Compilation of Late-Stage Dreamcast Trailers (2003-2007) Now Available

Both here in Europe and across the pond in North America, the final official Dreamcast releases arrived in the Spring of 2002, around a year after Sega announced they were halting production of the console. By stark contrast, over in Japan, the final official Dreamcast game didn’t see the light of day until 2007. To put that into context, while the first crop of Dreamcast games in Japan were competing with comparatively puny N64 cartridges and PS1 CD-Roms, the last few were vying for shelf space with the latest PS3 and Xbox 360 multi-million budget behemoths. 

Of course, the release schedule slowed to a trickle towards the end, but the fact that nearly a 100 games were officially released for the Dreamcast in Japan after the PAL and North American markets had shut up shop is something that continues to fascinate me. Why on earth did this happen? Who was behind it? Are there any comparable phenomena in the gaming industry? 

Well, I’m currently scribbling a longer-form piece that will dive into this bizarre period and address some of these questions, but before finishing that up, I wanted to share these trailers which should act as a nice little appetizer. They have been ripped from a set of Sega Press DVDs released between 2003 and 2007, and, as far as I am aware, this is the first time they have been made available online.

The Sega Press DVDs from which these trailers were sourced.

My understanding is that the ‘Sega Press' DVD series was distributed to gaming retailers, journalists and various other industry heads. Though dominated by the newer platforms of the time, Sega were fairly generous in giving space to the otherwise low-key Dreamcast titles of this era. Each DVD was also accompanied by leaflets/information sheets on a few chosen games, and on several occasions, despite the little white box being well into its twilight years, Dreamcast games were amongst the picks.

A typical 'Sega Press' kit, complete with contents sheet, DVD and flyers. 

Now, lastly, I'd like to give fair warning: this trailer compilation is mostly composed of shmups and ‘visual novels’, so will not be to everyone's tastes. Personally, though believing myself to be open minded, I often struggle to see the appeal of the visual novel genre, indeed, lots of the output from this time is, uh, a little off-putting (to put it mildly). Nevertheless, there are undoubtedly some gems, such as Ever 17: The Out of Infinity which features here.

Anyway, that’s enough jibber-jabber. I’ll leave you with the trailer compilation which, for the older heads, may stir memories of pre-ordering these games on Lik-Sang and insisting to your uninterested mates that the Dreamcast is ‘current-gen’.

What are your thoughts on this era of Dreamcast history? Are there any games featured here that are dear to your heart? Or, should Sega have afforded the Dreamcast a swifter demise in Japan, like they did in other markets? Let us know in the comments below.