Dreamcast recommendations

[natabuu]

I'm getting a Dreamcast off ebay partially to help me with an article I'm writing. What games, import and domestic, do you guys recommend for it?

[vysethebold]

Well considering the system is one of the best ever for the hardcore gamer, you are asking a rather broad question. I'll help you get started with some US titles, though. For 2-D fighting games SNK vs. Capcom, Marvel vs. Capcom, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Street Fighter 3: Third Strike, and Fatal Fury: Mark of Wolves are some of the best on the system. For 3D fighters Soul Calibur, Power Stone, Power Stone 2 (doubles as a 4-player party game as well), Tech Romancer, Plasma Sword, Project Justice, and Virtua Fighter 3tb are great. For 2D shooters you can't get much better than Gunbird 2, Gigawing, Gigawing 2 (also doubles as a 4-player party title), Mars Matrix, and Canon Spike. For adventure/platforming go with Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, Floigan Bros., and Shenmue. For RPG's Grandia 2 and Skies of Arcadia (my personal favorite RPG ever, hence my nickname) are some of the best on any console ever. For 4-player party titles I'd go with the two that I mentioned above plus Worms Armageddon (turn based wacky fun strategy/action hybrid), Quake III: Arena (FPS), Unreal Tournament (FPS), and Outrigger (FPS). If you want some games that take advantage of the weird DC accessories House of the Dead 2 (lightgun), Confidential Mission (lightgun), Typing of the Dead (keyboard), Sega Bass Fishing (fishing rod), and Sega Marine Fishing (fishing rod) are for you. All the ones I mentioned are great (maybe except for Confidential Mission but, hey, there are only a couple of light gun games for the system). I'm sure the other guys will add a couple I just forgot plus their import picks (I know some but I'm not an import expert for the DC so I'll let someone else have some fun naming their favorites). Feel free to ask me any questions about any of the titles or anything else.

[necromaniac]

Well, vysethebold beat me to it and all of the titles he's mentioned are recommended, but here are some other titles that you can't go wrong with:
Sword of the berserk is one of the greatest hack-n-slasher ever made.
The dreamcast also houses the best version of Street Fighter Alpha 3, with more play modes and updated artwork from both of the PS versions.
JoJo's bizarre adventure is a neat little 2d fighter, especially if you like out-there anime.
If you like puzzlers both Chu Chu Rocket and wetrix+ are mandatory.
Bangai-O is one of the greatest Treasure games ever made imo, grab the n64 rom to see if you like it (the DC version is different enough to warrant a purchase though).
I don't like Tennis, but Virtua Tennis got me hooked none the less.
Speaking of sports titles, Sega Extreme Sports is one of the most underrated alternative sports titles of all times.
Rez is a zen-like experience, and I recommend the DC version over the PS2 one mainly because of it's better sound hardware (but you can't go wrong with neither of them).
If you like dance/rhythm games, Space Channel 5 is sure to satisfy (although, it's the second most embarrassing title I've been afraid to like).
A PAL version of Shenmue 2 is also needed if you fall in love with the original, unless you have an Xbox of course.
And if you like shmups and you've got the cash to import, both Border Down and Ikaruga are mighty tasty (although it might be more practical to just go with the cube version of the second one, if you have a cube that is).
And finally, Jet Set/Grind Radio is a great, solid title.

[kal]

Someone left out Seventh Cross Evolution if you're feeling crazy..such a strange little game if only the action was better, and you left out Seaman for obscure acceceries (microphone), I also have a secret passion for Zombie Revenge and Dynamite Cop but everyone else will just call me crazy.

Also you may want to see if you can pick up EGG, it's an RPG/Adventure game in a similar kinda vein to the Zelda styled games on GB.

[Weasel]

Kal: I share your passion for Dynamite Cop. Because no other beat-em-up allows you to not only regain health with hunks of meat, but also allows you to throw the meat at enemies to kill them. And then you can pick up the enemies and beat up other enemies with them.

[necromaniac]

Dynamite Cop is awesome in the same way Bad Dudes vs. Dragon Ninja is, it's so campy and "bad", it's good!
I always chuckle when I watch the intro: "You must rescue everybody! Especially the presidents daughter!!!" (which is butt-ugly by the way).
I've yet to acquire Zombie Revenge, but I've wanted to try it out for years now.
Also, are EGG and Seven Cross worthy of the import to PAL land? (I know Seaman is).
I'm also looking into Armada.

[kal]

Armada ='s Yes if you're a fan of the older topdown shooters of the sort (Asteroids, Zone66 etc) it's kind of gaunlet in space as well but if you can't find some friends to go alien hunting with the game isn't quite as fun. There was also a PS2/Xbox sequel released which I wouldn't mind trying.

Eggs worth it undeniably since it's not only Dreamcast exclusive but probably the only DC game to really do the whole Zelda style thing. And it can be gotten in English. I think it failed to do well because its full name is Egg Elemental GIMMICK Gear and no one wants to buy a Gimmick.

Zombie Revenge is what happens when someone takes a perfectly sound concept and then does something to it that somehow messes it up. In this case the majority of the pickupable weapons are pointless ie the shotgun sucks, the massive drill sucks, the machine gun is barely decent, the axe sucks, the duel machine guns suck and the only half decent guns (two of them in fact) are hidden in a room at the VERY END with NOTHING TO USE THEM ON! Other then that the gun lockon system is somewhat unique (time shot for massive damage!!!) and the Japanese guy in it is possibly the coolest Japanese guy ever basically he's the only one with half decent dubbing (the dubbing in general is TERRIBLE) since they left his voice in Japanese all he does is utter randomly cool japanese phrases and gets to charge up awesome explosive chi powers or some such which lets him explode zombies (seriously). If you can find a friend to game through it with you'll have a great time (counting that they don't suck at it) but it's not worth more the $15.

Seventh Cross is not really worth it it's a case of I like the game inspite of myself and inspite of itself. Honestly the game isn't great but if they turned it into an MMO it'd make millions. The gimmick of the game is of course evolution and you get to generate parts using a 'sophisticated' system of varing DNA streams which in a pratical sense are completely indesiferable and make the game far more frustrating then it should be EVO did a better job with random evolution though their is a nice mineral system (you need to build up stores of protiens, along with fictional minerals to evolve into parts you've unlocked). However their is a certain fun to be had if you get the different pieces together and make a genuienly cool looking creature of major death bringing (and no none of the parts need to make sense, you've got fish through to crabs and dogs and robots and devils). Battles though are a psyedo turnbased exchange of numbers more then anything else despite having a list of spells!? for you to use. Japanese through and through and yet very not. The later portions of the game are more interesting then the beginning (which is annoying since you can get stuck in the beginning if you can't generate the body parts needed to progress and you're stuck getting little experience until you can eventually evolve a part you need). The game also has some really random endings that seem to have a confusing detachment from the rest of the game and the game is home to the most terrifying area in video game history.. the big empty black void full of enemies. If you've roughly like me strange and unique title is an instant sell, grab Seventh right now otherwise think seriously on whether it's worth it.

[natabuu]

Wow, that's a lot of games. I skipped the Dreamcast when it first came out because I was in high school and not working and just saving up for a PS2. I made the question deliberately broad because aside from a couple games I played at a friend's house, I didn't really follow the DC much at all.

[kal]

natabuu said:

...I skipped the Dreamcast when it first came out because I was in high school and not working and just saving up for a PS2...I didn't really follow the DC much at all.

I'm not making fun of you here, btw, it's just that's pretty much exactly what killed the poor Dreamcast. Sega was on a losing streak (3 botched consoles is a lot ) and the PS2 was looking pretty so most people skipped DC out...poor DC . Not that you killed the Dreamcast btw..we all failed the Dreamcast.

Also add Red Dog: Superior Firepower to the DC maybe you should buy list.

[ahnslaught]

I love the DC because it's the last of the systems which actually tried hard to bring arcade style games home. Capcom, SNK, and Sega all converted tons of their arcade classics (mainly a lot of fighters in Capcom/SNK's case) for this system.

Obviously all the games mentioned above by others are good; I would also add that the DC has a small, but very high quality selection of shmups that you can't find anywhere else. These imports can easily be played on a US DC with the CDX demo that's freely available on the web.

Some, but not all, of the great imports include Border Down, Ikaruga, Zero Gunner 2, Under Defeat, Shikigami no Shiro 2, and Psyvariar 2. As noted, the domestic releases are the two Giga Wings, Mars Matrix, and Gunbird 2 (I'm sure there's other shmups, but can't think of them ATM). If you're just starting out your collection, though, I'd wait before buying most of these and focus on getting lots of cheaper, but equally fun games, as they are relatively expensive (BD ~ $100; Ikaruga & ZG2 ~ $50-60)

Anyway, I know a couple of these have seen releases on other systems; however, the one reason I'd recommend the DC version over the others is if you are planning to get a VGA box, which I picked up only a couple of months ago for $15. Quite simply, it makes these games look amazing - so much more color and image stability that it makes S-video basically unwatchable. Ikaruga on the VGA is a sight to behold...on the other hand, 2d games that don't use high res sprites (any SF game, for example) are a pixelated mess.

Also, since I'm on the topic of accessories, you might want to get a joystick or a PS2->DC converter and get a Saturn pad, if they're still around. The DC controller is crappy as it is, but even more so for shmups and arcade style games.

Finally, there's some original games that haven't been mentioned yet that you may want to check out as well. Maken X is one of the first first-person brawlers (think Breakdown), with character designs by Kazuma Kaneko of Shin Megami Tensei fame.

[vysethebold]

The DC is I'm sure one of the favorites of many of us in this forum. I was around 15 when I got mine, when I started to be able to buy my own games. It was the first system where I could buy most of the good stuff as it came out. I remembered some titles that some of us hardcore guys seem to forget, partially due to the popularity of the games, their genre, and their in-exclusivity, but nonetheless are very good. Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver, Spider-Man, and Tony Hawk Pro-Skater all have their best versions made for the DC with better graphics than the PSX which they were all initially released for. Also, if you like sports games other than tennis, the NBA and NFL 2K1 games are very good, beautiful, and easy to find (not so much with the MLB games though because the fielding kinda sucks). Don't forget the Crazy Taxi games, too. And thank you guys for picking up some of the stuff I forgot off the top of my head, considering that Jet Grind is one of my favorites of all time, I should be ashamed! Also, I love Zombie Revenge and Dynamite Cop. Sega is the only one to be ably to make fun 3D brawlers. If you can import for your PS2, they just came out with a rerelease of both Dynamite games (the first was called Die Hard Arcade in the Western countries) with better graphics and extra stuff. Check it out! I also still need to get my PS2 to DC joystick converters but you should surely get them at least for the shooters and fighters (the ol DC stick is generally good for 3D games I find). You can get them at www.Play-Asia.com. As for the VGA box you can get them over at Racket Boy's site at www.racketboy.com/store/ . I should also point out that Street Fighter Alpha 3 and Street Fighter 3: Third Strike have arcade perfect translations on the current systems (Street Fighter Anniversary Collection for XB and PS2 and Street Fighter Alpha Anthology on PS2) in the US that are pretty easy to find so you might want to buy these instead of the DC versions mostly because of the awesome Street Fighter Controllers put out by Capcom (just like the best 2D controllers ever made from the Saturn!).

[ahnslaught]

One thing to note about the VGA cables at Racketboy's site - it's not a VGA box, which lets you switch from VGA to TV at will (that is, have both connected to the box and switch back and forth for games that don't support VGA). Rather, they are straight VGA cables, and to switch to TV, you'll have to unplug the VGA cable and connect the AV plugs to the DC. Works fine, but should be pointed out nonetheless if you want to be able to switch.

[shido]

If you have PS2 don't get SF3: 3rd strike or VF3 or SF Alpha 3. The DC version of SF3: 3rd strike sucks hard, VF4: Evo is much better than VF3, and only the PS2 has an arcade perfect version of Street Fighter Apha 3 on the Street Fighter Anthology collection. If you have GC get the GC version of Skies of Arcadia and Ikagura.

Now for what you should get for your DC: Chu Chu Rocket, Bangai-O, Jet Grind Radio, Mars Matrix, Power Stone 2. Those are the top 5 DC games in my opinion.

[vysethebold]

I agree with shido. If you can get a cheaper version of a DC game on a newer system, I suggest doing it. The DC versions are great, mind you, but not worth paying $40 more than a PS2 version. Rez and Ikaruga I think are perfect example of this. Rez and Ikaruga are now easier to find in the US for around $40 and the DC versions are import-only and expensive. I have the PS2 version of Rez and GC version Ikaruga and love them! I suggest mainly going after the system exclusives unless you are a best-version purist (plus these "best-versions" are always up to debate concerning which versions have tightest control, options, visual clarity, sound quality, accessibility, etc. usually with give and take on many ends). I personally try to get the best versions of my favorites, but most other games I only get the best if it is reasonable which I think is a good rule for a starting DC user. Just a side-note: I have both versions of Skies of Arcadia. They are so good, though I would just get one version (preferably the GC version with all of the extras) if I were you.

[Drawesome(Dale)]

Outtriger, very unique Qauke stlye fps developed by Sega.