jeudi 23 juin 2011

First Article : I have a Dream(cast)

I'm verry happy to start this blog with one of my favorites console ever ! The DreamCast !
Why ?
The first thing you'll have to know about the Dreamcast, it's his generation : between the first popular 3D system (Playstation, Nintendo64) and the second generation (Playstation 2, Xbox, Gamecube). So basically, what I am gonna tell you is how many you should pay your dreamcast, and what are the best multiplayers games I've ever experienced on the Dreamcast !

After this article, I hope you will try it, or even play to your old dreamcast again !


How does a Dreamcast cost today ? where to buy ?

This is maybe the best part : Sega has stopped the production of the Dreamcast for years now, so if you want to buy a dreamcast, it will be only a second-hand one. I won't give you links to ebay since everybody knows it is a good place to buy stuff.
Online, it cost around 20$, it is a good price for a dreamcast with like one or two controllers. Above 40$, there must be more than 1 controller, and some games with it otherwise the man is overpricing it.
The games : 5$ for a game is a good price, 10$ must be your maximum, unless the game you want is a little bit hard to find.

A good advice I can give you is to buy a pack from someone you just want to get rid of everything. It's a little harder to find, buy I remember that like 3 / 4 years ago I bought mine with 2 controllers and 5 games for something like 30$, it was a great deal and for only  around 50$ I had my console with 4 controller and a like 10 games or more.

So if you don't want to pay 50$ for a new game and try something fun instead, go go go !

Wich games really deserve your attention ?

Dreamcast has a lot of great games, and some of them looks incredible.
First I'll give you my #1 source for finding the best dreamcast games. 
The reason why I just drop a link here is because I didn't had time to play all of thoses games as I'd liked to, so my opinion might not be really great.
After this, I'm gonna show you my favorite part of the dreamcast, the one I really played a lot : the multiplayer.

This selection is really nice because the man wrote it in 2006 when the Dreamcast was sadly already dead. Here are the games that will still impress you today, because they look fantastic !

Now for my part : I've always liked the multiplayer games on Dreamcast, me and my friends have played Dreamcast for ours, when the playstation 2 and x box was at their best.


MULTIPLAYER ! 
one selection game, only the best here ! (tip : videos looks ugly on pc, really try it at home)

action / fighting games

Power Stone 2
-


He you want to play a 4 player crazy fighting game, here you go. 
The gameplay is pretty easy, is a 3d fighting game and to do the special attack you'll just have to push one of the trigger. Really awesome level designing, add to unlock new character there is "Story Mode", a series of level with 2 awesome boss. The really great point is that you can play this Story Mode in co-op with one friend. Try it, with 2, 3 or 4 player, it's AWESOME!

Try also : Soul Calibur, Marvel VS Capcom 2, Dead or Alive 2, Worms World Party

sports

Virtua Tennis
-

First of all, why not Virtua Tennis 2 ? Well it's simple : the first one is for me the most arcade one. The second one is not as good, it still a great tennis game (and there is girls in the second one...) but my choice still the first one. Here again, enjoy 2, 3 or 4 players, the arcade style make the game FURIOUS ! The single player mode is great too but I won't lie here, it's pretty boring, you won't play it everyday for months. TIP : try the arcade mode with only two players. You will be a part of a little "Story Mode" like in PowerStone 2 : 2 players and a succesion of levels. Really great, and if you don't loose at all, there is a special stage with cheated players to unlock ! I player hours trying with a friend to unlock this bastard, hours of pur, cheap, FUN !

Try also : Virtua Athlete, NBA Show Time (2 vs 2)

puzzle games

BomberMan Online
-

First of all, you won't be able to play this game online since all the server are down (except maybe for Phantasy Star Online 2 ?). But here again, 2, 3, 4 players is the best. Everybody know Bomberman, here it comes with classic mode and also a lot of others concept. Try them all, it's hours of fun here, on a silver plate. But again the solo mode is not that good, but if you have 4 controllers you will enjoy your investisment.

Chu Chu Rocket
-


Another puzzle game. The first time I saw this thing, I was like "WTF is that shit ?". It's actually one of the first games released on the Dreamcast. But anyway I was wrong ! It's looks a little anoying and ugly but trust me, it's awesome. Again and again 2, 3 or 4 players is the best. I can't see how somebody could play this game alone ! The CPU are pretty good, but with just a friend with you, it will be EPIC! The game is crazy, watch the video above to understand it. With 4 players, it's just really really addictive, people around you will now think you're crazy while watching the games you're playing.

rpg / misc

Armada
-


This is a masterpiece. Ok maybe not, but it's really my favorite one. The gameplay is pretty new : it's like a 2d crolling shooter with some RPG aspect in it. The really great part is that you can it up to 4 players ! So basically I've been playing this with friends for hours, it's really addictive and the co-op is just awesome. The game is a little bit hard I think, but you really have to try it if you can. If you're into space shooter, of maybe a little bit sci-fi geek, this game will really amaze you ! This is I think one of the deepiest multiplayer experience one dreamcast. Brillant !

BONUS : my favorite solo game

Jet Grind Radio (Jet Set Radio in europe)
-

As I said it, I didn't play the Dreamcast alone a lot. I was just testing the multiplayer games, and call my friends to play the best of them. But one solo games really amazed me ! Jet Grind Radio is an awesome roller / graffiti game. Check the video up here, and listen to this music too. I just felt in love with the universe of this game. The music is great, the gameplay too, the characters have style and the difficulty pretty hard at the end !
So there is no multiplayer mode here, but if you want to see how Dreamcast can be beautiful, try it !



That's the end, as it's mly first article I try not to be too long, and I also try to write well, because English is not my native language. I hope you'd fun, and I also hope you will have fun playing Dreamcast with your friends, because even if there are a lot of great solo games on the Dreamcast, the multiplayer part is really huge and awesome too !

9 commentaires:

  1. Wow, great detailed article! I totally miss my dreamcast.

    RépondreSupprimer
  2. I remember Dreamcasts were the big item everyone had to have in 6th grade.

    RépondreSupprimer
  3. Woooooooow i really love this console, i remember playing Power Stone 2!!!

    RépondreSupprimer
  4. Excellent post! The Dreamcast is great!

    RépondreSupprimer
  5. Some of the games look great. If I remember correctly, Dreamcast has one of the best choices for RPGs alongside the original Playstation.

    RépondreSupprimer
  6. Dreamcast is the winner.
    has best games.
    +follow!

    RépondreSupprimer
  7. It's a shame it had such a short life.

    RépondreSupprimer
  8. Jet Grind Radio is fantastic :)

    Ikaruga and border down are also very cool for the multiplayer

    RépondreSupprimer