04-13-2013, 05:15 PM
Dreamcast was a lovely but delicate console, too bad that I didn't get to experience Dreamarena (Sega's online service due to the cost of Internet back at those days) but I got to live it from the beginning to its cut short life.
As for games to recommend well I do it two ways, games that I have and games that I missed out on since there weren't available at the time or it was too late:
This is for the former:
- Shenmue (pretty much the big game on the system)
- Confidential Mission (little known spy light gun shooter from Sega and quite cheesy)
- Metropolis Street Racer [MSR] (you know Project Gotham Racing on the Xbox and the 360? This is the original game of that series and also includes some Sonic R esque music as well)
- Daytona USA 2001 (part of the Daytona series, has the original tracks, CCE and 2 new ones but the handling needs to be adjusted in the options for a better experience)
- Sega Rally 2 (it was a rushed 30fps port [strange how 30fps seems to be common now] but had extra content compared to the arcade version as in 2 courses and a 10 year championship mode)
- Virtua Tennis (the original of the series, it was an arcade port but it was better since there is a world tour mode, it is one of the few sports games that are accessable [just press the A button but you can press other buttons to do other moves])
- Crazy Taxi (did have this on the console but it kept crashing and saying no disc so ended up with the PSP one, anyway it is yet another good arcade port ready to make some krazy moves. Oh and if you want product placement and the original music, the Dreamcast version is the way to go providing that your console can read the disc)
- Crazy Taxi 2 [have the PSP version though] (see the 1st game but changed from San Francisco to a New York setting and allows multiple passengers but seems to be harder?)
- JET SET RADIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (these days, you might as well get the re-release since it has extra music [like me] but if you want to play it on an original console, you still can do)
- Rayman 2: The Great Escape (this is the only Rayman game that I actually liked but since there's not much 3D platformers of note on the system, it is one of the better ones and it is one the best versions? at least compared to the N64/DS/3DS ports)
- San Francisco Rush 2049 [have the Midway Arcade Treasures 3 version on the PS2 but the Dreamcast version has a much better frame rate] (arcade port with extra Stunt mode, fun but hard but there is a music looping bug when compared to the N64 version though even though it sounds more beefier)
- Soul Calibur (really good fighting game, sequel to Soul Blade)
- GTA 2 (only if you like the older style Grand Theft Auto games)
- Sega Bass Fishing (only for the novelty of it with the fishing rod)
While I could put Sonic Adventure, I think it has aged quite badly and it is a bit on the glitchy side however since it is a launch title and is one of the last Sonic games to have its original creator involved, it still has an atmosphere that got lost in Sonic Adventure 2 [that game itself started the decline of Sonic up to Sonic 06, Unleashed got a bit better and the newer games are actually pretty good]. It isn't one to fully recommend but it is part of the console's history and still at least playable.
This is for the latter:
- Headhunter (was one of the last games to be released on the console, it is a 3rd person game)
- Skies of Arcadia (I did play a demo of it and was okay, it's a sky pirate based RPG - I heard it was on the Gamecube though)
- Super Magnetic Neo (played a demo, it is a platformer that has + and - polarity system)
- Phantasy Star Online (I imagine that playing a 13 year old online game would be very hard today though especially if the servers are off but it was one of the top titles back then)
- Samba de Amigo (you need the maracas to play them properly and even then they were expensive at the time but you might be able to find one, it's a game were you have to play it on a console)
- Ferrari F355 Challenge (pretty much a racing simulator done by Yu Suzuki)
- Power Stone 1 & 2
- The Capcom fighting games (e.g. Jojo's Bizzare Adventure, Street Fighter III, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Capcom vs. SNK, Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Tech Romancer, Project Justice) [if you want to play online however, it is better if you got the updated ports on XBLA/PSN if they exist]
- Resident Evil: Code Veronica (there are updated ports however)
- Shenmue II (you might have to import or play the Xbox version)
- Sega GT [Sega Gran Turismo?] (just to say that Sega copied a famous Sony game and the "inspiration" is to be seen)
- Toy Commander (interesting game where you fly around or drive but it is a toy based setting so it is around a home, played a demo of it)
- Propeller Arena (this was never released due to that a] the Dreamcast died and b] a certain world event happened in September 11, 2001, but it is an AM2 arcade competitive dog-fighting game and AM2 is a really good developer - a prototype is lurking around on the Internet)
I don't know about Dynamite Cop and Zombie Revenge but there are so few beat em ups on the system due to at the time beat em ups were "out of fashion" so it is worth a look.
To be honest, there aren't many bad games on the console since even the medicore games are decent to play. Even some licensed games like Donald Duck: Quack Attack and Toy Story 2 aren't bad. The only really bad ones (at least in the EU) are Spirit of Speed 1937 and Caesars Palace 2000. The rest is just a bit of common sense as in be weary of sports and wrestling games, and if a game is bad on another system/PC, it would be the same on the Dreamcast. Oh and also avoid Sega Smash Pack since the Genesis games have really bad sound emulation in them unless you want to get it for Sega Swirl and Virtua Cop 2.
As for games to recommend well I do it two ways, games that I have and games that I missed out on since there weren't available at the time or it was too late:
This is for the former:
- Shenmue (pretty much the big game on the system)
- Confidential Mission (little known spy light gun shooter from Sega and quite cheesy)
- Metropolis Street Racer [MSR] (you know Project Gotham Racing on the Xbox and the 360? This is the original game of that series and also includes some Sonic R esque music as well)
- Daytona USA 2001 (part of the Daytona series, has the original tracks, CCE and 2 new ones but the handling needs to be adjusted in the options for a better experience)
- Sega Rally 2 (it was a rushed 30fps port [strange how 30fps seems to be common now] but had extra content compared to the arcade version as in 2 courses and a 10 year championship mode)
- Virtua Tennis (the original of the series, it was an arcade port but it was better since there is a world tour mode, it is one of the few sports games that are accessable [just press the A button but you can press other buttons to do other moves])
- Crazy Taxi (did have this on the console but it kept crashing and saying no disc so ended up with the PSP one, anyway it is yet another good arcade port ready to make some krazy moves. Oh and if you want product placement and the original music, the Dreamcast version is the way to go providing that your console can read the disc)
- Crazy Taxi 2 [have the PSP version though] (see the 1st game but changed from San Francisco to a New York setting and allows multiple passengers but seems to be harder?)
- JET SET RADIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (these days, you might as well get the re-release since it has extra music [like me] but if you want to play it on an original console, you still can do)
- Rayman 2: The Great Escape (this is the only Rayman game that I actually liked but since there's not much 3D platformers of note on the system, it is one of the better ones and it is one the best versions? at least compared to the N64/DS/3DS ports)
- San Francisco Rush 2049 [have the Midway Arcade Treasures 3 version on the PS2 but the Dreamcast version has a much better frame rate] (arcade port with extra Stunt mode, fun but hard but there is a music looping bug when compared to the N64 version though even though it sounds more beefier)
- Soul Calibur (really good fighting game, sequel to Soul Blade)
- GTA 2 (only if you like the older style Grand Theft Auto games)
- Sega Bass Fishing (only for the novelty of it with the fishing rod)
While I could put Sonic Adventure, I think it has aged quite badly and it is a bit on the glitchy side however since it is a launch title and is one of the last Sonic games to have its original creator involved, it still has an atmosphere that got lost in Sonic Adventure 2 [that game itself started the decline of Sonic up to Sonic 06, Unleashed got a bit better and the newer games are actually pretty good]. It isn't one to fully recommend but it is part of the console's history and still at least playable.
This is for the latter:
- Headhunter (was one of the last games to be released on the console, it is a 3rd person game)
- Skies of Arcadia (I did play a demo of it and was okay, it's a sky pirate based RPG - I heard it was on the Gamecube though)
- Super Magnetic Neo (played a demo, it is a platformer that has + and - polarity system)
- Phantasy Star Online (I imagine that playing a 13 year old online game would be very hard today though especially if the servers are off but it was one of the top titles back then)
- Samba de Amigo (you need the maracas to play them properly and even then they were expensive at the time but you might be able to find one, it's a game were you have to play it on a console)
- Ferrari F355 Challenge (pretty much a racing simulator done by Yu Suzuki)
- Power Stone 1 & 2
- The Capcom fighting games (e.g. Jojo's Bizzare Adventure, Street Fighter III, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Capcom vs. SNK, Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Tech Romancer, Project Justice) [if you want to play online however, it is better if you got the updated ports on XBLA/PSN if they exist]
- Resident Evil: Code Veronica (there are updated ports however)
- Shenmue II (you might have to import or play the Xbox version)
- Sega GT [Sega Gran Turismo?] (just to say that Sega copied a famous Sony game and the "inspiration" is to be seen)
- Toy Commander (interesting game where you fly around or drive but it is a toy based setting so it is around a home, played a demo of it)
- Propeller Arena (this was never released due to that a] the Dreamcast died and b] a certain world event happened in September 11, 2001, but it is an AM2 arcade competitive dog-fighting game and AM2 is a really good developer - a prototype is lurking around on the Internet)
I don't know about Dynamite Cop and Zombie Revenge but there are so few beat em ups on the system due to at the time beat em ups were "out of fashion" so it is worth a look.
To be honest, there aren't many bad games on the console since even the medicore games are decent to play. Even some licensed games like Donald Duck: Quack Attack and Toy Story 2 aren't bad. The only really bad ones (at least in the EU) are Spirit of Speed 1937 and Caesars Palace 2000. The rest is just a bit of common sense as in be weary of sports and wrestling games, and if a game is bad on another system/PC, it would be the same on the Dreamcast. Oh and also avoid Sega Smash Pack since the Genesis games have really bad sound emulation in them unless you want to get it for Sega Swirl and Virtua Cop 2.