It has been over 20 years since SEGA released the Dreamcast. The incredible console also served as a first contact with the sixth generation of video consoles. October 14th, 1999 was that historic day when the Dreamcast was put on sale throughout Europe, obtaining an important temporary advantage over its future competitors PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox. In another iconic change, the colour of the console was changed from black to white, a first for SEGA consoles. With 128 bits of power, the Dreamcast offered unparalleled graphics. And good proof of this were their first games, which left all the children who were watching them in front of the windows with their mouths open. But the Dreamcast legacy goes beyond power; It led to the introduction of innovative features that have become standard in the industry. It included a serial modem, with the consequent possibility of connecting to the Internet and enjoying online games through a dedicated server called Dreamarena, a forerunner of today ‘s PSN and Xbox Live. To its credit, SEGA also released titles that revolutionized the market by including voice chat, popularizing the style cel shading and implementing the first downloadable content, or DLC. In essence, the so called “failed” console had numerous features that heralded the features that were supposed to become commonplace in the console gaming world. For many gamers, the SEGA Dreamcast is a console to which they have a special attachment. The Sega Dreamcast was an advanced machine for its time that was mistreated to death, leaving countless users and sagas orphans. In this post, we will look at the very best games that came out on this legendary console and thrilled us for years. Let’s get started.

Here Are the Best Dreamcast Games of All Time

Shenmue

We start our list of the best Dreamcast games of all time with Shenmue. The game features Ryo, the protagonist, who is involved in a fight in which his father is killed. The young man begins an investigation on his own to find the murderer, avenge his father’s death and clear the name of his family. The story will take you to Hong Kong, assuming the end of this first installment and leaving the fans with silly faces.

A project that was born from the hands of Yu Suzuki at the time of Megadrive, to be later transferred to Saturn and finally to Dreamcast. An epic adventure that helped games fall in love with practically the entire sector, offering a unique gameplay in which we put ourselves in the shoes of Ryo to live his story as closely as possible.

Head hunter

In a dystopian society full of quite questionable interests, we put ourselves in the shoes of a bounty hunter with memory problems who must fight against time and adversity to get his job back and kill those who almost put him in the hole.

Another of the great games of Dreamcast, capable of demonstrating the good work of Sega by offering a tribute to the great sagas of the video game, but at the same time making the title original and fun. Too bad that the passage of time has not left it in a better position.

Jet Set Radio

The police have taken control in this Dreamcast game and you are nothing more than a poor bastard with skates on his feet. Fortunately, your desire to touch the noses of the staff will force you to go out to the streets to do the most spectacular tricks and the most incredible graffiti in a way to vindicate the situation and end the oppressive forces.

Without a doubt one of the best games ever made (regardless of console), to which its second installment did not do justice at all, and perhaps that is why Sega has ended up forgetting its potential. Would you change any renowned novelty for a new installment of the saga that follows in the footsteps of the original? Undoubtedly.

Power stone

Fight, fight and fight. This Dreamcast game is great for people looking to fight. You could spend hours playing the game and you never got tired. The possibility of using almost any object that you find on stage added to the desire to get the Power Stone to transform yourself, made it one of the most admired fighting games of recent years.

Capcom surprised locals and strangers with a fighting title that broke with everything that was being done so far to show an evolved version of the classic ‘Super Smash Bros.’. Neither better nor worse than that one, simply different, he managed to reunite a cast of fighters who, thanks to his designs and personality, ended up starring in a television series.

Skies of Arcadia

Pigs don’t fly, but boats do. We know this because we were aboard one, accompanying Vyse, Aika and Fina, and becoming a pirate in an incessant fight against the Valuan Empire and a quest destined to prevent the return of archaic monsters that would break the balance in the skies. Our daily bread, let’s go.

With a universe that drank directly from our planet, especially in situations of our recent history, this Dreamcast title ended up becoming one of the RPG most loved by the gaming community, and is still fondly remembered today. Shortly after, it came to GameCube with a more powerful and complete edition, with PS2 being the only one that was left without its share of the cake.

Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes

Following in the wake of Saturn, Dreamcast featured a handful of arcade ports that were extremely faithful to the original machine. And that’s the case with Marvel vs. Capcom 2, the legendary fighting crossover between characters from the House of Ideas and the Japanese company. What’s more, this version is considered superior to all those made for desktop consoles, so if you want to play, do it on Dreamcast. And believe us: you want to play, because it is, quite simply, the most addictive, affordable and fun fighting game in history. With a simply brutal roster of characters (28 from Marvel and 28 from Capcom), including heavyweights like Wolverine, Jill Valentine, Iron Man, Mega Man, Magneto or Akuma, all of them with their characteristic attacks and powers and represented with 2D sprites so well animated that it gives the feeling of contemplating a comic in motion. And if with this we have not yet convinced you, we only have one thing left to say: hadouken vs. cobwebs.

Resident Evil: Code Veronica

The incessant fight against Umbrella leads Claire Redfield to Paris, where she ends up trapped and begins a journey that will take her to a secret laboratory in Antarctica. The plot explains the beginning of the end, with the return of Albert Wesker and the birth of the T Veronica virus.

Undoubtedly one of the key titles in the series and, for many, also one of the best. It was the first in the franchise to abandon the pre-rendered stages and start using the traverse, so the change in its graphic appearance left more than one with their mouths open. Its history, locations, enemies and situations made the history of the zombies climb several steps, becoming an epic and suffocating adventure that would take us around the world. A true Dreamcast classic.

Soul calibur

The search for the power of Soul Edge continues, which in the hands of Nightmare has sown chaos in the world, causing 19 fighters to set out in their search, to become the new master and lord of the universe or directly to destroy its immense power.

If you ask a Dreamcast owner to borrow a fighting game, possibly the first one they take off their shelf is Soul Calibur. A multitude of different characters, new settings, a more complete story and notable graphics and gameplay improvements made the title one of those sequels that not only end up being good, but far surpass what was shown by its predecessor.

Ikaruga

Following in the wake left by Saturn’s ‘Radiant Silvergun’, Treasure returns to the fray with an adventure in which he will command the Ikaruga ship to fight the Horai. Shinra, its protagonist, promises to defeat the Horai and the villagers of the Ikaruga people offer him a combat ship that allows him to match his forces to that of his adversaries.

Probably one of the best shooters in history ended up going through GameCube and Xbox Live Arcade as well as Dreamcast, reaping enormous success on each of the platforms. Much of the applause for the game, beyond its graphics and addictive mechanics, was generated when it was announced that only four people had participated in its development. A very small team that ended up creating a great game.

Virtua Tennis

Well, looking at the title, there is little room for error to guess its argument. In this case, Sega takes us to the tennis universe offering a title that moved the arcade mode, but also offering the World Circuit mode, through which we overcame different challenges that made us rise in the world rankings, also having an option for customization through a store with clothes and rackets.

That the game was released Dreamcast meant the salvation of our savings, which would have been emptied after spending too many hours in front of the arcade. Spikes with friends were epic and could have you hooked on the game for long afternoons, competing alone or in company. One of those hard-to-forget titles that haven’t aged well.

Blue Stinger

Resident Evil wasn’t the only survival horror title available on Dreamcast. Blue Stinger borrowed several elements that made this saga famous and added his own to offer a most interesting set. In this way, apart from exploring scenarios in search of resources and key objects, we face grotesque creatures making use of a combat system more typical of a beat ’em up with combinations of melee blows, as well as firearms with great power of destruction that give the title an explosive level of action. Now, there is a fact about the game that is important to know: in its Japanese version, the camera system is fixed (very similar to that of the Resident saga), however, both in the North American and the European the view is located behind the character, which gives a very different air to the title, reducing tension and at the same time differentiating it even more from its direct competitor. 

Crazy Taxi

The taxi driver’s life lasts, especially when your passengers are like a bloody goat and will tip you for jumping over buildings or skidding. Not to mention those who want to get directly to the bottom of the sea without burning their delicate feet with the sand of the beach.

Another conversion that saved us a huge expense in arcades. Its game mechanics, tremendously difficult when you had been fighting the clock for a few minutes, made it one of the most addictive titles of the time, transferring fillers to our language and catchy songs to our music players. A Dreamcast game for the ages.

Metropolis Street Racer

We will conclude our list with another Dreamcast racing classic. It is possible that the most savvy have noticed the similarity between the name of this and one of the most famous car games of the first Xbox. This is not due to chance or chance: Project Gotham Racing is the spiritual sequel to Metropolis Street Racer and takes from this many of the elements that made it famous: faithful and detailed representation of the cities of London, Tokyo and San Francisco. (courtesy of superb graphics), soundtrack integrated into the car radio (a la GTA ), day/night cycle that runs based on the Dreamcast’s internal clock and an achievement system that rewards us with ‘kudos’ or ‘honor points’ for performing specific actions. Kudos are the monetary system of the game, so if we want to unlock all the cars or have access to all 262 circuits, we must not only run fast, but also with style.