RGM Presents – Dreamcast, One Gamer’s Launch Day Memories

On September 9th 1999, Sega released what would be their final home console, the Dreamcast. The console didn’t have a long lifespan but during the short amount of time it was in production, many great games were released that are considered classics. When the Dreamcast came out I was 14 years old and bought it on launch day along with Sonic Adventure, The House of the Dead 2 and Soul Calibur. In honor of the console’s 17th birthday, here are my memories of the console’s launch day.

Sega Dreamcast
Sega Dreamcast

I remember saving up for the system for a while, I traded in a bunch of Nintendo 64 games, I used birthday money, and any allowance money I could get. I had an NES growing up but the first console that I owned myself was the Sega Genesis and I always have had fond memories of playing Sega games. My cousin worked at EB Games at the time and preordered it for me so that I could take advantage of his employee discount on the games I wanted. After paying off my console and games I waited anxiously for the arrival. On Thursday, September 9th, 1999 that day had finally come.

My mom took me to the store to pick up my preorder after school. I remember waiting in a line of people who also preordered and were waiting to be rung up at the cash register. With my Dreamcast and games in hand, we headed home and I immediately set up the system on my TV and started playing. The first game I played was Sonic Adventure. This was the first 3D Sonic game and I loved it. The speed was even faster than in the 2D games and the homing attack helped with the control of Sonic in a 3D plane. I played the game for about an hour until I saved my progress and loaded up my next game.

Sonic Adventure
Sonic Adventure

Since the system was brand new I wanted to try out all the new games I got before settling on one to focus on. The next game I popped in was The House of the Dead 2. At the time, the light gun was not available yet so I had to use the Dreamcast’s regular controller to control the cursor on the screen to shoot the zombies coming to attack me. Even without the light gun, I still had a blast. My friend came over and we played two player co-op together shooting zombies and trying to get to the end of the game. The game had b-movie acting but it was so much fun. I remember playing this game in the arcade and this was the first time, in my opinion, that a 3D game looked as good on a home console as it did in the arcade. My friend and I were hooked and we played until beating the final boss.

The House of the Dead 2
The House of the Dead 2

After completing The House of the Dead 2 my friend and I started up Soul Calibur and we were in for a treat. This was the first 3D fighter that I actually enjoyed and I remember playing this game until late hours into the night for many weekends in a row. Soul Calibur to this day is an example of what a good launch game should be. Perfect controls, excellent graphics, and packed with content. Soul Calibur was received well by players and critics alike. Other than Halo, I have yet to experience a launch game as good as Soul Calibur. I remember playing with my friend and trying out different fighters, learning their combos and moves through experimentation. Eventually the night would end as I had school the next day.

Soul Calibur
Soul Calibur

The Dreamcast was a truly unique system. It was the first console I played online with (Phantasy Star Online). It was also the first console to really give a proper competitor to Madden with the NFL2K series. I remember playing great titles like Crazy Taxi, Dead or Alive, Berserk, Shenmue and Sonic Adventure 2. Even though it was only on the market for about two years, so many great games came out for the console that I still go back to and play to this very day. Sega might have been in over their heads but they weren’t afraid to take chances. The Dreamcast may not have lived long but it remains in gamer’s memories as a classic console and a perfect swan song for Sega’s home console days. Sega went on to make third-party games afterwards but to me it was never the same.

Happy Birthday Dreamcast!