Brilliant job on the article Gagaman! The top 25 or so are quite predictable but a top 200 is great because it gives recognition to some of the lesser-known Dreamcast games. I really enjoyed reading about some of the ones I know little-to-nothing about.
I wish I could have voted during this competition... I'm glad to see that Star Lancer, Ms. Pac-Man and Atari Anniversary made the cut this time, but I still feel that a few games are missing:
102 Dalmatians Test Drive 6 Charge N' Blast (probably a couple more)
Oh well, I guess no list is perfect (but I REALLY wanted to vote for this one)
Loved hidden and dangerous, stealing washing and cars and sneaking my "Englanders" around...
Wednesday, June 08, 2016
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Happy 15th anniversary of the Dreamcast! The votes have been counted so now here is the final Top 200 Dreamcast games! Thanks to everyone who joined in on the voting!
Before we get started, some random facts about the final list:
- There is a total of 235 releases within this top 200: that's because in many case and game and it's sequel is one entry, and in the cases of a few, 3 or 4 games in the same series (NFL 2K, Pop n. Music) are one entry. The bottom 18 entries would have missed the list if I had not done this.
- Of those 48 were Japan only, 10 America only, 2 PAL only and were 11 indie releases.
- Release years are based on where they debuted.
- Of these 4 were released in 1998, 49 in 1999, 107 in 2000, 39 in 2001, 9 in 2002 and 20 in any year beyond that.
- Sega Smash Pack is not included, but Sega Swirl and Virtua Cop 2 from that collection are listed.
- I own 165 of the games featured, yikes!
Just a note: the article is a bit incomplete at the moment. All the poll positions are there but a few of the games do not have descriptions yet. I'm out all of today (in fact I'm celebrating the Dreamcast anniversary in style!) so I will be coming back to finish it off tomorrow.
So without further ado, beyond the jump is the complete list from last to first. Enjoy!
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200: Wetrix+
Released: 2000
A rather bizarre puzzle that has you controlling the elements to fill land with lakes without making them overflow over the edge, not helped by some of the items you are forced to place somewhere like nukes!
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199: Dance Dance Revolution 2nd Mix / Club Ver.
Released: 2000
Back in the late 90's DDR was a huge deal: everyone either had or wanted one in their living rooms. Unfortunately for the Dreamcast the dance mat and two editions of the game stayed in Japan only, but those willing to import got the same sweat-inducing stompy fun to naff Japanese techno as in arcades.
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198: Coaster Works
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2001
Building your own roller coaster sounds like a lot of fun, but it can also be quite complex with all the rules to take into account as this game gives you targets to meet with each coaster you assemble, making sure it not only gets excitement out of customers but also that it doesn't kill them!
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197: Puyo Puyo DA! Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 1999
An odd spin off to the Puyo Puyo puzzle series: a dancing game! Best thing about this is it's one of the few games that supports the DDR mat. It also has fantastic 3D rendition of the characters all kitted out in musical get ups: Suketoudara is in a tutu! The original music in the game is erm...an acquired taste.
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196: Incoming
Released: 1998
A launch-window release ported from the PC by Rage. The game is set in 2009 (ah about that..) and aliens are attacking with their UFOs and everything! You are aimed with turrets, air craft and the works with the aim to blow them all up into hundreds of triangle pieces before they do the same to you!
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195: Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness
Released: 2000
Despite the 3D graphics and presentation Maze Madness stays true to the gameplay of the classic game while expanding it with new bells and whistles and plenty of levels to explore, as well as an assortment of multiplayer modes.
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194: Feet of Fury
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2003
The first indie release from GOAT Store Publishing out-danced Dance Dance Revolution on the Dreamcast with more modes than you could stomp your feet on, including the ability to create swap CDs so you can import your own music (with a bit of technical know-how), a versus battle mode and even a 'Typing of Fury' mode for the keyboard!
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193: Sega Extreme Sports
AKA Extreme Sports
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2001
A sports themed race to the bottom of the hill that changes up mid race: you can snowboard, ride an ATV or mountian bike, hang glide and even bungee jump throughout any one course, meaning you have to be consistently good at all the them to come out on top, or rather...bottom...of the hill.
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192: Trizeal
Released: 2005
The lone scrolling shooter released in 2005 was developed by only a handful of people (and ported from arcades by one) and upon release Triangle Service issued a statement that they would go under if this version of the game tanked, so thankfully it sold well enough for them to continue making games!
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191: Toy Racer
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2000
Released only in Europe for only £5, with half going to charity, this is a spin off to Toy Commander that takes the cars from that game and gives them new courses and weapons. Most importantly the game had online multiplayer that made it the worth the small price of entry alone.
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190: Atari Anniversary Edition
Released: 2000
Some games are timeless, and this collection contains of lot of classics in arcade perfect glory with lots of options to tinker and you can even check out the history of each game with loads of extra content. 12 games in total are included, such as the 4 player riot Warlords and trippy shooter Tempest, and yes, it has Pong. You can play Pong on your Dreamcast. Happy now?
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189: WWF Royal Rumble Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2000
Back when the biggest Wrestling company shared it's name with a wildlife charity, there were sereval WWF games on the Dreamcast but this was by far the best one. Developed by Yukes and ported from the arcades. The main draw of the game was up to eight wrestlers could be in the ring at the same time, adding to the chaos.
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188: IRiDES Master of Blocks
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2009
IRiDES was the most recent release from Goat Store Publishing, which also had a special edition with a certificate and a rather lovely large coin.
Playing similar to Lumines, but with a different combo system and more power up abilities, the game has campaigns for both single player and two player co-op as well as versus modes for up to 4 players and an endless mode.
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187: Ultimate Fighting Championship
Released: 2000
This sport is much more popular now than it was back when this game was released, the first made based on it. UFC is mixed martial arts set in a caged ring, so there's a bit of boxing, kick boxing and wrestling all in the mix. Visually this was one of the most impressive sports games on the Dreamcast, rivaling even Visual Concepts 2K series.
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186: Slave Zero
Released: 1999
I recall this game getting pretty negative reviews back when it came out yet it clearly has it's fans for it to make this list. Stomp around a futuristic city as a huge robot with an assortment of weapons, crushing tiny cars under your big metal boots as you take on bosses or compete against 3 other friends.
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185: Cool Boarders Burrrn AKA Snow Surfers AKA Rippin' Riders Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 1999
The Cool Boarders series that made it's name on the Playstation returned, though this entry got complete renames in both Europe and America for some reason.
Sadly this was the only dedicated snowboarding game to show up on the Dreamcast, and being quite an early release it was a bit bare bones though thankfully they added some extra content for the western release. Still, it had everything you would expect from a Cool Boarders: silly looking characters, funky tunes and an obnoxious commentator that slags you off for making mistakes.
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184: Blue Submarine No.6 -Time and Tide-
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2000
Based on an anime I recall quite enjoying back when they aired it on a channel over here called CNX, Time and Tide is a science fiction adventure game with some of the best cel-shaded graphics you will see on the Dreamcast. Hop into a submarine and explore the depths of the sea where the creatures have mutated and evolved.
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183: Donald Duck : Goin' Quackers AKA Donald Duck: Qu@ck Att@ck*!
Released: 2000
This Disney platformer from Ubisoft has you running through colourful worlds punching everything in sight and hopping around collecting goodies which eventually unlock extra costumes. Stages are split into 3D crash Bandicoot style forward running ones and side scrolling 2.5D ones.
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182: Q*bert
Released: 2000
A 3D remake of the classic hop-about-on-cubes game starring the cursing little thingmajig. The premise is the same as ever, though stages are far larger than anything in the arcade game and there is plenty of them to keep you going for several hours. A remake of the arcade game is also included as well as multiplayer modes.
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181: Aero Wings Series AKA Aero Dancing Series
Released: 1999-2000
The top flight simulation series on Dreamcast was created by CRI. The first game focuses on learning how to handle an aircraft and eventally getting good enough to perform stunts and flying with a squad.
The sequel instead focuses on air combat training giving you guns instead of tricks to master. Both games were extremely realistic at the time both in the visuals department and the actual physics of the air crafts. These games take quite some time and dedication to master, but the investment is worth it if you love the thought of flying one of these machines.
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180: Stupid Invaders
Released: 2001
The only point and click adventure released on the Dreamcast was based on a french cartoon called Space Goofs and was developed by the same people as the show. Fart gags and cryptic puzzles are the order of the day here, and there was some pretty impressive 3D animation in here, though most of it was pre-rendered.
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179: The Lost Golem AKA Golem No Maigo Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2000
This small time production that was mostly the work of one person while they were a student, this charming little puzzle game is like the Dreamcast equivalent of an Oilver Postgate childrens program.
As a large rock golem you must guide a bumbling king from one door to the other by pushing slabs of wall about, attaching them to posts so they can rotate. The king is much like a Lemming: he can only walk forward and turn around in one direction making nagivating him though what looks like a simple room very challenging. Later on there are also enemies you have to make sure he avoids.
The game has a fantastic level editor and a quint, cute little story presented in simple slide shows.
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178: Expendable : Millennium Soldier
Released: 1999
Another early release from Rage has you playing the cannon fodder in a war between humans and aliens. Playing like a scrooling shooter except you can backtrack if need be, you run about grabbing all sorts of different lasers and rocket launchers to sort out the ugly enemies. Expect lots of explosions and green goo splattered everywhere!
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177: Silver
Released: 2000
This western action RPG ported from the PC featured 3D characters on 2D back drops, and had you playing as a bloke in armor called David on a quest for magic elemental orbs that will help him fight the villain Silver, who has captured his wife.
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176: Carrier
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2000
Survival horror games in the style of Resident Evil were everywhere during the late 90s, and this one by Jaleco is definitely attempting to ride on the the success of that series. You play members of an investigation team split up from each other on a ship stuck in the middle of the south pacific. The ship is, of course, riddled with creepy creatures that want to eat your flesh, and you will need to find weapons to take them out and survive this er...horror.
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175: Rainbow Cotton
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2000
The Cotton series of scrolling shooters star a red haired witch who has an obsession with candy and always ends up being dragged on quests by fairies. Most of the series is 2D but this has more in common with the Mega Drive release Panorama Cotton which played a bit like Space Harrier.
While it doesn't quite play as well as the other games, Rainbow is a stunning 3D shooter with amusing anime cut scenes and catchy tunes, and poses quite a challenge further in. I made a video review of this game once here.
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174: Roommania #203
Released: 2000
A very strange game from Sega if ever there was one, Roommania has you playing as a unseen deity who is invading the life of an average lay-about Japanese bloke in his crummy apartment, with the aim of getting his life on track by any means necessary.
Most of the game is spent just watching what he gets up to, which is to say not a lot: he mainly just bums about smoking and watching telly. You can vaguely manipulate him by chucking balls at him and when he leaves the apartment you can move things about and switch things on to either help him get something done or mess with his head.
There is nothing quite like this game, it's hilarious and clever and sometimes baffling. Well worth looking up a translation guide and trying out.
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173: Time Stalkers AKA Climax Landers Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2000
This RPG's selling point was that it was a crossover featuring characters from previous games by Climax Entertainment, including some from Landstalker, Shining in the Darkness and Jogurt, that useless hamster thing from Shining Force.
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172: Demolition Racer - No Exit
Released: 2000
As the title suggests this is no gentle race: the aim is not only to pass the flag in first, but to also make sure the other racers are a smoldering wreck. Bashes cars about in this is great fun and there is a last man standing mode for full on destruction. Leaping from a ramp to land on a car for a one hit kill is rather satisfying.
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171: Sports Jam
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2001
A whole jam jar (groan) of sports condensed into mini games; 12 in all including cycling, baseball, ice hockey, golf, soccer and American football. You play a whole batch of the mini games one after the other and they all have very simple controls yet take some practice to master. In-between them you are egged on by Max Headroom's creepy uncle. You'll know what I mean if you've played it.
There was a lot of spin-offs of the Sakura Taisen series, everything from online card games to a disc about a radio drama, but the one spin-off that anyone can enjoy, even those not fans of the series, is the Hanagumi Columns games, the first of which was on the Sega Saturn.
In fact this may just be one of the greatest Columns games ever released, cram-packed with different gameplay modes and each character had unique powers that really added to the tension and excitement of the classic puzzler.
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169: Bomber hehhe!
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2002
Ever wanted to have a crack at building demolition? Here's a game about it! In this clever little game you have to pick the right places to put the right kind of bombs so as to not only destroy as much of the building as possible, but also to do so safely, without too much debris flying out and hitting cars and whatnot. Once you've done the job you can watch it from any angle and at various speeds so you know how to improve. Very neat with a quirky style.
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168: Chaos Field
Released: 2004
Description pending!
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167: Fire Pro-Wrestling D
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2000
The Dreamcast entry in the infamous Japanese 2D wrestling series that started it's life on the PC Engine, FP-WD features over 200 wrestlers from every federation at the time from around the world, and more game modes and options then you could ever hope for. Knocks Accalim's rubbish Wrestling games out of the ring without breaking a sweat.
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166: Pop n' Music Series
Released: 1999-2000
Konami and their 'Benami' brand were what really kicked off the rhythm genre in the late 90s, and unlike DDR this series has never really got it's chance to shine in the west.
Like DDR the best way to play this is as close to the arcade version as possible which means acquiring the special Pop n' Music controller; essentially a big slab with 9 big buttons on it in set colours to mash to the beat of the terribly cheesy music included.
There ended up being 4 entries in total on the Dreamcast, each one improving the presentation quite a bit despite only having six months between each release. Pop N' Music 3 and 4 were 'append discs' which required first running the 2nd game to play them.
164: 4X4 Evolution
Released: 2000
Excellent off road racing. One of the few games on the system that can still be played online with other Dreamcast users and PC users!
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163: Densha De Go! 2
Released: 2000
Only in Japan would you get an arcade game based on driving a train, Taito pulled out all the stocks with this series, even making sure every console it was ported to had a large train controller!
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162: Frogger 2 - Swampy's Revenge
Released: 2000
Sticking true to the classic gameplay of the 80's arcade classic, but expanded into a full fledged platformer adventure with lots of levels. Quite a simple game that is easy to complete, but is fun while it lasts.
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161: Plasma Sword AKA Star Gladiator 2 Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 1999
The sequel to Playstation brawler Star Gladiator, this is one of the lesser known Capcom fighters on the system. It's pretty bonkers, with special moves that includes characters becoming huge and stomping their opponents to death, a huge selection of wacky aliens to choose from, and psychedelic colourful 3D visuals.
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160: Floigan Brothers
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2001
When Visual Concepts were not busy taking the place of an absent EA with their sports games, they cooked up this clever puzzle adventure game. Loosely inspired by Carl and Lenny from the novel Of Mice and Men, but far more cartoony and less tragic, these guys appeared in the Dreamcast's American launch commercials and the game was intended to be episodic, hence the title. In the end only one episode was released and it was pretty close to the end of the Dreamcast's shelf life.
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159: Speed Devils
Released: 1999
This launch title from Ubisoft has you buying a hot rod and competing in races where you can gamble your money for extra risk or reward. Races take place in chaotic stages that feature active volcanoes, twisters, and even UFOs and king kong! The game is fill of ridiculous characters to race against and winning bets will get you more cash to upgrade your heap on wheels.
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158: NHL 2K + 2K2
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2000+2002
Visual Concepts range of sports games on the Dreamcast were arguably far better than what EA were putting out on other consoles at the time, and these ice hockey games were no different. Unlike NBA and NFL, this one skipped a year so there were only two entries on the Dreamcast. Players can even get into punch ups!
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157: 4 Wheel Thunder
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2000
Midway followed up the highly successful Hydro Thunder with this spin off that took to the roads and mud with big wheeled car and dirt cars. The same fantastic boost collecting system is in place but now you have harsh weather and rough terrain to handle. Built exclusively for the Dreamcast, the game runs as smooth as butter, or at least butter covered in dirt and tire tracks.
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156: Psychic Force 2012
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 1999
In the distant future of er...last year. This is why the Megaman games just put X's in their years, Taito! Apparently we should be watching fights between people with pink and green hair hair floating inside a huge cube, throwing plasma balls at each other on the telly by now. Still, at least we can play it! A fun, unique brawler.
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155: Shadowman
Released: 1999
Description pending!
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154: Twinkle Star Sprites
Released: 2000
A very clever mix of the scrolling vertical shooter and competitive puzzle games. You and an opponent have a side of the screen each and shoot at enemies that when shot in patterns set off a chain reaction which sends the dead enemies hurtling towards your opponent who has to avoid them.
The Battles in this game can get absolutely mental or sometimes even last for mere seconds if played really well or badly. The game is full of daft cutesy anime characters and even features a dreadfully funny (for all the wrong reasons) full English translation option.
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153: Star Wars Episode One: Jedi Power Battles
Released: 2000
Description pending!
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152: Record Of Lodoss War: The Advent Of Cardice
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2000
Based on an anime yet with a very western style isometric RPG with wizards, orcs and knights in shiny armor.
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151: Radilgy
Released: 2006
Another late Naomi ported shmup by a small time developer Milestone that features eye catching cel shaded graphics, funky tunes and cool little swooshy sword move that wipes bullets out of your way like a car windscreen wiper. Milestone followed this game up later with Karous, which was the last offcial GD-ROM release on the console.
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150: Tomb Raider Chronicles
Released: 2000
The follow up to the Last Revelation looked back into Lara Croft's past, as far back as when she was a teenager, with missions based on different adventures over the years. By the end of the game we find out that she wasn't dead after all! Well they gotta keep making games about her, haven't they?
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149: Soldier Of Fortune
Released: 2000
Description pending!
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148: Heavy Metal Geomatrix Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2001
Despite being a completely different franchise, this is a sort of sequel to Spawn: in the Demon's Hand, at least from a gameplay standpoint.
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147: Toy Story 2
Released: 2000
Funny to think how in just the few years gap between the first and second Toy Story movies, we had already gone from the end of the 16-bit era to the start of the 128-bit era on consoles. Despite being ported from the Playstation the game there is lot to explore and do in this game, making it one of the more open world-ish platformers on the system.
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146: Evolution 1 + 2
Released: 1999
Evolution was the first of sadly very few RPG's released on the Dreamcast, but luckily it did also get a sequel.
144: Vanishing Point
Released: 2000
Description pending!
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143: Armada
Released: 1999
Description pending!
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142: Sega Tetris Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2000
For some unknown reason this arcade ported Sega developed Tetris game only stayed in Japan, which is a real shame as it's an excellent version of the classic puzzle game, and the only one of three on Dreamcast to make this list. It featured a great versus mode including online play, a single player mode that gets insanely challenging very quickly, and even featured some cute remixes of Sonic 1 music.
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141: Star Lancer
Released: 2000
The designers of Wing Commander bring space combat to the Dreamcast in style.
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138: Alone in the Dark : The New Nightmare
Released: 2001
Description pending!
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141: Gundam - E.E.F Vs Zeon & DX
Released: 2002
Developed by Capcom despite their logo being no where on the box, this 3D robot brawler based on the original 1979 anime series not only looks and sounds the part but plays brilliantly too, with easy to pick up and play arcade controls and lots of slick action. Fans of the anime will adore this but even people new to the series may get a lot of enjoyment out of this.
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140: Cool Cool Toon Exclusive to Dreamcast Released: 2000 Quite a departure for SNK, for this is neither 2D nor a fighting/shooting game but rather a rhythm game with a unique analogue control system that takes some getting used to but once it clicks it's great fun. A wonderful cartoon art style, creative levels and lots of unlock make this Japan only release a must play.
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137: Gundam Side Story 0079
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 1999
Unlike the other Gundam game above this one found itself an English language release in the U.S, which is thankful as this one requires more than just brute force: you also need to command your team of mechs so they don't just bumble about and get killed.
This spin off is set in Australia and plays from a first person view, giving it an entirely different feel to the later Capcom game. There is quite a bit of depth to discover here if you're willing to put the time in to master it.
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136: Super Magnetic Neo AKA Super Magnetic NiuNiu Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2000
A slick looking 3D platformer in the vein of games like Crash Bandicoot that is infamous for its high level of difficulty, making it something of a love it or hate it game. Clearly enough people loved it for it to make this list then!
As the title suggests the gimmick of this game is magnets, of which Neo's noggin is made of and they can be switched between positive and negative on the fly, so you can attach to magnetic platforms to navigate the world, and this mechanic is put to it's ultimate test in later levels requiring superb reflexes.
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135: Vampire Chronicle
Released: 2000
Capcom crammed all the Vampire (AKA Darkstalkers) games together to create this fighter with added online play. Not only did it have every character from the series, but every version of every character, minor gameplay treaks and all, as well as gameplay settings from every game. For fans of the series that wanted everything in one place, this was a treat.
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134: Puyo Puyo 4
Released: 1999
The last main entry in this classic puzzle series developed by Compile before they went bankrupt and sold the franchise to Sega. The presentation and plefora of game modes and characters to choose from made this a fantastic entry in the series, with an anime opening, special attacks for each character to really mess with opponents, and story mode battles that can, depending on your skill level, go on for a very long time.
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133: Napple Tale - Arsia in Daydream Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2000
This beautiful platformer was significant for having a entirely female team developing it, and the result is a charming story driven adventure with a 3D hub world and 2.5D platforming stages. It's a real shame this one never left Japan as it is a truly wonderful little game.
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132: Vigilante 8 Second Offense
Released: 1999
Vehicular combat set in 1970's America with time travel, hover cars, cyborgs and a bus smothered in guns, among many other cars and bikes.
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131: Evil Twin: Cyprien's Chronicles
Released: 2002
This platformer by Ubisoft was one of the last games released in Europe for the Dreamcast after years of delays. You play as a orphan boy (who looks a little bit like Chucky from Child's Play) who is sucked into a world of nightmares full of freaky creatures.
Commence rescue missions, puzzles, collecting, shooting catapults and a super hero alter ego that gives you a whole slew of abilities like flying and shooting fire.
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130: F1 World Grand Prix I + II
Released: 1999+2000
There were quite a few games on the Dreamcast based on Formula 1 racing, but none of them came close to Video Systems World Grand Prix pair. You simply could not get a more authentic representation of the sport at the time, with weather conditions, tire types and wear and tear all accounted for in great detail.
The game also had plenty of options to make the game as realistic or not as you want: if you just want to crash about without your car being destroyed you could, so no matter how serious you wanted to take it this game had everyone from die hard to casual fans covered.
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129: Super Runabout
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2000
Imagine if Crazy Taxi was mission based and featured a multitude of different cars, motorcycles and even a tank and you are half way there to knowing what Super Runabout is er...about. While not as slick and timeless as Crazy Taxi is, there is still fun to be had here smashing and crashing around San Francisco
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128: Castle Of Shikigami II AKA Shikigami No Shiro II
Released: 2004
As opposed to air crafts or space ships, this scrolling shooter has you playing as anime characters floating about avoiding a barrage of bullets from other floaty anime people.
Just barely avoiding enemy fire like a badass gets you bonus points and charges your special attacks. There is also a lot of branching story paths for extra replay value, if you can read Japanese that is..
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127: Wind and Water Puzzle Battles
Released: 2008
This indie release from Yuan Works is quite possibly one of the most deep and content packed puzzle games I have ever played. The formula involves matching coloured blocks but there are so many intricacies to the mechanics it's impossible to go into detail here, but the game slowly reveals new techniques to you as you progress that constantly adds extra layers to the gameplay.
Content wise Wind & Water features a superbly well written story mode, plenty of thoughtfully explained tutorials, fantastic little mini games, a challenging puzzle mode, versus battles and even a VMU with a face as a playable character! I made an in-depth video review of this game which explains why it is oh so special.
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126: Rent-a-Hero No.1
Released: 2000
A quirky Japanese only RPG that is a remake of a Mega Drive game. The game was translated and almost released in the West for the Xbox but was mysteriously cancelled, and later leaked. Segata Sanshiro makes a cameo appearance too!
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125: Trigger Heart Exelica
Released: 2007
The penultimate Sega licensed GD-Rom release. A scrolling shooter with a unique grab-things-and-chuck-them-back-at-them mechanic that has you playing as some scantly clad anime girls with rockets and other metallic clobber shooting them through space.
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124: Pen Pen Triicelon Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 1998
A launch title that is totally bizarre, but still holds up really well today. A racing game starring strange mutant penguin things where the gameplay changes in the middle of the race: one minute you will be sliding on your belly, the next waddling about courses full of obstacles, and then swimming. A rather odd but enjoyable cartoon racer, check out my Rummage! video review about it.
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123: Rush Rush Rally Racing
Released: 2009
An indie release from Senile Team, who were previously famous in the Dreamcast homebrew scene for creating Beats of Rage. To break up the indie releases on the DC being mainly just shmups, they went for a top-down 2D racing game in the vein of Trash Rally on the Neo Geo.
The game is quite a challenge and there is plenty of secrets to unlock and also has a daft sense of humor, letting you run over spectators and cows, leaving them in a bloody mess, and silly artwork in between races depending on how well or poorly you do. The music is pumping and there is quite a selection of fun multi player modes too.
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122: Sakura Taisen 1 + 2
Released: 2000
The Sakura Taisen games were a BIG deal in Japan, so to drum up hype for the new 3rd installment on the Dreamcast, Sega ported the previous two games over from the Sega Saturn. This was also probably done because the Dreamcast wasn't really doing great in Japan whereas the Saturn did.
Either way this meant every main installment of the series up to that point was available in one place, which led to a very posh collectors box set with all four games contained within it.
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121: The Nomad Soul: Omikron
Released: 2000
This was the debut game by developers Quantic Dream, who went on to produce highly cinematic and controversial games such as Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls.
Much like their most recent title this game had a big celebrity name attached it in the form of David Bowie, who not only composed music for the game, which was later re-written for one of his albums, but also made two cameos as different characters.
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120: Psyvariar 2 - The Will To Fabricate
Released: 2004
Another shmup ported from the Naomi arcade hardware when retail Dreamcast games were becoming few and far between in Japan. What makes this one unique is the 'buzz' system, which scores you for dancing around enemy bullets, basically showing off while you avoid them. That may sound tricky but it's actually quite simple to get the hang of. In fact this game is oddly relaxing for a scrolling shooter!
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119: Ooga Booga Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2001
Visual Concepts other not-sports related game on the DC was this American only multiplayer party/combat game, which also included online play. With a cool cartoon art style and game modes quite unlike anything else at the time, Ooga Booga was unique to say the least and most importantly, a lot of fun.
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118: Virtua Striker 2
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 1999
Football/Soccer games were hardly the Dreamcast's strongest point, yet this arcade port from Sega none the less has it's fans. No official FIFA stats or team management options here, just pick a country and kick about. The replays of your best goals with the rainbow effect are pretty neat with a rating system of how good each goal was, and there are some crazy secret teams.
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117: Sega Bass Fishing 2 AKA Get Bass! Fishing 2 Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2001
The sequel to Sega's arcade hit is a console exclusive and has more of a simulator feel to it than it's predecessor and Sega Marine Fishing, making it one for those for fishing game fans that don't mind waiting longer than a few seconds for a fish to bite.
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116: Mortal Kombat Gold
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 1999
A launch title in the west and a sort of enhanced, expanded edition of Mortal Kombat 4, adding a bunch of additional characters from previous games such as Baraka, Sektor and Kitana. They also added weapon pick ups, a dubious choice as picking them up usually led to you getting your head kicked in (or torn off) before you had a chance to use them.
Pretty dumb even by Mortal Kombat standards (the ending cut scenes are hysterically bad), but amusing fun none the less.
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115: Spawn - In The Demon's Hand Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2000
Based on Todd McFarlanes moody comic book anti-hero, Capcom took everyone from the series and pitted them in against each other in 3D arenas for weapons and fist-to-face combat. Up for four people can beat each other up or up to two can co-op against large bosses in the arcade mode. The action is hectic and at times even a little bit confusing, but if you're after some mindless comic book violence you can do worse than Spawn.
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114: Spiderman
Released: 2001
The web slinger's first major 3D outing had many people's Spider senses tingling. Developed by the Tony Hawk's team, this game has tons of un-lockable goodies such as the bag man costume! Type a swear word into the password screen and Spidey will give it a wee slap! Tee hee!
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113: Sakura Taisen 3 + 4
Released: 2001+2002
These were the new entries to the Sakura Taisen series on the Dreamcast as opposed to ports from the Saturn, as evident in the lush high resolution artwork of the characters and the new 3D battle scenes.
The 3rd game moved the action from japan to Paris and introduced a whole new cast of characters. The ARMS battle system was also introduced here, the system of which was later seen in Valkyria Chronicles.
The 4th game bought together the cast of both the Paris and Tokyo divisions, making it a nice swan song release as the last on a Sega console. These games still have a massive fan base even outside of Japan.
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112: Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation
Released: 2000
Back in the 32-era, soon after the first game in the series, Sony nabbed exclusive consoles rights to the Tomb Raider series for a few years, making for another bow in their arrow that helped them trump the Sega Saturn.
This deal drew to a close not long after the Dreamcast launched, which led to Sega making sure they got first dibs on the next entry, which they made a big deal about with commercials in Europe when it was released.
Despite being ported over rather than built from the ground up for the DC, the game was significant for supposedly killing off Lara Croft, which led to later entries being based before this one, though I'm sure the canon of this has completely changed since.
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111: Last Hope + Pink Bullets
Released: 2007+2010
The first indie release by NG:DEV TEAM, which due to it's harsh difficulty for some was given a re-release called Pink Bullets, which as the title suggests made a bunch of the enemy bullets pink so they were easier to see.
Ported from the Neo Geo Last Hope has a strong R-Type feel to it's gameplay mechanics, but does it in it's own style with fantastic atmosphere and music. The first print special edition with a soundtrack CD is now considered a highly sought after collectible.
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110: Alien Front Online
Exclusive to Dreamcast Released: 2001
One of the first console games to ever feature online voice chat, it's a shame this one cannot be played online anymore but even in the offline modes this is simple, fantastic fun to play. Blowing up everything in sight is such a joy, you can even go all 'Independence Day' and destroy the white house!
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109: EGG - Elemental Gimmick Gear- Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 1999
EGG is a unique RPG released by Hudson in which you control a egg shaped mecha exploring acient ruins, solving puzzles to advance Zelda-style and getting into combat with other mechs and creatures. At times you even get to compete in races in which your mech spins about in a ball!
The game is presented with beautiful hand drawn backgrounds with a 2D overhead view and switches to 3D for the combat.
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108: DUX + DUX 1.5
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2009+2013
Developers from NG:DEV TEAM decided to create a offshoot company called Hucast, for where games built for the Dreamcast from the ground up could be produced, and their first release under this name was DUX. The game is a bit similar to Last Hope but boasts stunning high res graphics full of brightly coloured space ships and scenery.
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107: Puyo Puyo Fever
Released: 2004
Sega's last first-party release on the Dreamcast in 2004, Sonic Team took over the series originally designed by Compile and mixed things up with a new Fever mode and new Puyo blob shapes. The game has hardcore Puyo fans split down the middle (mainly for its new cast of characters) yet is still a riot to play and has loads of bonus content in the Dreamcast version, such as wallpaper art for your BIOs and the ability to turn the BIOS into a movable 3D thing.
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106: V-Rally 2
AKA Test Drive V-Rally
Released: 2000
The only other Rally racing games on the Dreamcast was brought to us by Infogrames, and is full of content with lots to unlock.
One of the best things about this game was the easy to use track creator, which let you tinker with all the turns and depth you could want: you could make huge dips and hills to send your car flying!
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105: Bust -a- Move 4
AKA Puzzle Bobble 4
Released: 2000
This series needs no introduction, and this forth installment is one of the best in the series. Point your arrow and shoot bubbles to pop matching colours: it couldn't be simpler yet new game play features make battles vs the computer or another player an all out war that can turn at any moment in your favor or not.
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104: Fighting Vipers 2
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2001
A surprise last minute port near the end of the Dreamcast's life cycle was this sequel to the popular Model 2 and Saturn fighter, which plays like a super charged, less realistic Virtua Fighter that added cage arenas and armor.
The sequel was originally released on Model 3 in arcades way back in 1998 so it's appearance on the Dreamcast in 2001 was a bit of a surprise, and it ended up not getting a American release. Features in the sequel include hard to pull off super K.O.s and new characters that beat up opponents with a bike and a robotic teddy bear. Yep..
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103: Fast Striker
Released: 2010
NG: DEV TEAM has a go at the vertical scrolling shooter genre in this fast paced bullet hell. With three game modes that are set for novice, average and experienced players but also have significant gameplay mechanic differences between them. Unlike their previous games this one is more about reflexes than memorization, with funky techno beats and secrets to be found in every level is the form of a weird eyebrowed pig thing.
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102: Border Down
Released: 2004
One of those shmups that came out after the Dreamcast was off store shelfs, including a limited print run and a special edition that goes for mega bucks. In fact there was so much demand G.Rev produced another batch which sold in five seconds flat too. Each time you get shot in this game you drop to a lower, even harder level of the stage, making it one of the tougher shooters on the DC.
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101: Star Wars Episode One : Racer
Released: 2000
The main thing most people enjoyed about about the first Star Wars prequel is transformed into a equally enjoyable racing game. A shame it's a port from the N64 rather than the Sega arcade game, but the game still has a fanatic sense of speed and a diverse selection of sci fi locales.
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100: Tokyo Bus Guide
Released: 2000
Tokyo Bus Guide is the ying to Crazy Taxi's yang: it's the complete opposite in tone, speed and rules but is still an arcade gem at heart. Much like getting the most money in Crazy Taxi, being able to clear a whole course in this game without making any mistakes is oh so satisfying. A very chill and relaxing vibe to this game except it can be quite challenging which counter balances that.
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99: Gauntlet Legends
Released: 2000
The classic Gauntlet formula is still present in this 3D revival: pick either strong, well armored, magical or fast characters and send them on a quest keys and treasures while fending off almost never ending hordes of goblins, golems and even death itself! Remember, don't shoot food, because the wizard needs it...badly.
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98: Tokyo Highway Challenge 1+2 AKA Tokyo Xtreme Racer AKA Shutokou Battle
Released: 1999-2000
Driving around the highways of Tokyo in a semi-decent car, flashing your lights at any other semi-decent car on the road to compete with them in 1-on-1 races. You both get life bars fighting game style and the further ahead you are, the quicker their bar depleats.
Winning gets you cash to put towards upgrading your car or buying new, slightly less average ones. Slick graphics and a solid frame rate made this game a real treat near launch and the sequel made improvements to make the game even more engrossing.
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97: Super Puzzle Fighter II X
Released: 2000
Released in Japan as part of Capcom's 'Matching Service' series, this puzzle classic had an online mode added among other things. Famous Street Fighter and Darkstalkers characters get shrunk into cartoon cuties that scrap with each other as you clear coloured gems to wipe the other player out.
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96: Yu Suzuki GameWorks Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2002
A collection of Yu Suzuki's 1980's arcade classics all on one disc, sold with a book about his career as one of Sega's leading creative minds, a rare collectible now but clearly popular enough to reach the top 100. The disc contains Outrun, Super Hang-On, After Burner II, Space Harrier and Power Drift. Small changes to the games include a new non-Ferrari car in Outrun and Shenmue banners in Hang-On.
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95: King of Fighters 2001 + 2002
Released: 2002-2003
The last two KoFs on Dreamcast were outsourced to a Korean company called Eolith, and while 2001 is considered to be a bit on the rough side, it still managed to rank pretty close to 2002, which is considered a high point for the series and is the most sought after of the five installments on the console.
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94: Looney Tunes Space Race Released: 2000 Infogrames followed up Wacky Races with another fantastic, cel-shaded cartoon racer. They really nailed the characters personalities in 3D with superb animation as they hover around surreal space themed stages chucking dynamite and elephants at each other. It's quite short and easy but great fun especially with up to 4 friends.
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93: L.O.L - Lack of Love Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2000
Be born, survive and evolve as a unknown creature on an unknown planet in this hauntingly beautiful adventure that will really suck you into it's world of unique wonder.
Despite being a Japanese only release there is has zero language barrier going into this as there is no text or dialog, just sounds and atmosphere to guide your way in abstract, but understandable ways.
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92: Sega Swirl
Released: 2000
The only game in this chart that was given away for free (excluding the European release of a certain other puzzle game) on demo disc and the Sega Smash Pack, Sega Swirl has all sorts of game modes of up to 4 players, and before you know it your evening has vanished..
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91: Silent Scope
Released: 2000
The tension and finesse of handling a sniper rifle to assassinate terrorists, condensed into a heavily time restricted arcade game from Konami. The challenge comes from being accurate and quick as the limited time given to you is your worst enemy. Luckily you can increase your time while snopping about if you happen to spot a bikini clad lady in your sights! Oh, those were simpler times..
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90: NFL 2K Series
2K + 2K1 Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 1999-2001
Easily one of the most important franchises on the Dreamcast in America that probably helped the console launch sales more than any other game, NFL 2k had realism of the USA's favorite sport unlike anything seen before, blowing away EA's series. If only "soccer" got the same wonderful treatment on Dreamcast this sport did.
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89: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
Released: 1999
'Bizarre' is right; this is one of the strangest fighting games you'll ever play. Capcom does the manga comic book superb justice with this pair of arcade ports on one disc that let's you fight as a Chihuahua, drop steamrollers on peoples heads and shoot nipples darts. I'm serious.
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88: Wacky Races
Released: 2000
A fun cartoon racer from Infogrames. Not only do the graphics and sound re-create the Hanna-Barbera classic in fantastic 3D, but there is loads of content to discover and unlock in a hub world to explore, providing tons of hours of game play.
Each character has a set of their own unique weapons of which you can pick three of at a time, and you have to collect coins in the races to utilize them.
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87: Gunbird 2
Released: 2000
Psyiko's sequel to the 32-bit hit doesn't look, sound or play a whole lot different to the first, but if it ain't broke, why fix it? This shmup is great fun, and thankfully for us without machine reflexes has a total of ten difficulty options, from bullet hell to the insultingly titled 'baby'.
This console version adds two additional characters to the mix, including Morrigan of Darkstalkers fame. Best of all the story of each character can end in two different ways, and combining characters also opens up new, hilariously weird endings.
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86: Tech Romancer
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2000
This 3D fighter from Capcom spoofs various giant robot Japanese anime and TV shows from every era, even the animated intro features a cheesy Japanese theme tune. There's a lengthy story mode to enjoy as well as the usual arcade and versus modes, and the characters and their mechs are all so different from each other with some truly ingenious special attacks that will constantly surprise you.
There is tons of unlockable content to keep you coming back for more, such as Jin Saotome from the Saturn classic Cyberbots, (also in the Marvel Vs Capcom games) as well as a collection of VMU mini-games like the bizarre "Punch Love".
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85: Super Street Fighter II X
Released: 2000
Another online-enabled 'for Matching Service' release, this time of the all-time classic Super Street Fighter II Turbo. Proof positive that this game is a timeless classic no matter what console it's re-released on, and this version couldn't be any more arcade perfect, with speed settings and zero load times.
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84: Sega Marine Fishing
Released: 2000
The 2nd fishing game from Sega replaced the bass filled groggy waters with tropical sea full of all kinds of creatures including sword fish, stingrays and even sharks to catch. Every fish you catch will unlock new lures, additions to your boat (including a pet dog!) and also adds the fish to a huge aquarium to fill up. There is so much to unlock in this game that it's easy to lose many hours at a time to this one.
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83: Outtrigger Exclusive to Dreamcast Released: 2001
Sega AM2 inject their trademark arcade style into the first person shooter genre and the results are a blast. America and Japan also benefited from online play and compatibility with the keyboard and mouse. Most first person shooters on the Dreamcast are ported over from the PC, but this one is still an exclusive and benefits from being built from the ground up on Naomi arcade hardware, playing to the systems strengths.
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82: Illbleed Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2001
A survival horror that can be best described as 'so bad it's good'. A daft plot about a theme park that has a $100million reward for anyone that can get through it alive, the game tracks not only your psychical health but also your mental health: your six senses. With this in mind you can actually die from freight. This game has of the most bizarre scenes you will ever see, such as a Toy Story parody which has you facing a giant demon Sonic.
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81: Blue Stinger Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 1999
Before Illbleed Climax made this launch title, another survival horror that borders on camp with it's unintentionally (?) hilarious dialog, perhaps the pure reason it even made the list. Despite this there is fun to be had with this wonky little game.
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80: Maken X
Released: 1999
Atlus, famous for the Persona and Shin Megami Tensei series only made one one for the Dreamcast but they sure left their unique stamp on the consoles library. The game is a first person hack and slash where you control a girl wielding a sentient sword that can "brain hack" enemies, letting you become them. An acquired taste but one that if you get the feel for it really clicks and immerses you in it's surreal story and atmosphere.
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79: Dino Crisis
Released: 2000
Capcom take the Resident Evil formula and replace the zombies with..what else? Dinosaurs! Why not? Advertised as a "survival panic" game, though it still had quite a dark tone to it so not so much Jurassic Park whimsy and light peril so much as "AAGHH THIS DINOSAUR IS GONNA TEAR THE CHEEKS OFF MY FACE!"
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78: NBA 2K Series
2K + 2K1 Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 1999-2001
EA decided not to support the Dreamcast, so Sega came up with their own Sports series that would not only fill the hole left by the lack of any EA sports, but for many at the time these were considered even better, starting with this Basketball series that lasted on the Dreamcast for 3 installments.
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77: Worms Armageddon + World Party
Released: 1999 + 2001
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Team17's classic cartoon turn based combat series that began life on the Amiga returns in all its 2D sheep exploding, concrete donkey dropping glory. Armageddon is still considered by many fans to be the best in the long running series. World Party was an expansion pack of sorts that most importantly added, as the title suggests, online play.
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76: King of Fighters 2000
Released: 2002
The first KoF on Dreamcast that wasn't released outside Japan, due to being released in 2002, the same year as KoF 2001. Confused? It's also the last developed by the SNK of old, as installments after these were outsourced due to Playmore taking over all of SNK's brands when the they went bankrupt, saving them from extinction.
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75: Zero Gunner 2
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2001
A rare Capcom 3D shmup from Japan, Zero Gunner 2 has a unique control system which lets you lock and aim your helicopter in any direction you want. With 9 levels of difficulty gamers of any skill level (including 'children' apparently) should be able to enjoy this blow 'em upper with trains that transform into giant robots. You read that last sentence right? Trains...that transform...into giant robots.
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74: Grand Theft Auto 2
Released: 2000
Before the GTA series transitioned into 3D with the third installment, this sequel to the 1997 hit kept the simple 2D overhead gameplay but with enhanced visuals. Set in 'Anywhere, USA' in the distant future of.."three weeks from now"? Or depending where you look...2013. Blimey.
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73:Cosmic Smash Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2001
A Japanese budget release in rather fancy DVD packaging, Cosmic Smash plays like a mix between Super Breakout's aim (destroy blocks with a ball) and Virtua Tennis like controls (sort of) with an abstract visual style kind of like Rez and atmospheric sound. The game is a direct arcade port with no extras whatsoever (hence the budget release) but can never the less have you hooked to it's additive gameplay.
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72: Fur Fighters
Released: 2000
Almost released under the name Furballs until a copyright got in the way, Fur Fighters takes the cute cuddly style (right down to the gobbledygook voices) of Banjo-Kazooie and gives the characters guns to shoot the stuffing out of each other. An amusing story in the one player mode complete and a fun 4 player deathmatch mode to boot.
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71: Mr.Driller
Released: 2000
After Namco blessed the Dreamcast with a certain highly-ranked fighter, they pretty much gave up on the console. However, they did drop us this rather neat puzzle game that has you drilling through colourful blocks, desperately gasping for air tanks and trying to not get crushed by the falling blocks above. Could have very well of been one of their oldest classics, yet here it was in 2000 for the first (but not last) time, with plenty of game modes to keep you going.
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70: King of Fighters Dream Match 1999 + '99 Evolution
Released: 1999-2000
More confusion with these games as Dream Match 1999 is actually KOF '98, and '99 Evolution is the real '99, does that make any sense? These two were the only entries on the Dreamcast to get released outside Japan, and
These two had additional enhancements as opposed to being mostly direct Neo Geo ports, including 3D backgrounds and in Dream Match an anime intro. Dream Match also had a neat feature that let you hook up a Neo Geo Pocket and transfer stats between them, if you own the required link cable of course.
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69: The Last Blade 2 AKA Gekka no Kenshi - Final Edition
Released: 2000
One of SNK's last fighting games before Playmore picked up the pieces, this is a beautiful samurai game that isn't as flashy as other 2D fighters but offers so much depth and a brilliant cast of characters. The American release was oddly censored, re-colouring the blood white and cutting some content out entirely. I can't think of many fighting games where one of the characters starts crying when she chops an opponent in half.
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68: Street Fighter III Double Impact
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 1999
This disc contains the first two installments of the Street Fighter III series, which have still never been ported anywhere else. Ryu and Ken are joined by a all new cast of characters such as British boxer Dudley, ninja lady Ibuki and the leggy African Elena. Incredible 2D animation so smooth it still has yet to be beaten. Also has incredible in game artwork and backgrounds.
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67: San Francisco Rush 2049
Released: 2000
Midway's arcade legacy continues with this futuristic sequel that adds a very odd extra feature to the cars...wings! This completely changes up the game play however and makes this one of the more unique racers out there.
You'll actually find yourself spending hours flying around the courses searching for the highly elusive coins that can be very difficult to reach but oh so rewarding when you do grab them. Don't even get me started on the stunt mode, I've lost days to that.
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66: Mars Matrix
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2000
A Capcom 2D shmup that will test your reflexes and hand-eye coordination until everything becomes an abstract blur and you feel a bit dizzy, but you'll love every moment of it. The crazy presentation chucks everything at you so fast your eyes barely keep up with any of it, and the store items to buy require so many points you'll be playing it for a long time. $99999999999999 for a new ship colour, anyone?
You don't get much more hardcore then this robot combat game from Sega. The controls pretty much require the especially built twin stick controller to play it right, and it's so fast paced only the truly dedicated will master it. Weapons need to be charged, so you can't just run in and smack the hell out of each other, so taking advantage of the scenery is key. Running at a solid 60fps this game still looks incredible all these years later and is many peoples' favorite in the series.
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64: Ready 2 Rumble + Round 2
Released: 1999 + 2000
This launch title got a lot of attention for it's comical character designs and expressive facial animation the likes of which were rarely seen in 3D game graphics before, making it a great early showcase of what the console could do. The game itself couldn't be any simpler so anyone could jump into it and have fun.
Particularly hard punches would score you letters in the word 'RUMBLE' and filling that in would let you activate a super charged mode to give you the upper hand, though deciding when to use this in matches was vital. The sequel added many new boxers to the zany roaster including appearances by Micheal Jackson, who requested to be in the game himself, and Bill and Hilary Clinton, whom I assume...didn't.
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63: Giga Wing 1 + 2
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 1999 + 2000
The Giga Wing games are a pair crazy shmups by Takumi set in a steampunk world featuring aircrafts named after birds piloted by Cyborgs and in one case...a nun. With thousands of bullets on screen that can be sucked up or wiped out with seizure inducing bombs, the score racks up to ridiculously huge numbers in no time.
The first game was ported from CPS2 arcade hardware and featured pretty chunky sprites, yet the Dreamcast version had far less slowdown. The sequel ran on Naomi hardware and boasted impressive colourful 3D graphics, as well as a 4 player mode. Both games are a bit mental, really, though the sequel definitely has a more dramatic feel to the presentation, right down to some operatic music!
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62: Sega Bass Fishing
AKA Get Bass! Fishing Released: 1999
The act of waiting for some miserable fish to nibble on a fishing line had never looked so exciting and fun until Sega sprinkled their arcade magic on it with this game. Unlike the real sport, you won't be waiting long for one of these ugly sea creatures to bite, and when they do the rock and roll kicks in and the fight to reel it in is intense, as silly as that sounds and is, really.
To make sure the console port was as good as the arcade experience a special fishing controller was released, making this one of the more unique experiences available in the early days of the Dreamcast's release. You could say the console was born to have so many fishing games, it is called the Dreamcast. Hyuk hyuk hyuk.
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61: Cannon Spike AKA Gunspike Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released 2001
In this 3D one you can play as many classic characters such as Cammy, Megaman, Arthur from Ghouls N Ghosts, that kid from 3 Wonders and B.B Hood, shooting out hordes of enemies including a very odd looking Vega!
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60: Under Defeat
Released: 2006
Another one of those late shmup releases, this one from 2006 and also with a special edition that fetches a lot of cash. From Border Down creators G.Rev, this one has stunning graphics from the explosions to the rustling trees and cloud effects.
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59: Sega GT Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2000
Sega have had a crack at just about every kind of racing game imaginable over the years, so a Gran Turismo style game was inevitable at some point. Complete with hundreds of cars to unlock and a neat VMU mini-game.
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58: Sword of the Berserk: Gut's Rage Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 1999
Based on the popular Manga, this adventure hack and slash gives you a sword so big it'd make Cloud Strife blush, which you naturally use to hack up mutated monsters and demons. Lengthy cut scenes tell the story of Guts, Casca and the fairy sidekick Puck, who travel to a town plagued by a decease that turns people into monsters. Oh, and there's a guy in it called 'Balzac'. Nuff said..
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57: Unreal Tournament
Released: 2001
One of the biggest PC first person shooters arrived on Dreamcast with this excellent port that even had online play in America (though sadly cut from the European version). The voice work in particular makes this even more satisfying when you get multiple kills in a row.
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56: Gunlord
Released: 2012
NG:DEV TEAM continued to bring it's Neo Geo developed indie games to the Dreamcast with this run-and-gun adventure shooter, a genre that has been surprisingly absent from the consoles library up until now.
Sure it may share more than a mere resemblance to Turrican, but it takes that formula and runs with it, with huge stages to explore full of hidden bonuses to boost your score and some real challenging bosses and platforming. It also has a stunning soundtrack by Rafeal Dyll and some hysterical dialog in the opening intro. "Your are cute! Die in hell!"
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55: Re-Volt
Released: 1999
One of the most fun 4 player racing games on the system, Re-Volt has you steering radio controlled cars around streets, gardens and museums with weapons in toll. There are loads of cars to collect and a bizarre clockwork toy mode that has you racing 30 cars at once, and a stunt mode.
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54: Garou: Mark of the Wolves
Released: 2001
A swan song for the SNK of old, Mark of the Wolves was the last (to date) in the long running Fatal Fury fighting series, and much like Street Fighter 3 it mainly consists of a brand new cast of characters and has become a cult favorite over the years for it's fantastic animation and deep game play.
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53: Bomberman Online
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2001
Only released in America, a much needed Bomberman installed was released in 2001 with the highlight obviously being it's online play and customizable character. Even now there is still plenty there for offline multi-player (as should be expected) and even one player with a whole load of brand new game modes with unique rules.
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52: Sonic Shuffle
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2001
The blue hog has his crack at a Mario Party style game, that is even developed by the same team as that series. Replacing dice with cards, grabbing chaos emeralds scattered around the board, you need to battle monsters, collect rings and of course play mini games!
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51: Confidential Mission Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2001
Finally Sega brought the Dreamcast another new light gun game in the form of Confidential Mission, a spiritual sequel to the Virtua Cop games but with a daft James Bond spoof theme.
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50: Le Mans 24 Hours
AKA Test Drive Le Mans
Released: 2000
An incredible game from Infogrames based on the famous endurance sports car race that takes place in France. The game gets a perfect balance between simulation and arcade fun, giving you the ability to tinker with the games settings to whatever you prefer, and even has two completely different soundtracks for different tastes.
The graphics are stunning, but it's the game play that makes this so engrossing. There is even a mode where you can actually play for a running time of 24 hours, coming back to it by saving in the pits. There is nothing quite like seeing the real time sun rise and sun set while driving.
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49: D2 Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 1999
..and the reward for shortest title goes to..D2 is a huge 4 disc adventure that has you struggling through the snowy hills facing off against deformed mutants. Check out Caleb's Rummage! video review of it if you haven't already!
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48: 18 Wheeler
Released: 2001
One of Sega's many arcade ports, sadly this one didn't get bundled with the same gigantic wheel and horn from the arcades, but it's still fun with the extra Score Attack mode and PARKING MODE. Go check out my Rummage! video review of it!
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47: MDK2
Released: 2000
The crazy minds at Interplay and Bioware brings you this comic third person shooter adventure with three characters to play as throughout: Kurt with his sniping skills and skin tight get up, Dr Fluke with his two-item combination mechanic (kill enemies with atomic toast!) and his creation Max: a six legged gun touting, cigar smoking dog. This game is rock hard but will keep you coming back for more.
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46: Segagaga Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2001
The best evidence of Sega's ballsy creativity on the Dreamcast, SGGG is something of a swan song for Sega's console history amde for the most hardcore fans of their legacy. You start work at Sega and capture wild developers who you later get to work on computers where they'll develop games that will help Sega's dwindling profits. The fan service and in-jokes are immense. There is nothing quite like this RPG anywhere else by anyone else.
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45: Hydro Thunder
Released: 1999
Midway's launch title for the Dreamcast is the best console port of this arcade turbo-charged boat racing classic. Getting those boost jumps just right and finding all the shortcuts is essential to beat the rest of the pack and unlock the later stages and advanced boats. You know you're really good at the game when it begins to tell you "You're crazy!".
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44: Virtua Cop 2
Released: 2000
The Dreamcast was unfortunately quite lacking in the light gun game department, but thankfully Sega ported over this arcade and Sega Saturn classic. VC2 was released in Japan as an individual game, and was part of the Sega Smash Pack collection in America. Still great fun, especially in just how much of the props around you can also be shot up. One of my favorite moments is to shoot the wheels off cars, sending them flying though the air!
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43: Project Justice : Rival Schools 2 AKA Moero! Justice Gakuen
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2001
This nutty school themed 3D fighter has one of the most diverse character roasters out there, with a character representing just about every stereotype, class and sport that you can imagine battling in out in manic 3 on 3 combat. You could twat people with baseball bats and tennis rackets one moment, and dive into synchronized swimming or get massaged by a sexy teacher the next!
The game was also crammed to the gills with content, from a lengthy story mode to even a bizarre board game though the latter was only in the Japanese version. This sequel to the Playstation hit Rival Schools has, unlike many of Capcom's fighters, remained a Dreamcast exclusive to this day, making it a highly sought after release, and it's worth every penny.
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42: Ferrari F355 Challenge
Released: 2000
It was never secret that the guys at Sega are big fans of Ferrari, what with their inclusion in the Outrun series and the fact that some of them own Ferrari's, but on the Dreamcast they let their fanboy instincts go all out with a simulation game dedicated to s single car.
Though it originated in the arcades this is a simulation through and though with realistic controls that has made this the Marmite of Sega racing games. There's no denying the attention to detail in this game is incredible and the passion the developers have for Ferrari shines through.
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41: Zombie Revenge
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2000
An arcade House of the Dead spin-off that replaces light gun game play for scrolling beat 'em up action. A cheesy story with some of the silliest named video game characters ever (Stick Brightring? Linda Rotta?) and the ingenious VMU mini-game Zombie Fishing! The Dreamcast sure has a lot of daft horror games, and this one is great fun to play too!
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40: Headhunter
Released: 2001
Sega got in Swedish team Amuze to develop this two-disc stealth and action third-person shooter, which also includes a motorbike racing mode to get you from location to location and V.R training stages. You play as Jack Wade (what a name!) who has woke up with Amnesia after escaping a lab and is needed again as the top bounty hunter he once was. It's a huge game with many cut scenes (some in live action) that may have more than just a few similarities to Metal Gear Solid but it is still er...a solid game in it's own right (groan..).
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39: Soul Reaver : Legacy Of Kain
Released: 2000
This adventure game starring an undead vampire has you dropping in-between the material and spectral worlds, gobbling up the souls of the monsters you kill, so you can get your revenge on the head honcho Kain who chucked you to your death thousands of years ago. Dark and blooding adventure games are not a common sight on the Dreamcast (with many turning out to be duds) but this one is the cream of the ghostly crop.
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38: Samba De Amigo + Ver.2000
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2000
In the Japanese rhythm craze of '99 kicked off by DDR, Sega's response was this crazy maraca shaking game (and another pair of games, but we'll get to those) that came in a huge box with a pair of height-sensing red plastic maracas with real rattle!
A one of a kind music game with a brilliant selection of music (including downloadable Sega classics), colorful visuals and a bunch of mini games like whack-a-mole(ley!). Quite possibly the happiest game on earth. [S.O.S in Ver.2000 is the greatest terrible song ever written.]
Great fun this. The sequel to the Sega Saturn game Die Hard Arcade, use anything you see to beat up the bad guys including French Bread! Pepper! Mannequins! Arcade cabinets! and of course the anti ship missile! This here is another game I did a Rummage! video review of, don't you know.
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36:Sturmwind
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2013
This game had been almost a decade in development, starting out in 1997 as a Jaguar project, and after many years of delay the game finally arrived this year, making it the most recently released game on this list! This game has wowed the Dreamcast scene with its stunning hybrid 2D/3D graphics, trophy awards system and quality CGI cut scenes that make this feel like a very modern game on 15 year old hardware.
The game takes cues from classics like Thunder Force, with three different weapons to choose from on the fly and individually upgrade, and the ability to shoot backwards and forwards. Every stage in this shmup is a visual feast, no two looking the same as one another, and the bosses are screen filling and stunningly animated. A real labour of love that has clearly left a grand impression on the Dreamcast fan base as it has beaten a majority of even the big budget retail games of the console to this position.
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35: Street Fighter Alpha/Zero 3
Released: 1999
Capcom sure knew how to make massive, additive 2D fighting games on Alpha 3 is no exception. The last in the Alpha series, which flourished on the Saturn and PS1, this one has more game modes than most fighting games can even dream of: the stats building World Tour, manic 2 on 1 Dramatic battle mode, and a whole slew of multi-player options and characters.
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34: Ecco The Dolphin: Defender Of The Future
Released: 2000
Bringing back the Mega Drive classic into the world of 3D was never going to be an easy task but the results were one of the most visually beautiful games on the system. Ecco looks so realistic and you can almost forget about the tough adventures ahead and have fun simply jumping, swimming and diving with the dolphin in and out of the sea. Going in for real you'll find a game just as deep (sorry) and challenging as the original, and underwater atmosphere unlike anything else since.
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33: Guilty Gear X
Released: 2000
A 2D fighter not developed by either Capcom or SNK? Shock! This one is rather brilliant though: the sprites are huge which mean on your telly it looks like your playing some crazy anime, with equally nutty characters with inventive attacks like this one girl that beats people up with her long blond hair, or the bloke that makes drills pop out of the ground. This game has since gone the Street Fighter II route with about 568 variants.
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32: Virtua Fighter 3tb
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 1998
One of the first things everyone asked when the Dreamcast was announced was: "will i be able to play Virtua Fighter 3 on it?" and sure enough, it was there on day one. The Virtua Fighter series has always been Sega's showcase for 3D graphical evolution with staggering results between each new release, and while VF3 was already 2 years old by the time it hit Dreamcast, it was still as fun to play as ever.
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31: Seaman
Released: 2000
Sega certainly made a lot of unique games on the Dreamcast, but this one takes the cake. In with virtual pet sim you raise a fish like creature that has a human face and using the microphone attachment you can talk to it and it'll talk back. Not so much a 'game' as it is a very odd experience, the fish grows into a sarcastic little git that asks all sorts of personal questions, even what your favorite Dreamcast game is. He doesn't make a huge poll out of it, though!
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30: Bangai-O
Released: 1999
Treasure presents the worlds smallest sprites blowing the living hell out of each with hundreds upon hundreds of bullets and missiles. What's not to like? You fly a tiny robot fighting your way through waves of equally tiny enemies with enough fire power to melt the screen. Ingenious level designs mix things up and the story is self aware and hilariously translated (in the PAL version, anyway). Check out my Rummage! video review of it!
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29: Toy Commander AKA Totsugeki Teketeke Toy Ranger Exclusive to Dreamcast Released: 1999
A launch title that stood out for many, drive toy tanks, cars, planes and helicopters around a house, shooting enemies with pencils, pins and rubbers. Bosses include an evil weapon packed teddy bear and a Godzilla toy in a bunny costume! Great fun in both single and multi-player: racing, aerial combat, missions and driving up the side of walls!
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28: Quake III Arena
Released: 2000
Over taking it's FPS rivals considerably, maybe because this one actually had online play in Europe as well for a change. Other port from the PC that worked shockingly well, though many will still insist on playing it with a mouse and keyboard. A good thing the Dreamcast has both of those accessories, then! Even offline this is a 4 player riot.
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27: Resident Evil 2 + 3
AKA Biohazard 2 + 3
Released: 1999 + 2000
Another port over from the Playstation, maybe making up for the fact that the Sega Saturn never received this game. Still a lot of fans favorite in the series, or at least the series before the game play changed in RE4.
It may be ported straight over from the Playstation with only a few bells and whistles added, many were still engrossed with this classic survival horror with that vital unique element of the nemesis hunting you down.
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26: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2
Released: 2000
Not only the series that turned skateboarding into a video game phenomenon, but also a very deep score attack game that takes a lot of practice to get great at, yet is easy to jump into. Two installments arrived on Dreamcast and many still swear by this one as one of the best in the entire series. You could unlock Spiderman as a playable character, too!
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25: Daytona USA 2001
Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2001
While Daytona was perfectly playable on the Saturn, we never did receive a arcade perfect port, so Sega decided to treat us to an enhanced remake on the Dreamcast. America was lucky enough to get online play, and new tracks and cars joined the original classic such as the 777 Speedway and of course, THAT so-cheesy-you-can't-help-but-love-it music. Blue, blue skiiies!
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24: Metropolis Street Racer (M.S.R) Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2000
Developed by Bizarre Creations, this was the biggest, most ambitious racing game Sega published for the system. San Francisco, London and Tokyo are painstakingly re-created road for road and wall for wall to the point that people that live in these cities would know the tracks better than anyone else!
The game also features a unique 'Kudos' system that not only scores you for winning a race, but also for driving well, with extra points added for every successful drift. These points could be used to buy new cars (of which were loads) and unlock new areas of each city. This game evolved into the Project Gotham racing series on the X-Box systems. And yet..
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23: Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
Released: 2000
The big daddy of the Street Fighter series, the only entry in the series for a whole decade (until SF4 just recently of course) and still a tourney favorite. New characters included the glorious return of Chun-Li, kung fu girl Makoto, shape shifting Twelve and evil Inspector gadget guy 'Q'. The classic beat-up-a-car bonus game also makes a return here. One for the truly dedicated fighter fans, and still one of the most stunningly animated 2D games of all time.
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22: Sega Rally 2
Released: 1999
...this is the highest rated (traditional) racing game on the list. Much like VF3tb this was one of those arcade ports that was guaranteed for launch day (except in Japan anyway), and is one of those games that you'll still find in most arcades. The sequel added far more cars and tracks over the Saturn original and still retained that classic game play everyone loves. "Long easy right, baby!" Oh wait, it was "maybe", or at least it defiantly was when the bloke said it.
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21: Capcom Vs. SNK 1 + 2
Released: 2000 + 2001
The crossover 2D fighting fans had been dying for finally came to life on the Dreamcast, pitting the best of Street Fighter against the King of Fighters, with a few bonus characters from other games chucked in for good measure.
Capcom pulled out all the stocks to make sure the first game left a great impression with it's stunning presentation and soundtrack, and tons of content such as a unlockable second soundtrack full of classic tunes, and there was even a custom colour edit mode. The scoring system was a work of genius: you are ranked for every single attack and hit taken, with a ratio score that updates live at the bottom of the screen. The more impressive and well timed your hits or blocks are, the better your total ratio score. A 'Pro edition' was released some time later for gameplay treaks and two additional characters.
The sequel was one of Capcom's lat games on the console, and what a way to go out. Improving on the already excellent prequel in every way, such as adjustable character ratios, 3-on-3 and 1-on-1 arcade modes, infinite and all character survival modes, a whole bunch of new characters from Samurai Shodown, Last Blade, Final Fight and even Street Fighter 1, four new play styles and much more. It's hard not to end up playing this one for hours at a time, plus all those characters + six different ways to play them = countless possibilities.
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20: The Typing of the Dead
Released: 2000
A very clever way to both make a typing tutorial that is actually fun to play and recycle an entire game and sell it as a new one, this is House of the Dead 2 with the light gun shooting replaced with death by keyboard. Words pop up in front of the zombies and you have to type said word out as quick as possible. Even the characters you play as have battery powered Dreamcast's on their backs and a keyboard in tool! Also has a fantastic tutorial mode that is not only fun, but actually useful for learning how to type fast like those office types do.
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19: Virtua Tennis 1 + 2 AKA Power Smash AKA Tennis 2K2 Virtua Tennis 1 Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2000 + 2001
A sport so simple video games have been re-creating it since pong, yet very few Tennis games had had quite the same impact as Sega's Virtua Tennis (Power Smash in Japan). With graphics to die for and better yet: game play that only required one button, yet gives you so much control over the ball that it became an instant hit with all kinds of gamers: even those who hate sports games, and it one of Sega's biggest, most popular franchises today, especially in Europe. The simple but slick arcade mode had many playing for hours on it's own, but for single player there was the world tour mode where you could create a character, train up his skills in a series of brilliant mini games, enter tournaments to win money, and spend that money on new equipments and clothes.
Many sequels to this pair of games have been released since on newer consoles, and really all that has changed are the graphics, showing what a flawless formula it already was. The first installment on the Dreamcast also had the unadvertised feature of being playable with motion controls via the Fishing controller. It was just a throw away extra yet it predicted where gaming was going years before the Wii made it popular.
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18: Rayman 2
Released: 2000
Ubisoft's long time mascot in his second and to many best platformer with a beautiful art style rendered in 3D superbly well. Fight your way past robotic pirates, swing from flying hoops and ride erratic rockets on legs. While many consoles got this game elsewhere the Dreamcast version has many exclusive features including downloadable bonus stages. Very few 3D platformers "get it right" so to speak, but this one nails it, rivaling even the legendary Super Mario 64.
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17: Space Channel 5 + Part 2
Released: 2000 + 2001
Sega's answer to the music rhythm game phenomenon was Samba De Amigo, but for those who didn't feel like splashing out on the maraca controllers there was also the highly stylish Space Channel 5, the game that introduced one of Sega's biggest icons to the world of gaming: the sexy pink haired TV reporter Ulala. As Ulala you have to defeat aliens by out dancing them, Simon's says style, sometimes zapping aliens and rescuing hostages at the same time, making sure you don't accidentally get that the wrong way around!. Your timing has to be spot on and the better you do the higher your TV ratings will be. To beat a level you need to end with the required rating, not necessary just beat the stage.
Ulala became something of a massive star for Sega, at least for a brief period of time. She presented a part of an MTV Awards show and plans were made for her to have her own MTV news show which sadly fell through. Micheal Jackson even wanted to be part of the game and made an appearance in both games as Space Micheal, teamed up with Ulala doing all his trademark moves. Lady Miss Kier sued Sega over them apparently using her image after they rejected her offer to use her image for the game, which she lost.
The sequel on the Dreamcast sadly stayed in Japan and is now one of the most sought after games on the system, especially the deluxe special edition that comes with a clock and massive headphones, of all things. The soundtrack, characters, story and of course game play made this two parter a stand out instant classic.
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16: Ikaruga
Released: 2002
The spiritual sequel to Treasures highly acclaimed Saturn shmup Radiant Slivergun had a lot to live up to, and if anything for many it exceeded those expectations. Not just content with blowing things up, Ikaruga has a polarity switching system that adds a whole new element of strategy as you can shift your way through the many black and white bullets by switching to those colours. The game has an epic atmosphere about it including a striking soundtrack and is still a favorite among many shmup fans everywhere, which is maybe why even after being re-released on XBLA the Dreamcast Japanese only release still sells for good money.
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15: Grandia II
Released: 2000
As I said way back in #82, RPGs were hardly the Dreamcast's strong point and that's why this is only the 2nd you've seen, though there are more to come! The prequel on the Saturn sadly never made it outside of Japan (ssshh, i know it did on Playstation, shaddup) but was highly acclaimed at the time so a sequel had a lot of live up to. While this RPG doesn't do a whole lot original or unseen before, what it does with all those RPG conventions it must clearly do it superbly, as a lot of lot liked it. I would talk about it more but this is one of the few Dreamcast games on this chart I haven't played! Sorry!
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14: House of the Dead 2
Released: 1999
Sega have always been the king of arcade light gun shooters (or at least joint kings with Namco), and yet very few were released on Dreamcast, and only one making this list, yet House of the Dead 2 made gamers flock to buy a light gun. Why? Brilliant zombie shooting action that never gets old, excellent boss battles, and of course the story.
The story, you say? Well yes, because it is so darn cheesy and badly acted that it has become a cult hit and one of the most quotable video games of all time. I can tell you that I'm probably not the only one that remembers every single line of dialog in this game by heart....am I?
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13: Chu-Chu Rocket
Released: 2000
This action puzzler has you pasting down arrows on a grid to lead mice into their space rocket, avoiding the surreal looking cats as they mindlessly follow your path. The one player puzzle mode keeps you guessing as you're only allowed a limited set of arrows to place, but where the game really excels is in it's chaotic multi-player mode, online or off.
Here you simply need to direct as many mice as possible into your rockets and send the cats over to your opponents. As one of the first games to showcase online gaming on the Dreamcast (and even given away for free in Europe), Chu Chu was one of those games that sat in the most played pile for many gamers.
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12: Rez
Released: 2001
Are video games an art form? Yes, of course they are, and this game right here is evidence of that. A visual and audio masterpiece that sucks you into it's abstract computer world. Close your curtains, turn off the lights, stick your headphones on and immerse yourself in it's wonder,
The game plays a bit like the Saturn's Panzer Dragoon: you point at enemies, hold the button down to target them all, then let go to blast them. The game can also be played with the mouse. What separates this game from Panzer is the unique visual and audio layers that are created every time you defeat enemies: the music in a stage starts almost silent and as you progress all the layers pile up into a orgasm of electronic sound and vision. It's hard to describe without sounding pretentious, but it's fun, the bosses are incredible, and it's just an experience that cannot be matched.
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11: Marvel Vs. Capcom 1 + 2
Released: 1999-2000
The 2D fighter to top all 2D fighters, this game is still a favorite with casual fans and the hardcore tourney crowd alike, so much so that it just barely missed the top 10. With more characters to choose from than any other beat 'em up on the Dreamcast, having a team of three gave the game a whole new element of strategy. Saying that it is also one of the most chaotic games you'll ever see, with special attacks filling the screen with missiles, explosions, fireballs, robots and more. There is seemingly limitless fun to be had with this one.
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10: Dead or Alive 2
Released: 2000
Tecmo really know how to push a consoles graphical capabilities, and DOA2 really wowed gamers with it's solid 60fps, detailed anime style characters (if that makes any sense) and huge stages that you could punch your foes through walls and off cliffs from. Of course we can't mention DOA without mentioning it's rather cheesecake fan service, with breasts that defy all the laws of physics, none the less the mass of extras and game modes such as the tag team battles made this a 3D fighting favorite.
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9: Resident Evil Code: Veronica AKA Biohazard Code: Veronica
Released: 2000
Capcom had quite love affair with the Dreamcast, showering it with lots of fighting and shooting games (many still only available on the console) but they also debuted a brand new installment in the Resident Evil series on it (about a year before the PS2 got it). The static image backgrounds of previous games were now replaced with fully 3D surroundings. While considered a spin off it was originally intended to be Resident Evil 3 by name.
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8: Phantasy Star Online + Ver.2
Released: 2000-2001
Bringing back the classic Phantasy Star series from the Mega Drive and Master System, but purely by name as PSO by Sonic Team was an all new kettle of fish, or rather a revolution in console MMO RPGs. There isn't a lengthy single player story here, but rather a game that is built on it's real time combat, team work between online players, and hunting for rare items to buy new weapons and abilities for your fully customized avatar character.
One of the amazingly clever bits of technology used in this game was it's universal language translator. You could communicate with players from other countries using pre-set words and this would be instantly translated for into the others players language for them. This might not seem much with the massive online console gaming communities about now, but back when PSO was released it was a first and had Dreamcast gamers flocking to play it.
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7: Power Stone 1 + 2
Released: 1999-2000
Capcom's launch title for the Dreamcast was an original 3D fighting game that gives you a big stage to run around so you can lob objects at your opponent and find weapons. The main draw of the game is collecting three gems that transform you into a super form, so you find yourself fighting over the gems more than anything.
The sequel turned the game into a 4 player brawl with even more ridiculous weapons like tanks, massive boss battles and stages that include one where you end up fighting while falling from the sky! A pair of games so simple to jump into that especially in multi-player will lead to hours, no..days of enjoyment..
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6: Skies of Arcadia AKA Eternal Arcadia
Released: 2000
Sega's RPG megaton on the Dreamcast was this sky pirates adventure of flying ships, treasure hunting, and intense combat. Hunting for treasure was particular neat in that your VMU bleeped to indicate when your getting closer to something worth grabbing. Spread across two discs, Skies is naturally a massive game with lots of brilliant characters to meet and team up with, and the turn based combat includes come incredible special attacks and animation.
Most of all this game is charming: no silly over dramatic FMV cut scenes that take them selves to seriously: just a simple but fun story with appealing characters and wonderful, colourful art direction, more akin to the 2D RPGs of the 16-bit days then of modern ones.
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5: Soul Calibur
Released: 1999
Namco had been sleeping in Sony's bed for years but the Dreamcast finally disturbed their slumber on which they treated us to quite possibly the greatest game they have ever produced, and the most highly acclaimed fighting game of all time (not to mention sixth highest ranked video game of all time, any genre, anywhere). A sequel to the Playstation game Soul Blade, the arcade version did run on PS1 hardware but was completely re-built and enhanced for the Dreamcast with incredible graphics that blew away everyone that saw it on the American launch day.
Not only did it look gob smackingly good though, it also played like an absolute dream. SC found a perfect balance between so simple to play a monkey could do it, and so deep you could spends months mastering it. That said, it was a game where someone who hasn't played a game since pong could beat someone who has been missing sleep practicing at it. Everything about the game mechanics just gelled together in such a way that it was simply impossible not to enjoy it.
But it doesn't even end there. This game was also packed to the gills with content: game modes like the many various survival modes, and of course the huge missions mode where you'd unlock costumes, characters, artwork, profiles, and even a intro scene editor. Just like Virtua tennis, this game was also compatible with the fishing controller for motion controlled weapon swinging, though again it wasn't a key advertised feature, just one of many small wonderful touches in this game.
So you have incredible graphics, flawless game play and enough to unlock and do to last months, does this game have a single snag? No one has come up with one yet all these years later yet. It did only (only?) reach number 5, though!
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4: Jet Set Radio AKA Jet Grind Radio
Released: 2000
Again pushing their creativity to all new heights, Sega's Jet Set Radio set a new standard for cartoon style graphics with the first cel-shaded game ever created. This meant that in-game characters had a thick black outline around them to give them a hand drawn look. Nowadays hundreds of games use this technique. The game is also unique in the game play department: combining Sega's trademark arcade style scoring systems with huge 3D levels to explore, excellent characters and story with rollerblading and graffiti spraying. You could grind up rails, jump along roof tops, and do tracks to increase your score with an additive combo system vaguely similar to Tony Hawk's.
The whole package is just a pure treat to the senses. The music is some of the best heard in any video game, the visual style is one of a kind, and even the extras are special: like being able to create your own graffiti designs to use in game, which could also be shared online with others, and you could use images from the Internet in game too. One of the greatest single player experiences to be had on the Dreamcast.
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3: Crazy Taxi 1 + 2
Crazy Taxi 2 Exclusive to Dreamcast
Released: 2000-2001
The zenith of Sega arcade gaming, Crazy Taxi is now just as much a Sega icon as Sonic the Hedgehog and Outrun, it was that popular. As a big yellow cab as one of four nutty characters, you tear around san Francisco picking up customers and taking them to their destination as quickly as you can, traffic and obstacles be damned. It's the perfect score attack game, you have a strict time limit and need to get time bonuses to keep it from running out.
Experts can technically make a run of this game last for hours by learning the best shortcuts and using the special techniques for extra tips. Nothing quite like drifting slam bang into the required destination, lifting the car up on two wheels, and holding it there while the customer tips you a few hundreds bucks before you finally drop into place.
It's a game that is nigh on impossible not to fall in love with. The crazy box mode full of tricky mini games and crazy challenges, along with un-lockables and an extra console exclusive map are just the icing on this delicious cake.
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2: Sonic Adventure 1 + 2
Released: 1998-2001
Sonic is Sega. Without Sonic the hedgehog Sega probably would not be where they are today, and I most likely wouldn't even have a Top 200 of Dreamcast games to write...thanks you spiky rodent.
The Dreamcast plays a significant part in Sonic's history as it was the home of his controversial reboot, his revival after several years of irrelevancy after the lack of main games in the series during the Saturn days. Love it or hate it, the Sonic Adventure games were the start of a new generation for the franchise that many have grown up along side the same way many of us grew up with the Mega Drive games.
The first Sonic Adventure was a huge deal when revealed in 1998; it fueled a majority of the hype around the system and in the end became the highest selling game in the consoles entire lifespan. The game added a host of new playable characters to vary up the gameplay and make the game much larger, though some were...questionable.
It wasn't perfect (but then no game is), nor has it aged brilliantly, but for those of us who were there at the Dreamcast launch playing this back in 1999, it was a blast. Everything from the exhilarating Sonic stages, to the exploration and raising the Chao creatures on the console and the VMU, and even downloadable content, made it the premiere title on day one.
The sequel was released on Sonic's 10th anniversary simultaneously worldwide in 2001 and made even more controversial additions to the franchise such as Shadow the Hedgehog, a character that has gone on to become the most equally loved and hated by Sonic fans of all time. Despite that, SA2 was a even slicker game than the first, really pushing the console to it's limits with solid graphics that thumped a majority of early Playstation 2 games.
As the last Sonic game to be released on a Sega console it was quite a way to go out, and for many years Sonic Team couldn't come close to equaling this game in terms of quality and popularly. The fact that a lot of fans still beg for a Sonic Adventure 3 says a lot about how much of an impact these games had.
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1: Shenmue 1 + 2
Released: 1999-2001
Whenever anyone thinks about the Dreamcast, Shenmue is the first game that springs to mind. It's a game that so many love and so many also hate, but a game that has left such a lasting impression and has such an amazing history behind it. It was one of the most expensive games of all time to develop but didn't sell anywhere near enough copies to make Sega a profit sadly. You could say this game is a major reason why Sega simply couldn't afford to stay in the console business, but it's also evidence of just how risky, adventurous and creative Sega were throughout those few years the Dreamcast was on store shelfs, and has left a legion of fans begging for it's return. Yu Suzuki's masterpiece.
Shenmue started life as a Virtua Fighter RPG, and it was Yu Suzuki's first major console based project after years of arcade classics. This project soon ballooned into a 16-part saga with all new characters that would be spread across a series a games for years to come, and the Saturn project was moved over to the Dreamcast, this game is only the first of those 16 chapters. Yu was so convinced of this games unique-ness that he coined a brand new genre for it 'F.R.E.E' (Full Reactive Eyes Entrainment). While that genre name never stuck anywhere else echoes of this games influence still flow though modern gaming. The game has a few bumps along the way and not every experiment worked, but the experience that many had with game is one that they feel has yet to be matched.
Shenmue was such a large and ambitious game the whole story was intended to play out over an entire series of games. In the end we only got two games, the 2nd of which left on such a dramatic game-changer that it's a crying shame the series has never been continued.
"The Top 200 Dreamcast Games: Voted by you!"
11 Comments -
Thanks for all your work on this, Gagaman! I'll have to see how many of the top 200 I own now!
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Brilliant work Gagaman - the amount of effort you obviously put in is amazing!
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Brilliant job on the article Gagaman! The top 25 or so are quite predictable but a top 200 is great because it gives recognition to some of the lesser-known Dreamcast games. I really enjoyed reading about some of the ones I know little-to-nothing about.
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Trickstyle wasn't a dreamcast exclusive it also had a pc release
Friday, November 29, 2013
Nice work. Very interesting reading, and good to see Shenmue on top, especially since 29th November is the day the rain turned to snow!
Friday, November 29, 2013
Nice list, thank you!
Saturday, November 30, 2013
I wish I could have voted during this competition...
I'm glad to see that Star Lancer, Ms. Pac-Man and Atari Anniversary made the cut this time, but I still feel that a few games are missing:
102 Dalmatians
Test Drive 6
Charge N' Blast
(probably a couple more)
Oh well, I guess no list is perfect (but I REALLY wanted to vote for this one)
Thursday, December 19, 2013
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Thursday, December 19, 2013
I REALLY wish I could have voted for this one, because there were a few games that deserved to be on here:
102 Dalmatians
Test Drive 6
Charge 'N Blast
(is it too late to pair up the Tomb Raider games in one entry to make room for one of these?)
On the bright side, I'm glad to see that Wetrix+, Ms. Pac-Man, and Atari Anniversary made the cut this time!
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Awesome list glad to see Illbleed and blue stinger and D2 in the middle they are my all time fave dreamcast games.
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Loved hidden and dangerous, stealing washing and cars and sneaking my "Englanders" around...
Wednesday, June 08, 2016