One of the best but sadly overlooked consoles of recent years was definitely the Dreamcast and it celebrates its 20th anniversary today.
Released on November 27 in 1998 in Japan, the Dreamcast was a fascinating and brave new console for the time. However, it wouldn't see its U.S. release until almost a year later on September 9 in 1999.
It truly was a groundbreaking console though. Not only did it feature online functionality out of the box but also had greater technological parity with Sega’s various arcade games of the period.
The latter meant we received all manner of amazingly built control peripherals, from sturdy arcade sticks, to motion sensing fishing rods and even the lofty TwinSticks.
The latter is what, for me anyway, made the Dreamcast so special; it allowed me to play Virtual On Oratorio Tangram without the need to purchase a hugely expensive and incredibly heavy arcade cabinet.
The strong line-up of arcade titles wasn’t all the Dreamcast had to offer though and was also host to all sorts of varied games such as Bangai-O, Grandia II, Jet Set Radio, Rez, Phantasy Star Online, Skies of Arcadia and Shenmue among many others.
It was a tidy little console as well but it never really caught on in the way that Sega had obviously hoped. However, its legacy of games and what it tried to achieve lives on today.
The online infrastructure we all take for granted on modern consoles started back with the Dreamcast and the games it offered still influence contemporary titles, with things like Quick Time Events and ambitious open-world gameplay being a few notable examples of the Dreamcast's contribution to gaming.
While I mostly loved the Dreamcast for the fact it allowed me to play Virtual On Oratorio Tangram, it was much more than that in terms of what it offered the medium and industry of video games.
If you want to pick up one up, then they are readily available these days and with a decent VGA adapter, the games look great on most modern displays.
Anyway, the Dreamcast turns twenty today and that is both something wonderful and depressing, not least because it reminds me of how old I am.
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