It's an endless exercise in naval gazing, and completely subjective to boot, but I've recently been hit with three different 'top ten'
Dreamcast software lists and in my humble opinion none of them quite actually hit the spot....
I'll tell you about each of them, and then await your own personal input and fave lists. I actually can't give a comprehensive favourite list, because I actually haven't played all titles yet... Maybe
Alone In The Dark, Silver, MDK II or Slave Zero could actually be fabulous... I wouldn't know.
OK: List one, perhaps the most controversial, came from
Games TM Magazine (Issue 77.) You may remember I
bigged up this particular publication (justifiably) as it gave massive column space to our lovely
Dreamcast in the closing overs of 2008...
But here's the top ten from them... They actually sensibly put in a disclaimer, which reads thus:
"
Games TM runs lists all the time, but this has been one of the most difficult to compile.
Dreamcast has so many essential titles we could probably fill a top 20 with those published by
Sega alone. As such, you will notice
some inevitable omissions from this rundown. Please don't hate us. We haven't the space to fit them all in."
That's a great cop out, and the sort of thing I'd say whilst hot footing it from a situation where someone had just glassed Mrs. K and I was too weak/fat to fight.
So OK here's the list: (And it's in no particular order)
1.)
Shenmue I/II
2.)
PSO3.)
JSR4.)
Outtirgger (?????) Not bad, but in the TOP TEN????
5.) Samba De Amigo
6.) Space Channel 5
7.) Crazy Taxi
8.)
Chu Chu Rocket (?????) I've always found it pants...
9.)
Powerstone (Presumably 1 & 2) Again, I can see it as a good game, but I was always shit at it, so I'm saying hell no!!!
10.) Metropolis Street Racer... OK now I look at it it's actually not that bad... *Cough!*
But!? Ahem???
Exqueeze me??? Where is
Soul Calibur? DOA2? Marvel Vs. Capcom? Headhunter? RE: Code Veronica?OK, now, here's the
Retro Gamer 'Dreamcast Special' Top Ten: (And this is in order...)
1.) Soul
Calibur2.) Samba De Amigo
3.) Resident Evil: Code Veronica
4.)
Ikaruga5.)
MSR6.)
Shenmue I/II
7.) Caution Seaman
8.)
PSO9.) Skies Of Arcadia
10.)
REZApart from the order, and it's not THAT wrong, I'm not gonna grumble about this list... Obviously there's no
Blue Stinger in there, no
Sonic Adventure, no
Headhunter, no
House Of The Dead 2, Virtua Tennis or Crazy Taxi, but it seems a more... in keeping with
Father K's list, so I'll let it go...
And now the list from
Gagaman(n)'s fabulous video post, from
G4TV... (and again it's closer to my list so I'm letting it go without a scathing comment...)
10.)
Virtua Tennis
9.)
HOTD2
8.)
Powerstone 1 & 2
7.) Skies Of Arcadia
6.)
JSR5.)
PSO Online
4.) Crazy Taxi 1 & 2
3.)
Shenmue 1&2
2.) Sonic Adventure 1&2
1.) Soul
CaliburOK! It's there! And I'll sneak back to the first and most controversial list's disclaimer and state that it's virtually impossible to boil down that list to ten
essential Dreamcast games.
For me it goes like this...
10.)
Blue Stinger... Not 'cos it's great, but perhaps (or because) it's NOT
that good, but along with
Ecco 2, it was the game that I got bundled with my first
Dreamcast... (This was in 2004 peeps, and ashamedly a good two years after I bought my kids a
PS2.... But I fucking love
Blue Stinger... It's a
Dreamcast classic!!!)
9.)
Headhunter. Have I ever completed it?
NO... Is it a completely gratifying game?
NO! But look at the gaming world it furnishes you with... Look at the graphics! Look at the fake advertisements that build the game up in it's alternative fascist America! I
t's a master-piece! And it's always got me wondering about how great
GTA could have been on the
Dreamcast....
8.)
Sword Of The Beserk: Gut's Rage. Well the graphics aren't that great, the story is somewhat erratic, but the sum of the experience puts it in at
number 8... It was the last
Dreamcast game I completed ( I think in Autumn 2008). I enjoyed it immensely! This was a period when I barred myself from current gen consoles, forced myself to bask in the glory of the
Dreamcast and enjoyed completing a game that had languished in my DC collection for far too long.
7.)
Crazy Taxi 1&2! Well, whilst I love this game and have played it many times on the
Dreamcast and indeed in the arcades, the simple and crushing truth is that I'm not that good at it. My desire to hold a class 'A' license and make pots of money have never been realised...
I now whore it out to the kids at my school as
this Check it out and enjoy!!!
- 6.) Caution Seaman! Although many websites will advise you that this is not a 'game', I'd defy you not to know and love this as one of the most essential Dreamcast experiences out there...
Apart from anything else, you get to plug in the
Dreamcast microphone into your controller and talk to your human/fish like progeny
for weeks at a time... What other console would furnish you with the opportunity to raise a anthropomorphic amphibian, from birth till death, and have him remember your vocation, birthday and gaming
preferences???? It's a man-fish, that talks back to you...
Come on!!!
5.)
Sega Rally 2.... OK, maybe I stand alone in thinking this was one of the most essential driving games on the
Dreamcast, but after spending years (right up until this one) playing
Sega Rally on the
Saturn, it might come as no surprise that I loved it's successor. Not as good as it's
Saturn dad, and far inferior to it's
360 son, it's still a great driving game that deserves it's place in my top ten...
And now we get down to the big
Dreamcast faves...
4.)
Sonic Adventure 1&2 : OK, let's be honest! I never completed either of these two titles, but I spent many happy hours titting around with my
Chaos on my
VMU! And let's face it, Sonic never looked so good as he did running away from the whale that he was determined to escape in the
eary stages of SA1...
3.)
Resident Evil: Code Veronica: If I had to sum up this game, I'd say it made me beam and cry in equal measure. Beam with joy at the story-line, graphics and game-play and cry at the...
erm... story-line, graphics and
gameplay. Having picked this up, just after playing
RE4 on the
PS2, I found this title both enthralling and frustrating. I could wax lyrical on the subject for hours, but as anyone who's been around here for a while will know, I never finished it, watched the closing sequences on
Youtube and have been bitter about it until this day....
*COUGH!*
2.)
Soul Calibur: Surely the best
ever fighting game on any console
ever!!! Soul
Calibur brought home the
magnificence of the
Dreamcast to me, not only in how great it looked, but how easy it was to kick the ass of any 'pro' who dared to step up to the plate... I'm still aroused by Ivy's assets to this day and the 'Mission Mode' kept me hooked and collecting art cards and
collectibles' for weeks....
1.) No
surprises here for anyone that knows me. It's
Shenmue I and II. Surely the greatest
videogame of all time. I've spent weeks and months in
Ryo's world, and hanker for it to this day.
When I first got the 360, this was the second game I played. Having sadly never owned an
Xbox, I had even
sadlier bought the
Xbox version. (BTW I made the word '
sadlier' up to describe how sad I am/was...) It had been sitting there with it's lovely
Shenmue 'catch up' DVD.
I could not resist re-living my
Dreamcast glory days through on my new 'next gen' console. I'm even thinking of resetting my
Dreamcast's date and time so I can wander into
Dobuita and bump into
Father Christmas....Anyway, the long forgotten purpose of this post was to invite you all to name your favoutite
Dreamcast top ten... I'm intrigued to know your answers!!!
