In 1999 Sega released the Dreamcast, their last entry into the console market.
After the Saturn fell well behind the PlayStation and Nintendo 64
Sega decided to pull out all the stops with the Dreamcast to regain the lead.
Looking at the console you’ll find quite a few trailblazing features
including a modem which came standard and allowed for all
Dreamcast users to play games online as well as download
DLC years before it became the standard.
The Dreamcast also was unique in the way it stored data.
Instead of using ordinary memory cards like many of it’s competitors,
games were saved on removable packs called VMUs.
A VMU plugged into the controller and featured a display
along with a few buttons which allowed you to play a handful of minigames
depending on what game save data you had on the VMU.
Looking at the controller you’ll find that it’s surprisingly good.
While a bit larger that you might like it’s got an interesting and
nicely ergonomic shape which is no small feat considering you could
fit two VMUs into the controller. The joystick is really great
and the function buttons are nicely sized and spaced out.
The rear triggers have a near perfect amount of feedback
and the entire controller is impressively rock solid considering how light it is.
The Dreamcast hardware is fairly compact and good looking.
Up front you’ll find four controller ports along with a
small “Compatible with Windows CE” logo. The Dreamcast was unique
in the fact that the operating system was installed from the disc
every time you turned on the system. This meant that it was possible
to use multiple operating systems and updates to keep the Dreamcast always a step ahead.
On the top you’ll find Power and Open buttons. The Dreamcast takes
GD-ROM discs that look just like a CD however they have 1.2GB of capacity.
The sides of the console are fairly clean until you get to the back
where you will find ports to plug in the power cable, a serial port, AV out
and either the modem or ethernet connections depending on which you had installed.
Many regard the Dreamcast as being ahead of it’s time and in many cases
that’s absolutely true. The graphics were solid and the addition of online play
and the interesting if a bit underwhelming VMU was very unique.
However it just wasn’t to be, by the time the PlayStation 2 came out
the Dreamcast was already losing steam and Sega wasted no time
in discontinuing their console business altogether after less than two years
in the North American market. Regardless of how it did commercially
there’s no doubt that the last ever Sega console went out with a bang.