I now own a Dreamcast. Game suggestions please!

[Jake]

So I am now the proud owner of a used, but functional Dreamcast. Having never owned a DC before, I only have a vague notion of what games to get. I mainly got it because of past experiences playing Samba De Amigo and Chu Chu Rocket, and word of mouth that I should get Space Channel 5, all of which I am in the process of acquiring (legally, thanks to generally dirt cheap DC games on ebay and half.com). So, aside from those games, what do you guys recommend I pick up?

[Pappa]

Jet Set Radio! (or if it's Jet Grind Radio in the states, not sure...)

[manny_c44]

Jet Grind Radio, Street Fighter III:Third Strike (if you like fighting games, its probably too hard to find anyway), and you might as well get Shenmue, many people like it.

Oh and especially Rez, but that ones even harder to get. Good memories, Dreamcast had only a handful of good games, but they were classics.

[Spaff]

Rez

space channel 5 & sequel ,

ikaruga,

virtua tennis (not the sequel)

powerstone 1 & 2

soul calibur,

errrrmmm....

and get blue stinger for dogs bowser

[Ben]

Welcome to the pinnacle of console design and the fulcrum that supports and balances pure functional hardware brilliance with (in the end, sigh) brilliant first party and third party software support that produced some of the greatest gaming experiences that console gamers have ever had the privelige to experience...

Powerstone 1 & 2

Vampire Chronicles: Darkstalkers

Marvel Vs Capcom 2

Streetfighter 3: Third Strike

Poetic Justice: Rival Schools 2

Soul Calibur

Any of the King of Fighters series (best bet is KOF 99 Evo)

Guilty Gear X ...shhh

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure

Bangai-O

Cosmic Smash

Jet Set Radio

House of the Dead II

Typing of the Dead

Shenmue I & II

Skies of Arcadia

Phantasy Star Online version 2

Bomber hehhe!

Aero Dancing F

Rez

Ikaruga

Psyvariar 2

Mars Matrix

Virtua Tennis 2

Virtual On

You may also enjoy:

San Francisco Rush 2049 (seriously, it's actually quite good x¬)

[McChicken]

Sonic Adventures 2 is excellent. I also had a lot of fun on Arcade games like Crazy Taxi. Soul Calibur is great as a fighting game.

[Spaff]

these are games i dont recommend

Chicken run

Spirit of Speed 1937

[Marek]

  Ben said:

Poetic Justice: Rival Schools 2

That's a fairly hilarious game title.

[pj-]

Shenmue 1/2, rez, crazy taxi, sonic adventure and chu chu rocket are my favorite dc games.

[Jake]

I used to play a lot of Rush 2049 with an old roomate. It is pretty enjoyable, thanks to the fact that the cars can randomly sprout wings and gyrate wildly about in abandonned stunt-track warehouses.

[Ben]

  Marek said:

That's a fairly hilarious game title.

It is, perhaps not surprisingly, a fairly hilarious game.

[manny_c44]

I think ben's list is a bit heavy...I wouldn't wish powerstone onto anyone...Ikaruga and Banghai-O (couldn't beat either one though) are important ones I forgot. VOOT and Jojo are pretty hard to recommend, although the first one has very cool multiplayer. And if you're going to collect all of the insane fighting games for DC don't forget Last Blade 2 while you're at it.

To be honest, there isn't any point in trying to track these games down. Dreamcast was partially killed by oh-see-easy-look-mom-no-mod piracy, and to not jump on that bandwagon now would be dumbassery.

Now that I think back on Dreamcast, it might have been the best console besides for NES.

[Ben]

Hehe, well i have mentioned quite a few fighters but i mentioned only the ones that have genuinely excellent mechanics and gameplay (SF: Third Strike, MvC2) or offer something a bit different/unique (Jojos, Poetic Justice). As a fan of fighters i like most (including the ones that most others consider crap!) but even I would concede that Last blade 2 is slightly limited in gameplay and doesn't offer as much as say, the Samurai Showdown series on Neo Geo AES. So yeah, that's why I didn't include it. Same thing for Garou: Mark of Wolves, lest i turn it into a DC fighters orgy... ¬¬

Anyway, what's your issue with Powerstone? The first is good fun, though flawed in some respects, but the second one is just insane and pure instacum!

[Jake]

I generally hate fighters and am shit at them so I'll probably be sticking with Soul Calibur only, which is one of the few I do enjoy (along with SF2 and MK2 .. I know, not a very creative list of fighting games but fuck off )

[Nick]

Not Vitua Tennis 2

Get rid of that 2 there, Plain Virtua Tennis is a god of a game and I don't think I've ever seen a better 4 player game.

uhhh, I was gonna do my little list here but I'll have to leave it for another day

:Watch this space for update:

But SEGA Marine Fishing is great, depends what atte of mind you're in maybe, but you get that rod peripheral and start catching some big fish and it really is quite good. If you're stoned

[ThunderPeel2001]

What you really want, no, NEED! is the special, super-duper version of

Beneath A Steel Sky!

With more cut-scenes and dialogue than the original PC or Amiga versions!

You can eBay yourself a copy here if you're lucky!

Of course this bastard is a total liar and it's just the downloadable PC version with Dreamcast ScummVM running. Rats!

[nsps]

The only games that haven't been mentioned that come to mind are Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 & 2 (one probably being my favorite). These came out on a bunch of consoles (and PC I think, I know 3 did), but the DC port is considered the definitive one.

Crazy Taxi is fun. While the arcade mode is a bit repetitive, the time/puzzle/move based section has a bunch of cool obstacles.

If I think of anything else no one mentioned, I'll post again.

[manny_c44]

  Ben said:

Hehe, well i have mentioned quite a few fighters but i mentioned only the ones that have genuinely excellent mechanics and gameplay (SF: Third Strike, MvC2) or offer something a bit different/unique (Jojos, Poetic Justice). As a fan of fighters i like most (including the ones that most others consider crap!) but even I would concede that Last blade 2 is slightly limited in gameplay and doesn't offer as much as say, the Samurai Showdown series on Neo Geo AES. So yeah, that's why I didn't include it. Same thing for Garou: Mark of Wolves, lest i turn it into a DC fighters orgy... ¬¬

Anyway, what's your issue with Powerstone? The first is good fun, though flawed in some respects, but the second one is just insane and pure instacum!

Yeah Last Blade 2 isn't that great, I just wanted to know how far into that 'scene' you were... Garou, I don't know, I'd say interesting with its meter-mechanic--and I like how one of the characters is named 'Butt', but it has the same pacing problems as LB2. As for MvC2, thats just a bizarre party game, all of its tactics are just gimmicks, and super and special moves are basically all you use, whats even the point? Its my least favorite 2d fighter on that list. SF3 is just amazing, in my top ten games ever and my favorite street fighter.

I'm glad someone else here knows the complex pleasures of 2d fighting.

As for Power Stone, for a strictly multiplayer its OK. I like the crazy enviornments but its damn shallow. Probably good when you're drunk.

[Jake]

  nsps said:

The only games that haven't been mentioned that come to mind are Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 & 2 (one probably being my favorite). These came out on a bunch of consoles (and PC I think, I know 3 did), but the DC port is considered the definitive one.

Tony Hawk 1, and Soul Calibur actually came with the console (woot) so that's good. As well as Skies of Arcadia (which I'm not a big fan of), and (woot) NBA 2K1 and World Series Baseball 2K2!!!

[Kolzig]

Rez

Sonic Adventure 1&2

Soul Calibur

Shenmue 1&2

Jet Set Radio

Ikaruga

Bangai-O

Crazy Taxi

Headhunter

Guilty Gear X

Street Fighter 3: Third Strike

Marvel vs. Capcom 2

The list goes on and on.

[JimmyTheFish]

When I first bought my dreamcast, I bought Virtua Tennis with it, mostly because it was damn near free at that point. I expected to play it once or twice then just ignore it. Low and behold, I found it to be the single best sporting title I have ever played. The multiplayer is insanely fun, and I still play it with my friends at any given opportunity. I also still play Sonic Adventures 2 on occaision, but only the Sonic and Shadow levels. The others are total crap. Like it burns when you try to play them.

[_oswald]

The best part about the DC is it's homebrew scene.

For instance, the Beats of Rage engine port that resulted in a collection of Streets of Rage type games (and more on the way) called 'Beats of Rage - Collection 1'. Hell, there are commercial Dreamcast titles coming out (granted it's about once every year or so) but that in itself is a testament to the system's market (check LikSang for these gems). Also, most every emulator has been ported as well (from the expected NES to the unexpected Apple ][.)

You haven't lived until you've played Michael Jackson's 'Moonwalker' on your Dreamcast.

[nsps]

Speaking of emulators, you can download a disc image for a DC version of ScummVM, a SCUMM emulator that lets you play the LucasArts adventure games that run on the Maniac Mansion engine, as well as some other companies' point-and-click games.

http://www.scummvm.org/

They're also supposed to be making a GRIME emulator for Grim Fandango, but they don't work on it much and I don't think it's ready yet

[Ben]

  _oswald said:

You haven't lived until you've played Michael Jackson's 'Moonwalker' on your Dreamcast.

True...frightening, but true.

Also, this year's dreamcast release (actually games are released about once a month, though not all are official) is, predictably, a Shmup called Trizeal. This is an official DC title you can get from Sega-Direct. There's an official page here too:

http://www.triangleservice.co.jp/html/trizeal/dc/index.html

[RLacey]

Can somebody actually explain to me what is supposed to be fun about Shenmue? And before you ask, yes I have the original for the Dreamcast. I only use it to play the old games in the arcades :S...