The Do's and Don'ts of the Sega Dreamcast Library

[Music] one thing i've learned while doing sigalord x content is that there are always people out there discovering old games and platforms for the very first time i am constantly hearing about how great it is to discover the saturn for instance a console many of you had no prior experience with since sega's consoles always tended to be on the losing end in terms of sales numbers it's not hard to find huge swaths of people that haven't played many of their games even more so when you account for the younger generation who may not have even been born when the last sega made console was on the market that leads us to today's topic and covering the sega dreamcast for those of you that might not have a ton of experience with it what games should you look for what games should you avoid we are gonna break things down into simple do and don't categories and then go over a few examples so you can get an understanding of why i chose it that way i'm not focusing solely on recommending big hit in popular games this is more an overall strategy to discovering games as you get deeper into its library hopefully this will be useful even if you know that library fairly well or if you just haven't played it in a while we've got a ton to go over so let's get started [Music] do [Music] sadly sega dropped the proverbial ball with its sega sports lineup on the saturn whereas games like joe montana football really held its own on the genesis they were only able to produce one nfl game on the saturn and it was god-awful other sports took a massive hit as well boxing and hockey both failed to live up to their previous 16-bit quality and worse even the games they did well took multiple iterations to get there baseball was pretty much the only sport that got things right from the beginning of the 32-bit generation fortunately almost all of that changed when sega sports was reborn on the sega dreamcast nfl nba tennis and nhl games came back with a vengeance nailing a quality that was well beyond what had been shown on the saturn these games benefited not just from the newer technology but also from vastly superior options and gameplay many were four player capable day one and without any additional peripherals nfl 2k was a beautiful take on american football and really nailed the look and feel of an actual televised game nba 2k was right in line with a similar showing that just murdered what was available on the saturn sega's tennis games were among the best looking titles for the dreamcast sporting player models and arenas that look better than anything i had seen before same for their nhl 2k series which like the others really benefited from the power of the dreamcast both from a graphics and gameplay standpoint sega's baseball games weren't quite as good overall to me but with everything else seeing a major improvement i could live with it [Applause] the 49ers [Music] sonic had enjoyed multiple really good games on the genesis but when it switched over to the saturn things got pretty interesting it never received a main line entry there and what it did get was highly contested stuff some loved it and some hated it when sonic adventures showed up on the dreamcast things look like they were back on track and ready to go but don't you believe it for a second while sonic adventure was indeed a fun run for its time sega still shout out some garbage sonic titles sonic's shuffle was to be sega's take on mario party but man did it do about as bad as the game can get it came out in late 2000 and was developed as a collaboration between hudson soft and sonic team you'd think with that level of talent the end product would have been killer nope despite the four players support and tons of mini-games this is just a boar fest start to finish contests play out painfully slow and the mini games offer a little reprieve with any real fun factor honestly getting through a full four player match is a feat of patience and tolerance for the source material sega also completely with the inclusion of the original sonic in the sega smash pack volume 1. you'd think a genesis game on the dreamcast was a no-brainer but the sound emulation is just god-awful everything feels off and just leads to a subpar experience all around when it comes to sonic and the dreamcast stick with his two adventures and leave everything else in the dustbin of history [Music] oh [Music] [Music] trying new types of games that exist outside of the traditional genres you play can be a gamble but many of these strange titles actually worked incredibly well on the dreamcast from the utter madness of choo choo rocket to using a motion controller for sega bass fishing these games were fun and well worth a visit rez was an audio and visual feast for the senses that played similar to something like panzer dragoon and i'm not sure what the hell seaman was but talking to him while he grew was one of the most unique experiences i have ever had as a gamer space channel 5 was a rhythm game wrapped up in appealing characters and a truly out there story typing of the dead was a new take on the rail shooter throwing away the gun and arming you with a keyboard of all things you need to spell out the words in order to fill the enemies one of the best edutainment games i have ever had the pleasure of playing don't sleep on the stuff you normally don't play on dreamcast these were some of the most compelling experiences [Music] right about the time the dreamcast got going some really big pc franchises were coming into their own unreal tournament was a multiplayer paradise of great graphics different modes to explore and some of the best gameplay i had ever seen quake 3 was a fast and frenetic run and gun killathon that redefined that entire series there were many others too half-life soldier of fortune spec ops rainbow six kiss psycho circus and unsurprisingly many of these games received ports to the dreamcast but as often was the case these ports were not the same experiences there were almost always concessions to be made in their performance visuals and especially how you played them on pc they were privy to expensive video cards and input methods that were much more efficient than the dreamcast so it was usually better played there time really hasn't been particularly kind to this stuff and even an old pc with onboard graphics will annihilate anything from this generation the dreamcast almost always shined brighter when the software was made specifically for its chipset and while the games can be curiosities worth of play i can't say they are something you need to have on your shelf unless you have a specific love for these titles play them on a pc where they belong [Music] capcom boy did they do a 180 when it came to sega starting with the saturn capcom really began making sure sega fans were well taken care of and it didn't stop with the dreamcast multiple resident evils made their way out as did an exclusive you couldn't play anywhere else at the time capcom even saw fit to give dreamcast owners a porta dino crisis which i still love to this very day and man those fighting games from the wild and crazy marvel vs capcom series to the dream come true capcom vs snk you had so many options that the dreamcast was easily one of the best places for arcade style gaming but capcom didn't rest on the tried and true they also experimented with games like powerstone a 3d arena fighter that played like nothing they had ever done before there was project justice and its tag team excitement the weapon based plasma sword and the mech base tech romancer i mean some of this stuff was so different from one another you could have a library of killer fighting games and never get tired of any of them capcom also branched out into some really cool games like mobile suit gundam federation vs xeon in this one you got to battle it out in 3d play areas with some very nice graphics and a gameplay engine that was extremely fun add up the other classic releases and capcom was one of the dreamcast's best third parties the platform was worth owning just for their software [Music] as an old school wrestling fan i really enjoyed games like wwf no mercy and wcw nwo revenge on the nintendo 64. and when the dreamcast launched i thought for sure we would get equally as good representations of sports entertainment boy was i wrong unfortunately for dreamcast owners a claim helmed most of the platform's wrestling titles wwf attitude had one of the best rosters ever but man does it play like garbage the same can be said of the multiple ecw releases that acclaim shout out these games were orders of magnitude behind the advancements made in those nintendo 64 greats i mentioned at the start even when sega got the wwf license with royal rumble that game just did not play particularly well a huge disappointment giving sega's arcade pedigree i want to tell you that these games were awesome but i'd be lying to you if i did as they are i only recommend them to the absolute most die-hard wrestling fans among you for casuals looking for multiplayer fun there are much better options on the platform [Applause] [Applause] foreign [Music] the dreamcast wasn't just a platform for fighting games shoot-em-ups were also well represented if you do appreciate the genre be sure to check out the heavy hitters like ikaruga it was a game by treasure that uses light and dark weapons to quite the unique effect you can switch between the two at will and can absorb damage from enemies that fire light-colored weapons at you in turn you do more damage against the opposite color but risk taking damage should you get hit it's a beautiful game that takes quite a bit of skill to finish border down had its own unique mechanics in this one you had levels or borders that you played based on your performance take a death and move down a border which would change the enemies you faced it was a great looking title that often gets overlooked van gaal was a multi-directional shooter with exploration elements there was really nothing like it on the dreamcast zero gunner 2 was a great looking game that was a sequel to the model 2 original the list just keeps going too under defeat mars matrix gigaween shoot em ups were some of the last games released for the dreamcast in japan some coming many years after its demise in the west again the platform is well worth investigating just for the genre i've already ragged on acclaim a bit and here we're gonna do it properly acclaim is a company responsible for a handful of memorable titles over the years but let's be blunt they sucked ass far more often than not whether it was the unholy repetition of south park rally or the terrible attempt at an nfl franchise with quarterback club these games just did not feel like they were worth any real time or effort a claim knew no shame during its dreamcast run porting games that were already terrible on the playstation 1 and doing little to them on the vastly more powerful dreamcast even when it was a dreamcast exclusive it often still looked and played like trash with some of this garbage being so pathetic it's not even worth picking up out of the bargain bin for pennies on the dollar you don't know disappointment until you have seen some of these games running on your dreamcast with that said i'll leave you with this if a claim is on the box do yourself a favor and really research the purchase chances are it's something you and your dream cast can live without you're going to be a tragedy [Music] this one here is a no-brainer but it still has to be said if the game was done originally as a naomi arcade game imported to the dreamcast chances are it's something worth playing most notably you have the games from sega itself crazy taxi and 18 wheeler are both fun games that are easy to pick up and play house of the dead 2 continued that series in fine style while zombie revenge changed up the gameplay quite a bit capcom's power stone titles were awesome deader alive 2 was one of the platform's best looking fighters and marvel vs capcom 2 was an absolute must-stone guilty gear x was a high resolution beast that still looks impressive to this very day canon spike was a run-n-gun with familiar characters and some killer multiplayer fun spawn was an arena combat game that had crazy combatants crushing one another in mortal and not so mortal combat truth be told many of the games you have and will see in this episode were naomi ports ikaruga zero gunner 2 capcom vs snk gigawing 2 virtua tennis radergy i mean there's just so many great games that originated from that platform take a moment and look it up if it was from the naomi and made its way to the dreamcast you're gonna want it in your are you collection one thing that really sucked about the dreamcast releasing while the playstation 1 was still popular was that it received a number of ports while some of these were well appreciated many were shovelware titles that just didn't do the machine any justice at all a few were playstation 1 games ported to the pc and then that code ported to the dreamcast via window ce you can imagine how they must look a claim had not been the only sinners in this regard as many other publishers did exactly the same rarely were there any upgrades to speak of beyond resolution and performance boost getting stuck with garbage like nightmare creatures 2 or fighting force 2 really made you appreciate the games other developers actually put some time and effort into as i said earlier the dreamcast tended to be so much more impressive when a game was made specifically for it when it came from somewhere else it just didn't have the same impact most of the time do some homework in this category if you own it on the playstation 1 already i'd skip it for the dreamcast unless you really love it to death oh [Music] while the dreamcast did not have the adventure or rpg library of its rivals it did have a number of games that were absolute must plays right off the bat shin mu was really the first game of its type i had ever played its world is alive with people and interactions you discover as you explore your surroundings skies of arcadia is a classic japanese style rpg that has some really cool ship to ship battles grandia 2 is a sequel with an expanded combat system and lovable unforgettable characters blue stinger is an adventure game with horror elements kind of similar to resident evil d2 is pretty much like nothing else on the platform and another weird adventure game by developer warp carrier is a survival horror tale on an aircraft carrier illbleed finds a group of idiotic teens trapped in fighting for their lives alone in the dark the new nightmare takes that series on an entirely new trek with vastly improved visuals and control legacy of kane soul reaver is one of my favorites you must defeat various areas and their bosses in order to gain more strength for the final battle rayman 2 is a fantastic playing 3d adventure that has you exploring collecting and taking out bad guys add in the previously covered resident evil titles and there are plenty in this area for you to enjoy [Music] what the hell over there as much as i want this not to be the case star wars games on the dreamcast were rather lackluster a couple of them were just plain bad these pretty much fall into the area of ports from other consoles when they showed up they just did not have the improvements you'd expect from new generation hardware you might can wring some fun out of something like episode 1 racer but stuff like demolition can be skipped entirely jedi power battles had a few moments of decent gameplay but overall you can do without that one as well some of you may have played these as kids and have a higher opinion of them but i found myself wishing that i had just gotten a port of sega star wars trilogy instead [Music] [Music] i really enjoyed midway's releases on the dreamcast it's true pretty much all of them were ports from other machines but they tended to have such a great core fun factor it still made them well worth picking up gauntlet legends was a fantastic multiplayer experience and the best looking version of that game at the time nba showtime was a killer arcade basketball title with a great pickup and play quality nfl blitz was very similar in that respect the ability to just pick this up and play it for short bursts was so appealing no 60 minute games here just fast smooth and fun gameplay rush 2049 was a crazy trip around a futuristic san francisco huge jumps and jet packs made it a must play ready to rumble was a game that just had to be played with your friends beating down a buddy with these wacky characters was an awesome way to spend an afternoon midway even brought out some nice throwback arcade packs that had stuff like defender joust paperboy and rampage i'm not so big on the mortal kombat they released but pretty much everything else is well worth a look one two three four four [Applause] one two three my final recommendation is that you not let your nostalgia get the better of you just because you enjoyed a game or a series in the past doesn't mean that a dreamcast version is worth your time while sega and disney wore a potent combination on the master system in genesis similar ips here are throwaways you can avoid none of the disney offerings on dreamcast were actually developed by sega and nearly every single one is a 3d platformer or action game with simple mechanics and mediocre visuals the tomb raider games are another series of releases they just did not do a lot for me on the dreamcast by the time they started to come out these games had become quite repetitive and boring i wanted to love a 3d mortal kombat but gold here was not what i was expecting i think i would have much rather have had a port of mortal kombat trilogy you also may want to skip sega's world series line of baseball releases while these were excellent on the genesis and saturn they left a bit to be desired on the dreamcast aside from some stellar visuals finally i know many of you have a fondness for the test drive series but test drive 6 is just not worth picking up it looks bad doesn't play so well and is a dirty port from much weaker hardware my overall advice is this just because you enjoyed similar titles on previous machines doesn't mean it's a winner here [Music] [Music] i wanted to do this episode to help out newcomers who may be excited to start collecting for the dreamcast in 2022 believe it or not many very good dreamcast games are still affordable particularly if you are not afraid to explore the japanese library you can rack up some killer must-haves for a lot less than you might be thinking this of course is by no means a comprehensive list of things you should or shouldn't buy the dreamcast actually had hundreds of releases in its short time on the market so there is a lot more to talk about and i'd love to do a part two sega had many games i didn't touch upon here for instance their model 3 ports like sega rally 2 and fighting vipers 2 were less than perfect but they are still games i recommend you take a look at i also really didn't touch upon some really big hitters like soul calibur i mean if there is one game on the dreamcast that needs no introduction it's that one you should know your collection needs it well before anyone needs to tell you so i also would advise those of you that are cash strapped to look into either an ode for original hardware or modern pc emulation an ode will allow you to play games on original hardware without buying a bunch of games while emulation will allow you to play many of these titles to see what all the fuss is about emulation is also a really good way to try before you buy particularly if the game is expensive should you want to start a collection soon i hope this list helps you get an idea of what games to look for as your journey begins i'm single lord x thank you guys for watching and i will catch you next time [Music] you

Channel: Sega Lord X

Views: 158,258

Keywords: dreamcast, retro gaming, sega dreamcast, segalordx, sega lord x, sega saturn, sega genesis, mega drive, megadrive, game gear, 32x, mega cd, genesis, saturn, master system, sega, sega cd, gameplay, review, movies, retro games, video games, ps4, xbox, wii, nintendo, gamecube, n64, ps1, ps2, ps3, psp, vita, switch, atari, dreamcast games

Id: g0OiAQpVgxY

Length: 28min 26sec (1706 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 27 2022