Happy Birthday Dreamcast 9.9.99

[donpepperoni]

Happy B'day DC!

I still have my launch day machine so I'll be sure to throw it a party this weekend

[sj33]

1. Shenmue
2. Shenmue II
3. Resident Evil: Code Veronica
4. Phantasy Star Online: Version 2
5. Skies of Arcadia
6. Grandia 2
7. Virtua Fighter 3tb
8. Soul Calibur
9. House of the Dead 2
10. Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike

That was a bloody hard list to compile, because the Dreamcast has so many awesome games that would qualify for a 'top 10'. If I was to rewrite that list tomorrow, it'd probably look quite different as a remember more of the games I loved. Fond memories of Crazy Taxi, Sonic Adventure 1/2, Quake 3 Arena, Sega Rally 2, Blue Stinger (yes)...

Interesting to note that many of the above are unfortunately somewhat redundant, having been ported to other formats. Skies of Arcadia was enhanced for the Gamecube (albeit with inferior music quality), Grandia 2 was ported to the PS2 (in mediocre fashion) and PC (in top fashion), Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst is still an excellent game on the PC that I choose to play over Phantasy Star Universe, Code Veronica was obviously ported and even Shenmue II is available on the XBox. I don't see this as raping the Dreamcast's back catalogue, but allowing more players to experience some of the best games ever made.

Controversial to place Virtua Fighter 3tb over Soul Calibur? It's not intended to be, but I do love Virtua Fighter 3. Most of the critisism of Genki's port is anal (although fair enough, it should have been arcade perfect). In retrospect, Yu Suzuki shouldn't have wasted time on an ill-fated Saturn port which would never have done the game justice (as cool as it would have been to see it).

Although I placed Shenmue II below the original, I rate them as roughly on par. Shenmue II complements the original so perfectly, really hammering home the fact that Ryo is no longer in the relative safety of his hometown. People critisised the increased focus on combat, but Hong Kong was being portrayed as the antithesis of where he had come from. The way they captured the sheer scale of the city, everything from the buildings sprawling over the streets with signs hanging from them, to the more enclosed, dangerous nighttime environments you later find yourself in. This is contrasted by the gorgeous forest area that concludes this portion of the saga. People critisised this bit as being boring - these people have no soul! The original Shenmue is an utterly fantastic portrayal of rural Japan, and I place it higher because of my dream-like attachment to this setting, but Shenmue II was an utterly fantastic creation.

[monel]

Regarding Shenmue and its sequel, I never saw a review or coverage mention how close it is to being in a martial arts movie.

Playing as Ryo made me feel as though I'd stepped into a classic Hong Kong action film.