NerdFunk

Part two of a two part look back-and forward-at one of gaming’s most cherished consoles. Click here for part one!

By Cameron Brian Saunders

In the first half of this two part series, we celebrated the North American model of the Sega Dreamcast reaching its sweet sixteen by discussing some of the things that made the system unique in its time, and how the resurrection of the Shenmue franchise is helping a new generation of fans discover the console. Today I’ll talk about why I feel like I’m still waiting to see all the Dreamcast has to offer, and show that the console has more to warrant the modern gamer’s attention than just a library full of classics.

One of the things that makes the Dreamcast so beloved–particularly by game designers–is that it plays CD-Rs. This means that the system can play homebrewed games fresh out of your computer’s CD tray, or even install mods without so much as removing a screw. The Dreamcast can emulate any of its peers or predecessors, often with improved graphics. It has proven to be a powerful tool for developers’ playtesting needs. This white-and-gray wonder child can even switch between region codes like it’s changing jackets to better suit the weather.

This kind of user-friendly technology is still being taken advantage of today. So while you are scouring eBay for a playable copy of Shenmue, you owe it to yourself to look at some of the games that have been released while the world was ignoring the console. More than fifteen independent games have been commercially released for the Dreamcast since Sega stopped supporting it in 2001, and that number continues to grow each year.

Brothers Timm and René Hellwig developed the 2D shoot ‘em up Last Hope for the Neo Geo in 2006 and ported it to the Dreamcast a year later. Since then they’ve released four sequels on both systems. Another publisher, The GOAT Store, has developed six games specifically designed for use on the Dreamcast, with more in development. These include a first person shooter with an unsettling horror aesthetic entitled Hypertension: Harmony of Darkness (which will include an appearance by internet character Salad Fingers for some reason) and SLaVE, another FPS which looks like Tron ate Space Invaders and threw it up all over the original Star Wars arcade shooter. Hucast put out intriguing fairy tale puzzle/platformer Alice’s Mom’s Rescue earlier this year and immediately began pushing their next release, a scrolling shooter called Ghost Blade, set to drop in under three weeks. It pushes the graphics capabilities of the Dreamcast to near modern standards, displaying an impressive 480p.

Operating out of Spain, Retro Sumus entered the swelling Dreamcast market recently when they announced two games for the system: Ameba, “an immersive criminal drama in the form of a western-made visual novel,” and Xenocider, a 3D arcade style shooter where you play as “a female cyborg from a distant planet who feels an overwhelming rage and thirst for killing.” Carlos Oliveros, head writer and translator for Retro Sumus, intends for Ameba to be a kind of game that hasn’t been seen on the Dreamcast. Or really anywhere for that matter. He explains, “we’re taking the genre in a new direction: no anime-like art… a more western take on storytelling and characterization, a serious story. Imagine David Fincher’s Seven meets Frank Miller’s Sin City.” He further differentiates the game from the more comical visual novel style games that have come before, “no gratuitous nudes, no blue-haired, impossibly busty waiters and, if we are doing a good job – no fanservice.” Oliveros is excited to bring both games to the console, saying that, “Dreamcast allows us to [create games] with not such big effort or investment… the chance to travel back in time and create something you would have liked and still like playing is not something you let pass.”

Perhaps the most anticipated upcoming game on the Dreamcast is Elysian Shadows. Successfully funded through Kickstarter last year, eager fans have been watching the game take shape in a web series called “Adventures in Game Development,” which spans over ten hours of behind the scenes footage detailing the progress made by the game’s programmers. Lead programmer Falco Girgis is one of many who benefited from Dreamcast’s designer-friendly tech, as he explained earlier this year in an interview with UK fansite The Dreamcast Junkyard:

“The first polygon I ever rendered was on the Dreamcast. I grew up developing for it. If it weren’t for the Dreamcast, I would never have become a computer engineer or half the developer I am today… It has become a personal quest for me to give back to the console that was so capable, gave me so much, and died so young.”

Girgis wants his love letter to the Dreamcast to be a next-gen experience. “Elysian Shadows is our attempt at reinventing the old school 2D RPG genre for the next generation of gamers and hardware,” he says. “It’s about fusing aspects of our favorite 16-bit RPGs like Phantasy Star, Chrono Trigger, and Final Fantasy with modern lighting techniques, 3D positional audio, 3D perspectives, particle physics, and modern gameplay. It’s the ultimate marriage of old and new for us.”

It’s hard to believe we’re continuing to witness Dreamcast fulfil its promise to revolutionize gaming over a decade after its forced retirement. Though fundraising for Elysian Shadows ended in August, preorders have since become available through the game’s main website. I opted for the simplest and cheapest package that would get me a physical Dreamcast disc, jewel case and all. Depending on your level of interest, other incentives include a figurine, strategy guide, production journals, tie-in comic, art book, Adventures in Game Development DVD, and the time honored video game bundle, a soundtrack CD. And then there’s the “authentic Egyptian papyrus scroll with your choice of Elysian Shadows graphic.” I did not make that up, that’s a direct quote from the game’s website. Even in a landscape of ever-crazier preorder bonuses, the most exciting incentive currently available is for a system that is nearly old enough to vote.

The Dreamcast was a thing of firsts and lasts. Sega’s last home console, and the last machine of its kind to bolster its catalogue by porting contemporary arcade games. Fittingly, the Dreamcast was the last console of the twentieth century. It was also the first console with a built-in modem, giving us a taste of an interconnected world of play that wouldn’t be perfected for two more generations.

In many ways, Sega was trying to push mechanics that technology had simply not caught up to yet. The Playstation 2, Dreamcast’s primary competitor, mostly avoided experimental gaming tech in favor of DVD playback. Apparently a smart move, as the PS2 would go on to be the best selling console in history. But the last son of Sega is not easily forgotten. Even if it had stayed dead, the Dreamcast’s legacy would still be immeasurable. Its influence is seen almost immediately after its supposed decline in the original Xbox controller. In fact, negotiations early in the Xbox’s conception fell through that would have given it the compatibility to play Dreamcast games.

Even today, technologies the Dreamcast implemented are just being figured out by Sega’s former competitors. Microsoft’s more recent Xbox One may take pride in running Windows 10, but the first console to use a Windows operating system was the very same doomed techno-martyr you’ve been reading about. Nintendo incorporated a screen into the Wii U controller much like the Visual Memory Unit, a memory card which plugged into Dreamcast controllers and displayed information about the game you were playing. It was particularly useful in sports games where it was used to choose plays without allowing your opponent to see what you were planning. Another Nintendo creation, the Pokéwalker, evokes the VMU’s ability to be used on its own to play mini games, which added new content and playability to games like Sonic Adventure.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to suggest that every video game console released since the Dreamcast has benefitted from its lessons, both the good and the bad. For the fans who refuse to let go, much like the unkillable little boxes they so admire, new games roll out at a constantly increasing pace. In fact, as I write this, yet another has been announced. The Kickstarter page for Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs, based on the 1987 animated series of the same name, has just expanded to include a Dreamcast release.

This is what I meant when I said I’m still waiting. Every year brings new discoveries for—yeah, I’ll say it—my favorite console. We’re still being shown what the Dreamcast is capable of and what lessons it has left to teach the industry. Its innovations, once too far ahead of their time, return to us fully realized, ready to show us something new, but descended straight from Sega’s most creative and experimental days. I can’t wait to see what surprises this formidable little box will have for us over the next sixteen years.

It’s hard to blame Sega for doubting their creation at the time, but like any teenager, Dreamcast has no interest in doing as it’s told. While this visionary rebel machine may never reach the six billion players it once boasted, one thing about the Dreamcast is undeniable: It’s still thinking.

Cameron is the manager of Pegasus Books of Bend, where he has been immersing himself in comics, books, and boardgames since 2010. He is also an actor, having appeared in over fifty performances of Evil Dead the Musical and the indie drama The Wolfman’s Hammer. He has been featured as a host of the “Geeks Who Drink” Pub Quiz and a co-host on the Central Oregon Comics Outreach Alliance podcast. His future aspirations include writing, cosplay, and being awarded his Pungeon Master badge. You can follow him on Twitter @ColonelCam where he discusses battling depression with rampant consumerism, and on his tumblr page, Cam’s Hard Blog, where he mainly reblogs pictures of black women in Sailor Moon cosplay.