Feature: Dreamcast Retrospective

November 27 is an unforgettable date for Sega - the ten year anniversary of the Dreamcast in Japan. It wasn't the most successful console in Sega's history, but it was easily the most revered and missed. A console years ahead of its time, its ambition mirrored Sega's outlook on the industry - to push hardware innovations and unforgettable software. Despite its advances and successes, it was a financial black hole criminally unappreciated by the masses, and after three short years the hardware giant gracefully bowed out of the console race for good. Remembered for its unique collection of games, peripherals and a spirit few consoles possess, the Dreamcast lives on through indie releases and game ports to other systems. If you never sampled its dreamy white love handles, here is a taste of one of brightest consoles in gaming history.

History

In the mid-nineties, Sega was a complete mess. The Mega Drive divided its market with the Sega CD and 32x add-ons, and the Saturn was dead as soon as it hit the West. Sega needed to bail out of the 32-bit era early and gain ground in the next generation, and so in 1997 started designing a follow-up system. Two teams from Japan and the US made the Katana and Dural prototypes independently, with the Japanese Katana gaining approval and the name 'the Dreamcast'. It is supposed that the US prototype was dropped after hardware developer 3DFX leaked news of the console, resulting in lawsuits against Sega for breach of contract. Nonetheless, the Dreamcast was born.

In Japan on November 27, 1998 the Dreamcast was released onto the world. A combination of hardware shortages and a continued devotion to the Saturn (which was popular in the region) meant that its fall was hard and fast.

A year later, Sega's new baby had Western releases on September 9 in the US and October 14 in Europe. Despite going head-to-head with the release of PlayStation juggernaut Final Fantasy VIII, it became the most successful console launch to date, selling out, with half a million systems shifted in a fortnight. A £199.99 price point and launch window titles like Sonic Adventure and Soulcalibur made for a successful Christmas period and an optimistic start to the new year. Although Europe had seen Sega succeed with earlier systems, it was the first time that it punctured the US market, and things were looking up.

Of course, it was short lived. Six months after the Western launches the PlayStation 2 was announced, effectively killing off any further success it had in Japan, and denting Western confidence in the machine, despite Sony's follow-up not arriving for another year. Fresh, innovative games were ripe and although many first party titles shipped systems, third party support began to wane. Ditching the Saturn so soon angered third party developers, especially Electronic Arts, which never supported the system. Although Sega's own 2K Sports series were popular in the US, it never matched the brand names on rival systems, especially in Europe were FIFA was dominant and only available for Sony and Nintendo.

The PlayStation 2 had bells and whistles, but never had online out of the box. The Dreamcast was the first console to offer internet play, but suffered from several set backs in the online arena - dial up was the most popular connection and dealing with the hundreds of different ISPs made it hard to get anything to work. Browsing and e-mail was available from day one, but only in March 2000 did Chu Chu Rocket offer online play (a laggy, slow offer at that). Later games such as Phantasy Star Online and Quake III Arena offered the experience PC games had been enjoying for a decade, and even though Europe only had a 28k modem, things ran smoothly.

Sales exceeded those of the Nintendo 64 but despite PlayStation 2 shortages it failed to pick up any significant ground. The advanced hardware and DVD playback made it a much more desirable device, and consumers were more than happy to stick with the PlayStation brand until it became readily available. The news of Xbox and Nintendo GameCube firmly placed the Dreamcast in limbo, a system straddling two generations, and wasn't seen as a spring board from one to the next. Sega didn't drop the price of the device in Europe even after the PS2 launched, lowering confidence in a region so loyal to the Sega brand. The Christmas of 2000 saw PlayStation 2 eBay prices go through the roof and demand skyrocket, and despite a strong Dreamcast lineup it was too little too late. (Christmas blockbuster Shenmue cost $70 million to produce and failed to make a profit despite being a million seller.)

The system was as good as dead in Japan, and despite a following in the West, the money poured into the system didn't add up to the targets projected by Sega Japan. On January 31 2001 Peter Moore, then President of Sega America, made the decision to stop hardware production within eight weeks. It was a bizarre decision; despite the competition it faced it was a popular system that could remain afloat. There was little warning, with speculation only emerging a week prior to any announcements. Sega cut its losses quickly and cleanly, perhaps due to the competition just around the corner, and confirmed that it would be their last foray into the hardware race.

Despite the bombshell to its devoted followers, support for the system continued for several years - 60 official titles followed and final first party title Puyo Pop Fever was released in 2004. As new systems dropped to as low as £40 and with software still arriving, it remained a viable system for several years after its official demise, selling a total of 10.6 million units. By the time the next generation arrived, many gamers had jumped ship, and its key titles were slowly ported as Sega debuted as a third party publisher. The dream was over.

Perhaps if it had been launched in competition with the following generation, or Microsoft never entered the console race, Sega might still be around as a hardware giant. The Dreamcast is still a stunning system that holds up after a decade and still brings joy to thousands of gamers around the world. It was the first console to offer true online play, voice recognition, higher definition graphics (through VGA) and the only successful console MMORPG. It had Shenmue, Phantasy Star Online, Soulcalibur, Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio. It was a revolution. Join us on November 27, dig out your Dreamcasts and relive Sega's glory years. Don't let the dream die!

> Check out classic Dreamcast games and peripherals in part twoClassic Dreamcast Games

Shenmue
An ambitious adventure merging brawling, detective work and forklift truck racing, its slow pacing makes it the gaming equivalent of Marmite. Although it's spiritual successor Yakuza is one of Japan's most popular franchises, its development costs almost destroyed the company and there is little chance of the story being resolved. Hopefully Ryo Hazuki can one day hang up his jujitsu sneakers and retire on that forklift funded pension.

Phantasy Star Online
The only massively-multiplayer-online title to make a real impact on a console was an online offering of Phantasy Star. Where other titles fumbled online play, PSO was smoother than a babies' behind and quickly became a system seller. Remaining online years after the consoles demise, it saw several episodic sequels and ports to the GameCube. It still operates today on private servers.

Soulcalibur
Making the North American launch, Namco's fighter is hailed as one of the greatest titles ever conceived and easily the strongest on the platform. Taking everything that made Soul Blade so compulsive, Namco added a host of unlockable content and deep movesets to create the ultimate fighting experience from your sofa. It was recently re-released on Xbox Live, although heavily castrated to the degree of pointlessness.

Jet Set Radio
Cel shading was the new black at the turn of the century, and Sega capitalized on this charming and rough looking aesthetic by placing it in the hand of graffiti artists. The tagging, skating adventure turned heads but didn't turn tables for Sega, selling rather poorly and remaining an underground cult hit.

Skies of Arcadia
Releasing head-to-head with the PlayStation juggernaut Final Fantasy IX, this was the definitive (offline) RPG for the system and the coolest pirate adventure ever conceived. When Vyse and the gang weren't plotting a course between floating dungeon islands, they featured in a GameCube port and a cameo in PS3 title Valkyria Chronicles.

Sonic Adventure
If there is one inhuman mascot to shift systems, it'll be Sonic the Hedgehog. This launch title dabbled in a little of everything - Tamagotchi-styled VMU games, downloadable stages and visuals to match Sonic's blistering speed - and became the systems top selling title, shifting 2.5 million copies. The hedgehog's last decent console adventure, Sonic can now be seen giving awareness on Bonfire Night and busking on the tube.

Crazy Taxi
The only thing Crazy Taxi did wrong was break the fundamental rule of taxi drivers; drive as slowly as you can to your destination. Another title in a long line of faithful arcade ports, Crazy Taxi demanded you gallop over cars and plow through busy parks to get your customers to KFC on time. It was the first Sega title to be moved to rival consoles after its death.

Hardware and Peripherals

The Dreamcast offered (near) next generation visuals and processing capabilities and online out the box. The system was tiny - half the size of the old style PlayStation consoles - and featured a controller with an analog stick, revolutionary shoulder triggers and two ports for peripherals, such as a rumble pack. Many complained about its size, love handle sides and bottom feeding wire, however. Sega used its own preparatory format, the 1GB GD-ROM, to offer extra storage and (a failed attempt) to combat piracy.

Games were saved on a Visual Memory Unit (or VMU) that featured a monotone screen and buttons to play mini-games, or display data during gameplay. Sonic Adventure, for example, could transfer Chao creatures to train and feed on the move. Such ideas were less common later on, especially as the battery life was poor - fortunately saves were still available when the battery was dead.

Sega aimed to break the forth wall by offering a fishing rod to use with Sega Bass Fishing, although players applauded the possibility of using it on other games for kicks. A microphone provided the first voice recognition titles on consoles, through Planet Ring and Seaman (not released in Europe). Due to Columbine massacre, the lightgun wasn't released in North America, even to the extent that the code was stripped from House Of The Dead 2 so players couldn't import one. For everyone else, it offered an arcade favourite in your living room. There were also the unforgettable maracas for Samba De Amigo, which has since seen the light of day on the Nintendo Wii. A webcam and karaoke microphone was also released exclusively in Japan.

Its advances as a console came with its ties with the personal computer; the firmware was based on Windows CE (Microsoft's entry into consoles) and Sega released a keyboard and mouse for online browsing and gaming. It was the first high definition console, where games such as Ikaruga could be hooked up to a monitor via VGA and offer clarity not before seen on consoles. And of course, it was online; the 28k modem was poor (but could be upgraded to broadband in North America) but later become optimized to use with even the most frantic titles. Providing you have the right kit, it still works today, with private servers taking over the job from Sega. The Dreamcast combined the luxuries of PC gaming with the charm and ease of console games, all within its little white box, years before anyone else.