9/9/99. 15 years ago today marked the launch of the legendary Sega Dreamcast. I remember like it was yesterday, the buzz around it at the time was like no console launch I can remember. My dad purchased it for me the day it came out along with Power Stones, Ready 2 Rumble Boxing and Sonic Adventure. Nine year old Gary never hated school more than when he had to go there to abandon his Dreamcast.
When you look at the list of games that were on the Dreamcast it’s classic after classic and for a console that had less than a two year life span in North America, it only makes it that much more impressive. It had everything, it had some of greatest fighting games of all time, Power Stones 1/2, Soul Calibur and let’s not forget Marvel vs. Capcom 2.
In terms of sports games they did something at the time was unthinkable, creating a series that was better than Madden in the NFL 2K series. Virtual Tennis? Come on, you could argue that pound for pound it’s the best tennis game of all time.
RPGs? Please son, don’t get me started. Skies of Arcadia, Phantasy Star Online, Grandia 2?
It had a bunch of obscure Japanese games, Jet Grind Radio, Samba de Amigo, Ikaruga, Space Channel Five.
I could write a few thousands words on the masterpiece that is Shenmue. Dave Walsh could double what I’d write on Shenmue. I love Shenmue, Dave Walsh loves Shenmue, we all love Shenmue.
Dreamcast, you’re 15 now, you can almost drive even though you’re not with us anymore. You’ll always live on in our memories, thank you for everything.
