To many classic gamers, the Dreamcast is viewed as the holy grail of gaming. The system itself, although not powerful by today’s standards, was home to many fun and quirky games with concepts that people had never seen before. Third-party developers still make games (mostly Japan-exclusive shoot-em-ups) but it’s safe to say that the Dreamcast has disappeared from the mainstream video game world.

Losing mainstream recognition certainly is not the worst thing that could have happened to the Dreamcast. The support for the system has been great ever since it’s conception , but as time goes on the system is slowly gaining more and more cult status. The Dreamcast has none other to thank for this continued support other than it’s excellent and still growing library. Games like Sonic Adventure 1 and 2, Power Stone, Soul Calibur, Shenmue, Jet Grind Radio, and Skies of Arcadia helped to make the Dreamcast popular back during it’s primetime, and they are still regarded as classics to this day.

Sega, just like the rest of the console-making companies, was forced to compete in a cutthroat competition with the release of each system. The Sega Genesis did great, considering that it had to go up against the Super Nintendo. The Sega CD and the 32X, two add-ons to the Genesis which some regard as systems all by themselves, were not as commercially successful as the Genesis itself, but they still did fairly well in the marketplace. After a few more poor, hardly heard of systems from Sega, the Saturn was released. The Saturn opened up to decent popularity (mostly in Japan) but was unable to compete with the Nintendo 64 and PS1 well enough to be a complete success. After the Saturn, Sega came up with the Dreamcast, which did very well upon the first few years of its release. The Dreamcast was the only new system being released at the time, which ended up working out very well in Sega’s favor, because for once they did not have to compete with other large companies.

The Dreamcast is a great system because of how many great concepts one can find in the games that can’t be found anywhere else. Sega made some great games for the system, but the third party support from other companies was just as vital to the creation of what many regard as the greatest system of all time. The Dreamcast is the best possible example of ending something on a good note-- in this case it’s a company ending their much-appreciated contributions to the console market. If you consider yourself a classic gamer and you’ve yet to try a Dreamcast, do yourself a favor and get on Ebay and grab one. While you’re at it, be sure to pick up: Sonic Adventure 2, Power Stone 1 and 2, Seaman, Hydro Thunder, and House of the Dead 2. Your wallet won’t thank you, but the pleasure-seeking part of your brain certainly will.

After the Fact: As most gamers know, Sega quit making consoles after the Dreamcast due to looming debts and the crushing blow incurred by the hype of the Playstation 2. Despite this setback, Sega is now a third party developer who makes games for several consoles and occasionally PC’s.