Anniversary It's Been 25 Years Since The Dreamcast's North American "9.9.99" Launch

I have so little recollection of the Dreamcast growing up in the UK. I remember thinking the controllers with the removable memory cards were awesome, but never saw much about the games.

Worth remembering that this was a period of time that had some absolutely brilliant N64 and PS1 games - not to mention the PS2 was being talked about everywhere.

I remember FF9 dominating the summer holidays in 1999 and I remember watching FFX trailers not long after- and being blown away by the Sin tsunami attack clip!

So for me, Dreamcast really passed by. But, I'm actually pleased about it! I forged my gaming memories on N64 and PS1 - no shame or regret at all - and now I am happy to anticipate visiting Dreamcast completely blind in the coming years.

I bought this day 1 UK, along with ready 2 rumble boxing and I think that was it. Wasn't long though before I had many more games, ending up with about 30 in the end. Summer 2000 was brilliant, I was at college and had loads of time off in the summer just to play all my Dreamcast games, particularly crazy taxi, virtua tennis and sonic adventure 1/2. I also got into listening to Japanese chillout electronic music while playing shemnue, which had a real spiritual and emotional connection for me. Personally I think because I was a late teenager and so few people own a Dreamcast, it felt like my console. No other console has had such a heavy line up of games for that brief period. There were too many to afford to buy! Amazing to think these were direct arcade ports but without the costs of a neo geo.

Shame that it died along with pretty much the whole arcade scene after that. It was definitely a golden couple of years that I will always remember - freedom of having disposable income, lots of time and lots of less commitments, even if I was ready to be in a relationship which came just after that period of time!

@nocdaes
Final Fantasy IX was released in 2000. You are remembering FFVIII.

@UK_Kev Yep you are right, it was FF8!

@Blofse

Similar here. I got this day one. I was at the shop for a midnight launch to get my console and Ready 2 Rumble boxing. I later enjoyed Power Stone and Shenmue. I just feel I didn’t give the console enough time/attention to get the most out of it.

I had just started University and one of my dorm mates had it pre-ordered from a GameStop in the mall. While we had all been having nightly GOLDENEYE competitions, us and our friends were super-hyped for the Dreamcast (BEST. CONSOLE. NAME. EVER.). I remember us coming back to the dorm; Matt dropped around $500.00 USD when everything was said and done. He picked up the console, two extra controllers, two VMUs, two Light Guns, Sonic Adventure, Ready2Rumble Boxing, House of the Dead 2, and Soul Calibur.
I believe NFL2K, NBA2K and Slave Zero came a few weeks later. It was insane to be a part of someone going all out at launch. I picked up a neon-green VMU to use. We played non-stop for 3 days straight pretty much. We were all blown away. Soul Calibur and NFL2K were folded into heavy rotation along with GOLDENEYE. My strongest memories revolve around getting deep into Weapons Master mode and playing NFL2K, four player, until 3AM. Still one of the best consoles of all time.

Yeah, this was the first system I bought day 1. Although, I don't think it released in UK until a month or so after 9.9.99. I got a the light gun with house of the dead 2 and Sonic Adventure with mine

The next Sega Console will launch at 22.22.22

Just hooked mine back up yesterday (not any special reason as I am reworking my AV set up).

I bought one when it was discounted, just shy of when SEGA pulled out of hardware market officially in early 2001 after receiving a welcome tax rebate and hoovered up every game I could and got all the classics. Rez, Outrigger, Skies of Arcadia, Streetfighter 3rd Strike, Marvel vs Capcom, Alpha 3, Gunbird, Shenmue 1 and 2, Daytona, Soul Calibur, I mean everything at bargain basement prices. So I was one of the people that did not buy in until it was too late. Really a great library of exclusive games on that console.

Liquidated it during Covid when everybody had furlough money and video game prices spiked and must have made in excess of 8-10k on everything from about 400 spent. Best money ever put down in Game of all places and I loved the console in the end with many happy memories plus complimented my Gamecube well. Did not even try out the PS2 until 2005 but never had same connection for me as the Nintendo or Sega consoles of that generation.

With emulation improving monthly so much on handhelds and the ability to recreate 128 bit hardware it was a no brainer in end. I have sneakily looked on ebay to get another console though with pangs of regret, might play Rez HD tonight. 25 years though time flys!

@Deuteros
I also bought my Dreamcast straight after the announcemnet that it was being discontinued. Everything was cheap. The games, the extra controllers, the memory cards. Even the RGB cables.

@UK_Kev I could not believe the prices around early to Easter 2001 for SEGA stuff. The console itself was only 49.95 if I recall brand new. Yet the prices in Game itself getting rid of their stock as if it was a fire sale were absolutely ridiculous, like a few pounds to 5-10 pounds for every game. Capcom classic after classic, Powerstone 1 and 2 yes please, 3rd Strike for 7.95, how can I say no to that, Code Veronica for 4.95 why not and Gunbird add it on as well! Project Justice, Tech Romancer, Giga Wing, Mars Matrix, Plasma Sword, Cannon Spike and many more Capcom really supported Dreamcast very well as a developer.

Ended up with an extra controller 2 VMUs RGB cable console and like 40 odd games then started going to different stores for new games every week to bolster collection, as everybody just seemed to want to move it quickly as if it was worthless now for some reason.

Never got the fishing controller, lightgun or Samba Maraccas though Really crazy time but great for Dreamcast vultures like me as I ended up calling the people that never supported SEGA from day one, as it was an undiscovered treasure chest of fun. Only wish I had bought multiple copies of everything at those prices now.

Back in early 2000s games were still about 50 at end of N64 era minimum or more on cartridge, and PS2 prices were 40+, just got a Gamecube from States as well at end of 2001, with similar cost for new titles. Older PS1 games were cheaper plus greatest hits as well as Saturn stuff if you could find it, the Amiga was dead and PC games were still relatively expensive so this steady stream of AAA Dreamcast games, paricularly the SEGA output and Arcade conversions were more than welcome...

I don't think I've ever seen someone say they DON'T like the Dreamcast. Sure, there will be some people out there of course, but it seems to be well liked by most of the gaming population. That's saying something where most seem to have a strong opinion on each console.

The Dreamcast & Snes are my favorite consoles for sure. There's a special feel to the DC that has never been replicated by any other console.

I didn't own a Dreamcast, and I only had one friend that had a system back then. I can't even remember which games we played on it. There's so much love for this system that there are times I'm tempted to pick one up just to experience it. But, collecting has gotten a lot harder; especially if you try to go with original hardware. There are definitely key titles I want to pickup. Is it really worth it these days? I guess 5min on Ebay would tell me. Too the one great used game store in town that wasn't GameStop gave up and switched to pure tabletop games. I loved that store, but I get that sales were just declining too much for them not to pivot.

Nothing to share here other than it's obvious there is still a lot of love for this system. I know Sega will never make another system. I would like for Sega to do a deep partnership with MS and come up with a killer system seller for the next Xbox. MS can't seem to do it. Maybe Sega and one of their legendary teams with an established IP can.

I remember my brother driving us up to Toys'r'us to pick up our Dreamcast along with another controller, two VMUs, a Jump Pack, and about 5 games on launch day.

I'd later go on to have over 300 games including the entire North American catalog complete in box. I also had 2 fishing controllers, 3 mice, 4 keyboards, over a dozen VMUs/4x memory cards and controllers, 6 systems, 2 racing wheels, 3 light guns, 2 maracas, 2 dance pads, 2 arcade sticks, and lots of strategy guides, magazines and demo discs.

It was a favorite of mine for a very, very long time. Now, it seems that I might enjoy thinking of the era more than playing the games.

Edit: I did play the first stage of Sonic Adventure this morning in honor of the 25th anniversary.

I was a SEGA console owner from the Master System onwards, and a big fan of the Saturn. SEGA seemed to have it right with Dreamcast, the demo units with Ready to Rumble were really impressive and arcade ports lined up popular games. It was a shame that VF3 TB and SEGA Rally 2 both felt a bit lacking around launch, after the Saturn had great versions of VF2 and SEGA Rally.

I played the Deamcast for years and Skipped PS2 at the time, I bought a GameCube next. Shenmue 2 was a great late release in Europe at least. Still have my console packed up, great memories of that era.

Day one? I was seven or eight months ahead of day one. Being a Saturn owner got me very comfortable with importing. Luckily, by the late 1990s, importing didn't carry a heavy premium, so I ended up ordering an Asian region(outside of Japan) Dreamcast because I just couldn't wait. It was a lot of fun, and very cool having it well before most people did. It arrived on the perfect day too. As I recall it was right as I was off from school for a week. It was a fun time.

@Deuteros wow, I enjoyed your story. How many games did you sell to pull that return?

This was such an awesome memory. I went to EB Games in the mall on 9/9/99 and spent my own money on a console, something I had never done before. I went home, hooked it up to my new tv using an s-video cable, and was in awe of the graphics and gameplay of Soul Calibur. This was the first time I had seen arcade quality visuals in my own house. It was just so cool.

I remember before I was gifted a Dreamcast, I begged my mom to rent it for us from Hollywood Video a few neighborhoods away. My friends and I gathered around and played Sonic Adventure as long as we could, knowing we didn't have a VMU with which to save the game. The graphics really felt "next gen" to us in a way no other system had. Once I bought the system, I was definitely part of the problem, as I remember buying burned discs and a boot disc off some other teenager in my high school. He had a trenchcoat and got a real kick out of swinging it open to see an array of disks pinned to the inside of it in sleeves, like the Resident Evil 4 merchant going "what are you buyin!?"

I only ever saw Dreamcast on a shelf of a small electronics store, probably around when it launched. I’m pretty sure the price was something absurd, but I was solely playing on pc at that point, so I didn’t end up longing after it.

Admittedly within the last decade, I’ve occasionally thought about buying an used one, since it’s the only ’modern’ console besides N64 that I haven’t used or seen used live. Maybe one day.

Bought a Dreamcast on 9.9.99 with Sonic, Blue Stinger, and Soul Calibur. Got Crazy Taxi, Power Stone and Dynamite Cop soon after, later followed by RE: Code Veronica, Tokyo Xtreme Racer, Shadow Man, Shenmue, and a bunch more.

This console was the arcade at home, and it was like nothing I’d ever played before. The Dreamcast was all about fun, and it had a unique character to it like no other gaming console. I recall the multiplayer scream-laughing of my friends and I playing many of these games together for the first time! A console launch different for me than the rest. Soon after, I discovered Classic Game Room and began enjoying the quirky reviews as they were broadcast. Such great times!!

@Blast16 Far too many in the end. I had a very big collection of Dreamcast games way more than Gamecube or PS2 of that generation by a long distance due to the low cost of the titles on clearance. Plus Dreamcast games and video game prices during Covid really spiked especially in great condition. I saw a set of 10 boxed SNES NTSC USA games go for crazy money 700+ on all of them with titles like R Type 3 and others. There was a lot of extra money floating around and with people trapped in homes looking for stuff to do lots of online activity. Prices seemed to have settled down a little, but overall market has certainly grown and interest plus prices in general have went up.

@Deuteros I haven’t checked prices on any Dreamcast stuff in a long time. Luckily, I’m happy with what I’ve got! ✌️