The Dreamcast is dead. Long live the Dreamcast. In early 2001 Sega announced that they would no longer be manufacturing the Dreamcast and that they were leaving the hardware business. It was the end of an era.
But the Dreamcast is not dead. A small but passionate group of people have refused to let Sega’s final console go gentle into that good night. Join Bitmob as we take a look at what people are doing with the Dreamcast these days. When we’re done you might just find yourself up in the attic looking for that old friend.
Go Online
While you probably wouldn’t want to fire up a game of NFL 2K via a 56k connection, some of you recovering Phantasy Star addicts might be interested to learn that you can still play this time-sucking classic online. Oh, it’s true.
SCHTServ runs a private server, which you can learn more about here. Another group at Dreamcast Online also runs a server, but they do have some membership requirements that you must fulfill before you can play. They also support a few other games such as Quake III Arena, StarLancer, Sega Swirl, and 4x4 Evolution.
Even if you’re not interested in falling back into hopeless PSO addiction, you can take a stroll down memory lane with this cool thread of pictures from PSO.
Play Something New
It looks like we’re not the only ones celebrating the Dreamcast on 9/9/2009. Redspotgames has taken the opportunity to reveal that they’re releasing a brand-new game for the system this October. You can read our news story on the Rush Rush Rally Racing announcement here and see the game in action below.
If racing games aren’t your cup of tea you might want to go with Dux, a side-scrolling shooter released for the Dreamcast on June 17 of this year. I’m not sure if the game is actually any good or not, but the trailer looks pretty (and pretty interesting).
OK, so you don’t like racing games and you’re not a big fan of shooters; boy you’re difficult to please! Surely you must like puzzle games. If so, you might enjoy Wind and Water Puzzle Battles, which was released on the Dreamcast last November. It seems to be a decent game even if the title is awful.
Modify
I have neither the skills nor the patience to turn my Dreamcast into something exciting and new, but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate what the magic the modding community is doing. There are dozens of great examples of craftsmanship out there, but the ones featured below are my favorites.
Quite often when you see a console that has been turned into a handled, it looks like someone crammed a console into some sort of plastic box and called it a handheld. That’s not the case with the Dream Trooper -- it looks better than a lot of handhelds out there.
If the Dream Trooper is a bit too small for your tastes, might I suggest the Dream Tablet. I’m literally upset that I don’t own one of these. It’s a masterpiece and I hold its builder in the highest regard. The guy is a hero.
Hopefully I’ve buttered him up enough to build me one now. Awesome-Dream-Tablet-Guy, if you’re listening I’d like to commission a Dream Tablet for myself. Email me if you’re interested!
As you can see, the Dreamcast is alive and well to a great many people. Now if we could only get someone to make Shenmue 3...
