sega Rally 2, but it gave DC some great games. StarLancer possibly its most impressive, even with performance issues it's ace & shows DC could likely handle tons more pre/post 2000 PC classics it should have had, FreeSpace & 2, Battlezone 98 & II, who knows...

​

 

[cyberheater]

It's generally panned, largely due to Sega Rally 2, but it gave DC some great games. StarLancer possibly its most impressive, even with performance issues it's ace & shows DC could likely handle tons more pre/post 2000 PC classics it should have had, FreeSpace & 2, Battlezone 98 & II, who knows...

​

I do wonder how much of a performance improvement there would have been if those games had been coded to the metal. I was so disappointed with Sega Rally when I got it home.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

I do wonder how much of a performance improvement there would have been if those games had been coded to the metal. I was so disappointed with Sega Rally when I got it home.

I think the point of Windows CE was to make the job of porting PC games easier

However that meant losing access to the system’s graphical features as a compromise, resulting in vastly inferior ports

However, without it, I doubt any of those games would have gotten a release at all

 

[RetroGamingUK]

Sega Bass Fishing - 11 ....

only for this beauty

Awesome, I don’t think we got the official Sega rod in the UK and, as a result, Sega Bass Fishing was delayed until February.

 

[SirTerry-T]

In Benelux the biggest toy stores didn't (mainly Intertoys and Bart Smit), which were the most significant outlets for consoles back then, they had the widest reach with over 500 stores combined. After the Saturn debacle and uncertainty about the DC distribution they decided not to carry it. Those stores were stacked with Playstation and Nintendo.

I believe only dedicated gameshops carried it, as well as Dixons. So it basically never stood a chance over here.

Reportedly 20k units were sold, but I read that based on game sales estimations, this might've been actually only 8k in reality. Saturn in fact sold better, which makes sense because at least until late 1996 all retailers carried it. For comparison, Playstation was at 30k units by late 1996, and at 400k units by late 1998. It boomed from 1997 onward.

I got mine from Rumblows. This is the first I've heard of UK high street stores not stocking it. HMV sold the console too.

 

[Dr.D00p]

Sega Bass Fishing - 11 ....

only for this beauty

Amateur level.

I had the Samba De Amigo Maraccas box set.

Sold it for a mint on eBay In 2008.

 

[RobRSG]

My favorite system of all time.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

I got mine from Rumblows. This is the first I've heard of UK high street stores not stocking it. HMV sold the console too.

My local HMV broke the street date with some of the launch games. The official launch was on Thursday but me and a couple of friends went to the local shopping centre the Sunday before to hang out and play some of the demo pods.

HMV had a shelf with several third party games such as Blue Stinger, Dynamite Cop, Power Stone and Toy Commander.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

Dreamcast had a proper SCART RGB bundled (as usual with SEGA) and supported 60Hz on a lot of games (not Skies of Arcadia though). Phantasy Star Online looked incredible as well

Ah not quite

The Saturn game with an RGB cable, which was great for me but apparently annoyed a lot of people as in 1995 a lot of people still didn’t have SCART compatible TV sets

Fast forward to 1999, when most people did have SCART, and Sega decided to bundle the Dreamcast with an RF unit instead. Even worse was the screen flicker when using RF in 60Hz, unplayable.

I got an RGB cable shortly after launch and later on, a VGA cable, Dreamcast had the best picture quality of any console that generation.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

My favorite system of all time.

Cool collection, have a lot of good memories of playing Worms Armageddon at my friend’s

Here’s mine…

Need to get Sonic Adventure 2, Phantasy Star Online, Daytona 2001 though.

I’ve also got Shenmue somewhere but couldn’t find it

 

[SkylineRKR]

I always have this soft spot for launch software.

Blue Stinger; Pretty fucking fun actually. And ridiculous.
Hydro Thunder; The arcade hit and best port at the time.
Tokyo Xtreme Racer; nuff said

 

[cireza]

Ah not quite

The Saturn game with an RGB cable, which was great for me but apparently annoyed a lot of people as in 1995 a lot of people still didn’t have SCART compatible TV sets

Fast forward to 1999, when most people did have SCART, and Sega decided to bundle the Dreamcast with an RF unit instead. Even worse was the screen flicker when using RF in 60Hz, unplayable.

I got an RGB cable shortly after launch and later on, a VGA cable, Dreamcast had the best picture quality of any console that generation.

In France every SEGA console starting with the Master System had a SCART lead and everybody had SCART inputs on their TVs.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

In France every SEGA console starting with the Master System had a SCART lead and everybody had SCART inputs on their TVs.

True, but then SCART was a French invention.

In 1995 not many UK TV owners had SCART, by 1999 nearly everyone had a SCART compatible TV.

SEGA got it back to front bundling a SCART with Saturn but an RF with Dreamcast, especially when you consider the issues using the RF unit in 60Hz mode.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

So where did you guys in the UK buy your Dreamcast?

I got mine from HMV, I’d been following the build up to launch but was on the fence about getting one or waiting for PS2.

Me and my friend went to HMV and came across a Dreamcast demo pod with Soul Calibur running on it, I decided there and then I would get one and bought it

Dreamcast stuff in HMV (not me in the pic)

 

[RetroGamingUK]

Hosted by Christopher Dring of https://gamesindustry.biz, the 25 Years of SEGA Dreamcast panel featured publishing veterans and founders of DC-UK magazine Caspar Field and Keith Stuart, as well as author of the Dreamcast: Year One and Year Two books Andrew Dickinson, to discuss "one of the most influential games consoles that people didn't buy."

 

[RCX]

Ive always wondered why they changed the colour scheme for their branding from red/orange in Japan to blue in the west? I thought it looked worse and couldnt see a good reason as to why they did it.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

Ive always wondered why they changed the colour scheme for their branding from red/orange in Japan to blue in the west? I thought it looked worse and couldnt see a good reason as to why they did it.

There was a German company already using an orange swirl as their logo and Sega didn’t want to have to deal with a lawsuit.

I quite liked the cool blue they went with over here, after all Sega used blue for their later MegaDrive game cases, and it complimented the blue blue skies theme of many of the games