Ah man, the Dreamcast. Cut down before its prime.

To be fair, it was not a terrific console. It did not have THAT many great games. It made a fuckton of noise. The breakdown rate was pretty high. But it was just so far ahead of its time. It had online play, and I'm sure PSO influenced lots of developers. Shenmue was just amazingly ambitious. Soul Calibur was like... the perfect game, at the time. It really captured the gamers' imaginations. There was just so much insanely creative stuff on it, like Shenmue, Jet Set Radio, PSO, Project Gotham, and of course it was THE console for arcade ports of fighting games and original shmups.  Jet Set Radio inspired an entirely new art style in games. It was pretty radical at the time, and because of the stylized graphics, it still holds up pretty well.  Powerstone may have been directly responsible for games like Super Smash Bros.
 
I played some Shenmue today, because Giant Bomb did a series of quick look throwbacks, and while most games haven't held up so great, Shenmue kinda has. And there are few games I am more nostalgic for. It's everything 14-year old me wanted out of games: Huge scope and ambition and cinematic storytelling. It was flawed, sure, but by painstakingly creating this huge, rich world and being so deliberately paced, it draws you in like few other games do. The mundanity of some of Ryo's life is somehow compelling. 
 
Its death was inevitable. But I'd like to think the gaming landscape today is that much richer because of the Dreamcast.

  Ah man, the Dreamcast. Cut down before its prime.

To be fair, it was not a terrific console. It did not have THAT many great games. It made a fuckton of noise. The breakdown rate was pretty high. But it was just so far ahead of its time. It had online play, and I'm sure PSO influenced lots of developers. Shenmue was just amazingly ambitious. Soul Calibur was like... the perfect game, at the time. It really captured the gamers' imaginations. There was just so much insanely creative stuff on it, like Shenmue, Jet Set Radio, PSO, Project Gotham, and of course it was THE console for arcade ports of fighting games and original shmups.  Jet Set Radio inspired an entirely new art style in games. It was pretty radical at the time, and because of the stylized graphics, it still holds up pretty well.  Powerstone may have been directly responsible for games like Super Smash Bros.
 
I played some Shenmue today, because Giant Bomb did a series of quick look throwbacks, and while most games haven't held up so great, Shenmue kinda has. And there are few games I am more nostalgic for. It's everything 14-year old me wanted out of games: Huge scope and ambition and cinematic storytelling. It was flawed, sure, but by painstakingly creating this huge, rich world and being so deliberately paced, it draws you in like few other games do. The mundanity of some of Ryo's life is somehow compelling. 
 
Its death was inevitable. But I'd like to think the gaming landscape today is that much richer because of the Dreamcast.

I bought the system for NFL 2K1 and it didn't disappoint. You could see the breath from the players for god's sake. Virtua Tennis was cool too. Toy Commander was my favorite followed by Resident Evil: Code Veronica. It was fun while it lasted.

I can't post on your wall because of this lame flood protection. Someone else post on Oni's wall please!

Claude posted on my wall!