Dreamcast

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Dreamcast
video RAM, 2 MB audio RAM
Removable storage128 KB VMU
Display
Video output formats
Graphics100 MHz
Dreamarena
Dimensions195.8 mm × 190 mm × 75.5 mm (7.71 in × 7.48 in × 2.97 in)
Mass1.5 kg (3.3 lb)
Best-selling gameSonic Adventure, 2.5 million sold
PredecessorSega Saturn

The Dreamcast

sixth-generation video game console, preceding Sony's PlayStation 2, Nintendo's GameCube, and Microsoft's Xbox
. The Dreamcast was discontinued in 2001, ending Sega's 18 years in the console market.

A team led by

NAOMI arcade system board allowed nearly identical conversions of arcade games. The Dreamcast was the first console to include a built-in modular modem for internet access and online play
.

Though its Japanese release was beset by supply problems, the Dreamcast had a successful US launch backed by a large marketing campaign. However, sales steadily declined as Sony built anticipation for the PlayStation 2. Dreamcast sales did not meet Sega's expectations, and attempts to renew interest through price cuts caused significant financial losses. After a change in leadership, Sega discontinued the Dreamcast on March 31, 2001, withdrew from the console business, and restructured itself as a

third-party developer. A total of 9.13 million Dreamcast units were sold worldwide and over 600 games were produced. Its bestselling game, Sonic Adventure (1998)—the first 3D game in Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog
series—sold 2.5 million copies.

The Dreamcast's

private servers to preserve its online functions and unofficial Dreamcast software
.

History

Background

In 1988, Sega released the Genesis (known as the Mega Drive in most countries outside North America), in the fourth generation of video game consoles.[1] It became the most successful Sega console ever, at 30.75 million units sold.[2] Its successor, the Saturn, was released in Japan in 1994.[3] The Saturn is CD-ROM-based and has 2D and 3D graphics, but its complex dual-CPU architecture was more difficult to program than its chief competitor, the Sony PlayStation.[4] Although the Saturn debuted before the PlayStation in Japan and the United States,[5][6] its surprise US launch, four months earlier than scheduled,[7][8][9] was marred by a lack of distribution, which remained a problem.[10] Losses on the Saturn[11] contributed to financial problems for Sega, whose revenue had declined between 1992 and 1995 as part of an industry-wide slowdown.[5][12][13]

Sega announced that

Sony Computer Entertainment of America,[17][18] became Sega of America's executive vice president in charge of product development and third-party relations.[15][16] After the 1996 launch of the Nintendo 64, sales of the Saturn and its software fell sharply. As of August 1997, Sony controlled 47 percent of the console market, Nintendo controlled 40 percent, and Sega controlled only 12 percent; neither price cuts nor high-profile games helped the Saturn.[18]

I thought the Saturn was a mistake as far as hardware was concerned. The games were obviously terrific, but the hardware just wasn't there.

—Bernie Stolar, former president of Sega of America, in 2009[19]

As a result of Sega's deteriorating financial situation, Hayao Nakayama resigned as president of Sega in January 1998 in favor of Irimajiri,[20] and Stolar acceded to become CEO and president of Sega of America.[18][21] Following five years of generally declining profits,[22] in the fiscal year ending March 31, 1998, Sega suffered its first parent and consolidated financial losses since its 1988 listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange,[23] reporting a consolidated net loss of ¥35.6 billion (US$269.8 million).[22] Shortly before announcing its financial losses, Sega announced the discontinuation of the Saturn in North America to prepare for the launch of its successor.[18][20] This effectively left the Western market without Sega games for more than a year.[4] Rumors about the upcoming Dreamcast—spread mainly by Sega—leaked to the public before the last Saturn games were released.[24]

Development

As early as 1995, reports surfaced that Sega would collaborate with

metallic female fighter from Sega's Virtua Fighter series.[24][29]

Yamamoto's group opted to use

Voodoo Banshee graphics processors alongside a Motorola PowerPC 603e central processing unit (CPU),[28] but Sega management later asked them to also use the SH-4 chip.[29] Both processors have been described as "off-the-shelf" components.[28] According to Charles Bellfield, the former Sega of America vice president of communications and former NEC brand manager, presentations of games using the NEC solution showcased the performance and low cost delivered by the SH-4 and PowerVR architecture. He said that Sega's relationship with NEC, a Japanese company, likely also influenced the decision to use its hardware rather than the architecture developed in America.[29] Stolar felt the US 3dfx version should have been used, but that "Japan wanted the Japanese version, and Japan won".[29] As a result, 3dfx filed a lawsuit against Sega and NEC claiming breach of contract, which was settled out of court.[28]

The choice to use the PowerVR architecture concerned

random access memory (RAM) were not finalized.[32]

Knowing the Saturn had been set back by its high production costs and complex hardware, Sega took a different approach with the Dreamcast. Like previous Sega consoles, the Dreamcast was designed around intelligent subsystems working in parallel,[31] but the selections of hardware were closer to personal computers than video game consoles, reducing cost.[28] It also enabled software development to begin before any development kits had been completed, as Sega informed developers that any game developed with a Pentium II 200 in mind would run on the console.[33] According to Damien McFerran, "the motherboard was a masterpiece of clean, uncluttered design and compatibility".[28]

The Chinese economist and future Sega.com CEO Brad Huang convinced the Sega chairman, Isao Okawa, to include a modem with every Dreamcast under opposition from Okawa's staff over the additional US$15 cost per unit.[34][35][36] To account for rapid changes in home data delivery, Sega designed the modem to be modular.[31]

Sega selected the

DVD-ROM technology.[28][38][39]

API and dynamic-link libraries, making it easy to port PC games to the platform,[31] although programmers would ultimately favor Sega's development tools over those from Microsoft.[28] A member of the Project Katana team speaking anonymously predicted this would be the case, speculating developers would prefer the greater performance possibilities offered by the Sega OS to the more user-friendly interface of the Microsoft OS.[32] In late 1997 there were reports about the rumored system, then codenamed Dural, and that it had been demonstrated to a number of game developers.[40]

The Dreamcast was finally revealed on May 21, 1998 in Tokyo.[41] Sega held a public competition to name its new system and considered over 5,000 different entries before choosing "Dreamcast"—a portmanteau of "dream" and "broadcast".[28] According to Katsutoshi Eguchi, Japanese game developer Kenji Eno submitted the name and created the Dreamcast's spiral logo, but this has not been officially confirmed by Sega.[42] Former Sega executive Kunihisa Ueno confirmed in his biography that a branding agency called Interbrand created the logo for the console, with Kenji Eno volunteering to name the console. Eno was paid for his involvement and signed a NDA to prevent his involvement from going public.[43][44]

The Dreamcast's startup sound was composed by the Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto.[45] Because the Saturn had tarnished its reputation, Sega planned to remove its name from the console and establish a new gaming brand similar to Sony's PlayStation, but Irimajiri's management team decided to retain it.[28] Sega spent US$50–80 million on hardware development, $150–200 million on software development, and US$300 million on worldwide promotion—a sum which Irimajiri, a former Honda executive, humorously likened to the investments required to design new automobiles.[28][46]

Launch

Japan

Despite a 75 percent drop in half-year profits just before the Japanese launch, Sega was confident about the Dreamcast. It drew significant interest and many pre-orders.[28] However, Sega could not achieve its shipping goals for the Japanese Dreamcast launch due to a shortage of PowerVR chipsets caused by a high failure rate in the manufacturing process.[28][47] As more than half of its limited stock had been pre-ordered, Sega stopped pre-orders in Japan. On November 27, 1998, the Dreamcast launched in Japan at a price of ¥29,000, and the stock sold out by the end of the day. However, of the four games available at launch, only one—a port of Virtua Fighter 3, the most successful arcade game Sega ever released in Japan—sold well.[48] Sega estimated that an additional 200,000–300,000 Dreamcast units could have been sold with sufficient supply.[48]

Sega had announced that

Sega Rally Championship 2 were delayed.[28] They arrived within the following weeks, but sales continued to be slower than expected.[52] Irimajiri hoped to sell over 1 million Dreamcast units in Japan by February 1999, but sold fewer than 900,000, undermining Sega's attempts to build an installed base sufficient to protect the Dreamcast after the arrival of competition from other manufacturers.[53] There were reports of disappointed Japanese consumers returning their Dreamcasts and using the refund to purchase additional PlayStation software.[54] Seaman, released in July 1999, became the Dreamcast's first major hit in Japan.[4][34][55] Prior to the Western launch, Sega reduced the price of the Dreamcast to ¥19,900, effectively making it unprofitable but increasing sales. The reduction and the release of Namco's Soulcalibur helped Sega gain 17 percent on its shares.[28]

North America

Before the Dreamcast's release, Sega was dealt a blow when

sports game developer Visual Concepts. While EA's Madden NFL series had established brand power, Stolar regarded Visual Concepts' NFL 2K as superior and would provide "a breakthrough experience" to launch the Dreamcast.[19][29] While the Dreamcast would have none of EA's popular sports games, "Sega Sports" games developed mainly by Visual Concepts[56] helped to fill that void.[29]

Let's take the conservative estimate of 250,000 Dreamcast units at presage—that's a quarter of a million units at $200. We'll have a ratio of 1.5 or two games for every Dreamcast unit sold. That's half a million units of software. We think we'll be .5 to one on VMUs and peripheral items such as extra controllers and what have you. This could be a $60 to 80 million 24-hour period. What has ever sold $60 to 80 million in the first 24 hours?

—Peter Moore, speaking to Electronic Gaming Monthly about the upcoming launch of the Dreamcast.[57]

Working closely with

Peter Moore,[60] a fan of the attitude previously associated with Sega's brand, worked with Foote, Cone & Belding and Access Communications to develop the "It's Thinking" campaign of 15-second television commercials, which emphasized the Dreamcast's hardware power.[29][61][62] According to Moore, "We needed to create something that would really intrigue consumers, somewhat apologize for the past, but invoke [sic] all the things we loved about Sega, primarily from the Genesis days."[29] On August 11, Sega of America confirmed that Stolar had been fired, leaving Moore to direct the launch.[58][63]

The Dreamcast launched in North America on September 9, 1999, at a price of $199, which Sega's marketing dubbed "9/9/99 for $199".[4][53][61] Eighteen launch games were available in the US[61][64][65] Sega set a new sales record by selling more than 225,132 Dreamcast units in 24 hours, earning $98.4 million in what Moore called "the biggest 24 hours in entertainment retail history".[29] Within two weeks, US Dreamcast sales exceeded 500,000.[29] By Christmas, Sega held 31 percent of the North American video game market share.[66] Significant launch games included Sonic Adventure, the arcade fighting game Soulcalibur, and Visual Concepts' football simulation NFL 2K.[29][60] On November 4, Sega announced it had sold over one million Dreamcast units.[67] The launch was marred by a glitch at one of Sega's manufacturing plants, which produced defective GD-ROMs.[68]

Europe

Sega released the Dreamcast in Europe on October 14, 1999,

U.C. Sampdoria (Italy),[74] and Deportivo de La Coruña (Spain).[69]

Australia and New Zealand

Through the regional distributor

first-party software included, and additional peripherals were not available in stores.[80]

The Ozisoft representative Steve O'Leary, in a statement released the day of launch, explained that the

reply paid card included with the console.[82][83][84] The poor launch, combined with a lack of advertising and a high price point, produced lackluster sales in Australia; two large retail chains reported a combined total of 13 console sales over the first few days after launch.[83][85]

Competition

The PS2 provided tough competition for the Dreamcast.

Though the Dreamcast launch was successful, Sony held 60 percent of the overall video game market share in North America with the PlayStation at the end of 1999.

DVD-ROM format, which could hold substantially more data than the Dreamcast's GD-ROM,[91] and would be backwards-compatible with hundreds of popular PlayStation games.[5][91] Sony's specifications appeared to render the Dreamcast obsolete months before its US launch, although reports later emerged that the PS2 was not as powerful as expected and difficult to develop on.[12][89][92] The same year, Nintendo announced that its next console, the GameCube, would meet or exceed anything on the market, and Microsoft began development of its own console, the Xbox.[93][94][95]

US Dreamcast sales—which exceeded 1.5 million by the end of 1999[96]—began to decline as early as January 2000.[97] Poor Japanese sales contributed to Sega's ¥42.88 billion ($404 million) consolidated net loss in the fiscal year ending March 2000, which followed a loss of ¥42.881 billion the previous year and marked Sega's third consecutive annual loss.[98][99] Although Sega's overall sales for the term increased 27.4%, and Dreamcast sales in North America and Europe greatly exceeded expectations, this coincided with a decrease in profitability due to the investments required to launch the Dreamcast in Western markets and poor software sales in Japan.[98] At the same time, increasingly poor market conditions reduced the profitability of Sega's Japanese arcade business, prompting Sega to close 246 locations.[98][100]

Moore became the president and chief operating officer of Sega of America on May 8, 2000.

internet gaming service, at a subscription price of $21.95 per month.[104][105] Although Sega had previously released only one Dreamcast game in the US that featured online multiplayer, ChuChu Rocket!,[105] the launch of SegaNet combined with the release of NFL 2K1, with a robust online component, was intended to increase demand for the Dreamcast in the US market.[104][106] The service later supported games including Bomberman Online, Quake III Arena, and Unreal Tournament.[29] The September 7 launch coincided with a new advertising campaign to promote SegaNet, including advertising on the MTV Video Music Awards that day, which Sega sponsored for the second consecutive year.[105][107] Sega employed aggressive pricing strategies around online gaming; in Japan, every Dreamcast sold included a free year of internet access, which Okawa personally paid for.[108] Prior to the launch of SegaNet, Sega had already offered a $200 rebate to any Dreamcast owner who purchased two years of internet access from Sega.com.[109][110] To increase SegaNet's appeal in the US, Sega dropped the price of the Dreamcast to $149 (compared to the PS2's US launch price of $299) and offered a rebate for the full $149 price of a Dreamcast, and a free Dreamcast keyboard, with every 18-month SegaNet subscription.[28][104][105]

Moore said that the Dreamcast would need to sell 5 million units in the US by the end of 2000 to remain a viable platform; Sega fell short of this goal, with some 3 million units sold.

PSone, a remodeled version of the original PlayStation, became the bestselling console in the US at the start of the 2000 holiday season.[66][116][117] According to Moore, "The PlayStation 2 effect that we were relying upon did not work for us... People will hang on for as long as possible... What effectively happened is the PlayStation 2 lack of availability froze the marketplace."[118] Eventually, Sony and Nintendo held 50 and 35 percent of the US video game market, while Sega held only 15 percent.[28] According to Bellfield, Dreamcast software sold at an 8-to-1 ratio with the hardware, but the small install base meant this did not produce enough revenue to keep it viable.[119]

Decline

We had a tremendous 18 months. Dreamcast was on fire - we really thought that we could do it. But then we had a target from Japan that said we had to make x hundreds of millions of dollars by the holiday season and shift x millions of units of hardware, otherwise, we just couldn't sustain the business. Somehow I got to make that call, not the Japanese. I had to fire a lot of people; it was not a pleasant day. So on January 31st 2001 we said Sega is leaving hardware. We were selling 50,000 units a day, then 60,000, then 100,000, but it was just not going to be enough to get the critical mass to take on the launch of PS2. It was a big stakes game. Sega had the option of pouring in more money and going bankrupt and they decided they wanted to live to fight another day.

—Peter Moore, on the Dreamcast's discontinuation[120]

On May 22, 2000, Okawa replaced Irimajiri as president of Sega.[121] Okawa had long advocated that Sega abandon the console business.[122] His sentiments were not unique; Sega co-founder David Rosen had "always felt it was a bit of a folly for them to be limiting their potential to Sega hardware", and Stolar had suggested Sega should have sold their company to Microsoft.[19][123] In September 2000, in a meeting with Sega's Japanese executives and the heads of the company's major Japanese game development studios, Moore and Bellfield recommended that Sega abandon its console business and focus on software, prompting the studio heads to walk out.[29]

Nevertheless, on January 31, 2001, Sega announced the discontinuation of the Dreamcast after March 31 and the restructuring of the company as a "platform-agnostic" third-party developer.[124][125] Sega also announced a price reduction to $99 to eliminate its unsold inventory, which was estimated at 930,000 units as of April 2001.[126][127] After a further reduction to $79, the Dreamcast was cleared out of stores at $49.95.[128][129] The final Dreamcast unit manufactured was autographed by the heads of all nine of Sega's internal game development studios, plus the heads of Visual Concepts and Sega's sound studio Wave Master, and given away with 55 first-party Dreamcast games through a competition organized by GamePro.[130] Okawa, who had previously loaned Sega $500 million in 1999, died on March 16, 2001; shortly before his death, he forgave Sega's debts to him and returned his $695 million worth of Sega and CSK stock, helping Sega survive the transition to third-party development.[131][132] As part of this restructuring, nearly one third of Sega's Tokyo workforce was laid off in 2001.[133]

9.13 million Dreamcast units were sold worldwide.[2] After its discontinuation, commercial games were still developed and released for Dreamcast, particularly in Japan. In the United States, game releases continued until the end of the first half of 2002.[19] Sega continued to repair Dreamcast units until 2007.[134] After five consecutive years of financial losses, Sega finally posted a profit for the fiscal year ending March 2003.[135]

The announcement of Sega's exit from hardware was met with enthusiasm. According to IGN's Travis Fahs, "Sega was a creatively fertile company with a rapidly expanding stable of properties to draw from. It seemed like they were in a perfect position to start a new life as a developer/publisher."

cult classics, wrote: "Let us rejoice in the fact that Sega is making games equally among the current console crop, so that history will not repeat itself."[137]

Technical specifications

Hardware

Internal view of a Dreamcast console including optical drive, power supply, controller ports, and cooling fan. Isolated motherboard.
Die shot of the Dreamcast's ASIC

The Dreamcast measures 190 mm × 195.8 mm × 75.5 mm (7.48 in × 7.71 in × 2.97 in) and weighs 1.5 kg (3.3 lb).

GFLOPS.[31] Its 100 MHz NEC PowerVR2 rendering engine, integrated with the ASIC, can draw more than 3 million polygons per second[37] and use deferred shading.[31] Sega estimated the Dreamcast's theoretical rendering capability at 7 million raw polygons per second, or 6 million with textures and lighting, but noted that "game logic and physics reduce peak graphic performance".[31]

Graphical hardware effects include

application programming interfaces.[31]

The Dreamcast can supply video through several accessories including

computer displays or enhanced-definition television sets in 480p.[139]

Models

The limited-edition black "Sega Sports" model.
The Divers 2000 CX-1 is a special edition of the Dreamcast that was built-in to a television set.

Sega constructed numerous Dreamcast models, most of which were exclusive to Japan. The R7, a refurbished Dreamcast, was originally used as a network console in Japanese pachinko parlors. Another model, the Divers 2000 CX-1, is shaped similarly to Sonic's head and includes a television and software for teleconferencing. A Hello Kitty version, limited to 2000 units, was targeted at female gamers in Japan.[28] Special editions were created for Seaman[140] and Resident Evil – Code: Veronica.[141] Color variations were sold through the Dreamcast Direct service in Japan.[142] Toyota also offered special Dreamcast units at 160 of its dealers in Japan.[143] In North America, a limited edition black Dreamcast was released with a Sega Sports logo on the lid, which included matching Sega Sports-branded black controllers and two games.[144]

Controllers and accessories

The Dreamcast controller has two dock connectors for use with multiple accessories, like the VMU
Dreamcast mouse accessory

The Dreamcast has four ports for controller inputs, and was sold with one controller. The controller is based on the

Saturn 3D controller and includes an analog stick, a D-pad, four action buttons, start button and two analog triggers.[139] It received mostly negative reviews from critics; Edge described it as "an ugly evolution of Saturn's 3D controller",[145] and was called "[not] that great" by 1Up.com's Sam Kennedy[146] and "lame" by Game Informer's Andy McNamara.[147] IGN wrote that "unlike most controllers, Sega's pad forces the user's hands into an uncomfortable parallel position".[148] Both the analog joystick and triggers uniquely used Hall effect sensors, which requires less calibration and leads to fewer issues with joystick drift.[149][150][151]

Various third-party controllers, from companies such as

SNK's Neo Geo Pocket Color, predating Nintendo's GameCube – Game Boy Advance link cable.[61]

In most regions, the Dreamcast includes a removable modem for online connectivity, which is modular for future upgrades.[31] In Brazil, due to the high price of the console, the modem was sold separately.[156] The original Japanese model and all PAL models have a transfer rate of 33.6 kbit/s, and consoles sold in the US and in Japan after September 9, 1999, feature a 56 kbit/s dial-up modem.[157] Broadband service was enabled through the later release of a broadband accessory in 2000 in Japan,[158] and early 2001 in the US.[159][160][161]

Sega also produced the Dreameye, a digital camera that could be connected to the Dreamcast and used to exchange pictures and participate in video chat over the internet. Sega hoped developers would use the Dreameye for future software, as some later did with Sony's similar EyeToy peripheral.[162][163] In addition, Sega investigated systems that would have allowed users to make telephone calls with the Dreamcast, and discussed with Motorola the development of an internet-enabled cell phone that would use technology from the console to enable quick downloads of games and other data.[162]

Storage

Main article: VMU

In contrast to the Sega CD and Sega Saturn, which included internal backup memory,

LCD screen, audio output from a one-channel PWM sound source,[165] non-volatile memory, a D-pad and four buttons.[31][165][152] The VMU can present game information, be used as a minimal handheld gaming device,[162] and connect to certain Sega arcade machines.[31][154][164] For example, players use the VMU to call plays in NFL 2K or raise virtual pets in Sonic Adventure.[154][166]

Sega officials noted that the VMU could be used "as a private viewing area, the absence of which has prevented effective implementation of many types of games in the past".

Iomega announced a Dreamcast-compatible zip drive storing up to 100 MB on removable discs,[139] but it was never released.[28]

Software

Game library

See also: List of Dreamcast games

The Dreamcast library consists of over 600 games across all regions,

Virtua Fighter 3tb, Pen Pen TriIcelon, Godzilla Generations, and July.[171] In North America, it launched with 19 games, including the highly anticipated Sonic Adventure, Soulcalibur, and NFL 2K.[c][172] In Europe, it was planned to launch with 10 games; this increased to 15 after the launch was delayed.[d][175] Licensed Dreamcast games were released until mid-2002 in the US.[19] Some indie developers continued to release games, such as 2007's Last Hope, developed by the German studio NG:Dev.Team.[176]

First-party games

Sonic Adventure is a significant Dreamcast game, as the first 3D platforming Sonic game.

In what has been called "a brief moment of remarkable creativity",

synaesthesia in the form of a rail shooter;[181][182][183] Wow's The Typing of the Dead, a version of The House of the Dead 2 remade into a touch typing trainer;[184][185][186] and Hitmaker's Segagaga, a Japan-exclusive role-playing game in which players are tasked with preventing Sega from going out of business.[187]

Sonic Team's Sonic Adventure, the first fully 3D

platform game starring Sega's mascot Sonic the Hedgehog, was considered the "centerpiece" of the Dreamcast launch.[4] At 2.5 million copies, it is the best-selling Dreamcast game.[39][188] Sonic Team also developed the Dreamcast's first online game—ChuChu Rocket!—which was praised for its addictive puzzle gameplay and "frantic" multiplayer matches,[189][190][191] and the critically successful music game Samba de Amigo, which was noted for its expensive maracas peripheral and colorful aesthetic.[192][193][194] Sonic Team's Phantasy Star Online, the first online console RPG, is considered a landmark game for refining and simplifing Diablo's style of gameplay to appeal to console audiences.[108][195][196]

UGA created the music game Space Channel 5 for a female casual audience;[197] players help a female outer-space news reporter, Ulala, fight aliens with "groove energy" by dancing.[56][198] Hitmaker's arcade ports include Crazy Taxi, an open-world arcade racing game known for its addictive gameplay with more than one million copies sold;[4][185] and Virtua Tennis, which revitalized the tennis game genre.[4][199][200] Smilebit's Jet Set Radio, in which players control a Tokyo gang of rebellious inline skaters, is cited as a major example of Sega's commitment to original concepts during the Dreamcast's lifespan.[201][202] Jet Set Radio also popularized cel shaded graphics,[4][203] though it failed to meet Sega's sales expectations.[202][204][205] The role-playing game Skies of Arcadia, developed by Overworks and produced by Rieko Kodama,[206] was acclaimed for its surreal Jules Verne-inspired fantasy world of floating islands and sky pirates, charming protagonists, exciting airship battles and memorable plot.[4][207][208]

AM2 developed what Sega hoped would be the Dreamcast's

quick-time event in its modern form,[210][211] Shenmue went over budget and was rumored to have cost Sega over $50 million.[212][210][213] According to Moore, Shenmue sold "extremely well", but had no chance of making a profit due to the Dreamcast's limited installed base.[214]

Visual Concepts'

first person perspective new to the genre,[218] and eventually launching ESPN NFL 2K5 at the aggressively low price point of $19.95 until EA signed an exclusive agreement with the National Football League, effectively putting every other pro-football game out of business.[219][220] After Sega sold Visual Concepts for $24 million in 2005, the NBA 2K series continued with publisher Take-Two Interactive.[189][221] During the Dreamcast's lifespan, Visual Concepts also collaborated with the Sonic the Hedgehog level designer Hirokazu Yasuhara on the action-adventure game Floigan Bros.[222] and developed the action game Ooga Booga.[223]

Ports and third-party games

Before the launch of the Dreamcast in Japan, Sega announced its

PC games.[226][227]

To appeal to the European market, Sega formed a French affiliate,

Resident Evil series, Resident Evil – Code: Veronica.[189][231][232] The Dreamcast is known for several shoot 'em ups, most notably Treasure's Bangai-O and Ikaruga.[4][230][233] Sega also revived franchises from the Genesis era, such as Appaloosa Interactive's Ecco the Dolphin.[29]

Network services

Main article: Dreamcast online functionality § Online services

Dricas was an Internet service for Dreamcast consoles in Japan. The service launched the week of October 28, 1998, with its feature set expanded in the weeks preceding the Dreamcast's launch in Japan on November 27, 1998.[234] Much of its infrastructure was developed by ISAO Corporation, which was spun-off from Sega on November 26, 1999.[235] Its accompanying web browser, Dream Passport, provided the ability to connect via dial-up, browse the internet, receive and send e-mail, and chat with other users.[236] Dricas persisted until March 7, 2000, when the service was consolidated into ISAO's multi-platform online service, isao.net.[237] Isao.net maintained online services and game servers for the Dreamcast until Sega ceased operation of the online servers for Phantasy Star Online, along with its GameCube port, on March 31, 2007.[238]

SegaNet was an Internet service for

Excite@Home as the exclusive portal partner for SegaNet.[245][246][247] Microsoft participated somewhat in the development of the service, but they terminated their relationship with Sega just a few months before its launch over differences in its direction.[248] SegaNet launched on September 7, 2000,[249] and originally offered a rebate for a free Dreamcast and keyboard with a two-year contract.[250][251] Because of the Dreamcast's discontinuation, Sega announced they would discontinue the service on July 20, 2001, less than 11 months after launch.[252] Online support for Dreamcast games via SegaNet continued until 2003.[253]

Dreamarena was a free

ISPs.[254][255] The service was accessed via the DreamKey browser, which was also built into some games such as Sonic Adventure 2.[256] After the discontinuation of the Dreamcast, Sega closed Dreamarena on February 28, 2002.[257]

Reception and legacy

A Dreamcast European retail demo kiosk is at the Finnish Museum of Games in Tampere, Finland.

In December 1999,

BusinessWeek named the Dreamcast one of the best products of 1999.[261]

Reasons cited for the failure of the Dreamcast include consumer excitement for the PS2;[61][217][262] a lack of support from EA and Squaresoft, the most popular third parties in the US and Japan respectively;[146] disagreement among executives over Sega's future, and Okawa's lack of commitment to the product;[19] Sega's lack of advertising money, with Bellfield doubting that Sega spent even "half" the $100 million it had pledged to promote the Dreamcast in the US;[29][263] that the market was not ready for online gaming;[127][146] Sega's focus on "hardcore" gamers over mainstream consumers;[61][127] poor timing;[29] and damage to Sega's reputation caused by its several poorly supported previous platforms.[146][264][265] In GamePro, Blake Snow wrote of "the much beloved [Dreamcast] launched years ahead of the competition but ultimately struggled to shed the negative reputation [Sega] had gained during the Saturn, Sega 32X, and Sega CD days. As a result, casual gamers and jaded third-party developers doubted Sega's ability to deliver."[264]

1Up.com's Jeremy Parish, it would be intellectually dishonest to blame Sony for "killing the Dreamcast by overselling the PS2", as Sega's lack of support for previous consoles had made customers hesitant to purchase Dreamcasts.[61]

In 2009, IGN named the Dreamcast the eighth-greatest video game console, praising its software and innovations, including its online play.

JFK. A progressive force in some ways, perhaps misguided in others, but nevertheless a promising life cut tragically short by dark shadowy forces, spawning complex conspiracy theories that endure to this day." He wrote that its short lifespan "may have sealed its reputation as one of the greatest consoles ever", as "nothing builds a cult like a tragic demise".[217] According to IGN's Travis Fahs, "Many hardware manufacturers have come and gone, but it's unlikely any will go out with half as much class as Sega."[4]

If ever a system deserved to succeed, it was Dreamcast. Dreamcast has a hell of a library. It's dying now, 18 months old, with a larger library than the 5-year-old Nintendo 64. It's a better library than the Nintendo 64. Dreamcast was a wonderful system.

—Journalist Steven L. Kent, March 2001.[267]

The Dreamcast's game library was celebrated.

PC Magazine's Jeffrey L. Wilson referred to Dreamcast's "killer library" and said that Sega's creative influence and visual innovation had been at its peak.[266] The staff of Edge agreed with this assessment of Dreamcast games, including Sega's arcade conversions, stating that the system "delivered the first games that could meaningfully be described as arcade perfect".[145] Damien McFerran of Retro Gamer praised Dreamcast's NAOMI arcade ports, and wrote: "The thrill of playing Crazy Taxi in the arcade knowing full well that a pixel-perfect conversion (and not some cut-down port) was set to arrive on the Dreamcast is an experience gamers are unlikely to witness again."[28]

Nick Montfort and Mia Consalvo, writing in Loading... The Journal of the Canadian Game Studies Association, argued that "the Dreamcast hosted a remarkable amount of video game development that went beyond the odd and unusual and is interesting when considered as avant-garde ... It is hard to imagine a commercial console game expressing strong resistance to the commodity perspective and to the view that game production is commerce. But even when it comes to resisting commercialization, it is arguable that Dreamcast games came closer to expressing this attitude than any other console games have."[162] 1Up.com's Jeremy Parish favorably compared Sega's Dreamcast output, which included some of "the most varied, creative, and fun [games] the company had ever produced", with its "enervated" status as a third-party.[61] Fahs noted, "The Dreamcast's life was fleeting, but it was saturated with memorable titles, most of which were completely new properties."[19] According to author Steven L. Kent, "From Sonic Adventure and Shenmue to Space Channel 5 and Seaman, Dreamcast delivered and delivered and delivered."[269]

Some journalists have compared the demise of the Dreamcast with changing trends in the video game industry. In

USgamer, contrasted the Dreamcast's diverse library with the "suffocating sense of conservatism" that pervaded the gaming industry in the following decade.[271] According to Sega's head of product implementation, Tadashi Takezaki, the Dreamcast would have been Sega's last video game console no matter how it sold because of the changes in the market and the rise of PCs. He praised the Dreamcast for its features, saying in 2013, "The seeds we sowed with the Dreamcast are finally bearing fruit at this point in time. In some ways, we were going by the seat of our pants, but it was part of the Sega credo at the time — if it's fun, then go for it."[272]

The Dreamcast remains popular in the video game

private servers to allow games such as Phantasy Star Online to continue being played online.[273][274] Hobbyists have restored online functions for 26 Dreamcast games as of 2023.[275]

Notes

  1. ^ Japanese: ドリームキャスト, Hepburn: Dorīmukyasuto
  2. Telecom New Zealand for both the console and the Internet access disc.[78] Another said, via ARN, that the delay was caused by high demand for international shipping along with chip manufacturing problems resulting from the then-recent earthquake in Taiwan; he also noted that Sega reallocated 50,000 Dreamcast units meant for the November 30 launch out of Australia due to heavy demand elsewhere.[79]
  3. Monaco Grand Prix, Mortal Kombat Gold, NFL 2K, NFL Blitz 2000, Pen Pen TriIcelon, Power Stone, Ready 2 Rumble Boxing, Sonic Adventure, Soulcalibur, TNN Motorsports Hardcore Heat, Tokyo Xtreme Racer, and TrickStyle
    .
  4. Speed Devils, TrickStyle, Tokyo Highway Challenge, Toy Commander, and Virtua Fighter 3tb.[173][174][175]

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