Dreamcast (ドリームキャスト,
Dorīmukyasuto?,
code-named Dural,
Dricas,
Vortex, and
Katana during development) is
Sega's fifth and final
video game console and the successor to the
Sega Saturn. An attempt to recapture the console market with a
next-generation system, it was designed to supersede the
PlayStation and
Nintendo 64. Originally released sixteen months before the
PlayStation 2 (PS2), and three years before the
Nintendo GameCube and the
Xbox, Dreamcast was generally considered to be ahead of its time and was initially successful at restoring Sega's reputation in the gaming industry. However, it failed to gather enough momentum before the release of the
PlayStation 2 in March 2000, and Sega decided to discontinue Dreamcast
[edit] End of production
On
January 31,
2001, Sega announced that production of Dreamcast hardware was to be discontinued by March of that year, although the 50 to 60 titles still in production would be published. The last North American release was
NHL 2K2, which was released in February 2002. With the company announcing no plans to develop a next-generation successor to Dreamcast, this was Sega's last foray into the home console business. By the time Sega decided to cease development of Dreamcast, about 10 million consoles had been manufactured. While this number may seem impressive, more Dreamcast systems were sitting unsold in warehouses, retail and distribution channels at the time than had actually been sold to the public. Massive price cuts were quickly instituted in order to move the abundance of unsold hardware and the system had quickly dropped to prices as low as $39.99
USD new.
Though Dreamcast was officially discontinued in early 2001, commercial games were still developed and released afterwards, particularly in Japan. Many though consider the critically acclaimed arcade shooter
Ikaruga, developed by
Treasure, to be Dreamcast's
swan song. It was released in
September 2002 in Japan only after a large amount of speculation on the game's fate; its U.S. release was on the GameCube in
April 2003. Hacked, unreleased games like
Propeller Arena and
Half-Life continued to become available to the public through
warez groups and independent hackers.
On
February 24,
2004, Sega released their final Dreamcast game,
Puyo Pop Fever. A small number of
third-party games are still being released, such as
Chaos Field released in December 2004,
Trizeal released in April 2005,
Rajirugi released in February 2006,
Under Defeat released in March 2006, and most recently
Radium,
Last Hope to be released January 2007,
Trigger Heart Exelica to be released February 2007, and
Karous to be released March 2007.
Despite its short lifespan, Dreamcast is still a popular and highly-regarded console among many fans due to its impressive library of both mainstream and more offbeat titles. It is even starting to gain a
cult following, as the system is becoming harder to find. In fact, although Dreamcast was officially discontinued in January 2001, Sega continued to produce the console for a short time afterwards due to rising demand, especially among collectors and hardcore fans.
Several Dreamcast emulation projects have emerged after Dreamcast's end of production, with
Chankast being the most notable.
[edit] Afterlife of Dreamcast
On
February 16,
2006, Sega once again began selling Dreamcast consoles through its online store, Sega Direct of Japan. The package deal included a
refurbished Dreamcast, a cell phone card, and
Radilgy — a new 2D shooter game by developer
Milestone. A short time later, developer
G.rev followed that game with a second new 2D shooter game called
Under Defeat in March. Both releases were for the Japanese market alone. While the refurbished package has been discontinued, Sega Direct does still sell several Dreamcast software titles.
[5]
On
May 20,
2006,
Sega of Japan went live with free
Phantasy Star Online servers.
[6] A translated excerpt from the article reads, "I would like "Phantasy Star Online" to play forever in users. [...] Please continue your favors toward the degree in which 'Phantasy Star Online' is patronized."
On
May 30,
2006, the gaming
website IGN officially relaunched
IGN Dreamcast with the goal of revisiting the
243 North American-released Dreamcast games and give "new impressions, screens and videos" and compare them to the gaming experience provided by
PlayStation 3,
Xbox 360, and
Wii games.
In December 2006, a port of the
Neo Geo game
Last Hope, developed by
NG
EV.TEAM and published by
redspotgames, was announced to be released via Play-Asia.com and various other stores. This has yet to be released. The
GOAT store has planned other games which will be released in the 2007.
On
February 22,
2007, a port of the Naomi powered 2D shooter
Trigger Heart Exelica, developed by
Warashi, was released on Dreamcast for the Japanese market with both a current and a limited edition release. Despite rumors that went around the internet, the game was not retitled to Trigger Heart Extension for the Dreamcast release.
Milestone announced that
Karous, their new NAOMI
vertical shooter, would be making its way to Dreamcast on
March 8,
2007.
rep me Microsoft: 90
Linear Mode
