Top 10 Lists : The Top 10 Dreamcast Games

Sonic Adventure represents the beginning of Sonic's entrance into the 3 dimensional realm. It also happens to be his best game IN that realm. In Sonic Adventure, you choose if you want to control Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy Rose, Big, and E-102 Gamma. Each character plays differently and goes through a slightly different storyline. The control is extremely solid, although the camera does mess up every now and then. The interesting aspect of Sonic Adventure is that of exploration, which it manages to pull off. This is because while exploration is technically forced on you, it doesn't come up enough to become overbearing. The biggest problem with Sonic Adventure is using the slower characters such as Amy, as their levels can be pretty boring. However, this is remedied by giving you the option to just not choose them (although you can't fully complete the game then). This problem is MORE than made up for in Sonic and Tails' levels, where speed is most certainly not an issue. The transition to 3D did very little to hamper the manic pace set by the 2D games, at least as far as the main hedgehog's levels are concerned. Sonic Adventure's good FAR outweighs its bad, and it's certainly a premier Dreamcast game. And really, what would a top 10 list for a Sega system be without a Sonic game?

At the time of this writing, PSO is probably not worth buying for Dreamcast. However, in the heyday of the system, it was a superb MMORPG, and one of the first expansive online games on a console. PSO really has very little to do with the other games in its popular RPG series. In fact, the only thing they have in common are currency. As such, hardcore fans of the original Phantasy Star series would probably be disappointed by PSO. This is because it completely forgoes standard, turn-based RPG conventions, instead acting as a semi-MMORPG combined with an action RPG. Everything happens in real time, and, as MMORPGs tend to do, everything can get somewhat repetitive. However, PSO also successfully manages to draw players in for the long haul, having tons of rare weapons to find based on pure chance, as well as a few secrets here and there. With the ability to get to level 200, PSO can last dedicated players a long time, and even those of us who have slightly shorter attention spans can still get a lot out of this title, with 4 different areas to progress through, each increasingly longer. The only problem with PSO for Dreamcast at this point is that Dreamcast can't go online with broadband, and the official servers are all down now. However, if you happen to have four friends who also want to play, PSO is still worth a purchase, as it supports 4 player split-screen.

Rez is not a game. Rez is an experience. A surreal experience of glorious sound and enthralling visuals. If one was to classify Rez in a game genre, I suppose that classification would be a rail-shooter, in the vein of Panzer Dragoon. That's to say, your "character" is automatically pushed along a fixed path, and you do nothing but shoot. In Rez, you control a wireframe person who can fire up to 8 homing shots at a time. The gameplay is very bare bones, and the game itself is very easy. However, the reason Rez is so great is because of what happens when you lock on to a target, when you shoot a target... when you do anything. Each action corresponds to a sound, and whenever you do something, you create music. The level design (well, enemy placement) is good because your actions create excellent sounds that, when combined with the visuals on screen, put you in a state of harmony. In all reality, Rez does not translate particularly well into text. It really has to be played to be understood, but make no mistake, it is one of Dreamcast's great offerings.

Rayman 2 is really hard to consider a "Dreamcast" game, seeing as it's been ported... well... a lot. However, the GD-ROM exists, so it counts. And make no mistake, Rayman 2 deserved every single one of those ports, as it is truly an excellent platformer. What makes this such a great game is the fact that it is so chock full of charm. Don't get me wrong, the platforming aspects are superb, but listening to the character's strange "voices" and attacking by throwing your fist is extremely appealing. And Rayman 2 also has some pretty unique moments, such as jet-skiing through the water. While it's not really too difficult, Rayman 2 is extremely fun, and a truly great game.

This is often considered the absolute best game on Dreamcast... and with good reason. While I disagree that it deserves to be called the BEST Dreamcast game, make no mistake, it's still a top notch one. Soul Calibur is technically a sequel to Soul Edge, a decent arcade fighter released in 1995. The catch and hook of this series is that you fight with weapons instead of fists. This creates a neccesity for a fluidity in control that Namco hit right on the mark. Control always feels natural, and, with 19 playable characters, varied. Combos come out very easily, as they make sense while you are playing. And Soul Calibur looks great, even 6 years after its release. There really isn't much to be said about Soul Calibur that hasn't been said before, but it is an appealing fighter to casuals and hardcores alike.

The House of the Dead 2 is a fairly well known, light gun shooter for arcades. In it, you basically shoot zombies or whatever other enemies may come your way in an effort to survive. Movement is all on rails. The Typing of the Dead is the exact same thing as The House of the Dead 2, with one change. Instead of utilizing a light gun to kill your enemies, you use a keyboard. Everytime you see an enemy, a word or phrase pops up above their head, and you must quickly type that word or phrase in order to kill them. In other words, this is Mavis Beacon on steroids. Very powerful, very fun steroids. The reason The Typing of the Dead succeeds in being so fun is that the game utilizes an extremely unique user interface (for a console game), and applies it to an already excellent game. On top of that, the things you must type increase in length and difficulty at a nice pace, ensuring the game stays fun. Outside of the arcade mode is a drill mode that will tell you how many words per minute you type, and what keys you are weakest with, a welcome addition. The Typing of the Dead is not only an excellent game, it is also an extremely practical one, and if you can find a copy and a Dreamcast keyboard, you should pick it up.

Jet Grind Radio is an extreme sports game with a twist. A great twist. Gameplay consists of rollerblading around, avoiding cops, and spraying graffiti over opposing gang's marks. Some graffiti is sprayed by a simple button press, and others are more complicated, requiring you to input special commands. JGR is another one of those games with a unique charm to it, and is extremely fun to play. The great thing about it is that it can appeal to pretty much everyone, even if they typically hate extreme sports games. JGR is an awesome game that gets far less praise and recognition than it deserves.

Bangai-O is a game designed and developed by Treasure, the company that brought you such classics as Gunstar Heroes. Originally a Nintendo 64 game, Bangai-O was enhanced (and in some parts completely altered), and then ported over to Dreamcast. The result is an exhilirating experience in the ways of "old-school" gameplay. Bangai-O is a non-scrolling shoot-em-up and relies on fast paced reactions, not to mention a sprinkling of simple puzzle solving. In it, you take control of Riki and Mami, one who shoots homing missles and the other who shoots lasers. Bangai-O's excellence is achieved through inspired level design, and lots of it. In fact, it boasts 44 levels to get through. Granted, most of these levels will take you less than 5 minutes to complete, but they are almost all inventively designed and will test your prowess as a gamer. In the end, Bangai-O is an excellent shmup that benefits from easy, responsive controls, great levels, and a ton of action on the screen at any given time.

Super Puzzle Fighter II X for Matching Service (I love typing that name >_>) is a puzzle game by Capcom which was originally released in arcades. The name is a joke, making fun of the constant stream of remakes Street Fighter 2 received. In reality, there is only one Puzzle Fighter game. In Puzzle Fighter, you choose from a host of characters spawning from two of Capcom's fighting series, Street Fighter and Darkstalkers. Your character choice effects how your attack blocks will fall. The way Puzzle Fighter is played is extremely simple, and at first glance, seems almost too simple to be enjoyable. You face an opponent (computer or human), and each of you have blocks fall on your side of the board in pairs of two. In order to eliminate any element of luck, you and your opponent will receive the same blocks in the same order, a risky design choice that paid off well. As you stack these blocks higher and higher, you will eventually run into colored swirls which, when placed on a block of the same color, will destroy the adjacent block as well as any blocks of that color touching that one. The larger the chain of blocks you destroy, the more attack blocks will set up above your opponent's field. However, the opponent may counter these attacks by destroying blocks on their own side of the board. When attack blocks DO fall, they are black with a colored number that decreases each time you drop a new block. While attack blocks take up space, they also allow you to set up large comboes in advance, adding exponentially to the depth of Puzzle Fighter. Finally, once in a while a diamond will fall, and destroy EVERY block on your side of the board that is the same color as a block it touches. This allows you to get out of tight situations and turn the tide of the match in your favor. In addition to all this gameplay goodness, you are treated to two, chibi versions of your characters in the middle of the screen. In the end, Puzzle Fighter seems deceivingly simple at first glance, but is in fact a fairly deep, and extremely fun puzzle game that any Dreamcast owner should try and find... one way or another.

Another shoot-em-up by Treasure, Ikaruga puts you in control of a vertically scrolling ship. Gameplay takes precedence over anything even resembling a story (as is customary in shumps), and Ikaruga has it in spades. In Ikaruga, your ship is able to switch from a white mode to a black mode. Your mode dictates what color bullets you shoot, as well as what color your shield is. This matters because you are able to absorb any attacks that correspond to your shield's color. Absorbing attacks charges a meter that allows you to fire missiles by pulling the R trigger. In addition, anything you shoot that is the opposite color of your ship takes double damage. This fairly straightforward setup would make it seem as though Ikaruga is an easy enough game to play, but in reality, it is one of the most difficult shoot-em-ups on the market. However, this difficulty never feels cheap, and the player will almost certainly keep coming back in attempt to best the game. Despite having only five levels to get through, Ikaruga WILL take a long time to complete, and after you do so, you'll return to try and achieve the highest rank you can on each level. This is because of the combo system put in place. Each time you kill three enemies in a row that are the same color, you get 1 added to your combo. At the end of a level, you are assigned a rank based on how high you got your combo. This superb gameplay, combined with pretty gorgeous visuals, essentially make Ikaruga a definitive scrolling shoot-em-up, and one of the very best titles available on Dreamcast.

These 10 Dreamcast games are mostly my choices for the best the system has to offer. It could not have hoped to represent EVERYTHING the system has to offer though. Indeed, Chu Chu Rocket, Resident Evil: Code Veronica, Skies of Arcadia, and Space Channel 5 are just a small handful of the plethora of games in the same league as these 10. The Dreamcast was, and still is, one of the best systems made, and if you don't have one, you should seek it out immediately, as it represents Sega's greatest hour.

List by Adept of Aiur (02/02/2006)

Liked this article? Thought it was well-written and other users need to know about it? Click here to recommend this item to other users.

Discuss this list and others on the Top 10 Lists board.