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[Theslammer]

Previous threads:

Super NES (1991)
Xbox 360 (2005)
Playstation 4 (2013)

From the pre-orders, long lines on launch day, surprise Christmas presents, and anticipation for new technology, console/handheld launches can be some of the most times as a gamer.

Some launches produce classic games. Some launches produce a lot of good games. Some launches, you look back and think, "There really wasn't much, was there?" I've put together the launches at the bottom of the post for the US, Europe and Asia.


My experience:

I own a Dreamcast now, but I most certainly didn't during launch. It's funny: it's a good-looking system, it had a lot going for it at the time, and even though it was less powerful than a PS2, it was easier to develop for, so many of the Dreamcast ports had extra jaggies when ported to the PS2. By and large, if the Dreamcast could have survived, it would have definitely shown its age quicker, especially with the Xbox and Gamecube.

I remember thinking I saw a PS2 kiosk at a Toys R Us and rushing my mom over. Then I thought, "Wait, is this a PS2?" and it turned out to be a Dreamcast. xD~~

Its controllers were pretty awesome with that memory card insert. I do wonder if only having one analog stick would have hurt it in the future as cameras were evolving in games, but we'll never know. It did have a decent two year run, and even now, some people still develop games for it.

The launch was pretty decent, too, especially with the critically acclaimed SoulCalibur being available from day one. I'm actually surprised that was never ported to the PS2 or the Xbox/GC, but perhaps it had something to do with the engine. I'm just speculating and have no idea; I know third party exclusives were a bigger thing at that point.

Did any of you get the Dreamcast at launch?

AeroWings
AirForce Delta
Blue Stinger
CART Flag to Flag
Expendable

Hydro Thunder
Monaco Grand Prix
Mortal Kombat Gold

NFL 2K
NFL Blitz 2000
Pen Pen TriIcelon

Power Stone
Ready 2 Rumble Boxing
Sonic Adventure
Soulcalibur

The House of the Dead 2
TNN Motorsports Hardcore Heat
Tokyo Xtreme Racer
TrickStyle

Japanese launch: November 27, 1998

Godzilla Generations
July
Pen Pen TriIcelon
Virtua Fighter 3tb


European launch: October 14, 1999

Blue Stinger
Dynamite Cop
Expendable
Incoming
Pen Pen TriIcelon
Sega Rally Championship 2
Sega Bass Fishing
Sonic Adventure
Toy Commander
Virtua Fighter 3tb

 

[lawtowler]

Still my favourite console to this day, such fond memories playing some vastly underrated games.

Shenmue I & II
Skies of Arcadia
Grandia II
Sonic Adventure I & II
Crazy Taxi
Jet Set Radio
Chu Chu Rocket
Soul Caliber
Ready 2 Rumble
The House of the Dead 2 (with Light Gun)
Resident Evil: Code Veronica

It's such an injustice that a lot of people consider the Dreamcast a failed console.

 

[RRockman]

I was 10 years late unfortunately. I really wanted one but my parents were like "lol". Didn't get one till the party was over. Wanted it for Sonic Adventure alone. I still think it's a very serviceable game, and I still play it from time to time.

My favorite part of the dreamcast were the wails of the dead that you heard when you activated a vmu without batteries by turning on the dreamcast. Such sweet memories.

 

[Syril]

Still my favourite console to this day, such fond memories playing some vastly underrated games.

Shenmue I & II
Skies of Arcadia
Grandia II
Sonic Adventure I & II
Crazy Taxi
Jet Set Radio
Chu Chu Rocket
Soul Caliber
Ready 2 Rumble
The House of the Dead 2 (with Light Gun)
Resident Evil: Code Veronica

It's such an injustice that a lot of people consider the Dreamcast a failed console.

Consoles can still be commercial failures while having a bunch of good games. I mean, I own a freaking Wii U.

 

[IlGialloMondadori]

Soul Calibur is absolutely one of the most amazing launch titles ever. Blew my damn mind. NFL 2K was fantastic.

Dreamcast didn't get enough love. Brilliant system, one of my favorites of all time.

 

[Yohane]

Sonic Adventure blew my young mind back in the days

 

[bigkrev]

Didn't get it at launch, but looking at the lists of games by region, it was 10000% the right decision to wait a year (and have no active platform for about 10 months) so that there were actual games available at the launch of the console.

Halo and Breath of the Wild are the only games since then that can compete with Soul Calibur as a launch game, NFL 2K was great and would eventually lead to EA shelling out a giant amount of cash for an exclusive deal to kill it, Sonic Adventure was impressive for the time (while not holding up at all today), and the arcade ports like Powerstone and House of the Dead, while not being great values, were arcade perfect and great showpieces for the hardware.

I also forgot that Virtua Fighter 3tb and MvC1 were not actually US launch games, but "launch window" games.

 

[Living the Dream]

Phantasy Star Online is the greatest gaming gift to mankind.

 

[Tailzo]

Sonic Adventure is still so fun! I also loved Powerstone, and I should try to replay it again

Edit I got the japanese DC almost at launch. With Sonic Adventure and I think Powrstone shortly after.

I also bought the euro one later.

 

[Ensoul]

I didn't get one at launch because I didn't have the money but my friend brought his over day one. The game that sticks out that most from that day is how I was blown away at how great NFL 2K looked. It was a huge leap from the psx to the dreamcast.

My girlfriend (now wife) bought me one from Christmas and I ended up with Marvel vs Capcom and of course NFL 2K. I loved the VMU for the play calling. I ended up with a pretty good library when the system died. The games that stood out most to me were: The NFL 2k games, the NBA games, Grandia 2, Shemue (still one of my favorite games) playing quake online and of course phantasy star online. I loved fighting games and that system had a great library of fighting games.

Still one of my favorite consoles. Sucks it had such a short lifespan.

 

[cireza]

The last great console IMHO.

 

[mindsale]

Great console. I owned one mid-cycle - loved Cannon Spike and Marvel Vs Capcom 2 and Jet Grind Radio and Power Stone.

I loved the depressed "click" of the power button and the feel of the controller and the VMU's. Had so much personality relative to the black disc boxes we get today that do their best to hide that they're consoles and pretend they're strictly media platforms.

It was the Sega console that felt like they'd finally found their way after the 32X and Sega CD and Saturn and we're finally starting to innovate and have fun, and then a midrange DVD player snuffed them out.

 

[The1stOfHisName]

Crazy Taxi, Sonic Adventure, Ready 2 Rumble, House of the Dead, Powerstone, Chu Chu Rocket, Shenmue, Quake Arena... Fantastic games.

Dreamcast remains one of my favourite consoles. Loved everything about it - the controller, VMU, early introduction to online console gaming. Wonderful bit of kit

 

[D'ultimate]

Let's talk about the most awesome video game launch EVER of the most awesome console EVER! Sure.

I don't have much to contribute other than how awesome this console was from beginning to the bitter end.

NFL2K
Ready to Rumble
Soul Calibur
The House of the Dead 2
Sonic Adventure

That was my haul.

 

[lawtowler]

I mean, I own a freaking Wii U.

As do I my friend

 

[Red Liquorice]

Pretty sure I got one at launch. Memory is a bit hazy on the whens.

I did like the DC a lot but gaming was taking a backseat in my life around then so I don't think I explored the catalog as much as I could have. I loved JSR, played the hell out of PSO. This might've been the console I had the most peripherals for, I had the keyboard for PSO, the joystick for VF and Virtua Tennis, the marracas for Samba di Amigo, plus a few of the little memory units.
VF3 was mind blowing to me, I loved the incline in some of the stages like the rooftop and wall of China stages, the island and snow stages were gorgeous.

I did have Shenmue 1, but I found it quite confusing and never got very far - I didn't give it a fair chance, so I would like to play a remaster.

 

[Laevateinn]

I took a "job" of babysitting my younger cousin and was able to get a few hundred dollars leading up to the launch of the Dreamcast.

This console was the end of an era. No launch has been nearly as great as this one and gaming itself has changed since the system fell.

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

Couldn't afford one, but I wanted one. I ended up getting mine just over a year later.

Price was in freefall by then, I got the DC and six games for £100.

One of the best consoles ever. Also the last big graphics jump.

 

[Badlucktroll]

I ordered a Japanese Dreamcast from NCSX back when i was a kid, with paper route money, about 4 months before 9/9/99. Got 4 games with it. I was so happy. Had to get it modded to play american games down the line though!

 

[topplehat]

I was blown away playing one in a Sears, got one as a bday present not too long later. Still probably my favorite lineup of games!

 

[entremet]

Great console. Hated the controlller.

 

[Sleight of Jam]

Got it launch year for Christmas. Don't have the console or any games anymore as I sold it because the laser broke.

Although just the last few days I've been looking to buy one off of amazon or eBay.

Spoiler

also fur fighters was the shit

 

[Ceallach]

Got one at launch, I was in HS at the time, I loved it. Still love. I've been through like 4 of them at this point though.

I still hate the DC controller though. Such a step backwards from the Saturn analog pad and paled to the Dualshock.

Amazing library though, and I will never forget nights spent up playing Code Veronica and Skies of Arcadia at night

 

[loudbill]

I bought a dreamcast around christmas time last year on a whim. I had to return it because the laser was faulty. I almost gave up on it, but thats when i saw Shenmue on ebay for REALLY cheap. So i bit the bullet, bought another dreamcast, and bought Shenmue.
Playing Shenmue on the dreamcast is still my favorite game experience to this date. My brain was quite foggy around this time, and i wasnt playing any games. I credit Shenmue and the dreamcast for getting me out of that depression.

 

[SmokedMeat]

I have a lot of fond memories of Dreamcast. I got to play a unit imported from Japan shortly after the launch, and was immediately sold on it. Did the whole preorder thing, subscribed to the magazine, etc...

Launch day purchases...
House of the Dead 2
Sonic Adventure
Soul Calibur
Hydro Thunder
Can't remember the fifth game I bought.

I had a coworker who was a big PC gaming guy. He also bought one at launch and it was fun to talk about while at work. Even transferred save data between our VMUs and I couldn't come close to his Hydro Thunder times.

 

[Theslammer]

Great console. Hated the controlller.

The lack of a second analog stick and the wire being on the bottom definitely worked against it.

Still, that first year in terms of games was very good.

 

[Erebus]

The last great console IMHO.

PS2 says hi but please do explain.

 

[shanafan]

The lack of a second analog stick and the wire being on the bottom definitely worked against it.

I never saw this as an issue because you could snap it to go up on the back.

 

[Lakuza]

Have so many fond memories of this console. x_x I would have been 10-12 years old i think.

- Skies of Arcadia - One of my favourite rpgs. Ended up getting the gamecube version to play it on the Wii after my dreamcast died so I can play this anytime I want). I remember hating on final fantasy 9 which my friend enjoyed because i was such a skies of arcadia fanboy lol. (Only to play ff9 5-6 years later to realise its just as awesome).

- Powerstone 2 - this was my go to multiplayer game with my brothers. So much fun, it was the one game we played consistently years after Sega stopped dreamcast support. They really need to bring this back now that online multiplayer is the norm and also because I have no way of playing this right now

Other games I remember:
- Ready2Rumble (would be great to bring this back for vr)
- Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 (massive fanboy of these games as a kid but the games have aged really bad and I don't care for the franchise anymore)
- Crazy taxi
- Jet Set Radio (although I preferred jet set radio future)
- Buzz Lightyear game I forgot the name of (damn, this game was tough for a toy story game lol XD)
- Dead or Alive 2 (played this one a ton too, but never got any of the sequels).
- Fighting Vipers 2 (all i can remember is a guy fighting using his bike and a girl with a giant teddy bear XD)

Also loved the memory card with its little mini-games lol. This was a time where I didn't have a portable games console so playing Pinta's Quest and taking care of Chao's were amazing to me.

For me dreamcast had so many quirky, risky games that were lacking in the ps3/360 gen. Although, I feel like we are slowly returning to that point in recent years (especially with vr now).

 

[JaseC]

I distinctly recall it being demoed on Saturday Disney(?) and being blown away by Crazi Taxi. Never owned one myself, though.

 

[arigato]

Crazy Taxi, Sonic Adventure, Ready 2 Rumble, House of the Dead, Powerstone, Chu Chu Rocket, Shenmue, Quake Arena... Fantastic games.

Dreamcast remains one of my favourite consoles. Loved everything about it - the controller, VMU, early introduction to online console gaming. Wonderful bit of kit

Don't forget the best version of Rayman 2: Great Escape, love playing through that game in 60 FPS.

Got it launch year for Christmas. Don't have the console or any games anymore as I sold it because the laser broke.

Although just the last few days I've been looking to buy one off of amazon or eBay.

Spoiler

also fur fighters was the shit

fur fighters indeed was awesome, and if you haven't already you should check out the rereleased port on PS2. I always felt that last gen there was missing a Power Stone game with online mode.

 

[KageMaru]

The Dreamcast had a hell of a launch. I remember getting in line at 5AM with three friends. By the time the store opened early at 7, the line was out the door and around the corner. I walked out with Sonic Adventure, Soul Calibur, Blue Stinger, and Trickstyle. Spent the next three days with friends playing a bunch of launch games.

 

[Diablohead]

First time seeing Sonic Adventure on the house main tv was something i'll never forget, going from years of dos and ps1 games to suddenly (at the time) high res visuals of sonic the hedgehog with real time lighting and (at the time) detailed areas was something special.

For the first two weeks I did not have a VMU to save my game with, started from the beginning each time however it felt fine because I was used to it.

 

[foxdvd]

I was into PC gaming at the time, but my wife surprised me with a system when I got home from work. We had a 1 year old at home and another on the way, so we really did not have the money for one, even though I wanted one. She had saved up the money without me knowing...

I loved the system. I remember buying the adapter so I could hook it up to my pc monitor, and the games looked amazing.

 

[Infernal Monkey]

I remember the Dreamcast launch well because it was an absolute fucking disaster in Australia which killed the system from day one. :'(

You couldn't even buy a VMU until about two weeks after the system came out.

 

[bjork]

I got a Dreamcast at launch, it was a day-late birthday present to myself. Pretty cool to see the jump from PS1 to that, visually. I played a small variety of things on it until PSO came out, then it was my PSO box. I wound up selling it a few years later, but I always enjoyed owning it.

Looking back though, while I enjoyed it at the time, aside from a couple of games, I don't really have any desire to revisit most of the library. It's probably the only Sega console I feel that way about.

 

[suddenlyissoon]

I absolutely loved the Dreamcast. I hate that it forced Sega out of business, they were always my favorite.

 

[Theslammer]

I was into PC gaming at the time, but my wife surprised me with a system when I got home from work. We had a 1 year old at home and another on the way, so we really did not have the money for one, even though I wanted one. She had saved up the money without me knowing...

I loved the system. I remember buying the adapter so I could hook it up to my pc monitor, and the games looked amazing.

Glad to hear she's not your ex-wife because she sounds like a super keeper!

 

[cclittle]

Got one in October 1999 and it is still hooked up to my TV today (via VGA... way better than RGB for a modern TV).

I was the right age for Sonic Adventure at the time and loved it to death. Eventually fell madly in love with PSO, Power Stone 2, Shenmue, etc. Still my favorite console of all time.

 

[Tain]

The Japanese launch was a normal console launch, imo. A bad VF3tb is still a great game.

The American launch, though, is probably never going to be beaten. What a lineup.

 

[Crankshaft]

Purchased one at launch. First gaming console that I bought with my own money. I've sold a lot of my old consoles but I'm always holding onto my Dreamcast. There is just something about it that prevents me from letting it go. (Going to have my wife bury me with the Dreamcast. lol jk)

For the first three months the only game I had was Soul Calibur. You would've thought that I would be bored playing one game for that long but I couldn't get enough of it. I would complete the weapon master mode and unlock everything, then delete my save and start all over. I did that a couple of times. In my mind SC1 is a timeless classic. It's still as enjoyable to me now as it was back then.

I wasn't crazy about the dreamcast controllers. They're ok but not as comfortable as they could have been. It's weird that they are almost the same shape as the Saturn Analog controller but somehow not as comfortable as the saturn one.

I had to do some surgery on the VMU's due to the battery beep. At first I tried replacing the batteries but it wouldn't be long before they were drained again and I gave up replacing them. Then I realized the reason they were draining was probably my fault. I , stored the vmu's hooked into each other instead of putting the caps on. I realized, Oh it was me all along! I'm to blame!" After years of hearing the loud BEEP from the vmu speaker, I finally caved and opened my vmu's up and pulled the speaker wire. Now I enjoy the sweet sweet silence.

There is a lot of great games on the Dreamcast but my favorite has to be Phantasy Star Online. So many hours playing the game offline and online. I even purchased the dreamcast keyboard because of the game.

 

[Broank]

I got one maybe a week or two after launch. My dad was sitting on the couch watching me play and thought NFL 2k was a real game for a few minutes. Probably the most mind blowing step graphics wise in gaming. Got Sonic Adventure maybe a week or two later and that was mind blowing. Then Shenmue a few months after that was some next level shit. Easily the biggest leap graphics wise I ever had. Everything was so crisp and detailed and smooth.

 

[Alex Anderson]

I played a demo unit at Funcoland with Ready 2 Rumble and for like 45 seconds it was the most amazing thing ever to me at the time

I was 15 when it came out. Convinced my parents I really didn't want to wait until my birthday.

I got one the first week from KB Toy Works with NFL 2K and Soul Calibur. I wanted Sonic but they were out, may have been a recall situation with early discs on that game?

Anyway I had NFL 2K and that's what I mostly wanted.

I got Sonic soon therafter, beat it, and traded it straight up at EB for a used N64 thanks to overlapping promotions. And N64 kinda became my "budget" system over the next few years. Only games I ever paid over $15 for were Mario and Majoras Mask.

Getting back on track... I got NBA Showtime that Christmas and my first ever Amazon.com order was for Speed Devils and Tokyo Xtreme Racer. Didn't really know what to expect but ended up loving both games.

Even though my favorite games on the system were yet to come I really enjoyed that first batch of games I had. Good times.

 

[sechsterangriff]

Purchased one at launch. First gaming console that I bought with my own money. I've sold a lot of my old consoles but I'm always holding onto my Dreamcast. There is just something about it that prevents me from letting it go. (Going to have my wife bury me with the Dreamcast. lol jk)

For the first three months the only game I had was Soul Calibur. You would've thought that I would be bored playing one game for that long but I couldn't get enough of it. I would complete the weapon master mode and unlock everything, then delete my save and start all over. I did that a couple of times. In my mind SC1 is a timeless classic. It's still as enjoyable to me now as it was back then.

Are you me??

After years of hearing the loud BEEP from the vmu speaker, I finally caved and opened my vmu's up and pulled the speaker wire. Now I enjoy the sweet sweet silence.

Nevermind

 

[Bioshocker]

I didn't get the Dreamcast at launch, couldn't afford one. But I only had to wait a few months after the European launch before I bought it. I remember the price: 2595 SEK, which is about 260 euros today (or probably more due to inflation). It was very affordable, and I loved the heck out of it instantly. Thanks to great games like Crazy Taxi, Sega Rally 2, Sonic Adventure, and Dead or Alive 2 I was thrilled with my purchase and felt that I was experiencing the future of gaming. How could this machine possibly fail?

When Shenmue and Phantasy Star Online arrived it was almost over. When I played Shenmue II and fell in love with China, which would finally lead to me meeting a Chinese woman who is now my wife, the party was basically over. The Dreamcast was dead.

It had an amazing run. Only 18 months in the West and it was not until years afterwards that I started to grasp just how many great games that were released in that short lifespan. Many of which were developed by Sega themselves.

The Dreamcast had some obvious flaws, the controller with just one thumstick being an apparent one (which is why it feels a bit weird to use now), it was pretty noisy and of course not as powerful as the PS2. But it gave us some incredible games. The output of games on the Dreamcast in the year 2000 was insane.

Most games have aged pretty badly, but some of them are still just as fun today as they were then.

My favourites now (which is different from what it was back then, I have mainly revised my thoughts of Sonic Adventure):
Shenmue I-II
Phantasy Star Online
Jet Set Radio
Soul Calibur
Samba de Amigo
House of the Dead II
Resident Evil Code: Veronica (that intro!)
Metropolis Street Racer (which would become Project Gotham Racing)
ChuChu Rocket
Sega Rally 2
Dead or Alive 2

I am now going for a complete PAL collection of the system and with most of the Japanese accessories and limited consoles (I'll never afford all of them). This is also something that impresses me, the sheer number of limited edition consoles released in just two years.

 

[Skiptastic]

I was there on 9/9/99. Best Buy screwed up and I didn't get Sonic Adventure, but I did get the console and Soul Calibur. I would eventually go on to get Sonic, Power Stone and NFL2K (this one soon after launch), but the one game I had that night was Soul Calibur. It was still worth the $200.

Soul Calibur was more than just an arcade port, it was an enhancement with additional gameplay modes and graphical improvements.

NFL2K was easily the best looking NFL game at the time, played spectacularly and had amazing audio commentary. What it missed was a franchise mode, which the sequel not only added, but added online play, which was so new at the time for consoles.

Power Stone was a great arcade fighter that got an even better (in my opinion) sequel, which really put to use the four controller ports of the system.

Sonic Adventure was an okay entry into the 3D world (no, I don't count Sonic 3D Blast) but, in hindsight, it wasn't necessarily as good as its predecessors.

Ready 2 Rumble, NFL Blitz 2000, and House of the Dead were all fun arcade ports (though I am still upset that we didn't get that official SEGA light gun, shown in that orange issue of EGM).

I think this is one of the strongest launches of all time, if not the strongest.

I'm not going to go into my love affair with the rest of the Dreamcast's life, as it would be too painful and I'd just be gushing over and over about all the amazing games that came from this short lived system.

 

[Secret Character]

Still my favorite console of all time.

I was a bit young when it came out, but by the time I had my first summer job, my paycheck went toward getting a Dreamcast. I still remember the day I bought it and popping in Soul Calibur for the first time and being completely awestruck by the graphics and presentation. It also meant that I no longer had to burn $0.50 a game at Marvel vs. Capcom to get good. I could just buy it on the DC and learn how to play.

Some of my greatest memories involve the Dreamcast and it's early online features. For a time, I was the top ranked Space Harrier player on Shenmue. I will also never forget getting Phantasy Star online and the keyboard when it came out. It was the best and I wish I could feel that kind of excitement for gaming again.

 

[mickagau33]

I bought a JP one on JP release...that was stupid since I was a student and I was broke so I had to skip some lunches to save money (priorities and all that lol) and coming from PSX, N64 and Saturn, those 3D graphics were insane. I was so proud everytime my friends saw the games for the first time and were like "woooooooow". But I was also a bit hungry ;-)

 

[TheDarkKnight774]

One ignore my favorite console launches of all times

I was just out of college. Pre ordered the system. And I picked up so many games at launch and they all were awesome.

Plus FF8 came out the same day. It was a great launch day

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

My all time favorite console. Just a simply stupid amount of incredible games in such a short span of time. It seemed like any time I went up to EB Games in the mall there were 1-2 new games worth checking out.

I got mine in 99 for Christmas from my older brother. My dad got me NFL2k for Christmas. It was simply incredible. The day after Christmas I went and picked up:

Sonic Adventure (ok)
Soul Calibur (pretty good)
Tokyo Xtreme Racer (awesome)
Sega Rally 2 (awesomer)
Toy Commander (great)

Phantasy Star, it took me forever to actually find a copy of that game. Quake 3 Arena, fucking awesome. Unless you were playing a broadband PC user, lol. Unreal Tournament was fucking incredible. Even quirkier stuff like Alien Front Online was great fun.

But yeah the launch was amazing. Probably the best I've ever seen personally.