In late 1998 a revolutionary new console was unleashed on to the Japanese marketplace. This console incorporated a Modem to play games online or browse the web using a keyboard and mouse. Jap gamers queued for hours to own Sega's 128bit platform Read More...

The dreamcast boasted better performance than sega's model 2 arcade boards. It met with a lukewarm reception in Japan and better sales in the US an europe weren't enough to save it from eventual extinction. The most underrated console ever.

Hitachi SH-4 running at 200 Mhz.
360 MIPS

16MB main RAM

8MB video RAM. 3 million polygons/second peak rendering rate. Perspective-Correct Texture Mapping. Point, Bilinear, Trilinear and Anisotropic Mip-map filtering. Gouraud shading. z-buffer. Colored light sourcing. Full scene anti-aliasing. Hardware-based Fog
Bump mapping. 16.77 million colors.
Hardware-based texture compression
Shadow and Light volumes. Super sampling

2MB sound RAM.
32bit RISC CPU. DSP for real-time effects. 64 sound channels. Full 3D sound support. Hardware-based audio compression.
2 DAC's.

4 controller ports.
Built-in 56kbps modem
Built-in high-speed expansion ports

Clear blue, red, green & yellow controllers. Digital and analog directional controls + dual analog triggers

Visual Memory pak.
Saves and plays self contained VMU games/trade files with other VMU's.

8-bit CPU. 128K byte memory.
48x32 LCD display. Lithium battery x 2 (CR 2032), auto off function
PWM 1 channel sound source

Mouse: great with Quake III Arena and other games like Outrigger and Rez

Fishing reel input device.

Sega had quite a reputation in America after the success of Genesis/Megadrive. So when Dreamcast hit the States in Sept 1999 packaged with Soul Calibur, it went down a storm. In fact, Sega even managed to beat Nintendo 64 console sales for a time.

During the eleven months wait in Europe the console was a hot import fetching up to £1,000 with gamers desperate to experience 128 bits. The TV advertising for Europe even included Robbie Williams on vocals. All the hype ensured Sega sold well over 1.2 million units.

Sega was running out of time by the start of the new millennium. Sega Net had only just got of the ground and Sony was about to release its new sleek black console - the PS2. The hype was gone for Dreamcast and Sega could not even attract people with the offer of a free console if you signed up to Sega Net for a minimum of two years. The plug was pulled and Sega ceased production in the States and Europe in March 2001. In Japan however the fan boys loved it and Sega carried on producing Dreamcast till 2007. Sadly Sega bowed out of the hardware marketplace and decided only to be a third party producer of games.

SHENMUE
For well over a decade this was one of the most expensive games ever to be developed. Shenmue even earned a place in the Guinness Book of Records; that was until Grand Theft Auto IV came along and cost over a $100 million.

This real-time game was the first of its type to have characters with flowing hair and wrinkles. It is a living, breathing 80s Martial Arts movie.  Yu Suzuki developed Shenmue but it has been left a cliffhanger as he retired from Sega in 2009. The final instalment - Shenmue Online - will now never be finished. (Note: ok so Paul Phoenix was never in Shenmue but just watch that quiff move!)

The Dreamcast console had many names thrown around during its prototype stages from " Dural" and "Black Belt" to "Eclipse"

The original thought process was that it would be a 64 bit upgrade to the Saturn.

1. Marvel vs. Capcom 2
2. Shenmue
3. Sonic Adventure 2
4. Sonic Adventure
5. Skies of Arcadia
6. Resident Evil Code: Veronica
7. Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
8. Grandia II
9. Phantasy Star Online
10. Shenmue II