This might sound strange coming from someone who grew up in the early 90's off of the Sega Genesis and would play their cousin's Master System as well, but as the big Sega kid that I was, the Dreamcast is kind of a hole in my gaming history. I ended up getting one from a friend in high school a year or two after it was officially dead but never had more than maybe 2 or 3 games. If I wanted to go back and play through a lot of those games and really see what that system was all about, what would you say are essential games to cement the system in my mind and become educated on it?

If you have a couple of controllers and know anyone else who would be interested in your experiment, I can recommend Power Stone. It's some of the best chaotic fun I had with the Dreamcast.

Skies of Arcadia, though the GameCube version is perhaps slightly better due to additional content. SoulCaliber, absolutely. All the 2K sports games are all terrific, but especially Virtua Tennis/Tennis 2K2. Crazy Taxi is really good and the Dreamcast version is (I think) the only place to get the original Offspring soundtrack. Maybe Sonic Adventure or Shenmue just to see them, as they are often referenced on the Bombcast. Resident Evil: Code Veronica was good, but is also available elsewhere. Powerstone (1 or 2), if you can get some friends together for local multiplayer.

If you have a monitor or a tv that supports vga make sure to get the vga box because the Dreamcast can run at a higher resolution with it.

Seaman

Most good Dreamcast games have gotten enhanced ports to other systems. The only one that hasn't is Shenmue.

I remember REALLY liking the Spawn game. Besides that, we mostly played Power Stone (1 and 2) and Soul Calibur.

Power Stone, Soul Calibur, Shenmue, Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Space Channel 5, Seaman, Sonic Adventure, and Sambo de Amigo are the big ones I remember when it comes to the Dreamcast, but you could probably skip playing Sonic Adventure. I guess Phantasy Star Online was also a big Dreamcast thing, but I mostly associate that with PC. Still, original PSO is great.

Man, the Dreamcast was kinda cool.

Shenmue

Last Blade 2

Sword of the Berserk: Guts Rage

Virtual On: Ontario Tangram

Sega Rally 2

The Giant Gram Wrestling games

Fire Pro Wrestling D

Daytona USA 2001

Project Justice

Oh and maybe Maken X? Its a shitty game but its worth a try if you are an Atlus/SMT fan.

Power Stone 2, Project Justice, Bust-A-Move 4, Ikaruga (that game is incredible), Virtua Fighter 3, a long list of other fighting games and puzzle games, Skies of Arcadia, and Grandia 2.

Hey guys, I've compiled a list of all the must-play dreamcast games:

Jet Grind Radio, Shenmue, Soul Calibur, Rez, Ikaruga, Mars Matrix.

Seconding this. Of all the amazing fighting games on that system, I easily had the most fun with Power Stone. Granted I think the PSP version of the original game is the definitive version since you can play as Pete.

Otherwise: Tech Romancer, Grandia 2, Shenmue games, Seaman (RIP Leonard Nimoy), and pretty much any fighting game by Capcom. The Dreamcast version of Rayman 2 is arguably the definitive version.

It's a game called Sonic Adventure 2. You probably never heard of it.

Most of the stuff I would recommend has already been stated, but so far one has been missed.

CANNON SPIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Add one more for grandia 2, also have no idea if its actually good but I loved tech romancer at the time.

Also tons of capcom fighting games.

Skies of goddamn Arcadia.

Shenmue is a must play.

Rez. Rez. Rez. Rez. Rez. Rez.

@planetfunksquad: But the XBLA version of Rez is so much better.

Chu Chu Rocket! Quick Look!

While I understand you may want to make this into conversation, you can actually just type in Google 'best games on Sega Dreamcast', and the list of video games frequently mentioned will pop up, and that list is about as detailed as most people would probably get when it comes to the best games to play on Dreamcast. The games I'd recommend are on there too.

Grandia II

There are some great suggestions in this thread. I will throw in a couple of my favourite dreamcast games that have not been mentioned yet:

• San Fransisco Rush 2049 - This x 1000 this is the best game on the system.
• Metropolis Street Racer - This game is basically Proto-Project Gotham Racing and I think is much better than that series.
• The Record Of Lodoss War - This was the best console diablo game up until Diablo III came out last year.
• Shadow Man - I remember this being the best version of the game. It is one of the best 3D metroidvanias of all time.
• Evil Dead: Hail to the king - I remember this game being stupidly difficult, but it was a fun afternoon for me.
• Street Fighter Vs SNK 2 is still my favourite fighting game of all time.
• Princess Maker Collection - Get your perv on.

I'm not sure if anybody else agrees, but I thought Incoming was really cool back in the day, and visually still looks kinda striking.

It's also available on PC of course (it's even on Steam), but I kinda thought the Dreamcast version looked better.

Power Stone, Soul Caliber, Skies of Arcadia, Grandia 2, Tech Romancer,

Zombie Revenge is a very important game. It's the next step when it comes to beat-em-ups, sort of like Fighting Force crossed with the style of House of the Dead.

Skies of Arcadia if you don't have access to the gamecube version. That game is fucking great.

I find Toy Commander really delightful, since no one's mentioned it yet.

@csl316: Zombie Revenge. Man, that brings back memories. The Dreamcast is an underrated local co-op and multiplayer system.

R(tothe)E(tothe)Z.

Typing of the Dead

Chu Chu Rocket

Jet Set RADDDIIIIOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

As with a lot of people I really recommend playing Power Stone. I'm going to list some more games. Some of these game are good/may not hold up/have been released and re-released on other platforms but you should experience it.

• Shenmue 1 and or 2
• Sonic Adventure and or 2
• Crazy Taxi
• Jet Set Radio
• Chu Chu Rocket
• Space Channel 5
• Samba de Amigo
• Typing of the Dead
• Rez
• Skies of Arcadia
• Bangai-O
• Rival Schools

@yi_orange: Where in the hell is my current-gen online Chu Chu Rocket?

The whole point of playing dreamcast games is to play the really weird stuff.

Chu Chu Rocket

Powerstone

Sword of Berserk

Bangai-O

Canon Spike

Elemental Gimmick Gear

Record of Lodoss War

Giga Wing 1/2

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure

Karous

Looney Tunes: Space Race

Mars Matrix

Project Justice

Puyo Puyo 4

Tech Romancer

No matter what anyone says, do not play Shenmue, Sonic Adventure, or Crazy Taxi. At the time they were good but they have aged horribly.

Give the Space Channel 5 games a go!

They are not very long but really fun and very quirky. Really enjoyed the presentation and the crazyness of it all. Plus the music is great

@horseman6 I remember playing the Playstation 2 version of Crazy Taxi back in the day and even then didn't have a great time with it. Really felt like it should have just stayed confiened to arcade cabinets.

Marvel vs Capcom 2, Powerstone 1 & 2, Street Fighters III: Third Strike.

Jet Set Radio!!!!!!

Power Stone

Shenmue

SKIES OF ARCADIA <---------------One of the best JRPGs ever.

Soul Calibur is still fun I bet.

If you happen to track down a copy D2 was a wonderful, weird, depressing experience.

If you can find a Dreamcast mic, Seaman is a curiosity that you should at least try.

If you can find the Gamecube version of Skies of Arcadia you should play that instead of the DC version. They added some stuff and it just looks nicer.

@fisk0: dude, i remember playing incoming all the damn time when I was like 8!! I still have the PC disc.. I was a kid so I didn't care that I never got past the first couple levels cause i was just blasting UFOs! Haha man, blast from the past. Wow.

Invite some friends over, grab some beers, and play through Illbleed.

A few that have not been mentioned that I think are humdingers:

• Armada
• Bangai-o (okay this was mentioned twice, but it's really good!)
• Silver