"A tragically unrecognized console truly ahead of its time."

I’d like to start my Sega Dreamcast Hardware review with a little basic history about it. The Dreamcast was the next, and last, console from Sega after the failing Saturn. The Saturn should not have failed as it did because it had some truly excellent gems, and proved that CD-based games can be very fun. The Dreamcast then put that theory concerning CD games to the test. That theory held strong, but only until the Sony PlayStation 2 came out (check out my review for that one, too). It was then all downhill for Dreamcast. Being released almost either a year or half a year before the PS2 (I forget which), it had a tremendous head start on the PS2. But too good of a head start. You see, when the PS2 came out, Dreamcast was old news to people, who were focusing their attention on PS2, GameCube, XBox, and all the new next-generation consoles. Therefore, most people did not buy a Dreamcast (I offer my sincere congratulations to those who did, you made a very smart move). Every video game magazine had at least one article with a title such as, “Can Sega really pull this one off?”. Being the only console ever to receive such a negative response from the video gaming population, Sega realized they had to work extra hard to make the Dreamcast work. And work they did. For a period spanning about one year, Sega and various third parties continued to put out great game after great game. However, the world was under Sony’s trance, and they believed that nothing AT ALL could beat the PS2, and that PS2 hardware was simply superior to anything released in the past. This was about as true as the statement 2 + 2 = 1. The Dreamcast had hardware far superior to any of that that the PS2 had to its name. Its main graphical prowess against the PS2 was its anti-aliasing ability. That is, smoothing over edges to take away the “jaggies”. But people were far too entranced with the new PlayStation 2 to even acknowledge the Dreamcast’s mere existence. So then, people bought less and less Dreamcast consoles and games. That had a negative effect on developers, meaning less quality games (and less games period). People saw that Dreamcast game production was decreasing, and the few games that were coming out were of little quality. So, sadly, enough, most casual gamers abandoned the Dreamcast. Yet another unjust death of a great console. There are, however, a select handful of a few serious, hardcore gamers who recognize the Dreamcast‘s advancement in terms of video gaming. I offer my applause to you great gaming citizens, because the Dreamcast still somewhat lives on because of people like you (and myself!).

The graphical power of the Dreamcast far outdid any console of its time. Like my opener states, it really was a console ahead of its time. The only console that technically has the raw power to outperform the Dreamcast at visuals will be the XBox, and what do you expect from Bill Gate$? Even the first-generation games of the Dreamcast were simply breathtaking (Sonic Adventure, Soul Calibur). I do not know off-hand the exact specifications of the Dreamcast hardware, but it will surely be higher than that of the PS2. And the Dreamcast has the anti-aliasing ability, which means that the games all look very clear and sharp, and don’t have jaggies like the PS2. If the Dreamcast could play PSX games, like PS2, experts say the PSX games would look like Dreamcast games because of that little thing called anti-aliasing.

To me, all next-generation consoles have the same sound. All sounds are rendered perfectly, and although not in real-time Dolby Digital or DTS 5.1, they still sound pretty darn lifelike. You could somehow combine the Dreamcast with one of those nifty surround sound home audio systems and get some serious sound out of it. I do not have neither the money nor the time to do so, however.

The controller of the Dreamcast. The widely debated upon control issue of next-generation gaming. What can I say, except you like it or you don’t. Luckily for me, I happen to fall under the category of people who do like it. It may be like grabbing a piece of wood by the sides, true, but the thing that saves it is the strategic locations of the buttons and controls. You don’t have to reach very far to have access to every button, including switching from the control pad to the analog stick. Plus, the idea of two memory card slots was great. The only negative point is that the cord comes out from the bottom and not the top. This can, however, be remedied with the little hook they provide for clipping the cord down.

The Dreamcast, IMHO, has a very good value, at least today, as of October 29, 2001. The console itself is $80, and most games older than six months are $20. The brand new games, such as Sonic Adventure 2, are $40, but are worth it. See what $400 for a PS2 and 2 games can get you? A Dreamcast console ($80), a VMU (visual memory unit, $25), extra controller ($30), and about THIRTEEN (13) games!!! The Dreamcast has tremendous bang for its buck, as some would call it.

Game Selection, however, is where the console truly shines. You have a little bit of everything for every kind of gamer. The only place the Dreamcast is rather weak in is the RPG department. Sega has not been very well-known for RPG’s (Genesis, anyone?), and Dreamcast is no different. It does, however, have a boatload of games from every other section. Action, adventure, fighting, strategy, everything - most $20 :)

The innovation of the Dreamcast is like no other. The Dreamcast was the very first console to ever have out-of-the-box online play. True, it might be only 56k dial-up, but it’s better than nothing. If you can establish a close, low-ping, high-speed connection with someone, you won’t even notice that it’s 56k dial-up and not broadband. The Dreamcast also took the idea of the Saturn and expanded upon it. Instead of CD-based games however, the Dreamcast invented a whole new kind of media: GD-ROMS. A GD-ROM stands for gigabyte read only memory, and is basically a CD that will hold a little over a gigabyte of information. It is a dual-layered disc, and is therefore impossible to be read by a standard CD-ROM drive. Only a GD-ROM drive can read it. With the extra capacity, the limits were limited only by the sky. Also, Sega realized the importance of VRAM (video memory), and gave the Dreamcast a whopping 8MB of it, as opposed to the PS2’s 4MB. The extra video memory allows Dreamcast games to have huge, roam-free worlds, like RPG’s where you just walk around a HUGE level (and Sonic Adventure). Dreamcast was also the first console to have out-of-the-box four controller ports, and games designed for four controllers, so there is a major checkpoint.

Overall, the Dreamcast is a gem that most people fail to recognize as a great console. Sega did not advertise nearly as much as the new consoles are now, and it is truly a wonder that they sold as many as they did. Needless to say, with two flops in a row, Sega is retiring from the console business and is focusing all their power on developing games. Sega’s place in the console market has now been taken by Micro$oft, a truly sad move in video gaming history. One can but hope that someday, somehow the Dreamcast will be recognized. It deserves a little bit of attention, and I do NOT mean the kind it got from gaming magazines. Thank you.

Visual power: 100/100
Auditory capabilities: 100/100
Controller: 95/100
Value: 100/100
Game Selection: 100+/100
Innovation: 100/100
Overall Average: 99.2/100
Overall Non-Average: 100/100
Overall GameFAQs Score: 10/10

Another fine review by *~*Aristotle*~*.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 10/29/01, Updated 10/29/01