The Wii is now sitting pretty next to the Dreamcast. Don't they just compliment each other nicely? These two consoles actually seem to have quite a lot in common, actually.
1) Most obviously, they're both white and sleek, very nicely designed consoles. They both also have a lovely glowing light when you turn them on (Only the Dreamcast one actually stays on, whereas the Wii only lights up when you get messages, which is quite spooky when the room's dark).2) They are both the first time either Sega or Nintendo have stripped their brand name from the name of a system. The Dreamcast (with the exception of America) was only officially known as the Dreamcast, not the Sega Dreamcast, and the same is going on with the Wii, making it a brand of its own. Maybe Nintendo took a leaf from Sega's book?
3) They can both play downloaded NES, SNES, Mega Drive and Turbo Grafix games. Of course, on the Wii it's legal and you have to buy them, and on the Dreamcast it's not and you don't. The Dreamcast has the advantage of being able to play (some) PSone games, and the Wii has the advantage of playing N64 games (without its infamous fog).
4) They both can browse the internet. The Wii's browser is compatible with Flash and YouTube, which is nice. Setting it up is a bit more complicated than the Dreamcast one was, though, when done wireless.
5) They both rock, and dare to be different. So there.
6) They both have Sega making games for them, although in the Wii's case, Sega haven't got enough going for it, hence why I'm making this topic...
Moving on, I've decided to put together a list of the top 5 games on the Dreamcast that I believe would work really well if remade for the Wii, control wise. I may even consider sending Sega some of these ideas, as I'd love to see them get off their lazy arse's and make some games for the Wii other than Sonic and Monkey Ball. The Wii has the potential to be Nintendo's Dreamcast, and I don't mean that by sales fiures, but I mean that by just how pioneering it can be, but if everyone just keeps porting PS2 games over, we will never know.
5: REZ
While I can't see anyone (let alone Sega at the moment) pulling off a sequel to this well, the Wii remote would suit this game mighty well. Pointing at the screen would be your aim, and the B trigger would be the shooter, which you hold down than let go of. Pretty simple control then, but where the remote would be great for this game is the built in speaker and rumble. The game is all about how it responds to your actions in both of these departments. Even if it was just a direct port of the PS2 version, this would be great, as the game is pretty darn rare now too.
4: CHU CHU ROCKET
A no brainier, this. The Wii remote pointer could be used as the cursor, the d-pad could be used to place the arrow blocks, and the B trigger used to remove arrow block. This would be a much faster and simpler control scheme than the system used on the Dreamcast, which would make the multi-payer mode much more frantic and fun. If not a full fledged retail release, this could be a direct port with these new controls available on the Virtual Console (The Dreamcast cast is a very small file size). From a financial point for Sega, this would be instant cash as it would be dirt cheap to develop and publish online. Also, use the online features, like the Dreamcast one did, to exchange levels and play against others, this time without that annoying delay.
3: SPACE CHANNEL 5
Before reading on, watch this Youtube clip of a dancing mini game in Wario Ware Smooth Moves, followed by this YouTube clip of how it's actually played. Now, image this, but with Ulala on the screen instead, with the quality 'Simon says' style game play. Is this not a Wii game just begging to happen? It'd be the ultimate "look-like-a-tit-and-love-it" game. Rather surprisingly, no one has yet tapped into the potential of dance and rhythm games on the Wii (although Konami do have a DDR planned for it). No longer will you need to buy dance mats or press buttons, when you could just dance for real in front of your telly with nothing more than a Wii remote.
Imagine the game with visuals like this artwork above. How sweet would that be? It wouldn't be impossible, just look at Monkey Ball on the Wii.What's more, a new chapter of one of Sega's main unique and under used franchise is exactly what the market needs right now. The Dreamcast was Sega at their creative peak, and they really need to start using some of the franchises created during that time more. You have a lot more properties under your belt than Sonic and Monkey ball you know, use them!
2: JET SET RADIO
While this may not seem obvious right now to many, I've thought about an entire control system for this, using both the Remote ad Nun-chuck. The Nun-chuck analogue would be used to move your character, and flicking it upwards would make you jump. Once you land on a rail, the remote could be titled left and right to keep your character in balance. The A button on the remote would be a new punch button, that will help you slow down the police.
But the real fun would come from how you spray graffiti. When making small graffiti while grinding, you simply use the B trigger if they are at your right, and the Z button on the Nun-chuck if to your left. When you approach a wall where you want to make a big graffiti, both the remote and Nun-Chuck become left and right spray cans. That's right, two cans at the same time. Instead of the Dreamcast games' analogue rotating, patterns and shapes will be displayed on the screen which you have to create using either the left or right cans, or both at the same time. I've even made a mock up above.The Wii is capable of better graphics than an X-Box, so a leap in graphics from JSRF would be no problem. We don't want realism though, Jet Set Radio (like a lot of the games in this chart) is all about style. Forget the futuristic anime style of JSRF, go back to the more cartoon-y style of the Dreamcast original, then take that cartoony-ness up to a new level. How about making everything bouncier, like an old Betty Boop cartoon? This is probably just a cartoon fanatic talking here, but I would really like to see more games really attempt to be cartoon-y, like Florigan Bros and Wind Waker, and Jet Set Radio could be a good place to start. While the other systems are trying to push for the most life like graphics, the Wii could be all about artistic style.
Speaking of which, this may be just me, but I wanna see a game use the fish eye lens effect that was being used in the canceled Sonc X-Theme. maybe Jet Set radio on the Wii could take advantage of it? Distorted perspectives would be very funky.
1: SAMBA DE AMIGO
This should of been obvious from the start. As soon as the controls were revealed for the Wii, this was one of the first games I thought would work for the system. hell, this game is perfect for the Wii. It simply must be done. Not only would the controls be exactly the same, but they may actually be more accurate with the Wii remote if done right. Due to it's high price of the maracas and rarity of the games, not many people got to experience Samba De Amigo, but on the Wii the game could be easily released as a standard £35-40 game that any one could play with the Wii remote. Even if they just directly port the game it could be a hundred times more popular than it ever got the chance to be on the Dreamcast.While there's nothing quite as daft as shaking two bright red plastic maracas about, a Wii mote and a Nunchuck, or even two Wii motes so you don't get that pesky wire, would be the next best thing. Wih these, the game could be played exactly how it was on the Dreamcast. The built in speaker on the Wii mote could recreate the rattle of the maracas. Take the control system from Ver.2000, all the songs from the Dreamcast games, add bunch of new songs, and possibly even include down-loadable extra songs, as well as a bunch of mini games, and you already have the perfect follow up.
Simply put, Sega could have the new Guitar Hero on their hands with this. The Wii has given them the perfect opportunity to see the full potential of this forgotten franchise. If Sega really want to be seen as a great game developer again, they need to stop publishing out sourced crap and retro collections and make real games again (I won't even go into the recent Sonic 360 disaster). This one would hardly even take a lot of work to develop, and could be an instant profit for the flawing company. Three words, Sega: MAKE. IT. HAPPEN.
