Allow me to set the scene: It’s the late 90’s, and Nintendo has done okay with the N64 while Sega has been struggling with Sega Genesis add-ons and the failed Sega Saturn. Both however are looking fearfully at the first place newcomer, Sony, and its ground breaking PlayStation.
Being low on the totem pole, Sega was determined to come out on top during the sixth generation and restructured its development team. Marketing and advertisement sectors made the public well aware of the upcoming system.
The Sega Dreamcast was tremendously ahead of its time, and because it was so short lived, many people have overlooked its abilities and the potential that it had. It was launched in the US on September 9, 1999 (9/9/99) and was an instant hit. It repaired many of the damaged relationships that stores had with the previously unpopular systems, and sold over 500,000 in its first two weeks, meaning that they quickly had to increase production to meet back-ordered demands. It launched with hit titles such as Soul Calibur and Sonic Adventure.
One of the most impressive and overlooked detail about the Dreamcast was that it was the first home console to support online gaming. Most systems were packaged with an included dial-up router and supported both multi-player gaming and an internet browser for website surfing. One of its running slogans was “Up to 6 Billion Players”. Its controller also featured many ports for various adapters and memory cards. I doubt I’m the only one who thought back in 1999 this was the coolest sounding console ever.
This led to competition. In 2000 Sony unveiled the PS2. With the successes of the PSOne and everything that the PS2 promised to do a considerable amount of attention was taken from Sega’s last chance at life. By the time it had been released nearly a year later, the interest of third party developers and consumers had diminished greatly, and the Dreamcast was left in the PS2’s shadow. Despite the head start and already having a fuller library. Sega couldn’t match Sony money-wise and began to go into huge debt. The Dreamcast was rushed in production in order to beat out all competition, but between the PS2 arrival and the rapid approach of the GameCube and Xbox in the rear view mirror, Sega knew that the chance was over for the system.
In the end, Sega ended production of the Dreamcast in 2001 (only 2 years after its launch) and restructured itself to a third party software producer. However Sega has re-released some of its Dreamcast titles on other systems as well as many retro collections. Sega Dreamcast - the system that could have lived.
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