Sega Dreamcast Consoles & Video Games

Ah, the legendary Dreamcast. Never before or since has a home console been so loved, so admired… or so quickly aborted and left for dead.

The Dreamcast, released in 1999 as the successor to the Sega Saturn, was Sega’s final foray into the console market. At launch, it was considered many years ahead of its time; visually, it was light years ahead of the PlayStation 1, and almost rivals the PS2 for pure visual oomph. It also came with a in-built modem, making it the first ever console capable of playing video games online straight out of the box.

The console itself was a curious beast; despite being home to a huge number of exclusives games, many of which has since been recognised as genre defining classics, the always lingering shadow of Sony’s PlayStation 2 console saw the Dreamcast die a young and premature death, only three years after its launch.

Sega withdrew entirely from the console hardware business in March 2001, taking the Dreamcast and the company legacy as a console developer along with it.

Regardless, a passionate user base has built up around the console (one that possiblly rivals even the Amiga’s) cult following). An active homebrew scene continues to surround the console, and even today the rare game or two is still being released on the format, at least in Japan.