Colin Lecher:
To most of the world, Sega's Visual Memory Unit has been been dead for the better part of a decade, forgotten as a footnote in the annals of videogame history. It was a memory card, shaped mostly like a Tamagotchi, that slipped into the giant controller of a Sega Dreamcast, with its tiny, 1.5-inch greyscale screen peeking through a little cut-out. If players wanted to, they could pull it out of the controller and, using two buttons and a control pad, play rudimentary mini-games. It was a smallish element of a failed console released 13 years ago from a company that no longer even makes hardware.
But with the release of Nintendo's Wii U, the internet's collective memory began bubbling, and the VMU popped up from the depths. There's a GameFAQs thread entitled, "Is the WiiU controller like an upgraded VMU ?" There are YouTube videos pointing out the connection. Did Nintendo reach back into its past to swipe an idea from a vanquished foe?
The VMU is a not-uncommon topic in certain hobbyist corners of the internet, and the posters are, amazingly, often doing more than talking about the gadget. People make games for the VMU, there are sites for downloading emulations of VMU games, there are recent YouTube reviews with non-negligible hits, and, inexplicably, someone has created a portrait of the gadget done in the oil-painted style of George Washington crossing the Delaware.
Explore this thrilling list of the best platformer games of the Sega Dreamcast covering exciting mainstream games and numerous hidden gems.
What many hoped would be a grand return to form for Sega turned out to be the final nail in the coffin of making their own hardware.
I was an early adopter of Dreamcast and never regretted it. The sheer amounts of exclusive quality games released for such a short console lifespan is amazing.
Soul Calibur (masterpiece launch title), Sonic Adventure 1+2, Metropolis Street Racer, Skies of Arcadia, Outrigger, Powerstone 2, Ferrari F355 Challenge, Sega GT, Shenmue 1+2, Resident Evil Code Veronica ) to name but a few.
Its specs were quite good for its time (Dead of Alive 2, Le Mans, Shenmue were visual showcases), the games were plenty, it came with online gaming, innovative games (Seaman, Jet Set Radio, Illbleed, Space channel 5 etc), four controller ports for Quake 3 4-player local split screen (good times), easy to program for and had a small form factor.
Having said that, the console had to face the best-selling video game console of all time PS2) which launched with DVD player integrated and the hype levels at maximum given the amazing PS1 release. It also released after Sega burned social currency with consumers and developers after Saturn's failure.
It didnt help either that may video game magazines (our source of information at that time), wrote articles dooming Dreamcast and setting the hype for PS2 long before the latter released.
Even EDGE magazine published an article that pretty much nailed the coffin for Dreamcast opting gamers to wait for PS2!
Its games library legacy passed to Xbox when it was released as an agreement to release many Sega IPs to MS console was reached (Sega GT, Panzer Dragoo Orta, Project Gotham Series, Phantasy Star online, House of the Deadm Crazy Taxi etc).
One of my favorites consoles of all time.
Was a cool system. Had some great games at launch but we all know the rest of the story. Not enough people bought it. Controllers were a little weird but overall a great system. I have the guns too.
There are several rare and expensive Dreamcast games out there for collectors. Some of them are great while others are... not so much.
I'd be careful keeping discs around, I recently dumped (threw out) a lot of them because I had too many and a few had tiny pinholes going right through, some from PC magazines and others I had written myself. Some from late 90's, surprisingly some of them would still fully read and back up to an image file. But yeah I'd guess it depends on how you keep the disc, and the quality of the material the disc is made of likely has something to do with it also.
I still got a stash of PS1 games, maybe I should go check and see if they're okay. I was thinking of putting some of my older games (PS2/Wii) into a plastic storage tub, maybe toss some Silica gel in there too (although Silica gel won't stop disc rot).
I own 4 of those games, but unsure why Sonic Adventure 2 would be worth so much. It's been ported many times, and even as a fan of the series this game doesn't hold up.
I recently played it on PS3, and it felt so sloppy. I don't even like 2/3rds of the game, however the Sonic & Shadow stages are alright. Let's not forget the amazing LIVE & LEARN track!
If you own a Dreamcast buy a GD-EMU clone ODE, you'll save so much money, no more grinding disc noises, and games load slightly faster.
Bit weird how some Dreamcast games (when it died), didn't get ported to the PS2 and Xbox. Powerstone, SEGA Rally 2 and Cosmic Smash a few as examples.
So many games just died with that system, I'm still hoping that Skies of Arcadia gets ported/remastered to modern systems, I heard rumours about the game sometime last year.
YOOOO, ready 2 rumble. hahah! Classic game! MVC2 and Powerstone were also my childhood!
I don't really think Nintendo was trying to copy Sega, but rather use some of the DS ideas with two screens. I loved my Dreamcast. The VMU was rarely used though. More for gimmick mini games. Still a great system, that was ahead of its time for sure.
Dream cast was ahead of its time, I can't help but think where we would be if sega still made hardware...
I'm still on the fence about the wiiu
I just don't know what to think about it
the dreamcast was a good little system and it was too bad for sega....but wiiu is way beyond that...wiiu is a fantastic system....nintendo had their own plans into place with the gamecube and gameboy advance connects and ds....i think all that influence wiiu not specifically or in any ways the dreamcast....but wiiu will be copied by sony and microsoft now that u expect...miiverse,tvii and gamepad designs to be copy and haters to rejoice over it