Retro|Spective 193: The Final Tour of Dreamcast

[Neon Ignition]

It's Taco Tuesda...err, DC Tuesday!


Ooga Booga
An online multiplayer title released right in the wake of the system, this never stood a chance. Players fought each other throwing spells and shrunken heads and despite its demise the games online mode switched back on in 2018.




Pen Pen Tricelon
Racing via running, sliding and swimming players tackle the races as one of a mixture of odd characters and this bizarre looking and pitched title soon became a familiar face on DC shelves though the game had limited appeal to audiences.





POD 2
A sequel planned for multiple systems, it arrived on Dreamcast first thanks to the push on online multiplayer but the other format releases were cancelled. Racing on the surface of Titan, fans brought the online mode back online four years ago.





Propeller Arena
Being cheeky, this title was never released due to it being pulled post-9/11 and the systems death stopped a belated release. The game was finished however and later leaked in full with Sega never porting it to any other system making it one of the more notable exclusives remaining on the system.





A much more colourful line up at the least, have you played and found these to be a worthy exclusives line up?

[chopemon]

I've been on a real Dreamcast kick recently. I've always only had a handful of PAL games with a couple of JP games but over the last few months I've bought about 30 JP games (mostly off the forum) and I've been having a wonderful time with them. I only played Soul Calibur, Crazy Taxi and Code versonica back in the day at a friend's house. When I got my console about 16 years ago I grabbed a handful of games including Zombie Revenge and Cannon Spike and loved them. Now I'm getting a decent collection, I'm having a great time trying things out and exploring the library. Blue Stinger was fantastic and I'm really enjoying Shutokou Battle 2. I'm replacing almost all my PAL games with JP versions and replacing games on other systems like Capcom fighters with the superior DC versions. I think I'm about to do a big spend and get Illbleed as well.

The DC really represents a console and library releasing at the wrong time. Not a big enough jump from the PS1 and excellent games that were falling out of fashion. Were a lot of those games released now at a digital game price point, I think they'd do a lot better. I have absolutely no desire for big prestige games or twee story games and DC games fit the middle nicely. Big bold art, cracking music and a sense of innocent gamey fun.

Amazing console and while a I lament that it didn't have more success at the time, I'm having a wonderful time now. Just wish that lightguns worked on LCD TVs so I could play HOTD2.

BTW, a game mentioned earlier, Nanatsu no Hikan: Senritsu no Bisho, has a fan translation patch. I'm depserate to play it as I love this era survival horror but it refuses to work over VGA, even uses the VGA trick and editing the ROM. I could play it on PC via an emulator but people who play games on PCs are weird.

[Yakumo]

That's weird. I knew the guys at Bizarre too and I heard a different story.

I was told that Metropolis Street Racer was so-called because the name kinda made sense, but PGR was so-called because, during development, they used the codename "Project Gotham" because it was the follow-up to "Project Metropolis", and by the time they got a fair way into development the name had kinda stuck.

But I was talking to someone in PR, so that story may have been revisionist, i.e. meant to be something people re-printed in magazines as a curio, rather than actually true.



It's probably not expensive now; just it was at the time. Then again nearly all the DC games were expensive at my local importers, as it was pretty new.

Cool, small world. I met Martin and his wife one day as they were shopping in HMV where I worked. They introduced themselves as developers and we got talking. No idea how the chat started but they did come in to buy their game mags and some software as well as music etc.
Visited their dev studio a few times. They even treated us to dinner at the pizza place near the tech park.
This was about 24 years ago now so the memories are fuzzy. I do clearly remember them bringing VMUs in to HMV to show me. They hadn't even been released in Japan at that time.

[samanosuke]

people who play games on PCs are weird.

I agree 100%

[Neon Ignition]

Today's games are:

Rainbow Cotton
A rail shooter made by Success, this title was the fifth game in the Cotton franchise and mixed in some RPG elements. A frustration with the controls seemed to be the most common complaint for the game.




Record of Lodoss War
The only Lodoss game released at the time, this title was well received but still remained locked in to the Dreamcast.




Red Dog: Superior Firepower
Developed by Argonaut, this game saw players tackle six missions using an all terrain vehicle called the Red Dog.




The Ring: Terror's Realm
A survival horror based on the film series, the game is much like the earlier Resident Evil titles but reviews criticised it for clumsy delivery in its gameplay.




Did you enjoy any of the games in todays lineup?

[wakka]

I had no idea The Ring had a videogame. I want to play that.

Always been intrigued by Rainbow Cotton, too, even though it’s meant to be quite janky I believe.

[Baseley09]

Let's have a word for Lodoss, quality Diablo rip I recall it being hard as balls.

[Yakumo]

Today's games are:

Rainbow Cotton
A rail shooter made by Success, this title was the fifth game in the Cotton franchise and mixed in some RPG elements. A frustration with the controls seemed to be the most common complaint for the game.




Record of Lodoss War
The only Lodoss game released at the time, this title was well received but still remained locked in to the Dreamcast.




Red Dog: Superior Firepower
Developed by Argonaut, this game saw players tackle six missions using an all terrain vehicle called the Red Dog.




The Ring: Terror's Realm
A survival horror based on the film series, the game is much like the earlier Resident Evil titles but reviews criticised it for clumsy delivery in its gameplay.




Did you enjoy any of the games in todays lineup?

Rainbow Cotton was sadly an awful game. It looks really nice, even now but it is horrible to play. It's not so much the controls but more the fact you can't see where you are meant to be targeting.

The western version of the Ring is censored quite a bit. Go for the Japanese version if you can.

[Neon Ignition]

Sega Bass Fishing 2
Ever the oddball, Sega has released their arcade game on the Dreamcast along with the Soul Calibur compatible fishing rod peripheral and it had been a hit. So, a sequel was made that remains exclusive to the console but this one dialled down the arcade tones of the title so landed softer with fans.




Segagaga
One of the games I've always been most sad remained not only locked to Dreamcast but also Japan, the so-Sega-it-hurts Segagaga saw you run Sega itself to see if you could do a better job than they could. Released just two days before the systems demise it was perhaps one of the most apt final releases ever.




Seventh Cross: Evolution
Controlling a creature across its evolution, you mission is to achieve each stage across six missions. The poor visuals and clunky gameplay led to weak reviews and a planned sequel was axed.




Sonic Shuffle
Despite 12 mainline Mario Party's and numerous spin-offs showing the appeal of these types of games Sega's own effort remains to this day only playable on one console. Sonic and friends tackle boards and mini-games in a cel-shaded effort but the game fell short by comparison with its mini-games proving the main source of complaint due to complexity.

[Asura]

Sonic Shuffle
Despite 12 mainline Mario Party's and numerous spin-offs showing the appeal of these types of games Sega's own effort remains to this day only playable on one console. Sonic and friends tackle boards and mini-games in a cel-shaded effort but the game fell short by comparison with its mini-games proving the main source of complaint due to complexity.

I LOVED this game, **** YOU, FIGHT ME

<ahem>

Seriously, I know objectively if you were to put it in the canon of Mario Party games (which should probably include Wii Party and Animal Crossing Amiibo Festival too) then it languishes near the bottom of the list, but still... I was living with a bunch of people at the time, and we had the Dreamcast set up in the living room with the likes of this and Virtua Tennis, and we had many great evenings on Sonic Shuffle with a few beers.

[Neon Ignition]

Get that Friday Feeling with...


Soul Fighter
A Toka developed 3D beat em up, Soul Fighter was aimed to be ported to other systems and have an arcade release but a poor response to the DC version soured those dreams.





Street Fighter III: Double Impact
Yes, somehow the Dreamcast double packed release remains the only home version made of the middle-entry. This expansion of the original release has remained somewhat left behind after being replaced by Third Strike.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Street Fighter III: Double Impact
Yes, somehow the Dreamcast double packed release remains the only home version made of the middle-entry. This expansion of the original release has remained somewhat left behind after being replaced by Third Strike.

Crazy that SFIII 2nd Impact: Giant Attack never got ported to anything in its own right.

Thank goodness for SF 30th Anniversary Collection!

[Neon Ignition]

We're entering the final stages of this thread, here are today's four Dreamcast exclusives...



Super Magnetic Neo
A 3D platformer made by Genki, this sees players act as the robot Neo who uses positive and negative magnetism to traverse levels. The dev team worked hard to make the game run at 60fps but also be a difficult title to complete with little player support, this garnered it solid reviews but proved a costly choice as it put off the audience most likely to be interested in the game.





Super Runabout: San Francisco Edition
The game scored solid reviews, players race about a fictionalised San Francisco in one of a range of cars getting from A to B in order to complete objectives. The game was never ported off the Dreamcast, instead a sequel was launched on PS2.





Surf Rocket Racers
A Jet-Ski racer which is very typical of the game type, it was very hard for the game to get traction with reviewers or the public for this very reason.




Sword of the Berserk: Gut's Rage
Released around the same time as Shenmue the attention wasn't on this game, a third person hack and slash title featuring QTE's and non-linear paths. The game scored well but found itself drowned out.





Did any of these DC exclusives drive you Beserk?

[CMcK]

Super Magnetic Neo was a lovely wee platformer. I still bung it on once in a while for a wee shot.

[Neon Ignition]

The final day:


Time Stalkers
Also known as Climax Landers, this is an RPG using characters from different Climax made titles. A mixture of RTS and turn-based the game stumbled at reviews due to it being considered as over generic.





TNN Motorsports Hardcore Heat
Launching early in the systems life this racer struggled to get attention as most recommended players to hold off for Sega Rally 2... a wait that likely proved a let down.





Tokyo Xtreme Racer 2
The second entry out of four but the last one on the Dreamcast, some of the changes made to this sequel would go on to be applied to Sega's Daytona USA 2001.




Toy Commander
A familiar title for those around during the systems early shelf life, players would control one of five classes of toy exploring rooms of a house and completing challenges. The game was well received and aiming to release on PC but the studio behind it shut down the following year.




Undercover AD2025 Kei
A Japanese 3D shooter, the game wasn't well received so is now very niche




Zusar Vasar
Our final exclusive is a racing game released only in Japan in which players compete using robotic animals




Did you ever experience any of these exclusives and do you feel the Dreamcasts exclusives library has been bled dry in the years that followed?