Summer of Dreamcast

[averybluemonkey]

While Japan DC does have some great old-style shooters I'd argue that the best games outside of this genre were all released PAL side. Barring the shooter genre, of which PAL land still got Gunbird 2 and the fantastic hybridish-Bangai-O I can't think of much a PAL only gamer would be missing out on.

[Team Andromeda]

Dreamcast has loads of great games and as always you need to live in Japan to get the best out of the machine. Not so much as with the Saturn but still, there are many great games for Japan only. The best game on the Dreamcast apart from Shenmue was Phantasy Star Online 1 and Ver.2 On man, I played that every night from 12am to 5 am for almost a whole year. I loved that game when played online.

Not really Bar SEGA, and to a point Team Ninja, G Rev, Game Arts and Capcom most of the Japanese studios didn't really push or make much effort with the DC at all. In the west Ubisoft did try and with Rayman II made one of the best looking DC games around, you also had then Visual Concepts doing incredible stuff with their Sports games , SEGA Europe pushing the DC with stunning looks games like MSR (which I think didn't even make it to Japan), Ecco and Head Hunter , never mind what Melbourne House did with Le Mans 24 and Space Race

[nakamura]

There were some fairly nice looking titles but games like MSR, Le Mans and Space Race weren't stunning visually, just nice.
I never felt like I was playing anything truly next generation with games like that. Not saying there weren't beautiful games mind, the obvious Soul Calibur, Ecco, Jet Set and NBA 2K spring to mind.

When I go back to the machine now, in most cases it does feel like a generational stop game. Playing PSO last night and it still looks nice but the characters are so low poly it looks almost like HD PS1. The Shutokou Battle games look rough and are riddled with slowdown and popup. V-Rally 2 is terrible and Le Mans has dated to the extreme.

[Neon Ignition]

I thought MSR was stunning at the time, if a little let down by the long delays

[averybluemonkey]

MSR not stunning visually? You really think it looked like a stop-gap game?



I must need my eyes testing.

[nakamura]

Yes. The cars were incredible washed out looking and lacked shine that even the Shuto games had. That image above looks far nicer than the actual game. Also a 30fps rate didn't excite when Shuto again was 60fps. It was nice but all felt a bit underwhelming.

I also grew bored of the game in around 10 days after paying full price for it.

GT3 arrived a few months later and smashed it to pieces visually.

[englishbob]

Mines still connected under the TV, my memories and enjoyment will never die!

[Team Andromeda]

There were some fairly nice looking titles but games like MSR, Le Mans and Space Race weren't stunning visually, just nice

MSR backrounds were some of the best and most impressive I have ever seen in that generation (for racers ) Le Man was a graphics de du force with some lovely effects and Space Race was the 1st game to show the world Cel Shading graphics in fully 3D (unlike Fear Effect) and was also one of the better Mario Kart Ripp off's while it was at it

Also a 30fps rate didn't excite when Shuto again was 60fps

I love 60 fps, but MSR backrounds and amount of detail was just leagues out in front of Shuto

V-Rally 2 is terrible and Le Mans has dated to the extreme.

V- Rally was never that impressive on any other system, and most games will date . I used to think DMC was one of the best looking games ever made, going back to it its dated badly now

The Shutokou Battle games look rough and are riddled with slowdown and popup.

That happens with most early software doesn't it ? They all have issues with GFX and what not . Star Wars RS II blew my socks off graphically even if it had issues with Pop up and slowdown and fair play to Genki their next racers like Daytona USA 2001 and battle II offered pretty much soild 60 fps with stunning graphics

Never forget playing Cyber Troopers Virtual-On II or Dead or Alive II for the 1st time on the DC, The level of GFX on offer was jaw dropping at the time . DC was great when it comes to textures and lovely colour's

[averybluemonkey]

I loved Space Race, felt like you were actually in a Looney Tunes cartoon. For me the Dreamcast had so many games with amazing art direction they'll never age graphically, the games were bright, fast and had enough leverage for the graphics not to be a limiting factor in game design.

[nakamura]

Space Race was a completely lifeless game to play though. It may have been fairly pretty but the gameplay was lacking.

TA i'm not denying that MSR didn't have some impressive details but it wasn't balanced. The car models were very average, lacking in sheen and the detail that even GT2 had. When GT3 hit just months later it looked old hat to me.

Of course Shuto is not close visually to MSR in terms of detail but when Shuto 2 hit I was blown away for ages when playing it. The cars were well modelled, detailed and polished to perfection.

[Team Andromeda]

Space Race was a completely lifeless game to play though. It may have been fairly pretty but the gameplay was lacking.

I'm talking about graphics here and to me it was a visually splendid game

The car models were very average, lacking in sheen and the detail that even GT2 had.

I don't think you're being fair there . PD car models we so good I don't think any developer on the PS2, DC or X-Box ever got close to them , in fact GT 4 Car Models look better than Forza II on the 360 half the time , Backround wise in terms of detail textures and modelling MSR was staggering for me and looked more 3D than the X-Box update with PGR (that changed with PGR 2)

[J0e Musashi]

The Dreamcast was only ever a stop-gap for me. In fairness I had owned pretty much every import game as it was released, but once the PS2 came out it was CEX-fodder almost instantly. I lost over ?1500 when trading it all in. The ?699 price sticker from November 1998 was much to the amusement of the staff at Rathbone.

I remember buying the Godzilla Atsumete VMS in the September prior to release and that was purely because I knew that CEX wouldn't stock any VMS's upon console release. They didn't, and I was the only one out of the "Shekana Crew" who could save.

My original reason for wanting the DC was that SF3 was going to be a launch title.

I hated Soulcalibur too. I kept playing in hope that an Edge Master Mode would unlock.

I had much fun with all of its peripherals that were only rivaled by the Super Famicom, but ultimately for me it was just a waiting game until March 4th, 2000 arrived. In fact the ONLY reason I actually bought a Dreamcast was because Lee at Loaded Consoles failed to get me the SCPH-5903 VCD PS1 that I had ordered in August, so I just waited it out until November.

[Colin]

Having put a few hours in to it recently, i'd have to say that MSR still looks great.

[nakamura]

I put a lot of time into the machine, don't get me wrong. But it just left me feeling let down at almost every turn.

Soul Calibur lacked the Edge Master mode mentioned above. Sega Rally 2 was shocking. Sonic Adventure was fun in bursts but riddled with issues. MSR was short lived for me. A lot of the titles I looked forward to just let me down.

To put a positive spin though, I did spend a lot of time with some titles.
Dead or Alive 2.
JSR.
Virtua Tennis.
SF3.
Capcom VS SNK.
Hydro Thunder.
Shuto 1-2.
Speed Devils (was pretty average mind!)
NBA 2K.
Powerstone.
KoF 99.

To be fair, it probably does have more good titles than I give it credit for but I still think it is overrated.

[rmoxon]

MSR is a great game and still looks great. I've spent far much more time enjoying it over the years than I have the Project Gotham games too. It holds up well, which makes it a classic, very few racing games hold up well a few years down the line, never mind 12 years.