I already talked about my favorite PlayStation games, but now we turn to the console that I had a wild 18 month love affair with, the Sega Dreamcast. Like most people who got a Dreamcast in 1999, I was blown away by how much more advanced it was than the PS1 and Nintendo 64. Christmas break of 1999 was during my first year of college and I spent that whole time playing Soulcalibur, Sonic Adventure and…. WWF Attitude, one of those is not like the others is it? I loved the Dreamcast, but I dropped it like a ton of bricks when the PlayStation 2 came out, still, I played a ton of awesome games and these are my top 5!
Keep in mind these are MY top five Sega Dreamcast games, please let me know what yours are in the comments section at the bottom.
Number 5
WWF Royal Rumble
I am a huge wrestling fan and while WWF Royal Rumble was greatly lacking in wrestlers and content over what was on the PlayStation and Nintendo 64, I loved the fast paced arcade action that this game had. It was a pick up and play kind of game and the way it could have 9 wrestlers in the ring at once along with the great for the time graphics showed how much more powerful the Dreamcast was than my beloved PlayStation. It may be style over substance, but I loved playing this game, especially in multiplayer with my cousins.
Number 4
Marvel vs Capcom
You may be surprised that I have gone for Marvel vs Capcom here over its sequel, but I much preferred the first game. As I said in my Spider-Man 2 review I love Marvel, but I also love Capcom. This was a great follow up from X-Men vs Street Fighter and Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter. I also had this on the PlayStation and the leap in quality here was outstanding. The characters were big and well animated and the game moved at a blistering pace. However, for me personally, I preferred the slightly less chaotic gameplay that was in this first game over what the sequel offered.
Number 3
Zombie Revenge
Zombie Revenge was the first Japanese import (I would eventually get an English copy) Dreamcast game that I got. This is awesome, it is like an extension of the side scrolling beat-em-up that Sega perfected with Streets of Rage. It tells a campy and funny zombie story and the gameplay is very satisfying, you have guns as well as melee weapons and you can play this with your friends where it is even more fun. Whenever I dig out the Dreamcast, this is always one of the first games that I play on it. It is crazy that Sega has never put this out on another system or tried to remake it, I would be all over it if they did.
Number 2
Soulcalibur
Soulcalibur did not just bring the arcade experience home, it improved upon it! This was the killer game for the Sega Dreamcast! It featured fast paced fighting that could be fun for those who button mash, but it also had a level of skill for those willing to put the time in. There was nothing else on any console that looked anywhere near as good as this at the time. I played the hell out of this game and for a fighting game it was pretty stacked with content too. While it would be re-released on other systems, none match the charm that the Dreamcast original had. I remember seeing this in a game store before the Dreamcast released and this was the game that made me want a Dreamcast.
Number 1
Resident Evil: Code Veronica
Is Resident Evil: Code Veronica X on the PS2 and Game Cube better? Yes, it is, but I never put anywhere near as much time into those as I did this. This was my game for the summer of 2000 and it made me so glad that I got a Dreamcast in 1999. This blew me away! I was already a huge Resident Evil fan and the jump from Resident Evil 2 and 3 to this was stunning! The visuals were amazing, that dynamic camera was very cinematic and the game was hard as nails! To this day, this is one of the most challenging Resident Evil games, but I loved every moment of it, even if like many other people I screwed up with the Tyrant and had to restart the whole game! While there are better versions of this game, when I think of the Sega Dreamcast and the most fun, I had with the system, 100 percent it is this game that comes to mind. I also wrote about how we need a Resident Evil: Code Veronica remake so be sure to check that and share your thoughts on that.
So those are my top 5 Sega Dreamcast games, I am sure a couple of my choices are weird for some people, but these are the games I had the most fun with and have the fondest memories of.
I would love to know what your memories of the Sega Dreamcast are and what games are your favorites so be sure to jot them down in the comments section.