The Dreamcast to me feels like hearing about a really cool restaurant only after it closed. People loved it so much they talk obsessively about the dishes and how they tried to make the recipes at home, and the old chef works at another restaurant that also has really good food; but you feel almost like you just had to have been at the original joint to really experience it.
Solid analogy, basically my perspective as well. Nostalgia is obviously a factor in this high regard for the Dreamcast, but the sheer amount of praise and love for this console kinda speaks for itself.
@@CiggySnake I feel like it was ahead of its time with a lot of the features found in current gen consoles. Like the online features etc. I owned one, thought it was a good console. Just had stiff competition with the PS2 dominating that era and Sega not having the money to compete.
SEGA's approach to hardware from 1992 on was to drop off another unannounced albatross with few games, poor development tools, and then discontinue the hardware two years after selling it. SEGA was on deathwatch before the rushed release of the Saturn.
The loss of hardware really made Sega feel like they lost their mojo as a creative powerhouse. Despite a handful of really inspired games, such as Super Monkey Ball/2, Billy Hatcher, and F-Zero GX, Sega's studios took a nosedive as early as the back-half of the PS2/GC/Xbox's life, and Sonic Unleashed feels like the very final time Sega ever felt like a true AAA production company. Quality-wise, outside of Yakuza, they've neglected Sonic and PSO, and have largely abandoned their entire catalogue of franchises, which once rivaled Nintendo in diversity. This is why I really wish they were a console maker again; they are second only to Nintendo in the IPs they have on hand: IPs that could go toe-to-toe with Sony's best and thoroughly outclass every Xbox offering. Instead, the entire game industry outside of Nintendo chases hyper-realism and feels depressingly stale, and Sega's efforts outside of Yakuza, such as Sonic Forces (which was so bad it burned me out on video games as a whole for 5 years) and Super Monkey Ball BBHD/Banana Mania, have felt broken and overall cheap. My interest in Sega flatlined in 2017 and it never really came back; I don't care about the company as it is anymore, and the cycle of hoping they'll ever remotely be as good as they once were only to be repeatedly disappointed has me ready to just leave them behind for good. The tragedy of the Dreamcast for me is that "better" consoles like the Xbox 360, Wii, PS3, 3DS, and Wii U never remotely reached the heights of enjoyment I'd gotten out of it. Maybe the DS and Switch have encroached upon it, but the industry overall just hasn't really felt all too fun without Sega delivering quality IP after quality IP like they used to
I feel the Dreamcast was a perfect storm of sorts, a largely competent and interesting console when Sega was in a creative golden age. The quality of Sega's work at the time is a major reason the Dreamcast is so beloved imo. However, said creative golden age more than petered out by the 7th generation, so who's to say the Sega Venus or Dreamcast 2 wouldn't be an absolute wash for Sega?
Buddy, you are forgetting persona 5 which sold 8m+ copies. Not the mention Warhammer 40k: dawn of war 3 which sold over 7m+ copies. Sega isnt that bad stuation like you portraying to be.
@@ArchetypalReaper Sega didn’t make Persona 5 though. They acquired Atlus *after* Persona 5’s release. That’s like praising Microsoft for Hi-Fi Rush, when that game had already been in development years before Microsoft even began the Bethesda acquisition. But even for Atlus’ games after Persona 5, Sega is only as deserving of praise for Atlus’ games as Microsoft is for Bethesda’s latest games, which is to say they’re not deserving. When Atlus makes a good game, that’s *Atlus* I care about, not Sega. As for games Sega themselves produces, really only Yakuza still feels like a AAA franchise. Other franchises like Sonic and Monkey Ball, meanwhile, have felt like 3rd-rate productions over the past decade, and the rest of Sega’s back catalog of IPs have been mostly untouched by Sega themselves for over 20 years (IPs like Panzer Dragoon, Alex Kidd, and Toejam & Earl only ever brought back to life by indies). Sega’s upcoming slate of revivals of Crazy Taxi, Jet Set, Shinobi, Golden Axe, and Streets of Rage also look to end up being lesser productions just like recent Sonic/Monkey Ball titles. As a corporation, sure; Sega’s currently on the best upward trend they’ve experienced since early 90s, and the Atlus acquisition could allow them to acquire even more publishers in the future and become a publishing superpower to Japan like Microsoft is to the West. But internally, creatively, they’re a hollow shell of their former selves (outside of Yakuza).
@@TurboPikachuYou got the information wrong. Acqusition of atlus had been done in 18 september 2013 by Sega Sammy. Persona 5 was released in 16 september 2016. Even since its acqusition, Sega Sammy funded them money in order to release sequel to persona 4. all that funding paid itself off and turned into profit by the 8m+ sales of persona 5
@@ArchetypalReaper You’re right. I still have my doubts though, given the PlatinumGames situation wherein PG needed Nintendo for the Bayonetta IP to continue and become a franchise. And the rest of my last reply still stands; while I’m thrilled to see this worked out for Altus, it’s still a shame to see Sega’s own IP (outside of Yakuza) continue to be of either AA quality or below and have middling sales to match.
the existence of sega consoles were just to pave the way for seaman to exist. once seaman was finally made, there was simply no more need for sega to be in the console market. in that regard, i consider the dreamcast to be a success.
The Dreamcast is the only console from the sixth generation I’ve managed to hold on to. All my other consoles have died/been traded away but this little guy has stuck with me. It’s not alive for lack of use either, it’s a really robustly designed machine in stark contrast to some other consoles I’ve had to bury down the line.
That makes one of us thenI owned 2 dreamcasts brand new and both failed within a year apart. Dreamcast was a great console w good games but a lot of people had the same issues… dreamcast died worse than maybe anyother console I dont even think the 360s ribg of death was as bad
Probably my favourite Dreamcast game will always be Blue Stinger... Sadly, it never got a sequel or even a port to other "more popular" consoles, so many probably never got to experience it!😥
I never owned the Sega Dreamcast, but I remember playing on the Sega Dreamcast demo kiosk at a JCPenny retail store with my younger brother. It was probably the year 1999 or 2000.
Honestly, I had never heard of the Dreamcast until 20 years later. I was primarily a PlayStation user for a while for the PS1, PS2, and PS3, then went to Xbox with the 360, the One and Series X, before coming back to PlayStation afterwards for the PS5 nowadays. When I did hear of the Dreamcast and saw gameplay of some games, I wanted one. Eventually, last year, I got one. And since then, I've kept it, as it's a hell of a lot of fun to play on, playing games I've never heard of, or seeing predecessors or games I have heard of in their original form. A great swan song for Sega's hardware business indeed. And I'm never gonna get rid of my Dreamcast. Ever.
Not using the Segata Sanshiro character to market the Dreamcast in Japan was also Sega's biggest mistake. The Sanshiro character was the reason the Sega Saturn was a success in Japan as it persuade the audience to see why the Saturn was serious and fun, but dropping the character altogether just cause they don't want to pay the actor anymore means the Sega Dreamcast is just a boring system in Japan so not many was attracted to the console.
Great vid, first time I heard a full explanation of the Dreamcasts piracy problem, at a time where even PS1's CD piracy was an early issue developers dealt with, looked like a cakewalk by comparison.
Thanks man, glad you enjoyed it. Yeah, I think Sega wanted to one-up the PS1's ability to play music CDs, but just shot themselves in the foot with one of the most easily piratable data mediums ever conceived. Later models of the Dreamcast actually had their ability to read MIL-CDs removed, but by then it was way too late.
The backward vintage views of Bernie Stolar is what was screwing up Sega for years. Dreamcast was hot but lost its lead and it had a amazing line up of games. It wasn't exactly big brain to shut out RPGS, say No More Tekken and other games that blockbuster titles paved the way for the modern scene. RIP Bernie, Sega canned you far too late.
I remember late 1999 and some guy I worked with at the time would not shut up about how great the Dreamcast was! He tried for weeks to get me to buy one but I never did as I was happy with my Playstation, it was getting old but there was a huge number of titles and you could get second-hand games so cheap for the PS by then. Being a PC gamer mostly I bought an Xbox on launch and had it for about 5 years, that guy eventually bought an Xbox and never acted like a fanboi ever again afetr Sega let him down! ha ha! If I had to pick one thing that killed Sega, it was that Sega USA and Sega Japan were constantly at odds with one another, they almost never agreed on things and that just made Sega's business look like a total uncordinated mess, which it was in the end.
SoJ took over in January 1994 and rejected Kanlinske Team's Sega CD+SVP, the $49.95 LockOn cart that could do 20,000 flat shaded polygons /sec, incredible in March 1994. I fact, Kalinske and SONY had agreed to go 50/50 on the PlayStation
The Dreamcast is one of my all time favourite consoles and will always be the best console of all time for me, the generation of today take things for granted because what they don’t realize is that if it wasn’t for the Dreamcast establishing online gaming as a thing albeit at slow speeds of 56k dialup speeds, you kids of today wouldn’t have your PSN, Xbox Live and Nintendo Eshop or Nintendo online without the Dreamcast existing, you owe it to Sega for literally being the first to think having a console being able to play games with other people over the internet. You wouldn’t be able to get online with todays consoles if it wasn’t for Sega, I wished they still existed in the hardware market. They were the best in the 90’s and they took chances and were very different than there competitors like Nintendo and Sony at the time.
im glad the dreamcast is considered by mostly everyone who knows about it as a solid console that was ahead of its time in many ways, even though it wasnt a success, it really made a good final console for sega
Dreamcast has a special place in my gaming memories. Definitely one of my favorite consoles. Idk if it was because it was the first console I bought with my own hard earned money. But I loved every game I played on it. I bought it after the release of PS2 for $80 and got a bunch of games on discount.
very nice video as always ciggy! I don't think I ever really thought about how a bunch of my old favorite ps2 games were dreamcast ports lol, still hop on space channel 5 from time to time
I remember the launch of the dreamcast i was one of only a handful waiting outside gamestop at midnight got it with headhunter (what a game!) and crazy taxi! And when shenmue released i was BLOWN away by the freedoman size and what you could do in that game it was a shame it didnt have a good run because for sure deserved it!
i looked into this console a while back and concluded it was pretty neat and that i liked RE:code veronica. thank you for adding to the dreamcast cult propaganda with this EXPERTLY crafted video, cigmund friend
Loved my dreamcast. I imported a Japanese one and played it a ton. Even when i had my ps2 i still liked my dc more as the first 2 years there was almost nothing to play on the ps2.
I think what killed the console was SEGA execs were too eager to get it released before the competition it felt like short term solution to a long term problem. Instead of winning the war of attrition they jumped right out of the gate before the Sony could show their hand with ps2 and adjust accordingly. If SEGA waited they could've collaberated with Microsoft you never know we could've gotten the sega Xbox.
People were hyping up and looking forward to the PS2 even by the time the Dreamcast came out; they were going up against an eventual juggernaut with insane hype backing it. Rushing it was the best, worst move they had, the tech was decent it's just GD-ROMs were an awful move. A Sega Microsoft collab could gave been interesting, yeah, who knows.
Naw. They didn't have the ability to wait(not enough people really grasp the dire financial situation that Sega was in during that period or even before, going to '93) and they did approach Microsoft a couple times, first in wanting to be bought by Microsoft so they could launch the Xbox as a continuation of Sega, then later to make the Xbox backwards compatible with the Dreamcast, Microsoft said no to both(obviously)
We'd gotten burned so many times by SoJ. Everyone was so amped about the Sega CD + SVP LockOn--that SEGA had 6 top arcade games for ready for March 1994. For no apparent reason, the arcade giant randomly ditched that for a $160 32X addon for November 1994, the same time as the $500 Saturn and $450 SONY PS1 in Japan. In May 1995, we all had the rug pulled out again with the $400 Saturn being released months early with no games... and SONY announcing their own system for "299."
3 major things that severely fcked over th DReamcast: 1: Sega's consistent mismanagement in the late Genesis and Saturn Era erorded a lot of trust 2:Sega really wanted to usetheir own proprietary format for game media with the Gd-Rom but the Dreamcast's design being based on the Naomi(an arcade machine) and their sistence that people would be using these systems as karaoke machines made the madd support for a feature that would ultimately crac ktheir console open to piracy: the Mil-Cd format was a mistake. 3:there was another big thing in tech atthe time of the DC's launch....Dvd players were also entering the market and while their initial costs were prohibitive sega's timining opened up to what would become their deathblow: the fact that the upcoming Playstation 2 by Sony has a dvd drive built in and had player capability: this made the PS2 the cheapest Dvd Player of its time in the market.Combined with a meager but solid launch library this was what stalled the Dreamcast's ability ot gain further share in the market.
Dreamcast failed because Sega didn't want to make another hard to develop for console, so they made the Dreamcast really really easy to develop for, too easy actually, whixh lead to piracy. You could rent Dreamcast games, copy the games on the PC at home and just return the rented copy, keeping your brand new copy you just made, people even started making custom cases with covers. Then when it became obvious how easy the games were to pirate, people realised how easy the system was to emulate and thus Dreamcast now has the best emulators of any console of that era and beyond, being even easier to emulate than the Saturn. This also is the reason why the HomeBrew scene on the Dreamcast was so huge for so long. Sega tried to undo all the mistakes they made with the Saturn by going in exactly the opposite direction with the Dreamcast, which ultimately lead to equally extreme problems in reverse.
I feel the core issue here is just the ease of copying and piracy. Sega's anti-piracy measures proved to be non-existant, and GD-ROMs were a half-baked and terrible idea, even if DVDs were still expensive. Hell, the use of DVDs for the Dreamcast might have helped prevent piracy in itself due to the newness and greater cost of the technology on the end of the pirates. Regarding the openness and ease of development for the dreamcast, I feel that was ultimately more of a positive; it made it easy for third parties to develop on it more than anything, and any unlicensed or fan games made for the dreamcast just increased its popularity.
@@CiggySnake dude it made the console easy to pirate, you can make any excuses you want, but how open the software was, contributed massively to why there was fully working emulators available to download on your PC before the PS2 even released. I know because i basically played all my Dreamcast games emulated on PC and they all worked perfectly. The reason why it only sold 10m units is literally because you did not have to buy the console to even play any of the games and even if you did buy the console you could burn the games on another disc and play that instead. Buy racks of DVD discs for half the cost of one game, you can't tell me it wasn't viable dude.
If you're saying that dreamcast emulation on PC was popular and viable during the console's lifetime, then that's not something I was aware of. That's interesting, and yes, I can see how that would have contributed to the Dreamcast's ultimate failure.
You forgot Emulation. With dreamcast factory you could make a cd with an emulator and all the roms ready to boot. Probably didn't help with sales either. It's sad that it died becuase my first time playing Soul Reaver was on the dreamcast and the graphics were superior to the Playstation version. The PC version was just a Playstation port so to this day it looks better on dreamcast than a high end PC.
Even with emulation the Sega Dreamcast still sucks, while you could indeed emulate PS1 games for play on Dreamcast with varied result, the issue came with the Sega Dreamcast controller. The PS1 controller had 8 buttons with the Dual Shock controller having 10 buttons if you count the L3 and R3 complete with dual sticks, the Dreamcast controller only had a measly 6 buttons, no SELECT button, no second stick, no L2, L3, R2 and R3 buttons either so even if you could play some PS1 games on it, you can't play PS1 games with full functionality especially those that took advantage of the second stick and SELECT, L2, L3, R2, and R3 buttons. It's really sad. The most sad is even if it was backwards compatible with Sega Saturn games, it wouldn't work fully either as the Saturn controller had 8 buttons so the Dreamcast is still missing two more buttons from the Saturn limiting its capability even further.
The OG Xbox should've been lumped in with the GCN and Vita @0:34; especially since the sales of the OG Xbox and GCN weren't really all that far off apart from each other!
I just wanted to use two examples of middling consoles, but yeah, the OG XBOX was not a hot seller. Similar to the GameCube, this wasn't because it was a poor console or anything, it's just the PS2 was an absolute juggernaut at the time.
@@CiggySnake I'd also like to add that in order for Sega to have been profitable with the Dreamcast, they would've needed a 10 to 1 software to hardware attach rate to be profittable long term. And that was because of how expensive it was to not only manufacture, but also how expensive it was to advertize worldwide(especially in multiple languages in other regions).
Sega was by far the most innovative console manufacturer. Its like their obsession w making the best console they could is exactly what destroyed them I truly believe if sega was still in the game, we'd be like 10 years advanced in video games.
The Sega Saturn, Cd and Dreamcast did pretty well in Japan and for the Saturn they had alot of accessories for it like the Mpeg movies, alot of Arcade ports and a huge library at the time. Anywhere else not so well and same for Genesis and cd And in Eu the Genesis(Megdrive) did good too
Another thing that didn't help was Sega was very heavy focused on Arcade like games while Ps1, Ps2, N64, Xbox and Gamecube where more focused on home like games, when the Arcades where on their way out
Sega had a pretty strong emphasis on arcade gaming throughout the 90's, and Japan has always had a much stronger arcade culture (especially in that time period). That helped carry sales and interest in their Japanese markets (the Saturn outsold the N64 in Japan for example), but as you said arcades were really on their way out everywhere else, hampering Sega outside of Japan.
The Dreamcast was like the Wii of the 90s. Had Sega not completely flopped with the CD, 32X, and especially Saturn, and had the Dreamcast supported DVD playback, it could have been the best selling console of the time.
It deserved better, yeah. Sega had tarnished their reputation off their hardware failures, and the ease of piracy/lower capacity with GD-ROMs further hampered the Dreamcast
I look back on the Dreamcast fondly. Talking about it makes me really emotional. I probably have the fondest memories with that system over any other. More than the N64, more than the GameCube, more than the GBA, and even more than my favorite console, the Genesis. ChuChu Rocket. Power Stones 1 & 2. Sonic Adventure. NFL & NBA 2K. I didn't own a ton of games for my Dreamcast as a kid, but the ones I did own were some of the best times I had picking up a controller. I miss those days.
Not just that imo, the Saturn and arguably the Genesis/Megadrive add-ons had dragged the Sega name by the time the Dreamcast came out, but at the same time the PS1 and eventual PS2 were enormous and dominated the console space at the time.
Fair critique. I try to be conscientious of my narration, but aren't perfect of course. Is the issue here due to just speaking too fast, or am I going from sentence to sentence too quickly?
Lololol funny story. I never got this thing when it came out, but my rich friend did. He suuucked at resident evil code veronica and had me play it for him. Mannn it was like... Noticeably harder than previous resident evils at the time but then guess what happened? I was far into the game. Very close to the end. No more healing herbs : ( And I was already in caution mode limping. Ran into mutant steve... Game literally requires you to be in green health so you can side strive his axe swing attacks quickly enough to escape him. Me being wounded with no health items meant I was too slow so I could only die... again... and again...... and again... Reloading the nearest save was hours ago... I cursed the console and game ever since lolz. Never beat it : ( It was a pretty great console though lookin back : ) Really dug powerstone. The smash brothers of the dreamcast : ) But mannn that resident evil experience made me so pissed lolololol
It was a piece of shit console. I wish everyone would stop fawning over it. It sucked in 1999 and still sucks in 2023. It will still suck for far into the future.
@CiggySnake Games sucked as 98% of them were just PS1 and N64 ports with just slightly better resolution. The controller only had one stick, and games in the next generation started to require 2. GD rom drive, loud, they break down easy and held less data than even the GameCube. It also was far weaker than the PS2. Shall I keep going?
I'll agree there were hardware issues/oversights with the Dreamcast (only 6th Gen console to use CDs rather than DVDs, no second joystick, etc.), but the Dreamcast had plenty of quality titles, and I feel I listed many of the noteworthy ones in the video. I don't get your line about how 98% of the DC's games were just ports.
The Dreamcast to me feels like hearing about a really cool restaurant only after it closed. People loved it so much they talk obsessively about the dishes and how they tried to make the recipes at home, and the old chef works at another restaurant that also has really good food; but you feel almost like you just had to have been at the original joint to really experience it.
Solid analogy, basically my perspective as well. Nostalgia is obviously a factor in this high regard for the Dreamcast, but the sheer amount of praise and love for this console kinda speaks for itself.
@@CiggySnake I feel like it was ahead of its time with a lot of the features found in current gen consoles. Like the online features etc. I owned one, thought it was a good console. Just had stiff competition with the PS2 dominating that era and Sega not having the money to compete.
SEGA's approach to hardware from 1992 on was to drop off another unannounced albatross with few games, poor development tools, and then discontinue the hardware two years after selling it. SEGA was on deathwatch before the rushed release of the Saturn.
The Dreamcast wasn’t a failure. It was a gift to gaming in the last console generation where consoles truly mattered and were unique
Didn't even know the Dreamcast could play custom music CDs, nor that they were the reason Dreamcast games were so easy to pirate.
The loss of hardware really made Sega feel like they lost their mojo as a creative powerhouse. Despite a handful of really inspired games, such as Super Monkey Ball/2, Billy Hatcher, and F-Zero GX, Sega's studios took a nosedive as early as the back-half of the PS2/GC/Xbox's life, and Sonic Unleashed feels like the very final time Sega ever felt like a true AAA production company. Quality-wise, outside of Yakuza, they've neglected Sonic and PSO, and have largely abandoned their entire catalogue of franchises, which once rivaled Nintendo in diversity. This is why I really wish they were a console maker again; they are second only to Nintendo in the IPs they have on hand: IPs that could go toe-to-toe with Sony's best and thoroughly outclass every Xbox offering. Instead, the entire game industry outside of Nintendo chases hyper-realism and feels depressingly stale, and Sega's efforts outside of Yakuza, such as Sonic Forces (which was so bad it burned me out on video games as a whole for 5 years) and Super Monkey Ball BBHD/Banana Mania, have felt broken and overall cheap. My interest in Sega flatlined in 2017 and it never really came back; I don't care about the company as it is anymore, and the cycle of hoping they'll ever remotely be as good as they once were only to be repeatedly disappointed has me ready to just leave them behind for good.
The tragedy of the Dreamcast for me is that "better" consoles like the Xbox 360, Wii, PS3, 3DS, and Wii U never remotely reached the heights of enjoyment I'd gotten out of it. Maybe the DS and Switch have encroached upon it, but the industry overall just hasn't really felt all too fun without Sega delivering quality IP after quality IP like they used to
I feel the Dreamcast was a perfect storm of sorts, a largely competent and interesting console when Sega was in a creative golden age. The quality of Sega's work at the time is a major reason the Dreamcast is so beloved imo. However, said creative golden age more than petered out by the 7th generation, so who's to say the Sega Venus or Dreamcast 2 wouldn't be an absolute wash for Sega?
Buddy, you are forgetting persona 5 which sold 8m+ copies.
Not the mention Warhammer 40k: dawn of war 3 which sold over 7m+ copies.
Sega isnt that bad stuation like you portraying to be.
@@ArchetypalReaper Sega didn’t make Persona 5 though. They acquired Atlus *after* Persona 5’s release.
That’s like praising Microsoft for Hi-Fi Rush, when that game had already been in development years before Microsoft even began the Bethesda acquisition.
But even for Atlus’ games after Persona 5, Sega is only as deserving of praise for Atlus’ games as Microsoft is for Bethesda’s latest games, which is to say they’re not deserving. When Atlus makes a good game, that’s *Atlus* I care about, not Sega.
As for games Sega themselves produces, really only Yakuza still feels like a AAA franchise. Other franchises like Sonic and Monkey Ball, meanwhile, have felt like 3rd-rate productions over the past decade, and the rest of Sega’s back catalog of IPs have been mostly untouched by Sega themselves for over 20 years (IPs like Panzer Dragoon, Alex Kidd, and Toejam & Earl only ever brought back to life by indies). Sega’s upcoming slate of revivals of Crazy Taxi, Jet Set, Shinobi, Golden Axe, and Streets of Rage also look to end up being lesser productions just like recent Sonic/Monkey Ball titles.
As a corporation, sure; Sega’s currently on the best upward trend they’ve experienced since early 90s, and the Atlus acquisition could allow them to acquire even more publishers in the future and become a publishing superpower to Japan like Microsoft is to the West. But internally, creatively, they’re a hollow shell of their former selves (outside of Yakuza).
@@TurboPikachuYou got the information wrong.
Acqusition of atlus had been done in 18 september 2013 by Sega Sammy.
Persona 5 was released in 16 september 2016.
Even since its acqusition, Sega Sammy funded them money in order to release sequel to persona 4.
all that funding paid itself off and turned into profit by the 8m+ sales of persona 5
@@ArchetypalReaper You’re right.
I still have my doubts though, given the PlatinumGames situation wherein PG needed Nintendo for the Bayonetta IP to continue and become a franchise.
And the rest of my last reply still stands; while I’m thrilled to see this worked out for Altus, it’s still a shame to see Sega’s own IP (outside of Yakuza) continue to be of either AA quality or below and have middling sales to match.
It was sooooooo amazing when it came out I loved mine and wish I still had it.
the existence of sega consoles were just to pave the way for seaman to exist. once seaman was finally made, there was simply no more need for sega to be in the console market. in that regard, i consider the dreamcast to be a success.
The only correct take
The Dreamcast is the only console from the sixth generation I’ve managed to hold on to. All my other consoles have died/been traded away but this little guy has stuck with me. It’s not alive for lack of use either, it’s a really robustly designed machine in stark contrast to some other consoles I’ve had to bury down the line.
That makes one of us thenI owned 2 dreamcasts brand new and both failed within a year apart. Dreamcast was a great console w good games but a lot of people had the same issues… dreamcast died worse than maybe anyother console I dont even think the 360s ribg of death was as bad
@@MechaMugen tddfgg
Probably my favourite Dreamcast game will always be Blue Stinger... Sadly, it never got a sequel or even a port to other "more popular" consoles, so many probably never got to experience it!😥
I never owned the Sega Dreamcast, but I remember playing on the Sega Dreamcast demo kiosk at a JCPenny retail store with my younger brother. It was probably the year 1999 or 2000.
Honestly, I had never heard of the Dreamcast until 20 years later. I was primarily a PlayStation user for a while for the PS1, PS2, and PS3, then went to Xbox with the 360, the One and Series X, before coming back to PlayStation afterwards for the PS5 nowadays.
When I did hear of the Dreamcast and saw gameplay of some games, I wanted one. Eventually, last year, I got one. And since then, I've kept it, as it's a hell of a lot of fun to play on, playing games I've never heard of, or seeing predecessors or games I have heard of in their original form. A great swan song for Sega's hardware business indeed. And I'm never gonna get rid of my Dreamcast. Ever.
can’t believe you only have 5k subs! glad to be relatively early. keep up the great work!
It's appreciated man, just trying to make content I myself would watch
@@CiggySnake well so far you’re doing a great job of it!
nice video, I also never owned a Dreamcast but was wondering why so many people loved it so much, despite it having such a short console life.
I just came up on a sega Dreamcast on blackfriday at a retro games store in my town! I’m so hyped to have one in my gaming collection now!
Not using the Segata Sanshiro character to market the Dreamcast in Japan was also Sega's biggest mistake. The Sanshiro character was the reason the Sega Saturn was a success in Japan as it persuade the audience to see why the Saturn was serious and fun, but dropping the character altogether just cause they don't want to pay the actor anymore means the Sega Dreamcast is just a boring system in Japan so not many was attracted to the console.
Is that why they killed off Segata?
Great vid, first time I heard a full explanation of the Dreamcasts piracy problem, at a time where even PS1's CD piracy was an early issue developers dealt with, looked like a cakewalk by comparison.
Thanks man, glad you enjoyed it. Yeah, I think Sega wanted to one-up the PS1's ability to play music CDs, but just shot themselves in the foot with one of the most easily piratable data mediums ever conceived. Later models of the Dreamcast actually had their ability to read MIL-CDs removed, but by then it was way too late.
got one christmas 99 for the upcoming code veronica release. solid console. Played it a lot for about a year until I got my ps2
incredible as always, ciggith cigar. Glad this video came out as well as it did, I highly anticipated it
Discovered your channel through the Woodstock 99 video. You make quality content.
I appreciate it man, glad you enjoyed both vids, and I hope you find the rest of my channel interesting/engaging.
The backward vintage views of Bernie Stolar is what was screwing up Sega for years. Dreamcast was hot but lost its lead and it had a amazing line up of games. It wasn't exactly big brain to shut out RPGS, say No More Tekken and other games that blockbuster titles paved the way for the modern scene. RIP Bernie, Sega canned you far too late.
I remember late 1999 and some guy I worked with at the time would not shut up about how great the Dreamcast was! He tried for weeks to get me to buy one but I never did as I was happy with my Playstation, it was getting old but there was a huge number of titles and you could get second-hand games so cheap for the PS by then. Being a PC gamer mostly I bought an Xbox on launch and had it for about 5 years, that guy eventually bought an Xbox and never acted like a fanboi ever again afetr Sega let him down! ha ha!
If I had to pick one thing that killed Sega, it was that Sega USA and Sega Japan were constantly at odds with one another, they almost never agreed on things and that just made Sega's business look like a total uncordinated mess, which it was in the end.
SoJ took over in January 1994 and rejected Kanlinske Team's Sega CD+SVP, the $49.95 LockOn cart that could do 20,000 flat shaded polygons
/sec, incredible in March 1994. I fact, Kalinske and SONY had agreed to go 50/50 on the PlayStation
Solid video, great work, in the wise words of a certain Star Wars character, "We will watch your career with great interest".
I appreciate it man, thanks
Man said moribund! 10 points for Ciggy! Nice work on the vid!
Whipping out the SAT words
Terrific video and 100% with you on Dreamcast. Much enjoyed from London Eng.
I appreciate it man, glad you enjoyed/agreed with it
The Dreamcast is one of my all time favourite consoles and will always be the best console of all time for me, the generation of today take things for granted because what they don’t realize is that if it wasn’t for the Dreamcast establishing online gaming as a thing albeit at slow speeds of 56k dialup speeds, you kids of today wouldn’t have your PSN, Xbox Live and Nintendo Eshop or Nintendo online without the Dreamcast existing, you owe it to Sega for literally being the first to think having a console being able to play games with other people over the internet. You wouldn’t be able to get online with todays consoles if it wasn’t for Sega, I wished they still existed in the hardware market. They were the best in the 90’s and they took chances and were very different than there competitors like Nintendo and Sony at the time.
im glad the dreamcast is considered by mostly everyone who knows about it as a solid console that was ahead of its time in many ways, even though it wasnt a success, it really made a good final console for sega
Dreamcast has a special place in my gaming memories. Definitely one of my favorite consoles. Idk if it was because it was the first console I bought with my own hard earned money. But I loved every game I played on it. I bought it after the release of PS2 for $80 and got a bunch of games on discount.
Another downfall of "console" video. Perfect for my dinner show
Nice vid, ciggy
very nice video as always ciggy! I don't think I ever really thought about how a bunch of my old favorite ps2 games were dreamcast ports lol, still hop on space channel 5 from time to time
loved the dreamcast , the ps2 was awsome but the dreamcast did it first
great video, very informative yet concise.
btw based ost choice
I appreciate it man
I remember the launch of the dreamcast i was one of only a handful waiting outside gamestop at midnight got it with headhunter (what a game!) and crazy taxi! And when shenmue released i was BLOWN away by the freedoman size and what you could do in that game it was a shame it didnt have a good run because for sure deserved it!
Ive played metropolis street racer, a lot with my dad.. i was about 10 11ish.. never forget that experience.😊
marketing was so bad. how was a mom suppose to know what the thing was. so easy to miss.
Pretty good video, you earned a sub!
Glad you enjoyed it man, thanks
Enjoyed this well-done and informative video. Always learn something new from you.
Fantastic video! Definitely informative and entertaining. Keep up the good work.✌️
i looked into this console a while back and concluded it was pretty neat and that i liked RE:code veronica. thank you for adding to the dreamcast cult propaganda with this EXPERTLY crafted video, cigmund friend
The Dreamcast was really too good to fail like that ...
Another quality video. Keep it up, dude!
Loved my dreamcast. I imported a Japanese one and played it a ton. Even when i had my ps2 i still liked my dc more as the first 2 years there was almost nothing to play on the ps2.
I think what killed the console was SEGA execs were too eager to get it released before the competition it felt like short term solution to a long term problem. Instead of winning the war of attrition they jumped right out of the gate before the Sony could show their hand with ps2 and adjust accordingly. If SEGA waited they could've collaberated with Microsoft you never know we could've gotten the sega Xbox.
People were hyping up and looking forward to the PS2 even by the time the Dreamcast came out; they were going up against an eventual juggernaut with insane hype backing it. Rushing it was the best, worst move they had, the tech was decent it's just GD-ROMs were an awful move.
A Sega Microsoft collab could gave been interesting, yeah, who knows.
Naw. They didn't have the ability to wait(not enough people really grasp the dire financial situation that Sega was in during that period or even before, going to '93) and they did approach Microsoft a couple times, first in wanting to be bought by Microsoft so they could launch the Xbox as a continuation of Sega, then later to make the Xbox backwards compatible with the Dreamcast, Microsoft said no to both(obviously)
How many more sega documentaries do we need? It flopped we get it already.
We'd gotten burned so many times by SoJ. Everyone was so amped about the Sega CD + SVP LockOn--that SEGA had 6 top arcade games for ready for March 1994. For no apparent reason, the arcade giant randomly ditched that for a $160 32X addon for November 1994, the same time as the $500 Saturn and $450 SONY PS1 in Japan. In May 1995, we all had the rug pulled out again with the $400 Saturn being released months early with no games... and SONY announcing their own system for "299."
3 major things that severely fcked over th DReamcast:
1: Sega's consistent mismanagement in the late Genesis and Saturn Era erorded a lot of trust
2:Sega really wanted to usetheir own proprietary format for game media with the Gd-Rom but the Dreamcast's design being based on the Naomi(an arcade machine) and their sistence that people would be using these systems as karaoke machines made the madd support for a feature that would ultimately crac ktheir console open to piracy: the Mil-Cd format was a mistake.
3:there was another big thing in tech atthe time of the DC's launch....Dvd players were also entering the market and while their initial costs were prohibitive sega's timining opened up to what would become their deathblow: the fact that the upcoming Playstation 2 by Sony has a dvd drive built in and had player capability: this made the PS2 the cheapest Dvd Player of its time in the market.Combined with a meager but solid launch library this was what stalled the Dreamcast's ability ot gain further share in the market.
Dreamcast failed because Sega didn't want to make another hard to develop for console, so they made the Dreamcast really really easy to develop for, too easy actually, whixh lead to piracy. You could rent Dreamcast games, copy the games on the PC at home and just return the rented copy, keeping your brand new copy you just made, people even started making custom cases with covers.
Then when it became obvious how easy the games were to pirate, people realised how easy the system was to emulate and thus Dreamcast now has the best emulators of any console of that era and beyond, being even easier to emulate than the Saturn. This also is the reason why the HomeBrew scene on the Dreamcast was so huge for so long.
Sega tried to undo all the mistakes they made with the Saturn by going in exactly the opposite direction with the Dreamcast, which ultimately lead to equally extreme problems in reverse.
I feel the core issue here is just the ease of copying and piracy. Sega's anti-piracy measures proved to be non-existant, and GD-ROMs were a half-baked and terrible idea, even if DVDs were still expensive. Hell, the use of DVDs for the Dreamcast might have helped prevent piracy in itself due to the newness and greater cost of the technology on the end of the pirates.
Regarding the openness and ease of development for the dreamcast, I feel that was ultimately more of a positive; it made it easy for third parties to develop on it more than anything, and any unlicensed or fan games made for the dreamcast just increased its popularity.
@@CiggySnake dude it made the console easy to pirate, you can make any excuses you want, but how open the software was, contributed massively to why there was fully working emulators available to download on your PC before the PS2 even released.
I know because i basically played all my Dreamcast games emulated on PC and they all worked perfectly.
The reason why it only sold 10m units is literally because you did not have to buy the console to even play any of the games and even if you did buy the console you could burn the games on another disc and play that instead. Buy racks of DVD discs for half the cost of one game, you can't tell me it wasn't viable dude.
If you're saying that dreamcast emulation on PC was popular and viable during the console's lifetime, then that's not something I was aware of. That's interesting, and yes, I can see how that would have contributed to the Dreamcast's ultimate failure.
playing dc games on pc in 2000,nice joke@@rezarfar
First. And I loved my Dreamcast.
o7 for the Dreamcast. Gone, but never forgotten
Man the Dreamcast was a fantastic console. Phantasy Star Online gave me some of the greatest moments I've ever had in gaming.
You forgot Emulation. With dreamcast factory you could make a cd with an emulator and all the roms ready to boot. Probably didn't help with sales either. It's sad that it died becuase my first time playing Soul Reaver was on the dreamcast and the graphics were superior to the Playstation version. The PC version was just a Playstation port so to this day it looks better on dreamcast than a high end PC.
Even with emulation the Sega Dreamcast still sucks, while you could indeed emulate PS1 games for play on Dreamcast with varied result, the issue came with the Sega Dreamcast controller. The PS1 controller had 8 buttons with the Dual Shock controller having 10 buttons if you count the L3 and R3 complete with dual sticks, the Dreamcast controller only had a measly 6 buttons, no SELECT button, no second stick, no L2, L3, R2 and R3 buttons either so even if you could play some PS1 games on it, you can't play PS1 games with full functionality especially those that took advantage of the second stick and SELECT, L2, L3, R2, and R3 buttons. It's really sad. The most sad is even if it was backwards compatible with Sega Saturn games, it wouldn't work fully either as the Saturn controller had 8 buttons so the Dreamcast is still missing two more buttons from the Saturn limiting its capability even further.
The OG Xbox should've been lumped in with the GCN and Vita @0:34; especially since the sales of the OG Xbox and GCN weren't really all that far off apart from each other!
I just wanted to use two examples of middling consoles, but yeah, the OG XBOX was not a hot seller. Similar to the GameCube, this wasn't because it was a poor console or anything, it's just the PS2 was an absolute juggernaut at the time.
@@CiggySnake The PS2 sure was. No doubt about that. Thanks for replying. And I subbed btw.
@@CiggySnake I'd also like to add that in order for Sega to have been profitable with the Dreamcast, they would've needed a 10 to 1 software to hardware attach rate to be profittable long term. And that was because of how expensive it was to not only manufacture, but also how expensive it was to advertize worldwide(especially in multiple languages in other regions).
Yeah, you're right, best console ever!
it s the games,lack of good fps the biggest genre at the time....the dreamcast only had decent sales in the usa thanks to the sport line up.
Very informative and heartbreaking all the while visually fun to watch!
Sega was by far the most innovative console manufacturer. Its like their obsession w making the best console they could is exactly what destroyed them
I truly believe if sega was still in the game, we'd be like 10 years advanced in video games.
The Sega Saturn, Cd and Dreamcast did pretty well in Japan and for the Saturn they had alot of accessories for it like the Mpeg movies, alot of Arcade ports and a huge library at the time. Anywhere else not so well and same for Genesis and cd
And in Eu the Genesis(Megdrive) did good too
Another thing that didn't help was Sega was very heavy focused on Arcade like games while Ps1, Ps2, N64, Xbox and Gamecube where more focused on home like games, when the Arcades where on their way out
Sega had a pretty strong emphasis on arcade gaming throughout the 90's, and Japan has always had a much stronger arcade culture (especially in that time period). That helped carry sales and interest in their Japanese markets (the Saturn outsold the N64 in Japan for example), but as you said arcades were really on their way out everywhere else, hampering Sega outside of Japan.
The Saturn did well in Japan, the Dreamcast didn't.
The Dreamcast was like the Wii of the 90s.
Had Sega not completely flopped with the CD, 32X, and especially Saturn, and had the Dreamcast supported DVD playback, it could have been the best selling console of the time.
It deserved better, yeah. Sega had tarnished their reputation off their hardware failures, and the ease of piracy/lower capacity with GD-ROMs further hampered the Dreamcast
I look back on the Dreamcast fondly. Talking about it makes me really emotional. I probably have the fondest memories with that system over any other. More than the N64, more than the GameCube, more than the GBA, and even more than my favorite console, the Genesis. ChuChu Rocket. Power Stones 1 & 2. Sonic Adventure. NFL & NBA 2K. I didn't own a ton of games for my Dreamcast as a kid, but the ones I did own were some of the best times I had picking up a controller. I miss those days.
I hope you owned Shenmue as well! 👍
@@LeadMe2TheBliss I never owned Shenmue, sadly.
I feel like I might be the only person that never owned a Genesis but owned a Saturn and Dreamcast 😆
you forgot to talk about dreamcast supporting 480p via vga which even ps2,gamecube and xbox did not have
It was beautiful man. Whenever I think of Dreamcast games I imagine that crisp image.
I had a dreamcastm the dpad was like a stone. My thumb hurt after 1 hr so badly...
It was a great system. Sega just didn't have the $$$$ to compete against big boys like Microsoft and Sony and Nintendo.
Erm not to be that guy but wheres the sources (I wanna use this for a history project)
you deserve more subs. you also need to stop using stretched footage.
I still own a dreamcast and play MvC2 almost on a daily basis
Was it really the most longingly remembered?
Downvoted. Any internet echo Chamber person saying the saturn is designed for 2d and not 3d did not research the nonsense they claim. 😅❤
It failed cause two guys and a man in his 90s who couldn't get a grasp on reality
Who are you referring to?
Only the most ignorant gamers ignored the Dreamcast or wrote it off, Real gamers were having an amazing time with it when it came out.
The Dreamcast wasn't the problem, SEGA was the problem lol
Not just that imo, the Saturn and arguably the Genesis/Megadrive add-ons had dragged the Sega name by the time the Dreamcast came out, but at the same time the PS1 and eventual PS2 were enormous and dominated the console space at the time.
Sonic Adventure 2 is _not_ a perfect game.
Your fate is sealed
You should slow down a bit. Narration is rushed.
Fair critique. I try to be conscientious of my narration, but aren't perfect of course. Is the issue here due to just speaking too fast, or am I going from sentence to sentence too quickly?
Sega creamcast😏
Lololol funny story. I never got this thing when it came out, but my rich friend did. He suuucked at resident evil code veronica and had me play it for him. Mannn it was like... Noticeably harder than previous resident evils at the time but then guess what happened?
I was far into the game. Very close to the end. No more healing herbs : (
And I was already in caution mode limping.
Ran into mutant steve...
Game literally requires you to be in green health so you can side strive his axe swing attacks quickly enough to escape him. Me being wounded with no health items meant I was too slow so I could only die... again... and again...... and again... Reloading the nearest save was hours ago... I cursed the console and game ever since lolz. Never beat it : (
It was a pretty great console though lookin back : )
Really dug powerstone. The smash brothers of the dreamcast : )
But mannn that resident evil experience made me so pissed lolololol
It was a piece of shit console.
I wish everyone would stop fawning over it.
It sucked in 1999 and still sucks in 2023.
It will still suck for far into the future.
By what metric(s) was the Dreamcast so bad in your opinion?
@CiggySnake
Games sucked as 98% of them were just PS1 and N64 ports with just slightly better resolution.
The controller only had one stick, and games in the next generation started to require 2.
GD rom drive, loud, they break down easy and held less data than even the GameCube.
It also was far weaker than the PS2.
Shall I keep going?
You smoking something fr
@@HavelsRing96
Stating facts.
I'll agree there were hardware issues/oversights with the Dreamcast (only 6th Gen console to use CDs rather than DVDs, no second joystick, etc.), but the Dreamcast had plenty of quality titles, and I feel I listed many of the noteworthy ones in the video. I don't get your line about how 98% of the DC's games were just ports.