"A slew of new and innovative technologies bring a great system, but one which is also misunderstood"

September 9, 1999 was a very important day for console designer and game publisher Service Games, also known as SEGA. The newest innovation in gaming technology was to be released to the anxious eyes of the world. This new console was able to perform magnificent graphical feats all at a blazing sixty frames per second, interact in and outside the console's location through memory card interaction and arcade interfacing, provide magnificent online services, and produce a wide variety of games for every type of gamer, each of which breaking barriers in aural and graphical capabilities. This console was to be called the SEGA Dreamcast.

So, what happened? Why did it not do so well out on the market? Was this just a fluke? Various reasons, really.

The time of release for Sega's Dreamcast was a mistake. Nintendo has released its competing Nintendo 64 considerably earlier, and had already captured a worldwide fanbase. Despite its initial lack and reluctance from third-party supporters, the ones on-board produced great games with only marginal graphical prowess but innovative and groundbreaking gameplay. Sony was ablaze from its success with its Playstation series of consoles, and at the time of the Dreamcast's release, talks were already going toward the newest generations of games. Microsoft with its mystery console, Nintendo with its "Dolphin", and Sony with its sequel system. The last console discussed amongst markets of major game developers and consumers alike was Sega's Dreamcast.

Everything else was in place. There was third-party support for the Dreamcast, primarily from Capcom and various internal studious like Hitmaker and Sega Sports, but this was not enough. The outside technology beyond the console was a little difficult to understand and was rather pricey for it and also the peripherals.

These, ultimately, lead to the console's unfortunate and untimely demise. If the power of Dreamcast had actually been tapped, the game's graphics could exceed those of Sony's Playstation 2, and even the games released up to the summer of 2001 were on-par with Sony's money maker. If more consideration had been given to when and how the system was to be released and marketed, Sega could have won back its support lost from its previous system, the Sega Saturn. Enough of hypothetical jargon, however.

Granted, I still turn to the Dreamcast often. The games released for the system broke a lot of ground, and introduced much-needed innovation into the world of games. Sonic Adventure was the first full-fledged 3D iteration of everyone's favorite blue hedgehog. Seaman was a beautiful experience which used a wide variety of gameplay styles and graphical effects. Capcom's fighters sparkled and shone in all their glory on Dreamcast, and some consider the Dreamcast's iterations of the Street Fighter series, Power Stone, and others to be outstanding. A gamer will still be hard-pressed to find a better tennis game than Virtua Tennis, even with its ports and sequels.

A Dreamcast console is a rather modest-looking system, with no outstanding physical features. It's a rather plain white and grey console ( unless the player is lucky enough to pick up the rare Sports Edition, which is black, or any other special iteration ) , and there are no special ports on the front or the back. Not much stands out about the console itself. There are four controller ports, which makes the Dreamcast ready for full multiplayer action.

The controller took innovations from other developers, put a spin on it, made its own innovations, and even inspired other developers. Four buttons are arranged in a SNES-like way along the right side of the controller, and also like the SNES, there are two trigger buttons for the left and right thumbs. The controller sports a fully analog controller and also a standard D-Pad. Two insertions ports were inbetween the triggers, however.

These served various purposes. Primarily, these were the places for VMUs and other memory cards. Additionally, this space can be used for a microphone or a rumble pak.

Now, what is a VMU? A VMU, or Visual Memory Unit, is a very unique device. It not only serves as a memory card, but also stands alone as its own miniature extension of games. Data like player or character stats, battling minigames, or training exercises can be transferred into a VMU from the game itself, and this translates to taking a small part of the game on the go. The VMU is about the size of a matchbook, and contains a small D-Pad and two small buttons on its front, with a connection port in its front, which connects to the Dreamcast or other VMUs.

Take Sega's own Sonic Adventure, for example. There is a small, optional element of raising small creatures called Chao. These Chao can be trained outside the game by transferring them to a VMU. Once in the VMU, the player can access the Chao and play with it without the Dreamcast at all. The Chao can participate in small games of skill and chance, like memory or exercise. Once the player is done, the VMU can be plugged back into the Dreamcast, and the Chao will be leveled up and healthy, ready to race against other stately Chao. This is just one example of the grand innovation.

The graphical prowess of the Dreamcast is impressive, but unfortunately, the power was never completely tapped. Some say that it doesn't take very long for a system's power to be tapped, but it takes a while for the internal technology to be fully discovered. Nintendo and developer Rare could not have pulled Donkey Kong Country 3 out of a Super Nintendo development kit until its near end, which was five years after the system's initial introduction. Sega's system could pull an astounding about of polygons all at a very impressive and consistent framerate. Also, different graphical styles such as cel shading were experimented with in such games as Bomberman Online, Looney Tunes Space Race, and most notably, the exciting Jet Grind Radio.

Aurally, the games could produce an impressive mix of music and sound. Of course, the soundtracks of each game depended on the publisher and games themselves, but the Dreamcast was fully capable of bringing forther full, uncompressed studio recordings and fresh, crisp sounds and voices.

I picked up my Dreamcast after the online component had been more or less shut down, but I would like to add more about its online capabilities for history's sake. The Dreamcast was, of course, capable of going online with most first-party games. Most of these sites contained simply scoreboards and message posts, but some games could have additional content like characters and levels downloaded. Fancy skaters in Jet Grind Radio could log into the Dreamcast-exclusive website and download special graffitti tags, for example. There was also a convenient messaging and e-mail system. Fierce multiplayer matches in sports and action titles were all the rage, however, though there was lag depending on the game and connections involved. Peripherals such as keyboards and microphones were released to ease communication.

Good games on the system are not hard to come buy. Granted, not all games are gems, but there are various titles I can wholeheartedly recommend. Some are for traditional or casual players, some are for stark fans of a given genre, and some can hardly be considered games at all, rather, experiences.

Jet Grind Radio is an exciting skating adventure; Sonic Adventure and its sequel, while flawed, brought Sonic and friends into three dimensions; Shenmue is an articulate blend of various genres to form a cohesive story with great gameplay; Power Stone and its sequel are intense free-for-all fighters; Ecco the Dolphin sports beautiful graphics and challenging gameplay; Seaman follows the evolution of a rather mysterious species, and allows speech communication via a microphone; Bomberman Online is one of the better iterations of the series; and of course, there are more.

While Sega's developers and programmers put their hearts and souls into their last console, it was not enough for the gaming community to be fully accepted and praised by the public. The technology was a little too new, and the entire package was a little too late. Dreamcast systems are rather cheap now, however, and games, while rare, are all treats in their own way. There are many titles I could still recommend, but I will let the player discover these magnificent treasures themselves.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/07/05, Updated 12/01/05