I received a Sega Dreamcast from a friend for Christmas this year. He had purchased it when EB games was bought out by Gamestop and just let it sit in his closet. Everything is pristine, the controllers feel crisp, the memory card still had the pull tab in it so the battery wasn't dead, and the web browser CD was still sealed. When I set it up to play though, it wouldn't recognize my controller. My controller port must be a little messed up and required me to wiggle it around to get the connection. Is this a common issue among Dreamcasts?

Anyways, now that I am proud owner, feel free to drop game recommendations, general tips, or cool Dreamcast stuff for me to dig into!

Yeah, it sounds like something I dealt with years ago. Here's a quick and easy fix, if you don't want to do any soldering. Something about bypassing electronic components seems really bad, but it worked for me back in the day.

Edit: Also, that's a cool fucking gift to get. I love the Dreamcast. It's such a weird system. The library isn't too dense, but there's a lot of gems there. And it was at a time where production costs were low, so people were experimenting in weird ways.

Drew talks about this game regularly, and it's one of my favorites: Toy Commander. The game is basically a bunch of challenge missions based in a handful of levels that take place inside a house. You play as a selection of different toys doing things like racing, dogfighting, bombing runs, and a few boss battles. I've always been a sucker for games where you play a small character roaming a single room, and this game probably started that for me.

I loved the Dreamcast. Here is a list of my favourite games in my collections:

• Culdcept II (The secret best card game of all time?)
• D2 (Take everything people loved about Deadly Premonition... only in a Dreamcast game that came out a decade earlier)
• Record of Lodoss War (Still the best Diablo style RPG on console)
• Bangai-O
• Demolition Racer
• Evil Dead: Hail to the King (This game might be terrible, but I had fun...pick it up if you can find a copy for $3 or less)
• Garou: Mark of the Wolves
• Guilty Gear X
• SF Rush 2049 (Might be the best game on the system? Like, I really, I LOVED Rush 2049)
• Shadow Man (As far as Zelda clones go, I would rather play this game than Ocarina of TIme. Though, not having a dedicated stick for camera controls makes this a pain to go back to.)
• Capcom vs. SNK 2 (For some reason this was my favourite fighting game on the console. I think it was a combination of player speed and animation that made this stand out)
• Gunbird 2
• Zero Gunner 2
• Crazy Taxi
• Fire Pro Wrestling D (might be the best wresting game of all time?
• Marvel v. Capcom 2 (Pick up the XBLA version if it is still available, if not, this is a fantastic game)
• Metropolis Street Racer (THis was the precursor to the Project Gotham Racing series. I still think that this is the best version of the game even with the extreme difficulty)
• Rayman 2 (One of the best 3D platformers ever made)
• Star Wars: Episode 1 Pod Racer (This might be the secret best Star Wars game)
• Street Fighter 3rd strike
• Virtua Tennis 2
• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
• Ikaruga
• Streef fighter Alpha 3 (This game stole the mission-based single player from the Soul Blade series (PSX) and transported it to consoles. I like having a Street Fighter game with a focus on single player instead of multiplayer so much that I haven't been as invested in the series since this came out)

@monetarydread: Aren't there like 5 different versions of Street Fighter for the Dreamcast or something crazy? What makes 3rd strike the one to beat?

@chemystery: There are three different versions of SFIII on Dreamcast. This one has more characters and is better balanced than the other two. There is also the MVC series, but that plays completely differently than the others (a lot faster, less balanced, and crazier than the rest). There is the Capcom v SNK series, which again, plays differently than SFIII (probably closer to the Alpha series). Then there is Alpha 3... actually I forgot about alpha 3, even though it is easily the best single player Street Fighter ever made because of the World Tour mode.

• Soul Calibur
• Skies of Arcadia (unless you already played the GameCube version)
• Shenmue I
• Jet Grind Radio

And though they may not be held in high regard, give the Sonic Adventure games a shot (assuming they're not that expensive). I still remember how impressive Sonic Adventure looked at the time. So crisp & smooth compared to the 3D games on PS1 and N64.

@wraithtek: Jet Grind Radio is one of my all time favorites. I never experienced it on the Dreamcast, I just played the Xbox equivalent Jet Set Radio Future. That game just drips style.

Sonic adventure 2 and if you feel brave Sonic Adventure 1, Omikron the Nomad Soul is also worth experiencing in my opinion. Dynamite Cop is also great especially with a buddy.

I also have to agree with @monetarydread Star Wars Podracer is a fantastic game.

@lttibbles: I like your style. Followed

You need to get your chao garden on in Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 as that is the definitive Dreamcast experience. There's also Virtua Fighter 3 tb. which added the much controversial fourth button, the dodge button. Also Crazy Taxi and the dreamcast belong together. You need a dc copy of Crazy Taxi.

There are great games to be found on the Dreamcast, here are a few of my favorites out of my roughly 60 DC games (though some of these I like more for their styyyyyyyyyyyyyle than actual fun gameplay).

• Seaman
• Mr. Driller
• Silver
• Armada
• Bangai-O
• Omikron
• Record of Lodoss War
• Elemental Gimmick Gear
• Expendable
• Zero Gunner 2
• Gauntlet Legends
• Deep Fighter
• Skies of Arcadia
• Grandia 2
• Rayman 2

Damn, now I need to play Dreamcast all weekend. It's been too long.

Why is chu chu rocket not a part of this thread yet. Chu Chu Rocket.

@lttibbles: Few would rush to the defense of Sonic Adventure 2. I remember enjoying it. I think the various character levels was an interesting, but flawed, solution to the pacing problem those games faced.

Also Chao Garden. I have so many fond memories of the Chao Garden. I bet it's actually terrible.

@whitegreyblack: Gauntlet Legends is on the Dreamcast? I grew up with Gauntlet Legends on the N64. I'll have to look into that.

I loved Power Stone and the Dreamcast version of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver was great.