The Best Dreamcast Merchandise: a Post-Christmas Breakdown

As a group of proudly obsessed Dreamcast fans here at the Junkyard, we don't simply leave our admiration for Sega's 128-bit box of wonders at talking endlessly about the games, hardware or accessories that most people associate with the console. For us, the Dreamcast is life, and we need little encouragement to escalate our borderline obsessive behaviour by purchasing as much plastic tat merchandise associated with the console as our little wallets can handle. Genuinely, we would buy a bin full of sick if Sega printed a swirl on the side and called it the “DreamBin” (Lewis, copyright that shit right now).

But of course, we don't actually need to stock up on vomit-filled metal containers, because Sega, and the various publishers of Dreamcast games, have seen fit to release or provide their license to a whole assortment of items related to the console and the games that made it great. Some of these are awesome… so awesome in fact that this article will mark the start of what will become a long-running series of “Mike's Random Dreamcast Top Tens”, with this first one looking at some of my favourite pieces of merchandise that you too can buy and put on a shelf, and admire from a distance with a tear in your eye as you realise you'll never have enough time to play all those games you've bought, but purchasing mass-produced nonsense for display like your 80 year old grandmother’s collection of porcelain dolls is now your life. 

Enough waffle. Let’s get on to today's random list, and too late for you to be able to get these in your stocking for Christmas! A pre-emptive warning - I may have my tongue firmly in my cheek for much of this article.

Dreamcast Socks

I write this as the full charade of Christmas is upon us. There are the sounds of happy little children outside, seasonal songs fill the airwaves and I can catch a glimpse of a tinsel and fairy light bedecked tree from my games room. I hate it. The children are little arseholes, the songs are shit and that tree is a fire hazard. No one remembers the true meaning of Christmas anymore - no, not Jesus (hail Satan), but family members you see for one day a year giving you shitty socks because they are bereft of ideas and refuse to indulge you in your childish love of gaming. 

But here's an idea - get those family members to buy these snappy little numbers and everyone's a winner! When Sega remember they have licenses they haven't used for decades they release some cool stuff, and this selection of two different Dreamcast sock designs fulfils both our collective need to keep buying Dreamcast stuff while also allowing us to be all grown up and shit at the same time. 

You can get these in traditional festive sock grey with a swirl on them or in a slightly wrong coloured approximation of the controller. They obviously missed a trick by not putting some kind of hilarious message in the VMU window, such as “I wanted a new Skies of Arcadia game but all I got were these socks”, but who cares when you can proudly display your love of the 128-bit wonder to your significant other every night with these?

The fetching grey of the socks on the right doesn't quite embody the blue-sky aesthetics.

A pile of socks! Christ - what a time to be alive.

Crazy Taxi Toys 

I'm pretty sure there's no better game on the Dreamcast to recreate through the medium of toys than the mighty Crazy Taxi. Sure, if you wanted to really do the game justice you'd have to clear a room, stick Lego road plates down at weird angles to recreate the streets of not-San Francisco, gather a large number of cheap Matchbox cars to line the streets and be ploughed through by the world’s most unsafe cab drivers while you blast The Offspring and Bad Religion tunes at top volume. You could even get a little toy priest and draw an orange circle around him, before crashing right into him with your little taxi, claiming you are “just picking him up”. This unhinged little playtime is made somewhat easier if you utilise the official Crazy Taxi vehicles/playsets that were released by GamePro and JoyRide studios some two decades ago.

These recreations of the vehicles from the first two titles in the franchise feature one driver each (everyone just picked the first choice driver anyway, didn't they?) and a few of the various demanding customers so you can recreate your wildest Crazy Taxi dreams. They're pretty faithfully recreated, although the inclusion of the mimes from the second title is a bit of a punch in the arm as anything with mimes in is automatically cursed. The cabs are of course the stars of the show and are well made, allowing for plenty of “vroom vroom, get out of my way, I'm craaaazy” antics. You can even recreate the sequel's jumping mechanic by picking up the car and throwing it in the air, which is infintely more fun than the actual game mechanic itself.

Look at those mimes. Freaks. 

I'll go against previous statements here too - no one should keep these sealed. Free them from their plastic coffins and whizz them around the floor with all the glee of a toddler and you'll instantly be transformed into the most alpha of alpha males. You must sing The Offspring and Bad Religion songs whilst doing this though, otherwise what's the bloody point?

There's a few other bits of Crazy Taxi merchandise available for those who really want it. The remote control taxi is particularly lovely, but as I don't have one it won't be featuring in this or any other list… because i'm annoyed I don't have one. 

A close up shot. I couldn’t be arsed to take something more artistic. 

Shenmue Statue

I love Shenmue. Sure, I may have pissed off the more hardcore side of the fanbase by saying the fighting is dull (it is, though, admit it) but this is the game that made me fall in love with gaming again and is the reason I'm here now writing this stupid article. One of the only games that is legitimately “life changing”, I've experienced the highs and lows of the last few years with the franchise and await both the forlorn hope and inevitable disappointment that the next few instalments will bring. One thing that Sega has done in recent years is revisit the franchise for some merchandise, and alongside the rubber duck Ryo and the aftershave that smells like mid-‘80s Japanese warehouses, they released this rather splendid looking statue.

Capturing an iconic scene from the game, this is a fully featured statue that brings the true likeness of Ryo to your home. Sort of. The statue had a bit of pushback from some fans due to Ryo's face looking a little... off. I will admit that it doesn't look exactly like our favourite Japanese martial arts loving teenager (more like a perpetually haunted version), and the detail of the figure is a little lacking in places, but I can't bring myself to not like this. Maybe I’m just so in need of a Shenmue fix that I'd buy anything, but honestly it doesn't look that bad at all. 

Anyway, I'm off to splash the scent of a forklift over my Ryo duck, ta ta for now. 

It's an iconic pose, and the jacket looks cool. Maybe a bit shiny, though?

The face is definitely haunted.

It isn't awful though, is it? The internet would have you believe this was an awful statue. You know what is awful? The internet.

ChuChu Rocket! Plush Toys

I'll tell you what, there aren't enough Dreamcast-related plushies. Sure you can get several variations of Sonic (boring) but what true Dreamcast fan wouldn't want to cuddle up to the stars of the console’s best (yep, I said it) online game? Released back in 2000 in Japan alongside characters from Space Channel 5, Rent-A-Hero No. 1 and... one of the Let's Play Baseball titles (none of which I currently have in my collection, boo!), these two little soft friends will make even the most grizzled Dreamcast veteran feel a little sense of joy. They're not very big but that just makes them all the more cute and cuddly. The eyes would probably fall off if you gave this to a child under the age of five, which could cause a choking hazard and frankly, would be wasted on them. Kids nowadays don't want the cheery fun of space cats wanting to devour space mice, they just love violent video games, TikTok influencers and heroin… or something.

Regardless, this pair is one of the highlights of my collection, a somewhat random eBay find from years ago that aren't too easy to come by nowadays. It's hard to choose a favourite - which is yours? The chirpy little mouse or the psychotic-looking cat that has done way too many space drugs and will literally bite your face off if there was ever a Toy Story-esque “coming to life” of these toys?

There have definitely been drugs consumed by these two.

Dreamcast Girl Statue

I dunno about you, but I often visualise my favourite video game consoles as scantily dressed anime girls. You should see what the Atari Jaguar looks like in my fantasies. And the Amstrad GX4000? Phwoar. Sega don't want us merely using our imaginations though, and thoughtfully decided that what the world needed was an actual real anthropomorphised Dreamcast that they could team up with a similarly humanised Saturn and Mega Drive girl for the unfortunately named “Sega Hard Girls” project.

In fairness, the anime and games based on this idea aren't all that bad and whilst the idea might sound a little... creepy, it's a relatively harmless exercise in Sega using their own branding to create something for the fans, and that's never a bad thing. As part of their multi-format use of the Sega Hard Girls idea, Sega produced figures for each of the three heroines and it is the Dreamcast version of these that is pictured below.

Striking a pose. Oh yeah, cool stand too.

I'd wear that hat/tiara thing. I don't care.

It's probably best to ignore the description given to this character as it's all a bit twee, but she is instantly recognisable with her orange and white dress, VMU knee pads (or socks? I dunno), controller tiara and swirly hair. It's probably quite close to how most of us would’ve envisioned a Dreamcast-turned-anime character, so that's pretty neat. There's not much more to say about it though - this figure will grace the discerning Dreamcast fan's shelves rather inoffensively. Saying that, I'm just going to check no internet weirdo has made this into some perverted porn thing... oh my. Don't search that on Google. For Christ's sake, don't!

The box is really cool too. Not motorbike, speedboat or monster truck cool, but still cool nonetheless.

Sonic Adventure Statue

We'll probably never see another Sonic Adventure game. There are some in the Dreamcast community who are heartbroken by this (not talking about the Sonic fandom, which is borderline insane at the best of times), whilst others view it as a blessing. Let's be honest - it's not aged wonderfully, has it? It’s an enjoyable game, and yeah the killer whale scene is awesome, but regardless of what some internet history revisionists like to say (usually to make a quick buck on a YouTube video) it's not really a top tier title. Doesn't stop us lot feeling nostalgic about it, though, of course, and I'd happily spend my hard earned money on something even vaguely related to the Dreamcast Sonic era if someone produced it.

This is where First4Figures came in when they released a trio of statues based on the iconic Sonic Adventure cover artwork. It's a bit Goldilocks and the three bears though - the base statue is far too simple for a Dreamcast-obsessed cretin like me, but the “definitive edition” costs more than a kidney on the black market and is too rich for my blood. The “collector's edition”, priced in the middle of the two, is just right. It is even named in such a way to illicit more sadness in me as I realise for the rest of my life I'll probably spend more time collecting games and game-related stuff than actually playing them.

Upon receiving this resin monster (this morning, by the way - literally 15 minutes before writing this. Breaking news as always here at the Junkyard) I carefully opened the box (gotta think about the resale value, kids) and removed everyone's favourite hedgehog. Now I've not had the pleasure of purchasing a First4Figures release before, but the quality of this rather reasonably priced statue is very good indeed. It recreates the famous cover pose very nicely, and it brought a little tear to my eye seeing the Sonic Adventure logo all lit up in blue. Obligatory photo dump following in 3, 2, 1...

PRETTY LIGHT.

PRETTY LIGHT IN DARK!

No light. Sad face. 

In a box. A nice box though.

Of course, it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the definitive edition (although that version only really has an additional ring behind Sonic and a heavily mentioned extra “knob” for the lights, which is rather amusing to my childlike mind. “Play with Sonic's knob!” is a phrase they should have advertised this with, and which would not have brought out the very worst of the Sonic fandom at all) but for the gentleman (or gentlewoman) Dreamcast collector, this is clearly the right balance between being a fanboy and being able to pay the electricity bill. Oh, and there is a battery in this thing despite all the advertising saying it didn't have one. No cable though, which is a bit shit. 

Jet Set Radio Water Bottle

Everyone knows Jet Set Radio is the raddest of all Dreamcast titles, and as someone who takes great personal care to always be with it when it comes to being cool and hip, I can assure you that all the babes will think you’re “wicked” and “phat” if you're seen around town or even just in your “crib” with this jazzy bottle. Cowabunga!

Shit, sorry, had an awful episode of ‘90s nostalgia there. Terrible slang aside, there's no denying that this is a cool-looking bottle and somehow manages to capture the colourful joy of JSR as well as not being something you will instantly be ridiculed for by those peers who have managed to move on with their lives. I'm reliably informed it works pretty well as a drinking vessel but any real Dreamcast fan will of course not be using this as it's too precious to sully with liquid. Released a few years ago via the European Sega Shop as part of one of the company’s periodic bouts of remembering they have franchises that aren't blue hedgehogs, the fact that it sorta looks like a spray can is pretty neat and so incredibly ‘90s and “extreme”. “Haha, I both am keeping myself hydrated and sticking it to the man by pretending to spray paint this funeral home! I'm so unbelievably extreme! What am I like?”

Radical!

It's very bright.

Flea! Plush

Remember I said there wasn't enough plush toys for Dreamcast fans? You know what else there isn't a lot of? Dreamcast indie game merchandise. Yeah, Sturmwind had that plush Kraken (which was awesome, but i don't have it, so forget I said anything) and you can get a couple of Intrepid Izzy figures, but for God’s sake, it's 2023 and we need more!!! Anyway, you know what Alistair Low of Lowtek Games and Funstock did with the remarkably fun Flea! game? They made a plush of the main character and released it to hardly any fanfare. This thing should be on every Dreamcast fan’s shelf immediately. Look at his little face! LOOK AT HIS ANGRY LITTLE FACE!

If there was ever a character that I resonate with more, then I'm yet to find him. The flea is so grumpy, so “done with this shit” that it makes my heart bleed a little. He's the star of his own game and an indie icon (well, for me at least) but he thoroughly hates everyone and everything and frankly, I appreciate that in the little man. He may only be palm-sized (he is a flea, after all) but that little face is impossible not to love like your own child. His little whisps of hair, his angry little upturned mouth. Those naysayers who moan about some Dreamcast indie titles just being “NES ports” should take a long hard look at this little fella and then never complain about me or my son again. 

My hero.

Look at his tiny little face.

Dreamcast Vinyl Records

The Dreamcast is quite “cool” right now, and cool things attract a bunch of hipster posers, and what do those tight jean-wearing beardy fools like more than anything else? Yes that's right, vinyl records. Long considered a dead medium for music by anyone with sense, we’ve unfortunately seen a resurgence of these ridiculous circular death slabs of resin, so now everyone wants every piece of music ever recorded pressed onto some oversized coaster so they can hang them on their walls and never play them, no doubt thinking they'll be worth the price of a house in ten years despite 40 million copies being released. Personally, I think we should have done away with vinyls at the same time we did away with the legacy of ‘70s British comedians, both of which are examples of things from the past that were never that good, have better modern choices available, and should never have been left alone in a room with children.

Anyway, despite calling vinyls “hipster shit” whilst sat here in a room with 200 of them (yes, I know I'm a fraud. I don't even own a Dreamcast, I just drug our founder Tom Charnock with truth serum and get him to tell me his thoughts so I can write them down and claim them as my own. I don't even know what an “Sega” is), there have been some interesting releases of Dreamcast game soundtracks on vinyl in recent years. One of these would be the release of the Skies of Arcadia vinyl set.

I took this on Christmas day morning. I could not give two shits about the shadow.

Coming in a larger box with a total of three vinyls, a large artbook and some admittedly excellent artwork, this is definitely something that looks cool and, of course, sounds excellent. The only issue you may have with this one to explaining to the record shop owner what it is when you inevitably sell your vinyls in ten years time, and they find it sat amongst a bunch of depraved Black and Death metal records. Tell ‘em it's a limited edition Sigh record or something.

My blue vinyl brings all the hipsters to the yard.

The artwork is pretty cool though. Put that stuff in a frame and you'll be as cool as me.

Dreamcast Shoes

I know what you're thinking - “I really want to show off my love for the Dreamcast by wearing shoes emblazoned with the console!”, which is honestly kind of a weird thing to think, but as luck would have it, a few years ago these Dreamcast shoes were released in Japan. Perhaps about the only collectors that are more insufferable than vinyl-loving hipsters are those who have shelves full of trainers or shoes. What's that about? You can just about convince people that vinyl and games have artwork that looks nice on display, but shoes? Really? What next? Will people start collecting belts too? Or underpants?

Box is nice.

Anyway, if you are someone who must collect shoes, then these are pretty cool. I say “pretty”, as the words of Tom upon seeing me receive these are unrepeatable on this blog. I can still hear him scoffing at me and berating these shoes even now. When I stopped crying about his rejection of the latest addition to my collection, these went and sat on my shelf quite nicely. The box they came in is pretty cool and despite the shoes being very (very) orange, they just about straddle that line between cool collecting item and mid-life crisis.

They're very orange.

But they're quite nice. Tom can do one for mocking them.

***

So that was my look into the world of Dreamcast merchandise. To be honest, I was in a bad mood before writing this, so now I'm just sat here with a bottle of mead liquor in one hand regretting my life choices.

And, once again, my tongue has been firmly in my cheek throughout this article.