Top 10 games on a given console - Dreamcast edition

Games
1

Let’s hear it for the only console I owned between the Atari 2600 and the PS4! Woo!

I probably can’t name 10 games I played for it, though. So once again my list must be incomplete.

First there is…

Soul Calibur. Best arcade port ever? Dunno. It was amazing. “Mitsurugi was seriously wounded… but the soul still burns!”

Then there’s everything else.

2- Shenmue - OK, it’s not really a good game, but the graphics were amazing at the time and as a sort of experience it was pretty cool. For a while.
3- Crazy Taxi: Like a GTA game minus everything but the driving!
4- Ummm. NBA 2K, maybe?
5- Sonic Adventure – it was probably terrible, but I bought it and it looked cool.

That’s about all I can say I owned. Kinda sad actually. I know of other famous games for the system (Space Channel 5, Seaman, PSO, Skies of Arcadia), but I didn’t have them. Who needed them? I was busy playing Soul Calibur!

Help me out here!

2

Let’s see, there was Chu Chu Rocket, a cool puzzle game that also had that amazing commercial. Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram had a fantastic title and a super cool dual joystick controller to go with it (someone please buy another one and bring it to my house to play). Oh and speaking of great custom controllers, the best version of Samba de Amigio!

Uh, Space Channel 5 has Space Michael Jackson in it, so suck it every other rhythm game (sorry, maracas). Until very recently the DC version of Mark of the Wolves was the only one I had access to, so that was cool. The 2k sports games were pretty great. Bangai-O is a crazy good Treasure bullet hell game, which reminds me that the DC is where I first played Ikaruga. Oh, and Grandia 2! And now I really want to play Virtua Tennis again but it’s almost 1am so thanks for that. And I never did do that real time 24 hour race in Test Drive Le Mans. Gotta get around to that.

Oh and Jet Set Radio! And Armada! And all the stuff you said that wasn’t Sonic or Shenmue (aka boring Yakuza). Man, that system was pretty great.

3

Oh yeah I did have Virtua Tennis, which I played a lot. And I think I had Jet Grind Radio but didn’t spend much time with it.

4

Oh, yeah! A complete madness and controlled chaos.

And I agree on Soul Calibur, of course. At the time, the most visually appealing game, on any system.

I adored Rez. There was a PS2 version, too, but that was a Sega game, so Dreamcast was a more natural platform.

Skies of Arcadia was pretty good, too, in the terms of Japanese RPGs. At least I finished it, so it had to be good. ;)

Jet Set Radio wasn’t that interesting to me, gameplay-wise, but the graphics and music were to die for.

Maybe I could make a top 10 list, but I would have to think about it for some time. Dreamcast happened to me 17-18 years ago.

5

It’s an interesting platform, one I didn’t like much, but the few games I liked are some of my favourite games of all-time. It’s also a console which had a very special quality to its 3D rendering, a “touch” I still find very appealing today.

Shenmue 2: I had really disliked the first Shenmue (an early exhibit of my aversion for open-world games), but the second opus is, without doubt, one of the most artistic games ever made. It is a work of beauty, it tries to convey what martial arts, or simply self-discipline, are about, and almost justify the weird “obsessive” attitude of its hero to make the game grow into something quite mature. It’s just one of my favourite games of all time. The XBOX version is a disgrace: it’s like some amateur jerk was appointed as the photography director of your favorite movie, terrible.

Culdcept 2: I loved the original Culdcept, but the sequel is so much better. You could access special cards by phoning to a number in Japan. I imported a DC modem and dialed up all my way to Japan to grab them. Addicted!

Le Mans 24 Hours: that one is funny, as a game was released on a variety platforms using the same name- and they all suck - but the Dreamcast title is unique to the console, and a jewel! It’s the best arcade and simulation mix ever down into a racer in my opinion. The attention to detail, the sensation of speed, the circuits are wonderfully rendered. We were so addicted to the game with two other friends we ran the real-time 24 hours race, taking turns. Sadly, I was the worst of us, and because of me and my lack of skill early on in the event, we finished the whole thing 2nd place. It was so exhausting… yet I still love the game.

Rez: A fascinating trippy experience, that will probably be in a lot of lists.

Space Channel Part 2: It’s wacky and beautiful, charming: it might have been ahead of its time, with its unlocks and secrets a-go-go. The soundtrack is so tied to the gameplay, the soundtrack CD, released devoid of the voice cues of the game that spice the tracks, is quite a pathetic thing.

Sakura Taisen 3: This one is a bit of a surprise. The first Sakura Taisen was a wonderful mix of choose-your-own-adventure, dating sim and tactical RPG, but the second game was an atrocity. This third game moves you to Paris, and it is actually a lot more endearing than I ever thought it would be. It played also very well.

Ikaruga: this isn’t really a shoot’em’up, but more of an action-puzzle game. I really enjoyed learning it by heart. It’s got a cinematic direction quality to it which makes it quite fascinating, and gives it a certain epic feel.

And I’ll add Seaman I guess, because it was so gross and odd.

Absent: Skies of Arcadia, one of those rare games which couldn’t be played using an RGB scart cable :(

6

The same applies to Bangai-O.

7

I still have mine OMG I love it! Let’s see!

  1. Armada. Best game on the platform. Yeah, I said it.
  2. Crazy Taxi. Obviously.
  3. Bangai-o. Amazing shooter.
  4. Metropolis Street Racer. A gorgeous, fun and varied raving game.
  5. Mars Matrix. Another amazing shooter.
  6. Soulcaliber. I’m not even a fan of fighting games and I love this one.
  7. Power Stone games. I love these because I’m not a fan of fighting games.
  8. Sega GT. Amazing racing game.
  9. Virtua Tennis. Still so fun to play.
  10. Chu Chu Rocket. Legendary puzzle game.
8
  1. Soul Calibur. I don’t like fighting games, but Soul Calibur is amazing.
  2. Rez - Music, visuals and gameplay combined in a beautiful way.
  3. Test Drive Le Mans 24 Hours - Introduced me to the Le Mans race. So good. I never did do the real time 24 hour race, but me and my friends always fantasized about doing it one day.
  4. Sega GT - Unlike Gran Turismo, you could actually build your own cars. It had the license tests from GT, they had sponsors you could win, like McDonalds, Penzoil, and internet providers that have since gone out of business. They would sponsor your career and give you extra money. Such a great game. Unfortunately they had a terrible 3rd person camera. This is the game that forced me and my friends to start racing in 1st person and then after Sega GT, we couldn’t race in 3rd person again.
  5. Metropolis Street Racer - The beginning of an amazing series, the latest entry was Forza Horizon 2. I think this one had San Francisco, New York and London? Gosh, it’s been so long, I can’t remember. One annoying feature: the time of day was based on when you played. So when I got home from work and started playing every night, New York and San Francisco were always night courses, because it was dark there by the time I got home. I finally had to start messing with the Dreamcast system clock to race during the day.
  6. Vanishing Point - Another racing game on the console of racing games.
  7. Typing of the Dead - So cheesy and so funny, and so much fun to type.
  8. Jet Set Radio - I hated doing the graffiti, and getting on top of places. The fixed that in the sequel. But the original was still great.
  9. Shenmue - I loved the potential more than the actual game. A real place with realistic people walking around as you went around and asked people where you could find some sailors.
  10. F355 Challenge - This is the hardcore racing game that introduced us to tracks like Suzuka that I’d be seeing for years to come as a racing game fan. There was only one car in the game, the F355. The game was all about racing well in that one car against opponents using that same car.

Honorary Mention: Armada. I loved playing it for 60-75 minutes, but after that initial starting area, I could never figure out where to go and what to do. I must have been overlooking something obvious, but could never figure it out.

Honorary Mention 2: Ecco - about a dolphin with super powers. Very different. Eventually I got stuck not knowing what to do next. This was the days when I didn’t go to the internet to find answers when I got stuck, I tried to figure it out, and if I couldn’t, I moved on.

9

Eventually the missions you get are further out, but there is an indicator telling you which direction they go. The further out you go, the nastier the enemies get though, so while you’ll level up, you’ll also die a lot on the way to some far-off objectives. The fact that dying puts you back in the center of the map is sort of annoying, but all you lose is time, thankfully, as you keep all your upgrades and what not. It’s definitely worth continuing as some of the missions are insane. One which took place over a planet which name I forget is a favorite of mine.

Yeah, I love Armada.

10

Skies Of Arcadia - Would have been perfect if not for the ridiculously high random encounter rate. Still, it had one of the more memorable and likeable casts in a JRPG. Plus, air ship battles!

Soul Calibur - Great game, loved the soundtrack and beautiful graphics; played it a ton and I’m not even a fighting game fan.

Le Mans 24 Hours - Like with Soul Calibur, not usually a fan of the genre but loved this one.

Resident Evil: Code Veronica- First fully 3D RE title which added to the immersion and just as good as the first three games.

Record Of Lodoss War- Diablo-like single player game that came out after the DC was killed by Sega. I was addicted to this one. Wish there was a spell that would eliminate the INSANELY LOUD footsteps of your character.

Shadowman- Very atmospheric and creepy action/adventure game to do with revenge and the occult and set in New Orleans.

Those were my faves. I didn’t have a large DC collection, maybe 20 games in all. I am probably missing a fave or two but can’t remember.

I will NOT list Grandia 2. That one always comes up in lists of best JRPGs of that era and DC titles but i hated it. Story was dull, didn’t like the characters, and although the battle system was fun, the battles were too easy so it was pointless.

11

I had a lot of fun with Speed Devils.

Oh and Shadowman. Played through it twice.

12
  1. Soul Calibur - It wasn’t quite my personal favorite, but it was near the top of that list. It got the most play by far though, and was a staple in my dorm that year. People came by to play it every afternoon.
  2. Jet Grind Radio - Now this was probably my favorite, and yes, that’s Jet Grind Radio because I actually bought an import copy. This was the first time I ever purchased an honest-to-goodness Japanese copy of a game, and I loved it (remember the trick to playing imports where you just had to open/close the Dreamcast lid at just the right time?).
  3. Power Stone 1/2 - I loved this game so much, but I could never quite get my friends as hooked on it as I was. I hate that it never really caught on as a franchise.
  4. Phantasy Star Online - Getting things organized was complicated, but when we actually got people together, this game was awesome, and doing online stuff nothing else in the console world was.
  5. Armada - Glad to see this getting love from others, one of the best co-op experiences.
  6. REZ - Duh
  7. The Typing of the Dead - By the time the Dreamcast was “over”, I had four controllers, two light guns, the broadband adapter, the mouse—yeah I played Quake 3 online on the Dreamcast—and yes, two keyboards. Worth (almost) every penny.
  8. Legacy of Karin: Soul Reaver - this game was awesome.
  9. Skies of Arcadia - I honestly don’t remember much about the specifics of this game (there was a Death Star joke in the dialog, people fought in sky pirate ships), but I remember it being a decent JRPG back when that mattered to me more and all anyone talked about was how Sony had the only JRPGs.
  10. Metropolis Street Racer - a prequel of sorts to the Project Gotham Racing series, one of my favorite racers of all time.

Honorable mentions - Resident Evil: Code Veronica (only RE game I ever actually played), Seaman, Crazy Taxi, Tech Romancer, the never-released copy of Half-Life I “found” online just for the novelty.

13

I played Skies of Arcadia several years later when ported to Gamecube. I also, uh… played Crazy Taxi in arcades.

Yeah this system basically didn’t exist in any of my circles.

14

I first played CT in arcades, and bought a Dreamcast solely to play it because I loved it so much. No idea it would essentially become an Armada machine. ;)

15

Hey I actually owned a Dreamcast! But I bought it on clearance after the platform had been declared dead, and I doubt I ever owned 10 games. But I did play Skies of Arcadia, one of the two JRPGs I consider absolute favorites. I loved its sense of fun and exploration, and the feeling of size in the ship-to-ship combat. I didn’t even notice the frequency of combat encounters, that’s one of those things I had to learn about much later from the Internet.

16

Skies of Arcadia was just too… anime and Japanese for me, is the best way I can think to put that. It just had a vibe, as if it was made for kids, and I was just confused at why adults would enjoy it. But I only played it for about an hour.

I did enjoy Grandia 2 on the Dreamcast for about 10 hours before I lost interest because of the slow pace of the game.

17

I get that, because it’s my default position on JRPGs. I don’t like the weird stilted voice acting that’s required to make the lip flaps match the dialogue, I don’t like the weird impractical costumes, and I get tired of fighting evil deities as final bosses. But for me, Skies of Arcadia’s charms way outpaced it’s annoyances - like I said, I apparently overlooked a punishing combat rate - and made it one of my all-time favorites. I wish that PS2 sequel had come to pass.

18

Looking at my list, the Dreamcast was the first time when my love of racing games really blossomed. I thought racing games were kind of boring until Need for Speed 4 (High Stakes) on PC, but even after that, playing NFS4 and 5 on PC, it was frustrating trying to drive with a joystick or keyboard. But with the Dreamcast controller with its two triggers, one for acceleration and one for deceleration, it became so much more natural to drive with a controller.

I loved nearly all the racing games I played on the Dreamcast thanks to that controller. And then on the Xbox, and then on the 360. Dual triggers made racing games really fun for me. A Microsoft Sidewinder 3D Pro, or Precision Pro, or Force Feedback Pro were just not doing the trick. It would be like if I was trying to enjoy space sims with just the keyboard and mouse for controls. Yes, you can still enjoy space sims, but I don’t think I would have fallen in love with them that way.

19

What happened to the Super Nintendo list thread?

20

Pacing myself. Not going chronologically, either (otherwise I’d have gone through a few between 2600 and NES).