Top 10 Dreamcast Games

On the eighth episode of our podcast, we discussed the Dreamcast on its ten-year anniversary. Each of us had very specific memories with the system due to our coming to it at wildly different times, but there was enough crossover that we were able to come up with a list of our ten favorite games. We spoke at length about the piracy problems on the system, and while we mentioned how the boot discs could also be used to load foreign games, perhaps we did not go into enough depth on that subject. Judging from some of our inclusions (both high and low on the list), Japanese-only games certainly took up a good portion of our time with the system.

10: Rez

While many people are only just recently discovering and getting into the game via Xbox Live Arcade, its original Japanese Dreamcast release is what earns it a spot on our list. The PS2 version may have the Trance Vibrator, and the Xbox Live Arcade version may sport the amazing HD visuals and 5.1 sound, but at the end of the day it is all thanks to the original version from Tetsuya Mizuguchi. The soundtrack on the game is second-to-none, clearly inspiring future shooters (such as Space Invaders Extreme) to adopt the formula of exploding bleeps matching up with the background music. The graphics are stylized and smooth, and there is even a story should you desire to dig that deep! Very few on-rails shooters interest us (essentially this and the Panzer Dragoon games), so for it to make the cut means it more than earns its keep.

09: Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo

The first of our Japanese-only releases on our list, Puzzle Fighter is another one being re-enjoyed the world over thanks to its release on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network. Though it saw a release on plenty of other systems (everything from the PS1 to GBA), the Japanese Dreamcast version was the one specifically enjoyed by all of us back in college, and it is where we traded in our Puyo-Puyo skills for a little gem-breaking action. While we don’t like to stereotype gamers of any kind, this game truly is one that you could hand off to the non-gaming girlfriend (or boyfriend!) and have them immediately fall in love (as well as into a heavy case of addiction). The colors are bright, the music is charming, the character quotes are hilarious… it’s exactly what the doctor ordered. And in this case, it ain’t Dr. Mario.

08: Space Channel 5

Sure, the music/rhythm-game genre was already exploding thanks to the arcade scene and ports of Dance Dance Revolution, and we certainly had Parappa the Rapper (and maybe a little Unjammer Lammy) paving the way, but Mizuguchi’s second appearance on the list kept it moving forward with an incredible space aesthetic, and unbelievably, amazing voice acting. Who would have thought that Apollo Smile would provide one of the best-voiced characters on the system? With crazy tunes, equally crazy background characters (the Japanese photographers are particularly wonderful), this is definitely one of the games you think of when you hear “Dreamcast”.

07: Shenmue

“Can you tell me about the… (awkward pause)… Mad Angels?” Long before Grand Theft Auto tried an open-world sandbox game, we were solving the mystery of our father’s murder in Shenmue. One of the biggest money-pits Sega has ever had the misfortune of creating, the game never took off the way they had hoped. At the same time, its solidifying of the “Quicktime Event” gameplay system, day-to-day activities (everything from waking up to forklift racing), and horribly out-of-place voice acting came together to create a gaming experience like no other. While we will (most likely) unfortunately never see the third chapter in the story, and many gamers never bothered with even the second chapter, the first remains a feat of gaming excellence from the developer standpoint and the end-gamer standpoint. Just, please, stop asking where to find some sailors. It’s making us all very uncomfortable.

06: Crazy Taxi 2

Either the first or second game could reside in this spot on the list, since we played the Hell out of both of them. Arcade-style games made up a good portion of the Dreamcast’s library, but the Crazy Taxi games brought that fun to a new level. We have seen the same goal countless times before… shave just a couple seconds off of your time, get over to the next customer, and take short cuts to get around even faster. Somehow, though, Crazy Taxi made you want to keep playing and trying again more than anything else since the 1980s. The stylized cities and crazy passengers were just icing on the crazy cake.

05: The House of the Dead 2

The also-infinitely-quotable light-gun game from Sega brought zombies to your television a while before the craze went into full-force. Even though Sega themselves chose not to bring over the gun accessories in the wake of Columbine, plenty of third-parties were happy to pick up the slack. Branching paths, now a standard in whatever on-rails/light-gun games get made, knocked up the replay value. Two-player madness let friends get in on the action, and even if you had no friends, you could pull it off John Woo style and feel pretty good about yourself. Wacky bosses and their weak points also seem like another standard trope of the genre, but this one pulled it off just right so that its camp overcame its sheer ridiculousness.

04: Soul Calibur

Launching alongside the Dreamcast at launch, many fans did not actually know that it was a sequel to a game previously released on the PlayStation. Mitsurugi, Taki, Kilik, and all the others jumped up to the then-next-generation with more flair than could be imagined at the time. Not only did it have all the typical home-release extras like additional characters and unlockables, but it looked significantly better than even its arcade counterpart. This game single-handedly showcased how the arcades were going to have to find something other than visual fidelity to beat the home consoles. To this day the game still looks great, especially over a VGA cable to a high-definition monitor. With intuitive controls that anyone could pick up and have a great time with, it hid away an incredible depth underneath that would allow expert players to knock aside scrubs with ease. The Xbox Live Arcade release being little more than an up-res of the Dreamcast version shows just how brightly this soul still burns.

03: Marvel vs Capcom 2

Insert “take you for a ride” joke here. OK. We good now? Excellent! Capcom’s “Versus” series had been building up to this over several years, starting all the way back with X-Men: Children of the Atom in terms of play style. Crazy characters all smacking the Hell out of each other with enormous super moves and air combos? Sign us up! The “final” game in the Capcom and Marvel team-up is clearly the title-holder, though. Sporting one of the biggest rosters in gaming history (ranging in characters from Mega Man to Jill Valentine to Blackheart to Marrow), it was yet another game that anyone could pick up and feel like they were kicking some comic arse. The first Marvel vs Capcom may have been the one that saw a release closer to the system’s launch, but it was the second that stole everyone’s hearts. Once again, the Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network versions being ports based on the Dreamcast code shows just how influential the game was and how fondly the Dreamcast version… and that one, specifically… was loved by all.

02: Capcom vs SNK 2

Another Japanese release makes its way to our list, and so close to the top…! We may have some comic/anime love, but it looks like our gaming side took the title in the fight between MvC2 and this game. The first game (released both in Japan and the US on Dreamcast) set a good foundation for what was to come, but didn’t quite get everything right. The ratios were confusing, the character selection was little more than “expected”, and while the music was a fantastic collection of ye’ olden songs from the games it was based on, the background stages were bland and uninspired. The sequel fixed everything about that, and we were ready and willing from Day 1 with its Japanese release. While not containing quite as many characters as MvC2, it was a force to be reckoned with. The Capcom side dipped into its past to bring back Eagle (Street Fighter… as in Street Fighter 1) and Maki (Final Fight 2), and its present to bring in Yun (Street Fighter III) and Rolento (Street Fighter Alpha 2). The SNK side did the same thing, with an incredible selection of characters including Rock Howard (Mark of the Wolves). More “Groove” options, incredible background stages, and this plethora of characters added up to quite a package. Some may find fault with the wildly-inconsistent quality in sprites (with the recycled Morrigan consistently used as the prime example), and some may take issue with music more akin to the soundtrack in MvC2 than prior games, but that’s just part of what makes the game such a classic. Here’s hoping for an Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network re-release…!

01: Virtua Tennis

It may be “just a sports game”, and while the word “accessible” gets tossed around today like it’s yesterday’s garbage, it actually meant something back in the Dreamcast days. The game is simple to pick up, with little more than the “A” button to smack it back (and “B” button to lob it) necessary to put up a good fight. The game’s brilliance really shines in the multiplayer mode, though. The Dreamcast included four controller ports on the front, and Virtua Tennis put it to good use with its doubles mode. Four players could get in on the action together at the same time, and we dare you to try putting the controllers down once you get going. Even after playing the most-recent Virtua Tennis 3, it is clear that little has changed since the first game. The players still move as smoothly as they did back on Dreamcast, and the controls are just as intuitive as ever. In fact, play the latest game on an SDTV and you will have a difficult time telling the games apart at a quick glance. Virtua Tennis was one of the games that showcased just how ahead of its time the Dreamcast was (at launch, no less), and it still holds up to this day.