9/9/99. It'll be a very long time until we reach a cooler date to launch a console (or anything else for that matter). Yes, it was twenty years ago today that Sega's Dreamcast landed in North America on a date that ranks alongside Sonic 2sday and Mortal Monday in the annals of video game history.
Although it would be Sega's final foray into the realm of dedicated hardware, Dreamcast was a remarkable machine that pioneered many aspects of modern gaming and truly brought arcade-quality experiences into the home. Its online network and 'second screen experience' with its Virtual Memory Units are just a couple of the ways the system was ahead of its time - looking back on the system now without the context of Sega's history in the years preceding release, it's almost impossible to imagine how a console with games that good could be the company's last.
We already took a look at 20 Dreamcast games we'd love to see on Switch back in November last year when the console celebrated its 20th birthday in its Japanese homeland, so today we're interested in hearing from you. Would you like to see Dreamcast classics come to Switch?...
Actually, scratch that - we're going to go out on a limb here and assume the answer is 'yes, of course!', so instead we're asking how you'd like to see the games arrive on Nintendo's hybrid console. Thankfully, developer M2 - the port wizards behind the excellent SEGA AGES series, amongst other things - has confirmed that Dreamcast games are "definitely" coming in the future, although there's still a question as to the exact form they will take on Switch. Last year Jet Set Radio topped a fan poll of games they'd like to see rereleased, but no promises were made.
Would you prefer some sort of ported compilation along the lines of the Dreamcast Collection? Or would you rather - as has already been hinted - that M2 extends its SEGA AGES line to include the 128-bit machine with a smaller number of choice releases instead? The former would probably result in more titles, although the latter would give developers the opportunity to more easily tweak and enhance the games for a modern audience. After all, twenty years is a long time and even the best games can do with a little spit polish.
So, it's a classic question of quality vs. quantity. Click your choice below and hit the 'Vote' button to let us know your preference:
How should Sega approach releasing Dreamcast games on Switch? (559 votes)
- Compilations with as many games as possible - the more the merrier!
- Fewer games, but touched up and tweaked for Switch
Please login to vote in this poll.
It's a tough one - do you think the games stand up well enough already or could they do with a little modern massaging? Regardless, happy birthday to Dreamcast - she went before her time. Feel free to share your memories of Peter Moore, VMUs and Arsenal FC sponsorship below, along with which Dreamcast games you'd most like to see on Switch.
Comments 91
Why would we not want more games on Switch? Just make sure they are ported well.
I'd be fine with either option.
Dreamcast... classics?
runs away to avoid the hate
A compilation game like the genesis one they released would be great. I wonder which games are easy to license and which would be difficult. Toy Commander, Crazy Taxi’s, Soul Calibur, and Rush 2049 please!
Did the Dreamcast have a blue logo in Europe? It was red/orange here in the US.
A console that sadly never got the recognition that it deserved back then, despite being years ahead of the competition in many ways. Ironically some of it's best games are already available on Switch or elsewhere today anyway and as such I'd rather see Saturn games such as the Panzer Dragoon games or Shining Force 3, as these have rarely if ever being made available elsewhere.
Not that I'd say no to Dreamcast games and would welcome them on Switch with awesome titles like Skies of Arcadia, Power Stone, Virtua Fighter 3 and Soul Calibur, I'm not sure how House of the Dead could play. I'd definitely go for the Virtua Tennis games too, Resident Evil code veronica, a bit of Rez and of course Shenmue. However I do have a couple of Dremcast classics in Ikaruga and Zero Gunner 2 on the Swith right now
It'll never happen, but it would be pretty cool if Sega and Nintendo entered a partnership to have Sega games (including Dreamcast titles) be put on the Switch similar to the NES and SNES apps for Switch Online subscribers. But in lieu of that happening, because let's be honest...it won't, I'd like to see a collection released but give a developer like M2 enough time to put the necessary spit and polish on it.
Crazy Taxi!
@Tandoori Yes
... Immediately!?
Sonic Adventure 2, Phantasy Star Online Episode 1 & 2 and Skies of Arcadia. That's all I need! Anything else would be icing on the cake.
They should release Phantasy Star Online: Complete Edition. Include Blue Burst's content, maybe some more bonus items. Most importantly, give us the custom networking capabilities of the GameCube version (to guarantee the game will survive once the official servers inevitably go down).
If they have the time/resources, give us an Episode V.
This would be glorious.
@Tandoori yeah, a German (iirc) company had an orange spiral logo, so they had to change it.
My favorite system that's not by Nintendo, home to many of my favorites. I'd like to see a compilation similar to the Dreamcast collection that came out years ago on PC, Xbox 360, and PS3, maybe with an extra game or two.
It's a shame that the most prominent titles on the system such as Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 as well as Shenmue have aged less gracefully than the flagships of other consoles. Luckily there still are some great games on the system and I would love to see Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi and Power Stone if possible.
All I want is Sonic Adventure One, I hated SA 2 it was awful compared to the original.
Look at those PAL cases too, that brings back memories on stepping on the broken parts littering the floor
How about a dreamcast mini
hides in the bushes
There's no VMU, so unless there's an app for that, you've gotta touch these up to adjust away the minigames.
I voted for compilations but really I want to vote for both that AND loving restored individual releases of true classics like Crazy Taxi (with music intact), Kikai-oh, Shenmue, etc.
@KIREEK
My Dreamcast was mostly a Phantasy Star Online machine for many hundreds of fun hours on Japanese and sometimes US servers. I wish somehow we could get back to that garden!
Either way. More games
@Tandoori Yes, Logo, package and games where all in blue.
because a company in germany (afaik) did have the "same" logo as the dreamcast with the same orange color. so sega made theirs blue in europe, to avoid legal problems.
https://twitter.com/raz0r84/status/1170729384799551490/photo/1
but i loved the blue color - i mean, sega's logo is blue. sonic is blue, so the blue swirl was a perfect fit ^^
I prefer to play them on my real Dreamcast instead as the color palette is correct.
All ported Dreamcast games ever have wrong color tones.
Torn on this. Compilations are great - more games the better as it says above but having certain titles tweaked would also be welcome.
Considering that the dreamcast gets absolutely to representation and I personally am dying to play Knights, Jet Set Radio, and Powerstone. Yes absolutely bring it over!
@Tandoori Yep it was..I’ve always seen it blue here in the UK and in France.
A console way ahead of its time but sadly fell foul to terrible decisions made by SEGA both in marketing and manufacturing and poor strategy in the face of Sony’s PlayStation 2 which killed it. Nintendo watched on as SEGA paid the final price and Nintendo learnt from it as dealt with its GameCube very carefully from then on.
Annnnnyway, enough of my rambling. I say Shenmue, Jet Set Radio, and Space Channel 5 please!!!!🤗🎮
My all-time favourite console alongside the Super Famicom. I was playing Sega Rally 2 just the other day. Graphically the port is a bit of a disappointment thanks to Windows CE but it does play really well.
I'd be happy with either compilations or individual releases, although individual ports might be the way to go as there are a few DC ports knocking around already (Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, etc) which could be more quickly ported to Switch leaving more developer time for games that haven't been ported before.
Maybe we could get a few releases that should have been on the Dreamcast but weren't like Scud Race too.
@Wavey84 some great points and the dvd capabilities were definitely a big selling point of the PS2, however unlike that console I still play my Dreamcast today and have it hooked up to a CRT to play the likes of House of the Dead. Such an amazing if relatively small library of games that all still look and play fantastically well. It truly was the first an arguably only console that really brought the arcade feel into the home.
I still remember the first time I saw it in Virgin Megastore with demos such as Ready to Rumble and some F1 style racing game and it was miles ahead of what the N64 was capable of, blowing me away the same as Mario 64 had done a few years prior and is a feeling no console release since has quite given me (Luigi's Mansion on Gamecube comes reasonably close). As for PS2 the first game I played was called Bouncer or something like that and I think it was from Square and it made me question what all of the fuss was about that console.
So far it’s literally 50-50 after my vote (I voted fewer but better btw).
Whatever manages to work and look the best, I’ll buy it on day one like I did the Genesis Collection. It would be a blast to play Crazy Taxi on the Switch.
I would prefer tweaked / updated (like Sega Ages) over compilation (like Megadrive Collection) but both would be ok.
But the Sega Ages run need to speed up and add more games
The DreamCast was home to some fantastic games, shame no-one really took an interest in it, but I would love to see Shenmue 1 & 2 please & thanks ... plus Sonic Adventure ... and House of the Dead 2 ... and Crazy Taxi & Sega Rally 2, and imagine Ready 2 Rumble boxing using Joy-Cons (akin to ARMS) S
A Power-Stone collection would be cool.
Soul Calibur was amazing.
Mr Driller was brilliant
Resi Evil Code Veronica.
...The list could go on & on if truth be told if we included 1st & 3rd party games
If that means another chance to get Bangai-O, I'm in!
The N64 version never released in the West. :/
Still use my DC daily would love some of the better games on the switch would give my DC a rest
How would you get the discs in the console???
@bigcalsworld I thought it was funny - so I've thrown you a like
Give me all the VF, Power Stone and Capcom Fighters that you can carry. I'll take 10 of each. Dreamcast/Naomi in many ways was like the second coming of the Neo Geo for me and it is still one of my favorite systems for being arcade perfect. Inject it into my veins. Oh and the last good breath of fire games.
Quality > Quantity
The Saturn never seems to get any love or anniversary "celebrations"; even Sega themselves deliberately act as if it never existed. But the truth of it is that its catalog of games (especially its amazing RPGs) far surpassed the Dreamcast in terms of sheer variety, and there are many genuinely great titles that most gamers sadly never got to experience.
It's a huge misconception that the Saturn was a failure, and the fault for that misconception lies squarely at the feet of Sega themselves for their mishandling of everything from its early launch (which resulted in like three games being available for most of a calendar year in the West) to the internal meddling which saw vital development teams like Team Camelot depart and crucial third parties like Working Designs jump ship for Sony's PlayStation. Even the Dreamcast itself was doomed before it launched by Sega's baffling choice to leave its discs without any form of copy protection.
From the standpoint of the gamers fortunate enough to have owned one, most will tell you it was a resounding success in terms of what mattered most: the games it offered. As a hobbyist, the Saturn is still my favorite retro console and I still own a modded one and an array of dozens of games for it. Yes, those first-generation polygonal graphics have definitely not aged well (although the 2D titles are as beautiful as ever), but we live in a time when HD remasters are a thing, so it's the perfect opportunity to give gamers a chance to see what they missed.
Compilations of either the Saturn's or Dreamcast's games are probably a pipe dream, sadly, even though they'd be easily accomplished from a technical standpoint nowadays. It's far more likely we'll see a trickle of single titles (perhaps remastered, especially in the case of the former) come out here and there, such as via the Sega Ages line. Sega stands to make far more money that way, obviously, which is no doubt the determining factor. M2 has done a fantastic job of emulating many of the earlier games for the Arcade, Master System, and Genesis; hopefully they'll soon tackle the likes of Shining Force III, Dragon Force, Magic Knight RayEarth, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Iron Storm, Albert Odyssey, and so many others that would still blow gamers away today.
@YANDMAN Crunch them up and drop the shards into the cartridge slot.
Yes please, I’m fine with either choice
Chu Chu Rocket please!
Virtua striker now please!
Really, it's hard to decide how I would want them. I'd love more games, but with better quality to them. Both quality AND quantity.
Obviously, I would want SoulCalibur, as the iOS version (which is no longer available on the App Store due to it only being able to work on 32-bit operating systems, and modern iPhones have 64-bit operating systems) left something to be desired, and they say that the Dreamcast version is the best version of the game out there.
But I would love to get games like Seaman, if only to hear Leonard Nimoy (Spock himself) serve as the narrator for the game.
I never Heard this and yet Im a nintendo huge fan what am i ree..
I’d love to have Skies of Arcadia on the Switch especially if they at least done something with the crazy high encounter rate. Not being able to go five feet without an encounter without a white map really messed with the flow of the game.
this was my favorite console , i would love power stone , ready 2 rumble , house of the dead... ill take any ha
@GrandScribe the GameCube version addresses that problem still an awesome game tho
Love Dreamcast, but bring us the specials instead of the obvious titles. E.g. Bangai-O (I know n64 originally)
Games I haven't seen mentioned yet reading down the comments that I'd like to see:
Ooga Booga - though revamped, it was a bit wonky, but super fun couch 4 player for the family
Sega MARINE Fishing - so many fishing games, but so few where you actually catch cool fish like barracuda and sharks
Seaman - just b/c
Shenmue 1&2 (and if possible 3)
Cannon Spike Redux would be epic! That's my favorite Dreamcast game. I'd love to see it redone with even more Characters. 20 Characters or more. Someone get on this STAT!
@DarthFoxMcCloud
In actuality Sega and Nintendo already have a an agreement to do just that. It is not common knowledge but this helped Sega through some tough times. I would not be surprised to see them sometime in 2020 based on what Sega has going on. There already have been many releases on the Switch of great Sega games.
@carlos82 I LOVED Bouncer. No one else seemed to like it. I played through multiple times so I could get every ending.
@SoIDecidedTo I knew I'd find someone who did, I didn't hate it, just found it hugely underwhelming after playing the Dreamcast and hearing how PS2's were switching hands at launch for £1000. Then I finally get hold of one and played this and wondered what all the fuss was about 😆
i'm not too into compilations so i wasn't sure what to vote
@AtlanteanMan the biggest problem for Saturn is how the console itself works with its dual VDP setup and the fact it uses quads rather than triangles for its 3D rendering. Hence why the recent Grandia uses the Playstation source code and even Panzer Dragoon included with Orta uses the PC code. That and back then not many companies thought of bothering to save the source codes for future reference. It's a shame as the Saturn's setup actually created some fantastic effects, particularly for water as seen in Panzer Dragoon Zwei and its version of Grandia looks far better than the HD release. Some truly great games on that system and I still really enjoy playing mine regularly
God yea! Yes and twice and thrice yes!
I guess the point of this is to disappoint people.
Powrrstone, Shenmue, and Skies of Arcadia please!
As much as I love M2 the problem is imo they’ve been just too slow getting titles out the door so I’ll take a compilation but problem there is that only so many games will fit in one card. SO- back to M2 I guess! But there’s certainly a lot of DC games to choose from!
Crazy Taxi 1&2
House of the Dead 2
Confidential Mission
Virtua Fighter 3
Sega Rally Championship
Daytona USA online
Jet Set Radio
Zombie Revenge
Toy Commander
Sega Bass & Marine Fishing
Skies of Arcadia
Shenmue 1/2
Sonic Adventure 1/2
Space Channel 5
I’m sure I missed a few but this is a Sega List. Other games like Soul Caliber, Hydro Thunder & San Francisco Rush I’d love to see as well but would likely be more involved to see on Switch!
We need Warner Bros for the latter 2! They’re sitting on all the Midway classics!!!
Typing of the Dead is the finest bit of edutainment ever.
We've already had soo many cut-and-paste emulation ports of Dreamcast games. It's about time to get M2 on the case to get us something good, even if it takes a long time.
I usually like some of the ones that weren't hugely popular but were still good games as compared to the main headliners so I'd aim for the compilation. But a remake of JEDI POWER BATTLES would be awesome!!! Or how about a new Ecco the Dolphin!
There's quite a few Dreamcast games which have been re-released in different forms so I'd like to see ones which you can't get hold of.
@Gs69 Even on Gamecube it’s frustrating without a white map. There are quite a few changes that could be made none of em huge or hard i.e. tweaking the magic system so its really useful beyond healing, rebalancing some abilities i.e. changing the cost of some, adding a quick travel system for ships, and a better map that perhaps helps with finding discoveries that could take a great game and make it stellar. Without having the encounter rate balanced other improvements couldn’t get it to the point of being a stellar game. Personally I would like to see a re-release of Skies of Arcadia be so good at and do so good because of the quality that a new one is made.
i hope they add some X-BOX 360 games for the switch.
Its never gonna happen. Sega has more or less said it outright, after the surveys they took a while back.
Shenmue, skies of arcadia...i thoroughly enjoyed the Dreamcast. Fantastic system. The whole VMU accessory was neat.
If you're gonna do it do it right
I just want Tech Romancer and Project Justice ported to Switch. Hello? Capcom you there ?
I would like to see something akin to SEGA AGES. Classic ports with a little extra. Some of the small additions were hugely appreciated.
Most of these really could use Online functionality so if that means fewer games than so be it. I want to play Chu Chu Rocket, and Sega Swirl, but only if I can play them against random people online. I think it would be more interesting if every game had online in some way, and if some of these old Dreamcast games are selling good, maybe put out some new DLC once in a while. The only problem is there is no VMU for the Switch (or Analog Triggers), so, it won't be the authentic experience, but at least they could use the Rumble to emulate the VMU audio, then again, that could interfere with the Dreamcast game's own rumble. Maybe they should sell Switch compatible VMUs and Joycons.
Might as well re-release the first Sonic Aventure, celebrate the anniversary of having our collective minds blown from playing Sonic on a Nintendo console (blasphemy!) when it and Sonic Adventure 2 were ported to the Gamecube.
The games I Would love to see rereleased are:
Sonic Adventure
Skies of Arcadia
I know what you are saying. These were already released on the GameCube. However, both of them had major parts removed. I'm talking about the VMU games.
Nintendo can simply release a VMU mobile app that connects to the Switch. Then we can take our Chaos and Crewmate on the go. The minigames were simple and small, but they meant alot. The VMU games could be updated with new graphics and people would love it.
Why one or the the other? Why can’t I have compilations that are touched up and tweaked for Switch?
I need Jet Set Radio on the Switch
I'd love to see Skies of Arcadia get the HD treatment that Xenoblade is currently getting. I doubt it'll happen though.
@Dezzy did anyone ever really think that the original Xenoblade would get the HD treatment?
I'd love to see a compilation done by M2. It's not like the games need an overhaul. Just optimize them to run as good as the originals, release them on a cartridge with no downloads required, and count the money. Who am I kidding? It makes too much sense to ever happen.
@GrandScribe
No but it was more likely given the current popularity of the series. Skies of Arcadia is very niche.
@Tandoori yes you are correct. This was the easy way to tell the difference between a PAL and an NTSC console and games.
M2 ports of more arcade games, like virtua racing, please
No questions asked, I will purchase Skies of Arcadia for whatever platform Sega re-releases it on, if they ever do. I would obviously prefer it for Switch, but I will buy a new system to play Skies of Arcadia. It is my all-time favorite game, and I desperately want to see it get the HD treatment.
@Leuke Wouldn't the data escape?
@YANDMAN No, you just put peanut butter or molasses all over your Switch, that way the data will get stuck.
@Leuke Like a peanut butter and data sandwich?
@YANDMAN Exactly, just don't eat it or your game will have holes in it! I have made that mistake many times.
@carlos82 Funnily enough, when someone robbed my apartment in college, that's one of the games they took. I've always wanted to revisit it to see if I'd still think it is fun. Some games I would KNOW I still loved "Canon Spike" on Dreamcast, "Eternal Darkness" on Gamecube, but that one I wonder if I was just amazed by the graphics and "3D" world.
Compilations are cheaper
The Switch already has a couple of those
I'd actually like to see a port of Jet Set Radio Future. Unlike most of the games people are asking for, it has never received a port to another system. And the game is stuck on the original XBOX, which to this day still has no real emulation scene. So even if you bought the game disc, you really do need the original hardware to play it.
For the love of all things holy, Skies of Arcadia HD please.
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