Dreamcast Turns 10 years old!

[the_leander]

Among others, Ars Technica has a great article on the ten year anniversary of one of the best consoles ever made.

The Sega Dreamcast - The Swirl That Shook Gaming.

Actually one console I did own and one of the few computers I regret having gotten rid of.

I loved Jet Set Radio, Chu Chu Rocket, Q3 Arena and Crazy Taxi myself.

A damn shame.

[jj]

Among others, Ars Technica has a great article on the ten year anniversary of one of the best consoles ever made.
 
The Sega Dreamcast - The Swirl That Shook Gaming.
 
Actually one console I did own and one of the few computers I regret having gotten rid of.
 
I loved Jet Set Radio, Chu Chu Rocket, Q3 Arena and Crazy Taxi myself.
 
A damn shame.

 
Was a very under appreciated console. And like the saturn ahead of its time.

[Speelgoedmannetje]

I've got one, with 4 controllers and a vga box (which is a must).
Powerstone (2), Worms World Party and Ooga Booga are the games to play against each other. And F355 Challenge is my favorite racing game, because the racing feels extremely realistic.

Too bad I don't have that broadband network unit.

[Karlos]

Just think, the GPU from that machine (or a close relative) is now sitting in the iPhone

[the_leander]

Was a very under appreciated console. And like the saturn ahead of its time.

Saturn was a dogs dinner - Originally designed to compete with the likes of the CD32, CDi and 3DO it was to be the ultimate 2D console with 3D capabilities in line with 3DO.

Then Playstation came out and Sega shat bricks. The resulting refit was rushed and made the system an absolute swine to program for. Worse, it was released only a year after the release of the x32 Megadrive/Genesis add on, which in turn was released not that long after the MegaCD drive.

By the time Dreamcast came out, despite it's brilliance, Sega had irritated it's customer and developer bases that much that it was all over but the singing.

The Saturn was a lot of things, ahead of it's time wasn't one of them.

[jj]

I thought its 2d capabilites have been banged on about enough and how the saturn was the best for 2d shoot-em ups.
 
I have never even seen let alons played on saturn however, though I do own a couple of dreamcasts.

[graffias79]

The 32x was developed by Sega of America at the same time the Saturn was in development at Sega of Japan.  Apparently Sega had communication issues.  I own a Sega CD, Saturn and Dreamcast.  The 32x was really a strange beast as it required a Sega Genesis.  It plugged into the top of the Genesis and allowed you to play 32 bit cartridges or if you had a Sega CD, you could play 32x CDs.

The Genesis (which just turned 20 this month by the way) was an odd system in that with a Power Base converter you could play 8-bit Master System games too.  So you could downgrade the Genesis to a 3rd gen 8-bit system, play 4th gen Genesis/SegaCD games or 5th gen 32x games.  8-bit master system games could be run on the Genesis audio hardware.  The Master System contained a Z80 cpu with a TI "Programmable Sound Generator" and a custom video chip.  The Genesis had a 68000 CPU, which handed the Z80 all of the audio duties.  The Z80 still had control of the TI PSG as well as a Yamaha YM2612 4op FM synth chip.  The video chip in the Genesis was essentially the same as the Master System except it had new screen modes for Genesis mode.  Master System emulation was a breeze for the Genesis.

Wow sorry I got to rambling!  I am just fascinated by Sega hardware.  Interestingly, Sega's home consoles were all based on their arcade boards.  The Genesis board was based on the 16-bit Musashi board, and the DC was based on Naomi.

Happy Birthday Dreamcast!

[Speelgoedmannetje]

Wow sorry I got to rambling!  I am just fascinated by Sega hardware.

You know you are between fellow patients, no excuse needed

[Gav]

Yeah i loved the dreamcast,well i still do as i own a couple of them..I remember when i first seen soul calibur,it just looked amazing esp compared to the arcade version..Then i had been reading on shenmue for years and when that came out i was right there waiting for it at the shop..

I do love the saturn but to be honest i only got in to it when the nail was already in its coffin as i was in to the PS1,it did have a lot of good games but in the days of ridge racer,Tekken,Better versions of tomb raider and resident Evil it never stood a chance really..I have a huge collection of saturn games now and it has to be said i dont find any racing game fun anymore from the PS1 but yet find myself still giving the original sega rally a blast now and then..

[Speelgoedmannetje]

Because of the 10th anniversary of the Dreamcast, a new game will be released on the dreamcast 8-)

[whabang]

Just think, the GPU from that machine (or a close relative) is now sitting in the iPhone

As well as in 50% of the World's PCs, as Intel licenced the technology from PowerVR.

[Karlos]

As well as in 50% of the World's PCs, as Intel licenced the technology from PowerVR.

Mine must be in the other 50%. nVidia G200 all the way

[Vincent]

You know, I never really got into the Dreamcast that much.  Mind you, I didn't like the popular N64 either.  (And yes I *really* don't like GoldenEye on the N64.)

I can understand how the Dreamcast was quite popular and ahead of it's time, but it justs didn't do much for me.  I still preferred the PS1.

Although I do like the Dreamcast's emulation ability.  That's great, although a better joypad would've been nice.

[the_leander]

Heya Vincent!

Long time no see

[Vincent]

Yeah, I think it's been about 2 years since I posted on here :eek:

Thought it was about time to start annoying other people again :rant: