The Dream - Sega Dreamcast November 1998 ­ March 2001

……it had capabilities & specs that crushed anything at the current time, it would appear that everything was going to be perfect for Sega, everything was in place, the perfect scene was set, the timing was right, however, this was so far from the truth. For someone to understand the Dreamcast and its failings, you have to go back into Sega’s history to find the answers, and the answers lie with its previous failings, the Megadrive’s disastrous expensive add on’s & upgrades, the very underachieving & difficult to program Sega Saturn, the constant misjudgements & lack of care for the consumer. It seems that these major failings & Sega’s refusal to continue to support a product even if the going got tough for them had really upset the consumers & developers alike, perhaps to the point of no return…

The Dreamcast console is officially Sega’s last console. Although it was a rocky ride with a humble outcome, who can ever forget the glorious moments of gaming this machine gave us.

It was around early 1997 when first the first rumours of a new “Super Console” from Sega surfaced the net and other media outlets. Of course, vigorously denied by Sega at the time (I guess they didn’t want Sony to get started on their next machine so soon), the machine (codenamed Dural) was to have a Power VR graphics chip, 200MHz Hitachi SH-4 RISC CPU with 128-bit graphics engine, a built in modem, 16meg Ram & amazingly Microsoft would lend a hand with its Operating System. The name of the console soon changed, first Dural, then Katana, then Black Belt. However, it later came to light that Sega had actually produced two versions of the machine, one in the US (codenamed Black Belt), and the other in Japan (codenamed Katana). After severe experimenting of the two versions, the better system won the day, which was the “Katana” which then later went on to be named Dreamcast. Indeed, if you take a Dreamcast apart, if you look on the motherboard you should see the name “Katana” printed on its surface. Sega even boasted that it could run “model 3” games perfectly and had a demonstration of Scud Race running for all to see and awe over. It was also apparently able to do 3 million polygons with all effects turned at 60fps! Everybody was so excited with this prospect, I mean who wouldn’t be?

On the 27th November 1998, Sega finally launched its console to the Japanese public. The machine was sold out fairly quickly with all 150k units sold. It soon became clear that Sega had initially learnt some valuable lessons from its past failings. The machine was perfect to code for and amazing results could instantly be achieved with minimal effort (which was something developers bemoaned regarding the Saturn). A modem was supplied for the intentions of connecting everybody in the world together. The machine launched with 4 games, Virtua Fighter TB, Pen Pen Tricelon, Godzilla Generations & July. Although not a huge amount of games, the fact that an “almost” faithful version of a classic game in the arcades was in the home, and VF3tb certainly was fantastic. However, doubts were already surfacing with the claim of “model 3” perfect conversions. Although being very close to the arcade version, it certainly wasn’t “perfect”. We put it down to Sega wanting to release the machine as quickly as possible therefore perhaps compromising the conversion slightly. OK, that’s forgivable, no doubt Sega wanted to get the upper hand on Sony as quickly as possible, and it wasn’t as if VF3tb was at all bad! And then came the extremely anticipated Sonic Adventure (released in January). The game was received with a mixed reception. Although being very pretty too look at, it was clear that it was no Mario64 beater, far from it. So yet another let down. There were so many problems with the technical aspect of the game, such as camera angles, frame rate (only ran at 30 frames) & some severe slowdown when things got hectic on screen. This is the first time that doubts were raised about the true power of the Dreamcast & perhaps it was just another “con” from Sega regarding its true potential. But it wasn’t until February that all was confirmed when the most eagerly awaited game for the system was released with critics having a field day. Sega Rally 2 was released, and although it was very pretty (if not the best looking game at the time on any system), it had so many problems. The most baffling thing of all was that plastered on the loading screen displayed “powered by Windows CE”. What was all that about! It later turned out that the original code of the game was scrapped due to technical difficulties in favour of a “very rushed” but workable version which was coded on a PC and ported over to the DC to run “as stable” as possible. Stable? How about the frame rate dropping as bad as 20fps every time you turned a corner? And not to mention the handling of the cars were as if they were stuck in mud. But even with these failings, the game was still fun to play and it did look extremely good. But the question still remained, was the Dreamcast able to perform “arcade perfect” games? The answer to this did not come until later on in its life, when it wasn’t any Model 3 games being converted, but games from the arcade that run on the Naomi board. However even though the Naomi board has twice the amount of main & graphics memory, (as well as also having four times the sound memory), conversions of games such as Powerstone, Soul Calibur, House Of The Dead 2, Crazy Taxi, Samba De Amigo, Dead Or Alive 2, OutTrigger, Virtua Tennis, F355, really showed what the console was capable of producing in terms of arcade quality. It took its time, but they arrived! I guess however, the question still remained, was it capable of Model 3, and the deliberate omission of extremely wanted titles such as Daytona USA 2, Scud Race/Super GT, Spike Out & a revamped version of Sega Rally 2 (just like Sega did with Daytona on the Saturn, albeit to worse effect), such games were not even mentioned in the offing to a lot of fans disgust. Various Model 3 titles did arrive though, games such as Virtua Striker 2, Virtual On 2 (Oratorio Tangram), Fighting Vipers 2 & Get Bass. Perhaps not the most popular of Model 3 games to convert with only VOOT and Get Bass (Sega Bass Fishing) receiving any recognition for their conversions. Again, not arcade perfect.

Enter phase 2 of the Dreamcast’s story ­ The US Launch.
”Sega of America announced (last week) that sales of the Dreamcast have topped 514,000 units (USA). This clearly makes Dreamcast the most successful video game console launch in history. For perspective, the Playstation took four months to reach 500,000 units sold, while the N64 needed two months to do it. In addition to leading the hardware sales category with 60% of the marketplace, the Sega Dreamcast dominated the software charts too. Four Dreamcast titles made the top five best-selling games, with three other titles rounding out the top twenty best selling American games.”

These were the sorts of headlines making it across the entire gaming world ­ and even the main news! Sega were finally getting it together. Or were they…… Perhaps an early indication of trouble for Sega was when the CEO of Sega of America (Bernie Stolar), openly said that this was going to be the biggest console launch in history (proven right), but then mysteriously left Sega three weeks before the machine launched. Coincidence? Would you leave a company that was just about to prosper in the most exciting console launch in history???

And consider the other factors that were becoming clear ­ where were the 3rd party developers? And where were the so-called “online gaming” capabilities? Sega were devoid of solid 3rd party support that sold consoles, such as games from EA, Konami & Namco. At least Capcom was doing all they could to keep the interest of the Dreamcast glowing in Japan, with major releases such as Biohazard Code Veronica & a series of Street Fighter games. But what else did we get from these so-called major 3rd party developers? Konami had its “Silent Scope” series on offer (wow), and Namco followed its fantastic Soul Calibur with Mr Driller (in which for so long the rumour was that it was going to be a Tekken or Ridge Racer game). Were we to expect any better? EA totally refused to touch Sega’s console with a barge pole, even though a lot of people were not EA fans, they do still sell games, especially the awful FIFA titles. The Playstation has a catalogue of casual games of this type, the Dreamcast just did not supply the constant flow of 3rd party games the Playstation was offering. Instead, the Dreamcast was kept in the minority, a console with a smaller amount of games in its repertoire, but far more impressive than anything else out there.

“Sega admitted yesterday that US and European Dreamcast sales aren't going as well as the company had hoped. It's not hard to see why: with the launch of the PlayStation 2 in both those territories coming up, gamers are undoubtedly holding back to see just what the Sony box can do. A lack of good new software hasn't helped either, and that's what Sega itself blames the shortfall upon. Not that it would say how far current Dreamcast sales are off target.”

Ultimately, this was the beginning of the end for Dreamcast. The launch of the Playstation 2 was the final nail in the coffin for Sega, although Sega were not going to give up without a fight. Sega would enjoy a last flurry of success with titles such as Jet Set Radio, Metropolis Street Racer, Daytona USA, Shenume 1 & 2 (an extremely ambitious & expensive experiment by Sega which contributed to its downfall), Sonic Adventure 2, Crazy Taxi 2, Ecco The Dolphin, Headhunter, Sega GT, Skies Of Arcadia, Space Channel 5. But perhaps the most memorable game that would live long in the hearts of Dreamcast fans would be the one single title/s that no other console could ever boast in producing - the first true & most spectacular online gaming experience of all time ­ Phantasy Star Online. It was a revelation, the reason why Dreamcast lasted so long in Europe, and the reason why the game has such a huge following even today. The mind boggles to think ­ what if Sega had released this game at launch? Or instead of the rather obscure Chu Chu Rocket when online gaming was possible on Dreamcast?

And then finally, the news that everybody was expecting:

January 30, 2001 ­ Translation - “Sega of Japan issued a statement at its website today that brings a tear to the eyes of all hardened Sega fan. Titled "Sega Continues, Sega's DNA Continues to Live," the page long statement explains Sega's decision to focus on the software business and thanks those who supported Sega's hardware.

Sega first entered the amusement business in 1960 but didn't have its first game machine until 1983. Sega expresses the opinion that it has always offered advanced product and has taken pride in leading the field, consistently offering a broad range of content and pushing the technological envelope.

Sega ends the message by thanking those who assisted with Sega hardware (we presume they're thanking those who bought the hardware as well), and by offering up a firm resolution. Sega's soul will continue to live. It's "DNA" (their words, not ours) will spread onto other platforms and will extend into the world further than ever before.”

A final statement on the future of Sega
“Sega is a company that has always dared to innovate and push this industry forward," said Peter Moore, president and COO, Sega of America. "Sega will continue to do so with its new strategy, and the result for consumers will be what you would always expect from a 'rules-breaker' like Sega, a library of pioneering, jaw-dropping content now available any way you want to play."

Only time will tell…….

Editorial by Danny Mormone