SEGA Dreamcast: A First-Time Player’s Retrospective

The Sega Dreamcast was Keyser Söze. The talk of the playground and the first item on any kids birthday wish list, hell, they were even emblazoned across Arsenal kits.

And then ‘just like that’, it was gone.

It suddenly hit me that I had never actually played the Dreamcast. I wanted one for sure, temper tantrums where thrown when my parents steadfastly refused to buy me one until my birthday (tough childhood I know).

Why did it all go Pete Tong for Sega?

Well, it can be put down to a number of things (tech geeks, get your tissues ready) Lack of wireless dial up, poor marketing and the PS2 pretty much blew it out the water. So I never got the opportunity to play the Dreamcast by the time my birthday rolled around I was all about the PS2 and if my parents had ordained to buy me a doomed, console I would have become the laughing stock of North London.

I try my best these days to compensate for constantly procrastinating by solving some of the worlds more perplexing mysteries. Why did the Millennium Dome bomb (explanation: it wasn’t very good)? But more crucially, what happened to the Sega Dreamcast?

I was about to come to the conclusion that it was a mixture of poor games and the PS2 before I came across this wonderful display of hyperbole from Mr. Dan Whitehead of Eurogamer as “a small, square, white plastic JFK”, before going on to claim that the system’s short lifespan “may have sealed its reputation as one of the greatest consoles ever”.

It was then I came to the conclusion enough was enough – it was time to pick up the Dreamcast.

Tracking one down was actually a lot easier then planned, I simply texted a gamer geek mate of mine “do you have a Dreamcast?”. 45 minutes later he texted back “Yes”. I decided to try and sample one of every games console staple (beat em up, footie game, action-adventure) to see if this short-lived fad lived up to its sensational hype.

SEGA Championship Football

This is quite simply one of the worst games I have ever played. Whilst I have a soft sport for bizarre unlicensed football games, even the most ardent gamer would struggle to get any enjoyment out of this painfully slow edition.
It was like watching Aston Villa vs Stoke on a wet night in Birmingham: nobody wanted to be there, not even the players. Even the avatars manage to look bored.

 

Sonic Adventure

I always knew without playing any Sega consoles that Mario was the undisputed king of the videogames in the mascot turf war. This speedy hedgehog ain’t got nothing on the coin nabbing plumber.

Sonic games are fun for about five minutes but they are clearly lost on me because every time I start playing, I have to resist the urge to scream at the T.V: “Christ, will you just slow down for a bit!”.Sonic Adventure was just like any other gams from the series I’ve briefly played. You run about a bit, get some rings, run into something, lose your rings, run into something again and then die.

 

Power Stone 2

Power Stone 2 is a unique 3D fighting game that is a total riot. The jam-packed arenas are full of all kinds of crazy weapons which change as the matches played out. I didn’t know what was going on half the time but I didn’t care. This game is a hit.

 

Shenmue

Originally planned to be released on the Saturn, Shenmue is one of the most expensive games of all time with production costs totaling over £45 Million.

It’s a long old game and I couldn’t really get my teeth into but it’s pretty much like a scaled down version of GTA except not as funny.  You can either go about your business completing the games or get into scraps with the locals.