"The world just never seemed to care..."

The Dreamcast has to be the most underrated system I have ever had the pleasure of playing. Even now that it is almost gone stale and games aren't being released any more, which is a big shame, as I still love the system very much, yet it never seemed to get the respect it so thoroughly deserved and Sega worked so hard for. The Saturn seemed to be a failure, and the Dreamcast was supposed to be a big improvement and be the most advanced console ever made. While it was sadly Sega's final console, the gaming experience the Dreamcast gave me is something I was really satisfied with.

The Dreamcast was released in 1998, and it is a 128-bit console, the same as the PS2, GameCube, and Xbox. While its release was early, its graphics and looks still look amazing even today. At the time, the Dreamcast displayed some of the best graphics around, and although the PS2, GCN and XBX have outdone it now since they are more recent consoles, they still look superb today by my standards.

The Dreamcast has witnessed some of the most popular action titles to grace its system. Those such as Marvel vs. Capcom, Shenmue I and II, Soul Calibur and Sonic Adventure. The game library has some excellent titles to offer, and they are still looking good and great to play after quite a few years after their release. The Dreamcast has a powerful engine to display its games with great quality and graphics, and is one of the best around that does so.

Speaking of game library, the titles for the system have a wide range, and while they are getting rare to find now, well worth getting the system for and collecting. There are many great fighting games on the Dreamcast like Marvel vs. Capcom and Soul Calibur. There are some RPGs, yet the system's forte was its pleasant action games. Shenmue and Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 in particular are heavy favourites you can get for the Dreamcast. The system has generally got some great games, a few decent ones, and some excellent ones, mainly the ones I have already mentioned.

The Dreamcast was very hyped once it was out. A few companies devoted their series to them, like Capcom, for example. Sega even added a few games like the Sonic games from Sonic Team, and it made the game library a lot better. Many ports from Japan (who if I'm correct, are still making DC games) have graced the system to make it that much better.

What the Dreamcast introduced to the world was a feature known as Online gaming. At the time it was difficult to get and less popular, but now, it's praised by many gamers across the globe. This was shown mainly by the Phantasy Star Online episode games. The Online playability made the console much better and your games were more versatile and you had open playing fields. Even playing offline for some of the games designed to be played online was decent, and makes the Dreamcast a very genuine system, and it's for this we have to thank the huge fad of Online gaming today.

The Dreamcast has a controller that supports the memory card inside it. Similar to the Nintendo 64, only the controller still feels comfortable to hold while supporting the memory card since it's actually inside it. You can take it out and manage your data from the memory card itself, as it is sort of a mini-system that the Dreamcast offers. What made it even better was that it even has some small games you can play on it without having to use the Dreamcast, like the Chao game from Sonic Adventure. This makes it even much more better, and another compliment I can pay to the Dreamcast. :P This makes the Dreamcast a very versatile gaming platform.

While this makes the Dreamcast sound such a great system, it fell flat on its face in the end, when unfortunately, it just never seemed to be huge in the gaming market. It charged money for playing online games like Phantasy Star Online 2 (a game for which it promised it wouldn't), and with a tight budget, things never seemed to look good. With downed sales because of other games being released at the same time and tough competition, it just didn't do as well as it should have. While it is still a rather big system in Japan, the US and UK have had poor sales figures, and Sega have quit console making entirely because of this.

While many companies such as Sony have disrespected this system and tried their hardest to keep it from taking off, the Dreamcast is now one of the cheaper and more difficult to find systems. Its death from underrated-ness has let me realise how much potential the system had, but never had the chance to offer. Now, I can find a system at a Cash Converters store for £40, and some games for £20, and that is well worth buying the system for. It is cheap, but yet well worth getting.

Now that the Dreamcast is no longer an active, living console, its library and excellent supporting features makes it one of the best systems around, but I have to say it will be sadly missed now, that it has ''died''. While Sega are still making games, this system deserves a lot of respect and is well worth buying.

For a great system that just never made it in the big world, it will still be popular for a long time, and it is still worth buying now.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/28/04