Today is the 10th Anniversary of Dreamcast!

[Warp2063]

Happy Dreamcast Day... 10th Anniversary!

9/9/99 - 09/09/09... It's been ten years, and it's still a great system.

I should do something to celebrate. Maybe some Skies of Arcadia and Sonic Adventure. And definitely some Power Stone. And I'll have to grab my import player discs to play some Guilty Gear X.

[Peter]

Happy Dreamcast Day indeed!

I shall be playing some Ecco, Rayman, Toy Commander, and Pen Pen Triicelon. Pen Pen is so awesome. :D

[Mytho]

I remember waiting in line at Babbage's before school started to snag my Dreamcast and Sonic Adventure. I have no clue how I made it through that day without going insane. Leading up to the launch, I read the pre-launch issue of Official Dreamcast Magazine like it was my bible. I had never been so excited for something before in my life.

When I arrived home, I played for about 6 hours straight. Literally from the very moment I got home till bed time, stopping only to eat and use the bathroom.

The next day, I got up at 5:30 AM, played till 6:30 AM, came back around 3 PM and tore into the demo disc included with the system. EVERY game I played on that demo disc was awesome, especially Power Stone, Trickstyle (though not so much anymore) and Ready 2 Rumble Boxing. I also figured out how to access the Internet with my DC later that night. I nearly passed out from excitement when I first accessed the Sonic Adventure in-game web page.

The really sad thing is that no future game system will ever come close to replicating the magic of the Dreamcast. I feel extremely fortunate to have experienced the heyday of the Sega Dreamcast from Day One (9/9/99) up until the present day.

[Warp2063]

Ah, Trickstyle. I wish I still enjoyed it as much as I remember enjoying it...

[Manji]

i agree that there's been no system since to have that magic spark the DC had when it came out.

i didn't buy a Dreamcast on day one, but i did buy it for Resident Evil Code Veronica. i was a big RE fan and it was pretty much perfect, everything you could ask for. Capcom really supported the system too.

[Warp2063]

I'm kind of disappointed - some of my VMU's memory became corrupt. I don't know why...

I first realized something was wrong when my Sonic Adventure file was missing. When I went to check the VMU in the Dreamcast's explorer, there were only four files there - my Skies of Arcadia save (thank goodness), my Guilty Gear X save, and my Power Stone 1 & 2 saves. I checked through my other cards - Sonic wasn't there, either. Also, between those four saves, only 49 blocks should have been occupied on the card. However, the Dreamcast reported 3 blocks free, which would have brought the total to 52 blocks... and a normally-formatted DC memory card should be 200 blocks...

So, I moved the remaining files over to another card and reformatted the faulty VMU. It seems to work fine now (although it looks to me like the little notepad icon on the VMU is lit up...). I'm also storing it further away from the TV screen, as I know there's always the possibility of EM interference messing with the stored data.

So, now I have to play through Sonic Adventure again. It shouldn't be the end of the world, as it's a good game... besides, I never did beat it. I got stuck at one point and couldn't figure out how to continue. I'm unhappy that I lost my records, though. I don't know what else may have gotten lost on that memory card, but looking through my games and the saves I have stored on other memory cards, it looks like most of the saves I care about are backed up in one place or another.

On the bright side, I already knew that the original Soul Calibur was awesome... but I didn't realize HOW awesome until today. Added bonus; it was one of the save files that didn't get lost. I love the little character animations on the VMU, and the animations, art, and extras in-game are fantastic. Such a great game. I finally had to call it quits, because I was getting tired and my thumb was hurting. If neither of those things had been a problem, I'd have kept going. I want to unlock everything.

[JerryTerrifying]

I was playing some Marvel Vs Capcom yesterday.

Also I'd burnt like 7 games for my friend. His house got broken into while he was in the pokey a few weeks ago and they got all his good stuff like his 60gb ps3 and laptop and ipod and crap so he's had the Dreamcast out. I hooked him up with a power and AV cord and he came over yesterday to get the games burnt and I was like "you know today's the 10th anniversary so make sure you go home and play some games while its still the DC's birthday!"

So like an hour or two later I get a Text message saying his controller won't work. And I fill him in on how that's one of the most common problems. I did a little youtubing and googling and saw how its an easy fix and I'd be more than happy to fix that DC up. Just a shame he didn't get to play on the DC's birthday!

I didn't have a Dreamcast till about 2 years ago or so. I'd always wanted one because I was just fascinated by its internet functionality. I remember wanting to see its browser in action so bad, to see Phantasy Star Online in action. Oh well. Better late than never I suppose.

[xDerekRx]

Shenmue is still one of the greatest game experiences in my life. Same with Res Evil Code Veronica. Thank you DC!

[grolt]

Happy Dreamcast Day indeed!

I shall be playing some Ecco, Rayman, Toy Commander, and Pen Pen Triicelon. Pen Pen is so awesome.

Haha, yeah, Pen Pen is great. I was practically inundated with screenshots from that game when I started following the system during it's Japanese launch. There was that and the godawful Godzilla Generations game and the lackluster VF3 port, so it was slim pickings for a long time. Pen Pen had vibrant colors and some truly goofy character designs, I'll never forget watching all those dudes scamper along the ice for the first time. Hysterical. For me it's one of the games synonymous with the system along with Sonic Adventure, Shenmue and the 2K series.

I don't know what the hell I was doing in September other than working hard, but I missed this. I'm pretty choked about it, actually. When the system launched on 9/9/99 I got my mom to pick me up on hers and my lunch break to go to Superstore to buy it. It was icy as all hell and we barely made it there, but having that system in my hands, along with Sonic Adventure, Soul Calibur and a non-fitting XXL pre-order t-shirt (ha!) made it was one of the best memories I ever had. That launch was legendary, I don't think any other will ever be able to match the number of top tier games that hit during the launch. Even the worst games were better than the best games that hit with the PS2.

I'm sad I didn't get to relive the system on that milestone day, since it's been a long time since I've fired it up. I've always wanted to play Phantasy Star Online, since that was a game I wanted but never did buy. I've since acquired it, and hope to finally give it a good shot, albeit only offline. Skies of Arcadia, too, needs some love by me.

Still, what a special day, and it's nice to see so many still celebrating this little SEGA system that could! Or couldn't, I guess, when we talk about the competition with the PS2...

[xDerekRx]

The Dreamcast, even though it died early, at least game Sega some respect. The Saturn rubbed people and developers the wrong way but at least DC had some legs, a really nice library when all was said and done. It was inevitable that Sega wasnt going to survive making systems but Im glad they at least pumped out the Dreamcast as their last hurrah.

[Warp2063]

I want an XXL pre-order shirt! Especially for the Dreamcast! Pre-order shirts never come in that size anymore...

I would still be interested in getting an online PSO group going. I can play the PC, DC, or GC versions, although the GC one is the only one I've put any time into.

Soul Calibur 1 is still awesome. I love the little chibis on the VMU while you fight.

[grolt]

The Dreamcast, even though it died early, at least game Sega some respect. The Saturn rubbed people and developers the wrong way but at least DC had some legs, a really nice library when all was said and done. It was inevitable that Sega wasnt going to survive making systems but Im glad they at least pumped out the Dreamcast as their last hurrah.

To clarify, as bad as the Saturn was perceived to be, it still had a much longer shelf life than the Dreamcast. Sega pulled the plug prematurely on the Saturn, but they really jumped ship with the DC. The Saturn lasted four years in North America ('95-'99). The Dreamcast, by comparison, barely made it past a year and a half. That's crazy. It practically took that long for the PS2 to get a good game after launch! It's accessible hardware and Windows CE platform has made it a homebrew staple, but by all means the Dreamcast appeared to have burned twice as bright, but half as long, as the Saturn.

Warp, at that time it seemed like anything I pre-ordered came with an XXL shirt. I think I have a Mario Kart 64 shirt and a Spyro shirt of that size tucked away somewhere. My Dreamcast shirt should be kicking around somewhere too - I'd never throw it out, but I fear it may have been chucked when my parents moved. I was hoping to one day use it as a maternity shirt for the wife or something...

[Warp2063]

I wish I had pre-order bonuses from back then... But I think the first game I ever pre-ordered was Majora's Mask on the N64, and that was in 2000 (I actually do have a video cassette preview of the game, but I can't remember if that was a pre-order bonus or something Nintendo mailed to me). I didn't have the opportunity/means to start pre-ordering things regularly until maybe 2005 or so.

I need to hunt for a Dreamcast shirt now...

[xDerekRx]

Ya the Dreamcast lasted much longer after its final release with homebrew and what not.