Happy Birthday Dreamcast! (In America)

The great thing about a console being released at different times in Japan, the US and Europe, is that it gets three Birthdays! Today seven years ago the console launched in America, to which it sold out in the first week. It's launch line up was it's strongest in America, too. Where else could you get Soul Calibur from day one? Also, unlike here in Brighty, the marketing was flawless. Seeing those commercials of all the characters having a party inside the Dreamcast still make me want to rip the console open and stick them all in a tank. The American launch was possibly one of the most exciting console launch’s in gaming history, at least from where I'm standing, thousands of miles away from it. Sega of America really put their all into making an impression. Here are the games that those yanks could get from day one:
  • Airforce Delta (Konami)
  • Blue Stinger (Activison)
  • CART Flag to Flag (Sega)
  • Expendable (Infogrames)
  • House of the Dead 2 (Sega)
  • Hydro Thunder (Midway)
  • Monaco Grand Prix (Ubi Soft)
  • Mortal Kombat Gold (Midway)
  • NFL 2K (Sega)
  • NFL Blitz 2000 (Midway)
  • Pen Pen Tri-Icelon (Infogrames)
  • Power Stone (Capcom)
  • Ready 2 Rumble (Midway)
  • Sonic Adventure (Sega)
  • Soul Calibur (Namco)
  • TNN Hardcore Heat (ASC) -AKA Buggy Heat
  • Tokyo Xtreme Racing (Crave)
  • TrickStyle (Acclaim)
That's at least four 9 out of 10 games there, and barely a real dud in sight, except maybe Buggy Heat, although it was a good game to show off the graphics with at the time in shop windows. Also, count how many sequels are in there: Four (Sonic Adventure doesn't count as it was a new Sonic series completely different to previous ones). Even Capcom, the KING of sequels, had a brand new francise with a brand new cast of charaters to beat the snot out of each other which. Good times!


Submitted at Youtube by Kagem.

Oh, just so you know, the DC's Euro Birthday is on the 14th of October, and it's Japanese Birthday is the 27th of November, where it is a year older due to being released in 1998. Huzzah!

5 comments:

fatherkrishna said...

Excellent stuff Gagaman! How do you know all these facts? You are the living Dreamcast Wikipaedia!For me who was oblivious to the DC at the time, it's launch date was about ooh... about 12 months ago and it had every title and peripheral available! I don't remember any adverts or promotional items and can still buzz off the Youtube offerings. Indeed one of my best Ebay purchases was a promotional VHS showing the graphic beauty of this 'latest' console... about six
years late! Still the joy of opening 'new' factory sealed items, (such as the Space Channel 5 I received two days ago) makes me feel like Howard Carter discovering Tutekhamuns nads in a canopic jar... Still fresh and as exciting as the day they were embalmed!

NSonic79 said...

I remember that time too. I was one of the first in my area to own a dreamcast. It was the first system I ever bought with not only my credit card but also my first new sega system right from day one!

It was indeed a good time that day. Who would've thought within two years sega would pull the plug.

....bastardos.....

Tom Charnock said...

One of the best launch lineups ever. I remember playing Blue Stinger when it first came out...ah, the memories. It blew the pants off Hybrid Heaven which, if I remember rightly, was the game I was playing on the N64 at the time I flogged it and got a DC. Nice post mate.

fatherkrishna said...

Blue Stinger! What a corker and one of the first DC games I really got sucked into... Have owned three different copies of the game at different times. Got a Strategy guide off eBay for a steal... Ah the voice acting... I feel a review would be timely...

NSonic79 said...

Blue Stinger held me off till RE:CV came out but I don't recall I ever beat that game.

They only downer was when sega wouldn't release a gun for HOTD2.